Xavier Trepat
@xaviertrepat.bsky.social
Scientist of Living Matter. ICREA Professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, Barcelona. The need to know.
Pinned
🎈New preprint! We study how single cells move up, down and about fibronectin gradients. Experiments by @icfortunato.bsky.social, theory by David Bruckner. Collaboration with @raimonsunyer.bsky.social and @ehannezo.bsky.social 👇https://biorxiv.org/cgi/content/short/2024.12.02.626413v1
📣Announcing the 4th edition of the EMBL‑IBEC Conference on “Engineering Multicellular Systems”, taking place 11–13 March 2026 in Barcelona. Exploring organoids, mechanobiology, embryo models, organ-on-chip systems, multiomics and more. Abstracts open now!
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
October 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
📣Announcing the 4th edition of the EMBL‑IBEC Conference on “Engineering Multicellular Systems”, taking place 11–13 March 2026 in Barcelona. Exploring organoids, mechanobiology, embryo models, organ-on-chip systems, multiomics and more. Abstracts open now!
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
New Review! #devbiol #bioelectricity #CellBiology #tissueregeneration
In our new @annualreviews.bsky.social piece, we explore how bioelectricity is generated, sensed & translated into responses that sculpt tissues, guide growth & enable tissue regeneration.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
In our new @annualreviews.bsky.social piece, we explore how bioelectricity is generated, sensed & translated into responses that sculpt tissues, guide growth & enable tissue regeneration.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Bioelectricity in Morphogenesis
Bioelectricity is likely as old as life itself. From the moment the first proto-cell was enclosed in a lipid bilayer, a membrane potential arose. Thus, one can expect that bioelectrical activities inf...
www.annualreviews.org
October 2, 2025 at 8:14 PM
New Review! #devbiol #bioelectricity #CellBiology #tissueregeneration
In our new @annualreviews.bsky.social piece, we explore how bioelectricity is generated, sensed & translated into responses that sculpt tissues, guide growth & enable tissue regeneration.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
In our new @annualreviews.bsky.social piece, we explore how bioelectricity is generated, sensed & translated into responses that sculpt tissues, guide growth & enable tissue regeneration.
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
LMB PhD studentship available in the Baum lab to use informatics to infer cell structure from genomic data in collaboration with the brilliant Tom Williams. If you write to me and I don’t reply - try again - the spam filter is hungry…
October 2, 2025 at 9:04 AM
LMB PhD studentship available in the Baum lab to use informatics to infer cell structure from genomic data in collaboration with the brilliant Tom Williams. If you write to me and I don’t reply - try again - the spam filter is hungry…
Active wetting at work 🤩
See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...
October 2, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Active wetting at work 🤩
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
How do cells navigate up gradients of adhesive proteins?
🤔
Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood
We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🤔
Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood
We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 27, 2025 at 8:48 AM
How do cells navigate up gradients of adhesive proteins?
🤔
Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood
We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🤔
Termed "Haptotaxis", this effect is ubiquitous in cell migration, but it's mechanism was poorly understood
We show that passive friction directs cells & explains complex trajectories on gradients
👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
SCHEPHERD--the bioelectric cell herding platform built for YOU. Single cells, monolayers, organoids--this herds them all + new tricks. Plz try it-- we will *give* you parts! Teaser here of a steering a single cell. GS Yubin Lin's lifeblood with J. Yodh on piano; Celeste R. and Paul K. Thread 1/N
September 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
SCHEPHERD--the bioelectric cell herding platform built for YOU. Single cells, monolayers, organoids--this herds them all + new tricks. Plz try it-- we will *give* you parts! Teaser here of a steering a single cell. GS Yubin Lin's lifeblood with J. Yodh on piano; Celeste R. and Paul K. Thread 1/N
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Happy to share our new study @ijmonod.bsky.social and @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social with C. Duclut and J. Prost. on forces generated by active fluid transport in epithelia and their role in tissue dynamics.
Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, G. Arkowitz and R. Chilupuri!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, G. Arkowitz and R. Chilupuri!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Regulation of epithelial tissue homeostasis by active trans-epithelial transport
Epithelia are intricate tissues whose function is intimately linked to mechanics. While mechanobiology has primarily focused on factors such as cell-generated contractility and mechanical properties o...
www.biorxiv.org
September 17, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Happy to share our new study @ijmonod.bsky.social and @mpi-scienceoflight.bsky.social with C. Duclut and J. Prost. on forces generated by active fluid transport in epithelia and their role in tissue dynamics.
Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, G. Arkowitz and R. Chilupuri!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Congrats to Huiqiong Wu, G. Arkowitz and R. Chilupuri!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis!
Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
September 18, 2025 at 8:32 PM
A ring of cells deforms into a triangular keyhole in just 15 minutes. Meet the hindgut, a model for boundary-driven morphogenesis!
Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
Out now in @pnas.org at doi.org/10.1073/pnas... with @zhaoshh.bsky.social, Alex Jacinto, Eric Wieschaus, Stas Shvartsman, @lepuslapis.bsky.social (1/8)
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Compression causes cancer cells to start spreading
The switch between proliferation and invasion is triggered by mechanical force.
www.nature.com
September 6, 2025 at 12:50 PM
new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/d41...
New preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by @tomgolde.bsky.social 🙌
@IBECBarcelona
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@IBECBarcelona
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 1, 2025 at 3:31 PM
New preprint! 🚨 We uncover a slow adaptation to stretch that links star-bundling of keratin filaments with nuclear escape from its keratin cage. Led by @tomgolde.bsky.social 🙌
@IBECBarcelona
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@IBECBarcelona
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Excited to share our new publication in Nature Physics about the mechanical memory of morphology in confined migrating cells by @kyohalie.bsky.social 🥳
Super fun collab with @davidbrueckner.bsky.social and @gcharras.bsky.social 👏🏻
Enjoy the reading www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Super fun collab with @davidbrueckner.bsky.social and @gcharras.bsky.social 👏🏻
Enjoy the reading www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The actin cortex acts as a mechanical memory of morphology in confined migrating cells - Nature Physics
Cells often navigate through confined spaces. Now it is shown that cells retain a mechanical memory of previous confinement events, which makes them more efficient at migrating through narrow microenv...
www.nature.com
August 25, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Excited to share our new publication in Nature Physics about the mechanical memory of morphology in confined migrating cells by @kyohalie.bsky.social 🥳
Super fun collab with @davidbrueckner.bsky.social and @gcharras.bsky.social 👏🏻
Enjoy the reading www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Super fun collab with @davidbrueckner.bsky.social and @gcharras.bsky.social 👏🏻
Enjoy the reading www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Pathologists have used nuclear & tissue shapes to diagnose #cancer for decades, but what is the molecular basis for this? In our latest work, we develop a computational pipeline to figure this out in #colorectalcancer! Check out 🧵& preprint #mechanobiology #stemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 15, 2025 at 10:50 AM
Pathologists have used nuclear & tissue shapes to diagnose #cancer for decades, but what is the molecular basis for this? In our latest work, we develop a computational pipeline to figure this out in #colorectalcancer! Check out 🧵& preprint #mechanobiology #stemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
(1/10)
I am excited to finally share our work on avian left/right symmetry breaking with you. We reveal a tissue-scale active torque dipole generated at the Hensen’s node, thanks to crazy experiments by Julia @juliapfanzelter.bsky.social and some analysis by me.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
I am excited to finally share our work on avian left/right symmetry breaking with you. We reveal a tissue-scale active torque dipole generated at the Hensen’s node, thanks to crazy experiments by Julia @juliapfanzelter.bsky.social and some analysis by me.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
An active torque dipole across tissue layers drives avian left-right symmetry breaking
Unlike in mice, frogs, and fish, left-right (L/R) body axis formation in avian embryos does not arise from the chiral beat of cilia. Instead, a counter-clockwise tissue rotation around Hensen′ node, t...
doi.org
July 20, 2025 at 1:42 PM
(1/10)
I am excited to finally share our work on avian left/right symmetry breaking with you. We reveal a tissue-scale active torque dipole generated at the Hensen’s node, thanks to crazy experiments by Julia @juliapfanzelter.bsky.social and some analysis by me.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
I am excited to finally share our work on avian left/right symmetry breaking with you. We reveal a tissue-scale active torque dipole generated at the Hensen’s node, thanks to crazy experiments by Julia @juliapfanzelter.bsky.social and some analysis by me.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
New paper from the lab led by @marija-matejcic.bsky.social ! Supracellular force patterns driving intestinal cell extrusion. 👇
On cell extrusion in the #intestine!
After 80 years of observations, we finally took a deeper look thanks to 2D #organoids. We report:
3D #forces, #extrusion still only in the villus even without curvature, #lamellipodia generate 3D force.. and more. Have a look!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
After 80 years of observations, we finally took a deeper look thanks to 2D #organoids. We report:
3D #forces, #extrusion still only in the villus even without curvature, #lamellipodia generate 3D force.. and more. Have a look!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 8, 2025 at 10:13 AM
New paper from the lab led by @marija-matejcic.bsky.social ! Supracellular force patterns driving intestinal cell extrusion. 👇
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Have you ever thought about inflating tissues?
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
July 3, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Have you ever thought about inflating tissues?
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
🚨 Second preprint of the week!
We uncover the multiscale dynamics of active viscoelastic buckling in epithelia.
We harness these mechanical instabilities for synthetic morphogenesis.
Led by @onenimesa.bsky.social 🙌. Theory by Marino Arroyo etal. @ibecbarcelona.eu
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We uncover the multiscale dynamics of active viscoelastic buckling in epithelia.
We harness these mechanical instabilities for synthetic morphogenesis.
Led by @onenimesa.bsky.social 🙌. Theory by Marino Arroyo etal. @ibecbarcelona.eu
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 3, 2025 at 10:25 AM
🚨 Second preprint of the week!
We uncover the multiscale dynamics of active viscoelastic buckling in epithelia.
We harness these mechanical instabilities for synthetic morphogenesis.
Led by @onenimesa.bsky.social 🙌. Theory by Marino Arroyo etal. @ibecbarcelona.eu
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We uncover the multiscale dynamics of active viscoelastic buckling in epithelia.
We harness these mechanical instabilities for synthetic morphogenesis.
Led by @onenimesa.bsky.social 🙌. Theory by Marino Arroyo etal. @ibecbarcelona.eu
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How to turn a layer of fibroblasts into a tulip 🌷?
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
How to turn a layer of fibroblasts into a tulip 🌷?
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
1/14 “Epithelial” & “Mesenchymal” aren’t binary categories—they form a spectrum, or better yet, a multidimensional space. This becomes especially clear in collective cell migration, which often depends on a finely tuned degree of “mesenchymal-ness”.
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
April 20, 2025 at 7:32 AM
1/14 “Epithelial” & “Mesenchymal” aren’t binary categories—they form a spectrum, or better yet, a multidimensional space. This becomes especially clear in collective cell migration, which often depends on a finely tuned degree of “mesenchymal-ness”.
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
#cellbio #devbio #cellmigration
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Be on the lookout for a new paper from the lab:
"InterpolAI: Deep learning based optical flow interpolation and restoration of biomedical images for improved 3D tissue mapping"
InterpolAI interpolates and restores defective images for enhanced 3D imaging (3D histology, MRI, confocal, ssTEM)
"InterpolAI: Deep learning based optical flow interpolation and restoration of biomedical images for improved 3D tissue mapping"
InterpolAI interpolates and restores defective images for enhanced 3D imaging (3D histology, MRI, confocal, ssTEM)
April 5, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Be on the lookout for a new paper from the lab:
"InterpolAI: Deep learning based optical flow interpolation and restoration of biomedical images for improved 3D tissue mapping"
InterpolAI interpolates and restores defective images for enhanced 3D imaging (3D histology, MRI, confocal, ssTEM)
"InterpolAI: Deep learning based optical flow interpolation and restoration of biomedical images for improved 3D tissue mapping"
InterpolAI interpolates and restores defective images for enhanced 3D imaging (3D histology, MRI, confocal, ssTEM)
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Happy to share our new publication in
@naturematerials.bsky.social
on mechanical cell competition! Great collaboration between our CAM team, Chavrier's and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats
@luanger.bsky.social, @andreasschoenit.bsky.social, Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@naturematerials.bsky.social
on mechanical cell competition! Great collaboration between our CAM team, Chavrier's and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats
@luanger.bsky.social, @andreasschoenit.bsky.social, Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
March 14, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Happy to share our new publication in
@naturematerials.bsky.social
on mechanical cell competition! Great collaboration between our CAM team, Chavrier's and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats
@luanger.bsky.social, @andreasschoenit.bsky.social, Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@naturematerials.bsky.social
on mechanical cell competition! Great collaboration between our CAM team, Chavrier's and Doostmohammadi's. Special congrats
@luanger.bsky.social, @andreasschoenit.bsky.social, Siavash Monfared! 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
March 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
I am Absolutely delighted to share the preprint of our last collaborative efforts where we investigated the impact of sonostimulation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Thread -1-
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Sonoepigenetics: Spatiotemporal Calcium Dynamics and cAMP Signaling Driven by High Frequency Nanomechanostimulation Regulates Transient Epigenetic Modifications and Early Osteogenic Commitment in Mese...
Cells effectively balance and integrate numerous pathways to adapt to external signals in an attempt to regain homeostasis, although the complex nuclear mechanotransduction mechanism through which thi...
www.biorxiv.org
March 19, 2025 at 10:31 AM
I am Absolutely delighted to share the preprint of our last collaborative efforts where we investigated the impact of sonostimulation of Mesenchymal Stem Cells. Thread -1-
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
🚨 Paper Alert 🚨
Absolutely delighted to share our last paper on "spatial mechano-transcriptomics" @naturemethods👇!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Absolutely delighted to share our last paper on "spatial mechano-transcriptomics" @naturemethods👇!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A computational pipeline for spatial mechano-transcriptomics - Nature Methods
The authors present a computational framework that leverages mechanical force inference and spatial transcriptomics to enable analyses of the interplay between the transcriptomic and mechanical state.
www.nature.com
March 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
🚨 Paper Alert 🚨
Absolutely delighted to share our last paper on "spatial mechano-transcriptomics" @naturemethods👇!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Absolutely delighted to share our last paper on "spatial mechano-transcriptomics" @naturemethods👇!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Great one-day meeting on #cancer #mechanobiology in Paris (March 14th).
March 3, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Great one-day meeting on #cancer #mechanobiology in Paris (March 14th).
Reposted by Xavier Trepat
1/7: New paper alert! Excited to share our co-first author paper on Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) a model that recreates the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing! @oriolmb.bsky.social and I wrote this thread to break it down for you. 👇🧵
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) models the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing - Nature Communications
Modelling the tumour immune microenvironment in vitro is a valuable tool to test immunotherapy efficiency but capturing its complexity is challenging. Here authors present a fully humanised in vitro p...
www.nature.com
February 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
1/7: New paper alert! Excited to share our co-first author paper on Micro Immune Response On-chip (MIRO) a model that recreates the tumour-stroma interface for immunotherapy testing! @oriolmb.bsky.social and I wrote this thread to break it down for you. 👇🧵
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s41...