1/🧵 Can transcription factor condensate formation be explained without phase separation? Our new preprint introduces SPARK, a simulation tool that reproduces condensate behavior (clustering, fusion, FRAP) from diffusion & binding kinetics alone. Movie: 60 sec FRAP sim www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Out now in Science! Our study challenges long-standing assumptions about transcription factor specificity in eukaryotes. Novel single-molecule measurements of TF behavior in living cells reveal an independence of locus-specific binding from DNA sequence recognition.🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We invented “triplet tumbling microscopy” (TTM) to track protein-protein interactions in living cells! Tag your protein with GFP and see it interact with *untagged* binding partners www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thank you for all the donations - over £2500 raised for Oscar’s charity. The kids smashed the challenged and we could not be prouder! The weather was not the kindest but we made it through 38km and over 1000m of height gain! www.justgiving.com/team/thaliaf...

Using light-activated CRISPR in zebrafish, we triggered synchronized DNA breaks and track the repair process. ⚡🐟⚡ 

 Well ... DNA repair is very different in embryos compared to tissue culture cells. Embryos repair DNA breaks incredibly fast - within minutes! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thalia & her sister Aneira are taking on the #NineEdgesChallenge on May 3rd for @OscarsCharity After 3 surgeries, chemo & radiotherapy for an aggressive brain tumour, Thalia is now walking to help others facing this disease. Please support 🙏 www.justgiving.com/team/thaliaf...

Kalukula, Y., Ciccone, G., Mohammed, D., Procès, A., Versaevel, M., Deridoux, A., ... & Luciano, M. (2025). Unlocking the therapeutic potential of cellular mechanobiology. Science advances, 11(44), #EpithelialMechancisReview doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Two weeks to go! Please donate! Over 100 people will be walking the 9 Edges Challenge. Please donate so we can raise vital money for Oscar’s Pediatric Brain Tumour Charity.

Want to know how histone marks regulate your favorite gene? Go single molecule with ChromSMF: integrated measure of chromatin accessibility and histone marks + DNA methylation, TF footprints and genotype for free! Very proud of @mpalamin.bsky.social ! @embl.org

Our H1 paper is out #ScienceAdvances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @masaashimazoe.bsky.social et al. reveal that linker histone H1 acts as a liquid-like glue to organize chromatin in live cells. 🎉 Fantastic collab with @rcollepardo.bsky.social @janhuemar.bsky.social and others—huge thanks! 🙌 1/

Our lab @mrclmb.ac.uk in Cambridge is seeking a passionate PhD student to explore transcription-coupled splicing! Join our team for an exciting project to understand human gene regulation 🧬 Feel free to get in touch directly #PhD #cryoEM #biochemistry mrclmb.ac.uk/careers-and-...

So excellent to get this work out from our fantastic collaboration with AstraZeneca. This is a great amount of work led by joint-PhD student Noah Hitchcock! lnkd.in/ejV6QBrQ

Three years ago Thalia was diagnosed with a brain tumour. She had multiple surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This year we are walking the Nine Edges Challenge to raise awareness and money for OSCAR's Paediatric Brain Tumour Charity. Please donate: www.justgiving.com/team/thaliaf...

We are excited to be recruiting into 3 Associate Professorship's in @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social. Come join us as a colleague and benefit from our vibrant and multidisciplinary environment. Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! (tinyurl.com/48deybuu) (tinyurl.com/4pdvjaft).

How do pairs of DNA loci - such as enhancers and promoters - find each other inside the nucleus? 🤔 Most models assume the random forces driving locus motion are independent in space New preprint by @janniharju.bsky.social: this assumption fails in living cells 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

International Congress in Biological Physics, Genova, Italy, 28 June to 3 July 2026. URGENT: submission deadline 25 March. Session topics, plenary and invited speakers: www.icbp2026.org IUPAP Physics of Life medal awarded at meeting. Spread the word - and act quickly to submit your work.

Save the date! We have an exciting conference coming up next year for the UK Mechanobiology community!

It was great to collaborate with Javier Redondo Muñoz in this project and I am very happy to see it in press: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

We are very proud that Thalia has been nominated for three Yorkshire Choice awards - Please vote here: www.yorkshirechoiceawards.co.uk/vote Three years ago, Thalia was diagnosed with a devastating brain tumour. She has fought back and done her best to raise awareness and funds to support others!

Registration deadline 20th Dec! We have generous travel grants for early career researchers! April is a beautiful time to visit China!

The review by Banani, Lee, Hyman & Rosen (NRMCB 2017) www.nature.com/articles/nrm... on biomolecular condensates has >6000 citations. It… 1. Introduced a broad definition of “biomolecular condensates,” promoting acceptance that a unifying mechanism may underlie all membrane-less compartments.

🚨Reposts appreciated‼️If I had read this PhD offer five years ago, I wouldn’t have hesitated for a second to apply 😉 Passionate about gene regulation, chromatin, and developmental biology? Just contact @radaiglesiaslab.bsky.social at @ibbtec.bsky.social 🧬✨ #PhD #3DGenome

In this work we show that you don’t have to target the main players in disease….instead you identify and target what they depend on!

We're still accepting submissions for our 'Cell Biology of the Nucleus' special issue, which is being guest edited by @abbybuch.bsky.social and Megan King (@luskinglab.bsky.social). Submission deadline: 5 January journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/nu... #nucleus #notforprofit #freetopublish

Myosin VI orchestrates estrogen-driven gene expression in breast cancer cells. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688007v1

We are very happy to share our new PrePrint: Myosin VI orchestrates estrogen-driven gene expression in breast cancer cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We characterise how Myosin VI is a key regulator of the Estrogen Receptor. Perturbation of Myosin VI impedes ER functionality.

A PhD position is available in the lab of @zech-lab.bsky.social co-supervised @christoseland.bsky.social An exciting project to understand cellular ageing in health and disease www.findaphd.com/phds/project... #CellBio #SuperResolutionMicroscopy #MolecularBio #AgeingResearch #PhDOpportunity

🔬Want to develop a blood test for dementia? A fully funded PhD position is available in our lab to probe and detect single molecules! Join our team @york.ac.uk ! Find out more & apply by 4th Dec: tinyurl.com/yt36p9tx @ybri-uoy.bsky.social @ei-science.bsky.social @timcraggs.bsky.social

Please repost - Multiple PhDs available www.findaphd.com/phds/project... www.findaphd.com/phds/project... www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Please Repost! Tobi Zach and I have an MRC DiMeN PhD position available! Come join us! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

It’s Halloween so time to make the cells scream!

Excited for our next special issue and looking forward to working with Abby Buchwalter (@abbybuch.bsky.social) and Megan King (@luskinglab.bsky.social)! Working on the cell biology of the nucleus? Send your papers our way! #notforprofit

Phantastic review of SPT method and analysis. Great resource for every single molecule tracking enthusiast! Congratulations, @gebhardtlab.bsky.social

Yesterday we had the School of Medicine and Population Health PGR symposium - a fantastic range of talks and posters from our students! We had excellent career sessions from Faith Nutter Howard David King and Amy Turner Thanks to our ECRs who gave a useful and honest take on finishing a PhD.

Announcing a new @embo.org Workshop on "Intracellular mechanics and organelle mechanobiology" that we are organizing with Michael Krieg and Verena Ruprecht at @icfo.eu (Barcelona) on 16-20 February, 2026. Please, repost and spread the word! 🙏 #EMBOmechanobio meetings.embo.org/event/26-org...

Doubling up on the measurements and toys today - so great and useful to have this kit next door to each other!

Postdoc positions open in my lab (Francis Crick Institute) to study 1. initiation of DNA replication. 2. chromatin replication/epigenetic inheritance. Great for biochemists, biophysicists and cryo-EM/cryo-tomography scientists. Deadline 3 August 2025. crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...

This is a piece that I and @karsten-rippe.bsky.social discussing a lot, and a topic that is very close to my heart. The editors @naturerevgenet.bsky.social gave us the stage to do so, and the final version of our review is now available under this link: rdcu.be/erP1u A short thread follows 1/n

The QS World University Rankings 2026 have just been released and we’ve placed 92nd within the World Top 100! Huge congratulations and thanks to everyone in the University of Sheffield community for this achievement; from staff and students to alumni, supporters and friends around the world!

🚀 Manual mask annotation slowing you down? 💡 SAMJ is a new ImageJ/Fiji plugin using Segment Anything (SAM) for fast, interactive segmentation — no GPU needed, one-click install, real-time results. 🔬 Perfect for large biomedical images. arxiv.org/abs/2506.02783 #AI #Bioimaging #ImageJ #OpenSource

If heterochromatin is really a liquid-like condensate, why is it not spherical? We investigated whether mechanical interactions between a condensate and a fiber network can explain the variety of morphologies seen in phase-separated nuclear compartments www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Back again!

Applications are now open for the 4th edition of the “Ecole de Physique des Houches” on Fluorescence Markers for Advanced Microscopies, a WE-Heraeus seminar. March 15th-20th 2026 Join us to learn everything you wanted to know about Fluorescent Markers for advanced microscopies.

Back in Harwell again for a late night reagent drop!

Quick visit back to Sheffield for more samples complete!

Back in the lab’s second home for two weeks!

Thank you for all the donations! This reel sums up the walk! www.instagram.com/reel/DJSC8HL...

Final week of fundraising- thanks for all the donations- an amazing amount has already been given! www.justgiving.com/team/thalia

Thank you for all the donations! It makes a massive difference to the charity and families! . www.justgiving.com/team/thalia