Transposable elements (TEs) are key contributors to genome evolution, yet their macroevolutionary roles in adaptive radiations remain poorly understood, as high-quality genomic resources at sufficient...

Transposable elements mobilize within and occasionally between genomes, including from host to virus. We identified two insertions of the human BC200 noncoding RNA gene in the poxvirus molluscum conta...

Fascinated by evolution and driven by curiosity, Malik studies everything from viruses to Drosophila and, like his research subjects, is constantly reinventing himself.

In memoriam: Professor Timothy H. Bestor 1952-2026

A renowned scientist at UMass Chan Medical School is moving his lab to Canada. The Canadian government named RNA researcher Phillip Zamore among the first recipients of awards that will total more tha...

Only germ cells can give rise to a totipotent embryo, yet a conserved transcriptional program for germ cell identity remains elusive. Profiling Drosophila primordial germ cells (PGCs) across embryogen...

The Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program offers comprehensive support to outstanding early career faculty committed to scientific excellence in their own research, and to fostering labs that expand the ...

The lab investigates the molecular mechanisms that control biological timing in mouse and human stem cells (Azzi & Rayon, Curr Opinions 2024; Nakanoh et al., Dev Cell 2026). The central aim of this ex...

Here the authors describe how a pioneer TF reprograms cell identity, highlighting how it establishes new networks building on the set of key TFs present in the cell, pre-existing nucleosome fragility ...

During an immune response, metabolism changes dramatically. Metabolites are oxidized to power immune cell functions, serve as building blocks for proliferation, and act as effectors to regulate pathog...

Interview with Susana Coelho, who uses brown algae to study evolution, development, and life-cycle complexity at the Max Planck Institute for Biology.

Animal fertility and germ cell genome integrity is protected by the Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway. While germline development unfolds through profoundly different chromatin and transcriptional ...

Comparative and functional analyses of Myotis bats uncover unique patterns of adaptation in virus-interacting proteins and longevity-associated pathways, linking two hallmarks of bat biology.

Understanding how cells establish spatial organization within tissues is a fundamental question in life sciences. While modern three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy captures large-volume tissue ar...

We study the mechanisms of cross-kingdom microbial competition and how it influences microbial evolution and interaction with hosts

Title: Assistant Professor - Evolutionary Biology Executive Area: Academic Affairs College/School/MBU: College of Natural Sciences Department: Biology Work Location: Amherst Schedule: Full Time Work A...

Zhu et al. characterize how the transcriptional regulator BRD4 interacts with acetylated nucleosomes. Their cryo-EM structure shows that the first bromodomain of BRD4 binds both the acetylated histone...

Transposable elements (TEs) are a highly diverse group of selfish genomic elements, prevalent across the tree of life, whose uncontrolled propagati...

Nucleosomes with their associated modifications organize and regulate the genome. It is unclear how this is integrated with the requirement of replica…

The Cech Fellows Program is a paid, nine-week summer research experience empowering the next generation of scientific leaders.