Complexity without ethics: Why integration matters for embryo models | PET
Properly understood, the integrated/non-integrated distinction was not just a technical shorthand for the presence or absence of particular tissues.
The ethical framework for embryo models needs clarity and simplicity. The spirit of the integrated/non-integrated distinction was to more prominently regulate models that could potentially develop into a fetus. Hafez Ismaili Mβhamdi discusses this. www.progress.org.uk/complexity-w...
06.10.2025 19:03 β π 5 π 2 π¬ 1 π 1
Protein Domain Designer tool for the generation of publication-ready protein domain diagrams
New week, new tool: Find our Protein Domain Designer tool to generate publication-ready protein domain diagrams here: domaindesigner.farnunglab.com
29.09.2025 15:01 β π 179 π 66 π¬ 2 π 3
The Vienna BioCenter PhD Program application deadline is approaching: October 10!
Join one of Europeβs premier life science campuses, home to cutting-edge research across all areas of biology.
Apply and start your scientific journey in Vienna!
training.vbc.ac.at/phd-program/
#PhD #LifeSciences
05.10.2025 09:35 β π 30 π 22 π¬ 0 π 1
A human-specific regulatory mechanism revealed in a pre-implantation model
Nature - Genetic manipulation of blastoids reveals the role of recently emerged transposable elements and genes in human development.
Today in @nature.com, we present our work leveraging functional genomics and human blastoids to uncover a human-specific mechanism in preimplantation development driven by the endogenous retrovirus HERVK.
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
01.10.2025 18:08 β π 121 π 46 π¬ 10 π 4
Manuel Matzinger, Senior Core Scientist & Deputy Head of the Proteomics Tech Hub of IMP, IMBA and GMI, received the Society Medal of the Austrian Proteomics and Metabolomics Association (APMA) for his pioneering contributions to single-cell proteomics. More:
www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/m...
30.09.2025 11:08 β π 11 π 2 π¬ 0 π 1
HHMI adopts Plan U journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
24.09.2025 18:08 β π 149 π 70 π¬ 9 π 17
My first first-author paper is out!π
Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity.
Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!
17.09.2025 13:00 β π 48 π 20 π¬ 3 π 1
Molecular basis of polyadenylated RNA fate determination in the nucleus
Eukaryotic genomes generate a plethora of polyadenylated (pA+) RNAs[1][1],[2][2], that are packaged into ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs). To ensure faithful gene expression, functional pA+ RNPs, in...
How are RNAs sorted for export vs. degradation in the nucleus? In collaboration with @heick.bsky.socialβs lab we (@clemensplaschka.bsky.social and @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social labs) discovered a direct mechanistic link between the export and decay machineries: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/x)
22.09.2025 23:23 β π 82 π 42 π¬ 2 π 2
Laura Lorenzo Orts
IMB Mainz
I am excited to announce that I will be moving to IMB Mainz next year! The Winter call for the IPP PhD program is now open; if you are interested in maternal #mRNA regulation and #translation in early vertebrate development, please apply! Deadline: 16 October.
More info: www.imb.de/students-pos...
15.09.2025 12:13 β π 60 π 24 π¬ 2 π 3
Love RNA biology?
Join us to explore the piRNA pathway with structural and genetic approaches (see ππ).
PhD student/postdoc position co-supervised by Clemens Plaschka & myself.
DM or email us if youβd like to know more!
@vbcscitraining.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social
18.09.2025 14:34 β π 17 π 20 π¬ 0 π 1
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student JΓΊlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
17.09.2025 10:38 β π 89 π 41 π¬ 2 π 4
Join this year's CSH Asia Systems Biology of Gene Regulation & Genome Editing meeting in beautiful Suzhou, China, Oct 20-24. Let's bring the international communities together! Abstract deadline Sept 19! Infos and registration at csh-asia.org?content/2767. Please repost!
11.09.2025 06:09 β π 31 π 19 π¬ 2 π 0
How cells lock down βjumping genesβ:
Researchers from IMBA and IMP identify the first protein interactions that trigger PIWIβpiRNAβmediated transposon silencing, using AlphaFold predictions, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology.
Read more: www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/t...
08.09.2025 06:52 β π 15 π 4 π¬ 0 π 2
π¨ Job Alert: we seek a Lab Manager for @juliabatki.bsky.social's new group (start Mar 2026), which will study cell fate regulation during organ development. Join the Batki's group to drive experiments & lab operations! Apply at: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...
02.09.2025 09:03 β π 25 π 18 π¬ 0 π 2
1/ How do animals develop immunity against a newly encountered transposable element from scratch? Our study reveals that the mobility of TEs is their Achilles heel, allowing hosts to develop a powerful small RNA-mediated silencing response.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
14.08.2025 17:09 β π 47 π 26 π¬ 4 π 2
Fascinated to see how an animal launches piRNA defense response when facing a natual transposon invasion!! Congrats to Baptiste and co-authors!!
04.08.2025 09:41 β π 2 π 0 π¬ 0 π 0
piRNAs are essential for transposon silencing in the animal germline.
But how do hosts trap transposon sequences in genomic loci that help establish a piRNA response?
Looking at a natural transposon invasion, Baptiste Rafanel and Kirsten Senti made some remarkable observations.
03.08.2025 15:39 β π 60 π 20 π¬ 4 π 1
Remodeling Activity of ChAHP Restricts Transcription Factor Access to Chromatin
Transcription in eukaryotes is regulated by chromatin-based mechanisms that control nucleosome occupancy, chromatin modifications, and transcription factor binding. We have previously shown that the transcription factor ADNP forms the ChAHP complex with the chromatin remodeler CHD4 and HP1 proteins, acting as a site-specific regulator of transcription and antagonist of CTCF binding. However, the molecular basis of these functions remained unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the CHD4 subunit is essential to antagonize CTCF and silence transcription of transposons, while HP1 proteins are dispensable. Although the remodeling activity of CHD4 is not required for ChAHP chromatin association, it is critical for both transposon repression and CTCF antagonism. Our findings support a model wherein ADNP recruits chromatin remodeling activity in a sequence-specific manner, enabling transcriptional control and local modulation of chromatin architecture. ### Competing Interest Statement The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI) receives significant financial contributions from the Novartis Research Foundation. Published research reagents from the FMI are shared with the academic community under a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) having terms and conditions corresponding to those of the UBMTA (Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement). Novartis Research Foundation, n.a. Swiss National Science Foundation, grant 310030_188835
preprint alert: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
06.07.2025 11:55 β π 42 π 12 π¬ 3 π 2
If you like transposons...
If you you love genome editing...
Or if you just like random bird animations,
we have the paper for you!
We (@kedmonds.bsky.social et al) are happy to share our work turning a songbird retrotransposon into a genome editing tool. π£ (1/n)
03.07.2025 03:20 β π 43 π 16 π¬ 4 π 2
β οΈ I am really excited to share the work of Anastasios Balaskas, an excellent PhD candidate in the lab, with the wider world. Tasos made a significant advance: generating a stem cell-based embryo model that contains both posterior and anterior neural tissues of the late-stage gastrulating embryo.
23.06.2025 07:51 β π 123 π 45 π¬ 4 π 7
REFEREE 1: βI conclude with a simple, direct statement - this is the best paper I have read all year!β
#TransparentPeerReview
Co-evolving infectivity and expression patterns drive the diversification of endogenous retroviruses
@juliusbrennecke.bsky.social et al
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
06.06.2025 14:18 β π 102 π 33 π¬ 3 π 2
Genome-wide CRISPR screening identified a novel negative regulator ASB7 of H3K9me3 homeostasis
Cul5-ASB7 E3 ligase complexβ‘οΈβ«ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation of SUV39H1 (main H3K9 methyltransferase)
Looks more potent than KDM4A/B/Cπ
@science.org 2025
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
06.06.2025 18:53 β π 8 π 2 π¬ 0 π 0
Assist Prof at UIUC Plant Bio #NewPI. NSF Postdoc UConn EEB. PhD Harvard OEB. Erasmus MEME evobio alumna. She/Her. Lover of ALL plants.
π§ͺπ¬π±πΎ
Development; Evolution; Evo-Devo; Microscopy; Meristems.
Lived in π¨π³π―π΅πΈπͺπ«π·π©πͺπΊπΈ
www.minyaaa.com
Postdoctoral Fellow @Vincent Pasque lab. KU Leuven.
Epigenetics , Early human embryonic development, Stem Cell.
Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (the Institute formerly known as Pasteur and Shanghai Institute of Immunity and Infection) Vibrio, Campy, Helicobacter, sRNAs & reverse ecology π¨π¦
An interdisciplinary research institution that conducts basic research in two key areas of modern biology: Immunobiology & Epigenetics in #Freiburg, Germany
https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de
Chief Science and Strategy Officer, openRxiv. Co-Founder, bioRxiv and medRxiv.
Group leader CRG; Associate Faculty ToL Sanger Institute.
Genome regulation, chromatin, cell types, and evolution. https://www.sebepedroslab.org
The Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research (FMI), affiliated with @unibas.ch and @novartis.bsky.social, conducts research at the forefront of biomedicine and trains the next leaders in the life sciences.
Biologist, systems biology, C. elegans, metabolism, gene regulation, networks, horses, cats, (still) happy in academia, UMass Chan Medical School
https://www.umassmed.edu/walhoutlab/
Opinions my own
A multidisciplinary community of researchers with the mission to better understand the roots of disease and narrow the gap between new biological insights and impact for patients. Broadinstitute.org
Our mission: To create comprehensive reference maps of all human cellsβthe fundamental units of lifeβas a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease. https://www.humancellatlas.org
A new scientific institution for curiosity-driven biomedical science and technology.
Computational biologist @HelmholtzMunich, prof @TU_Muenchen & associate PI @sangerinstitute. Dad of 4 and mountain lover. Department news, see @CompHealthMuc
Research scientist at @GoogleDeepMind passionate about AI, genomics and biology.
Group leader at Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut fΓΌr Molekulare Pharmakologie
W2-S Professor at CharitΓ© β UniversitΓ€tsmedizin Berlin
Postdoc at Biozentrum in Basel. How do single cells decide what to become? What to do? When? Where? In fact, how do humans?
PhD student at the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, Vienna.
Interested in RNA silencing
Scientist at IMP in Vienna. Excited about gene expression regulation and its encoding in our genomes - enhancers, transcription factors, co-factors, silencers, AI.
Interested in Ubiquitin, Proteostasis and Signaling
Scientist at @mpibiochem.bsky.social
Alumnus of @mrclmb.bsky.social
