🌱🚨 Very proud and excited to share our PREPRINT, unveiling an advance for plant science, biotech, & synthetic biology in the first (of many) Khalil <> Gehring collaborations! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Rational design of T-DNA vectors enables predictable, single-copy integration in Arabidopsis thaliana

Agrobacterium -mediated transformation is the dominant method for plant transgenesis, yet it frequently produces multi-copy, structurally complex T-DNA insertions associated with transgene silencing, ...

biorxiv.org

(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...

How can a single cell learn without a brain? We explore this in my paper with @wallaceucsf.bsky.social! We discovered that single cells may learn using molecules similar to those that animal brains use to learn, like CaMKII. Cells can also propagate memory states to their progeny!

Our H1 paper is out #ScienceAdvances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @masaashimazoe.bsky.social et al. reveal that linker histone H1 acts as a liquid-like glue to organize chromatin in live cells. 🎉 Fantastic collab with @rcollepardo.bsky.social @janhuemar.bsky.social and others—huge thanks! 🙌 1/

February's PDB Molecule of the Month is for "Histones Across the Tree of Life". I wanted to focus on the histones of archaea Methanothermus fervidus which thrives at 83°C in sulfur pools in Iceland. I call the image: "Compacting DNA at nearly boiling water."

Papers are like buses... You wait for ages, then two come along at once. Huge congrats to @bornanovak.bsky.social and @jefflotthammer.bsky.social for pushing and driving every aspect of this work, preprinted ~1 year ago to the day (Friday before BPS), now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Accurate predictions of disordered protein ensembles with STARLING - Nature

The deep learning model STARLING can generate accurate ensembles of intrinsically disordered regions of proteins using only&nbsp;protein sequence as input.

nature.com

Borna Novak@bornanovak.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to announce the newest member of the flock - STARLING (conSTruction of intrinsicAlly disoRdered proteins ensembles efficientLy vIa multi-dimeNsional Generative models). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We've got two exciting chromatin talks coming up on Wednesday next week: @epijenatics.bsky.social from @jbuenrostro.bsky.social's lab and @ambystoma22.bsky.social! register and join us: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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RCSB Protein Data Bank@rcsbpdb.bsky.social · 6mo ago

February's Molecule of the Month explores the evolutionary diversity of histones

Had a great time at #EMBOevoChromo25 learning about some really cool work at the interface of chromatin and evolution. Really an amazing community of scientists! Thank you to all the organizers :) and can't wait for the next one!

Cedric Feschotte@cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Four days of great science, fun interactions, and breathtaking views at #EMBOevoChromo25 in San Feliu 🇪🇸 BIG THX to organizers @arnausebe.bsky.social @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social & co @levine-lab.bsky.social @sandraduharcourt.bsky.social Nick Irwin 🙏👌

1/28 New preprint up, which I think is the best theoretical idea I've ever had. We asked a simple question: what are the costs of investment into non-reproductive somatic cells? Turns out these costs decrease with the *logarithm* of organism size! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The fitness costs of reproductive specialization scale inversely with organismal size

The evolution of reproductive specialization represents a fundamental innovation in multicellular life, yet the conditions favoring its evolution remain poorly understood. Here, we develop a populatio...

biorxiv.org

A little reading before the Christmas break by the one and only @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social in @annualreviews.bsky.social The expanding Histone universe: Histone-Based DNA organization in noneukaryotic organisms www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

The Expanding Histone Universe: Histone-Based DNA Organization in Noneukaryotic Organisms

Histones are small basic proteins that form the proteinaceous core of the nucleosome, the repeating building block of chromatin in all eukaryotes. Long thought to be exclusive to eukaryotes, histones ...

annualreviews.org

Phenomenal work!

Meng-meng Fu@mengmengfu.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Excited to share our new pre-print collab w. @rdaslab.bsky.social Study led by Ved Topkar brilliant MD/PhD student who used biochemistry and bioinformatics to probe the relationship between Mbp mRNA structure & transport/local translation in oligodendrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 1/8

New Online! Signal control during tissue regeneration in adult animals

Signal control during tissue regeneration in adult animals

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 11 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41580-025-00917-1The ability to track single cells in vivo, combined with insights into chromatin structure, immune–tissue crosstalk, bioelectric and metabolic cues and quantitative modelling, is changing our understanding of how tissues are repaired and renewed. This Review discusses how signals are regulated during regeneration and future directions for a more quantitative understanding of regenerative biology.

bit.ly

Ancient amino acid sets enable stable protein folds https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.29.685319v1

As a mammalian-cell bioengineer interested in plants, it was great to connect with Sebastian, and I can assure you you’ll learn a TON from talking to him (if you haven’t already from his posts)

Sebastian S. Cocioba@atinygreencell.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I'd love to connect with more genetic engineers. Let me know if there are folks I should follow or meet. Mostly just need more of that in my timeline, but also I love to see the craft in action. There is always something new to learn. TYIA!

Algal pyrenoids—condensates that mediate ~1/3 of Earth’s CO2 fixation—change size and number as cells divide. Our data suggest a simple control mechanism: a kinase that continuously ejects material from the condensate! ☀️🌍🔬💧 #Biophysics #Photosynthesis www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Lab’s 1st preprint! Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate. @cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation. He is on the job market!

Çağrı Çevrim@cagricevrim.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉 @karalmckinley.bsky.social We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice. We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

I adored writing this piece. It brings together several of the things preoccupying me right now, like chromatin organization and gene regulation. There's so much more to be said on that. Also, these marine critters look gorgeous. www.quantamagazine.org/loops-of-dna...

Loops of DNA Equipped Ancient Life To Become Complex | Quanta Magazine

New work shows that physical folding of the genome to control genes located far away may have been an early evolutionary development.

quantamagazine.org

Game changer for cell-based plant genetics: the labs of Caixia Gao & Jin-Long Qiu have developed very efficient self-replicating vectors and they just published a very nice proof-of-concept paper. #plantscience www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1. What does a Cold War-era game theory problem known as the silent duel have to do with high-risk research strategies, publication in Cell/Nature/Science glamor journals, and the academic job market? Kevin Gross and I tackle these questions in our latest arXiv preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2509.06718

This is a great initiative, and would be an invaluable resource to learn more about (and maybe borrow from!) the diversity of cellular organization and regulation across evolution!

Arnau Sebé-Pedrós@arnausebe.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Happy to share the Biodiversity Cell Atlas white paper, out today in @nature.com. We look at the possibilities, challenges, and potential impacts of molecularly mapping cells across the tree of life. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

very cool image-based screening of HP1 condensates and implications for RNA in regulating mesoscale structures!

Serena Sanulli Lab at Stanford Genetics@serenasanulli.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Excited to share our first preprint! We developed an image-based pooled screen to uncover regulators of HP1 condensates and discovered a link with intronic RNA and RNA processing. 👏 Congrats to all authors, especially Matthew, Shaopu & Chris!

Asking BlueSky for help: For a review, I am trying to accurately credit the first paper that measured pairwise 3D distances between 2 pieces of DNA on the same chromosome (or cosmid). Is Trask 1989 the first? I know of earlier single-locus papers (1982). www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats to my friends in the Boettiger lab for this really beautiful live imaging work. A big leap forward in understanding the dynamic side of genome organization. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Kinetic organization of the genome revealed by ultraresolution multiscale live imaging

Genome function requires regulated genome motion. However, tools to directly observe this motion in vivo have been limited in coverage and resolution. Here we introduce an approach to tile mammalian c...

science.org

Engineered histones reshape chromatin in human cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.10.674980v1

Excited to share my postdoc work, out on bioRxiv today! Histones package DNA into nucleosomes to form the building blocks of chromatin, but how modular and programmable is this system? 1/9

We traveled to DC to talk to Congressional Staffers about the impact of NIH and NIBIB funding. It enables us to develop synthetic biology tools to advance cell & genetic medicines for patients in need. REPOST to deliver the message that SCIENCE saves lives & makes America GREAT!

What'd you do over the weekend? Public Works began resurfacing the street in front of the Chipotle where Thomas Paine wrote Common Sense

spending the day watching movies isn’t procrastination, it’s leveling up your cinephile game😎