[Embrio-list] End of Week Announcements

Fri Oct 24 10:53:31 EDT 2025

EMBRIOphytes,

🧬 New Publications Alert!

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EMBRIO Members from the Zartman Lab have a newly published paper in Cell Communication and Signaling (first co-authors: Maria F. Unger, Vijay Velagala, Dharsan K. Soundarrajan) "Gαq controls organ size and developmental timing in Drosophila" Summarized findings and link to the full paper is below. 👏 Congrats to the team: Maria F. Unger, Vijay Velagala, Dharsan K. Soundarrajan, David Gazzo, Nilay Kumar, Marycruz Flores Flores, Jinwen Liu, Jun Li & Jeremiah J. Zartman.

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Also, you heard it here first: The Calcium Signaling Journal Club's sustained collaborations have produced a newly accepted paper for publication in APL Bioengineering: "Rules of Life at the Interface of Calcium Signaling and Mechanobiology". This significant cross-thrust effort proposes a unifying framework where calcium signaling governs biological organization across scales. 👏 Congratulations to the full team! Once it is publicly available, we'll highlight the paper and the framework introducing three proposed Rules of Life. In the meantime, you can access the preprint version<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.preprints.org%2Fmanuscript%2F202506.0387&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Cbad683d217c44976703d08de130d1962%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638969144131811821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=yk8wIUKIlxexP1jovtPvYfX%2B7bFSVBX%2Bf9F6QPlWwow%3D&reserved=0>.

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In case you missed our previous publication highlight, a recent paper elucidating ROS and wound healing led by the Deng Lab collaborating with the Umulis, Chan, and Buganza labs was published in Biophysical Journal: “Reactive Oxygen Species Counteract Zebrafish Wound Contraction and Promote Wound Healing” by C. Ding, L. Li, Y. Wang, H.A.A. Nguyen, D.D. Chan, D.M. Umulis, A.T. Buganza, and Q. Deng. Read the full article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2025.09.027<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1016%2Fj.bpj.2025.09.027&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Cbad683d217c44976703d08de130d1962%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638969144131854574%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=XLR4P60c%2Bg%2FKT6WKGu4b3OgxgfeZrb9rtQijIHyBRh8%3D&reserved=0>

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A manuscript has been accepted for publication in Journal of Cell Biology resulting from collaborations between the Deng lab and the EMBRIO members of Staiger, Jayant, and Zhang Labs: "Inwardly rectifying potassium channels promote directional sensing during neutrophil chemotaxis". We'll have a highlight out once the paper is publicly available.

Publications Highlight:

📄 Gαq controls organ size and developmental timing in Drosophila

Unger, M.F., Velagala, V., Soundarrajan, D.K. et al. Gαq controls organ size and developmental timing in Drosophila. Cell Commun Signal 23, 457 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12964-025-02449-9<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1186%2Fs12964-025-02449-9&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Cbad683d217c44976703d08de130d1962%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638969144131883111%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DfHXCzES3TENyB7YdMz%2FU1%2BGVTdpKf0XRJolPKAnDPU%3D&reserved=0>

Using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model, the team uncovered how the G protein alpha subunit Gαq regulates epithelial growth and developmental timing. Overexpression of Gαq in wing discs led to reduced wing size and systemic developmental delay—mediated by Ca²⁺-dependent Dilp8 signaling.

🧠 Key findings:
•Gαq overexpression decreases cell proliferation and apoptosis
•Activates JAK/STAT and stress-response pathways
•Triggers secretion of Dilp8, a hormone coordinating growth and timing
•Links GPCR signaling to systemic developmental coordination

💡 Why it matters:
This work sheds light on how Gαq signaling influences organ size and timing, with implications for understanding diseases like Sturge-Weber syndrome and uveal melanoma, where Gαq mutations are prevalent.

👏 Congrats to the team: Maria F. Unger, Vijay Velagala, Dharsan K. Soundarrajan, David Gazzo, Nilay Kumar, Marycruz Flores Flores, Jinwen Liu, Jun Li & Jeremiah J. Zartman.

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Upcoming All-Hands Labs (3PM ET):

Date
Lead Speaker(s)
Topic
November 3
 Jeffery Coulter (Kim Lab) – collaborations with Evans Lab and Kinzer-Ursem Lab
Modeling Ca2+ and Actin in Dendritic Spines and Oocytes
November 17
 Alex Nguyen (Chan Lab) – collaborations with Evans Lab, Zartman Lab, Deng Lab
AFM and Imaging

Thanks again to Linlin Li (Sr. Research Scientist, Umulis Lab) and Shenyu Lu (Ph.D. student in Joy Wang Lab) for presenting their collaborative findings and future plans last Monday: "AI-POWERED ACCELERATION AND PARAMETER TUNING FOR COMPUTATIONAL MODELING” . The video recording, transcript, and summary notes are available on our shared Box account: https://app.box.com/s/ftdi5zwn7040mhigbn8e5qs5ha8ecgm5<https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapp.box.com%2Fs%2Fftdi5zwn7040mhigbn8e5qs5ha8ecgm5&data=05%7C02%7Cembrio-list%40ecn.purdue.edu%7Cbad683d217c44976703d08de130d1962%7C4130bd397c53419cb1e58758d6d63f21%7C1%7C0%7C638969144131912535%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=dFCOoSc55wzBFZzqg91QC%2BnZLcHFyLy7JDCMGkTJT8o%3D&reserved=0>

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Awards:

👏 Congratulations to David Gazzo (Zartman Lab) who won a Graduate Student Travel Award from BMES to participate in the Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering (CMBE) conference this coming January.

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Brent T. Ladd, Senior Research Program Manager, EMBRIO Institute<https://www.purdue.edu/research/embrio/>
Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University
Office: Hall for Discovery Learning and Research, Ste. 203
207 S. Martin Jischke Drive
West Lafayette, IN 47907
laddb at purdue.edu

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