Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈

I think it could be the heat. That room is warm quite often so now im thinking maybe this is the cause? I gave up my imaging today because it's too agitating 😔

Thanks! This one is from the facility so unfortunately I'll just have to use what they got. I'll speak to them next week.

I think the room might be too warm sometimes and it could make it go bad faster. I'll talk to the facility next week. Thanks very much.

I'll talk to the facility people. I tried a different bottle from another scope and had the same problem. Could be the heat!! Can heat make immersion oil congeal?

I have never had any problem ever so this is very baffling to me.

Then I dont know what to make of it 😔

#chemsky

I'm imaging live so no sealant or anything. Just glass bottom dish. After a while, when you move the lens, you can visibly see the oil gets thicker (change in light diffraction). Its like congealing. 😔😔😔

Can it happen with longer wavelengths? I'm imaging in the red channel. I have never experienced this before even with blue light, but I will check with the facility to see how old this oil is. Thanks so much.

The oil is from the facility. I don't remember ever having any problem up until around late last year during one of the imaging sessions. I use a small amount of oil and it's still happening. More is worse.

#Question: This may sound like I'm crazy but has anyone experienced immersion oil solidifying or getting stickier after light exposure? Until recently I noticed the oil suddenly gives off a lot of autofluorescence after ~10 mins of imaging, becomes thicker. Have to wipe constantly, really annoying.

Design of the protein FRET ladder

Fancy a fresh preprint for Friday? When we were first getting involved with single molecule FRET, there weren't any standard protein molecules that suited our applications to help us develop our pipeline. So we built some! A universal protein ladder for FRET. 🧵 1/

Two complementary articles from the lab of Anming Meng and Katie McDole discussing the history and biology of organizer in 🐟, 🐸, and 🐭. Even after more than 100 years since its discovery, major questions remain, especially for mammals.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Vγ1 γδ T cells steer airway macrophages toward a profibrotic response in an autochthonous lung cancer mouse model In lung cancer, airway macrophages are modulated by an unconventional T cell subset, relevant to care for pulmonary comorbidities.

Delighted to share our latest paper, led by Dr Ximena Raffo-Iraolagoitia, just published in Science Advances! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I found this immune cell (🔴) prying open the junction between the ectoderm cells from underneath. You can see its protrusions probing (yellow arrow) and threading through between the other cells before the whole cell body is squeezed through in 1 sweeping motion. So cool! #FluorescenceFriday

Thank you!

Hi Kevin, thanks for taking an interest. This one is from a Zeiss880 inverted scope. These are not human cells but xenopus cells so they have yolk platelets inside each cell, which enables us to culture them outside of an embryo. In terms of format, this is just a typical mp4 file.

Neurogenesis, as turns out, is highly dependent on cytokine signalings. Even more interesting, the landscape of cytokines in the CNS is highly localised, and a large proportion of cytokine production is done by the meninges. This review by Rua et al discusses in more detail:
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Cell body getting taken for a ride in this early stage neuron. Microtubules🔵 and Actin🟣 labeled and imaged for 16hr on a Zeiss LSM880. Happy #FluorescenceFriday

I found this immune cell (🔴) prying open the junction between the ectoderm cells from underneath. You can see its protrusions probing (yellow arrow) and threading through between the other cells before the whole cell body is squeezed through in 1 sweeping motion. So cool! #FluorescenceFriday

Fig. 1. An epigenetic roadmap for early trophoblast development in mice. The trophoblast lineage exhibits lower levels of DNA methylation compared to the embryonic lineage. At the late 2-cell stage, Carm1 expression increases to varying degrees in each blastomere. The high level of Carm1 biases the fate of ICM. As early as the 4-cell stage, all blastomeres initiate an imprinted XCI, which is controlled by maternal H3K27me3 imprinting on the Xist gene. At the 8–16-cell stage, high levels of the chromatin remodeling protein Smarcc1 in partial blastomeres at the late 8-cell stage upregulate epithelial keratins to determine the fate of the trophectoderm. Imprints of placental origin, mediated by the LncRNA Kcnq1ot1, are established during the process of trophoblast lineage differentiation between E4.5 and E7.5. Furthermore, chromatin-modifying enzymes play important roles in post-implantation trophoblast differentiation. ICM, inner cell mass; XCI, chromosome inactivation.

Fig. 4. Chromatin-modifying enzymes and their essential roles in embryonic/fetal development in mice. (A). Null mutations of chromatin-modifying enzymes can lead to embryonic or fetal development failure at various stages. The blue genes are genes that play a role in cell survival. The red genes are genes that play a role in trophoblast development. (B). The phenotypes of placental development defects resulting from mutations in chromatin-modifying enzymes. DNA methylation and histone modifications regulate genomic stability, the imprinting process, chromatin architecture, and gene expression during placental development in mice. Thus, null mutations in essential genes encoding chromatin-modifying enzymes cause various defects in trophoblast development. Kmt5a−/−, Kat5−/−, and Kat8−/− mutations result in cell death. Kdm1a−/−, Nsd1−/−, Prmt1−/−, Prmt5−/−, Ezh2−/−, and Rnf2−/− mutations result in chorion defects. Ehmt2−/− and Dnmt1−/− result in defects in chorioallantoic fusion. Setd2−/− results in defects in vascular branching. me, methylation; ac, acetylation; p, phosphorylation; ub, ubiquitination; dace, deacetylation; dme, demethylation.

The importance of epigenetic modifications in embryonic development has been cemented. In mammals, the trophoblasts play a crucial role in implantation, and their DNA methylation status is crucial. This detailed review by Hua Zhang et al discussed just how important this is:
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

Cells moving through tissue interact with the ECM and also with other cells, which can affect morphogenesis. In this interesting paper from the M Lisa Manning lab, Kupffer's Vesicle's trailing cells are shaped by the dragging force from other cells as it moves through tissue.
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

A fantastic line up of speakers! Register is now open.

Yey, I found myself in the Molecular and Cell biology!! Our cluster is at the edge of the galaxy! A bit like our solar system haha.

🎇 Calling for paper submission to our Special issue "Tissue Biology – at the interface between immunology and developmental biology". This issue focuses on the interactions between resident immune cells and the surrounding tissue.

Deadline: ‼️30th March 2026‼️

www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...

Fig. 1. What determines the anatomical setpoint of regenerative homeostasis? Planarian flatworms regenerate after amputation using a resident population of stem cells. This process reliably stops when the correct species-specific head shape is restored. The following thought experiment illustrates the profound knowledge gap in our understanding of the rules of morphogenesis despite ample information about genes required for neoblast differentiation. (A) Fragments from a round-head species result in a round-headed regenerate; (B) Fragments from a flat-head species result in flat-headed regenerates. (C) A chimera can be produced by irradiating one species (removing half of the stem cells) and receiving injections of donor neoblasts from a flat-head species. (D) When neoblasts from diverse species combine in the same body, and the head is amputated, what head shape will the regenerative process construct? Despite genomic and molecular-biological information on regeneration in multiple species, the field as yet has no models which make a prediction. This illustrates the importance of chimeras in identifying gaps in our understanding of the rules of emergent processes such as anatomical homeostasis and collective decision-making by cell groups.

✂️ the head of round-head worm => new round head formed.
✂️ the head of flat-head worm => new flat head formed.
What shape will it be if we ✂️ the head of a worm with 50:50 round + flat stem cells?
Check out this exciting review by @drmichaellevin.bsky.social lab!
#chimerism
doi.org/10.1016/j.cd...

A new paper published in @jcb.org by postdoc Jorge Diaz from the Mayor lab at UCL shows that during collective migration, epithelial-like clusters generate traction force mainly through cryptic protrusions at the centre, while mesenchymal clusters do so at their periphery:
doi.org/10.1083/jcb....

My sister-in-law's dad died last week, in hospice in the VA hospital in Minneapolis. I just learned Alex Pretti was part of his care team. They shot Alex less than 1/2 mile from my niece's house while doing the same observation work that my niece is doing. These are real people. Step up folks!

I now find myself looking for interesting papers on Linkedin. Who would have thought?

Congratulations, @rashmi-priya.bsky.social. Rashmi's works focus on the mechanics of heart development using zebrafish as a model system. Fantastic achievement!