iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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John Greally @greally.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Tim Bestor has left us. This obituary captures him well — you always had to be at your intellectual peak with him, while his trainees always spoke highly of their experiences. He made a massive contribution to epigenetics, a giant in our field. www.genetics.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/memoria...

genetics.cuimc.columbia.edu

In memoriam of Professor Timothy H. Bestor

In memoriam: Professor Timothy H. Bestor 1952-2026

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Maria Hondele @mariahondele.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

The heatwave is finally over - just in time for our “Frosty Foci” to finally come online! ❄️🦠 We found that E. coli builds a transient nucleolus-like ribosome biogenesis compartment during cold adaptation, when RNA (mis)folding makes ribosome biogenesis challenging.

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Iain Cheeseman @iaincheeseman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

We built this tool and resource to share. These systematic gene functional annotations have been critical for our own work and we hope that they are widely useful for everyone. Enjoy!

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Kenneth Loi @kenjmloi.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Excited to share our discovery of a new programmable RNA-guided DNA-targeting system hiding inside bacteriophages that predates CRISPR. We call it VIPR (Viral Interference Programmable Repeat), and it uses an entirely new logic to find its targets. Thread + link below.

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Duncan Sproul @sproullab.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

🚨 #Postdoc position open. Want to understand non-canonical #epigenetic regulation of mammalian transcription? Come work @uoe-igc.bsky.social in Edinburgh! We’re looking for a motivated & collaborative colleague with a strong track record. 📅 14 October 2026 📢 Please share Apply here 👇

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

Post-Doctoral Research Associate

An exciting postdoctoral position is available to research the role of epigenetic marks in gene regulation.

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Maiato Lab @mitosisrocks.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A long time in the making, now finally out.💥 Our new study shows that division stays on time when kinetochore–microtubule attachments form efficiently. When the process drags, that delay is remembered, limiting future cell proliferation. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #mitosis #biology #microscopy

nature.com

Low kinetochore-microtubule occupancy leaves a mitotic memory by delaying checkpoint silencing - Nature Communications

How do cells faithfully segregate chromosomes within an optimal time? Using naturally “super-resolved” kinetochores, the authors show that maximal microtubule occupancy prevents bad mitotic memories t...

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Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Very happy to share my postdoc paper is out now in @natcellbio.nature.com titled "Tissue flow acts as a guidance cue for immune cell polarization and directional migration". If you love imaging and immune cells, this is for you! #microscopymonday www.nature.com/articles/s41... A 🧵: 1/n

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Gautam Dey @gautamdey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Ancient protein families age like fine wines, layering flavour upon flavour over billions of years. Peeling back the layers needs an evolutionary lens: it might turn out the function that made them famous might not be the first or the most important one. Been super fun hashing this out with friends!

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Kaushik Ragunathan @kaushikr.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

“The scale of phosphorylation vastly exceeds known phosphosites in Escherichia coli, has no sequence motif specificity and results in a higher proteome-wide phosphorylation density than mammalian cells with around 500 kinases.”

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Reposted by Kaushik Ragunathan

Sanjay Srivatsan @sanjaysrivatsan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A new blog post thinking through the parallels between protein structure prediction and virtual cell efforts. Many of our current approaches to collect data to build a virtual cell model lack the abstraction that links measurement and function. t.co/4sPSMaLWLL

Acknowledgement: Illustration by David S. Goodsell, RCSB Protein Data Bank and the Scripps Research Institute. doi: 10.2210/rcsb_pdb/goodsell-gallery-050

Kinetochores separate chromosomes when eukaryotic cells divide. This illustration shows a yeast kinetochore (green) attached to a disassembling microtubule (blue). Chromatin is shown at upper right with DNA in yellow and histones in orange.

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Gulnara Tagirdzhanova @metalichen.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Our study on giant transposons Starship 🚀🧬 in the genome of the lichen fungus Xanthoria is now out in @pnas.org! What did we find out about Starships in #lichen fungi? 👇Updated thread below 🖥️ 🧪 🦠 🧫 #SymbioSky 1/6 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

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Anders Sejr Hansen @andersshansen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

(1/n) Excited to share close collab w @bloodgenes.bsky.social led by Varshini & Chun-jie et al How to induce expression of key genes while silencing much of the genome during Erythropoiesis? A: Matchmaker CREs load cohesin near key genes to promote looping & exp: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Very interesting finding from the Ragunathan lab showing that a CHD remodeler in a NuRD-like complex called SHREC can trigger H3K9me2/3!

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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Next summer's Epigenetics GRC (I'm co-chairing with Deborah Bouch'is) is shaping up nicely with an all-star lineup of speakers working on a broad range of organisms and systems and everything from molecular mechanisms to new phenomena. Apply and put it on your calendar! www.grc.org/epigenetics-...

grc.org

2027 Epigenetics Conference GRC

The 2027 Gordon Research Conference on Epigenetics will be held in Holderness, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.

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Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Douglas Weidemann, Silke Hauf @silkehauflab.bsky.social and colleagues @virginiatech.bsky.social establish MS2–MCP-based single-molecule RNA visualisation in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

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Robin Burns @robinburns.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Delighted to share our paper on neo-chromosomes! We induced centromere fission using CRISPR in Arabidopsis and increased the chromosome count from n=5 to n=6. The broken chromosomes ends quickly “healed” by adding telomeres de novo and the new karyotype is stable through mitosis and meiosis! 1/3

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Anders Sejr Hansen @andersshansen.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Very interesting study showing that active non-equilibrium fluctuations are required to explain chromatin organization at the 10-100kb scale:

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turrigiano.bsky.social @turrigiano.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

If you like ethological learning, structural plasticity, and the idea that homeostatic setpoints are malleable, this paper is for you! Congrats to Diane and the whole team on the culmination of a long and fascinating journey #dianebissen.bsky.social, #neuroskyance

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Peiwei Chen @peiwei-chen.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

How do transposons jump when they’re released from host control? I babysat two chromosomes for 2 years, making sure they are ok without most piRNAs. Here’s what we found & excited to share my 1st postdoc paper: “piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

piRNA loss unleashes episodic transposition bursts

In Metazoa, transposon expression is suppressed by the piRNA pathway, and disruption of this pathway leads to rampant transposon expression. However, it remains unclear whether increased transposon ex...

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Reposted by Kaushik Ragunathan

Luke Lavis @rhodamine110.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Excited to see this collaboration now in print. Dye chemistry meets AI-designed proteins. Three small, orthogonal tags; lifetime modulation; split versions. Request the free dyes at dyes.janelia.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

De novo design of orthogonal far-red, orange, and green fluorophore-binding proteins for multiplexed imaging

Fluorescent proteins and small-molecule dyes offer complementary advantages for biological imaging: proteins are amenable to genetic tagging, whereas dyes provide superior brightness and photostabilit...

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Reposted by Kaushik Ragunathan

Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

"American propaganda has always been about the spectacle of the city upon a hill on whom the world’s eyes are turned...Now the spectacle is about the demonization of immigrants, the sickening rituals of hunting them down in the streets with masked government enforcers, zeteo.com/p/250-americ...

zeteo.com

'250 Years of Cruelty' – Viet Thanh Nguyen on the ‘American Empire' and How to Save the U.S.

The liberation of the American peoples cannot be achieved without the shedding of imperial weight, writes the Pulitzer prize-winning author in this somber essay marking the semiquincentennial.

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Shiv Grewal @grewalsh.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Introns have a hidden regulatory role! 🧬🎉 Delighted to share our latest paper showing that inefficiently spliced introns and spliceosomal proteins direct RNA methylation, engaging RNAi to silence retrotransposons and regulate gene expression nature.com/articles/s41...

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Sternberg Lab @sternberglab.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

1/11 New preprint from the Sternberg lab in collaboration with the Fernández lab! We are excited to share our structure-function study of DRT10, a bacterial defense-associated reverse transcriptase that synthesizes long tandem-repeat DNA.🧵 Read the full story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Mechanism of tandem-repeat DNA synthesis by an antiviral reverse transcriptase

Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ DNA synthesis to protect bacteria against phage infection[1][1],[2][2]. We previously showed that DRT10, a tripartite system comprising an RT, a...

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Sorek Lab @soreklab.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Our paper out in Science today: The Metis defense system senses molecular byproducts released when a phage degrades the bacterial genome, and then prevents replication of the phage in the infected cell Congratulations @ostermanilya.bsky.social and co-authors!

science.org

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

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Osterman Ilya @ostermanilya.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Excited to share that our Metis story is now published in Science! 🎉 Bacteria can sense phage-induced degradation of their genome and activate immunity. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... More details in my earlier thread 🧵⬇️

science.org

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

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FMI science @fmiscience.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Much of the genome is made up of repetitive DNA sequences that trace back to ancient mobile elements. Two new studies from the @marcbuhler.bsky.social group, now published in @cp-molcell.bsky.social, show how cells keep these potentially disruptive sequences under control. www.fmi.ch/news-events/...

fmi.ch

How cells keep genomic hitchhikers under control

Much of the genome is made up of repetitive DNA sequences that trace back to ancient mobile elements, many of which have lost their ability to copy themselves into new locations but can still cause pr...

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Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 01/07/2026

Meet SpudCell, a synthetic cell made from lifeless ingredients that feeds, grows, divides, and experiences selection. If it doesn't have all the hallmarks of life, it has a lot! Here's my story. Gift link: nyti.ms/4vCbTih

A series of images of a dividing synthetic cell

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Kevin Forsberg @kvnforsberg.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Humans and bacteria share strategies to defend against viruses. We wondered: could they use each other's genes? Yes, both can! Bacteria can use human immune genes to defend against phages AND Human cells can use bacterial genes for viral defense. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.org

Bacterial and human exonucleases mediate interkingdom antiviral immunity

All kingdoms of life have developed strategies to limit viral infection. In humans, interferons induce a suite of antiviral factors that collectively provide immunity. Some human immune genes are homo...

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Anders Sejr Hansen @andersshansen.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Excited to see James' Genome-wide Absolute Quantification of Looping paper out in @natsmb.nature.com : www.nature.com/articles/s41... This has been in collaboration with @lucagiorgetti.bsky.social @leonidmirny.bsky.social @zechnerlab.bsky.social labs. Brief thread below on some key updates

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Nitika Taneja @TanejaLab @nitikataneja.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Very excited to share our new Nature study! We discovered that replication stress stabilizes CTCF-dependent chromatin loops enclosing stressed nascent DNA, where G9a-mediated heterochromatin protects it from nucleolytic degradation. rdcu.be/frzLg Huge thanks to all our collaborators and co-authors!

nature.com

Replication-stress-induced chromatin loops protect fork stability - Nature

Replication stress induces the formation of transient chromatin loops that enclose de novo heterochromatin-enriched stalled replication forks.

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Konrad Chudzik @konrad-chudzik.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

My first PhD paper is out in Nucleic Acids Research! We describe "Ab-trapping" - an antibody artifact that distorts assays relying on antibody diffusion (microscopy, CUT&Tag, CUT&RUN). The revisions made the story much stronger. Check it out! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

doi.org

Antibody-trapping presents a widespread pitfall for microscopy and genomics in the nucleus

Abstract. Chromatin has a complex 3D structure and diverse binding proteins that coordinate the genome’s most essential functions. Many microscopy and geno

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Scott Coyle @cellraiser.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926

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Scott Coyle @cellraiser.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

@zjmaggiexu.bsky.social's story on suctorian trap structure adaptation is now online in @currentbiology.bsky.social , with new evolutionary analyses and modeling! This fall, Maggie will keep exploring predatory protists as a PD in @nbellono.bsky.social group; keep an eye out for her she's amazing!

sciencedirect.com

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Nicholas Bellono @nbellono.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

How did animal senses evolve? Max Coyle et al. used choanoflagellates to uncover TRPW, ancient ion channels predating animal somatosensory receptors. TRPW links microbial prey ecology to evolution of receptor structure, sensory organelles, & multicellular processing. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Anders Sejr Hansen @andersshansen.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

(1/n) Very excited to share tri-lab collab (Mirny & Zechner) led by Harvey, Henrik & Jack: Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)? A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Kaushik Ragunathan @kaushikr.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

“…….integrating imaging, 3D genomics, and gene expression data across cell lines, we estimate that transcriptional activation is mediated by approximately 25-42 nanometer contacts on the seconds timescale. Our results support a transient contact mechanism for E-P-mediated gene activation.”

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Saravanan Palani @syncellbiolab.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Our new paper in @plosbiology.org introduces IntAct-U-ExM enabling isoform-specific imaging of actin at nanoscale across yeast, mammalian cells & primary neurons. Fabulous work spearheaded by @anubhavdhar.bsky.social along with an amazing team! #actin #U-ExM journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

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The Lewis Lab @peterlewislab.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

How do cells tune PRC2 allostery? We find EZH2 Ser21-phos restrains PRC2 adoption of the compact active state. Loss of this restraint promotes H3K27me3, redistributes cPRC1, and impairs differentiation. New bioRxiv with @kasinath-lab.bsky.social & @garcialabms.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/4369kmh2

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Katrina Velle @katrinavelle.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

After a long hiatus, happy #MicroscopyMonday! Here are some amoebae squeezing themselves into narrow channels (part of a video for our preprint pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41377514/). Sound effects by Dillon (my 4 month old who may have had a little to do with the bluesky hiatus!)

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Etienne Bucher 🌾🧬🇪🇺 @plantepigenetics.ch · 05/06/2026

We just published our new paper about an active Helitron transposon in wheat 🌾🧬 We found that it can be mobilised by heat stress when DNA methylation is reduced. We document its full lifecycle: RNA -> circular DNA -> integration www.nature.com/articles/s41... #TEsky

nature.com

An active Helitron transposon family in wheat - Nature Plants

Helitrons are a recently identified category of transposons. This study reveals that heat stress combined with reduced DNA methylation can mobilize a Helitron family in wheat. Its mobilization is gene...

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