New preprint from our lab! We've been working out how the CMG replicative helicase gets built. 🧵 1/3

Announcing SMART Genome Symposium: From Structure to Function ! 📅 October 14–16, 2026 Focus: 3D genome organization | Chromatin dynamics | Computational modeling Register now symposia.smart.org.cn/sym/event/Fu... #SMARTSymposia #SMARTshenzhen #Genome #Genomes #Biophysics

👩‍🔬Calling all researchers! Are you interested in working on a project at Physics of Life? 🔬Our new Visitors Program will allow scientists to visit PoL for up to 6 months to pursue an interdisciplinary project, with their travel and accommodation covered. Learn more here and apply: tud.link/nasaw5

Our new preprint! 🧬✨ www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... @ynagata.bsky.social et al. combined single-nucleosome imaging with Fucci probes to follow local chromatin behavior during interphase. Local nucleosome motion stays nearly constant from G1 to G2, except in early G1. Thanks to all coauthors!

Exciting work! The authors conclude that condensin-mediated loop formation, Aurora B phosphorylation, and core histone deacetylation are not obligatory factors for mitotic chromosome compaction. Our Mg2+ model is discussed as the “last model standing.” www.cell.com/current-biol...

🕛🕔🕗 Heads up! Fragile Nucleosome Seminar is at a special time this week: 2pm US West / 5pm US East / 10pm UK / 6am Tokyo / 7am Melbourne We'll have outstanding talks on chromatin from Shabih Shakeel and @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social !!! register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Check out our latest work in collaboration with @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social and @masaashimazoe.bsky.social We show that H1 is a dynamic, multivalent “liquid-like” glue of chromatin in cells: it bridges multiple nucleosomes & exchanges partners frequently to enable both compaction and flexibility

Our work on the linker histone is now out in Science Advances! We show that H1 behaves as a liquid-like glue that helps organize chromatin in living cells. Very happy to have worked together with @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social and @masaashimazoe.bsky.social

I am not afraid to say it: this is the most fundamental advance in our understanding of chromatin structure since the zig-zag fiber model. Congratulations!

My first, first author paper is now on #ScienceAdvances ! Linker histone H1 is a liquid-like "glue" condensing chromatin, which revises textbooks! 📖✨ science.org/doi/10.1126/sc… Huge thanks to @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social , for supervision. Amazing collab with @rcollepardo.bsky.social ’s group! 1/

Our linker histone H1 paper is featured on the cover of the April 10 issue of #ScienceAdvances. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... A molecular dynamics simulation of nucleosomes and linker histone H1, with single-H1 trajectories (background). 🎉 Full cover caption: www.science.org/toc/sciadv/1...

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/

Unquestionably the result of combined effort from all current and former lab members, support from colleagues @CSU and @CU, and support from @hhmi-science.bsky.social and NIH over decades. A heartfelt 🙏 to my nominators and of course @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social. vilcek.org/prizes/prize...

Older people with exceptional memory have a surprisingly high number of young neurons go.nature.com/4cm8VYB

Honored to deliver the 2025/2026 Paul Doty Lecture @harvardmcb.bsky.social Excited to share our single-nucleosome view of chromatin behavior. #chromatin

Fascinating cryo-ET study! 🔬🧬 We can now trace strings of nucleosomes directly in cells. Congratulations to the @eltsovmikhail.bsky.social‬ team! 🎉

My student Aoi Otsuka ’s PhD work is now officially published @csf-jscb.bsky.social! 🔬 Single-nucleosome imaging uncovers biphasic local chromatin dynamics in an oncogene-inducible human carcinogenesis model (1–3 d: same, 5–7 d: ↑, back by week 4). Congrats! www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/csf/...

Happy New Year! 🎍 Today’s view of Mt. Fuji over Mishima City — @nigidenken.bsky.social is on the right. Wishing you all a wonderful year!

We’re recruiting PhD students. If you’re interested in chromosome biology or imaging, please apply to the MCB or Plant Biology graduate programs at UMass (deadline is soon, 12/1). DM me for projects or questions. www.umass.edu/molecular-ce... www.umass.edu/plant-biolog...

So proud of my former PhD student ‪@tadasu443.bsky.social‬ for starting his own lab at @umassamherst.bsky.social ! Wishing him all the best in this exciting new chapter. Looking forward to his future discoveries! 🎉🧬

My PhD students Aoi Otsuka @masaashimazoe.bsky.social et al. published @csf-jscb.bsky.social 🎉 Single-nucleosome imaging in an oncogene-inducible human carcinogenesis model shows biphasic chromatin dynamics (1–3 d same; 5–7 d ↑; back by week 4). Congrats! 👉 doi.org/10.1247/csf....

Our Science paper is out! Huge congratulations to @huabin-zhou.bsky.social, Mike Rosen, and the brilliant @janhuemar.bsky.social @juliamaristany.bsky.social and @kieran-russell.bsky.social from our group News: bit.ly/4avnkAr and bit.ly/3XBGVHS Great perspective by @vram142.bsky.social +K Zhang

Excited to share our latest fully in-house paper! 🎉 We show how cohesin integrates loop extrusion with sister tethering to guide the homology search during DNA repair. Huge congratulations to all authors, and to @fedeteloni.bsky.social for leading this work 👏 We’re excited to see his next steps!

Exciting paper @natcomms.nature.com from Kanemaki lab @nigidenken.bsky.social　Congratulations 👏🎉 nature.com/articles/s41... Using a ligase-depletion OK-seq approach, they map DNA replication initiation zones genome-wide in human cells and identify TRESLIN–MTBP as a key limiting firing factor.

Our recent paper offers insights into unligated Okazaki fragment by the absence of Rad27/FEN-1 leading to severe rDNA copy number changes. doi.org/10.1002/1873...

The paper from our lab came out on how the histone chaperone CAF-1 prevents the formation of circular rDNA! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Super-resolution single-molecule fluorescence combined with quantitative phase contrast. This powerful combo enables ~0.05 nm optical path difference detection, < 20 nm resolution, and continuous live-cell imaging with digital staining doi.org/10.1101/2025... #Microscopy #CellBiology #OI-DIC #SMLM

3rd histone paper on my feed today!

Condensed chromatin domain structure and cohesin-constrained mobility assure independent transcription regulation for each domain! Also consistent with many previous studies. (4/n)

Euchromatin is mostly condensed⁉️ With @shiori-iida.bsky.social , We revealed the detailed structure of euchromatin using super-resolution imaging. Cohesin regulates the function of euchromatin via chromatin dynamics! (1/n)

One more movie! Using the RL algorithm (from pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...), @masaashimazoe.bsky.social analyzed our nucleosome tracking data and classified them by their mobility. Hotter color = faster motion (Slow🔵→ 🟢 → 🟡 → 🟠 Fast)

Our new preprint is out! We combined single-nucleosome imaging and 3D-SIM to reveal: 🔹 Euchromatin forms condensed domains, not open fibers 🔹Cohesin loss increases nucleosome mobility without decompaction 🔹Cohesin prevents neighboring domain mixing Full story & movies👇

Is euchromatin really “open”? Our new study @bioRxiv suggests otherwise. Using super-resolution imaging @shiori-iida.bsky.social‬ @masaashimazoe.bsky.social reveals: Euchromatin forms condensed domains in live cells. Cohesin constrains them and prevents domain mixing. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

📢 For all HaloTag lovers💙💚💛❤️💜🩶 we are excited to share that our work, in which we developed a new biotin-HaloTag ligand, is now published in @jcb.org! Full link here: rupress.org/jcb/article-...

New chapter of sex determination, with sharks and rays! Our study, utilizing embryonic samples from cooperative aquariums, revealed the ancient sex chromosome origin and unique sex determination potentials. Published today in PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.... #Squalomix

My #PhD defense work is on #Biorxiv! Link: biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Using single-molecul#imagingng, we showed that liquid-like BRD4-NUT condensates locally constrai#chromatinin vi#bromodomain-dependentnt crosslinking. I thank my supervisor, Prof. @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social, for his support!

We've just been awarded a grant to study the cellular basis of regeneration – to track the progenitors of sensory organs in the context of leg regeneration, in our favourite crustacean tinyurl.com/parhyale, based on live imaging and cell tracking. The project involves some cool collaborations... 1/3

Our new preprint 🧬🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... BRD4-NUT forms liquid-like condensates that locally constrain nucleosomes via BRD4-mediated crosslinking— physical control of #chromatin by #LLPS transcription condensates. @semeigazin.bsky.social @katsuminami.bsky.social @masaashimazoe.bsky.social

🚨 Preprint alert 🚨 Excited to share our work on "Ab-trapping," an antibody artifact causing misleading peripheral ("rim") staining in imaging & genomics (IF, CUT&Tag, CUT&RUN). Antibodies fail to penetrate structures, accumulating at the periphery. A 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1101/2025...

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

How do transcription compartments form — and does phase separation drive gene expression? I enjoyed discussing these questions with @akispapantonis.bsky.social a lot, and we put our thoughts together for @naturerevgenet.bsky.social, now out at rdcu.be/erP1u

Tools "Evidence suggests that acetyl-CoA metabolism is highly compartmentalized in mammalian cells. Yet methods to measure acetyl-CoA in living cells are lacking. Herein, we engineered an acetyl-CoA biosensor from the bacterial protein PanZ and circularly permuted green fluorescent protein (cpGFP)."

Very smart way to distinguish between eu/heterochromatin for single nucleosome tracking. "Replication-dependent histone labeling dissects the physical properties of euchromatin/heterochromatin in living human cells" From @kazu-maeshima.bsky.social lab www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our new review paper is out@JMB!🧬 @katsuminami.bsky.social‬ @semeigazin.bsky.social‬ ‪@kakonakazato.bsky.social‬ discuss DNA accessibility in euchromatin and heterochromatin of live cells. Free access: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lHgb54HFZ... Also check our previous work: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Losing the Y chromosome seems to make cancer cells more aggressive in men and the phenomenon may even spread between cells https://go.nature.com/3Zh7bs7

This Saturday's morning ☕ reading is two surprising new analyses of BRD4. First ever studies of full length BRD4 with intact nucleosomes find that it binds with nanomolar affinity even in the ABSENCE of acetylation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/ New preprint! How do transcription factors (TFs) use intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) to find their target sites? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #TranscriptionFactors #IDPs #SingleMolecule #Biophysics

‼️Last chance to join us in person for #EMBLSingleMolecule! Attend talks, network, socialise, and experience the atmosphere on the campus 🤩 🎫 Register by 3 Jun 👉🏼 http://s.embl.org/grg25-01-bl#EMBLSingleMolecule 🧬RNA processing 🧬Translation 🧬Transcription & chromatin regulation 🧬Method development 🧬Theory

Nucleoli as biomolecular bubble tea! Congrats to former Princeton ugrad Holly Cheng (now GS @MIT) ->Holly's senior thesis work, a close collab w Roggeveen Wang & @zs-biophys.bsky.social‬ &Stone. Come for the cool movies & stay for the viscoelasticity! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407423122

A night flight over France and Italy in the International Space Station.