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.