2025 had its ups and downs, but my @nytgames.bsky.social crossword streak was a pillar of consistency

📢 We're hiring a postdoc (33 months) in human evolutionary genomics / paleogenomics / statistical genetics, Paris 🇫🇷 Project on selection on disease-associated variants, integrating ancient genomes, GWAS, and Ancestral Rec. Graphs. Start May 2026 (flexible). Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Happy New Years Bluesky!!! I hope in 2026 all your experiments succeed, your grant panels are generous, and your reviewers grasp your genius 🧪

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)

Not that long ago, in vivo mouse enhancer design was a dream. Today, it's a reality! Using transfer deep learning to design de novo synthetic embryonic enhancers active in the heart, limb, and CNS. Great collab with @alex-stark.bsky.social lab! @ucibiosci.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social

Love this paper from @evahoermanseder.bsky.social and team; great to see it out. This is definitely "epigenetics" by any definition, but I wonder if it's premarking for activation or protecting against stable silence (i.e, DNAme), similar to Dppa2/4 targets in mammals www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A human embryo implantation model from the @Rugg-Gunn Lab *key for understanding the early extraembryonic-maternal interactions Congrats to everyone involved! It’s been great to see this project develop. Huge credit to the @babrahaminst.bsky.social authors 🥂🍾 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Helene was so giving to others about her battle, and went through to make it into maybe the top 1% of survivors of pancreatic cancer, before succumbing Dec 19, 2025 all while losing her father to it. She supported @letswinpc.org and the family asks for you to consider supporting them as well.💔

Happy to share two BioRxiv manuscripts from our lab. One on genetic Argonaute interaction and unexpected non-correlation between small RNAs and their targets: doi.org/10.64898/202... The second on IDR processing and IDR-mediated Argonaute loading control: doi.org/10.64898/202... Merry Xmas😊

Have you ever wondered what difference it makes to have 1 or 2 X chromosomes in your cells? ✨ I’m excited to share that our paper is now out! Looking for some X-mas content featuring an actual X? 🎄 Here’s the paper: 👉 www.cell.com/current-biol...

Our latest publication in #BiologyofReproduction (@ssrepro.bsky.social) is out! We review current evidence of paternal diet on sperm epigenome, embryo dev, and placenta health. Interesting multidisciplinary perspectives from coauthors (only @juliecocquet.bsky.social on 🦋) tinyurl.com/biolre-ioaf264

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!

This is now a published peer-reviewed paper, in which we show, for the first time (to my knowledge) an interaction and co-operation between SALL4 and BAF (SWI/SNF). Together, they induce neural crest fate early on, by priming thousands of enhancers in the neuroectoderm. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

Do you want to play a key role in running a cutting-edge stem cell and embryology lab at reNEW @ucph.bsky.social ? We’re hiring a Lab Manager to support our team and help with stem cell and animal work. Apply before Feb. 1st : rb.gy/d5uf17

I couldn't resist using the very festive-looking cover art from my book as a holiday card (image attribution to follow).

The famous CNRS "concours" competition for tenured research positions is open 👇

👀 @agathechaigne.bsky.social

My lab is hiring a postdoc (ERC funded)! If you're interested, get in touch!

It was a pleasure to write this News & Views article for the 4D Nucleome flagship article: www.nature.com/articles/d41... With great editorial support from @hollyasmith.bsky.social! Read the 4D Nucleome paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Lab goal: get to VV

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.

We’re hiring 4 roles at UWA's Plant Synbio Innovation Centre: Facility Manager + 3 Postdocs (single-cell genomics/screening; molecular tools; construct prototyping). Apply by Jan 20 bit.ly/4qfoftG bit.ly/3MFgD59 bit.ly/4pFT6jf bit.ly/48VkgLw

Very happy with the final version of this work showing menin-MLL is a vulnerability in liver cancer and an interesting re-localization of NF-Y in response to menin inhibition. Menin-MLL1 complex cooperates with NF-Y to promote hepatocellular carcinoma survival: Cell Reports doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

absolutely losing it at my 14yo's biology homework

@pravrutharaman.bsky.social got super intrigued about EZHIP/CATACOMB, previously identified as a histone H3K27M mimic of PRC2. You can read about her efforts here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We hope these analyses will help spur more analyses in this very cool gene! 1/

We watched It's A Wonderful Life last night (1st time my wife and kids had seen it). Of course, everyone loved it. The message of fighting corporate greed for workers to have a nice life felt very resonant. It also reminded me of this amazing lost ending from SNL 😂 www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw89...

Can one map the genome-wide binding (1) and its protein partners (2) simultaneously from the same sample? Yes, one can. with CUT&ID ✂️🪪 Spearheaded — singlehandedly — by @annanordin.bsky.social No need of transgenesis, cloning and overexpression. Check it out, it's fast and its works.

Go work with Duncan!

🧬🎉Join us on Dec 17th for our last session of 2025! 🎉🧬Two fantastic talks on transcriptional regulation: 🔬JB Lalanne on developmental enhancers (and starting a lab in 2025?) 🔬 @rberrens.bsky.social on transposable elements in development 📋Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

And this great Nature Plants News & Views by Pandesha and Slotkin covering this breakthrough discovery www.nature.com/articles/s41... @hadse.bsky.social @KeithSlotkin @natplants.nature.com 8/8

Have you ever wondered how new DNA methylation patterns are established? Paradigm shift ahead! We discovered a new mode of DNA methylation targeting in plants that relies on transcription factors and sequence motifs rather than chromatin modifications to regulate the methylome. rdcu.be/eQ6L5 1/8

Postdoc position available in our lab @igbmc.bsky.social We have an exciting project aimed at re-visiting the (epi-)genomic functions of AT-binding proteins using state-of-the-art technologies: www.igbmc.fr/en/igbmc/lif... Expected start: from March 2026 Please share 📢

An early Christmas present for those interested in chromatin and transcription! Fantastic work from @au-ho-yu.bsky.social and @aleksszczurek.bsky.social . Thanks to Inge and Michiel for their help. Please repost! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Made a site comparing the sizes of living things :) The great Julius Csotonyi spent 5 months painting over 60 illustrations for the site, no ai used > neal.fun/size-of-life/

In our house, every day is Raturday

📢 Deadline approaching fast 📢 to submit an abstract for the great cytoskeleton extravaganza!

The @erc.europa.eu i supporting some awesome epigenetics science!! Congrats @alexdemendoza.bsky.social @kellervalsecchi.bsky.social @leandroquadrana.bsky.social Nataliya Petryk, and others! There were also some GREAT ones who didn't make the cut this time. It sucks, but you rock!!

Open Team Leader position @embl.org to head & reshape our Genomics Core facility. Interested in providing & developing state-of-the art omics tech to a wide community? A very vibrant, dynamic place to work with fantastic colleagues. Closing Sept 30th embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Our pre-print on the evolution of nucleotide content at the start of human protein-coding genes is finally out! In this paper we demonstrate that the nucleotide content at the beginning of human protein-coding genes is greatly impacted by non-adaptive evolution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Apply for a PhD in Paris!! A project to come and work with me and my team at the GutSense lab included in the list! 🪰🧠⛽

My next trip from France to the US is in February. Let me know what you would like me to smuggle. www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

New preprint from our lab, spearheaded by @maelledaunesse.bsky.social and in collaboration with Diego Villar! In which we ask, can we detect joint signatures suggestive of positive selection on transcriptomes and epigenomes?

We have just published a tribute to John Gurdon, reflecting on his scientific legacy and the profound influence he had on generations of developmental biologists. The piece is available open access in Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

More marsupial fun from @lab-turner.bsky.social. Congrats @sermenchero.bsky.social

We are excited to share our new preprint: SMARCA2/4-Dependent Chromatin Remodelling Establishes Gene Regulatory Programs in Early Human Embryos and Blastoids. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.01.691499v1

Every year, I inch further and further towards the southwest of this graph.

Great to see this published: Fitting dynamical landscape models to single-cell data, creating interpretable maps of cell decision making & developmental logic Applied to neural tube patterning, we show how morphogen signals reshape landscapes and drive fate decisions www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Mapping single-cell diploid chromatin fiber architectures using DAF-seq - @uwgenome.bsky.social @uwdeptmedicine.bsky.social go.nature.com/4rFTAHy

Attending #EMBOevoChromo25 next week? Our Reviews Editor @ingridtsang.bsky.social will be attending - feel free to talk to her about the journal or @biologists.bsky.social activities!

Very measured critique. Given the discourse from the past few days, it made me wonder how LLMs would have reviewed the first LLPS papers. Maybe they would have saved @andrea-musacchio.bsky.social a lot of heartburn...