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Christophe Lachance-Brais

@drlachancebrais.bsky.social
172 followers 446 following 78 posts

Ph.D. in supramolecular and DNA chemistry from the Sleiman lab at McGill, currently postdoc in the Feringa lab in Groningen. Unapologetically pyromaniac, I like to think of myself as a wizard with chemistry powers 🔥🎇

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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Very proud of my new (co)- first author JACS paper on our discovery of a novel DNA form which arises when Xanthine molecules are added! It's a discovery I made almost 7 years ago now, but it was such a puzzle to decipher it only now coming out! Details below 👇 pubs.acs.org/jacsat/artic...
pubs.acs.org
Beyond Symmetric Motifs: Asymmetric Small-Molecule Recognition Directs a New Poly(adenine) Assembly
Abstract. DNA/small-molecule hybrid materials provide a powerful route to reprogram nucleic acid structures without covalent modification. However, to date
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Un plaisir de se rapprocher de nos amis Européens! 🇪🇺🇨🇦
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I am rather delighted by this paper. So here’s a thread to tell you why, and why it matters. /1 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation
The genomic regions regulating gene expression are often themselves transcribed into a variety of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). However, the regulatory roles of this noncoding transcription remain largely unknown. By using live imaging, we reveal that the ...
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
What a fantastic advancement and discovery ! Congratulations to OpenAI and every person and agent involved! What a beautiful use of #AI openai.com/index/navier...
openai.com
On the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem
We’re sharing an AI-generated solution to the Navier–Stokes Millennium Prize Problem, including a writeup and a formal proof in Lean.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I have a lot of love for the American people 🇺🇸. From friends and family down south, the relationship is not theoretical, its deeply felt. That's why it is so sad to see these relationship strained by one despicable man. Canada stands strong 🇨🇦 come stand with us again USA 🇺🇸
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Oh God, we needed regulations yesterday ! I hope governments are now taking this seriously : AI isn't business as usual, it needs guardrails! openai.com/index/huggin...
openai.com
OpenAI and Hugging Face partner to address security incident during model evaluation
OpenAI and Hugging Face share early findings from a security incident during AI model evaluation, highlighting advanced cyber capabilities and lessons for defenders.
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
And yet more condensates! Here, how those involving RNA binding proteins feature in translational regulation. Oh how useful these blobs are for cells! www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
cell.com
Translational activation: An unforeseen function of RNP biomolecular condensates
In this perspective, Haidar et al. discuss the emerging function of cytoplasmic RNP condensates in translation. The perspective highlights the dual role of condensates in translational repression and ...
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Happy 4th of July!! 🇺🇸
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I'm very optimistic about AI in Science, but it is true that the way Gen ai doesn't explain why decisions are taken make wrong assumptions hidden, which then can snowball into bigger late stage problems. AlphaFold is still a wonder and I hope it will get only better when the blackbox gets lifted!
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Bonne fête du Canada 🇨🇦🍁!!
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Springer Nature @springernature.com · 26/06/2026
#OnThisDay in 2000, the first draft of the human genome was unveiled. This milestone in science mapped the blueprint of human life, opening new paths for research in medicine, genetics, and our understanding of what makes us human. 🧬✨
Vibrant 3D DNA double helix model on the left. On the right, a blue panel reads: 'Did You Know? The human genome contains around 3 billion DNA base pairs, yet humans share about 99.9% of their DNA with one another.'
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Bonne Saint-Jean!! ⚜️💙 M'ennuie de la Belle Province 💙
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
As a chemist who works with DNA, I've always seen it as a class of molecules where the structure mattered rather than data strings only. This article really makes the point for why that matters in the genome 🧬🧪
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Quite an interesting development, I look forward for the peer reviewed publication. Editing embryos can lead to many ethical dilemmas of course, but also many improved lives. 🧬🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I'm an atheist and even I find this blasphemous...
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Nature @nature.com · 13/04/2026
This researcher created a fictional illness, and fake studies funded by the Professor Sideshow Bob Foundation and University of the Fellowship of the Ring and the Galactic Triad. LLMs warned people the illness was real. go.nature.com/3Q60KXd
go.nature.com
Scientists invented a fake disease. AI told people it was real
Nature - Bixonimania doesn’t exist except in a clutch of obviously bogus academic papers. So why did AI chatbots warn people about this fictional illness?
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John Paul Helveston @jhelvy.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Incredible self own for the US. The damage being done to the US scientific enterprise is generational. We will look back on this as a tipping point where the US chose all on its own to stop leading the world in science. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
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Reposted by Christophe Lachance-Brais
Chemjobber @chemjobber.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
This is a wild story
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Proud to be Canadian 🇨🇦 When the world closes, we reach out. When war looms, we rise for peace. When our friends need us, we answer the call. Join us, and together we can create an international order of respect and mutual interests rather than intimidation and subordination.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Pour un comptable, Mr. Legault à été rapide à perdre le surplus budgétaire du PLQ de Mr. Couillard. En identité, son approche bâton plutôt que carotte a éloigné le Québec des idéaux de la révolution tranquille pour le rapprocher plutôt de la période de la grande noirceur. Merci, mais au prochain(e).
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
A very nice account from the Willner lab : Programmable Aptamer-Controlled Fibrinogenesis Using Dynamic DNA Networks and Synthetic Transcription Machineries | Accounts of Chemical Research pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...
pubs.acs.org
Programmable Aptamer-Controlled Fibrinogenesis Using Dynamic DNA Networks and Synthetic Transcription Machineries
ConspectusFibrinogenesis─the transformation of fibrinogen to fibrin─is one of the most significant physiological pathways regulating hemostasis by promoting clot formation at vascular injury sites. Th...
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
This may be biased and a little selfish, but I don't think AI will be doing all scientific research in 2050. I think all research will be assisted by AI, but they will complement the strengths and weaknesses of human researchers.
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Ryan Marino, MD @ryanmarino.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
RFK Jr’s ACIP pick, Martin Kulldorff, said one of the most disturbing images from the pandemic was a toddler crying about having to wear a mask. I see toddlers cry about everything all the time, and I found it far more disturbing to see refrigerator trucks full of body bags outside of the hospitals…
Martin Kulldorff & @MartinKu...•9/10/23 S.••
"One of the most disturbing images of the Covid-19 pandemic was when a teacher .. forced a mask on a crying toddler ..
In some ways, the U.S. government.. treated all of us like toddlers, compelling us to endure draconian Covid measures" - @HRaleighspeaks
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
@mark-carney.bsky.social J'espère que vous êtes sûre de ce que vous faites... On semble donner une victoire à Trump quand il continue à ouvertement bafoué notre pays, nous menacer d'une invasion. Est-ce déjà le temps pour un deal? On ne vous a pas élu pour vous plier aux américains après tout...
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Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Misha Lukin is now talking about doing quantum computing and error correction with arrays of neutral Rydberg atoms. I wrote about that here. #Helgoland2025 www.quantamagazine.org/the-best-qub...
quantamagazine.org
The Best Qubits for Quantum Computing Might Just Be Atoms | Quanta Magazine
In the search for the most scalable hardware to use for quantum computers, qubits made of individual atoms are having a breakout moment.
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Chemistry World @chemistryworld.com · 11/06/2025
Despite huge protein databanks and the use of AI tools like AlphaFold, a new previously overlooked covalent bonding motif has been revealed. #ChemSky #BioSky
chemistryworld.com
An overlooked bonding motif appears in many more proteins than was previously realised
Covalent nitrogen-oxygen-sulfur linkages could be a new target for potential drugs
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Ákos T Kovács @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social · 10/06/2025
We have two new positions, a PhD and a Post doc at #InstituteofBiologyLeiden within our @microclockerc.bsky.social #ERCSyG project to discover interaction of #circadianclocks between Bacillus subtilis and Arabidopsis please share these with your network! 🙏 links below👇 [1/3]
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Thank you for taking the initiative and tackling the critical dangers AI development. We all want to have a future where AIs and humans work harmoniously together, rather than a dystopia pitting humans against machines.
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Plenty of Room - Newsletter @plenty-of-room.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Is it possible to leverage AI to create functional RNAs? Well, from now yes! 🧪 Subscribe to get more like this 👉 plentyofroom.beehiiv.com/p/ai-rna-des... #AI #biotech
plentyofroom.beehiiv.com
AI RNA Design: Generating Functional Molecules with Machine Learning!
AI RNA design: Advanced machine learning techniques create functional RNA molecules, from CRISPR guides to innovative toehold switches.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Another successful treatment in the rapidly expanding field of nucleic acid therapeutics! Glad to see this one coming from close to home, following intense collaboration between Canadian 🇨🇦and American 🇺🇸 doctors and scientists. 🧪🧬 ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/216...
ici.radio-canada.ca
Thérapie génique : première mondiale au CHU Sainte-Justine
La nouvelle technique permet de corriger pratiquement n'importe quelle mutation génétique et a essentiellement « guéri » un jeune homme de 18 ans.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
A prescient article that goes beyond a single scandal to make a general "état de fait" of AI slop seeping through every aspect of society. On AI slop, "(AI tools) are not deployed by people trying to supplement or enrich their work and potential, but by those looking to automate it away entirely."
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Thorough economic analysis of the impact of funding basic research. The US🇺🇸 had high basic science investment levels before and reaped the rewards, other countries, like Canada🇨🇦, should learn from that. 🧪 www.forbes.com/sites/johndr...
forbes.com
Trump’s NIH And NSF Cuts Estimated To Cost The U.S. Economy $10 Billion Annually
Economists find public R&D drives U.S. productivity growth — and pays for itself
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
What a hearthwarming story of a revolutionary gene-editing breakthrough! Hopefully little KJ will be the first of many patients with a rare genetic diseases to be cured with base-editing. 🧪🧬 www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/h...
nytimes.com
Baby Is Healed With World’s First Personalized Gene-Editing Treatment
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
I applaud #OpenAI 's decision to keep the company non-profit. As a frequent ChatGPT user, I feel more comfortable knowing the AI is not geared to maximize shareholder income.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Having a great time reading this review on architectural RNA (arcRNA). Do some common structural pattern used in nucleic acid nanotechnology, like DX junctions, could also be found in cells? 🧪🧬 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Architectural RNAs: A class of long noncoding RNAs functioning as scaffolds for membraneless organelles
Architectural RNAs (arcRNAs) are long noncoding RNAs that serve as structural scaffolds for membraneless organelles (MLOs), facilitating cellular orga…
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Mes félicitations à Mark Carney pour sa victoire électorale! J'espère qu'il fera bon sur sa parole et travaillera avec tout les autres partis, néo-democrate, conservateurs et bloquiste, pour présenter un front unis Canadien 🇨🇦 Elbows up
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
A good read to quickly catch-up on the host of post-CRISPR tools being developed 🧪
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
I bust my ass everyday doing #science in the hopes of helping society, and yet I'll never make a fraction of what politicians made playing the markets this week. How dare they talk of meritocracy?! #insidertrading
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
A classic Trump play : take away everything to show that you can, then give back half and be seen as generous. We shouldn't be fools and rush to give concessions; it simply incentivize him to do it again and again.
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Michael Wong @miquai.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
I received a heartbreaking email today: A paper in a special issue I’m editing is being retracted because one of its authors is afraid of losing their job and their legal status in the U.S. if they publish a scientific study on evolution. Yes, on evolution, nature's engine of diversity.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
This article focusing on the numbers shows the outsized importance of the #NIH in funding medical breakthrough ; it's unfortunate the president can't count. 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
How the NIH dominates the world’s health research — in charts
Abrupt cuts by the Trump administration to the US National Institutes of Health threaten progress in medical research globally.
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Trudeau is going out like a Phoenix, giving his best speech so far. It includes a message for you Americans : "We don't want this." #tariffs 🇨🇦🇺🇸🇲🇽 Lâchons pas. youtu.be/83f47jIS_D8?...
youtu.be
FULL SPEECH | Trudeau outlines response to U.S. tariffs
YouTube video by CBC News
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
What a ridiculous criminalisation of life-saving medicine! Neoluddites are using governments take science backwards. How did this perversive antiscience mentality take root after science saved so many lives during COVID?
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
I'm so glad I decided to do a postdoc in Europe versus the US right now...
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Peter Stacko @pstacko.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Looking for a PhD candidate to join my group at the University of Zurich If you are an excellent and motivated student🧑‍🔬and want to integrate organic synthesis, photochemistry and redox chemistry in a research🧪 we want to know more about you! More info: www.stacko.group Appreciate sharing the post.
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Shicheng Guo @shihcheng.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Explore transcriptional magic with GET! 🌟 An AI model decodes regulatory grammars in 213 human cell types using chromatin accessibility. #BiotechRevolution PMID:39779852, Nature 2025, @Nature doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08391-z 🧪
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Does anyone knows an app to convert pictures of molecular drawings or screenshots of papers into chemical structures (smiles, chemdraw, jsmol, etc.)? 🧪⚗️
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
How did my science feed turn into a cute animal feed?
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
This is an interesting idea, perhaps there is a systematic way to include it in alternative supramolecular systems 🤔🧪
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Christophe Lachance-Brais @drlachancebrais.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
What impressive oligos syntheses! I am very excited by what this methodology can achieve for modified/alternative bases. Congratulations to the authors and their careful methodical work 🧪🧬 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
pubs.rsc.org
Long oligos: direct chemical synthesis of genes with up to 1728 nucleotides
The longest oligos that can be chemically synthesized are considered to be 200-mers. Here, we report direct synthesis of an 800-mer green fluorescent protein gene and a 1728-mer Φ29 DNA polymerase gen...
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