Karim Almahayni 🍉

Our article "Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans" made it to the cover of Nature Nanotechnology! 🤩 @natnano.nature.com

www.nature.com/nnano/volume...

The image on the cover shows two sugars from the same cell-surface glycan separated by 9 Å, visualized with RESI (resolution enhancement by sequential imaging) enabled by metabolic labelling with DNA barcodes. IMAGE: Luciano A. Masullo, Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Germany. COVER DESIGN: Vanitha Selvarajan Original paper: Masullo, L.A., et al. Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans. Nat. Nanotechnol. 20, 1457–1463 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-01966-5 Abstract: Glycobiology is rooted in the study of monosaccharides, ångström-sized molecules that are the building blocks of glycosylation. Glycosylated biomolecules form the glycocalyx, a dense coat encasing every human cell with central relevance—among others—in immunology, oncology and virology. To understand glycosylation function, visualizing its molecular structure is fundamental. However, the ability to visualize the molecular architecture of the glycocalyx has remained challenging. Techniques such as mass spectrometry, electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy lack the necessary cellular context, specificity and resolution. Here we combine resolution enhancement by sequential imaging with metabolic labelling, enabling the visualization of individual sugars within glycans on the cell surface, thus obtaining images of the glycocalyx with a spatial resolution down to 9 Å in an optical microscope.

Now online: October 2025 Issue.

- Focus Issue on #biosensing,
- DNA moiré superlattices,
- Sugars at Ångström-resolution,
- Solid-state #nanopores,
- Non-aqueous Li #batteries, -
- Neuromorphic vision,
- Peptide #hydrogels,
- Deep learning for #LNPs and more...

www.nature.com/nnano/volume...

Professor Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), He headed the division “Cell Physics” at MPL and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM).

With deep sadness, we share that Prof. Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light passed away on October 3. His visionary work bridged physics and medicine. We have lost a brilliant scientist and dear friend.

mpl.mpg.de/news/article...
@fau.de

📸 Stephan Spangenberg

DNASE1L3 surveils mitochondrial DNA on the surface of distinct mammalian cells The extracellular space is a critical environment for discriminating self versus non-self nucleic acids and initiating the appropriate immune responses through signaling cascades to relay information ...

We’re excited to report work led by postdoc Jennifer Porat in the lab, finding that DNA accumulates on the surface of living cells and that the secreted extracellular protein DNASE1L3 can modulate its levels on B and T cells. With a new twist for ATAC-seq as well www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bottom-up Investigation of Spatiotemporal Glycocalyx Dynamics with Interferometric Scattering Microscopy Over recent decades, the glycocalyx, an extracellular organelle composed of a multitude of glycolipids, glycoproteins, proteoglycans, and glycoRNA, has gained considerable interest in cellular biology...

Excited to see this one out in JACS! We analyzed how molecular interactions lead to self-organization of glycolipids down to microseconds and nanometer spatiotemporal scales. Amazing collaboration with the Sandoghdar lab, @biomemphys.bsky.social, and Thisbe Lindhorst!

pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Super cool! Congrats 👏

Research Briefing:

"Visualizing the nanostructure of the cell’s sugar coat."

Here, the author's views, expert opinion, and insights behind the recently published paper "Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans" are presented.

#Glycotime

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell's sugar coating mapped at below-nanometre resolution Nature - Super-resolution technique works with off-the-shelf optical microscopes.

Scientists have mapped individual sugar molecules on the surface of cells at a resolution once thought to be impossible for light microscopes

go.nature.com/40I9Ewv

Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans

Now published in Nature Nanotechnology! 🤩
@natnano.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell's sugar coating mapped at below-nanometre resolution Super-resolution technique works with off-the-shelf optical microscopes.

Scientists have mapped individual sugar molecules on the surface of cells at a resolution once thought to be impossible for light microscopes

go.nature.com/4l2wVjS

Cell's sugar coating mapped at below-nanometre resolution Super-resolution technique works with off-the-shelf optical microscopes.

News article @nature.com covering a recent study published
@natnano.nature.com

Cell's sugar coating mapped at below-nanometre resolution.

"Super-resolution technique works with off-the-shelf optical microscopes."

#Glycotime

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Excuse me while i geek out over this so hard #GlycoTime
( @elisafadda.bsky.social 👀 👀 👀)

Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans - Nature Nanotechnology By combining bioorthogonal metabolic labelling and resolution enhancement through sequential imaging of DNA barcodes, the molecular organization of individual sugars in the native glycocalyx has been ...

New paper online:

Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans.

The molecular organization of sugars in the native #glycocalyx has been resolved at 9 ångström using bioorthogonal metabolic labeling and #superresolution imaging of DNA barcodes.

#Glycotime

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very happy to see this one out - the first molecular-resolution imaging of glycocalyx components in their native environment! Great collaboration with @jungmannlab.bsky.social - congrats to first authors @karimalmahayni.bsky.social and @lumasullo.bsky.social and to the whole team!

GLYCAN ATLASSING: NANOSCALE ANALYSIS OF GLYCOCALYX ARCHITECTURE ENABLES FUNCTIONAL TRACING OF CELL STATE 🍭🔬🧬
Don’t judge a book by its cover - judge a cell by its cover! We can now trace how cell state is encoded in glycocalyx state. #glycotime #microscopy

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My daughter died from AML and I don’t want any other parent to go through what we did. This type of vital research must be funded.

A druggable target for AML: cell-surface RNA-binding proteins - Boston Children's Answers Researchers have found a readily druggable target on the surface of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells — but not normal blood cells.

A new druggable cancer target: RNA-binding proteins on the cell surface #NBTintheNews answers.childrenshospital.org/aml-cancer-t...

Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia models by targeting a cell surface RNA-binding protein - Nature Biotechnology An RNA-binding protein on leukemia cells provides an effective target in mouse models.

Check it out - amazing new work by @raflynn5.bsky.social and Kostas Tzelepis labs, discovery of a cell surface RNA/glycoRNA binding protein that is also a cancer antigen, new target for antibody therapy!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A wonderful study, published today in Nature Biotech.: NPM1 is a marker of AML and can be targeted for efficient therapy! @karimalmahayni.bsky.social created the first SR reconstructions of NPM1 on the cell surface. Great collaborative work, spearheaded by @raflynn5.bsky.social and Kostas Tzelepis!

Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia models by targeting a cell surface RNA-binding protein - Nature Biotechnology An RNA-binding protein on leukemia cells provides an effective target in mouse models.

Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia models by targeting a cell surface RNA-binding protein - @raflynn5.bsky.social go.nature.com/3YbT1In

Happy to have contributed to this amazing story identifying cell surface NPM1 as a promising therapeutic strategy in acute myeloid leukaemia, check it out!

Thanks Leonhard :)!

Enjoyed every bit of it :)! Thank you for the opportunity to work on such exciting projects!

Thrilled to be part of this masterpiece published today in CELL 🚀🔬!! Check it out!

Angstrom-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans Glycobiology is rooted in the study of monosaccharides, Angstrom-sized molecules that are the building blocks of intricate glycosylation patterns. Glycosylated biomolecules form the glycocalyx, a dens...

This is an amazing achievement - angstrom scale imagine of glycan molecules, what a great time for #glycotime. Congrats Leonhard Möckl!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS🍬🍬🍬

For the first time, we are able to image the molecular architecture of the glycocalyx at Ångström resolution. A dream come true!

Read the preprint: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

And find our tweetorial below!
#glycotime

ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS 🍬🍭🔬

For the first time, we’re able to study the molecular architecture of the glycocalyx at single-sugar resolution—a longstanding challenge in glycobiology! #glycotime

Preprint and #bluetorial below!!

Biphasic inflammation control by dedifferentiated fibroblasts enables axon regeneration after spinal cord injury in zebrafish Fibrosis and persistent inflammation are interconnected processes that inhibit axon regeneration in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). In zebrafish, by contrast, fibroblast-derived extracellu...

Excited to share the latest work from our lab: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

LIGHTs on for our Bluesky channel! 💡

Stay up to date with all the latest news from our research on the #science of #light and the institute!

#sciencebluesky

Our latest paper made the cover! 🎉

We developed a library of light-activated molecules designed for precise, localized induction of cell death in biological systems, characterized both in vitro and in vivo.

Great collaboration with @wehnerlab.bsky.social

Read more: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....