New preprint from the group, comparing CRISPRko and CRISPRi via a Perturb-seq readout: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Excited to share our new preprint led by Fred and me in collaboration with the archaeal community! We found that the molecular foundation of histone-based chromatin has pre-eukaryotic roots in Asgard archaea. (1/4) #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

25 years ago, we implicated rare variants of the FOXP2 gene in a severe speech disorder. I’ve spent much time stressing that FOXP2, while interesting, is not the mythical “gene for language”. Weirdly, on occasion I also need to explain why it’s not “proof of aliens”. Full disclosure in this 🧵. 1/n 🧪

Does every enhancer work with every promoter? With @jengreitz.bsky.social and Will Greenleaf, we revisit this long-debated question and resolve an outstanding contradiction in the field. A tour 🧵👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

It is out 😍 check it out!! Multiscale integration of tissue and chromatin context converts cell heterogeneity into stable intestinal patterning. @cschwayer.bsky.social @silviabarbiero.bsky.social @davidbrueckner.bsky.social @ehannezo.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

I am on paternity leave but I need to talk about this work by the @andersshansen.bsky.social lab that was published @natsmb.nature.com. The authors provide absolute quantification of chromatin loops across the genome. www.nature.com/articles/s41... Putting actual numbers in E-P, P-P and all loops!

Led by @jamesdmanton.bsky.social & Jacob Lamb @mrclmb.ac.uk, take a look at this cool new approach to image cleared whole-mount tissues with LSFM! Great to have participated in it, even if it was Ksena Longrin, a great postdoc in my lab, who did our contribution. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Never too many 💪

Terrific resource, now on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: The Vertebrate Genomes Project Phase I: A global reference genome resource 🧪🧬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our late Neandertal paper is officially out! 💀❤️🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41... It was years in the making, a tremendous feat spearheaded by our PhD student Alba Bossoms Mesa and co-led by @janetk.bsky.social and @benmpeter.bsky.social

In what may be one of Earth’s craziest forms of mimicry, researchers in 2023 reported a species of rove beetle that grows a termite puppet on its back to fool real termites into feeding it. Learn more during #InsectWeek: https://scim.ag/4mM2aS9

Such a nice use of a synthetic promoter + cis-regulatory element system to actually ask the fundamental questions about gene regulation in 3D! Also love how the caveats of each method are accounted for by combining them. Thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

(1/n) Very excited to share tri-lab collab (Mirny & Zechner) led by Harvey, Henrik & Jack: Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)? A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

If you want to get a glimpse of how long range sequencing has revolutionized our view of the human genome, unveiling the true complexity of copy number variation between individuals and using spinal muscular atrophy as an example of the clinical impact, this is for you! 🧪

Whole genome duplications over 450 million years ago enabled the emergence of different kinds of brain cells 🧠 These cellular innovations are shared across vertebrates - from primitive fish to mammals - and form the basis of the sophisticated brains seen today 👇

Our latest: Minimal essential requirements for neural tube self-organisation How does a single cell give rise to a tissue with the right cell types in the right proportions? We deconstruct and rebuild a self-organising tissue from first principles A thread🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What can 70,000+ human and chimpanzee regulatory elements tell us about skeletal evolution? A new study in @genomebiolevol.bsky.social uncovered genomic differences linked to skeletal development using a massively parallel reporter assay. We're glad our ATx® could support! 🔗 https://bit.ly/3PV2naf

Researchers have identified superparamagnetic macrophages in the livers of rock pigeons to be crucial for magnetic sensing. The finding uncovers an unexpected role for immune cells in sensory perception and may fundamentally change our understanding of animal navigation. https://scim.ag/4nTQ3nq

'We primarily do comparative analysis using human stem cells/organoids and genetically modified mouse models, with some minor use of frog models. We use this approach because, for developmental anomalies, it is impossible to assess true function without in vivo models' @karenjliu.bsky.social

Bilaterian BMP signaling gradients suggest an ancestral anti-neural role. Study of #cnidarians shows that #BMP signalling promotes neurogenesis; its "anti-neural" function is a side effect of its role in the DV axis @paulknabl.bsky.social @genikhovich.bsky.social @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4dJHoiR

If you are interested in the mechanisms linking variants in histone modifying enzymes to Autism Spectrum Disorder phenotypes, have a read! New from @bassonlab.bsky.social 🧠 congrats to @lperezsisques.bsky.social and everyone else! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is red shanked douc langur.

Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Check out this incredibly cool paper from my friends Jocelyn Tang and Laura Gherghina in the Brand lab - they found that neural stem cells have the capacity to become "neuron-like", synapsing with neurons to mediate quiescence and reactivation! 🪰🧠 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper out in @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social. We uncover unexpected complexity in how metabolism changes when the embryo implants or when stem cells exit naive pluripotency, revealing a central role for dynamic TCA cycle rewiring in cell fate decisions. www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce...

Wake up, new giant apex predator cephalopod just dropped 🦑 - www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In this episode of the Epigenetics Podcast, we talked with Iva Tchasovnikarova from the @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social about her work on heterochromatin formation and epigenetic control. #podcast #epigenetics #chromatin Listen here: activemotif.com/podcasts-iva...

🧠🐒🐼🐷🐭🐬🦁Last chance to register to the Comparative Brain Meeting, April 27–30 2026, @pasteur.fr and online. MRI, fossils, connectivity, behaviour Register: forms.gle/DekynBhj8YC4... Program: braintrees.github.io/ComparativeB... @k4tj4.bsky.social @institutducerveau.bsky.social @r3rt0.bsky.social

Cool work from the McDole lab just published. Primordial germ cells have to endure some pretty tight spaces on their journey! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

This is cooooool, a pokémon tree of life! - www.straitstimes.com/multimedia/g...

Exited to share Current Opinion review on how chromatin hubs involving multiple enhancers and promoters are formed, and their potential roles in gene regulation: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller? Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase. 1/n

🌐Our new LMB website is live!🌐 Fresh design, better navigation, same first-class science. Take a look around ➡️ mrclmb.ac.uk

Spinnerets are a defining feature of many arachnid species - this paper tells a really cool story about their gain and loss throughout evolution 🕷️🕸️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🧬🔬@science.org A genetically encoded device for #transcriptome storage in mammalian cells | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @broadinstitute.org

Join Paul Nurse from the Francis Crick Institute at the LMB on Monday 26th January at 11am (GMT) for a #LMBSeminar on ‘New Perspectives on CDKs and Cell Cycle Control’ Visit our website for more details: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

This is so cool!! One of the best examples I’ve seen of enhancer selection.

Jellyfish sleep, which is already bizarre given they have no brains. DNA damage accumulates in their neurons when jellyfish are awake, and it gets repaired when they sleep. This might be something fundamental, evolutionarily, to the role of sleep. 🧪🌊 Link: nature.com/articles/s41...

Our preprint "Predictive design of tissue-specific mammalian enhancers that function in vivo in the mouse embryo" is on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... . Amazing collaboration by @shenzhichen1999.bsky.social, Vincent Loubiere (@impvienna.bsky.social,@viennabiocenter.bsky.social),... (1/2)

Out today officially! Such a cool story and I feel very lucky to have been involved - congrats to @sumrubayin.bsky.social and @jensbager.bsky.social along with everyone else involved! Was fun to get back to my roots in cerebellar development for a bit 🧠 journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

So happy to see this amazing work by @annamalkowska.bsky.social out! A huge effort that ended in a really exciting story - read if you are interested in epigenetic maintenance of cell states and if you aren't, read it anyway! 🪰🧠🧬 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

“A process which led from the amoeba to man appeared to the philosophers to be obviously a progress - though whether the amoeba would agree with this opinion is not known" - Bertrand Russell, 1976. Time-lapse video of Vampyrella lateritia eating Spirogyra algae from Science Source/Oliver Skibbe. 🦠

Our scientists have been busy this year! From dinosaurs to diatoms, they have helped to describe an amazing 262 new species from all around the world! 🪸🐠🦎🦋🪱 Read more about this year’s new species list 👇🏻 www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

BBC News - Top UK scientist says research visa restrictions endanger economy www.bbc.com/news/article...

Cool work on how male pregnancy works in seahorses and other Syngnathids - brood pouch formation is androgen responsive. Interesting comparison of cell types to mammalian parallels at the end too! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I haven’t enjoyed reading a review so much as this in a long time - an in depth and beautifully composed overview of metazoan evolution through the lens of transcription factors and transcriptional regulation 🧬 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Diminutive fairy wombat poop. Tiny cubes under 2mm on each side. These are egg sacs made by a spider in the family Theridiosomatidae. They made yesterday’s hike special. Finding something I’ve never seen before is such a thrill. 🌱 #nature #macro #spider

Really great to see more studies like this, exploring how tiny changes in enhancer sequences over evolution can have tangible effects on developmental processes! journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Domesticated animals have pulled our heavy carts and turned our large mills for centuries. But what about the opposite end of the spectrum—what if the wheel you want to turn is so small you can’t see it? Turns out we can harness the power of bacteria to power the world’s smallest machines. 1/7 ⚛️🧪

What is a promoter? And how does it work? We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility. I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...