Mia Levine

New preprint in collab with Capelson & Schindler labs):
Nuclear pore complexes are developmentally removed and rebuilt during oocyte specification. Blocking turnover prevents gene silencing and meiotic entry.
Nuclear architecture renewal is required for cell fate.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬

Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)

I am seeking a postdoc to join my group at UCLA -- ideally the candidate would have some experience in either population genetics or microbes/microbiome (computational background needed). We have a range of projects and are happy to tailer to your interests. Please dm/email me if interested.

Please join Andreas Ladurner and me for the GRC Chromatin Structure and Function conference to be held near Barcelona Spain from May 31-June 5! We accepting abstracts for posters and talks. The meeting is preceded by an awesome GRS. Learn more in our video below and apply www.grc.org/chromatin-st...

Hybrid female sterility due to cohesin protection errors in mouse oocytes Misregulation of chromosome cohesion during female meiosis serves as a reproductive isolating barrier in mice.

Another announcement! 📣 Our work on hybrid incompatibility in cohesin protection in 🐭oocytes is published!! Congrats Warif El Yakoubi and Eddie Pan!!🎉 We found hybrids with cohesion errors in two distinct genus.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The Biology of Genomes Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meetings & Courses -- a private, non-profit institution with research programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, bioinformatics.

Reminder that the abstract deadline for the Biology of Genomes meeting at CSHL is on Feb 13! We have a fantastic lineup of keynote speakers (Janet Kelso and Jonathan Pritchard) and session chairs. Submit your best science to this exciting and engaged meeting!
meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Thrilled for you, Takashi! Congratulations!

❗⏰ Please remember that the deadline for submitting your applications for abstracts and awards for SMBE 2026 ends today.

Join us in Copenhagen from June 28 to July 2 for a fantastic meeting!

#SMBE2026

Microtubule depolymerization at kinetochores restricts anaphase spindle elongation - Nature Chemical Biology Optogenetic manipulation of spindle dynamics reveals that microtubule shortening at kinetochores limits spindle elongation rather than moving chromosomes, revealing local chromosome–spindle interactio...

Congrats Geng-Yuan “Scott” Chen 🎉exciting work manipulating anaphase chromosome movement with optogenetics!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

On the repeated evolution of parthenogenesis in stick insects Abstract. Female-producing parthenogenesis is widespread in stick insects. It ranges from rare in sexual species to facultative or obligate, the latter som

Are stick insects unique in their ability to transition to parthenogenesis?

Our new review in @journal-evo.bsky.social covers intraspecific and hybrid origins, cytological mechanisms, and co-occurence of female-only and sexual populations, with comparisons to other taxa.

doi.org/10.1093/evol...

Drive, suppression and escape from suppression of a selfish chromosome Abstract. Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that are predicted to spark rapid intra-genomic arms races with their suppressors. However, the long

Check out our new paper, out in the current issue of Proc B!

In this work, we investigate the long-term persistence of the Drosophila pseudoobscura SR chromosome without suppression. We reconstruct its evolutionary history, showing that it has a history of suppression and escape from suppression.

The Evolutionary Genomics of Meiotic Drive Abstract. Meiotic drivers are selfish genetic elements that gain transmission advantages by distorting equal, Mendelian segregation. For decades, biologist

Meiotic drive has long been considered as a genetic curiosity. Genomic "footprints" suggest otherwise.

Check out our new review doi.org/10.1093/molb..., a cross-taxa synthesis arguing that recurrent drive is a pervasive and underappreciated force in genome evolution.

Common variation in meiosis genes shapes human recombination and aneuploidy - Nature Analysis of data from pre-implantation genetic testing sheds light on the genetic basis of meiotic-origin aneuploidy, the leading cause of human pregnancy loss, identifying common genetic variants ass...

Pregnancy loss is common in humans, and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause. Using genetic data from ~140,000 IVF embryos, we show that maternal variation in meiosis genes influences recombination and aneuploidy risk.

First authors: @saracarioscia.bsky.social & @aabiddanda.github.io

Rewired gene interactions during evolution of the analia and genitalia in Drosophila Abstract. Drosophila ventral appendages are considered to be serially homologous structures derived from a ventral appendage ‘ground state’ and shaped by d

The second paper from my PhD is now published and available to read! 🥳

Huge thanks to Javi and Beñat for doing those all important final experiments, and to @mcgregorlab.bsky.social and @nuneslab.bsky.social for the continuous support and trust to let me pursue this "side project".

Read in Nature: nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09899-8

Stress controls epigenetic inheritance!

A histone ubiquitylation-based regulatory hub links stress/environmental signaling to heterochromatin self-propagation and epigenetic inheritance-reshaping how we think about development, drug resistance, and cancer
👉 nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09899-8

Pervasive cis-regulatory co-option of a transposable element family reinforces cell identity across the mouse immune system Transposable elements (TEs) make up about half of the human and mouse genomes and play important regulatory roles in immune responses. However, the cis -regulatory contribution of TEs to immune cell d...

New Year, New Paper!🎊

Pervasive cis-regulatory co-option of a transposable element family reinforces cell identity across the mouse immune system
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Centerpiece of Jason Chobirko's PhD, talented PhD student co-mentored by Andrew Grimson & me. Really excited about it!🧵

Programmed ‘DNA splicing’ removes transposons from genes Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology - A study that showed that programmed DNA elimination in somatic genomes of ciliates involves excision of intrusive, transposon-derived sequences from genes.

Happy to begin the year with the publication of a Journal Club article - Programmed ‘DNA splicing’ removes transposons from genes.
rdcu.be/eXBym

🪱 Selfish genes are everywhere and drive some of biology’s biggest innovations (CRISPR, antibody recombination, epigenetics). Yet almost no one asks the obvious question: how does a selfish gene begin? Our new manuscript uncovers how selfishness can emerge directly from the host genome.

Intrigued by a long-standing conundrum in small RNA biology—how nuclear Argonaute proteins silence transposons when they *need* target transcription for their own recruitment—we studied the piRNA pathway.

And found a hidden RNA-decay axis from Piwi to the RNA exosome.

The main project of my postdoc with @spo11rulz.bsky.social is now available on bioRxiv! By systematically integrating structural information with molecular evolution analyses, we gained new fascinating insights into the evolution of key meiotic recombination proteins: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

[Please RT]

(1/3) Deadline extended to the end of the year for the EMBO workshop on Molecular Mechanisms of Selfish Elements and Strategies.

Held in Bern, Switzerland, from 8 to 11 February 2026.

meetings.embo.org/event/26-sel...

#EMBOselfishElements #EMBOevents

Absolutely thrilled to share the latest work from my lab focused on the variation and evolution of human centromeres among global populations! We assembled 2,110 human centromeres, identifying 226 new major haplotypes and 1,870 α-satellite HOR variants. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The first ever cover art from my lab! And an awesome story about how chromatin changes in response to the N/C ratio from my first grad student, Anusha Bhatt!

📢 Telomere community: Registration and abstract submission are now open for the EMBO Workshop “Telomere function and maintenance in health and disease”, May 25–30, 2026, in Lazise, Italy 🇮🇹. Looking forward to an exciting meeting! Please re-post. meetings.embo.org/event/26-tel...

Patrick Walsh in the
@ericjoyce.bsky.social lab defends his thesis tomorrow!

Wow - congrats Lucie! ♥️

🗞️ New preprint from the lab, led by our postdoc Ana Garoña (not on here) in collab with @andreagiometto.bsky.social: “Experimental evolution of cellular miniaturization reveals a mechanism for cell size evolution”, aka: “honey, we shrank the yeasts!” 🎥
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Dynamic evolution of EZHIP, an inhibitor of the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 in mammals The Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) is an ancient, conserved chromatin-interacting complex that controls gene expression, facilitating differentiation and cellular identity during development. It...

@pravrutharaman.bsky.social got super intrigued about EZHIP/CATACOMB, previously identified as a histone H3K27M mimic of PRC2. You can read about her efforts here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We hope these analyses will help spur more analyses in this very cool gene! 1/

Took us a bit, but proud of this published version. We now examine the genetic interaction of phosphorylation with oligomerization and where bulk and phospho-Swi6 localize. Wonder if chromatin affinity tuning to enable Suv39 H3K9me3 spreading is a conserved mechanism ?

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Four days of great science, fun interactions, and breathtaking views at #EMBOevoChromo25 in San Feliu 🇪🇸
BIG THX to organizers @arnausebe.bsky.social @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social & co @levine-lab.bsky.social @sandraduharcourt.bsky.social Nick Irwin 🙏👌