In a combined effort with the Wormsense and Microsystems labs at Stanford we finally released our publication with JoVE about how to use and run a microfluidic device for C elegans mechanosensation.

We are recruiting PhD students to perform research in neuronal cell biology. The overarching goal of our research is to understand how animals sense minute mechanical forces, and how mechanosensitive neurons remain resilient and sensitive despite being challenged continuously. Please see this webpage for further information and our approach to the topic. The successful candidate will work closely with the PI to design and carry out experiments, using C. elegans as a model and employing techniques such as genetics, quantitative imaging and mechanical stimulation using optical tweezers or microfluidic devices. Several projects with preliminary data are available, depending on the candidate’s interest and previous experience. If you are self-motivated, hard-working and not afraid of worms, ICFO is a vibrant community, providing opportunities to interact and collaborate with research groups across disciplines, thereby preparing the candidate for an independent academic career.

To apply, please send your CV and a cover letter outlining your previous research, future aspirations, and how they integrate with lab’s interests to michael.krieg@icfo.eu.

Our paper about the involvement of fibrillin (fbn-1) during pharynx development in C elegans is now published eLife and can be read online. This is a product of an awesome collaboration between many labs coordinated by David Fay in Wyoming. For me, it was a challenging piece as I had to familiarize myself with C elegans embryogenesis and develop imaging protocols to measure force at the anterior pole of embryos. The idea behind the project was to use the spectrin FRET-force sensor to read out changes in stress exerted upon pharyngeal attachment to the buccal cavity epithelium.

Back from an awesome conference at an interesting place. After a couple of days breathing filtered AC air in the middle of nowhere, I am still waiting for my sanity check.  My brain is still full of mechanotransduction, piezo proteins and stomatins. This was the general theme of this meeting and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it.  Currently, I am digesting propioception in Drosophila larvae, which seems to be such an elegant model to study the interplay between sensory neuron mechanics and coordination of different body parts. Stay tuned.

Wonder! I am an official and registered owner of the worlds smallest, chaepest, lightest and most fun microscope! Thanks a a lot Manu, Thanks a lot Prakash lab. You also should check our the Manu’s TED talk about global health and browse their decent webpage, in which all users can upload their explorations.

microcosmos.foldscope.com

For my part, I started exploring my surrounding and could see worms everywhere.

Have you ever wondered what happens before a touch is felt? When you fingertip gets into contact with your favourite object? Yes, the information needs to go to your brain, which then tells you what happened. As you can imagine, there are several steps inbetween, that the information needs to surmount. Whereas the signal  propagation inside the nerve cells is quite well investigated, one of the least understood events is how the mechanical information reaches the nerve cells. It has to travel through several layers of tissue and then, it has to open the mechanosensitive ion channel inside the nerves, which ultimately converts the mechanical information into an electrical. In this article we summarize what is know about these events in C elegans. Enjoy.

Currently I am working on three different projects. The first and most advanced is a theoretical paper together with Jack, in which we investigate a potentially unifying mechanics by which force regulated cellular dynamics. This can happen on the level of an ion channel or influence the differentiation of the organism. Most commonly, forces have been studied in the context of the actin cytoskeleton, but it is generally neglected what these force mean in the context of the whole cellular metabolism and the organism. Here I want to combine theoretical modeling of clusters of slip and catch bonds under force and explain on the basis well documented literature how force acts as a signal using basic principles of system biology.