Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 2d

Playing around with @kwolbachia.bsky.social 's LUT manager plugin. Absolutely love the campfire LUT🔥 😍#microtubulemonday

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 2d

Absolutely love both the tools :) The LUT manager is so much fun. Thanks 😀

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 3d

Beautiful 😍😍

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 12d

Same. The withdrawal is real !!!

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Reposted by Shweta Nandakumar

bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 19d

Expression of vimentin intermediate filaments in epithelial cells promotes cell migration and cell matrix interaction in 3D https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.18.677142v1

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 22d

Thank you so much 🙌🙂

Reposted by Shweta Nandakumar

Mariana Romeiro Motta @marianattom.bsky.social · 22d

Have you ever wondered how microtubules withstand and respond to mechanical stress in cells?

Here we show by in vitro reconstitution assays that MAP65-1 and PRC1 promote microtubule nucleation on existing lattices, especially on those with structural irregularities linked to mechanical stress.

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 22d

Here's some more exciting new news from the microtubule world ✨Great work from @marianattom.bsky.social the @schaedellab.bsky.social showing how MAP65-1/PRC-1 reinforce microtubules under mechanical stress.
Look at them microtubule arrays in plant cells 😍 ( To quote Verstappen, "Simply lovely")

bioRxiv Cell Biology @biorxiv-cellbio.bsky.social · 22d

MAP65-1/PRC1 reinforces microtubules through nucleation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.14.676082v1

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 23d

Thank you so much ❤️ your comment made my day 🙌🙌❤️

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

A big thank you to my amazing PI Laura Schaedel, my colleagues @schaedellab.bsky.social , Mirko Wieczorek, Constantin Albrecht, @stefandiezlab.bsky.social , @manuelthery.bsky.social and the team of Ludger Santen😀🧵 (9/9).

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

Our findings suggest the intriguing possibility that cells may use intracellular factors to differentially regulate MT response to mechanical stimuli, making MTs either mechanosensitive (adaptive response) or resilient to stimuli based on functional needs.🧵(8/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

Thus damage in buckling microtubules stems from a combination of curvature and motor activity with curvature acting as a key amplifier of motor induced damage. 🧵 (7/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

But MT breakage is relatively infrequent in cells suggesting that intracellular factors may help boost MT resilience. To test this, we performed buckling assays in presence of HEK293 cell lysates and found enhanced MT survival. 🧵(6/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

Interestingly, we also found that buckling MTs break (predominantly at points of high curvature) even in the presence of free tubulin indicating that buckling poses a mechanical challenge that can't be balanced by intrinsic self- repair alone. 🧵 (5/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

We found that kinesin driven buckling causes extensive damage and self-repair showing higher levels of tubulin turnover along 40-60% of the MT lattice length.🧵 (4/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

We set out to bend and buckle microtubules dynamically ( as seen in cells) invitro and reproduced MT behaviours typically seen in cells, in vitro. 🧵(3/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

We found that self repair in bent MTs occurs both in vitro and in cells, with incorporations being more pronounced in cells (Image credit for cell images: @morgangazzola.bsky.social @manuelthery.bsky.social )🧵(2/9)

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

Despite their high rigidity, microtubules (MTs) dynamically bend and buckle in cells. MT-self repair is inherent to their metastable nature, but it remains unclear whether just inherent repair mechanisms are sufficient to maintain MT integrity🧵 (1/9)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 24d

Thank you so much for your kind words ❤️ I am such a big fan of your work😍 It was a lot of fun to bend and break microtubules 😜

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · 28d

Congratulations, Subham 🎉🎉🎉 Great study and uber cool microtubule self-repair images that I can stare at for hours 😍😍😍

Subham Biswas @subhambiswas.bsky.social · 29d

Excited to share that my paper on Tau–Microtubule interactions is now published in Nature Physics!🎉

Our work shows that tau goes beyond stabilizing microtubules—it also promotes the removal of defects in the microtubule lattice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Tau accelerates tubulin exchange in the microtubule lattice - Nature Physics

Beyond its known role in stabilizing microtubules, it is now shown that tau protein actively promotes lattice defect repair by enhancing tubulin turnover at topological defects.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Shweta Nandakumar

Sandra Iden @sandraiden.bsky.social · Jun 21

Upcoming interdisciplinary meeting: Cell Physics 2025
When? October 7-9, 2025
Where? Saarbruecken, Germany
Relevant dates? Early-bird deadline: June 30, regular registration by August 31
Several opportunities for short-talks selected from abstracts
More info at: cell-physics.uni-saarland.de

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · Jun 11

Love it 🤩🤩

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · Jan 19

I love Tj's writing. You should totally grab the sequel 'Somewhere beyond the Sea' 🙌🙌

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · Dec 30

All such amazing choices ❤️❤️Happy reading🙌🙌😊

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Shweta Nandakumar @bucklingmt.bsky.social · Dec 7

Ughhh. I absolutely hate this. And they are not cheap too 🙄🙄

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