Manu Prakash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The paper introduces ESPressoscope, a low-cost, portable digital microscope platform for in situ imaging, demonstrating its versatility and accessibility for various biological and ecological applications.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.