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Edoardo Gianni

@edogia.bsky.social
452 followers 381 following 22 posts

Postdoc @mrclmb.bsky.social playing around in the #RNAworld. Interested in how self-replicating chemical systems can emerge and start evolving. Born at 358ppm. (He/him)

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Reposted by Edoardo Gianni
Simon Hammann @simonhammann.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
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.
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Kelly Nguyen @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
Proud to share the yeast telomerase structure, led by the talented @hongmiaohu.bsky.social in collaboration with the Wellinger and Chartrand labs. Discovered 37 years ago and took us nearly 7 years but totally worth the wait 😍. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFE4...
youtube.com
Cryo-EM structure of yeast telomerase
YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
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Enrico Sandro Colizzi @escolizzi.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
Curious about the origin of development during the transition to multicellularity? A very belated preprint alert: bit.ly/4rr2mHU Reproduction emerges from ecological interactions at the onset of multicellularity. A short 🧵 with lots of videos...
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Mart Krupovic @mkrupovic.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268
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bioRxiv Synthetic Biology @biorxiv-synthbio.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
A portable orthogonal replication system enables continuous gene evolution near the biological speed limit www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Reposted by Edoardo Gianni
Phil Holliger @philholliger.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Great summaries of our paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... in Science: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.... and New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2515... and in the Science museum blog: blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...
science.org
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
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Reposted by Edoardo Gianni
Phil Holliger @philholliger.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Have a look at the Insight on Research story on our Science paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... on the @mrclmb.bsky.social website: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/... including a great little animation from LMB VisLab.
mrclmb.ac.uk
Bridging the gap from chemistry to life: discovery of a tiny RNA that can copy itself | MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Led by Edoardo Gianni, Philipp Holliger’s group in the LMB’s PNAC Division have identified a small self-replicating catalytic RNA (ribozyme), providing new ...
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Edoardo Gianni @edogia.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Thank you for the lovely & clear explanation of the work by @rogerhighfield.bsky.social @sciencemuseum.org.uk. Gives a bit of the behind-the-scenes of the research that led to this work!
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Roger Highfield @rogerhighfield.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Scientists have found a little RNA molecule – small enough to potentially form spontaneously, yet sophisticated enough to copy itself – that cd explain how life on Earth arose. Thanks @edogia.bsky.social of the @philholliger.bsky.social lab! blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/in-the-begin...
blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk
In the beginning - Science Museum Blog
A tiny self-copying molecule offers the clearest answer yet to the mystery of the origins of biology, reports Science Director Roger Highfield.
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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.ac.uk · 13/02/2026
How did life arise from simple chemical building blocks? New #LMBResearch led by @edogia.bsky.social in @philholliger.bsky.social group has identified a small self-replicating ribozyme that could be the answer. Read more: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...
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Phil Holliger @philholliger.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
New paper from my group in @science.org : "A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesise itself and its complementary strand" www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Outstanding work by @edogia.bsky.social
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Edoardo Gianni @edogia.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
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
science.org
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
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Reposted by Edoardo Gianni
Chaitanya K. Joshi @chaitjo.bsky.social · 15/08/2025
RosettaFold 3 is here! 🧬🚀 AtomWorks (the foundational data pipeline powering it) is perhaps the really most exciting part of this release! Congratulations @simonmathis.bsky.social and team!!! ❤️ bioRxiv preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Phil Holliger @philholliger.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
New paper from my group rdcu.be/eoaRr "Trinucleotide substrates under pH–freeze–thaw cycles enable open-ended exponential RNA replication by a polymerase ribozyme" in Nature Chemistry — great collaboration with attwaterlab.uk.
rdcu.be
Trinucleotide substrates under pH–freeze–thaw cycles enable open-ended exponential RNA replication by a polymerase ribozyme
Nature Chemistry - Models of abiotic RNA replication suffer from inherent product inhibition arising from the high stability of RNA duplexes. Now, it has been shown that RNA trinucleotide...
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Max Wilkinson @maxewilkinson.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
we recently found some really neat RNA-guided DNA-cutting systems in phages. Despite remarkable similarities to CRISPR systems, including encoding guide RNAs in arrays, they appear entirely evolutionarily distinct (but definitely related to snoRNAs 🤓) We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 23/10/2024
RNAWorld xkcd.com/3002
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