Julia Eckert

Gaetano Napoli, Silvia Paparini: Nematic Bubbles and the Breaking of Spherical Symmetry https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.07082 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2603.07082 https://arxiv.org/html/2603.07082

Very proud to share our latest work, carried out with remarkable dedication by Léa and Claire.
Thanks to JCS for the Highlight, but also the wonderful First Author profile featuring Léa and Claire, as well as the journal cover showcasing the work.

First 24 hours of embryonic development in 9 different animal species: (From left to right) Zebrafish, Sea urchin, Black widow spider, Tardigrade, Sea squirt, Comb jelly, Parchment tube worm, Roundworm, Slipper snail. Credit to @tessamontague.bsky.social & Zuzka Vavrušová. #ZebrafishZunday #devbio 🧪

The molecular basis of force selectivity by PIEZO2 Nature - PIEZO2 is intrinsically more rigid than PIEZO1, and disparate mechanical stimuli paradoxically evoke opposite conformational and gating responses in each channel.

New paper from the lab led by @ericmulhall.bsky.social addresses how PIEZO1 and PIEZO2 are tuned to different types mechanical forces. From nanometer-scale super-resolution microscopy to in vivo experiments, links single-molecule observations to physiological function.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🚨 New paper from our lab just published in Nature🚨

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

Discover how 🌱 tumour formation is shaped by tissue context from the very beginning. Cancer is not driven by genetics alone

✨Fantastic team led by Greta Skrupskelyte, Eduardo Rojo, @hariajith.bsky.social

spotLights Ep 17: Teodora talks RPE ageing & mechanics #biology #science #preprints YouTube video by The Company of Biologists

Highlighting preprint stories from within the preLights community 📽️

Here, Teodora narrates her preprint showing that functional decline in the ageing retinal epithelium results from a change in the mechanical balance of the tissue due to natural cell loss!

#Short ⬇️
www.youtube.com/shorts/CWYRX...

New preprint out!
In this study, we introduce NanoFLex, a strategy that combines #HaloTag variants with #nanobodies -based immunolabeling to enable rapid, OneStep-IF #lifetime #multiplexing. Possible due to SmartSecondaries fused to #HaloTag from @nanotag.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Riedel, L., Wössner, V., Kempf, D., Ziebert, F., Bastian, P., & Schwarz, U. S. (2025). The positioning of stress fibers in contractile cells minimizes internal mechanical stress. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 195, 105950. #EpithelialMechanics
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Yang, H., Meyer, F., Huang, S., Yang, L., Lungu, C., Olayioye, M. A., Buehler, M. J., & Guo, M. (2024). Learning collective cell migratory dynamics from a static snapshot with graph neural networks. PRX Life 2, 043010. #EpithelialMechanics
doi.org/10.1103/PRXL...

Can contractile forces that internalize cells and rearrange tissues cause harm? They can, if not mitigated. We show that built-in high stretchability of the extraembryonic cells protects gastrulating Drosophila embryo from being ripped apart. (1/9) doi.org/10.64898/202...

Matteo Ciarchi, Andriy Goychuk, Erwin Frey: Active fluctuations induce buckling of living surfaces https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.24272 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.24272 https://arxiv.org/html/2602.24272

An excellent summary of 3D Traction Force Microscopy!

Check out this @epimechfc.bsky.social thread by @barrasa-fano.bsky.social. 👇

When vessel constriction fails: Cellular mechanics linking developmental remodeling to vascular malformations

Happy to share a write-up of our recent publication @natcomms.nature.com demonstrating
how circumferential actomyosin-driven endothelial cell contractions constrict vessel diameter, providing insights into mechanisms of normal vessel remodelling and CCM.
www.bdr.riken.jp/en/news/rese...

Da Gao, Alexander Mietke, Rui Ma: Confinement-Induced Symmetry Breaking of Active Surfaces https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.21519 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.21519 https://arxiv.org/html/2602.21519

Cooperation between cortical and cytoplasmic forces shapes planar 4-cell stage embryos - preLights How to make a 4-cell square ascidian embryo? Cytoplasmic pulling rotates centrosomes, cortical forces lock the plane.

How to make a 4-cell square ascidian embryo? Cytoplasmic pulling rotates centrosomes, cortical forces lock the plane.

Corentin Mollier & Shivani Dharmadhikari highlight a #preprint from Silvia Caballero-Mancebo & team @rdumollard.bsky.social

#preLight ⬇️
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/c...

Spatial patterning of contractility by a self-organized mechanogen activity gradient underlies Drosophila gastrulation - Nature Communications During morphogenesis patterned contractility drives tissue shape changes. Here they show that GPCR signaling and integrin activation give rise to a dynamically translocating gradient of contractility ...

New paper out! In this project, we focused on the question how tissue mechanics is spatially controlled during development. We show that the GPCR ligand Fog acts as a “mechanogen” during Drosophila gastrulation, driving a self-organized wave of tissue invagination:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Amazing @epimechfc.bsky.social thread by @emmalaang.bsky.social !

Cell divisions both challenge and refine tissue boundaries in the Drosophila embryo Highlighted Article: A combination of mathematical modelling, in vivo quantitative microscopy, and pharmacological and biophysical manipulations reveals that cell divisions not only challenge, but als...

Check out our new publication @dev-journal.bsky.social! If you thought that cell divisions challenge tissue boundaries ... you got half of the story! Using in vivo quantitative microscopy and math. modelling we show that divisions fluidize tissues and facilitate boundary refinement. 🧪 #drosophila

Tissue phase transitions in development: more than just mechanics Summary: Tissue material phase transitions are classically thought to regulate tissue deformability. This Review emphasises their unexpected roles in directly influencing growth and patterning signall...

Excited to share our new review in @dev-journal.bsky.social on tissue phase transitions during development!

@karengrace12.bsky.social @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1242/dev....

New method paper out today on FLIM analysis with Flipper-TR.
We discuss fitting strategies, common pitfalls, and quantitative interpretation for measurements.
First corresponding/last authorship for me!
Free link:
authors.elsevier.com/a/1me2hHRzCb...
Thanks to @rouxlab.bsky.social and Tithi Mandal!

New preprint @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social by Harshath Amal and colleagues from our lab @uni-muenster.de shows how a BMP #morphogen gradient is translated into graded junctional permeability by tuning adhesion and actomyosin contractility in #Drosophila
See tinyurl.com/yhbwd9xh
@sfb1348.bsky.social

Investigation of mechanical forces during multicellular early angiogenic sprouting by three-dimensional traction force microscopy in hydrogel matrices - Nature Protocols Investigating mechanical forces during angiogenic sprouting by three-dimensional traction force microscopy (TFM) in hydrogel matrices, including steps to analyze and interpret cell–extracellular matri...

📰 Check out our new paper published in Nature Protocols @natureportfolio.nature.com !!

Great work by Apeksha Shapeti and Janne de Jong, in which they explain everything you need to know to perform 3D traction force microscopy on multicellular systems!!

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

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Balasubramaniam, L., Jain, S., Dang, T., Lagoutte, E., Marc Mège, R., Chavrier, P., ... & Rossé, C. (2024). Different Biomechanical Cell Behaviors in an Epithelium Drive Collective Epithelial Cell Extrusion. Advanced Science, #EpithelialMechanics doi.org/10.1002/advs...

Honored to see our work featured in a JCB Spotlight by Pacheco and @drericabiophd.bsky.social (@UCSF).
The piece discusses our study revealing distinct force-generating mechanisms in epithelial and mesenchymal collective migration
🔬🐸 Thank you for your careful review of our work!
hubs.la/Q042GFYY0

Our take on a really interesting new study by the Franz lab at UCL, a version of epithelial polarity where you would not expect it! Read our Spotlight and the original paper!

Break to build: fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy Summary: This Review presents mechanical fracture as a unifying morphogenetic strategy and describes how developmental systems actively exploit mechanical fracture to drive morphogenesis, reproduction...

Our latest with @torres-sanchez.bsky.social journals.biologists.com/dev/article-...
Breaking isn’t always a bad thing! Think of birth, seed release...
We highlight how living tissue not only tolerates fractures but actively fracture to grow, shape, reproduce, or adapt – across species and scales.

Exploring the Forces That Shape Cells - ASCB Cells are constantly pushing, pulling, and responding to the physical forces around them—and those forces play a critical role in shaping cell behavior, organization, and function. Molecular Biology of the Cell (MBoC), ASCB’s flagship journal, brings these dynamics into focus through its Forces on and within Cells collection. Spanning molecular mechanics, cytoskeletal dynamics, and force-driven…

How do cells generate, sense & resist force?
MBoC highlights recent advances in mechanobiology in its Forces on and within Cells collection — spanning cytoskeletal dynamics, membrane mechanics, and beyond.

🔗 https://www.ascb.org/science-news/exploring-the-forces-that-shape-cells/

Excited to highlight a new preprint about mechanical contributions to tissue homeostasis, from the Manning group in collaboration with the amazing Carien Niessen and Sara Wickstrom @sarawickstrom.bsky.social labs, spearheaded by Dr. Somiealo Azote: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Have you ever wondered what Flipper-TR is and how it works?

Check out this amazing overview by @juanmagararc.bsky.social 👇

We’re excited to share our latest preprint! We identify SKT, a mechanosensitive adhesion protein that recruits mTORC2 to cell–matrix adhesions, linking metabolic demand to matrix stiffness. Disrupting this axis strongly inhibits PDAC tumor growth. shorturl.at/V0tpK