#DYK there is #SciArt on display around the CSB Buildings @utoronto.ca?
Keep your eyes open for gorgeous images created by our @uoftartsci.bsky.social students, from their research and as artwork
You can also view these images in our online gallery!
csb.utoronto.ca/research-ove...

CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics Fourwaves - CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics

The CEEHRC Annual Meeting returns this fall!

Register NOW for the 11th Canadian Conference on Epigenetics taking place November 12-15, 2025 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta.

event.fourwaves.com/...
1/7

Welcome Felix, we’re thrilled to have you join CSB@UofT

JUND plays a genome-wide role in the quiescent to contractile switch in the pregnant human myometrium Author summary The muscular layer of the uterus, is responsible for the forceful contractions that deliver the baby at the end of pregnancy. During the majority of pregnancy this muscle is not able to...

Our study of how the AP1 transcription factor JUND regulates gene expression during human pregnancy is out now in @PLOS Genetics can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

It’s a pun-tastic research day @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social

b2B speed networking event: connecting CSB students and alumni through shared experiences and snacks - Department of Cell & Systems Biology CSB students networked with alumni during a recent speed mentorship reception. Along with specific career advice, students learned a few common themes for the modern job market

CSB students from @uoftartsci.bsky.social networked with alumni during a recent Backpack to Briefcase speed mentorship reception with @uoftalumni.bsky.social. Check out the story for career tips and examples of potential career paths!

Access alone is not enough; people need high-quality care.

Fewer women are dying in childbirth as access to health care has increased.

Maternity service coverage has increased.

Access to health care saves lives. Pregnancy can be a dangerous time in a woman's life.

It's #WorldHealthDay
Since 2000, maternal deaths globally declined by 40%! 💙

BUT—progress is slowing, and aid funding cuts mean major threats to lifesaving maternity services in many parts of the world. ❌

Image shows Melanie Woodin

Melanie Woodin, an internationally recognized neuroscientist who studies the mechanisms underlying learning and memory in the brain, has been named #UofT’s 17th president. ➡️ uoft.me/uoftpres

As you scroll through our skeets, you’ll see that women scientists are vital to discoveries made at CSB.
For International Day of Women & Girls in Science, we’ve highlighted some recent impressive accomplishments #IDWGS2025 #WomenInScience
csb.utoronto.ca/supporting-t...

Supporting the talented women scientists of CSB on IDWGS csb.utoronto.ca/supporting-t...

This was a big collaborative effort started by Sakthi D Moorthy, now at CCRM, and brought to the finish by @itobiaslab.bsky.social now at @uofguelph.bsky.social
Thank you to all the team and to CIHR for funding our efforts to understand gene expression regulation in the brain!

The cells missing SRR2-18 shift their transcriptome and accessible chromatin away from the developing forebrain to a state more similar to the neural tube.

Deleting the Sox2 SRR2-18 enhancer cluster on both alleles causes a loss of neural stem cell self renewal at higher passages.

A Sox2 Enhancer Cluster Regulates Region-Specific Neural Fates from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Abstract. Sex-determining region Y box 2 (Sox2) is a critical transcription factor for embryogenesis and neural stem and progenitor cell (NSPC) maintenance

Our work on the enhancers regulating Sox2 in neural stem cells is published! This one has been a long time in the works. We found a cluster of downstream enhancers, including the more well studied SRR2, are required to maintain Sox2 expression and anterior neural identity.
doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...

Transcription processes compete with loop extrusion to homogenize promoter and enhancer dynamics Gene promoters and enhancers share the same constrained mobilities during transcription, opposing cohesin-mediated loop extrusion.

Career achievement unlocked - two publications come out on the same day!

Great collaboration with Tom Sexton
doi.org/10.1126/scia...

And fantastic work by Tiegh Taylor and Mitchell lab colleagues
journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Transcription processes compete with loop extrusion to homogenize promoter and enhancer dynamics Gene promoters and enhancers share the same constrained mobilities during transcription, opposing cohesin-mediated loop extrusion.

Out now in @ScienceAdvances A great team effort, spearheaded by Angeliki, showing that promoter and enhancer dynamics become homogenized on transcriptional activation, and that loop extrusion and transcription compete to put brakes on chromatin
doi.org/10.1126/scia...

The cells are all-right: Regulation of the Lefty genes by separate enhancers in mouse embryonic stem cells Author summary Our study explores how two closely related genes, Lefty1 and Lefty2, are regulated independently despite their proximity in the genome. Both genes play important roles in stem cell main...

The cells are all-right: Regulation of the Lefty genes by separate enhancers in mouse embryonic stem cells. How are 2 genes separately regulated even though they are fairly close to each other in the genome, we find a primary role for gene separation distance. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

The cells are all-right: Regulation of the Lefty genes by separate enhancers in mouse embryonic stem cells Author summary Our study explores how two closely related genes, Lefty1 and Lefty2, are regulated independently despite their proximity in the genome. Both genes play important roles in stem cell main...

journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Beautiful walk at #AsilomarChromatin this afternoon. Looking forward to the evening session.

Always been amazed how cells actually INTENTIONALLY cause double strand breaks. At @asilomarchroma last night, Cheyenne Sadeghi @FrockLab @Stanford showed evidence supporting that during #meiosis, #ATM kinase can suppress translocations after #SPO11 induces the meiotic double strand break.

Kicking off the 2024 @asilomarchromatin meeting with Maria Aristizabal Queen’s Univ drilling down on cancer-derived #histone mutations in budding yeast. Affect #genome integrity, transcription, and chromatin compaction! So cool that her first talk was THIS conference when she was an undergrad!

I really hate utilize, locate, delete replace with use! I hope one never slips past me.

Students in our Stem Cell & Developmental Biology Focus are attending the Medicine by Design Symposium today. A great opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Regenerative Medicine! #MbDSymposium @mitchell-lab.bsky.social

Enhancer–promoter interactions can bypass CTCF-mediated boundaries and contribute to phenotypic robustness - Nature Genetics Genetic manipulation of the Sox2 locus in mice shows that gene activation by distal enhancers does not require CTCF-mediated loops and can occur across ectopic CTCF-mediated boundaries. The ability to...

Collaborating with @pedroprocha.bsky.social, they identified a distal Sox2 regulator in neural progenitors and showed that "Enhancer–promoter interactions can bypass CTCF-mediated boundaries and contribute to phenotypic robustness"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Their paper in @genesdev.bsky.social showed that transcription factor proteins can keep DNA organized in embryonic stem cells even in the absence of CTCF sites fencing in the TAD doi.org/10.1101/gad....

Mitchell lab reveals redundant systems that maintain genome architecture - Department of Cell & Systems Biology Redundant systems keep genome architecture intact around Sox2 in stem cells and neurons reveal two recent papers from the Mitchell lab

In studies of transcriptional regulation, the Mitchell Lab @mitchell-lab.bsky.social found that redundant systems protected genome integrity no matter what they removed or added to the folded structure linking the essential Sox2 gene with distant regulators
csb.utoronto.ca/mitchell-lab...