I don't get to see a dividing immune cell often so being able to capture this is so cool to me. Apparently, mitosis can be light sensitive, so that might explain why every time I tried to image them with a confocal, they either didn't divide or just stopped and reversed back. #FluorescenceFriday

it was so cool! This was at maximum in London. I'm so so happy that I got to see it.

Hot take but any reporter that makes the actin network visible will make any cell look awesome under the microscope! These Xenopus 🐸 ectoderm cells are expressing an actin tension sensor, and you can see the retrograde flow very nicely. Actin is better than microtubules 😁 #FluorescenceFriday

Happy #FluorescenceFriday. Embryonic myeloid cells are curious. They emerge early during development and disperse throughout an embryo. During this journey, they interact with different cell populations. This myeloid cell 🔴 is seemingly probing ectoderm cells 🔵 to the point of warping their nuclei.

Yey, I figured out how to display 3D movie stacks in #ChimeraX, thanks to @dabiophysicist.bsky.social for the suggestion. My original tiff was not ome-tiff so you'll need to convert it first (do this with #Python), then adjust voxelsize in ChimeraX so the image isn't flat, record, and voila!

Happy #FluorescenceFriday. Its always exciting when i get to test out new constructs in my cells. It's not common that I get to see the ER network in an immune cell. This construct is not strictly ER but it's so overly expressed that it labels the ER in an embryonic macrophage in 🐸. How cool?

So it turns out that you can visualise 3D cells really well #chimeraX, better than #napari dare I say. Very intuitive. You can adjust different representations, surface, volume, etc, and to make a movie. I'm blown away because I learned ChimeraX for protein structure visualisation, not cells! 🤯

I love these PIP3 biosensors because it labels the plasma membrane so well. You can see the cell's edge so clearly along with any intracellular vesicles. Also, this cell is so blebby. This video was taken when I was still working on endocytosis :D Good old times! #FluorescenceFriday

Another #FluorescenceFriday. When the world is going crazy, I find some peace watching at these myeloid cells (🔴) going about their day. They exist in tissue surrounded by other cells (🔵), and you can see them popping up and down, going in and out of plane as they explore their surrounding.

My image "The phases of gastrulation" made it to the top 10 in this year #YEN2026 image competition! I took this video of a gastrulating 🐸 embryo while testing a new microscope in the lab. One of the rare #devbio theme videos I got. Check out the others here: thenode.biologists.com/results-of-t...

Not many people know this but 🐸 embryos make an amazing system to study immune cells. If 🐟 embryos become less transparent as they grow, 🐸 embryos do the reverse, becoming progressively transparent. Their immune cells are very similar to 🐟 and 🚶‍♂️. Here are some 🐸 macrophages (🔴): #FluorescenceFriday

Working with complex systems makes even the most mundane thing fascinating. This is cortical reaction in 🐸 embryos. Upon fertilisation, ions are released and draw water in thru osmosis, making zygotes float and orient according to gravity. Do you see the waves?👀 not quite #fluorescencefriday #devbio

Sometimes I just like looking back at my old data and see if I'd spot something I've missed. And more often than not, I become more appreciative of the result. Here is a wound healing assay of transformed melanocytes from 10yrs ago. They do look like neurons! not quite #fluorescencefriday but cool!

Sometimes I like doing "random" expts. It's how I learn new things n know the limit of my system. Optogenetics is not too trivial in 🐸, but here is an example of it applied to the rear end 🔴 of a macrophage expressing Opto-Ras. It's strong enough to reverse the cell's direction. #FluorescenceFriday

I found this really pretty 🐸 macrophage. Looks like it has 2 leading edge trying to move in the opposite directions but one is stronger than the other so it got dragged along. It looks cool, nevertheless. #FluorescenceFriday

Ahhh nothing makes me happier than finding out your trial experiment works. It's worth my time waking up early today. My photo-conversion 🟢->🔴 tagged protein construct works. I'm so happy!! #microscopy

Happy #FluorescenceFriday. I found this embryonic macrophage contacting a non-myeloid cell (bottom right corner) and then moving away. What's cool is that this contact is strong enough to slightly bend the cell and you can just about to see it. Forces at the cellular scale is so curious! 😁

I made this with #Blender3D. Its a lot harder than one would think because there're just so many functions and buttons that overwhelm you, and they keep changing them after each version comes out so following tutorials is unnecessarily complicated. This is a K+-dependent mechanosensitive channel.

Happy #FluorescenceFriday! I captured this shot of a group of embryonic macrophages expressing LifeAct and H2B migrating inside tissue. These cells can use lamellipodia, filopodia, or blebs to migrate, and are frequently switching between these different modes or combining them. So fascinating.

Happy #FluorescenceFriday. I feel so lucky to get to work with these weird and curious primary macrophages from 🐸. They exhibit myriad different morphologies and behaviours, including spinning endlessly and stationary, kinda like progenitor cells under compression from 🐟. Also actomyosin is strong!

Captured this clip when I was still working on the protein CYRI-A for my PhD and it remains one of my most favorites. It was my first time seeing lysosomes (🔴) fusing on and acidifying a macropinosome (⚪). I learned about this at uni but seeing it in action is something else! #FluorescenceFriday

My 2nd place image for the @bscb-official.bsky.social imaging competition. I made this during the Lunar new year period, or we call it Tet in Vietnam. Peach blossom 🌸 is the traditional flower that every family in the North would have during this time, so the image is certainly inspired by it.

Thank you @bscb-official.bsky.social for giving me the opportunity to present my research at Dynamic Cell VI. I love all the discussion and questions I received. I also love the fact that I've actually got to meet new people and made new friends, only because of conferences like this ❤️

A movie from 9 years ago and I've never noticed the actin wave inside these cells until now 😱 It looks like a cluster of actin filament moving from 1 place to the other and pushing the cell membrane out to form protrusions. Reminds me of an ocean undercurrent. How interesting! #FluorescenceFriday

I'm confused XD Do the authors mean the Extracellular Matrix because how do you get electron cryomicroscopy in this context?

#Question: This may sound like I'm crazy but has anyone experienced immersion oil solidifying or getting stickier after light exposure? Until recently I noticed the oil suddenly gives off a lot of autofluorescence after ~10 mins of imaging, becomes thicker. Have to wipe constantly, really annoying.

I found this immune cell (🔴) prying open the junction between the ectoderm cells from underneath. You can see its protrusions probing (yellow arrow) and threading through between the other cells before the whole cell body is squeezed through in 1 sweeping motion. So cool! #FluorescenceFriday

Yey, I found myself in the Molecular and Cell biology!! Our cluster is at the edge of the galaxy! A bit like our solar system haha.

I found these immune cells just finished mitosis but their midbody is still yet to be resolved. How cool? If you zoom in to the midbody, you can see its classical shape just like in the textbooks. I love these little details.

And we got a tree as well! A Wild cherry (Prunus avium) 🌸 So cool! Thank you to @biologists.bsky.social and @seemagrewal.bsky.social for the opportunity. forest.biologists.com/landscape/?i...