iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Rachel Helston

bioRxiv Genetics @biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Pericentromeric repeat copy number tunes heterochromatin dosage to control chromosome segregation and gene expression in fission yeast www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Sajjita Saha @sajjitasaha.bsky.social · 21/03/2026

Happy to see our work out in PLOS Biology. Thanks to @sophiemartinlab.bsky.social @aiswaryasajeevan.bsky.social Laura Merlini & Vincent Vincenzetti. 😊

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Found these delightful mushrooms over the weekend. Panellus stipticus - these have luminescent gills so I need to find a way to get back there at night! 🤞🏻🙄

A clump of Panellus stipticus mushrooms on a mossy stump. These are orange-brown in color with a white velvety finish.

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

Found some delightfully fuzzy contaminants on yeast nitrogen plates today ❤️ those on the right look like daisies! @contamclub.bsky.social any ideas on ID?

Velvety grey-green microbe growing on a Petri dish.

Fuzzy white microbes growing on a Petri dish, with yellow centers

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 09/12/2024

Sometimes all a girl needs is a short walk in the woods. #fungifriends

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Clement Tsui PhD 🇭🇰 🇨🇦 @clementsui.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Distinct evolutionary trajectories following loss of RNA interference in Cryptococcus neoformans | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

pnas.org

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Corentin Claeys Bouuaert @ccb-lab.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Hello Bluesky, for my first post here I'm happy to share our latest preprint reporting the first biochemical reconstitution of DNA double-strand break formation by SPO11. SPO11 dimerization controls meiotic DNA double-strand break formation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.org

SPO11 dimerization controls meiotic DNA double-strand break formation

SPO11 initiates meiotic recombination through the induction of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), but this catalytic activity had never been reconstituted in vitro. Here, using Mus musculus S...

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Scott Keeney @spo11rulz.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Hi Bluesky. For my first post, I'd like to advertise the latest preprint from my lab, describing at long last our reconstitution of SPO11-dependent double-strand break formation from purified recombinant proteins. Outstanding work from PhD student Zhi (Zack) Zheng.

Experimental results showing DNA break formation by purified SPO11 protein. Above is an image of an electrophoresis gel, below is a graph showing quantification of the DNA cleaving activity

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Carlos Pérez Arques @carlosparq.bsky.social · 14/11/2024

It's great to be back in the light!💙🦋 In case you missed it while on the dark side, check out our latest preprint on the heritability of RNAi epimutations mediating drug resistance 🧬 biorxiv.org/content/10.1.... More details? ▶️🧵

biorxiv.org

RNAi epimutations conferring antifungal drug resistance are inheritable

Epimutations modify gene expression and lead to phenotypic variation while the encoding DNA sequence remains unchanged. Epimutations mediated by RNA interference (RNAi) and/or chromatin modifications ...

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

I’m back! For my first post in several months, feast your eyes upon these forest beauties ❤️🍄 #FungiFriends

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Di Jiang @dijiang319.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

In latest issue of Science Magazine, Kinzig, de Lange, +al. report that human telomerase threatens genome integrity by adding telomeres to broken chromosomes and is held in check by ATR kinase signaling. Paper bit.ly/adg3224 accompanied by a Perspective by Arnoult and Cech bit.ly/adn7791

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 21/02/2024

Beautiful yeast 🤩😍 (color imparted by food dye)

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 06/12/2023

Found the motherload across the street - sadly the utility workers and springtails found them first :-( 🍄

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 13/11/2023

Stunning reflections this morning ❤️

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 02/10/2023

New paper on meiotic drive from the Zanders lab!

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 27/09/2023

Found the coolest fungi at the weekend but I am clueless about its ID. Any suggestions? 🍄🤩❤️

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 20/09/2023

Excited for this upcoming meeting on ribosome heterogeneity and specialization

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 15/09/2023

Great new fission yeast resource! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

🧬Jacob L Steenwyk @jlsteenwyk.bsky.social · 14/09/2023

CALL for applicants to join the Genomely Internship in Genome Science (GIGS) Scholars program. GIGS Scholars will remotely work w/ Genomely personnel to gain research experience in the genome sciences—namely, evo omics, bioinf & software eng Applications due Nov 15

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Reposted by Rachel Helston

Svasti Haricharan @svasti.bsky.social · 11/09/2023

What a neat paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Women accumulate about 15 mutations in their healthy breast tissue every year, so mutational burden increases with age. Then you throw in pregnancy, and it suppresses mutation accumulation. In the epithelium but not in the stroma!

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 09/09/2023

Drop something pink from your photo gallery. 📷 pink thistle

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 01/09/2023

Steve II and the Moth were interested in learning about Cytosolic linear DNA plasmids in Saccharomycopsis species during our journal club today. Great paper from the Wolfe lab! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Rachel Helston @fungalmom.bsky.social · 01/09/2023

Hello, hello! First post here - excited to see how this all pans out!!

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