iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

asifa-akhtar.bsky.social

@asifa-akhtar.bsky.social

Reposted by @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics @mpi-ie.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

New in @natgenet.nature.com by @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social lab. BRD2 & BRD4 control different steps of transcription, yet most BET inhibitors target their shared bromodomain – hitting both at once & producing effects that are hard to predict. Why it matters for cancer www.nature.com/articles/s41...

White-gloved hands pulling back a red curtain to reveal a blue molecular structure interacting with red and purple strands against a dark blue background

The curtain rises on gene activation: a molecular illustration of transcription, the process by which cells “read” their genes. New research findings show that a protein called BRD2 acts as a previously overlooked “stage manager” — it coordinates the preparations before RNA polymerase II (blue) can finally begin making the RNA copy (red) of the DNA (purple).

© Juan Gaertner & Pixel-Shot / Shutterstock.com; Montage: MPI-IE

0133

Reposted by @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics @mpi-ie.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Congratulations to Asifa Akhtar (@asifa-akhtar.bsky.social Akhtar) 🎉 on receiving the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg or her groundbreaking work in epigenetics! 🏅 www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/6125128/2026...

Sharepic: Portrait of Asifa Akhtar wearing a dark blazer and red top inside a circular frame with text 'Order of Merit Baden-Württemberg', 'Asifa Akhtar', '2026', and 'Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics, Freiburg'

2352

Reposted by @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics @mpi-ie.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

What does a fruit fly dosage compensation complex have to do with human brain development? More than one expected. Stunning paper by the lab of @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social in Science Advances: »Stage-specific epigenetic priming amplifies gene activation during lineage commitment« (1/6)

An in vitro differentiated neuron; the confocal images showing H4K16ac and α- tubulin signals in day 7 Msl1-neurons. Tubulin is in red and the green nuclear stain is the lab’s favourite histone mark H4K16ac.

1153