Franz Meitinger

Very happy to see our paper
“Cancer-associated USP28 missense mutations disrupt 53BP1 interaction and p53 stabilization”
featured in the Nature Communications Editors’ Highlights (Cancer).

Many thanks to the editors for highlighting our work.
www.nature.com/ncomms/edito...

Cancer loses its sense of time to avoid stress responses New insights into mitotic stopwatch show how cancer escapes cell death and cell division arrest.

New in @natcomms.nature.com, OIST researchers describe how cancer cells lose their sense of time to evade stress responses – revealing new insights that could shape anti-cancer treatments. www.oist.jp/news-center/...

Or read the full paper at www.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66341-3

Missense mutations in the C-terminus region of USP28 discovered to disrupt 53BP1 interaction and p53 stabilization @meitinger.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Cancer-associated USP28 missense mutations disrupt 53BP1 interaction and p53 stabilization Nature Communications - USP28 and 53BP1 proteins form a complex to stabilise the tumour suppressor p53, which is required to protect cells from mitotic stress and subsequent genome instability....

Our study on the mitotic stopwatch has been published. We demonstrate that USP28 interacts with 53BP1 to stabilize p53 and show that cancer cells frequently harbor mutations that impair stopwatch assembly, thereby suppressing the mitotic stress response.

rdcu.be/eTPU2

Congratulations to Hamzah for receiving the EMBO Molecular Medicine Poster Prize at #MBSJ2026.

Well deserved!

www.aeplan.jp/mbsj2025/en-...

Cell Proliferation and Gene Editing Unit Every day, millions of cells divide to sustain essential tissue functions. Errors in this process can lead to developmental disorders or cancer. Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of cel...

We’re recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher at OIST (Okinawa, Japan) to explore how mitotic stress shapes aging.

If you’re excited about cell biology, aging, and mechanistic discovery, we’d love to hear from you.

More info: www.oist.jp/careers/post...

Website: www.oist.jp/research/res...

The mitotic stopwatch synergizes with mild p53 activation to halt cell proliferation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.02.691971v1

If you’re interested in aneuploidy, mark your calendar! The FASEB SRC on the Consequences of Aneuploidy will be held Sept 28 - Oct 1, 2026 in Melbourne, Florida. Many speaking slots are reserved for early-career researchers. Please help spread the word!

events.faseb.org/event/Aneupl...

Join us for the #CellDivision2026 meeting in Okinawa. Abstract Submission Deadline: Nov 3. www.oist.jp/conference/c...

Join us for the Cell Division Meeting in the Pacific Island setting of Okinawa.
Hosted at OIST, this symposium brings together leading researchers to explore emerging roles of the cell cycle in development, cancer, and aging.

Registration now open: www.oist.jp/conference/c...

Special Application Deadline for Students Accepted or Studying in the United States

The OIST Graduate School has opened a Special PhD Admissions Portal for students currently enrolled in, or accepted to, universities in the U.S. #PhDprogram

www.oist.jp/admissions/s...

Thank you 😊

Excited to share our new preprint on @biorxivpreprint!
We show that USP28 mutations found in cancer block its interaction with 53BP1, disrupting p53 stabilization. Check out the full story... @Midori_RuruOta
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

PLK4: Master Regulator of Centriole Duplication and Its Therapeutic Potential Centrosomes catalyze the assembly of a microtubule-based bipolar spindle, essential for the precise chromosome segregation during cell division. At the center of this process lies Polo-Like Kinase 4 ...

Check out our review on "PLK4: Master Regulator of Centriole Duplication and Its Therapeutic Potential".

Everything you need to know about centriole duplication, mitotic stopwatch and TRIM37-mediated cancer-specific vulnerabilities.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Our base editor plasmids are now available on addgene: www.addgene.org/Franz_Meitin...

We wish you Happy Holidays from Okinawa!

A prolonged mitosis is characteristic of defects that drive genome instability. What are the underlying causes and broader implications of prolonged mitosis? Check out our review...

authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Genetic Engineering and Screening Using Base Editing and Inducible Gene Knockout Genetic engineering and screening in human cells are powerful techniques for the precise and comprehensive identification and analysis of gene and protein domain functions. Genome-wide knockout screen...

Interested in Base Editing and Genetic Screening?
Check out our method chapter: link.springer.com/protocol/10....
Esther Ng did an excellent job developing these methods in our lab. The constructs will soon be available on @addgene.bsky.social
Many thanks to OIST for supporting open access!

@MBSJ 2024 in Fukuoka