Manu Prakash

Diatom Logic: Rewritable active nematic circuits in tidal-flat ecosystems

This paper shows tidal-flat diatoms form active nematic circuits that integrate trigger waves and structural memory to enable adaptive, time-programmable behavior.

Survival Benefits Outweigh Germline Competition Costs in Kin Chimeras

The study quantifies survival benefits and germline competition costs of chimerism in Botryllus schlosseri, finding survival advantages outweigh competition costs.

An Advanced Mobile Laboratory to enable field-based microbial ecology and cell biology across scales

The paper introduces an Advanced Mobile Laboratory (AML) for field-based microbial ecology and cell biology, enabling multiscale analysis of environmental samples directly at the sampling site.

Fluid-Squid: DIY Multiplexed Imaging of Cells and Tissues

Fluid-Squid enables customizable, cost-effective multiplexed imaging of cells and tissues through automated fluidics and barcoding strategies.

Ballistic Microscopy (BaM)

Ballistic Microscopy (BaM) images live cells using nanoparticles to capture molecular fingerprints, revealing new components of CLIP170 and Tau3R condensates in HEK cells.

Ice gliding diatoms establish record-low temperature limit for motility in a eukaryotic cell

The paper discovers ice diatoms can glide at -15°C, revealing adaptations for motility in extreme cold.

Long-range actin-driven endosymbiont mobility in a deep-diverging bilaterian

The paper discovers host actin-driven mobility of symbionts in a dinoflagellate-acoel worm symbiosis, revealing previously unknown mechanisms of host-mediated movement.

Schistosomiasis parasite enhance transmission rates via interfacial swimming

This study shows schistosomiasis cercariae enhance transmission by swimming at the air-water interface, improving host-encounter efficiency through physics-based behavior.

Flight-Scope: microscopy with microfluidics in microgravity

Flight-Scope enables live-cell imaging of dynamic processes in microgravity using microfluidics during parabolic flights, demonstrated with yeast glucose uptake.

A genetic and microscopy toolkit for live imaging of whole-body regeneration in Macrostomum lignano

This paper develops a toolkit for live imaging of whole-body regeneration in flatworms, revealing neuron regenerative limitations and independent nerve cord reconnection.

Single Cells Signal Non-self from Self via 'XOR' and 'NOT EQUALS' Logic in a Dimer of Dimers

The paper shows how Mta/Mtb proteins in Tetrahymena thermophila use XOR and NOT EQUALS logic in dimer-of-dimers to enable self/non-self recognition during mating.

Creased ciliary flocks shape unfolding dynamics via information bottlenecks in an aneural animal

This study identifies a non-stereotypical cilia-driven folding mechanism in Trichoplax adhaerens, revealing how ciliary activity and fold dynamics interact to enable complex body shape changes.

Biophysical limits of ultrafast cellular motility

The paper develops a quantitative framework to evaluate and compare extreme cellular motility across single-cell organisms, revealing a scaling law between the cellular acceleration number and transient Reynolds number.

Algorithmic construction of topologically complex biomineral lattices via cellular syncytia

This paper demonstrates how cellular syncytia control the growth of complex calcite ossicles through transport processes and cytoskeletal architecture.

Coupling and uncoupling of midline morphogenesis and cell flow in amniote gastrulation

The paper investigates the relationship between midline morphogenesis and large-scale cell flow during amniote gastrulation, finding that cell flow is maintained independently of primitive streak extension.

The Taste of Blood in Mosquitoes

The paper identifies specialized stylet neurons in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that detect blood over nectar, enabling distinct feeding programs for reproduction and survival.

Coupled active systems encode emergent behavioral dynamics of the unicellular predator Lacrymaria olor

Analysis of millions of unique cellular morphologies of the highly dynamic single-celled predator Lacrymaria olor reveals that it programs a comprehensive search space and emergent hunting behavior through coupling surface based active cilia and cortex based contractile molecular systems together.

Ultra-fast cellular contractions in the epithelium of T. adhaerens and the "active cohesion" hypothesis

The paper reports ultra-fast epithelial contractions in Trichoplax adhaerens, fits them to cytoskeletal models, and proposes 'active cohesion' as a mechanism to prevent tissue rupture.