Henry De Belly, Ph.D. Titles and Appointments Assistant Professor School Medical School Department Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern | Pediatrics Biography Henry De Belly, Ph.D., received a bachelor’s in immunology from the University of Montpellier in France and a master’s in biophysics from Université Paris Diderot. He completed his Ph.D. in stem cell biophysics at University College London, where he investigated the role of mechanical forces in regulating cell fate. In 2020, Dr. De Belly joined the laboratory of Orion Weiner, Ph.D., at the University of California, San Francisco. There, he combined cell biology, biophysics, and computational modeling to uncover how mechanical cues act as long-range coordinators to signal and guide immune cell migration. During his training, he received several fellowships, including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship, a European Molecular Biology Organization Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00). Dr. De Belly joined the faculty of Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern in January 2026. Research Interest Mechanisms of immune and cancer cell migration Mechanochemical regulation of polarity and motility Membrane and Actin mechanics Publications Featured Publications Long range mutual activation establishes Rho and Rac polarity during cell migration. De Belly H, Gallen AF, Strickland E, Estrada DC, Zager PJ, Nagy TL, Burkhardt JK, Turlier H, Weiner OD, bioRxiv 2025 May Cell protrusions and contractions generate long-range membrane tension propagation. De Belly H, Yan S, Borja da Rocha H, Ichbiah S, Town JP, Zager PJ, Estrada DC, Meyer K, Turlier H, Bustamante C, Weiner OD, Cell 2023 Jul 186 14 3049-3061.e15 Membrane Tension Gates ERK-Mediated Regulation of Pluripotent Cell Fate. De Belly H, Stubb A, Yanagida A, Labouesse C, Jones PH, Paluch EK, Chalut KJ, Cell Stem Cell 2021 Feb 28 2 273-284.e6 Class-I myosin responds to changes in membrane tension during clathrin-mediated endocytosis in human induced pluripotent stem cells. Smith SL, Zhan T, Li W, De Belly H, Zhang Q, Xu K, Weiner OD, Drubin DG, bioRxiv 2025 Nov S1P induces bleb-based T cell motility via S1PR1-dependent activation of RhoA and WNK1. Rodriguez FS, De Belly H, Zhang Y, Strickland E, Frazer GL, Ojukwu J, Williamson BJ, Weiner OD, Burkhardt JK, bioRxiv 2025 Oct AlphaFold2-Guided Functional Screens Reveal a Conserved Antioxidant Protein at ER Membranes. Ji Z, Pandey T, de Belly H, Yao J, Wang B, Weiner OD, Tang Y, Guang S, Xu S, Lou Z, Goddard TD, Ma DK, bioRxiv 2025 Mar Follow the flow: Actin and membrane act as an integrated system to globally coordinate cell shape and movement. De Belly H, Weiner OD, Curr Opin Cell Biol 2024 Aug 89 102392 Early-life stress triggers long-lasting organismal resilience and longevity via tetraspanin. Jiang WI, De Belly H, Wang B, Wong A, Kim M, Oh F, DeGeorge J, Huang X, Guang S, Weiner OD, Ma DK, Sci Adv 2024 Jan 10 4 eadj3880 Lymph node homeostasis and adaptation to immune challenge resolved by fibroblast network mechanics. Horsnell HL, Tetley RJ, De Belly H, Makris S, Millward LJ, Benjamin AC, Heeringa LA, de Winde CM, Paluch EK, Mao Y, Acton SE, Nat Immunol 2022 Aug 23 8 1169-1182 Interplay between mechanics and signalling in regulating cell fate. De Belly H, Paluch EK, Chalut KJ, Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 2022 Jul 23 7 465-480 Results 1-10 of 14 1 2 Next Last Honors & Awards European Molecular Biology Organization Postdoctoral Fellowship Marie Sklodowska-Curie PhD Fellowship NIH Pathway to Independence Award (K99/R00)
