Edda Schulz

Ad for a postdoc position in centromere biology with colorful chromosomes and centromeres made out of FIMO.

🧪 My lab has an opening for a postdoc position soon! Please share/get in touch!

📣NuQuest consortium update: Our first joint publication is out!Review on quiescence—A milestone for our initiative laying out the scientific groundwork & collaborative vision for our MSCA-DN application coordinated by @jlugiessen.bsky.social 1/n
www.mdpi.com/3700996
#NuQuest #MSCA #DoctoralNetwork

Wellcome Connecting Science Synthetic Biology for Health and Sustainability conference Conference dates: 11-13 March 2026 Highlights include our keynote lectures as follows Talk title: "Combining protein engineering and synthetic biology to develop a therapeutic bacteria to treat lung diseases" by Luis Serrano, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Spain Talk title: "Towards sustainable, bio-sourced polymers" by Kristala Prather, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA

Secure your in-person place at Synthetic Biology 2026! #SynBio26

Register by 9 February ⏰

Hear #SynBio research from globally leading scientists. Don’t miss our “Meet the Editors” session—your chance to get insights on the publication and peer-review process.

📎 bit.ly/43nlbBW
#ALife ⚙️🧫

Congratulations, Scott and team!

Top: scheme of synthetic antisense locus; bottom: experimental setup where a Dox pulse induces antisense-mediated repression that leads to a sustained down-regulation of the sense gene.

⚒️ Through constructing a synthetic antisense locus, Verena then showed that gene repression, induced by antisense transcription can be stable for several days, when ESCs differentiate.

genome browser tracks of nascent transcription of the region surrounding the Nfatc4 gene for 3 time points: at day 0 transcription mostly comes from an antisense transcript, which disappears at day 4, where the Nfatc4 gene now is transcribed.

🧬 Till then found experimental evidence for promoter-repression by antisense transcription through a genome-wide analysis of nascent transcription during ESC differentiation. Here promoter-overlapping antisense pairs show mutual exclusive expression.

Scheme of convergent antisense locus and scheme of expression memory where one antisense partner is high and the other one is low until they switch and memory is lost.

💻 Through extensive stochastic simulations 📈 Verena showed that (convergent) antisense transcription ➡️⬅️ can store stable memory, if antisense txn goes through the gene promoter and induces a stable repressed state.

Antisense transcription can induce expression memory via stable promoter repression - Genome Biology Background The capacity of cells to retain a memory of previous signals enables acquisition of unique fates and adaptation to their environment. The underlying gene expression memory can arise from mu...

⚠️ The final work of two former PhD students Till @tschwammle.bsky.social and Verena @verenamutzel.bsky.social is out!
➡️⬅️ They dissect how memory can arise from antisense transcription using mathematical modelling 💻, genomics 🧬 and synthetic biology ⚒️! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

I'm excited to participate in the upcoming Wellcome conference on synthetic biology 🛠️🧬 with a great lineup of speakers! It's still possible to sign up, as the abstract deadline has been extended until January 5th 📄 - join us!

Escape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNA Nature Cell Biology - The authors show that increased Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape X inactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape...

Very happy to share our paper rdcu.be/eUImj out today in @natcellbio.nature.com 🎉🎉🎉
We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.

Thanks @pasquelab.bsky.social and his team for this collaboration.

Poster advertising the 6th X-inactivation meeting from Oct 19-23 2026 in Sapporo, Japan. The organizers are Asato Kuriowa, Edda Schulz, Ikuhiro Okamoto, Rafael Galupa, Takashi Sado, Mitinori Saitou.

📣 SAVE THE DATE
Next X-inactivation meeting in Sapporo, Japan, 19-23 October 2026. Visit x-inactivation-meeting.org to join our mailing list. 🧬 speakers @dandergassen.bsky.social @marnieblewitt.bsky.social @heard65.bsky.social @crougeulle.bsky.social @sexchrlab.bsky.social @zhouqi1982.bsky.social

New paper from the lab: we’re using long-read sequencing to disentangle isoform complexity at allele-specific loci 🧬💡
Here, we combine the PacBio Iso-Seq workflow with the established WhatsHap phasing approach to assign long reads to the correct allele in polymorphic F1 mouse hybrids.

🧬 Interested in dissecting dose-dependent transcriptional regulation through epigenome editing and synthetic biology for your PhD? Apply by 07.01.2026 to join the lab of @eddaschulz.bsky.social @molgen.mpg.de & #IMPRS-BAC #gradschool.

👉 www.molgen.mpg.de/5099133/schu...

Robust pan-junctional reinforcement preserves the gut epithelial barrier under mechanical stress Epithelia are specialized tissue barriers that safeguard the organism's internal milieu from the hostile external environment, a function critically dependent on intercellular junctions. In the colon,...

Ever wondered how adult organs preserve epithelial barrier integrity while continuously exposed to mechanical stress? We tackled this question in our new preprint – led by our brilliant PhD student Vishnu Krishnakumar! (1/11)
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

coffee breaks inspire the coolest things, no? It certainly inspired this wonderful project – a kids book on a robin that takes you under its wing on its journey to their wintering grounds. gorgeously illustrated @co-la.bsky.social and beautifully written by a #dreamteam within @sfb1372.bsky.social

Enhancer-promoter compatibility is mediated by the promoter-proximal region Gene promoters induce transcription in response to distal enhancers. How enhancers specifically activate their target promoter while bypassing other promoters remains unclear. Here, we find that the p...

What is a promoter? And how does it work?

We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility.
I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters

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

Calico cat on a neutral background. Image is AI generated with Adobe Firefly.

New paper! In female mammals, one X-chromosome is inactive in each cell. In some cats, this causes typical color patterns, depending on which X is active and the color it codes for. The @eddaschulz.bsky.social lab found a new regulatory principle behind X-inactivation. 1/2 Note: AI generated image

Wonderful opportunity to work with Martin Howard and my group trying to understand how chromatin influences gene transcription and expression. Integration of theory, modelling, and experimentation. Come and join the team!
Please repost!

jobs.jic.ac.uk/Details.asp?...

Reporter CRISPR screens decipher cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory principles at the Xist locus Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 06 October 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01686-3Here Schwämmle et al. develop CRISPR reporter screens to map transcription-factor-regulatory element interactions at the Xist locus, revealing a two-step mechanism integrating developmental and X-dosage signals to initiate X-chromosome inactivation.

New online: Reporter CRISPR screens decipher cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory principles at the Xist locus

Thank you, Max!

Happy to share the 2nd part of my PhD @natsmb.nature.com!

Using CRISPR screens, we uncover the TF-RE wiring underlying Xist regulation. Since the preprint, we've added a titration of Xist, showing that XCI is directly dependent on Xist levels.

Check the Bluetorial by @eddaschulz.bsky.social 👇

Happy to see this insightful and rigorous work published in its final form! Congrats to all authors and in particular to super hard-working first author @tschwammle.bsky.social and to @eddaschulz.bsky.social for the brilliant guidance.

Thanks, Raquel!

🥂 Congratulation to first author Till Schwämmle @tschwammle.bsky.social and all co-authors! @gemnov.bsky.social @nellykanata.bsky.social @jjfroehlich.bsky.social @melissabothe.bsky.social @alexandrammar.bsky.social @aybuge-altay.bsky.social @molgen.mpg.de

Violin plots showing the fraction of X-linked reads coming from the inactive X as a function of Xist expression level. The plot shows that lower Xist expression results in weaker X-chromosome silencing.

🎯 Why It Matters: High Xist Levels are required for silencing the entire chromosome.
🎛️ Using CasTuner and enhancer deletions we show that Xist expression and silencing efficiency are dose-dependent 📈: reduced Xist RNA = impaired X-chromosome silencing

🔹 Phase 2 (High-Level Boost): Late TFs activate distal enhancers
→ They drive high Xist RNA levels needed for robust silencing.

The Xist switch has two distinct phases:
🔹 Phase 1 (Binary ON/OFF): Early TFs target proximal regulatory elements
→ They sense X-chromosome number (XX vs XY) to trigger initial Xist upregulation—ensuring female-specific activation.

A cell with two X chromosomes must silence one to survive.
This is done by the Xist gene, a master regulator that coats one X in RNA.
But how does Xist KNOW when to turn on—and only in females?
🔬 Our new study reveals a two-step regulatory logic that decodes sex and development.

Reporter CRISPR screens decipher cis-regulatory and trans-regulatory principles at the Xist locus - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Here Schwämmle et al. develop CRISPR reporter screens to map transcription-factor-regulatory element interactions at the Xist locus, revealing a two-step mechanism integrating developmental and X-dosage signals to initiate X-chromosome inactivation.

⚠️ Paper alert: Using a novel CRISPR screening approach, we mapped the entire regulatory network controlling Xist—key for X-chromosome inactivation.
👉 We discover how sex and development signals are decoded at a single gene locus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
👇 Bluetorial