Sareen Fiaz

So excited to have been awarded the ASCB COMPASS Outreach Grant for our proposal of “Beyond the Data” 🔬 The Aiken Lab will host a community-wide Graduate Science-Art Showcase & Reception in downtown Fort Collins, coming soon!🎉 @aikenlab.bsky.social @ascbiology.bsky.social

Fun to see this on the cover of Cytoskeleton!
Microtubule and actin filaments captured by @sareenfiaz in the Aiken Lab 🔬
#Cytoskeleton #CellBiology #Microscopy #LabLife

So excited to be on the cover of Cytoskeleton’s latest issue!!! 🔬

A crowd of marine embryos self-assembles into a living solid Nature Physics - Marine embryos are usually studied in isolation. But when starfish embryos are in a crowd, they self-assemble into living solids with unexpected dynamics, revealing how simple...

What happens when marine embryos are crowded instead of isolated?

They become materials.

Honored to write a @natphys.nature.com News & Views on excitable living solids discovered by Prof. Fakhri and colleagues at @mit.edu 😀

N&V: rdcu.be/e5gLm
Paper: nature.com/articles/s41...

What's happening during attention lapses after poor sleep?
A fluid wave. Your brain is trying to clean itself, to wash away waste products.
nature.com/articles/s41...
gift link
wsj.com/health/welln...

NSF’s flagship fellowship program is rejecting applicants without peer review Students seeking graduate research scholarships speculate that biology is being disfavored

NSF's graduate research fellowship (GRF) program is designed to teach aspiring scientists how to write a winning grant proposal. So why are so many applicants being denied that learning experience? www.science.org/content/arti...

🏆UCSB ranked #1 public university in the US for scientific impact, and 3rd in universities overall!🎓

Congratulations to all of our researchers who are leading the global conversation.🌐🧵

@ucsantabarbara.bsky.social @ucsbengineering.bsky.social @uofcalifornia.bsky.social

Zombosomes, large vesicles with cell-like qualities, can spread alpha-synuclein protein clumps from astrocytes to other astrocytes, neurons, and lab-grown brain tissues.

Learn more: https://scim.ag/4qSd1vP

Our first successful launch of StoryLab, the Aiken Lab’s new scientific outreach program! This week we partnered with a local Fort Collins children’s center to introduce 3-5 year olds to their brain! 🧠

Getting asked about how academics can continue to do science & inspire trainees even in the midst of a continued (escalated) assault on science, reason, truth, & human rights. I don’t have great answers.

I would love to hear from mentors about advice they’re giving to trainees/ colleagues.

Direct labeling of microtubule turnover reveals in-lattice repair and stabilization patterns in developing neurons The microtubule cytoskeleton is the backbone of neuronal morphogenesis, driving the development of the dendrites and axon, and supporting trafficking to distant compartments. How neuronal microtubules...

🚨The Neurocyto lab is branching out in our latest preprint! We used tubulin microinjection to directly visualize microtubule turnover in developing hippocampal neurons, demonstrating the presence of in-lattice repair and a selective stabilization in the nascent axon. Check below, or read on 🧵 1/9

#HappyNewYear !
Let's start 2026 with a @cellcommlab.bsky.social paper

How many branches is OK during #CellMigration?
It depends on the #cell: for ex. immune cells are just fine.

In collab. w. #NirGov @hfspo.bsky.social

Full www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@focalplane.bsky.social @science.org 🧪🔬

Macrophage fireworks 🎆 from Miller et al. of the @mmorrissey.bsky.social lab (doi.org/10.1083/jcb....) showing a #macrophage expressing Vav1-mCherry (magenta) interacting with IgG (yellow) on a supported lipid bilayer containing ICAM-1. More in JCB's December issue: rupress.org/jcb/issue/22...

Time-lapse movie of mitochondria (blue) transport within neurons (green) in the tail of a transgenic #zebrafish larva. Credit to @paquetlab.bsky.social. #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

New from Silvia Caballero, Stefania Castagnetti and friends - Embryonic development of the Mediterranean starfish Hacelia attenuata

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Malina Iwanski @mkiwanski.bsky.social, Lukas Kapitein and colleagues discover that stable microtubules reverse their polarity during neuronal development.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#OpenAccess #ReadandPublish

The ‘silent’ brain cells that shape our behaviour, memory and health Astrocytes make up one-quarter of the brain, but researchers are only now realizing their true value.

Long thought of as support cells, astrocytes are emerging as key players in health and disease

go.nature.com/4pJn859

Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues. The single-celled suctorian P. collini builds a trap structure to capture large prey using microtubule feeding tentacles, creating feedback between cell morphology and prey availability.

Check it out at PNAS today. Thank you Alexandre for the collaboration!!

PK Mem probes offer long time-lapse imaging of cell membrane dynamics. Made possible by
Jing Ling, Yitong Liu, and all the collaborators!

Available @spirochrome.com

Target cell adhesion limits macrophage phagocytosis and promotes trogocytosis Macrophages are presumed to attack antibody-opsonized cancer cells by phagocytosis. Rollins et al. found that macrophages attack adherent cells using trogo

See study by @kirstin-rollins.bsky.social, @sareenfiaz.bsky.social, Ishwaree Datta and @mmorrissey.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

🔬 In JCB's November issue: image shows a #macrophage nibbling a #cancer cell. The bone marrow–derived mouse macrophage is expressing a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (green) that activates the Fc Receptor signaling pathway in response to Her2. From Rollins et al. rupress.org/jcb/issue/22...

We have TWO papers out in @jcb.org this month! 🎉

First, @kirstin-rollins.bsky.social showed that macrophages nibble adherent target cells, like the ones found in solid tumors, instead of phagocytosing. Amazing movies from @sareenfiaz.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1083/jcb....

Target cell adhesion limits macrophage #phagocytosis and promotes #trogocytosis, say @kirstin-rollins.bsky.social, @mmorrissey.bsky.social et al.
@ucsantabarbara.bsky.social rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Macrophages #Immunology