Marco Fumasoni

Some of us know how sweet procrastination can be! If you feel the same, good news:

The abstract deadline for the EMBO Workshop has been extended to March 19!

Don’t miss the opportunity to present your work June 2–5 2026 in Oeiras, Portugal!

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating).

A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

Fostering Responsible Research Assessment: DORA Launches New Introductory Course | DORA DORA is delighted to announce the launch of its Introduction to Responsible Research Assessment (RRA) Course. This online, self-paced course provides an approachable, entry-level curriculum for anyone at any career stage and in a variety of roles to learn about RRA. While the course is free for individuals to take, it requires registration, and provides the option of issuing a certificate for each of its four lessons and one for its full completion.

EMBO was part of the group that developed DORA's new introductory course on #ResponsibleResearchAssessment. 🧪 We’re pleased to see its launch, more info here: https://sfdora.org/2026/02/23/new-introductory-course/

GIMM Fest returns September 17–19 with three days dedicated to the future of science and health, this year focusing on microbes. 🦠

Join researchers and innovators for a programme designed to promote scientific exchange and collaboration.

🧵 Thread: What happens when transcription isn’t properly shut off during mitosis? Our new preprint explores just that 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Now with the final graphic ✨
Beautiful artwork by Sonia Monti (scientific-visualization-solutions.com). Design by @embo.org

🧬 The Rules of the Game
📍 @gimmfoundation.bsky.social, Oeiras (PT) | June 2–5, 2026
🗓️ Register by March 1st
👉 meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...

Join the dialogue on the #evolution of cellular processes at the EMBO Workshop "The rules of the game: Biophysical & molecular principles in cellular evolution" in #Oeiras, PT, 2–5 June 2026.

Deadline: 1 March

https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-cellular-evolution
#EMBORulesOfTheGame #EMBOevents 🧪

🔬Exploring principles of cellular evolution at the interface of physics, molecular & evolutionary cell biology

🌐Hybrid format

🧑‍🏫Many talk slots available — early abstract submission encouraged

✈️Many travel grants available for early-career&global researchers 🙏 to @embo.org & @aps-dbio.bsky.social

📢 Join us in sunny Lisbon 🇵🇹 2-5 June for the @embo.org workshop ☀️

“The rules of the game: biophysical & molecular principles in cellular evolution”

Apply by March 1st!
Please repost to help spread the word!

meetings.embo.org/event/26-cel...
#EMBORulesOfTheGame @gimmfoundation.bsky.social

Too big not to fail: Different paths lead to senescence of enlarged cells In this issue of Molecular Cell, Crozier et al.,1 Foy et al.,2 Manohar et al.,3 and Wilson et al.4 show how excessive cell growth caused by a temporar…

Looks like you were onto something. You might be interested in a cohort of papers published in 2023 that demonstrate this association using multiple methods. Here’s a commentary, where you will find the links to the original manuscripts:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Good points! Nuclei are significantly smaller too! We are looking right now into genome dynamics in unperturbed and damaging conditions. Hopefully we get some cool answers for the next chapter of the saga.

Many questions remain about these lineages. Feedback from the cell biology and evolution communities is very welcome. Thanks for taking a look! 🙏

We propose a mechanism in which mutations synergistically speed transitions through G1 and G2 without reducing biomass accumulation. This produces very small yet fit cells and may help explain how eukaryotic cell size evolves.

Whole-genome sequencing of evolving populations showed that concerted changes in the G1 cyclin Cln3 and the Greatwall kinase Rim15 signaling cascades explain the size shift. Genetic perturbations in these cascades can reproduce evolved volumes, while loss-of-function leads to enlarged cells

This project stemmed from our curiosity about how evolution generates diversity in cell sizes without harming fitness. We evolved S. cerevisiae under size-based selection for 1500 generations and observed a remarkable ~6-fold volume reduction with limited impact on fitness or size homeostasis

🗞️ 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...

So proud to watch Jana turn a side quest into an entire research programme. Couldn’t imagine a more well-deserved outcome. 😍

The mighty yeast reveals what we believe are general principles of centromere evolution!

Behind the curtain: communities.springernature.com/posts/counti...

#MEvoSky 🧪🌎

How do new centromeres evolve while staying compatible with the division machinery?

Discover it in our new Nature paper! We show centromeres transition gradually via a mix of drift, selection, and sex, reaching new states that still work with the kinetochore.

👉 doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09779-1

Now published on @plos.org Computational Biology!

Same findings as the preprint, with improved analyses suggested by reviewers!

Check it out and let us know how RepliFlow works for you!

journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

I'm curious if other mid career PIs have considered completely abandoning the trad publication model. We've been making gradual moves towards that end goal. But it's been difficult to completely jump ship for one main reason for me at least. 1/

Reductive evolution of the DNA replication machinery in endosymbiotic fungi The molecular machinery for replicating and repairing DNA accurately is critically important for life and highly conserved across the Tree of Life. Here we show that two major lineages of fungi, Glome...

I’m super happy to present the first discoveries of the RIKEN-Cambridge Joint Crop Symbiosis Research Team, based in Japan 🇯🇵

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

A thread 👇

Great findings indeed, I have so many questions 🤩! I’m intrigued that TLS loss precedes the loss of Polδ. While the latter could be host control, the former shouldn’t. Like @morielab.bsky.social, I wonder how far can Polδ go alone, and what does the plant supply for efficient genome duplication!

how (yeast) cells re-climb the fitness landscape when they are reprogrammed to a different telomere DNA sequences (human-like)? read the latest from @melaniadangiolo.bsky.social etal , with great help and insights from Eric Gilson, Jonas Warringer and @juliamuenzner.bsky.social (& Ralser lab)

@mariananatalin6.bsky.social @marcofumasoni.bsky.social show evolutionary repair in response to DNA replication stress in yeast is predictable and consistent across different environments #CompensatoryEvolution #NutrientAvailability #ReplicationStress #GxE ➡️ www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

📢 New paper out in Mol Syst Biol!
During the development of WT yeast colonies, small cell subpopulations experience transient, high-intensity mutational bursts. Such hypermutation episodes are modulated by the DNA damage tolerance pathway 🧬
🔗 www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

The adaptive molecular landscape of reprogrammed telomeric sequences Telomeric sequences vary across the tree of life and intimately co-evolve with telomere-binding protein complexes. However, the molecular mechanisms allowing organisms to adapt to new telomeric sequen...

Superhappy to share the last paper from my PhD in @litinice.bsky.social lab. We evolved yeasts with humanized telomeric repeats and discovered that they adapt through amplification of telomere-binding proteins and inactivation of the DNA damage response.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Looking forward to reading this!!

Exciting news: our Board of Trustees has appointed @monicabettencourt.bsky.social as the CRG's new Director. Prof Bettencourt-Dias is expected to take up the post in 2026, replacing Dr. Luis Serrano, who will continue to maintain a research group at the institute.
www.crg.eu/en/news/moni...

Happy to be the next (and 1st female) @crg.eu director. The CRG always stood out to me, for its excellence in understanding life's principles, with implications for health and biodiversity, & its collaborative, open and innovative way of doing science. Thrilled to join its amazing community in 2026!

They are so lucky to have you!!