Author | Lightnews

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[8/8] Curious to learn more? Check the link in the first post for the whole story ☝️
Lastly, huge kudos to Julian Voits and @ulrichschwarz.bsky.social, who independently reached similar conclusions: arxiv.org/html/2403.17... (soon in PRX Life).

2

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[7/8] Our model, a step toward a deeper mechanistic understanding of how biological processes scale with temperature, offers an alternative perspective that embraces the underlying complexity of biochemical regulation.

1 1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[6/8] Our scaling equation – a quadratic-exponential function with single-exponential deviations at extremes – fits 100+ temperature-response curves across traits and taxa, offering a sound estimate of mean activation energy.

1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[5/8] At temperature extremes, timing deviates from the quadratic-exponential law. It becomes dominated by the slowest rate-limiting step, where forward transitions turn slower than backward ones – effectively trapping the process in a loop.

1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[4/8] Interestingly, this quadratic-exponential behavior holds within a range around the reference temperature, where forward transitions dominate and averaging applies.

1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[3/8] The completion time of such multi-step processes, i.e., reaching step n from step 1, was found to follow a quadratic-exponential function of inverse temperature. This scaling, seen in experiments, naturally emerges from averaging over many independent intermediate steps.

1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[2/8] Our model is relatively straightforward: a cascade of n (reversible) Markov jump processes, each transition rate following Arrhenius-like temperature scaling, with forward transitions favored near a reference temperature.

1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

[1/8] Biological processes are governed by complex biochemical networks – far beyond single reactions – and often form multi-step transition cascades. Together with Simen Jacobs, Federico Vazquez, and @lendertgelens.bsky.social, we show that modeling these as Markov chains has striking consequences.

1 1

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 23h

🚨 Late preprint alert!
Why do biological process rates scale nonlinearly with temperature, deviating from the straight line on an Arrhenius plot? The key may lie in their inherent complexity!

More in thread and here: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

1 7 20

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · 7d

Last year at EMBL, Prof. McIntosh gave a historical overview of the discovery of dynamical instability, and it was one of the most insightful and fun lectures I've ever listened to. Really excited to read this piece from him.

Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 7d

Perspective from Richard McIntosh describing the history of research on #microtubule polymerization in terms of the ideas, technologies, and observations that have emerged as countless researchers have studied the dynamics of these essential cytoskeletal polymers. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

2 5

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social · 7d

Final version of our paper on ciliary metachronal waves out now in Science Advances! doi.org/10.1126/scia...

This is the main thesis work of my PhD student Rebecca Poon, who caught many #platnereis larvae and tirelessly ablated them with a laser. THREAD

2 10 36

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

EMBO @embo.org · 15d

Learn all things #cytoskeleton #research in an interdisciplinary environment at EMBO Workshop "Structure and Function of the Cytoskeleton" in Paris, FR, 7–10 April 2026.

Deadline: 20 December 2025

https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-cytoskeleton
#EMBOCytoskeletalFunction #EMBOevents #conference 🧪

Structure and Function of the Cytoskeleton

The cytoskeleton, a dynamic and intricate network of protein filaments, is found within the cytoplasm of all cells, from bacteria and archaea to complex eukaryotes. This essential cellular component …

meetings.embo.org

31 30

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Simone Reber @simonereber.bsky.social · 28d

Join us next Tuesday (30/09) for talks by @gautamdey.bsky.social @embl.org & Andreas Heim @uni-konstanz.de & Simonetta Piatti @crbm-montpellier.bsky.social

DGZ.bsky.social @dgz.bsky.social · 28d

Looking forward to our next #DGZ Focus Workshop on #Mitosis & #Meiosis on Sept. 30 at noon, organized by simonereber.bsky.social & Thomas Mayer - join us!

6 13

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · Sep 20

Congratulations, Jan! Happy to see it out; it’ll be a nice read this weekend :)

1

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Jan Rombouts @janrombouts.bsky.social · Sep 18

Please allow me to introduce... our new preprint 🎉 Together with Michael Zhao, Anna Erzberger and Alexander Aulehla, we investigate pattern formation due to aggregation in confined systems.

You can find it at arxiv.org/abs/2509.08533

@michaelzhao.bsky.social @erzbergerlab.bsky.social

2 13 27

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Barcelona Collaboratorium @barcelonacollaboratorium.com · Sep 18

On Thursday, Sept 25, we host Lendert Gelens (KU Leuven) for a seminar: "Beyond Arrhenius: How temperature scales biological time". He will show how biological timing changes across temperatures.
barcelonacollaboratorium.com
#seminar #KULeuven #EMBL #BCNCollaboratorium

1 2 4

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · Sep 18

In this Viewpoint, Adam Zweifach explains how to calculate how many cells to analyze per sample to achieve reasonable statistical power in #microscopy experiments. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

📕 In #Reproducibility and Best Practices in Cell Biology: rupress.org/jcb/collecti...

2 5

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social · Aug 23

Complex behaviour is not limited to animals! Here we map the entire spectrum of waveforms dynamics on a quadriflagellate single cell with 4x 70um (!) #cilia, to a low dimensional behavioural manifold with surprising structure! #protistsonsky

All revealed in our new preprint doi.org/10.1101/2025...

3 28 87

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · Sep 10

Can a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

4 42 110

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.bsky.social · Sep 12

New research shows that the cytoskeleton of human cells have a lot more in common with our ancient ancestors than we might think.

Tiny Tubes Reveal Clues to the Evolution of Complex Life | Quanta Magazine

Scientists have identified tubulin structures in primitive Asgard archea that may have been the precursor of our own cellular skeletons.

www.quantamagazine.org

10 29

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

EMBL Events @events.embl.org · Sep 11

Are you ready for a symposium dedicated to microtubule dynamics, function, and structure? 🙌

#EESMicrotubules will bring together researchers who share an interest in microtubule biology and its relevance to health and disease 🩺

💻 s.embl.org/ees26-09-bl
✒️ Submit your abstract by 11 March

10 13

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Institut Jacques Monod @ijmonod.bsky.social · Sep 10

📣 Paris Cytoskeleton day 2025 - Registrations are open!

📆 November 14th
📍 Institut Jacques Monod

🔗 pcd2025.sciencesconf.org
Abstract submission closes on 19 October
Registration closes on 7 November

@romet-jegou-lab.bsky.social @upcite.bsky.social @cnrs-idf-villejuif.bsky.social

8 7

Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦 @nikitaphysics.bsky.social · Sep 5

Proud moment! The central results of my research over the last three years – specifically, on how the nucleus contributes to cell cycle scaling – were recently published in Current Biology. Check out the paper and the thread below for more details! 👇👇👇

Lendert Gelens @lendertgelens.bsky.social · Sep 2

🧵Does the nucleus set the cell cycle clock? 🕒

In frog egg extract “mini-cells” we see that as nuclei grow, cycles slow down. The period scales with the nuclear-to-cytoplasmic ratio, across Xenopus species, and even when DNA replication or transcription are blocked.

👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

1 5

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Zachary Gao Sun @thezgs.bsky.social · Jun 18

This piece of work from my PhD is FRESHLY out of the oven in
@natureportfolio.nature.com
Nature Physics! It illustrates how architecture and active stress mutually regulate Criticality and exhibit Anderson Localization-like phenomenon. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Feedback between F-actin organization and active stress governs criticality and energy localization in the cell cytoskeleton - Nature Physics

Self-organized criticality can occur in cellular systems, but its origins remain unclear. Now it is shown that cytoskeletal criticality is influenced by the F-actin architecture and myosin active stre...

www.nature.com

2 10 31

Reposted by Nikita Frolov 🇺🇦

Joe Stieb @joestieb.bsky.social · Jun 15

These people are the enemy.

750 810 6.3K