Microscopy preprints: applications in biology

Posted by FocalPlane, on 29 May 2026

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

Single-disc optical visualization in photoreceptors uncovers protein architecture and compartmentalized pathology
Simone Mortal, Jesús Planagumà, Enric Pérez-Parets, Pablo Loza-Alvarez

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

Microtubule-templated actin assembly by septin9 drives apical expansion of epithelial cells
Angelo Arrigo, Victoria Hua, Elias T. Spiliotis, Saurabh Kulkarni

Stereotypical interciliary contacts in a C. elegans sense organ
Nikhila Krishnan, Hannah Lawson, Samantha Leslie, Yu-Ming Lu, Leland Wexler, Maxwell G. Heiman, Piali Sengupta

RhoG, Rac1 and Cdc42 cooperation in cell protrusion revealed by multiplexed optogenetics and biosensor imaging
Frederico M. Pimenta, Jaewon Huh, Christopher M. Welch, Neha K. Pankow, Daniel J. Marston, Timothy C. Elston, Gaudenz Danuser, Klaus M. Hahn

Reversible hypervascularization drives cognitive decline and blood-brain barrier damage during aging
Mihail Ivilinov Todorov, Katalin Todorov-Völgyi, David-Paul Minde, Saketh Kapoor, Mayar Ali, Rainer Malik, Johannes Christian Paetzold, Julian McGinnis, Lanyue Zhang, Alessia Nottebrock, Lu Liu, Mikael Simons, Harsharan Singh Bhatia, Marios K. Georgakis, Martin Dichgans, Farida Hellal, Ali Ertürk

foxQ2 marks fast-acting brain interneurons including a subset of dopaminergic neurons innervating mushroom bodies and central complex in the beetle Tribolium castaneum
Ying Pang, Bastian Klußmann-Fricke, Doga Cedden, Jiajun Zhang, Johannes B. Schinko, Michalis Averof, Thomas Riemensperger, Gregor Bucher

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

Fluorescent timer-based screening of protein turnover modulators in human neurons
Joanna Dembska, Anne-Laure Mahul-Mellier, Armelle Tollenaere, Yllza Jasiqi, David M. Suter

Draper-mediated efferocytosis by Drosophila imaginal disc epithelial cells clears cellular debris during regeneration
Snigdha Amit Mathure, Kaela Maghinang, Rachel Smith-Bolton

Met regulates endoderm migration in zebrafish
Po-Shu Tu, Aaliyah M. Ruiz-Corral, Stephanie Woo, Stefan C. Materna

Determining the Migration Behavior of Retinal Progenitor Cells in the Embryonic Eye Field of Xenopus laevis
Randolph L. Grell

Figure extracted from Grell. The image is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.

Quantitative imaging of corneal endothelial development reveals dynamic but resilient monolayer
R Ramarapu, WR Stoehr, M Miesen, N Amro, SM Thomasy, CD Rogers

EpCAM sustains crypt mechanics and prevents aberrant remodeling
Soleilhac Matis, Ruiz Laura, Berrebi Dominique, Barai Amlan, Lecouffe Brice, Richelme Sylvie, Obino Valentine, Dang Tien, Buzhinsky Nicolas, Rico Felix, Salomon Julie, Ruemmele Frank, Delacour Delphine

Heterochrony of axis segmentation underlies extreme morphogenesis in the Japanese eel
Ali Seleit, Kazuharu Nomura, Leon Hilgers, Michael Hiller, Kiyoshi Naruse, Yukinori Kazeto, Alexander Aulehla

Distinct roles for TANGO1S domains in maintaining ER-Golgi architecture
Elizabeth A Lawrence, Lorna Hodgson, Judith Mantell, M. Esther Prada-Sanchez, Chrissy L Hammond, David J Stephens, Nicola L Stevenson

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

Quantitative multi-scale morphodynamic analysis reveals ratchet-like collective DVE migration and epiblast retrograde cell flow during anterior patterning in the mouse embryo
Matthew J. Stower, Felix Y. Zhou, Rahil Valani, Jan Rozman, Holly Hathrell, Jonathan Godwin, Xin Lu, Jens Rittscher, Julia M. Yeomans, Shankar Srinivas

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

Endocytic accessory proteins assemble clathrin while simultaneously destabilizing protein condensates
Brandon Malady, Susovan Sarkar, Liping Wang, Zuzana Kadlecova, Eileen M. Lafer, David Owen, Jeanne C. Stachowiak

Antarctic fish cell cultures show adaptation of organelle morphology and dynamics to extreme cold
Francesca W van Tartwijk, Anne-Pia M. Marty, Amir Rahmani, Yuetong Jia, Edward N. Ward, Isa Hussain, Lloyd S. Peck, Clemens F. Kaminski, Melody S. Clark

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

ER-associated control of axonal vesicle trafficking during neuronal development
Mélody Subra, Janet B Meehl, Robert G Abrisch, Gia K Voeltz

Multiscale volume electron microscopy of the human liver maps vascular-cellular architecture, organelle dynamics and inter-organelle communication
Cheng Xing, Ronald Xie, Ben Mulcahy, Ali Darbandi, Cornelia Thoeni, Ishaan Singh Chandok, Yuna Lee, Jun Ma, Fez Ali, Ian D. McGilvray, Sonya MacParland, Mei Zhen, Gary D. Bader

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

Biomimetic 3D mammary duct models of healthy and tumoral tissues engineered by a co-extrusion microfluidic-based technology
A Richard, V Bergeron, A Boyreau, D Dumousset, E Mazari-Arrighi, G Recher, C Albiges-Rizo, P Nassoy, L Andrique

LRRTM4 controls cell migration via Glypican interactions
Claudia Peregrina, Miguel Berbeira-Santana, Maria Carrasquero-Ordaz, Irene Rodríguez-Navarro, Kamel El Omari, Hao-Yi Li, Gönül Seyit-Bremer, Rüdiger Klein, Valerie Castellani, Elena Seiradake, Daniel del Toro

JCAD couples tight junction condensates to actin and RhoA to maintain the endothelial barrier
Kyle A Jacobs, Yoon-Gu Jang, Fang-Shiuan Leung, Lakyn N Mayo, Torsten Wittmann, Jeffrey O Bush, Matthew L Kutys

CCDC66 couples actin-microtubule crosslinking to KANK1-associated microtubule targeting and focal adhesion turnover
F. Basak Turan, Ilgin Sezer, Jovana Deretic, Mehmet Gönen, Elif Nur Firat-Karalar

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

Nucleolar Dynamics During Oogenesis
Ruoyu Li, Grace McKown, Dai Tsuchiya, Mark Mattingly, Anna Galligos, Michay Diez, Jui Feng Lu, Mary C McKinney, Sean McKinney, Boris Rubinstein, Timothy J Corbin, Melainia McClain, Carrie Carmichael, Victoria A Hassebroek, Stephanie H Nowotarski, Jennifer L Gerton, Kamena K Kostova

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

Deep learning-based decoding of axonal ultrastructure in gene-edited mice using electron microscopy imaging
Nianqi Deng, Guillaume Miao, Anmar Khadra, Alan C Peterson, Hooman Bagheri

Probing relaxed myosin states in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by second harmonic-generation microscopy
Giulia Arecchi, Marica Dente, Weikang Ma, Beatrice Scellini, Nicoletta Piroddi, Marina Scardigli, Jingyuan Yu, Jing Zhao, Riccardo Cicchi, Ryo Kinegawa, Caroline Muellenbroich, Francesco Sera, Corrado Poggesi, Cecilia Ferrantini, Thomas C. Irving, Michael Regnier, Leonardo Sacconi, Chiara Tesi

Expansion microscopy reveals insulin granule clustering in human β-cells in type 2 diabetes
Licia Anna Pugliese, Valentina De Lorenzi, Gianmarco Ferri, Ha Vo, Allison Lindquist, Marta Tesi, Carmela De Luca, Mara Suleiman, Lorella Marselli, Yongxin Zhao, Piero Marchetti, Fabio Beltram, Francesco Cardarelli

Density-Dependent Rearrangement of Desmoplakin in Epithelial Junctions: Insights from Expansion Microscopy
Ukyo Kawasaki, Yusuke Arakawa, Kazumasa Ohashi, Shuhei Chiba

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

Challenges in Brillouin microscopy: Addressing heterogeneity and contamination for reliable biomechanical mapping of fresh brain tumors
Ortrud Uckermann, Tina Leonidou, Jan Rix, Achim Temme, Ilker Y. Eyüpoglu, Roberta Galli

3D Reconstruction of Nanoparticle Distribution in Tumor Spheroids with Volume Electron Microscopy
Davide Bottone, Lukas R. H. Gerken, Sebastian Habermann, José María Mateos, Miriam S. Lucas, Johannes Riemann, Melanie Fachet, Ute Resch-Genger, Vera M. Kissling, Matthias Rösslein, Alexander Gogos, Inge K. Herrmann

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

SARS-CoV-2 (E)-protein induces rapid TLR2-mediated T cell activation in mouse lungs revealed by intravital lung microscopy
Yasmin Shaalan, Nethaji Kuruppu, Zane Orinska, Chenxi Li, Frauke Koops, Roxana-Maria Wasnick, Elfriede Noessner, Tobias Stoeger, Silke Meiners, Markus Rehberg

Organization of Myosin H in the Apical Complex of Toxoplasma Gondii Revealed by 3D Single-Molecule Super-Resolution Microscopy
Ashwin Balaji, Li-av Segev Zarko, Andrew E.S. Barentine, John C. Boothroyd, W.E. Moerner

EPS8 dampens the growth dynamics and prolongs the lifetime of actin-based protrusions
Alexandra G. Mulligan, Zachary J. Lehmann, Kianna L. Robinson, Matthew J. Tyska

Double Periodicity of the AnkyrinG-Associated Complex in the Axon Initial Segment
Gülberk Bayraktar, Josephine K Dannersø, Sean DS Hansen, Lisbeth Schmidt Laursen, U. Valentin Nägerl, Poul Nissen

ILK binding to β1 Integrin is indirectly mediated by Kindlin-2
Susanne C.M. Reinhardt, Ralph T. Böttcher, Florian Brod, Jan D. Speidel, Ralf Jungmann, Reinhard Fässler

Polarity remodeling of ventricular cardiomyocyte precursors during heart morphogenesis is required for ventricular chamber formation
Zihang Wei, Jingzhen Chen, Chuyao Peng, Xiaotong Wu, Anming Meng

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

Metal-induced energy transfer uncovers activation-induced axial reorganization of signaling complexes inside cells
Eike Wienbeuker, Arthur Felker, Oleksii Nevskyi, Steffen T. Harms, Daniel Marx, Kevin Tanzusch, Anna Chizhik, Rainer Kurre, Changjiang You, Jörg Enderlein, Jacob Piehler

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

The 2D and 3D ultrastructure of symbiosomes and associated vesicular structures in Lotus japonicus root nodule symbiosis
Isabella Gantner, Katarzyna Parys, Andreas Klingl

Investigating the axoneme CCDC40 protein reveals new insights in trypanosome morphogenesis and division
Christine Girard-Blanc, Thierry Blisnick, Vincent Louvel, Paul Guichard, Virginie Hamel, Philippe Bastin

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

Actin disassembly triggers CNS myelin compaction and wrapping
Husniye Kantarci, Kathryn Wu, Nicholas Ambiel, Eduardo Chaparro Barriera, Madeline H. Cooper, Alexandra Münch, Yari M. Sigal, Miguel A. Garcia, Manasi Iyer, Danielle M. Jorgens, J. Bradley Zuchero

T cells compete via reverse MHC class I signaling at the synapse with dendritic cells to secure Golgi recruitment for activation
Anthi Psoma, Elke M. Muntjewerff, Mara J.T. Nicolasen, Rjimke Bottema, Martin ter Beest, Rinse de Boer, Frans Bianchi, Natalia H. Revelo, Geert van den Bogaart

Class III PI3K is essential for Wingless secretion and Evi/Wls recycling in Drosophila
Michaela Holzem, Bojana Pavlović, Mareike Munz, Claudia Strein, Jan Gerwin, Marko Lampe, Fillip Port, Michael Boutros

Subcellular Characterization of the Molecular Determinants of Ebola VP40 Trafficking and Assembly
Tyler Huth, Ella Wiggenhorn, Susmita Khanal, William Wan

Lipid packing contributes to the confinement of caveolae to the plasma membrane
E. Larsson, A. Kabedev, H. Pace, J. Lindwall, F. Bano, J. Rae, R.G. Parton, C.A.S. Bergström, I. Parmryd, M. Bally, R. Lundmark

Septin crosstalk with microtubules and actin is regulated by a GSK3-dependent phosphoswitch
Md Noor A. Alam, TrishaJean C. Holt, Andrew W. Schaefer, Franklin Mayca-Pozo, Sarath Reghunathan, Sarah M. Butts, Priyanka Bhakt, Ilona A. Kesisova, Elias T. Spiliotis

Label-free real-time imaging of mitochondrial matrix volume changes and permeability transition in living cells
Yaw Akosah, Ioannis Azoidis, Dane Jensen, Paolo Bernardi, Evgeny Pavlov

Intrinsic space-time couplings governing multi-scale cortical dynamics
Alexander D White, Yu Wang, John Kochalka, Yukun Alex Hao, Chelsea Li, Melissa Hernandez, Nadya Andini, Ki Eun Pyo, Wendy Wenderski, Anish Mitra, Barsin Eshaghi Gharagoz, Chandan Kadur, Surya Ganguli, Thomas R Clandinin, Michael Lin, Karl Deisseroth