Zechner Lab

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.

Key conclusions:

1. Noise reduction and concentration buffering are different concepts

2. Noise reduction does not depend on a fixed saturation concentration (c_sat)

Excited to share our new work with Frank Jülicher on noise control & concentration buffering in intracellular condensates! There has been confusion about these concepts, which we aim to address in this paper.

www.cell.com/cell-systems...

Starting the new season of seminars in Molecular and Statistical Biophysics at SISSA! Gareth Tribello today gave a talk with title “Reconnaissance Metadynamics Rides Again”

Please share! There are two postdoc opportunities at the Molecular and Statistical Biophysics group at SISSA. Join us in beautiful Trieste! More information at msb.sissa.it/join-us/

Excited to share James Jusuf's preprint:

By integrating Micro-C with SuperRes Live-Imaging we can calibrate genomics&imaging to perform absolute quantification of looping (e.g. this loop is present 3%)

We quantify mESC 36k loops: <loops> are generally rare (2.3%)

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

📢 Post-doc opportunity alert! Join the Molecular and Statistical Biophysics group at SISSA. Choose your mentor from Giovanni Bussi, Cristian Micheletti, or Angelo Rosa, or collaborate across these groups. www.bussilab.org/joinus#postd... #joinus Please reshare!

Congrats Agnes!!

Exciting news! As of today, our group is part of SISSA in Trieste. Time to say THANK YOU to all current and past group members, collaborators and mentors and to @mpicbg.bsky.social for hosting us for 8 amazing years! If you are interested in working with us in Trieste, please get in touch!