June 2025 - RTG researchers had a lot of fun by participating in 2025 edition of the Nacht des Wissens in Göttingen. Jointly with Betz and Köster Labs, RTG members presented their research to the local community in a interactive and engaging manner. We made cornstarch dance, produced thousands tea bubbles with kids and demonstrated the principles of microscopy in real and LEGO setups.

March 2025 - Congratulations to Niklas' publication in Nature Communications! Research presented in this paper shows how two actin isoforms and myosin-2 A work together to regulate the structure and mechanics of tight junctions in cells, revealing new insights into how our tissues maintain their integrity.

March 2025 - The joined symposium by RTG CYTAC and RTG ME3T (Aachen) took place in Göttingen. The symposium featured a dynamic mix of talks, poster presentations and vivid method discussions. We want to thank the dedicated organizers Ruben, Elena, Jannis, Eric, Hannah, Kyeongmin and Laura for making this event such a success! For more impressions about the symposium visit this page.

January 2025 - RTG successfully completed the recruiting phase at the end of 2024. The Welcome Day 2025 offered new PhD students a comprehensive introduction to the RTG through presentations from all the participating working groups and talks about the program's structure. This was (officially) the first time when the students of two cohorts met offline and had opportunity to peer-exchange about the RTG science and life.

October 2024 - We are very happy for Hendrik who was awarded the Best Poster Prize of the ESRF User Meeting 2024 in Grenoble, France, for his outstanidng poster "Sarcomere, troponin, and myosin X-ray diffraction signals can be resolved in single cardiomyocytes". Also, the Best Talk Prize at the Third Infinity Conference 2024 went to Hendrik for his talk "X-ray diffraction resolving the structure of the contractile cytoskeleton in single cardiomyocytes".

October 2024 - Congratulations to Laura Brinkmann who was awarded the Poster Prize of "The Cytoskeleton as Active Matter" seminar in Bad Honnef, Germany, for her presentation "Structure and mechanics of strained membrane-bound F-actin".

September 2024 - This year retreat brought together CYTAC students and PIs in the beautiful Mariaspring house near Göttingen. The programm inlcuded a series of student talks as well as in-depth interactive sessions with focus on experimental and methodological challenges. Cooperative projects were reviewed and strengthened dirung very productive discussions. We want to thank Tobias, Saheli, Nilay, Pratima and Laura for organizing the programm of the retreat

September 2024 - The cytoskeleton Hackathon took place at the MPI-NAT. After three days of intensive work, six teams presented a selection of intriguing projects. Two teams were awarded prizes sponsored by Alumni Göttingen. The jury's prize went to the 'Mitosis chromosome separation' project which analyzed in great detail the optimal parameters of microtubule growth. The popular vote prize went to the Im2Cym team which created a tool for generating a digital twin for a cell's cytoskeleton network, based on a supplied experimental image. A more detailed account of the event will appear in an upcoming publication on the benefits of hackathons for academic teaching.

July 2024 - "Sarcomere, troponin, and myosin X-ray diffraction signals can be resolved in single cardiomyocytes" by Hendrik Bruns et al. (Project B2) is now online in Biophysical Journal. Hendrik and his colleagues were able to record high-quality diffraction images for individual cardiac cells, including both eqatorial and meridional reflection. Congratulations!

May 2024 - The RTG CYTAC students visited Bayer Pharamceuticals branch in Berlin. During their visit, they were given a comprehensive tour that explored the company's labs and research facilities. The RTGs were able to get a behind-the-scenes look at the production process and enjoyed discussions with team members. We want to thank Dr. Florian Mann for organizing this visit!

March 2024 - The CYTAC Networking Meeting took place on March 8. The meeting kicked off with scientific pitches, for which the students were challenged to summarize their projects in ultra short presentations. A special focus of the meeting was placed on exploring the interconnections between the different projects and brainstorming collaborative opportunities. It was a nice event to update on each other's progress and discuss the results.

February 2024 - Excellent start of the year for Elena Todisco from the RTG CYTAC. Congratulations to her publication in Developmental Cell! The study highlights a multiscale effect connecting cortical F-actin, contractions, and cytoplasmic organization and affecting oocyte quality, with implications for female fertility.

September 2023 - We meet at Neudietendorf near Erfurt for our first RTG retreat. This is the first CYTAC event in which the students present their projects and discuss the ideas in a big round with PIs and RTG collaborators. It has been a success (und fun) for all the RTG members!

March 2023 - RTG 2756 Welcome Day: Most of the PhD students of the first cohort have arrived and started their research work.