Siegenthaler Lab

Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.

i desperately want everyone involved in the destruction of USAID to have to, st the very least, answer to the american people for the suffering and misery they have caused apnews.com/article/myan...

In related news, let me know if you or someone you know has any interesting work opportunities!

one more day left for poster submissions to Winter Brain 2026

October 9th is the deadline for poster submissions for #WCBR2026 please share! www.winterbrain.org

Molecular determinants underlying functional divergence of TBP homologs The TATA-box binding protein (TBP) is a highly conserved basal transcription factor and a core component of the pre-initiation complex (PIC) for all three eukaryotic RNA polymerases (RNA Pols). Despit...

How does a “universal” transcription factor evolve to do species-specific jobs?
Our new preprint reveals how divergence in TBP’s domains shapes transcriptional specialization across eukaryotes.

Read it here 👉

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

#MolecularEvolution #Transcription

Professor Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL), He headed the division “Cell Physics” at MPL and the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM).

With deep sadness, we share that Prof. Jochen Guck, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light passed away on October 3. His visionary work bridged physics and medicine. We have lost a brilliant scientist and dear friend.

mpl.mpg.de/news/article...
@fau.de

📸 Stephan Spangenberg

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

p21/Rb-activated SMAD/STAT/NFκB-dependent secretome activates a reversible immunoclearance program

Fibroblast in vitro
Hepatocyte in vivo

Senescence-independent😎

CXCL14
IGFBP3
ADAM15
SSC5D
APP
FN1
Prosaposin

@science.org 2021
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Which journal would publish such a fragmented mess?
www.cell.com/current-biol...

Natives Playlist - Natives - 58 items

I made a list of Native songs by Native artists on tidal. It has punk, throat singer, R&B, pop, a little bit of everything.

Related, I noticed that a bunch of the artists don't have their albums on Tidal anymore, anyone know what's up with that? Did I miss something?

tidal.com/playlist/e2a...

Black in Microbiology Week 2025 Panel: Navigating Careers in Microbiology – Careers & Research. Event time: 2–3 PM EST, Oct. 15, 2025. Speakers: Lauryn Alexander, PhD (Law Student, West Virginia University), Shanna Ashley, PhD (Medical Science Liaison, AbbVie), and Corey Reynolds, PhD (Regional Medical Scientific Director, Merck).

🌟 Don't miss CAREERS & RESEARCH Day on Oct 15! Hear highlights from Dr. Lauryn Alexander, Dr. Shanna Ashley, and Dr. Corey Reynolds. Secure your spot now by pre-registering: linktr.ee/BlackInMicro. Show your support by donating here: tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (links in bio) #BlackInMicro #BiM2025

It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Read our tribute to the visionary Nobel Laureate and watch an interview from 2012, just after he won: https://bit.ly/4mM8o3r

YouTube video by Simons Foundation Nicole Rust - The representation of mood in the primate insula (May 6, 2025)

Please spread the word! I am recruiting a PhD student this cycle (Fall 2026 start) to join my team in a new venture: the neuroscience of mood.

If you are curious to learn more, this short talk provides a good overview of why, what and how.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjIK...

Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education: Pre-CellBio Workshop Join the Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education Workshop in Philadelphia, PA on December 5, 2025.

🍳🍕 Free breakfast and lunch? Yes, please!

Undergraduate educators going to #CellBio2025 are invited to apply for our “Open Science & Authentic Research in Undergraduate Education” workshop happening on Dec. 5 in Philadelphia.

Apply by Oct 20: alleninstitute.org/events/open-...

I hope this Nobel Prize gets people talking meaningfully about our amazing immune systems and the importance of basic research to human health (and funding basic research).

I am also glad young women get to see that women can not only work at this level, but that those who do can get recognized.

Dolly Parton’s Sister Says ‘I Was Up All Night Praying’ Amid Country Icon’s Health Issues and Asks Fans to ‘Pray With Me’ Dolly Parton's sister Frieda is asking fans of the Queen of Country to "pray with me" amid Dolly's continued health struggles.

Dolly Parton's sister is asking fans to "pray with me" amid the country music icon's health issues

Our group at the Allen Institute is recruiting a technician and postdoc to work on light microscopy-based connectomics. Please DM me or share with anyone you think may be interested in this NIH BRAIN CONNECTS funded project.

It was incredibly moving to hear Prof Nickel and other non-citizen professors testify in court about the ways in which the arrests and deportations of students had affected them and their colleagues. So grateful to them for their integrity and courage. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Researchers wake up microbes trapped in permafrost for thousands of years Across the Arctic, bacteria and other microorganisms have become trapped underground in frozen soil and ice. A new study finds that these ancient microbes may

🧊💡 CU Boulder researchers have awakened microbes trapped in Arctic permafrost for tens of thousands of years—and found that they spring back to life when thawed. Their activity could offer new insights into climate feedbacks and Earth’s ancient ecosystems.
Read more: www.colorado.edu/today/2025/1...

OIST is seeking up to four tenure-track or tenured faculty in Ecology, Environmental Science, Earth Science, and Oceanography. Application deadline: Oct 15. Please share. Thx!
www.oist.jp/careers/facu...

🧠 Join us @uzh-ch.bsky.social ! We are a new lab looking for PhDs, Postdocs & Master’s students interested in studying how human neural systems emerge & go awry using brain organoids, light-sheet imaging & genomics. 🚀 Deadline for LSZGS 1st Nov! www.lifescience-graduateschool.uzh.ch/en.html.

Joint Professorship for Susanne Wegmann at DZNE and Charité Boost for Brain Research in Berlin.

🎉 Congratulations to Dr. Susanne Wegmann on her joint professorship at DZNE and Charité!
Her research focuses on the Tau protein in neurodegenerative diseases - a strong boost for brain research in Berlin!

👉 www.dzne.de/en/news/pres...

Structural and mechanistic insights into translation initiation on the enterovirus Type 1 IRES Enteroviruses are a widespread and diverse set of pathogens responsible for over ~1 billion human infections annually. Upon cell entry, translation of the virus genome is mediated by an internal ribos...

Enteroviruses cause over a billion infections each year, but the details of how their genomes capture host ribosomes have remained elusive. I'm pleased to share a new preprint from Miguel in our group, providing some new insights into this problem:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

@lataco.bsky.social first began as a blog documenting local Mexican cuisine. Now, it’s an essential reporting powerhouse to the city as Trump’s mass deportation plot unfolds.

Check out the latest from our friends at Reveal: tinyurl.com/4cm2bsdr

Our calcium paper is out in PLOS Biology!
Check it out! #Calcium #Embryo #Development

My continued biomedical education

Pannexins in the vasculature

A comprehensive review from Cryo-EM structure, mechanosensing & ATP-releasing to vascular diseases Atherosclerosis AAA Hypertension Edema Thrombosis

@brantisakson.bsky.social #AJPHeartCirc 2025
journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Dissecting the impact of transcription factor dose on cell reprogramming heterogeneity using scTF-seq - Nature Genetics This study introduces single-cell transcription factor (TF) sequencing, a single-cell barcoded and doxycycline-inducible TF overexpression approach that reveals dose-sensitive functional classes of TFs and cellular heterogeneity by mapping TF dose-dependent transcriptomic changes during the reprogramming of mouse embryonic multipotent stromal cells.

🧵1/ Excited to share our new paper introducing a new #singlecell assay: scTF-seq, a high-throughput single-cell approach to explore how transcription factor (TF) dose shapes cell identity and reprogramming outcomes. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Big congrats to the entire team @EPFL & @SIAT_China

The FAA is delaying flights at Newark and Denver airports because they haven’t got enough air traffic control. Burbank has zero ATC from 4.30-10pm.

Lots of controllers who aren’t being paid during the government shutdown are calling in sick.

The programs had very broad eligibility criteria that included being a member of a racial or ethnic group that was historically underrepresented in research, but eligibility also included those from disadvantaged educational or socioeconomic backgrounds and those with a physical disability or other factors, or just an interest in working on the biomedical workforce. These grants were not awarded through illegal, “racial preference” programs, but rather through highly competitive, merit-based processes. But rather than articulating and defending these goals and processes, many parts of the scientific establishment seemed to be rushing to violate one of the first tenets of historian Timothy Snyder’s important book On Tyranny: Do not obey in advance.

5/14

I have been trying to get this published as an op-ed, but I am going to post it here since I think it is timely in light of the "consent" extortion events.

Deafening Quiet from the Scientific Establishment

jeremymberg.github.io/jeremyberg.g...

1/14

While it is easy to focus on the apparent lack of moral courage shown by the scientific establishment, I am more struck by two other aspects of these reactions. The first is the lack of utilization of scholarship to guide their reactions. There is a substantial body of scholarly literature about the value of participation of individuals from diverse groups in science, particularly health-related research. Moreover, many universities have scholars, including historians, sociologists, and lawyers, who have devoted their efforts to studying the consolidation of power by authoritarian governments. What is happening in America is not new. It has occurred, with variations, in many other countries. Since individuals and groups involved with science should be well equipped to explore and understand scholarly writings, I expected more efforts to use this information to shape and articulate their responses.

9/14