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Marko Kaksonen

@kaksonen.bsky.social

1.4K followers 720 following 29 posts

Biologist fascinated by cells, molecules and the evolution of cellular processes. Membrane traffic, cytoskeleton, microscopy, fungi, evolutionary cell biology. https://www.unige.ch/sciences/biochimie/labs/marko-kaksonen/

www.unige.ch

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Nov 10

Starting my Bluesky life by resharing this six-day time lapse movie of Dictyostelium discoideum we took a few years ago.

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Katrina Velle @katrinavelle.bsky.social · 3d

PhD or Master's position available for Fall 2026!

Interested in how actin drives cell crawling, eating, dividing, or osmoregulation? What about pathogenesis of a brain-eating amoeba? Or eukaryotic evolution? If so, apply through my website: katrinavelle.wixsite.com/science/cont...
Please share!

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Boris Sieber @borissieber.bsky.social · 13d

Mammalian cells have KSR, budding yeast has Ste5… and fission yeast has Sms1 as the MAPK scaffold for sexual reproduction!

Very excited to share my postdoc work where we discover that the hemi-arrestin Sms1 binds all components of the MAPK cascade, including ERK-like Spk1

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Schematic of MAPK signalling in fission yeast, budding yeast and Metazoa. No MAPK scaffold was known for ERK-like MAPK in fission yeast, as opposed to budding yeast Ste5 and metazoan KSR1/2.

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Paul & Virginie - Centriole Lab @centriolelab.bsky.social · 23d

Be our new colleague! 🎉
The Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Geneva is hiring an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor.

👉 More details here: lnkd.in/e8Z9eAm4
👉 Our department: mocel.unige.ch

Please feel free to share this opportunity with your network.

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Robin Pranter @robinpranter.bsky.social · 19d

How does cell end developmental biology inform our understanding of evolution? Join us for an afternoon of discussion about #cells, #development, #plasticity and #evolution.
Zoomlink Sep 25th: lu-se.zoom.us/j/62473328732
Zoomlink Sep 26th: lu-se.zoom.us/j/67411449026
#EvoDevo @biologylu.bsky.social

Symposium in Lund September 25th
The cellular roots of evolutionary change
Sep 25 14:30 - 17:00
Blå hallen, Ekologihuset, Sölvegatan 37, Lund
How does cell- and developmental biology improve our understanding of the evolutionary process? Join us for an afternoon of discussions about cells, development and evolution.
Program
14:30 Introduction
14:40 Arild Husby, Plasticity of a life history trade-off: from GRN to high level phenotypes
15:10 Markéta Kaucká, Cell type evolution
15:40 Coffee break
16:00 Gunter Wagner, From cells to tissues and organs: nothing in evolutionary biology makes sense except in the light of cell biology
16:30 Emilia Santos, Interplay between genetics and phenotypic plasticity in the adaptation to novel environments
Bonus Sep 26:
09:00 Robin Pranter, Thesis defense - Neural crest cells and the evolution of a phenotypic syndrome
Lund University

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Felix Campelo @felixmendu.bsky.social · 22d

Next Thursday Sept 25 (4-6pm CET) we have our first #FocalPlaneFeatures together with our #membranetrafficking community! Thanks to all who submitted such exciting abstracts. The final program is out, featuring a keynote by Gillian Griffiths. Register here: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/09/16/f...

FocalPlane features... membrane trafficking
Thursday 25 September, 15:00 -17:00 BST (UTC+1)
Chaired by Francesca Bottanelli, Felix Campelo and Ishier Raote
Nick Ader (UNC Greensboro)
Keep it together! Mechanisms of membrane maintenance and biogenesis
Hannes Maib (University of Sheffield)
Multiplex and super resolution imaging of phosphoinositide conversion during receptor trafficking
Mónica Quiñones-Frías (Brandeis University)
Loss of ER-Shaping protein Atlastin causes synaptic ER stress and membrane trafficking defects
Keynote speaker
Gillian Griffiths (Yale University)
Unexpected membrane dynamics in T cells

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Sofya Garushyants @garushyants.bsky.social · 23d

hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Ivan Radin @radinbio.bsky.social · 23d

Do you know what happens when you touch a carnivorous sundew plant?
If the touch is strong and large enough, a cytosolic calcium wave will spread from the site of touch throughout the whole plant, but if you only touch one tentacle (see post below), the calcium wave will be local and less intense.

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · 27d

Yes! At first glance they look like crocuses, but they are actually more closely related to daffodils.

Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · 27d

And quite suddenly the autumn daffodils start blooming…

Sternbergia lutea flowers opening after autumn rains

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 29d

Allocation of resources among multiple daughter cells. New study from Alison Wirshing, Daniel Lew and colleagues @mit.edu: rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Cytoskeleton #Development

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Thibaut Brunet @thibautbrunet.bsky.social · 29d

New short paper from our lab @currentbiology.bsky.social, in which we discover of a new mode of cell motility for choanoflagellates: flagellar gliding. www.cell.com/current-biol... - A 🧵

Flagellar gliding in choanoflagellates

Freire-Delgado and Brunet discover a new mode of cell motility in choanoflagellates, the closest relatives of animals. Under mild confinement, choanoflagellate move over surfaces without cell deformat...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Saravanan Palani @syncellbiolab.bsky.social · 29d

How do cells keep their #actin “highways” stable?🚦
Our paper @PLOS Genetics reveals surprising teamwork (and backup plans!) between tropomyosin isoforms in yeast. #imaging #cytoskeleton #celldivision
This work was brilliantly led by @anubhavdhar.bsky.social @bagyasree.bsky.social
t.co/RvUrzad5tL

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · Aug 26

What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Video by Vittorio Boscaro.

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Aug 23

Leaving Barcelona after an exciting week of evolutionary biology at the #ESEB2025 meeting!

Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Flo Débarre @flodebarre.bsky.social · Aug 14

Folks going to #ESEB2025 : To help people connect on Bluesky, I've started making starter packs. Here is a first one with the names that were available when I started.

Ping me if you want to be included in the next one!

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Aug 13

Thanks Stephane!!

Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social · Aug 7

Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

With @dudinlab.bsky.social
@embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Christophe Le Clainche @actin-paris-saclay.bsky.social · Aug 6

🎓 My team is seeking a PhD student in Biochemistry & Cell Biology at I2BC, Paris-Saclay!
🔬 Study cytoskeletal signaling in collective cell migration
🌍 Fully funded, 3 yrs | 📍 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
🗓️ Apply by Aug 22 via the following link:
emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/Docto...

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Aug 5

The 1:1 ratio is an arbitrary definition from the film era that ignores the sensor pixel size, which is pretty important for macrophotography.
Just ask the trolls to show you their own 1:1 photos of flying insects!! 😀

Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Mukund Thattai @thattai.bsky.social · Aug 4

I set out to review the evolution of eukaryotic intracellular traffic, but along the way a new hypothesis came into focus: maybe the earliest membrane carriers were tubules, not coated vesicles!

New preprint: ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

Here’s the idea. 🧵

A schematic showing two models for the evolution of the eukaryotic cell plan starting from an archaeal ancestor. The "inside-out" and "outside-in" models both lead to an intermediate stage with internal and plasma membranes connected by tubules. The sequence continues through the formation of an endomembrane lumen, followed by the emergence of membrane contact sites and tubular carriers, and finally coated vesicles and stable compartments.

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Liz Miller @lizmillercu.bsky.social · Aug 4

Go check out the latest preprint from Giulia Zanetti's lab. @dr-downes.bsky.social used cryo-tomography to directly visualize COPI and COPII coated vesicles in situ at unprecedented resolution in human cells. Amazingly beautiful, rigorous, insightful work.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Multi-scale Molecular Imaging of Human Cells reveals COPI and COPII Vesicles at ER Exit Sites

Trafficking from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus comprises the first steps toward the correct localization of 30% of eukaryotic proteins. Coat protein complexes COPII and COPI are inv...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · Jul 31

I was looking through my old microscopy videos, and found this perfect shot of a macropinosome forming through the collapse of an actin-driven membrane ruffle (cyan). Immediately, CRYI-A (orange) is recruited to the vesicle to finish the job. Still in awe with this process after all those years!

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

eLife @elife.bsky.social · Jul 12

While academic publishing may not be broken, it isn’t built to serve science either. It runs on a chain of perverse incentives, but everything we need to rebuild it is already in our hands.

#OpenScience #AcademicSky
buff.ly/oSesI1s

Screenshot of article summary of: Toward Science-Led Publishing by Damian Pattinson, George Currie published as an opinion piece, in Learned Publishing Summary The current dynamic of scholarly publishing prioritises the wants of the publishing industry over the needs of the research community. This article explores this theme through the lens of ‘publisher-led science’ as a description of our current status quo, and through ‘science-led publishing’ as an improved future state. We argue that financial motivations central to most publishing distort how research is presented, how it is assessed and even what research is undertaken, leading to a system that hinders, rather than facilitates, scientific progress. We propose three elements of a science-led publishing approach that would accelerate research communication, incentivise collaboration between authors, editors and reviewers, and create a more transparent and equitable research landscape. We believe that research funding and research assessment are two of the primary levers for wider change in research and research culture and consider the future purpose of scholarly publishing in a world where these proposals have been widely adopted.

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Marko Kaksonen @kaksonen.bsky.social · Jul 10

How does evolution shape ancient cellular processes? Our new paper uncovers the mosaic evolution of conserved and diverging endocytic traits in fungi!

www.cell.com/current-biol...

Mosaic evolution of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in fungi

Picco et al. take an evolutionary approach to study clathrin-mediated endocytosis in a fungal clade and discover that the process is evolving in a mosaic fashion. The early phase of endocytosis has sh...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Marko Kaksonen

Mark A. Hanson @hansonmark.bsky.social · Jul 10

The "reproducibility crisis" in science constantly makes headlines. Repro efforts are often limited. What if you could assess reproducibility of an entire field?

That's what @brunolemaitre.bsky.social et al. have done. Fly immunity is highly replicable & offers lessons for #metascience

A 🧵 1/n

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