Zechner Lab

The EMBO Young Investigator Network consists of young investigators, installation grantees and global investigators. 🧪

Find more information on the individual programmes here:
https://www.embo.org/the-embo-communities/embo-young-investigator-network/
#LifeSciences #research #funding

Excited to share Alison's @alisonkickuth.bsky.social paper from the lab out in @nature.com this week! We uncovered how a mechanical ratchet mechanism drives cytokinesis in early #zebrafish embryos. Read more in this thread 🧵 and at www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🤩
@poldresden.bsky.social @mpi-cbg.de

Dynamics of microcompartment formation at the mitosis-to-G1 transition - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Goel et al. produce high-resolution three-dimensional genome structure mapping from mitosis to G1 phase to show unseen interactions between enhancers and promoters in prometaphase. Polymer modeling in...

See this recent paper by @andersshansen.bsky.social that discovers similar microcompartmentalization during mitotic exit:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An incredible ICTP initiative is our Postgraduate Diploma Programme. Rigorous one-year pre-PhD training for students from the Global South. I have personally seen this program transform the lives of those in the quant life sciences.

Due Feb. 28 2026. Please share widely.
www.ictp.it/news/2025/11...

Size control guidelines for chemically active droplets Biological cells and synthetic analogues use liquid-liquid phase separation to dynamically compartmentalize their environment for various applications. In many cases, multiple droplets need to coexist...

Since more than a decade, our group has been exploring chemically active droplets, which are exciting since their size can be controlled. Yet, we still do not fully understand this control even in the simplest models. Until a new preprint (arxiv.org/abs/2512.02542) spearheaded by postdoc Guido...

We are opening a FACULTY POSITION (tenure track, permanent) in the University of Cambridge at the interface of control and biology, interpreted broadly. Theorists and wet lab quantitative biologists with backgrounds in control, EE, applied math, ... apply by Jan 28!

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/univers...

Congrats Jesse, very well deserved!!

I am honored and proud to work with my amazing group @mpi-cbg.de and @csbdresden.bsky.social 🥰 🧬. Thanks to all my colleagues for the wonderful scientific environment. And thank you @kboes.bsky.social for preparing this superb video! 🤩

The most precious commodity you have is your attention. You don’t have to waste it on poor-faith debates or arguments with strangers if you don’t think they’ll be productive. You can prioritize the things that matter to you and make your life richer.

I’m very excited to start this project — it brings together ideas that matured over many years and opens a long-term path for innovation in RNA modelling. 🍾 🧬

One of our founding directors Anthony Hyman @hymanlab.bsky.social will become @embl.org Director General: www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

Wonderful to see the beautiful preprint from Sabate et al now published - TADs are also dynamic structures in human cells, with remarkably similar parameters between mESCs and HCT116 cells
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Postdoc in Theoretical Biophysics Two postdoc positions (each for two years, funded by Amidex Foundation) are available in theoretical biophysics within the theory group at DyNaMo (Aix-Marseille University).

Two 2-year postdoc positions in my theory group — for studying the interplay between metabolism and morphogenesis at the edge of the Calanques and the Mediterranean. More information can be found on: euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/381176
#biophysics

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🧵👇

Thanks a lot to @elisecutts.bsky.social for nicely highlighting and putting in context our article! It was very interesting to discuss together, notably about the analogies between the emergence of order in Hydra and other physical phenomena.

Great work! Congratulations you all & especially to
@carldmodes.bsky.social who joined today after a lot of arm twisting by Caren...

Out today in @nature.com: Together with the Honigmann, Shevchenko, Drobot and Hof labs, we present a general workflow for imaging the localization and transport of individual lipids in cells and mapping their metabolism.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Our beautiful Hydra made the cover!!! 😍😍😍
An experiment performed by Pavel Mejstrik with a HCR protocol by @giuliaserafini.bsky.social, @paveltomancak.bsky.social lab @mpi-cbg.de
Actin fibers in blue, nuclei in orange.

Our first #Hydra paper. @anaisbailles.bsky.social all the way, with crucial theory contributions from Carl Modes and @zechnerlab.bsky.social Hydra maintenance by Heino Andreas and HCR by Giulia Serafini. Teamwork. Many thanks to the generous Hydra research community.

Stretching the immortal Hydra Dresden researchers show how cells can create a new organism from scratch by coordinating their mechanical properties.

Stretching the immortal Hydra. Publication by @paveltomancak.bsky.social group with Carl Modes @mpi-cbg.de & @zechnerlab.bsky.social shows how cells can create a new organism from scratch by coordinating their mechanical properties. @anaisbailles.bsky.social @pnas.org www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

Novel Research in Biological Artificial Intelligence Expressions of interest and nominations for a Max Planck Director to lead research in the field of Biological Artificial Intelligence.

Novel Research in Biological Artificial Intelligence: Expressions of interest and nominations for a Max Planck Director to lead research in the field of Biological Artificial Intelligence @mpi-cbg.de and @csbdresden.bsky.social. More information: www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

We are searching for an AI researcher in lab automation, statistical ML and (theoretical) physics AI for bio/med. Expression of interest and nominations welcome!!!

We are looking for a research assistant to join our lab and support ongoing projects with genome engineering in mouse embryonic stem cells! Please get in touch if you are interested.
www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

(1/n) Thread @matteomazzocca.bsky.social @domenicnarducci.bsky.social Simon Grosse-Holz @jessematthias.bsky.social preprint

Q: how does chromatin move?

Using MINFLUX, SPT & SRLCI, we track chromatin dynamics across 7 orders of magnitude in time to provide answers www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Many congratulations to Anne for defending her PhD this week…excellent results and presentation! We wish you all the best for your future career!

We are finalizing the program of the @cecamevents.bsky.social RNA modelling across scales www.cecam.org/workshop-det... at SISSA, Trieste, Italy, May 19-22. Please note that we still have a few slots for in person attendance. We will accept applications for the next few weeks, until fully booked!

Come to #Prague for #Woodstock2025. What is it? A scientific conference unlike any other. Think #BurningMan or #MusicFestival but #science themed. It'll have two parts - decentralised sessions spread in #Prague (sightsee as you move around) & #campsite event to wrap it up (1/7)

"Cacio e pepe" physics: In arxiv.org/abs/2501.00536v1, eight Italian scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems explain the physics behind a perfect dish of "cacio e pepe" and how to eschew the dreaded "mozzarella phase" - work featured @nytimes.com.

Congratulations Tommaso for an excellent PhD defense! Very well done!

3. Even "simple" systems with purely homotypic interactions lack a fixed c_sat in non-equilibrium conditions (e.g., cells)

4. Inferring solute interactions (homotypic vs. heterotypic) from changes of c_sat / partition coefficient is problematic in cells because of point 3.