Denis Wirtz
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deniswirtz.bsky.social
Denis Wirtz
@deniswirtz.bsky.social
VP for Research, T.H. Smoot Professor
Depts Chemical and Biomolecular Engn, Pathology, Oncology, INBT
Johns Hopkins University
3D multi-omic, CAR T therapy, cell migration and mechanics

Lab: https://wirtzlab.johnshopkins.edu
New paper out with colleagues at the Buck Institute.

Senescent cell heterogeneity and responses to senolytic treatment are related to cell cycle status during senescence induction

More here: www.aging-us.com/article/206299
November 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Still my favorite 3D reconstruction of a pancreatic tissue.

Using the CODA workflow, we mapped a billion individual cells in 3D.

Red: pre-cancer lesions
Navy blue: ducts
Light blue: islets of Langerhans
Purple: acini
Green: blood vessels
Yellow: fat

More here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 20, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Color-coded CODA maps of fallopian tubes from premenopausal (left) and postmenopausal women.

Magenta: secretory epithelial cells,
Green: ciliated epithelial cells.

More here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 16, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Another pic of colleague Prof Earle Havens showing us a gigantic map inserted into the monumental Piranesi’s “Views of Rome” that appeared in the 18th century.

What a privilege to have such a great colleague
November 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Colleague Prof. Earle Havens is showing a group of Hopkins faculty an original Audubon’s Birds of America, elephant folio at the Evergreen house in Baltimore
November 11, 2025 at 12:55 PM
We have written two reviews providing a practical guide and fundamentals of cell migration:

(1) How to select an optimal cell migration assay,
(2) How to analyze cell migration data.

We also added a perspective on AI methods of analysis.

Coming out soon in Nature Methods.
November 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Our recent observations are distinct from conventional active matter. Self-propelled colloidal particles neither secrete inhibitory molecules, nor actively modulate adhesion molecules, which are two key ingredients leading to our observed patterned aggregates.

Here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
November 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Immune hot spots in human tissues mapped with our CODA workflow.

When zoomed in, it looks like abstract art.
October 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Good night and good luck
October 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Colleague Prof. Max Konig and Johns Hopkins colleagues show that anti-9G4 precision cellular therapies provide a strategy to selectively target pathogenic B cells in lupus, while minimizing risks of infection and cytokine-related toxicities.

Read more here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 25, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Fall colors at Hopkins
October 24, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Health economist extraordinaire Dan Polski can take a selfie…

This is my team; their passion is to support Hopkins researchers
October 24, 2025 at 11:35 AM
We are celebrating the 150th anniversary of Johns Hopkins University this year. We’re using the wonderful Peabody Library to host our great faculty for a great evening of celebrations
October 23, 2025 at 9:54 PM
It’s that time of the year again when we celebrate the amazing achievements and discoveries made by Johns Hopkins faculty.

We take over the Peabody Library so that awardees of our internal grants get a chance to talk to one another and forge new collaborations
October 23, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Latrobe Hall at Johns Hopkins University
October 23, 2025 at 1:30 PM
High-throughput screening of drugs that affect cell proliferation is easily done using a plate reader.

No such luck for cell migration. So, we developed an assay for label-free deep learning-based automated cell tracking.

Read more about our assay here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 22, 2025 at 12:25 AM
L’Empire des Lumières
October 21, 2025 at 10:18 PM
Homewood campus is glorious today
Johns Hopkins
October 21, 2025 at 3:15 PM
We use CODA to map human endometrial tissue at single-cell resolution, a map that then serves as a blueprint to design a multi-compartment multicellular assembloid of the endometrium.

Read about our approach to organoids/assembloids here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 18, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Pretty Fall colors at Homewood
Johns Hopkins university
October 17, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Prof. Jasmina Wiemann has been selected for a prestigious Packard fellowship. This the first recognition of a paleobiologist by the Foundation!

That is 8 Packard Fellows in 6 years for Johns Hopkins University.

Prof. Wiemann's website is the stuff of movies: www.jasminawiemann.com
October 15, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Nuclear segmentation is a difficult task, especially for whole slides...we are working on a solution.

(Art in Science)
October 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Good morning!
(Homewood campus, Hopkins University, which is celebrating its 150th birthday)
October 15, 2025 at 11:53 AM
Great vinyl records collection at the Smart Art Museum at the University of Chicago
October 11, 2025 at 7:41 PM
CAR T therapy has seen great effectiveness in liquid tumors, but little in solid tumors (e.g. ovarian cancer).

Here we developed hyper-migratory CAR TV cells to infiltrate en masse ovarian tumors. (Left: control CAR T cells; right CAR TV cells).

Read this here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
October 5, 2025 at 4:48 PM