Honoured to be a Finalist for the TNQ inspiring Science Awards 2026!
Grateful to my mentor @tamal_das for his guidance and to all my co-authors and collaborators who made this work possible.
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Excited to share our latest work led by a very talented postdoc @marwaha_rr : nature.com/articles/s41467-0… ... Ritu uncovered an unexpected role for lysosomes in regulating leader cell emergence during collective cell migration. We thank @India_Alliance @TIFRH_buzz for support 🙏
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I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to attend #GYSS2026 & present my work. Insightful plenary lectures by outstanding researchers including Nobel laureates made it an exceptionally enriching experience. Sincere thanks to @TIFRH_buzz for nominating me & supporting my travel.
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(1/n) Today, @TIFRH_buzz members gathered to remember and reflect upon Homi Bhabha’s contributions to science and the ideals on which TIFR was built.
Mustansir Barma spoke about how Bhabha's vision shaped the scientific landscape of independent India, leaving an enduring legacy.
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Simran Rawal retweeted
Grateful to Craig Blackstone (Harvard University) for his thoughtful News & Views piece (nature.com/articles/s41556-0…) on our recent @NatureCellBio paper (nature.com/articles/s41556-0…). His sharp perspective and lucid summary beautifully captured the broader significance of our work. 🙏
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Next, @tamal_das @TIFRScience revealed the influence of lysosomes in leader cell formation and the ER in supporting lamellipodial crawling and purse-string contraction, identifying them as key integrators of mechanochemical cues to drive collective cell migration. #MBIMPG2025
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'How does something so seemingly inconsequential as a curvature of a gap, at the microscopic scale, end up dictating how cells move to heal a wound?'
Read about how @SimranRawal2 (@tamal_das's lab) & colleagues probed cell responses to wound curvatures: tifrh.res.in/~sciencemedia/i…
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Regulation of biological functions such as cell migration depends not only on genes and signaling pathways but also on geometry. While it’s clear that cell shape matters, our new paper in Nature Cell Biology shows that organelle shape — in particular, the endoplasmic reticulum 1/
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(1/n) Excited to share that my PhD work @tamal_das Lab is now published in @NatureCellBio!
How do epithelial cells around a gap sense edge-curvature? We find that the ER acts as a central mechanotransducer, sensing the curvature & guiding cell migration.
nature.com/articles/s41556-0…
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(7/n) A big thank you to @DiyaManoj19 & @BanerjeeSanak14 for helping with mouse model expts, @PurnatiK for helping with Eph expts, @Basil_Thurakkal for his MATLAB expertise, & @marwaha_rr for helping with Imaris analysis.
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(5/n) Finally, tweaking ER morphology by overexpression or knockdown of ER str. proteins results in a switch in mode of cell migration. ER tubules promote perpendicular focal adhesions (FAs) & lamellipodial crawling; ER sheets promote parallel FAs & purse-string closure of gaps.
ALT Nat. Cell Biol, 2025. DOI: 10.1038/s41556-025-01729-3
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(6/n) This process of scientific inquiry has been extremely rewarding & I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor @tamal_das for constant encouragement & guidance. Thanking all co-authors for their insights, collaboration, & support on this study.
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