FMI science

🚀 Students & researchers from @theneurotecheu.bsky.social!
Join Neurospark 2025 Hackathon (Nov 4–6, Elche). Team up to solve challenges in brain–machine interfaces & shape the future of neurotech! 🧠👇
neurotecheu.umh.es/2025/09/08/h...
@umh.es

Are you an ERC-funded researcher who is ready to inspire the next generation of scientists?

Apply now to showcase your research in fun, creative ways at the #ScienceisWonderful exhibition! 👉 link.europa.eu/vgTTr4

📅 18–20 March 2026

📍Brussels

⏳Apply until 20 October

@ercgrantees.bsky.social

Join @stemcellreports.bsky.social and @bacell3d.bsky.social on 4 November to learn how organoid models are being used to study human development, infection, tissue dynamics, and cancer across various organ systems. Features Short Talk Winners! Register today👉 bit.ly/4o46DzZ

Preprint by the Grosshans lab w/ co-1st authors Dimos Gaidatzis, Maike Graf-Landua & Stephen P. Methot "A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression" @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
@labgrosshans.bsky.social
@smethot.bsky.social
@fmiscience.bsky.social

Save-the-date information: New approaches to Early embryogenesis & epigenetics February 16 - 18 2026 Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany

2nd Meeting on Early Embryogenesis and Epigenetics
16 - 18 Feb 2026 at MPI for Molecular Genetics, Berlin
with support by the Weizmann Institute for Science.
Early bird registration until 30 Sep - register now👇
www.molgen.mpg.de/embryo2026

After 23 years at the FMI, we bid farewell to Debby Hynx, technical associate in our animal facility. She’s heading south to be closer to family. Wishing her the very best in this new chapter—she will be deeply missed!

We’re excited to host the next TriRhena Gene Regulation Club on November 5!

Attendance is free, but registration (by October 20) is mandatory 👇🏽

📢 Spread the word: Applications are now open for our #PhD and #MDPhD programs! Become part of Basel, Europe’s #LifeScience hub, and grow in a dynamic, international, and supportive community. Apply by Nov 15: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

The mini placentas and ovaries revealing the basics of women’s health Lab-made organoids that mimic reproductive tissues could point to treatments for common conditions such as pre-eclampsia and endometriosis.

We’re proud that the work of FMI group leader Margherita Yayoi Turco on reproductive organoids is featured in @nature.com. From the first placental organoid in 2017 to today’s advances, Turco's research is helping reshape reproductive health. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Really excited to share our latest work led by @mattiaubertini.bsky.social and @nesslfy.bsky.social: we report that cohesin loop extrusion creates rare but long-lived encounters between genomic sequences which underlie efficient enhancer-promoter communication.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A🧵👇

The ‘immortal’ <em>Hydra</em> reveals tug-of-war behind cell fate decisions FMI researchers have uncovered how the freshwater polyp <em>Hydra</em> decides whether a cell becomes part of its stinging tentacles or its anchoring foot, shedding light on some of the fundamental ru...

Now in
@dev-journal.bsky.social: Researchers in the Tsiairis lab have discovered how Hydra cells decide to form stinging tentacles or an anchoring foot, revealing key rules of body patterning. www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

📣 EU-LIFE brings together the voices of 16 leading #biotech #innovation experts, including scientists, CEOs, investors & #TechTransfer professionals, who all agree on one thing:

𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲’𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴, 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴-𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵.

➡️ doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

With the FMI Annual Meeting underway last week, admin staff & some retired colleagues enjoyed an excursion to Broc & the district of Gruyère. With cheese-making, a tasty lunch & a sweet finale at a chocolate factory, it was a chance to strengthen ties and enjoy time together.

FMI Science Prizes — winners 2025 On September 15-17, the FMI hosted its Annual Meeting in Davos, bringing together the institute’s scientific community, Novartis colleagues and members of the Scientific Advisory Board. A highlight of...

Last week in Davos, our Annual Meeting gathered the FMI’s scientific community, Novartis colleagues & the Scientific Advisory Board. Highlights included the FMI science prize ceremony, honoring creative thinking, outstanding PhD theses & exceptional postdoc studies 🏆 www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

Congrats to the mixed football team FMI + @biozentrum.unibas.ch for bringing home a coveted trophy at the tournament organized by @eth-bsse.bsky.social ⚽ Fantastic grit and teamwork!

Truly honored (and a little overwhelmed) to see our work featured in The Transmitter's "This Paper Changed My Life." Huge thanks to @neural-reckoning.org for the kind words - and to our amazing community that keeps pushing spiking neural network research forward 🙏

Very grateful to the Ruth Chiquet Prize committee for recognizing our efforts and to the FMI community for their invaluable support in this project.

Another FMI Annual Meeting is in the books! After a night of follies and plenty of dancing, today brought the announcement of our internal prize winners, more inspiring talks, and a vibrant poster session. Already looking forward to next year! 🙌

This year's Ruth Chiquet Prize goes to @solygamagda.bsky.social, who sent a video message, for her work on how the brain detects sensory mismatches. Read more at: www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

The Max Burger Prize 2025 goes to Josip Ahel (@aheljo.bsky.social), Aparna Pandey & Michaela Schwaiger for adding a key piece to the puzzle of how cells protect the DNA from “jumping genes.” Read more at www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

This year’s Ed Fischer Prize goes to Francesca Masoni (@schubelerlab.bsky.social) for her PhD on chromatin organization—revealing how the ISWI chromatin remodeler subcomplex NURF positions nucleosomes to safeguard genomic boundaries & gene regulation. Read more at www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

After a successful poster session yesterday night, day 2 of the FMI Annual Meeting featured inspiring talks from our scientists in the morning, followed by alpine adventures—including several hikes. Tonight, we continue with a gala dinner and the traditional follies 🎉

Image of the authors: Marylène Bonvin (left), Charisios Tsiairis (middle) and Jaroslav Ferenc (right)

To find out more about this work, we spoke to first authors Jaroslav Ferenc & Marylène Bonvin, and corresponding author Charisios Tsiairis, Group Leader at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research @fmiscience.bsky.social in Basel, Switzerland:

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Phenotype rescue upon Zic4 and Gata3 double knockdown. (A,B) Maximum projection confocal images of oral (A) and aboral (B) ends of animals after GFP RNAi (control), Zic4 or Gata3 RNAi, and Zic4+Gata3 RNAi. DNA in cyan, peroxidase activity in magenta and Nematocilin in orange. Panels on the right show magnifications of boxed areas on the left. Scale bars: 100μm. Note the ectopic peroxidase staining in tentacle tips upon Zic4 RNAi, and ectopic Nematocilin staining adjacent to the foot upon Gata3 RNAi, as well as rescue of both phenotypes in the double knockdown. (C) Percentage of animals with ectopic peroxidase staining in tentacles upon Zic4 KD and double KD. (D) Percentage of animals with ectopic Nematocilin staining adjacent to the foot in Gata3 KD and double KD. For examples of strong and partial phenotypes refer to Fig. S6. Data in G and H shown for n animals pooled from at least two independent replicates. ***P<0.001 (Fisher's exact test). (E,F) Schematic of proposed model for controlling the choice between basal disk and battery cell fate in Hydra. At the oral pole, Wnt signaling (black dot) activates Zic4 (orange) expression and thus basal disk identity. Without it, Gata3 dominates at the opposite end, leading to basal disk fate establishment (E). Experimentally depleting one of the factors results in ectopic cell fate acquisition at the opposite body end (F).

Hydra body axis balance: a fight between two transcription factors

This Research Highlight showcases the work from Jaroslav Ferenc, Marylène Bonvin, Panagiotis Papasaikas, Jacqueline Ferralli, Clara Nuninger and Charisios D. Tsiairis:

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

I am excited to announce that we are looking for a Lab Manager @fmiscience.bsky.social in Basel. If you want to be part of a growing team investigating development and tissue formation, and are enthusiastic about helping set up a new lab, please check out the role:

www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

This year's FMI Annual Meeting kicked off today in Davos with exciting talks from our scientists! Plus, we were thrilled to host Jan-Michael Peters (@impvienna.bsky.social)
for a plenary lecture on how a protein complex called cohesin folds DNA into loops—shaping how our genes work 🧬

contact me or @csoneson.bsky.social if you want more details

📣The Turco group is seeking a computational biologist to analyze large omics datasets. Work on cutting-edge 3D organoid models of the human placenta and be embedded in our Computational Biology Platform (part of @sib.swiss). Apply here: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Let's not forget to acknowledge my partners in crime: @seadaisy.bsky.social, Laurent Gelman from @fmiscience.bsky.social, Pascal Lorentz and Loïc Sauteur from @unibas.ch, and Tom Lummen from @ethz.ch !

This week we hosted Transmitted Light Microscopy courses at the FMI—two great days with Novartis colleagues & the Microscopy Network Basel! Lectures + a temporary lab set up by our expert @laureplantard.bsky.social with microscopes from ZEISS, Leica, Nikon & Evident 🔬