New preprint out! We investigate DNA kinks using biased all-atom MD simulations, in collaboration with Arianna Fassino and Aderik Voorspoels @aderikvoorspoels.bsky.social, as part of the EU-funded Doctoral Network MeChaNiSM @mechanism-network.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

📢Seminar 11 September at 12h, Faculty of Science, Seminar Room Module 5 @cienciasuam.bsky.social @uam.es Enrico Carlon @ecarlon.bsky.social from KU Leuven will talk about DNA mechanics beyond the twistable wormlike chain. See you there! ifimac.uam.es/ifimac-semin...

Applicants wanted 5: Open position for PhD Student Studying Vitro Single-molecule Transport Across Peroxisome Mimics careers.tudelft.nl/job/Delft-Ph...

Interesting paper by Tony Lemos and Harold Kim. DNA minicircles adopt a specific inside-out orientation. Previously predicted, now this effect has been observed in atomic force microscopy (AFM) experiments! arxiv.org/abs/2508.15091

Enjoying this workshop on the Statistical Mechanics of polymers in Venice these days... Great program and organization! userswww.pd.infn.it/~orlandin/Ve...

New preprint! Collaboration with Andrea Bonato, Sergey Kitaev, Davide Marenduzzo and Enzo Orlandini arxiv.org/abs/2507.00520

Very happy that our latest publication "Statistical mechanics of multiplectoneme phases in DNA" doi.org/10.1103/Phys... was selected as Editors' Suggestion. These suggestions list "a small number of papers that the editors and referees find of particular interest, importance, or clarity". (1/4)

A 3 year ERC-funded post-doc position in the Broedersz group of @vuamsterdam.bsky.social. Topic: Statistical physics of Chromosomes workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/po...

Exciting news! PoL@KUL invites you to the inaugural lecture of the International Francqui Professor 2024-25, Prof. Davide Marenduzzo (U. of Edinburgh) on Tuesday, April 29, 2025 in Leuven: Biophysical principles of chromosome organisation Info and registration: fys.kuleuven.be/english/coll...

Welcome to Arianna Fassino who has recently joined our group to start a PhD project on simulations of Nucleic Acids Mechanics. The project is part of a EU-Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Network “MeChaNiSM” Mechanical Characterization of Nucleic acids - www.chalmers.se/en/projects/...

Apply now for our international Master of Science in Physics of Life @biozentrum.unibas.ch @unibasel.ch! Scholarships available. More information: www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/education/de... #Master #Students #Research #Physics #Mathematics #ComputerScience #Engineering #Basel #Switzerland

Very pleased to share our new story on SMC complexes, a great team effort from @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social, @taschner.bsky.social in the GruberLab and James of @dnatopologylab.bsky.social We find that SMC hinge domains are ssDNA gates to facilitate obstacle bypass during DNA loop extrusion!

Now, 20+ years later, our lab revisits the hinge using the anti-plasmid SMC complex Wadjet. We show that the SMC hinge is a DNA gate—an obstacle bypass gate selective for ssDNA, used to navigate chromosomal barriers during DNA loop extrusion.

Yet another preprint from the lab—this one is personal. During my PhD, I ended up working on the cohesin SMC hinge, showing its role in sister chromatid cohesion and proposing it as a DNA entry gate in the SMC ring. But the details have remained mysterious and controversial.

Hinge bypass can explain some otherwise-difficult to explain observations made by colleagues using single molecule imaging and by simulating chromosome folding. DNA loop-extruding SMC complexes turn out to be even a bit more wonderful.

Awesome teamwork and important initial insights from @drhonsworth.bsky.social @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social @taschner.bsky.social with great additions from Madhu @dnatopologylab.bsky.social and James. See for yourself at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our new review on how the #chromatin domain is formed in the cell is now available @Curr Opin Struct Biol.📄✨ We critically discuss the domain formation mechanism from a physical perspective, including #phase-separation and #condensation. 📥 Free-download link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1keGn,LqAr...

Just published in J Chem Phys @aip.bsky.social special issue on "Chromatin Structure and Dynamics". I will tell more on this work in a future post. Collaboration with @lremini.bsky.social, M. Segers and A. Parmeggiani. doi.org/10.1063/5.02...

Is chromatin ordered or disordered? It all depends on the linker DNA length. Check our latest work with Mike Rosen and Sy Redding. We explore how changes in linker DNA length (as small as 1 bp) fine-tune chromatin structure, between order and disorder, and the properties of chromatin droplets

Congratulations to Dr. Aderik Voorspoels on earning your PhD at KU Leuven! It was a honor to co-supervise your PhD journey. I am proud of all that you have accomplished and excited to see what the future holds for you. Wishing you every success for your post-doc at the University of Liverpool!

My first post! Hi science community 👋🧬 We have been trying to figure out the mechanistic mysteries about SMC motor proteins. They extrude our genome constantly into loops. We know that that's important. But how it works, is a matter of intense debate! Today, we report a piece of the puzzle:

Please RT: Associate Professor position in my department at the University of Oxford. Broad search in molecular and cellular biology: my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

A bit more than two weeks to apply for a PhD position in our group (deadline 1/1/2025) as part of a EU-Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Network “MeChaNiSM”. www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo... Please repost!

PhD position available in our group as part of a EU-Marie Skłodowska Curie Doctoral Network “MeChaNiSM”. World-leading academic laboratories in single-molecule biophysics, organic synthesis, molecular modeling and industrial partners to train 15 Doctoral Candidates. www.kuleuven.be/personeel/jo...

My first post here on Bluesky (left X-Twitter for good): Happy to be at a meeting on "DNA supercoiling and Liquid-liquid Phase separation" in the beautiful Sète (Montpellier, France). Interesting talks, interesting people!

Statistical Mechanics of Multiplectoneme Phases in DNA https://arxiv.org/pdf/2410.23145 Midas Segers, Enrico Skoruppa, Helmut Schiessel, Enrico Carlon

First post here. I am interested in chaperone proteins: how do cells counteract/revert protein misfolding and aggregation? What are the physics principles that allow these machines to work? Are native proteins in the cell thermodynamically stable? 1/4