Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
@surajshankar.bsky.social
Asst. Prof. in Physics
LSA Collegiate fellow
University of Michigan
Previously JF at Harvard & PhD at SU
he/him
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/shankar-lab/
How function emerges collectively in soft, active, living matter? | Physics, maths, & biology
LSA Collegiate fellow
University of Michigan
Previously JF at Harvard & PhD at SU
he/him
https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/shankar-lab/
How function emerges collectively in soft, active, living matter? | Physics, maths, & biology
Pinned
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
The lab’s first pre-print! We investigated how growth-inducing Erk activity waves are regulated in regenerating zebrafish scales. We discovered that Erk waves are followed by waves of expression of their own inhibitors, as predicted by excitable waves theory. tinyurl.com/26r2cmpj
November 20, 2025 at 6:11 PM
The lab’s first pre-print! We investigated how growth-inducing Erk activity waves are regulated in regenerating zebrafish scales. We discovered that Erk waves are followed by waves of expression of their own inhibitors, as predicted by excitable waves theory. tinyurl.com/26r2cmpj
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
🙊
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 1:15 AM
🙊
Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)
November 3, 2025 at 5:26 AM
Excited to be at ICTS for the school on Geometry, Mechanics and the Physics of Growth, co-organized with Ganga Prasath (IITM) and @joelmarthelot.bsky.social (Aix-Marseille)! Fantastic start with a lecture on continuum elasticity by @abigailplummer.bsky.social (BU)
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
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
October 31, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Host-mediated niche construction of bacterial communities in an aquatic microecosystem
Abstract. Microbes coordinate homeostasis in host-associated and environmental ecosystems alike, but the connectivity of these biomes is seldom considered.
doi.org
October 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Excited to share our new paper out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social. We asked if environmental microbial communities can be adaptively modulated by host species that transiently acquire their symbionts from the environment #SymbioSky #MicrobiomeSky
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
📣 New preprint! Stoked to share a fantastic collaboration with @campaslab.bsky.social!
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Really excited to present the results of a fantastic collaboration with Jesse Veenvliet @jesseveenvliet.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social 🤩
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We find a unique mechanism for body axis elongation in mammals, different from other vertebrate species
➡️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 28, 2025 at 3:34 PM
📣 New preprint! Stoked to share a fantastic collaboration with @campaslab.bsky.social!
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
We discover a unique mammalian mechanism for body axis elongation using mouse and human gastruloids, and confirm central findings in mouse embryos.
Check out the 🧵 👇
@mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
October 24, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Preprint 🚨! B cells form localized patterns in the immune synapse when mature, allowing improved affinity discrimination. How? We suggest a new mechanism using dynamic active forces and feedback! Read more @ arxiv.org/abs/2510.18771. Great colab with Shenshen Wang, Tom Chou and Tony Wong (UCLA).
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
October 24, 2025 at 10:57 AM
“Cellular Olympics” our catalog of freeky ultra fast cellular superhero’s is freely available “Ann Rev of microbiology”
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
This is a compilation of world’s fastest single cell organisms - enjoy this buffet of rare delightful protists with mind bending speeds. 🧪
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
🚨🚨🚨
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
🚨🚨🚨
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
And THREE stood up!
Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact.
When we join together and fight back, WE WIN!
No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent.
LET’S GO!
#DefendHigherEd
@aaup-penn.bsky.social
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
MCDB Assistant Professor Faculty Search. Please Repost!
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
MCDB Opens Search for Faculty | U-M LSA Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology (MCDB)
MCDB welcomes applications at the Assistant Professor level from outstanding biological scientists in all areas of physiology and neuroscience, spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal le...
lsa.umich.edu
October 14, 2025 at 1:49 PM
MCDB Assistant Professor Faculty Search. Please Repost!
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Applications Due Oct 15th (TOMORROW!)
We welcome applications from all areas of physiology and neuroscience - spanning molecular, cellular, systems, and organismal levels.
More information can be found HERE:
lsa.umich.edu/mcdb/news-ev...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.
October 9, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Life knows how to keep going - even if it’s freezing -15 degrees C 🥶 outside. AGU just covered our discovery of ultra resistant ice diatoms gliding into a world record! 🧪🔬Enjoy the story here:
eos.org/articles/ice...
eos.org/articles/ice...
Ice Diatoms Glide at Record-Low Temperatures - Eos
New observations reveal how microscopic organisms move through polar ice and illustrate how they may have evolved to thrive in extreme environments.
eos.org
October 7, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Life knows how to keep going - even if it’s freezing -15 degrees C 🥶 outside. AGU just covered our discovery of ultra resistant ice diatoms gliding into a world record! 🧪🔬Enjoy the story here:
eos.org/articles/ice...
eos.org/articles/ice...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
1/11 In @science.org: A new perspective on how our intestines renew. Cells are not “pushed out” by crowding or die from apoptosis. Instead, cells play a mechanical tug-of-war, where weaker cells extrude, reframing gut renewal as force-regulated. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Epithelial tension controls intestinal cell extrusion
Cell extrusion is essential for homeostatic self-renewal of the intestinal epithelium. Extrusion is thought to be triggered by crowding-induced compression of cells at the intestinal villus tip. In th...
www.science.org
September 6, 2025 at 7:36 PM
1/11 In @science.org: A new perspective on how our intestines renew. Cells are not “pushed out” by crowding or die from apoptosis. Instead, cells play a mechanical tug-of-war, where weaker cells extrude, reframing gut renewal as force-regulated. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Mechanical forces drive evolutionary change
A small tissue fold present in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses and may have evolved in response to mechanical forces.
www.mpi-cbg.de
September 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Dresden researchers @paveltomancak.bsky.social @bruvellu.bsky.social, Carl Modes, @cuencam15.bsky.social & colleagues published in @nature.com that a tissue fold in fruit fly embryos buffers mechanical stresses & may have evolved in response to mechanical forces. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
March 19, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Lab’s latest: (mouse) mums grow their guts during pregnancy and lactation: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
More on collective behavior: Our new Annual Review of Biophysics piece - with the stellar Danielle Chase - explores how animals sense, share information, and make group decisions. In honeybees and beyond 🐝
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
August 9, 2025 at 9:16 PM
More on collective behavior: Our new Annual Review of Biophysics piece - with the stellar Danielle Chase - explores how animals sense, share information, and make group decisions. In honeybees and beyond 🐝
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Out today in Phys. Rev. Fluids, our 'Arrested development and traveling waves of active suspensions in nematic liquid crystals'. The bend instability in active suspensions pairs off against bending resistance in LCs to tell quite a story! 1/20
people.math.wisc.edu/~spagnolie/P...
people.math.wisc.edu/~spagnolie/P...
August 4, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Out today in Phys. Rev. Fluids, our 'Arrested development and traveling waves of active suspensions in nematic liquid crystals'. The bend instability in active suspensions pairs off against bending resistance in LCs to tell quite a story! 1/20
people.math.wisc.edu/~spagnolie/P...
people.math.wisc.edu/~spagnolie/P...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
I’m thrilled to share my first review about microbial ecology + mosquito-borne disease control! Bacteria block pathogen development in the mosquito gut, but which bacteria will produce long-lasting results in the field? Let’s think about colonization and persistence in the mosquito gut! (1/4)
Drs @holly-nichols.bsky.social & Kerri Coon review #microbial #ecology for #mosquito-borne disease control. #Paratransgenesis #Colonization #Resistance #Transmission #Microbiota #Transplantation @uwbact.bsky.social @uwmadisonmdtp.bsky.social @uwmadison.bsky.social
www.cell.com/trends/paras...
www.cell.com/trends/paras...
Leveraging microbial ecology for mosquito-borne disease control
Mosquitoes transmit pathogens causing 700 000 deaths annually. Microbe-based vector
control, which reduces vector populations or blocks pathogen development within vectors,
offers an innovative way to...
www.cell.com
July 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM
I’m thrilled to share my first review about microbial ecology + mosquito-borne disease control! Bacteria block pathogen development in the mosquito gut, but which bacteria will produce long-lasting results in the field? Let’s think about colonization and persistence in the mosquito gut! (1/4)
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Publishing scientific papers is an obstacle course. There are many aspects to this but lengthy review times are one. That's why I am very excited about the new initiative @biologyopen.bsky.social, @biologists.bsky.social open access journal: Fast & Fair 1/n 🧪
journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...
journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...
July 14, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Publishing scientific papers is an obstacle course. There are many aspects to this but lengthy review times are one. That's why I am very excited about the new initiative @biologyopen.bsky.social, @biologists.bsky.social open access journal: Fast & Fair 1/n 🧪
journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...
journals.biologists.com/bio/pages/fa...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
This was a fun exercise... reflecting on my accidental path into science, the questions that drive our lab @crick.ac.uk , and thoughts on building a more inclusive scientific community. Grateful for the opportunity @focalplane.bsky.social and Subhajit .
New post from 2024 #FocalPlaneCorrespondent @sdutta.bsky.social
Subhajit talks to @rashmi-priya.bsky.social about her unconventional journey into science, her fascination with organ morphogenesis & her dedication to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
Subhajit talks to @rashmi-priya.bsky.social about her unconventional journey into science, her fascination with organ morphogenesis & her dedication to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.
An Interview with Dr. Rashmi Priya - FocalPlane
An Interview with Dr. Rashmi Priya - Asian Microscopists and Cell Biologists
focalplane.biologists.com
July 7, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This was a fun exercise... reflecting on my accidental path into science, the questions that drive our lab @crick.ac.uk , and thoughts on building a more inclusive scientific community. Grateful for the opportunity @focalplane.bsky.social and Subhajit .
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Have you ever thought about inflating tissues?
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
July 3, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Have you ever thought about inflating tissues?
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
Or maybe quickly deflating those inflated tissues?
New #EpithelialMechanics pre-print: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧵 with pressure control, multiscale buckling, controlled wrinkling
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Our two sister papers on combinatorial metamaterials published today in @physrevresearch.bsky.social, a result of a fantastic SKCM2 collaboration with Chaviva Sirote-Katz at Tel Aviv and Tamás Kálmán at Tokyo shokef.tau.ac.il
July 1, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Our two sister papers on combinatorial metamaterials published today in @physrevresearch.bsky.social, a result of a fantastic SKCM2 collaboration with Chaviva Sirote-Katz at Tel Aviv and Tamás Kálmán at Tokyo shokef.tau.ac.il
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
Scientific collaborations come in many flavors & are fun because they expose you to new areas of science. That was definitely the case for this paper, out today. We were definitely in the passenger seat but it was fun to go along for the ride 1/n
rdcu.be/euiZB.
rdcu.be/euiZB.
Emergence of cellular nematic order is a conserved feature of gastrulation in animal embryos
Nature Communications - The morphogenetic events that occur during gastrulation involve dramatic cell- and tissue-level changes. Here they show that propagation of nematic order, leading to...
rdcu.be
July 1, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Scientific collaborations come in many flavors & are fun because they expose you to new areas of science. That was definitely the case for this paper, out today. We were definitely in the passenger seat but it was fun to go along for the ride 1/n
rdcu.be/euiZB.
rdcu.be/euiZB.
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
good take on the current state of the State attack on scientific infrastructure by @joshuasweitz.bsky.social
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/on-sticks-...
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/on-sticks-...
On Sticks, Karats, and Charades: The Structural Dismantling of American Science
The displacement of NSF employees from their headquarters opens a new front in the dismantling of American leadership in science.
joshuasweitz.substack.com
June 27, 2025 at 9:24 PM
good take on the current state of the State attack on scientific infrastructure by @joshuasweitz.bsky.social
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/on-sticks-...
joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/on-sticks-...
Reposted by Suraj Shankar 🏳️🌈
You hadn’t heard of kleptoplasty before? It is a pretty amazing phenomenon indeed. I was lucky to learn about it when this paper came to @elife.bsky.social a few years ago: elifesciences.org/articles/60176
Chloroplast acquisition without the gene transfer in kleptoplastic sea slugs, Plakobranchus ocellatus
The newly opened genome of a kleptoplastic mollusk, Plakobranchus ocellatus, indicated that sequestered plastids retain their activity within the animal cell without horizontal algal gene transfer to ...
elifesciences.org
June 25, 2025 at 8:59 PM
You hadn’t heard of kleptoplasty before? It is a pretty amazing phenomenon indeed. I was lucky to learn about it when this paper came to @elife.bsky.social a few years ago: elifesciences.org/articles/60176