Overview

• The CNIC team led by Jorge Alegre-Cebollada published their TEVs-TTN study in Nature Biomedical Engineering on June 5, 2025.
• TEVs-TTN enables precise mechanical dissection of titin by controlled cleavage of its force-bearing domains within muscle cells.
• Researchers reproduced sarcomere disassembly and pathological features of TTN mutations, including fiber atrophy, nuclear internalization, and mitochondrial aggregation.
• Muscle cells remained viable despite complete loss of sarcomere structure, revealing unexpected resilience pathways.
• Funded by the European Research Council and EMBO, the tool addresses the lack of animal models and could be adapted to study other mechanically active proteins.