Sam Aytekin
@samaytekin.bsky.social
🎓 PhD @KULeuven | Mechanobiology & Microscopy
🧬 Measuring what the cells feel at home
🔬 Molecular Tension Probes • DNA Force Sensors • Biomimetic Hydrogels • TFM • STED
🧬 Measuring what the cells feel at home
🔬 Molecular Tension Probes • DNA Force Sensors • Biomimetic Hydrogels • TFM • STED
Pinned
Sam Aytekin
@samaytekin.bsky.social
· May 2
Linking Molecular Tension and Cellular Tractions: A Multiscale Approach to Focal Adhesion Mechanics
Focal adhesions (FAs) are mechanosensitive structures that mediate force transmission between cells and the extracellular matrix. While Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) quantifies cellular tractions ex...
www.biorxiv.org
We did it!
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
Mark your calendars! Mechanobiology event of the year is around the corner. Can’t wait to return to beautiful Barcelona and reconnect with my old colleagues from IBEC.
📣Announcing the 4th edition of the EMBL‑IBEC Conference on “Engineering Multicellular Systems”, taking place 11–13 March 2026 in Barcelona. Exploring organoids, mechanobiology, embryo models, organ-on-chip systems, multiomics and more. Abstracts open now!
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
events.ibecbarcelona.eu/embl-ibec-co...
October 23, 2025 at 6:38 AM
Mark your calendars! Mechanobiology event of the year is around the corner. Can’t wait to return to beautiful Barcelona and reconnect with my old colleagues from IBEC.
Garcia Lab did it again! Such a fantastic read if you are interested in FAs mechanics and biology. Congratulations to @garcialabgt.bsky.social
Mechanochemical waves in focal adhesions during cell migration
Traction force and FAK signaling exhibit oscillatory temporal coupling in adhesive structures.
www.science.org
October 6, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Garcia Lab did it again! Such a fantastic read if you are interested in FAs mechanics and biology. Congratulations to @garcialabgt.bsky.social
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Still buzzing after the @cellmech2025.bsky.social conference in Leuven!
It was great to connect with so many experts in mechanobiology and to be part of this close, dynamic community. We enjoyed the inspiring talks and left with plenty of new ideas.💡
Already looking forward to the next edition!
It was great to connect with so many experts in mechanobiology and to be part of this close, dynamic community. We enjoyed the inspiring talks and left with plenty of new ideas.💡
Already looking forward to the next edition!
October 3, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Still buzzing after the @cellmech2025.bsky.social conference in Leuven!
It was great to connect with so many experts in mechanobiology and to be part of this close, dynamic community. We enjoyed the inspiring talks and left with plenty of new ideas.💡
Already looking forward to the next edition!
It was great to connect with so many experts in mechanobiology and to be part of this close, dynamic community. We enjoyed the inspiring talks and left with plenty of new ideas.💡
Already looking forward to the next edition!
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Interested in how cells respond when squeezed? Check the review paper just published by Laura Faure, @valeriaventurini.bsky.social and myself on this. Really thorough and clear revision by Laura and Valeria!
In their Review, Laura Faure, Valeria Venturini @valeriaventurini.bsky.social and Pere Roca-Cusachs discuss the biological contexts of cell mechanical compression, the associated mechanisms and the experimental systems engineered to compress cells in vitro.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
April 1, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Interested in how cells respond when squeezed? Check the review paper just published by Laura Faure, @valeriaventurini.bsky.social and myself on this. Really thorough and clear revision by Laura and Valeria!
Always an honor to hear @johannaivaska.bsky.social share her insights, this time on how composite ECM components influence cell behavior, and how fibronectin-dense regions affect (or not) YAP/Oct-1 localization. An inspiring talk from an inspiring scientist. @cellmech2025.bsky.social.
October 1, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Always an honor to hear @johannaivaska.bsky.social share her insights, this time on how composite ECM components influence cell behavior, and how fibronectin-dense regions affect (or not) YAP/Oct-1 localization. An inspiring talk from an inspiring scientist. @cellmech2025.bsky.social.
Great experience presenting my work at @cellmech2025.bsky.social, where I shared how TFM and FRET sensors reveal the relationship between cellular tractions and focal adhesion tension. Sacrificed the food and drinks, but the (rather intense) discussions made up for it 💪🏻
September 30, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Great experience presenting my work at @cellmech2025.bsky.social, where I shared how TFM and FRET sensors reveal the relationship between cellular tractions and focal adhesion tension. Sacrificed the food and drinks, but the (rather intense) discussions made up for it 💪🏻
Exciting week ahead! @cellmech2025.bsky.social is looking truly incredible and we are happy to be here as @rochalab.bsky.social. Let’s share some quality science! 🔬
September 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Exciting week ahead! @cellmech2025.bsky.social is looking truly incredible and we are happy to be here as @rochalab.bsky.social. Let’s share some quality science! 🔬
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
How do #stemcells integrate information to coordinate fate decisions? Delighted to finally see our work showing how growth factors regulate the mechano-osmotic state of the #nucleus and #chromatin to control #pluripotency exit out! www.nature.com/articles/s41... see 🧵 👇
Mechano-osmotic signals control chromatin state and fate transitions in pluripotent stem cells - Nature Cell Biology
McCreery, Stubb et al. show that mechano-osmotic changes in the nucleus induce general transcriptional repression and prime chromatin for cell fate transitions by relieving repression of specific differentiation genes.
www.nature.com
September 29, 2025 at 4:45 PM
How do #stemcells integrate information to coordinate fate decisions? Delighted to finally see our work showing how growth factors regulate the mechano-osmotic state of the #nucleus and #chromatin to control #pluripotency exit out! www.nature.com/articles/s41... see 🧵 👇
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Very happy to see our preprint on how the mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1 controls intercellular junction maturation by balancing cortex and membrane tension now published in @jcellsci.bsky.social Congratulations to Ahsan & team! journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
August 7, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Very happy to see our preprint on how the mechanosensitive ion channel Piezo1 controls intercellular junction maturation by balancing cortex and membrane tension now published in @jcellsci.bsky.social Congratulations to Ahsan & team! journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Huge respect for this technically wild study from the Oakes lab👏
Combining laser ablation, TFM, vinculin tension probes, optogenetics and FRAP, they show that the recruitment of zyxin & paxillin, but not of vinculin and its tension, correlate with local tension changes. Interesting and challenging!
Combining laser ablation, TFM, vinculin tension probes, optogenetics and FRAP, they show that the recruitment of zyxin & paxillin, but not of vinculin and its tension, correlate with local tension changes. Interesting and challenging!
Our new preprint is out! Led by @stefanosala89.bsky.social sky.social we investigate the difference between molecular tension sensing and global tension on the focal adhesion. Follow along for a thread of our findings:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
LIM Domain Proteins link molecular and global tension by recognizing strained actin in adhesions
Mechanotransduction is fundamental to cell signaling and depends on force-sensitive adhesion proteins. How these proteins differentiate and integrate their responses to tension remains an open questio...
www.biorxiv.org
July 22, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Huge respect for this technically wild study from the Oakes lab👏
Combining laser ablation, TFM, vinculin tension probes, optogenetics and FRAP, they show that the recruitment of zyxin & paxillin, but not of vinculin and its tension, correlate with local tension changes. Interesting and challenging!
Combining laser ablation, TFM, vinculin tension probes, optogenetics and FRAP, they show that the recruitment of zyxin & paxillin, but not of vinculin and its tension, correlate with local tension changes. Interesting and challenging!
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
How to turn a layer of fibroblasts into a tulip 🌷?
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 30, 2025 at 5:22 PM
How to turn a layer of fibroblasts into a tulip 🌷?
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out our new pre-print on shape-programmable living surfaces.
Led by @pauguillamat.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
One major drawback of DNA force sensors is their super short lifetime—making them rather unsuitable for most bio studies. Huge congrats (and thanks) to isaacli.bsky.social’s team for solving one more problem for the field! Looks like it’s time to image some integrin forces 😎
Latest from the lab: 🧬 Decoy DNA 🧬 can extend the lifetime of DNA-based tension probes >24h by outcompeting DNases and preserving signal integrity in live-cell tension imaging. This is a simple, general strategy for robust mechanobiology in DNase-rich environments. doi.org/10.1002/anie...
June 26, 2025 at 8:32 AM
One major drawback of DNA force sensors is their super short lifetime—making them rather unsuitable for most bio studies. Huge congrats (and thanks) to isaacli.bsky.social’s team for solving one more problem for the field! Looks like it’s time to image some integrin forces 😎
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Can we break past the usual limits of #SuperResolution #Microscopy—achieving deep-imaging, high-res, large FOV imaging without the trade-offs?
🧬🔬 YES: with #DNA_PAINT + Spinning Disk Confocal + Optical Photon Reassignment (#SDC-OPR)!
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com!
🧵👇
🧬🔬 YES: with #DNA_PAINT + Spinning Disk Confocal + Optical Photon Reassignment (#SDC-OPR)!
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com!
🧵👇
Super-resolution imaging in whole cells and tissues via DNA-PAINT on a spinning disk confocal with optical photon reassignment - Nature Communications
Zaza and colleagues demonstrate that DNA-PAINT on a spinning disk confocal microscope with optical photon reassignment enables high-resolution imaging across large fields and imaging depths, resolving...
www.nature.com
May 30, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Can we break past the usual limits of #SuperResolution #Microscopy—achieving deep-imaging, high-res, large FOV imaging without the trade-offs?
🧬🔬 YES: with #DNA_PAINT + Spinning Disk Confocal + Optical Photon Reassignment (#SDC-OPR)!
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com!
🧵👇
🧬🔬 YES: with #DNA_PAINT + Spinning Disk Confocal + Optical Photon Reassignment (#SDC-OPR)!
📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41... @natcomms.nature.com!
🧵👇
Hydrogels are essential in mechanobiology—and PIC is a game changer.
Fully synthetic yet highly biomimetic, PIC opens new possibilities for 3D cell culture applications.
Congrats to Hongbo Yuan, Kouwer Lab, and rochalab.bsky.social on this detailed Nature Protocols guide! 👏📜
Fully synthetic yet highly biomimetic, PIC opens new possibilities for 3D cell culture applications.
Congrats to Hongbo Yuan, Kouwer Lab, and rochalab.bsky.social on this detailed Nature Protocols guide! 👏📜
Fibrous polyisocyanide hydrogels for 3D cell culture applications - Nature Protocols
Methods to use polyisocyanide as a model matrix for 3D cell culture. Polyisocyanide gels closely mimic the physical properties of biogels such as collagen and fibrin and, as fully synthetic materials,...
www.nature.com
June 7, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Hydrogels are essential in mechanobiology—and PIC is a game changer.
Fully synthetic yet highly biomimetic, PIC opens new possibilities for 3D cell culture applications.
Congrats to Hongbo Yuan, Kouwer Lab, and rochalab.bsky.social on this detailed Nature Protocols guide! 👏📜
Fully synthetic yet highly biomimetic, PIC opens new possibilities for 3D cell culture applications.
Congrats to Hongbo Yuan, Kouwer Lab, and rochalab.bsky.social on this detailed Nature Protocols guide! 👏📜
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Me: I see lines in my 🔬 confocal images! 💊 Doctor: please read this paper! doi.org/10.1016/j.bb...
May 29, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Me: I see lines in my 🔬 confocal images! 💊 Doctor: please read this paper! doi.org/10.1016/j.bb...
This months #GRC on Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules 🔬was a reminder of how powerful in-person science can be. Lots of unpublished research, discussions and brainstorming; making friends and making collaborators too. GRC is a unique experience and I’m still processing it all!
May 25, 2025 at 7:22 AM
This months #GRC on Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules 🔬was a reminder of how powerful in-person science can be. Lots of unpublished research, discussions and brainstorming; making friends and making collaborators too. GRC is a unique experience and I’m still processing it all!
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Registration is now open, come join us in beautiful Zadar (Croatia) in September for Adhere2. event.fourwaves.com/adhere2/pages
2nd International Conference Focused on Cell Adhesion - ADHERE 2
Fourwaves - 2nd International Conference Focused on Cell Adhesion - ADHERE 2
event.fourwaves.com
May 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Registration is now open, come join us in beautiful Zadar (Croatia) in September for Adhere2. event.fourwaves.com/adhere2/pages
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
The GRC on Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules earlier this month was a fantastic meeting.
Good work @tanentzapflab.bsky.social and @sarawickstrom.bsky.social for organising.
www.grc.org/fibronectin-...
Good work @tanentzapflab.bsky.social and @sarawickstrom.bsky.social for organising.
www.grc.org/fibronectin-...
May 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
The GRC on Fibronectin, Integrins and Related Molecules earlier this month was a fantastic meeting.
Good work @tanentzapflab.bsky.social and @sarawickstrom.bsky.social for organising.
www.grc.org/fibronectin-...
Good work @tanentzapflab.bsky.social and @sarawickstrom.bsky.social for organising.
www.grc.org/fibronectin-...
Such a well deserved award. Congratulations to @johannaivaska.bsky.social and her fantastic team 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Finnish Science Award to Professor Johanna Ivaska
The Finnish Science Award 2025 has been awarded to Johanna Ivaska, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Turku.
www.utu.fi
May 25, 2025 at 5:52 AM
Such a well deserved award. Congratulations to @johannaivaska.bsky.social and her fantastic team 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Very important publication highlighting the need for more realistic cell culture disease models that recapitulate better (patho)physiological conditions.
YAP, a protein known to help #cancer cells survive treatment, behaves very differently in cell culture models depending on how they are grown in the lab, highlighting the importance of mimicking tumour architecture to guide better drug strategies.
buff.ly/KQ9bkLg
buff.ly/KQ9bkLg
May 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Very important publication highlighting the need for more realistic cell culture disease models that recapitulate better (patho)physiological conditions.
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
Happy to share our Tensin 1 phase separation project is now on bioRxiv.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This wouldn't be possible without
@johannaivaska.bsky.social
@ivaskalab.bsky.social
#VattulainenLab
#MSCA by @ec.europa.eu
@turkubioscience.bsky.social
@inflames-flagship.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This wouldn't be possible without
@johannaivaska.bsky.social
@ivaskalab.bsky.social
#VattulainenLab
#MSCA by @ec.europa.eu
@turkubioscience.bsky.social
@inflames-flagship.bsky.social
Adhesion-derived condensates control component availability to regulate adhesion dynamics
Integrin adhesion complexes mediate cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions and undergo dynamic remodelling to regulate cell adhesion and migration. Here, we demonstrate that tensin 1 (TNS1), a m...
www.biorxiv.org
May 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Happy to share our Tensin 1 phase separation project is now on bioRxiv.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This wouldn't be possible without
@johannaivaska.bsky.social
@ivaskalab.bsky.social
#VattulainenLab
#MSCA by @ec.europa.eu
@turkubioscience.bsky.social
@inflames-flagship.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
This wouldn't be possible without
@johannaivaska.bsky.social
@ivaskalab.bsky.social
#VattulainenLab
#MSCA by @ec.europa.eu
@turkubioscience.bsky.social
@inflames-flagship.bsky.social
What a view for science! ☀️⛰️
#GRC on #Fibronectin, #Integrins and Related Molecules is going strong in Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco with a beautiful backdrop. I am happy to share my work on focal adhesion mechanics in my first-time Gordon conference with the brightest minds in the field. 🔬
#GRC on #Fibronectin, #Integrins and Related Molecules is going strong in Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco with a beautiful backdrop. I am happy to share my work on focal adhesion mechanics in my first-time Gordon conference with the brightest minds in the field. 🔬
May 7, 2025 at 7:50 AM
What a view for science! ☀️⛰️
#GRC on #Fibronectin, #Integrins and Related Molecules is going strong in Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco with a beautiful backdrop. I am happy to share my work on focal adhesion mechanics in my first-time Gordon conference with the brightest minds in the field. 🔬
#GRC on #Fibronectin, #Integrins and Related Molecules is going strong in Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco with a beautiful backdrop. I am happy to share my work on focal adhesion mechanics in my first-time Gordon conference with the brightest minds in the field. 🔬
We did it!
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
Linking Molecular Tension and Cellular Tractions: A Multiscale Approach to Focal Adhesion Mechanics
Focal adhesions (FAs) are mechanosensitive structures that mediate force transmission between cells and the extracellular matrix. While Traction Force Microscopy (TFM) quantifies cellular tractions ex...
www.biorxiv.org
May 2, 2025 at 8:19 AM
We did it!
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
🧪 After years of fiddling with gels, lasers, cells, and infinite lines of custom codes, our first preprint is out!
We integrated TFM & FRET-based tension probes into one workflow to zoom in on focal adhesions mechanics 🔬
Already 400 downloads and I’m only mildly panicking 😅
Reposted by Sam Aytekin
🌞 Today, the old Cloth Hall is the university’s policy center.
☕ Inside you can visit a tiny museum, a university shop and a coffee bar.
It is still the central place of enrollment, and one of its halls is still regularly used for public PhD defenses and amazing conferences like CELLMECH!!
(5/5)
☕ Inside you can visit a tiny museum, a university shop and a coffee bar.
It is still the central place of enrollment, and one of its halls is still regularly used for public PhD defenses and amazing conferences like CELLMECH!!
(5/5)
March 4, 2025 at 10:56 AM
🌞 Today, the old Cloth Hall is the university’s policy center.
☕ Inside you can visit a tiny museum, a university shop and a coffee bar.
It is still the central place of enrollment, and one of its halls is still regularly used for public PhD defenses and amazing conferences like CELLMECH!!
(5/5)
☕ Inside you can visit a tiny museum, a university shop and a coffee bar.
It is still the central place of enrollment, and one of its halls is still regularly used for public PhD defenses and amazing conferences like CELLMECH!!
(5/5)
@oozguc.bsky.social has many talents—science, art, and making the rest of us jealous, just to name a few. That Cell-estial Bloom image is simply stunning. Truly congratulations!
🎉Congratulations to the Top 3 images from the Node–FocalPlane image competition!
1️⃣"Cell-estial bloom" by @oozguc.bsky.social
2️⃣"Dancing actinotroch" by @allancarbal.bsky.social
3️⃣"Who’s active?" by @jupeloggia.bsky.social
thenode.biologists.com/results-from...
@focalplane.bsky.social #biologists100
1️⃣"Cell-estial bloom" by @oozguc.bsky.social
2️⃣"Dancing actinotroch" by @allancarbal.bsky.social
3️⃣"Who’s active?" by @jupeloggia.bsky.social
thenode.biologists.com/results-from...
@focalplane.bsky.social #biologists100
May 1, 2025 at 10:05 PM
@oozguc.bsky.social has many talents—science, art, and making the rest of us jealous, just to name a few. That Cell-estial Bloom image is simply stunning. Truly congratulations!