For 40 years the 8-nt ‘Kozak Sequence’ was thought to mark sites of translation initiation. In a new study, we revise this model by identifying an ~80-nt sequence—the extended Translation Initiation Sequence (eTIS)— that guides ribosomes to correct start sites. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Chromosomen, DNA, Sex und Stille Bedrohungen für unsere Spezies🧬👩🏼‍🔬👨‍🔬 Alles dies bei der #pint26de Veranstaltung am 18. Mai 📍Aposto 🕤18 Uhr Komm vorbei und lernt Annika und @reneketting.bsky.social kennen! Karten🎟👉 www.pintofscience.de/events/mainz @imbmainz.bsky.social @unimainz.bsky.social

New paper in Genes & Dev: we dissected how Sox2 — a key pluripotency TF — is regulated by a distal enhancer cluster (SCR) 100 kb away. The results challenge simple models of cohesin-mediated loop extrusion of gene regulation. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl... 🧵

Germ cells have their own versions of core transcription factors and fertility depends on them. We're hiring a PhD student to figure out how! 📢 Fly genetics + proteomics + genomics. Fully funded. Aarhus University 🇩🇰 Deadline May 1 👇 Please share with anyone who might be interested!

Thank you @impvienna.bsky.social for featuring our next career step! The support that Ulrich @hohmannulrich.bsky.social and I received from our postdoc labs (@pauligroup.bsky.social, @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social and @plaschkalab.bsky.social), and now from @imbmainz.bsky.social has been key!

IMP@impvienna.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Securing two group leader positions at the same institute is no small feat.  From IMP postdocs to group leaders: Laura Lorenzo-Orts and Ulrich Hohmann started their labs at IMB Mainz this year:

Want to map protein-RNA interactions? Check out our new iCLIP3 protocol. Featuring steamlined library prep and visualisation of protein-RNA complexes without radioactivity! Bioinformatics workflow on top :) With the Müller-McNicoll and Zarnack labs! @zarnack-group.bsky.social @mixmue.bsky.social

Our most recent work on the “function and evolution” of #nuclear-speckles is now online at Cell @cp-cell.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... Read the thread👇 for the highlights of our findings.

How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬 Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)

bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · 6mo ago

A Naïve RNA Sampling Core Enables Adaptive piRNA Specificity Against Transposable Elements https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704324v1

@lorenzoorts.bsky.social previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow at @impvienna.bsky.social in Austria. She will establish a new lab at IMB to investigate how mRNA translation is activated in the early embryo. Welcome to IMB Laura! 💐 Read more here: www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

Ulrich’s research will help advance our understanding of RNA biology & gene regulation, as well as how these mechanisms might be altered during viral infections & other diseases. @hohmannulrich.bsky.social comes from the @impvienna.bsky.social / @imbavienna.bsky.social www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

New lab just dropped 👇

Toby Andrews@tobyandrews.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Job alert! 📣 I’m looking for a research assistant to join my new team @idrm.ox.ac.uk Were using #zebrafish to understand gene-environment interactions that shape the heart 🫀generate natural diversity 🐸🐭 and contribute to congenital defects ❤️‍🩹 Full info below, and please share! 🫶🏻 bit.ly/467TO0M

www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/f... Become our new colleague (and next door neighbor) and lead a chair/group/department of Biophysics at Wageningen University. Reach out to me for info and please spread!!!

Full Professor and Chair Laboratory of Biophysics

We are looking for a Full Professor in the Biophysics chair group, part of Wageningen University & Research (WUR)

wur.nl

Recruiting a postdoc for a fun project on insect immunity. An international consortium will study the role of the microbiome&phages in resilience to infection. Please repost! www.radboudumc.nl/en/vacancies/160441-postdoctoral-researcher-bioinformatics-of-microbiome-virus-host-interactions-in-insects

Vacancy - Postdoctoral researcher Bioinformatics of microbiome-virus-host interactions in insects

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are highly effective pollinators of flowering plants, including many food crops. However, managed honeybee colonies ...

radboudumc.nl

Early bird registration deadline of our joint meeting in Potsdam between March 10-13, 2026 - “Joint international meeting of the German @gfeev.bsky.social, Dutch (DSDB), and #SEBD for #DevBio “Development & Regeneration” is approaching fast. Please apply before the 15th of January!

🔍 #AskZebrafish: Does anyone in the US or Canada have any of the following mutant #zebrafish lines and would be willing to share? tert, klotho, cxcl12a, cxcl12b, cxcr4a and cxcr4b Any leads would be appreciated! (Yes, we know ZIRC has some frozen but trying to find live)

The Vienna BioCenter Summer School 2026 call is open for talented undergrads, it's a great opportunity for students who are interested in graduate study in the life sciences. Diana Pinheiro from the IMP is recruiting! https://training.vbc.ac.at/summer-school/

Interested in the unexpected? How about a link between piRNAs and maternal histone mRNAs … Great collab with @sebastianfalk.bsky.social, @koenig-lab.bsky.social and Florian Steiner. #piRNA #histone #mRNA #maternal #RNAbiology #RNASky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What a way to start the new year with one more submission to BioRxiv. This one is on how GTSF-1 enable RdRP activity in nematodes (for Piwi aficionados: correct, it does not affect Piwi😊) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

An Evolutionarily Conserved N-terminal Domain of RRF-3 Governs GTSF-1 Binding in Nematodes

GTSF1 is an essential activating cofactor for PIWI proteins in many metazoans. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, however, GTSF-1 does not bind PIWI, but associates with the RNA-dependent RNA pol...

biorxiv.org

This nicely shows how the city of Mainz prioritizes bike-usage…one can get sued for not cleaning the walkway along your house, but the city leaves bike trails (but not car lanes of course) covered in ice…

Happy to share two BioRxiv manuscripts from our lab. One on genetic Argonaute interaction and unexpected non-correlation between small RNAs and their targets: doi.org/10.64898/202... The second on IDR processing and IDR-mediated Argonaute loading control: doi.org/10.64898/202... Merry Xmas😊

Very happy to be able to advertise our latest paper: A genetic framework for RNAi inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans | EMBO reports www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

A genetic framework for RNAi inheritance in Caenorhabditis elegans | EMBO reports

imageimageAn intergenerational cycle between HRDE-1 and WAGO-3 drives RNAi inheritance in C. elegans, where HRDE-1 drives silencing in both parent and offspring and WAGO-3 transmits the RNAi response ...

embopress.org

If you are an enthusiastic, motivated and team-oriented life science researcher-in-spé, we are looking for you! We offer excellent science and working conditions. For more info on projects please see. Please help me spread this🙏 www.imb.de/students-pos...

If you are an enthusiastic, motivated and team-oriented life science researcher-in-spé, we are looking for you! We offer excellent science and working conditions. For more info on projects please see. Please help me spread this🙏 www.imb.de/students-pos...

💥Finally out! Answering a two-centuries old question about a membraneless organelle that forms in #oocytes from insects to humans: the Balbiani body (Bb). Now in @currentbiology.bsky.social : cell.com/current-biol... >

The Balbiani body is formed by microtubule-controlled molecular condensation of Buc in early oogenesis

Kar et al. demonstrate that Balbiani body (Bb) formation is achieved via developmental condensation in zebrafish oogenesis, driven by Buc phase separation and evolving from a dynamic liquid-like state into a solid-like stable compartment. Multistep regulation by microtubules controls condensation, ensuring proper Bb formation and oocyte polarity.

cell.com

First #bluetorial. 🎉🎉 We’re very happy to share our latest biorxiv #preprint, just in time before the holiday season. We explored how transposable elements (TEs) diversify eukaryotic proteomes and found a cool case in nematode F-box genes. #TEsky #evosky #Celegans Short 🧵 with highlights.

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 2y ago

Transposable elements drive regulatory and functional innovation of F-box genes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.17.628972v1

Transposable elements drive regulatory and functional innovation of F-box genes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.17.628972v1

www.academics.com/jobs/univers... Please help us find a new colleague at Mainz University. Thanks! #evolbiol

University Professor of Life History Evolution W3 - Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz looks for University Professor of Life History Evolution W3 in Mainz - apply now!

academics.com

We are looking for new group leaders. If RNA is your thing, and/or computational biology and you want to start your own group, check out these links. Feel free to contact me about these! And, please help me spread this. Thanks! www.imb.de/jobs/jobdeta... www.imb.de/jobs/jobdeta...