Microscopy preprints – applications in biology

Posted by FocalPlane, on 12 August 2025

Here is a curated selection of preprints published recently. In this post, we share preprints that use microscopy tools to answer questions in biology.

Tubulin autoregulation tunes microtubule dynamics to support multicellular architecture and viability
Ana C. Almeida, Chahrazed Lacheheub, Ivana Gasic

Figure extracted from Almeida, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

Centriolar satellites are dynamic membrane-less organelles that assemble via a hierarchical pathway
Efe Begar, Ece Seyrek, Selin Yilmaz, Melis D. Arslanhan, Ezgi Odabasi, Elif Nur Firat-Karalar

LIM Domain Proteins link molecular and global tension by recognizing strained actin in adhesions
Stefano Sala, Shreya Chandrasekar, Lee Troughton, Huini Wu, Jordan R. Beach, Patrick W. Oakes

An active torque dipole across tissue layers drives avian left-right symmetry breaking
Julia Pfanzelter, Jonas Neipel, Adrian A. Lahola-Chomiak, Nikoloz Tsikolia, Alexander Mietke, Jerome Gros, Frank Jülicher, Stephan W. Grill

T cell protrusions enable fast, localised initiation of CAR signalling
Carmen Rodilla-Ramirez, Giorgia Carai, Eleanor Fox, Amin Zehtabian, Helen Adam, Katja Dallio, Helge Ewers, Xiaolei Su, Francesca Bottanelli

Figure extracted from Rodilla-Ramirez, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

The Drosophila proventriculus lacks stem cells but compensates for age-related cell loss via endoreplication-mediated cell growth
Ben Ewen-Campen, Weihang Chen, Sudhir Gopal Tattikota, Ying Liu, Yanhui Hu, Norbert Perrimon

Quantitative high-resolution imaging of mouse nephron formation to study Wnt signaling dynamics
Nobuko Tsuchida-Straeten, Simon Hammer, Aliaksandr Halavatyi, Christian Tischer, Gislene Pereira, Matias Simons

Figure extracted from Tsuchida-Straeten, *et al*

AP-3 complex sorts preferential cargo to govern dense core vesicle function in neuroendocrine cells
Shashank Saxena, Vinayak Ghosh, Chandramouli Mukherjee, Badal Singh Chauhan, Sanchari Banerjee, Bhavani Shankar Sahu

Neural Connectome of the Ctenophore Statocyst
Kei Jokura, Sanja Jasek, Lara Niederhaus, Pawel Burkhardt, Gáspár Jékely

Figure extracted from Jokura, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.

Guidance of cellular nematics into shape-programmable living surfaces
Pau Guillamat, Waleed Mirza, Pradeep K. Bal, Manuel Gómez-González, Pere Roca-Cusachs, Marino Arroyo, Xavier Trepat

Figure extracted from Guillamat, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

Big1 is a cell cycle regulator linking cell size to basal body number
Alexander J. Stemm-Wolf, Adam W. J. Soh, Lisa E. Mitchell, Huangqingbo Sun, Erik Collet, Gayatri L. Dholakia, Vikram Raju, Jay R. Hesselberth, J. Matthew Taliaferro, Robert F. Murphy, Lydia R. Heasley, Chad G. Pearson

The Multifaceted Role of EXOC6A in Ciliogenesis
Te-Lin Lin, Chien-Ting Wu, Tang K. Tang

Figure extracted from Lin, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

Homer condensates orchestrate YAP-Wnt signaling crosstalk downstream of the Crumbs polarity complex
Siti Maryam J M Yatim, Linda Jiabao Woo, Yuhong Chen, Barbara Hübner, Alexander Ludwig

Development of a live-cell imaging assay to elucidate spatiotemporal dynamics of extracellular vesicle fusion with target cells
Jasper van den Ende, Kyra A.Y. Defourny, Huib H. Rabouw, Marvin E. Tanenbaum, Richard W. Wubbolts, Esther N.M. Nolte-‘t Hoen

Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching reveals different behaviour of tropomyosin isoforms Tpm3.1 and Tpm4.2 in dendritic spines
T. Tomanić, H. Stefen, E. Parić, A. Chien, T. Fath

A Standardized Protocol to Investigate Trans- Endothelial Trafficking in Zebrafish: Nano-bio Interactions of PEG-based Nanoparticles in Live Vasculature
Ye-Wheen Lim, Craig A. Bell, Nicholas L. Fletcher, Nicholas D. Condon, Dewan T. Akhter, James Rae, Charles Ferguson, Nick Martel, James Humphries, Harriet P. Lo, Yeping Wu, Zachary H. Houston, Anne K. Lagendijk, Thomas E. Hall, Kristofer J. Thurecht, Robert G. Parton

Microtubule curling as an efficient readout to uncover fundamental concepts of axonal cell biology
André Voelzmann, Milli Owens, Robin Beaven, William Cairns, Abigail Elliot, Sheng-Hui Feng, Catarina Goncalves-Pimentel, Ines Hahn, Ella Jones, Kodie Norris, Thomas Murphy, Yu-Ting Liew, Lydia Lorenzo-Cisneros, Judith Fuelle, Liliana M. Pinho-Correia, Yue Qu, Natalia, Tarunima Sharma, Sánchez-Soriano, Andreas Prokop

Biomolecular condensates at the nuclear pore basket maintain global chromatin organization
Zoé Narat, Stefany Figueroa, Christine Doucet, Charlene Boumendil

PIKfyve governs endoplasmic reticulum-lysosome contacts to modulate endoplasmic reticulum dynamics
Nicala Jenkins, Zainab Adamji, Nourhan R. Almasri, Sharifa Lomiyev, Roberto J. Botelho

Architecture and Function of Holocentric CENP-A-Independent Kinetochores
Christine Yu, Sundar Ram Sankaranarayanan, Gaetan Cornilleau, Anna Howes, Caleigh Azumaya, Inna Zilberleyb, Bobby Brillantes, Tommy K. Cheung, Leonie Dec, Damarys Loew, Phong Tran, Christopher M. Rose, Ines Anna Drinnenberg, Claudio Ciferri, Stanislau Yatskevich

MYO1F interactome reveals the SH3-domain linked CASS complex at podosomes and the phagocytic cup
Susan D. Arden, Eva Pennink, András Lakatos, Gillian M. Griffiths, Anna H. Lippert, Folma Buss

Figure extracted from Arden, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

In situ Structure of the Human Gap Junction
Evans Eshriew, Esa-Pekka Kumpula, Shiv K. Sah-Teli, Amiel Abettan, Amina Djurabekova, Vivek Sharma, Juha T. Huiskonen

Loss of CHMP2A implicates an ordered assembly of ESCRT-III proteins during cytokinetic abscission
Nikita Kamenetsky, Dikla Nachmias, Suman Khan, Ori Avinoam, Itay Hazan, Alexander Upcher, Natalie Elia

Front–rear polarity of intracellular signaling uncovered via giant Dictyostelium cells
Yukihisa Hayashida, Yuki Gomibuchi, Chikoo Oosawa, Takuo Yasunaga, Yusuke V. Morimoto

Figure extracted from Hayashida, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license.

Measurements of Contractility in Actin Convergence Zone and KIF11-Inhibited Mitotic Spindles
Alexandre Matov

Depletion of endomembrane reservoirs drives phagocytic appetite exhaustion in macrophages
Aaron Fountain, Mélanie Mansat, Tracy Lackraj, Maria C. Gimenez, Serene Moussaoui, Maya Ezzo, Sierra Soffiaturo, Elijah Urdaneta, Munira B. Verdawala, Karen Fung, Charlene Lancaster, Elliott Somerville, Boris Hinz, Mauricio R. Terebiznik, Roberto J. Botelho

The molecular basis of tricalbin-mediated membrane contact site organization in cells
Lazar Ivanović, Anne-Laure Boinet, Andrea Picco, Marko Kaksonen, Wanda Kukulski

ERM proteins regulate the shape and number of Endoplasmic Reticulum–Plasma Membrane Junctions in neurons
Huichao Deng, Jinbo Cheng, Richard D. Fetter, Guanghui Qin, Jianxiu Zhang, Xing Liang, Caitlin A Taylor, Mingjie Zhang, Xiandeng Wu, Kang Shen

The growth-promoting protein TMEM263 is an ER resident that controls early stages of lipid droplet biogenesis
Katy Yalci, Nafsika Chala, Joanna Moss, Przemysław Zakrzewski, Rabia Sevil, Lana Willoughby, Seren Wonklyn, Thomas Andrews, Chrissy Hammond, Robin A. Corey, Bernadette Carroll

Figure extracted from Yalci, *et al.* The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

Raman spectroscopy reveals growth phase-dependent molecular differences in bacterial membrane vesicles
Lennart Christe, Annika Haessler, Stefanie Gier, Bernd Schmeck, Nathalie Jung, Maike Windbergs

Detecting Nuclear Pore Complex assembly in living cells
Annemiek C Veldsink, Jonas S Fischer, Hanna M Terpstra, Philip Mannino, Eline MF de Lange, Sophie Hell, Koen J van Benthem, Leila J Saba, Anton Steen, Rifka Vlijm, Matthias Heinemann, Karsten Weis, C Patrick Lusk, Liesbeth M Veenhoff

The rupture and independent extension of sister membranes in C. elegans embryos
Jingjing Liang, Tingrui Huang, Xun Huang, Mei Ding

Spatiotemporal regulation of ciliary outer dynein arm biogenesis and the role of PIH homologs
Karthika Balasubramaniam, Fangqi Fu, Cynthia Y. He

Mapping mesenchymal diversity in the developing human intestine and organoids
Kelli F. Johnson, Xiangning Dong, Yu-Hwai Tsai, Angeline Wu, Sydney G. Clark, Sha Huang, Rachel K. Zwick, Ian Glass, Katherine D. Walton, Ophir D. Klein, Jason R. Spence

Hbs and Rst adhesion molecules provide a regional code that regulates cell elimination during epithelial remodelling
Miguel Ferreira-Pinto, Mario Aguilar-Aragon, Christa Rhiner, Eduardo Moreno

In situ architecture of plasmodesmata suggests mechanisms controlling intercellular exchange
Marcel Dickmanns, Matthias Pöge, Peng Xu, Sven Gombos, Manuel Miras, Jürgen M. Plitzko, Rüdiger Simon, Waltraud X. Schulze, Wolf B. Frommer, Wolfgang Baumeister