Gerlich Lab

The Vienna BioCenter Summer School 2026 call is now open for talented undergrads, it's a great for those interested in graduate study in the life sciences. Daniel Gerlich from Institute of Molecular Biotechnology is recruiting! Please share
https://training.vbc.ac.at/summer-school/

A tale of two forms of cohesin in DNA repair Extrusive and cohesive cohesin cooperate to repair double-strand breaks in DNA

And don’t miss the insightful Science Perspective by Jiazhi Hu, placing both studies in context:
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cohesin drives chromatin scanning during the RAD51-mediated homology search Cohesin folds genomes into chromatin loops, the roles of which are under debate. We found that double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce de novo formation of chromatin loops in human cells, with the loop bas...

Also, check out the related work by @albertomarin.bsky.social from the Ha and Scully labs, who approached homology search and repair from a complementary angle:
🔗 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A big thank you to everyone at @imbavienna.bsky.social and across the @viennabiocenter.bsky.social for their support throughout this project: from the outstanding facilities to the collaborative campus environment that made this work possible.

Excited to share our latest fully in-house paper! 🎉
We show how cohesin integrates loop extrusion with sister tethering to guide the homology search during DNA repair.

Huge congratulations to all authors, and to @fedeteloni.bsky.social for leading this work 👏
We’re excited to see his next steps!

🚨 New Science paper from the Gerlich lab!
The team shows how cohesin helps broken DNA find the right template: by opening local DNA loops to shrink the search area and by keeping the damaged strand close to its sister copy: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw0566

“Maximilian Spicer holding the Best Poster Prize certificate at the 2nd Spatial Genome Organization Conference.”

Huge congratulations to @mfdspicer.bsky.social, PhD student in our lab, for winning the Best Poster Prize at the 2nd Spatial Genome Organization Conference! 🎉
A proud moment for the lab and well-deserved recognition for his creativity and dedication. 👏
@fusionconf.bsky.social #SGO25

An electrostatic repulsion model of centromere organisation During cell division, chromosomes reorganise into compact bodies in which centromeres localise precisely at the chromatin surface to enable kinetochore-microtubule interactions essential for genome se...

13/ Proud to share this work led by co-first authors Caelan Bell, Lifeng Chen & Julia Maristany, with contributions from many colleagues across the Rosen, Redding, Collepardo-Guevara & Gerlich labs.

Full story here 👇
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

12/ In short:
Centromere positioning is not hardwired by folding patterns.
It emerges from physics — specifically, charge-based repulsion.

11/ This modular principle likely extends beyond mitosis — shaping genome organisation in interphase, and offering routes for synthetic control of genome positioning.

10/ Conceptually, it’s like amphiphiles at oil–water interfaces: attraction inside, repulsion outside → stable layering.

9/ Together these findings reveal a general principle:
Centromere layering emerges from electrostatic polarity — a charge-based asymmetry that repels certain domains outward while the rest integrate inward.

8/ We built a synthetic system: TetR fused to a negatively charged GFP.
When tethered to chromatin, this construct drove loci to the surface — in vitro and in cells.

7/ Adding pure DNA segments to nucleosome arrays was enough to push them outward, in cryoET of chromatin condensates and MD simulations.
👉 Negative charge induces surface targeting.

6/ In vitro chromatin condensates and molecular dynamics simulations showed why.
CENP-B’s acidic domain was sufficient to drive nucleosome arrays to the condensate periphery.

5/ When we depleted kinetochores via CENP-C, centromeres shifted inward.
Knocking out CENP-B further reduced surface localisation.
👉 Kinetochores + CENP-B cooperate to position centromeres at the surface.

4/ Even after condensin depletion and spindle depolymerisation, CENP-A centromere cores still localised at the chromosome periphery.
👉 Surface localisation is independent of loops & spindles.

3/ Prevailing models suggested centromeres are placed at the surface by specific chromatin loop architectures. But our work shows this positioning emerges instead from electrostatic repulsion.

2/ Why does this matter?
Centromeres must locate at the chromosome surface to allow kinetochores to attach spindle microtubules. If buried inside, microtubules can’t reach kinetochores to segregate chromosomes faithfully.

An electrostatic repulsion model of centromere organisation During cell division, chromosomes reorganise into compact bodies in which centromeres localise precisely at the chromatin surface to enable kinetochore-microtubule interactions essential for genome se...

1/ New preprint alert!
In collaboration between the Rosen, Redding, Collepardo-Guevara & Gerlich labs, we uncover a surprising principle of chromosome organisation: electrostatic repulsion positions centromeres at the chromosome surface during mitosis.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Our lab is now on Bluesky! 🚀 Kicking things off by sharing
@fedeteloni.bsky.social latest preprint on the role of cohesin in homology search. Check out the thread for more details!

We also finally landed here!