🚀 We’re hiring! The Structural Biology Platform is seeking a Project Leader to advance cryo-electron tomography and expand capabilities at the FMI. Join a vibrant research community at the interface of structural biology, cell biology & disease mechanisms. Apply at: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Ulrich’s research will help advance our understanding of RNA biology & gene regulation, as well as how these mechanisms might be altered during viral infections & other diseases. @hohmannulrich.bsky.social comes from the @impvienna.bsky.social / @imbavienna.bsky.social www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

Fun fuels collaboration

Really excited to join IMB for this new scientific endeavour!

Episode 0 of new Florian Krammer podcast viroLOGICAL is online: “This first episode is a little longer and gives a general overview of viruses and viral diseases.“ virological.podigee.io

Would anyone out there be able to share some Mus Spretus DNA with us? 🐀🧬 Any tissue of origin, for PCR amplification of selected genomic regions. Many thanks in advance!

🍄Transposon traffic in the mycocosmos🍄 Fascinating work reveals extensive horizontal TE transfer across fungi (@jromeijn.bsky.social, Iñigo Bañales & @mfseidl.bsky.social; doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...). I wrote a Dispatch to prime non-specialists,check it out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.cu.... #TEworldwide

☕Earl Grey v7.0.0 brewed fresh☕ Nested TEs finally get the treatment they deserve: iterative detection of deep nesting, cleaner GFF annotations, and coverage stats that don’t double-count genomic space + a RepeatCraft edge-case fix. Happy new year to the TE folks! 🧬 github.com/TobyBaril/Ea...

1/3 🚨New paper from our lab!🔥 Most textbooks will tell you that invertebrates employ #RNAi as antiviral mechanism. Yet, do 🪸🪼 actually do it? Well, the answer is complicated. We show that in #Nematostella dsRNA induces RNAi 🧵 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

This went under the radar but answers a fundamental question in Epigenetics... From many hundreds of olfactory receptor genes, each neuron selects expression of only single one (near-randomly). How? Outstanding work from Mathieu Boulard and colleagues www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Modern biology research is biased towards investigating genes that are widely conserved and present in humans. What about genes that ARE widely conserved but NOT present in humans? Can genes missing from humans tell us something about what makes our biology different from that of other animals? 1/8

Do transcriptional activators work on any promoter? Our data says no. 🙅‍♂️ Despite driving ~2/3 of mammalian genes, CpG island (CGI) promoters have remained a puzzle. We identified >50 activators that are exclusively compatible with this promoter class. 🧬

Activator-promoter compatibility in mammals - Hcfc1 is a key and intrinsically CGI-promoter-specific co-activator that cannot activate non-CGI promoters. Lead by @nemcko.bsky.social & Kevin Sabath in collab. with @plaschkalab.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/2)

Intrigued by a long-standing conundrum in small RNA biology—how nuclear Argonaute proteins silence transposons when they *need* target transcription for their own recruitment—we studied the piRNA pathway. And found a hidden RNA-decay axis from Piwi to the RNA exosome.

📢 Please help spread the word: We’re hiring a Head of Student & Postdoc Affairs to coordinate our international PhD program, provide guidance & career counseling, lead training programs, collaborate on EDI initiatives, and manage alumni relations. Apply at www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

This past month marked the end of an era at the @schierlab.bsky.social @biozentrum.unibas.ch. It was a meaningful, intense, often challenging, but also incredibly rewarding chapter of my scientific journey. Thank you all in the Schier Lab for the unconditional support and the Schierleading!

Lastly, I’m excited to join @imbmainz.bsky.social in 2026 to start my own lab. We'll explore new mechanisms in eukaryotic gene expression, leveraging ‘evolutionary play’ to uncover how regulation, repurposing, and hijacking shape RNA biology. tinyurl.com/y4x29ctt Thanks for reading! 20/20

Finally out in @nature.com! We uncovered a mechanistic framework for a general and conserved mRNA nuclear export pathway. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... 1/

Are you an early-stage graduate student (2nd or 3rd year) or early-stage postdoc based in the US or Canada, working primarily in Drosophila? Would you like to help improve the experience of all trainees working in Drosophila research? If so, read on. (Please repost to reach a broad audience.)

New paper alert! Scientists in Clemens Plaschka’s lab at the IMP and @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social's lab at @imbavienna.bsky.social solved a decade-old puzzle, uncovering how the information molecule mRNA travels from the cell’s nucleus to its periphery. More: bit.ly/4nHcvys

great to be at the #EMBOMobileGenome meeting in Heidelberg with a wonderful bunch of colleagues, speakers and attendees. this meeting is a good reflection of the excitement and collegiality in the transposon field. kindly sponsored by @embo.org

Now in @embojournal.org: Researchers in @labgrosshans.bsky.social & UCSC found that similar molecular machineries control daily circadian rhythms & developmental timing—showing that evolution can repurpose core timing systems to coordinate both daily cycles & growth. www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

Three FMI researchers—Nanci Winke, @neuramos.bsky.social & @lukas-anneser.bsky.social—have received @snsf.ch Ambizione Grants! Their projects explore how emotions shape behavior, how the brain responds to anxiety treatments, and how brain states affect learning & memory 🧠 www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

The Skok Lab is recruiting an experienced computational scientist to lead single-molecule epigenomic and 3D genome analysis. We integrate long-read sequencing with Hi-C/Hi-ChIP, scmulti-omics, and machine-learning to explore chromatin topology, and gene regulation.

And the next one: dx.doi.org/10.1038/s44318-025-00585-z . Super-fun collaboration with @partchlab.bsky.social & @gotworms.bsky.social to find similarities between developmental and circadian clocks – supported by @fmiscience.bsky.social Facilities and, financially, @snsf.ch and @erc.europa.eu . 1/n

what you always wanted to know about the molecular choreography of nuclear mRNA packaging and export. thought-provoking review by our colleagues (local or in the RNA community). @plaschkalab.bsky.social @rupertfaraway.bsky.social @thezenklusen.bsky.social www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Come join us in Geneva for everything epigenetics and gene regulation. It will be a great meeting! Please repost! www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

Congratulations, looking forward to more insights into this really unusual flamenco transcript!

Paper alert! doi.org/10.1038/s443... - "A scheduler for rhythmic gene expression". We show how 9 txn factors suffice for rhythmic gene expression of thousands of genes with any phase or amplitude in #Celegans larvae (and also look at the tissues where oscillations happen) 1/n

Just out in @science.org: Together with the lab of @wilhelmpalm.bsky.social, we used sequential in-vitro/in-vivo CRISPR screens to decipher metabolic adaptations in tumors. We find that acidosis is a dominant factor that shapes energy metabolism and stress resilience. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I am hiring! - looking for a Staff Scientist to co-run my research group with me. Staff Scientist is a senior professional scientist role at EMBL. Please forward to people you might know who could be interested! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

⚡⚡Excited to announce I'll be starting my lab at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics (@molgen.mpg.de) in Berlin in December! Leaving sunny California to join a fantastic environment with colleagues who do super cool work. 🔬🦠I'm hiring at all levels! 🔬🦠Check: www.molgen.mpg.de/fueyo-lab

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

We’re looking for a #postdoc to join Lori Passmore’s group, within a programme aimed at understanding addition of mRNA poly(A) tails More info: www.nature.com/naturecareer... Closes 06 OCT #ScienceJobs #PostdocJobs

Do you research endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) or want to learn more about them? 🧬🤔 Consider presenting at or attending AuusiERV - an inaugural online symposium for ERV research in Australia 🇦🇺 (and abroad) 🗺️ Abstracts due 1st October! events.humanitix.com/aussierv-2025 #ERV #retrovirus

We’re excited to host the next TriRhena Gene Regulation Club on November 5! Attendance is free, but registration (by October 20) is mandatory 👇🏽

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🧵👇

My first first-author paper is out!🎉 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!

How are RNAs sorted for export vs. degradation in the nucleus? In collaboration with @heick.bsky.social’s 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)

Some (+)ve news to lighten another heavy weekend: our latest preprint (c/o Mattiroli + Ramani labs) is up! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)

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...

wrong bioRxiv link here, sorry. the correct link to the collaboration with Torben and Clemens is: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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 Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

I am excited to announce that we are looking for a Lab Manager @fmiscience.bsky.social in Basel. If you want to be part of a growing team investigating development and tissue formation, and are enthusiastic about helping set up a new lab, please check out the role: www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

Close inter-lab collaborations with shared PhD students and postdocs are the future! Julia is the hero of this work, she is currently looking for postdoc labs …

Target RNA recognition drives PIWI∗ complex assembly for transposon silencing

🚨 We're hiring, please share! The FMI seeks a tenure-track Group Leader (Assistant Prof) in Structural Biology 🔬 Innovative scientists in genome regulation, RNA metabolism, or protein homeostasis—especially using cutting-edge approaches—apply now at www.fmi.ch/education-ca...

I supervise an excellent postdoc who's looking for a postdoc or associate position in < 1 yr. Highly skilled in chem biol and biochem (peptide synthesis, native chem ligation, bacterial expression, purification, intein-based splicing, crystallography, interaction assays). Contact me if interested.

New ERC Starting Grant for Valentin Flury to investigate the role of epigenetic memory during cell division focusing on epigenome maintenance on sister chromatids. Read all details here: www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/6057908/2025... Congratulations 🥳, @flurylab.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu #ERCStG