🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥 New preprint on the 3D features of X-linked escapee domains 💥🚀💥🚀💥 Fun collaboration with @mamartirenom.bsky.social lab! We hope you’ll like it 👇👇

@heardlab.bsky.social · last mo.

New preprint from the Heard Lab and the Marti-Renom lab! 🧬 We show that X-inactivation escapee domains form distinct chromatin compartments independently of CTCF and cohesin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to share our last work on mitotic bookmarking where we describe a new role for extensively studied TFs. Heroic effort by first author Inma over many years. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...

First published teamwork of the lab 🎉! We wrote a review about emerging concepts of how metabolism promotes, regulates and changes during gastrulation. We hope it will be useful for anyone interested in the emerging field of developmental metabolism. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A metabolic view of gastrulation: Coordinating signalling, epigenetics and morphogenesis

Gastrulation is the morphogenetic process by which the single-layered pluripotent epiblast is reorganised into the three germ layers and the basic bod…

sciencedirect.com

I am very excited to share the work of my PhD with @eddaschulz.bsky.social, now on BioRxiv! 🎉 🧵⬇️ (1/9) How does the transcription↔️chromatin crosstalk ensure monoallelic expression?

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Transcription-dependent heterochromatin at the Xist promoter shapes the random choice of the inactive X chromosome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.22.737064v1

📢 Institut Jacques Monod Seminar 📅 June 5th 📍 Institut Jacques Monod Tomorrow, Alexander Meissner ( @molgen.mpg.de ) will present the Institut Jacques Monod lecture "Epigenetic regulation in development and disease " ➡️ buff.ly/00QpYG2

Cool symposium in Paris💥💥💥👇

Maxim Greenberg@maxvcg.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Had a cracking lab meeting this morning with our latest epigenome editing results (new tools we're trying for the 1st time). Reminded me we're organizing an awesome symposium in Paris in Nov! Here's our updated flyer (new speaker @dfachinetti.bsky.social). Please share! ctrlepiedit.sciencesconf.org

Choanoflagellates — our closest animal relatives — form multicellular colonies in two ways: cell division AND aggregation. This previously unknown "mixed multicellularity" suggests our animal origins are more complex than thought. 📄 @thibautbrunet.bsky.social ↘️

Evolutionary biology: what an aquatic microorganism can tell us about our distant origins

Over a period of two to three billion years, the only living beings on Earth were single-celled organisms. In what conditions did living organisms with multiple cells emerge? How did life become more ...

pasteur.fr

This is a FANTASTIC method to capture multilayer chromatin and gene regulation at allelic resolution(!!💥!!) on the same DNA molecule 🤩🥳🤩🥳 Well done @mpalamin.bsky.social and @arnaudkr.bsky.social 👏👏👏👏👏 - very beautiful work as always 💫💫💫!!

Michela Palamin@mpalamin.bsky.social · 7mo ago

ChromSMF preprint is out!🚀 tinyurl.com/ChromSMF We often piece together chromatin regulation layer by layer from separate assays. But this can be limiting! In @arnaudkr.bsky.social's lab, we developed a method to directly study multiple layers on the same DNA molecule! 🧬 What does this unlock? ⬇️

I am very happy to share that I've started my new position @upcite.bsky.social and opened my lab @institutimagine.bsky.social 🎉 In the lab we will study how differences in X-linked gene dosage between the sexes affect fetal growth and survival and contribute to sex differences later in life 👩‍🔬🧪🧬🧫

Tomorrow I’ll be presenting at the 2026 CSHL Systems Biology meeting! 🧬 Join to hear about ChromSMF, a genomic method for integrated measurement of histone modifications, protein-DNA interactions, and DNA methylation on the same multi-kilobase DNA molecules! 🚀 Preprint coming soon 😉

👩‍🔬 Women’s Health, Women in Health Symposium Join us for a multidisciplinary event bridging biomedical research, public health, and social sciences. 🌍 🗓️ March 17, 2026 🔗 Register here: forms.office.com/Pages/Respon... #WomenInHealth

Tempted to add Metal gifs; that's how cool METALoci sounds! In their recent article @natsmb.nature.com, @dariloops.bsky.social @mamartirenom.bsky.social @jrotwitguez.bsky.social @imotagom.bsky.social and colleagues shed light on sex-determining 3D regulatory hubs. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Chromatin spatial analysis by METALoci unveils sex-determining 3D regulatory hubs - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

METALoci, a new three-dimensional genome computational tool, reveals a major rewiring of regulatory interactions during sex determination. By combining this method with transgenic models, the authors ...

nature.com

This is such a beautiful work, congratulations to all authors! 👏👏👏👏

Marc A. Marti-Renom@mamartirenom.bsky.social · 8mo ago

🚨 We’re happy to announce (finally!) the publication of METALoci, in collaboration with @dariloops.bsky.social and heroes: @jrotwitguez.bsky.social & @imotagom.bsky.social. METALoci integrates #3DGenome and #Epigenetics data into a unified framework we believe is very useful! Here 👉🏻 rdcu.be/e5sm2

Our paper on the evolution of XIST regulatory network in primates is now published in Science Advances! Check out the paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... or a digest of our findings emmanuelczt.github.io/posts/2026/0... A short 🧵 of our main findings 👇

Remodeling of XIST regulatory landscape during primate evolution

How gene regulation strategies rapidly evolve across short evolutionary timescales is explored.

science.org

Interested in transcriptional regulation, enhancers and 3D genome folding? In this new study we wondered about the role of cohesin loading at enhancers for long-range transcriptional control www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... detailed 🧵👇

SS18::SSX activates Polycomb target genes without BAF ❌ Instead, transcription relies on EP300 via the SS18 QPGY domain www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... ➡️ Coactivator targeting emerges as a new therapeutic strategy in synovial sarcoma 🎯 Team work from @banitolab.bsky.social and @uoe-igc.bsky.social

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭! 🎉 “𝐗𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐗-𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬” 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐑𝐱𝐢𝐯! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

XIST Drives X-Chromosome Inactivation and Safeguards Female Extraembryonic Cells in Humans

Dosage compensation of sex chromosomes through X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is required for mice extra-embryonic tissue growth and embryo development. The species specificity in mechanisms and timi...

biorxiv.org

I am very happy (and a bit scared) to present to you what we have been working on over the last 4 years. This manuscript is exactly what I dreamt of when I started the lab and I could not be happier and prouder of the outcome!

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Evolutionary dynamics of temporal transcription factor series in the insect optic lobe https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.08.698497v1

This went under the radar but answers a fundamental question in Epigenetics... From many hundreds of olfactory receptor genes, each neuron selects expression of only single one (near-randomly). How? Outstanding work from Mathieu Boulard and colleagues www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The transcription of a single olfactory receptor per neuron is enforced by epigenetic silencing of their enhancers

The ability to discriminate thousands of odors in our environment requires each olfactory neuron to express a single olfactory receptor from hundreds of available genes. The biochemical mechanism enfo...

biorxiv.org

☕The authors show that increased #Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape #Xinactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape genes upon Xist RNA overexpression in neural progenitors. @agneseloda.bsky.social @heardlab.bsky.social bit.ly/3YUnzhw

Escape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNA - Nature Cell Biology

The authors show that increased Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape X inactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape genes upon Xist RNA overexpre...

bit.ly

Exciting new paper out! @allanaschooley.bsky.social and Sergey Venev led this project that let to the discovery of two chromosome folding programs: one inherited via mitotic chromosomes and one mitotic inherited through the cytoplasm! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Interphase chromosome conformation is specified by distinct folding programmes inherited through mitotic chromosomes or the cytoplasm - Nature Cell Biology

Schooley et al. find that mitotically bookmarked loci drive a transient chromosome folding state during G1 entry that is subsequently modulated by factors inherited through the cytoplasm.

nature.com

Great opportunity - wonderful team and research 👇👇👇👇!!

Jan Żylicz@jzylicz.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Do you want to play a key role in running a cutting-edge stem cell and embryology lab at reNEW @ucph.bsky.social ? We’re hiring a Lab Manager to support our team and help with stem cell and animal work. Apply before Feb. 1st : rb.gy/d5uf17

Epigenetics Update - Escape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNA go.nature.com/49jeLH5 Edith Heard and Agnese Loda (EMBL) reporting in Nat Cell Biol #Epigenetics #Xist #XInactivation #Chromatin --- Perfect for cancer, immunology, and aging research; epigenometech.com

Very happy to share our paper rdcu.be/eUImj out today in @natcellbio.nature.com 🎉🎉🎉 We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.

Escape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNA

Nature Cell Biology - The authors show that increased Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape X inactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape...

rdcu.be

We are excited to share our new preprint: SMARCA2/4-Dependent Chromatin Remodelling Establishes Gene Regulatory Programs in Early Human Embryos and Blastoids. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.01.691499v1

📣 SAVE THE DATE Next X-inactivation meeting in Sapporo, Japan, 19-23 October 2026. Visit x-inactivation-meeting.org to join our mailing list. 🧬 speakers @dandergassen.bsky.social @marnieblewitt.bsky.social @heard65.bsky.social @crougeulle.bsky.social @sexchrlab.bsky.social @zhouqi1982.bsky.social

In this episode we talked with @pasquelab.bsky.social from KU Leuven about his work on the reprogramming of cell identity through epigenetic mechanisms, particularly during early development and cellular reprogramming. #epigenetics #podcast Listen here: activemotif.com/podcasts-vin...

What is a promoter? And how does it work? We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility. I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Enhancer-promoter compatibility is mediated by the promoter-proximal region

Gene promoters induce transcription in response to distal enhancers. How enhancers specifically activate their target promoter while bypassing other promoters remains unclear. Here, we find that the p...

biorxiv.org

Very excited to share an excellent review from @teresa-urli.bsky.social, published one week before her PhD defense! We did a deep dive into the fascinating biology of the variant Polycomb complex, PRC1.6 (1/5) journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Epigenetic relay: Polycomb-directed DNA methylation in mammalian development

In mammals, repression of germline-specific gene expression is essential for preserving somatic cell identity and preventing disease. Germline gene silencing is often dependent on the presence of prom...

journals.plos.org

Open Team Leader position @embl.org to head & reshape our Genomics Core facility. Interested in providing & developing state-of-the art omics tech to a wide community? A very vibrant, dynamic place to work with fantastic colleagues. Closing Sept 30th embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

Team Leader – Genomics Core Facility and Method Development

Are you ready to lead a cutting-edge Genomics Core facility while developing state of the art genomics methods? Join us at EMBL! We are seeking talented scientists to develop and lead a cutting-edge G...

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com