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Ale Mongera

@mongeralab

Developmental biologist at UCL Multicellular Morphogenesis Lab http://zebrafishucl.org/mongera-lab

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16.11.2024
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Latest posts by Ale Mongera @mongeralab

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02.03.2026 18:16 πŸ‘ 16 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
β€’	Figure 1 of the article: Fig. 1. Phase diagram of tissue material phase transitions and examples. (A) Schematic diagram showing how continuous changes in microscopic dynamics (control parameter) lead to abrupt, drastic, and non-linear shifts in macroscopic properties that define the material response (order parameter). (Aa-Ab) Exemplary phase transitions as traditionally described in non-living matter, e.g. for water (Aa), as well as in living matter, e.g. for embryonic tissues (Ab). Yellow areas indicate fluid-like tissues and regimes. Blue areas indicate solid-like tissues and regimes. Magenta dashed line depicts the critical point. Orange line marks particle and cell trajectories.

β€’ Figure 1 of the article: Fig. 1. Phase diagram of tissue material phase transitions and examples. (A) Schematic diagram showing how continuous changes in microscopic dynamics (control parameter) lead to abrupt, drastic, and non-linear shifts in macroscopic properties that define the material response (order parameter). (Aa-Ab) Exemplary phase transitions as traditionally described in non-living matter, e.g. for water (Aa), as well as in living matter, e.g. for embryonic tissues (Ab). Yellow areas indicate fluid-like tissues and regimes. Blue areas indicate solid-like tissues and regimes. Magenta dashed line depicts the critical point. Orange line marks particle and cell trajectories.

Tissue phase transitions in development: more than just mechanics

In this Review, @nicolettapetridou.bsky.social, @laura-rustarazo.bsky.social and @karengrace12.bsky.social discuss tissue phase transitions during development: doi.org/10.1242/dev....

20.02.2026 13:00 πŸ‘ 23 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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We are hiring! Join the Stapornwongkul lab as a Master's student to develop novel optogenetic tools and investigate how spatiotemporal metabolic dynamics affect patterning and morphogenesis of in vitro human gastrulation. Link below πŸ‘‡

17.02.2026 17:40 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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VGZT is back this Thursday with two exciting talks! πŸŽ‰

πŸ—“οΈ Thursday, February 19th
⏰ 9:30 PST / 12:30 EST / 17:30 UTC / 17:30 GMT / 18:30 CET

Our speakers are
πŸ‘‰ Raquel Fueyo (@fueyoraquel.bsky.social)
πŸ‘‰ Margarete Diaz Cuadros (@mdiazcuadros.bsky.social)

See you on there! πŸ‘‹

17.02.2026 15:08 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Two funded PhD positions investigating the evolution of sarcomeres @ibdm.bsky.social in @biancah0406.bsky.social and our lab, together with @cnidevo.bsky.social - Interested to explore how similar or different Jellyfish sarcomeres are to Drosophila or human ones?
www.ibdm.univ-amu.fr/ibdm_job/2-a...

16.02.2026 10:49 πŸ‘ 45 πŸ” 35 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
JOB ALERT!

Lecturer in Biological Sciences

Come and join us in the world class Life Sciences Building at the University of Bristol!

Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Come and join us in the world class Life Sciences Building at the University of Bristol! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT!

Lecturer in Biological Sciences

Interested in our research areas? Click the link in our bio to discover more!

Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT! Lecturer in Biological Sciences Interested in our research areas? Click the link in our bio to discover more! Closing date: Sunday 8 March

JOB ALERT!

We are excited to announce that we are recruiting three new academics at lecturer level!

Click the link below for more info on how to apply, and don’t forget to explore our research themes too!

We look forward to receiving your applications!

www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/de...

12.02.2026 09:13 πŸ‘ 54 πŸ” 74 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 7
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Really excited to share our new paper in @nature.com! We uncovered how a physical instability of the cytoplasm coupled with the cell cycle drives cytoplasmic partitioning in early embryos #zebrafish #drosophila. Read more in this🧡 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🀩
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

28.01.2026 16:10 πŸ‘ 204 πŸ” 67 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 10
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International Developmental Mechanics Seminar Series Please fill out the following survey if you are interested in the 2025-2026 International Zoom Seminars on Developmental Mechanics.

πŸŽ‰ The Developmental Mechanics Seminar Series is back!
πŸ—“οΈ Thurs, Jan 22
πŸŽ™οΈ Opening talks:
🧬Guy Tanentzapf (UBC)
β€” How cell adhesion molecules wire into the cytoskeleton
πŸŒ€Juan Manuel Gomez Elliff (EMBL)
@gomezjm-devmech.bsky.social
β€” Mapping tissue mechanics with Brillouin microscopy

19.01.2026 11:13 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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ÁGΓ†TIS BYRJUN, Sigur Ros 1999

28.12.2025 16:08 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Using fluorescence live imaging and an in vitro implantation model, we show that human embryo attachment begins with direct cell fusion via syncytin-2–MFSD2A interaction.
With @hansclevers.bsky.social.
Great work by @tnoordzij.bsky.social & @martinacelotti.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

24.12.2025 19:49 πŸ‘ 47 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1

Super cool paper! Presomitic mesoderm, oxygen levels, segmentation clock

23.12.2025 13:35 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

🚨Seeking developmental or cell biologistsπŸ”¬!🚨
Our department @ucl-cdb.bsky.social is looking to support scientists seeking to establish their lab with a fellowship. Deadline: 30 Jan. Apply here: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

18.12.2025 18:38 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 9 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Congrats to the leading author @agrigas.bsky.social!

17.12.2025 17:46 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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❗PREPRINT ALERT❗
doi.org/10.64898/202...
The lab of M. Lisa Manning at @syracuseu.bsky.social in collaboration with Ale Mongera at @ucl-cdb.bsky.social show that in the avian presomitic mesoderm, Contact Inhibition of Locomotion has a tissue-wide effect, making tissue act like a fluid under tension.

17.12.2025 17:17 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 7 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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Sparse mesenchymal cell networks as a fluid under tension Sparse mesenchymal cellular networks are ubiquitous across animals, shaping both embryonic and adult structures through dynamic interactions with epithelia. Yet, the physical principles underlying the...

Contact Inhibition coordinating tissues made sparsely of mesenchymal cells.

From Alex Grigas @ ManningGroup and @mongeralab.bsky.social

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

17.12.2025 10:20 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

And big thanks also to my friend @amichaut.bsky.social for helping us with the analysis!

12.12.2025 14:57 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Super cool work spearheaded by the amazing @agrigas.bsky.social! Excited for this collaboration with @manningresearch.bsky.social and for everything still to come! πŸŽ‰ Also thank you to @emaniou.bsky.social and @glgalea.bsky.social for your help!

12.12.2025 14:50 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Very excited about this new paper out on bioRxiv, spearheaded by the fantastic Dr. Grigas in collaboration with @mongeralab.bsky.social and Galea labs.

12.12.2025 14:15 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Check out this new preprint on PSM mechanics! Very nice work!

12.12.2025 13:40 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sparse mesenchymal cell networks as a fluid under tension Sparse mesenchymal cellular networks are ubiquitous across animals, shaping both embryonic and adult structures through dynamic interactions with epithelia. Yet, the physical principles underlying the...

How do sparse mesenchymal cells, with unique stellate arms spanning large gaps between cells, maintain their network while still flowing during development? In our new preprint we describe the avian PSM as a fluid under tension and develop new theory to explain it: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

12.12.2025 13:28 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 3
Cover of the December 1996 issue of Development that describes the results of The Big Screen.

Cover of the December 1996 issue of Development that describes the results of The Big Screen.

With more than 2.1k citations, 'The identification of genes with unique and essential functions in the development of the zebrafish, Danio rerio' by the CNV Lab highlighted the arduous work that took place during 'The Big Screen'. In total, 1163 mutants were described. #ZebrafishFunFacts πŸ§ͺ

29.11.2025 06:29 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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So called microtubule organizing centers (MTOCs) are not "organizing centers". They don't control their position (network center), nor MT orientation, length and shape (network shape). The actual organizers are MTs, molecular motors and regulators of MT +ends. MTOCs nucleate MTs.
Let's rename MTOCs.

27.11.2025 08:47 πŸ‘ 67 πŸ” 16 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 0
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Thought I was being really novel when I designed and 3D printed this mold for zebrafish transplants based on the microinjection one, but found out today it already exists…
Bottom: my PLA mold that’s bent from warm agarose
Top: a very kind (more robust looking) gift from @mongeralab.bsky.social

26.11.2025 17:58 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Cell type-independent timekeeping gene modules enable embryonic stage prediction in zebrafish https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.12.688039v1

13.11.2025 20:34 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1

Stationary and germ layer-specific cellular flows shape the zebrafish gastrula https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687746v1

12.11.2025 15:35 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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How can we organize current theoretical approaches for developmental biology - from information to dynamical systems & GRNs - into a common framework?

We propose to think along Marr's 3 levels: computational problem, algorithm, implementation

Check out our review:
arxiv.org/abs/2510.24536

10.11.2025 06:46 πŸ‘ 49 πŸ” 13 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 2
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We are looking for: PhD Student (starting as Research Assistant) and Postdoctoral Researcher in Stem Cell Biology and Mechanobiology. Please RTπŸ’•
πŸ”— About our lab: renew.science/principal_in...
πŸŽ“ PhD position: jobportal.ku.dk/phd/?show=15...
πŸ§ͺ Postdoc position: jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...

03.11.2025 19:05 πŸ‘ 31 πŸ” 24 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 5
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🚨 Come join us @sheffielduni.bsky.social for a PhD on the evolution and development of feathers and flight! πŸ£πŸ”¬

This project is supervised by @matt-towers.bsky.social & @alexgfletcher.bsky.social, and I'm excited to be involved as a project advisor. Please share!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project... πŸ§ͺ

03.11.2025 14:46 πŸ‘ 36 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1

Had the pleasure of working with @mohannad-dardiry.bsky.social to rethink what it means to develop for life. Many thanks to @dev-journal.bsky.social! @embl.org #LifelongDevSI

31.10.2025 11:24 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 1
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I Dreamt of Fruit Flies - Lasker Foundation In the mid-1970s, Christiane NΓΌsslein-Volhard was struggling. Two years after finishing her PhD in molecular biology, she was working as a postdoctoral researcher in a lab she longed to leave. The…

Happy birthday to #LaskerLaureate Christiane NΓΌsslein-Volhard! She identified 120 genes involved in specifying embryonic pattern development.
Read about the epic screen that yielded her Lasker Award-winning results: ow.ly/Pz2050PYFsz #WomenInSTEM πŸ§ͺ

20.10.2025 16:32 πŸ‘ 30 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 1