Mike Robson

Chromatin spatial analysis by METALoci unveils sex-determining 3D regulatory hubs Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - METALoci, a new three-dimensional genome computational tool, reveals a major rewiring of regulatory interactions during sex determination. By combining...

🤩💪 Out now! 3D regulatory hubs in sex determination

With @mamartirenom.bsky.social & Capel labs, led by @imotagom.bsky.social & @jrotwitguez.bsky.social

1️⃣ METALoci – explore #3DGenome 🧬
2️⃣ Non-coding region controlling Fgf9 🧩
3️⃣ Meis genes = new key players 🌟

👉 rdcu.be/e5sm2

1/n Bluetorial 👇

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...

We’re recruiting! Three-year, fully funded #postdoc opportunity: pancreatic cancer #epigenetics & potential new treatments (funded by @ncn.gov.pl & @dfg.de ). Collaboration with @akispapantonis.bsky.social, University of Göttingen (OPUS-LAP). See the ad & contact me! drive.google.com/file/d/1vrFd...

Functional maps of a genomic locus reveal confinement of an enhancer by its target gene Genes are often activated by enhancers located at large genomic distances, and the importance of this positioning is poorly understood. By relocating promoter-reporter constructs into thousands of alt...

✨Exciting news: the main story of my PhD is out in Science!

Together with Christine Moene @cmoene.bsky.social, we explored what happens when you scramble the genome—revealing how Sox2’s position shapes enhancer activation.

📖 Read the full story here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🥳 Very grateful for the support of the ERC Starting Grant for my newly established lab! We will study how transposable elements contribute to mammalian embryonic development.
We will have positions available next year. Stay tuned!

Eva Nogales @nogaleslab.bsky.social introducing the 2025 CSH Mechanisms of Eukaryotic Transcription Meeting. Co-organizing with Wendy Bickmore @wbickmor.bsky.social and Joanna Wysocka. Will intermittently try to update as allowed

Pathologists have used nuclear & tissue shapes to diagnose #cancer for decades, but what is the molecular basis for this? In our latest work, we develop a computational pipeline to figure this out in #colorectalcancer! Check out 🧵& preprint #mechanobiology #stemcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The nuclear periphery confers repression on H3K9me2-marked genes and transposons to shape cell fate - Nature Cell Biology Marin et al. report the role of lamin proteins and the lamin B receptor (LBR) in chromatin positioning at the nuclear periphery. Knockout of all lamins and LBR in mouse embryonic stem cells leads to h...

Another paper bluetorial! Today: how does the spatial location of genes influence their function? (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

(1/n) DNA-PAINT imaging inside the nucleus at single antibody resolution using TIRF? Ultrathin sectioning makes it happen!

Grateful to share my postdoctoral work introducing “tomographic & kinetically-enhanced DNA-PAINT” or in brief: tkPAINT. Out in @pnas.org!
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
👇🧵

Celebrating 10 years of our lab with a new preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How does enhancer location within a TAD control transcriptional bursts from a cognate promoter?
Experiments by Jana Tünnermann and modelling by Gregory Roth

Enhancer adoption by an LTR retrotransposon generates viral-like particles, causing developmental limb phenotypes - Nature Genetics Activation of an LTR retrotransposon inserted upstream of the Fgf8 gene produces viral-like particles in the mouse developing limb, triggering apoptosis and causing limb malformation. This phenotype c...

Finally out! 🥳 Our paper showing how a transposable element (TE) insertion can cause developmental phenotypes is now published @natgenet.nature.com 🧬🦠🐁
Below is a brief description of the major findings. Check the full version of the paper for more details: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02248-5

Calling all aspiring Postdocs! One extra week to apply to join our exciting HFSP-funded project to uncover how chromatin moves to function.

Deadline July 15th.

www.mdc-berlin.de/career/jobs/...

Calling all aspiring Postdocs! One extra week to apply to join our exciting HFSP-funded project to uncover how chromatin moves to function.

Deadline July 15th.

www.mdc-berlin.de/career/jobs/...

Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in/ Postdoc (m/f/d) Chromatin ist nicht unbeweglich. Es handelt sich um ein hochdynamisches Material, dessen 3D-Struktur zentrale genomische Prozesse – von der Transkription bis zur DNA-Reparatur – steuert. Doch wie verhält sich Chromatin als Material – als Flüssigkeit, Feststoff oder viskoelastisches Gel –, um diese Funktionen in lebenden Zellen auszuführen? Ohne eine Antwort auf diese Frage können wir nicht vollständig verstehen, wie Chromatin bei Krankheiten gestört wird.

Postdoc🚨!

Come join our HFSP team to uncover how chromatin moves in cells and what this means for genome function! Great opportunity to combine single-cell genomics, live imaging and polymer physics in the unique mammalian retina with @andersshansen.bsky.social, Davide Michieletto & Sandra Tenreiro

Range extender mediates long-distance enhancer activity - Nature The REX element is associated with long-range enhancer–promoter interactions.

Our paper describing the Range Extender element which is required and sufficient for long-range enhancer activation at the Shh locus is now available at @nature.com. Congrats to @gracebower.bsky.social who led the study. Below is a brief summary of the main findings www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in/ Postdoc (m/f/d) Chromatin ist nicht unbeweglich. Es handelt sich um ein hochdynamisches Material, dessen 3D-Struktur zentrale genomische Prozesse – von der Transkription bis zur DNA-Reparatur – steuert. Doch wie verhält sich Chromatin als Material – als Flüssigkeit, Feststoff oder viskoelastisches Gel –, um diese Funktionen in lebenden Zellen auszuführen? Ohne eine Antwort auf diese Frage können wir nicht vollständig verstehen, wie Chromatin bei Krankheiten gestört wird.

Apply now by July 9th at

www.mdc-berlin.de/career/jobs/...

You can also read more about the grant here

www.mdc-berlin.de/news/news/mi...

Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in/ Postdoc (m/f/d) Chromatin ist nicht unbeweglich. Es handelt sich um ein hochdynamisches Material, dessen 3D-Struktur zentrale genomische Prozesse – von der Transkription bis zur DNA-Reparatur – steuert. Doch wie verhält sich Chromatin als Material – als Flüssigkeit, Feststoff oder viskoelastisches Gel –, um diese Funktionen in lebenden Zellen auszuführen? Ohne eine Antwort auf diese Frage können wir nicht vollständig verstehen, wie Chromatin bei Krankheiten gestört wird.

Postdoc🚨!

Come join our HFSP team to uncover how chromatin moves in cells and what this means for genome function! Great opportunity to combine single-cell genomics, live imaging and polymer physics in the unique mammalian retina with @andersshansen.bsky.social, Davide Michieletto & Sandra Tenreiro

Thanks! Hope the lab is set up and all up and running 😁

We're thrilled to continue our deep dive into how chromatin mechanics govern how our genomes function with our A-team @andersshansen.bsky.social @Davide Michieletto, and @Sandra Tenreiro.

A huge thanks to the @dfg.de and @hfspo.bsky.social for supporting us.

Stay tuned! PhDs/Postdocs coming soon!

portrait of a man

@drmrobson.bsky.social has won two grants from @dfg.de & @hfspo.bsky.social totaling over €2 million. He and his lab now work to decode the mechanics of #chromatin, hoping to finally define its physical state and better understand how it governs gene regulation
www.mdc-berlin.de/news/news/mi...

Conservation of regulatory elements with highly diverged sequences across large evolutionary distances Nature Genetics - Combining functional genomic data from mouse and chicken with a synteny-based strategy identifies positionally conserved cis-regulatory elements in the absence of direct sequence...

How to find Evolutionary Conserved Enhancers in 2025? 🐣-🐭
Check out our paper - fresh off the press!!!
We find widespread functional conservation of enhancers in absence of sequence homology
Including: a bioinformatic tool to map sequence-diverged enhancers!
rdcu.be/enVDN
github.com/tobiaszehnde...

Making intrabodies from antibodies just got easier! Learn how we made 𝟭𝟵 intrabodies to bind and light up peptides and histone modifications in live cells. And thanks to Academia, all sequences are freely available. (video credit: Yuko Sato @YukoSatoT2) (1/15)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Robson lab's second paper! A truly fun collaboration with an unexpected and important finding - progenitors reconfigure 3D genomes organisation to commission loci for future cell fates. A heroic amount of work from a rockstar team.

Reconfiguration of genome-lamina interactions marks the commissioning of limb cell-fates Diverse forms of heterochromatin block inappropriate transcription and safeguard differentiation and cell identity. Yet, how and when heterochromatin is reconfigured to facilitate changes in cell-fate...

Very excited to share our latest work revealing a prominent role for LADs in commisioning cell fates in mouse organ & tissue development, particularly of the limb. Amazing work by Isabel and Samy together with @stemundi.bsky.social & @drmrobson.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Jop Kind Ik doe mee aan Alpe d’HuZes omdat ik geloof dat wij samen kunnen werken aan een wereld waarin je niet meer doodgaat aan kanker, wil jij mij steunen?

This year I am climbing the alpe d’Huez by bike 6 times to raise money for cancer research. 100% of the funds are directly invested into cancer research. Please click on the link below if you wish to fund this cause and help me reach my goals. Thanks!

www.opgevenisgeenoptie.nl/fundraisers/...

Reconfiguration of genome-lamina interactions marks the commissioning of limb cell-fates Diverse forms of heterochromatin block inappropriate transcription and safeguard differentiation and cell identity. Yet, how and when heterochromatin is reconfigured to facilitate changes in cell-fate...

🚨 Preprint 🚨
Ever wondered how cells prepare their genomes to enable new cell-fates? In this team up with the Kind lab, we show that genes are repositioned in the nucleus to get ready for future activation and tissue formation. Read 🧵👇 to find out how and when this happens!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

And modelling extraordinaire @gfudenberg.bsky.social who somehow got missed!

Grateful to my wonderful collaborators worldwide:
Yuko Sato, Xingchi Yan, Simon Ulrich, @watanyatra.bsky.social, Lothar Schermelleh, Hiroshi Kimura, IrinaSolovei & my supervisor @drmrobson.bsky.social. Thank you for your hard work & support throughout! 🌍🙏

😱 A very hungry #PacManoid ate the original post 🍬🍬🍬

Here’s the 🧵 on our latest in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social again!

Gastruloids w/ a sweet tooth better model natural embryos: doi.org/10.1016/j.st...

Spearheaded by @cryaaa.bsky.social & Alba Villaronga-Luque @mpi-cbg.de @poldresden.bsky.social