1/ Some cancers can proliferate without telomerase. They recombine and extend their telomeres inside ALT-associated PML bodies (APBs). @emmakoeleman.bsky.social @dkfz.bsky.social mapped where proteins and single-stranded telomeric repeats sit in APBs: doi.org/10.64898/202... 🧵

1/ Philipp Mallm from the @dkfz.bsky.social Single-cell Open Lab just broke the news at #AACR26: the first results on colorectal cancer (CRC) tissue analysis with the new Atera spatial transcriptomics platform from @10xgenomics.bsky.social. Is it "making the impossible possible?" 🧵

1/ 🎄 We got our Christmas present today: "Two distinct chromatin modules regulate proinflammatory gene expression" is now published @natcellbio.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415.... Our study introduces a scATAC-seq-based framework for genome-wide analysis of gene regulation features.

Happy to report that the Xenium system for spatial transcriptomics in the Single Cell Open Lab www.dkfz.de/en/single-ce... @dkfz.bsky.social was the first one worldwide to pass the mark of 100 runs according to @10xgenomics.bsky.social. And it keeps on running with another one, so stay tuned...

"In our view, it [hexanediol] should thus be avoided and not be used as evidence for the formation of an assembly via phase separation or the fluid-like nature of a condensate in vitro or in vivo." doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Glad that the preprint on identifying and characterizing rare tumor-reactive T cells in multiple myeloma & AML patients is out now doi.org/10.1101/2025.... Single-cell TCR and transcriptome profiling & immunopeptidomics revealed conserved programs and shared non-canonical antigens.

Liquid-liquid phase separation of HP1? Not in our mouse fibroblasts… This paper by the Fabian Erdel group offers a fresh perspective on how this can be reconciled with seemingly conflicting reports: The phase separation propensity of HP1 decreases from yeast → fly → mouse. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

1/ Spatial transcriptomics technologies are rapidly evolving. We compared five methods—Visium, RNAscope HiPlex, Molecular Cartography, Merscope, and Xenium—and developed technology-agnostic quality control metrics to guide their use: doi.org/10.1186/s130...

Comparison of spatial transcriptomics technologies using tumor cryosections - Genome Biology

Background Spatial transcriptomics technologies are revolutionizing our understanding of intra-tumor heterogeneity and the tumor microenvironment by revealing single-cell molecular profiles within the...

doi.org

How do transcription compartments form — and does phase separation drive gene expression? I enjoyed discussing these questions with @akispapantonis.bsky.social a lot, and we put our thoughts together for @naturerevgenet.bsky.social, now out at rdcu.be/erP1u

From enhancer hijacking to ecDNA and onco-condensates – we review how changes in nuclear architecture drive oncogenic gene expression by disrupting enhancer–promoter communication. doi.org/10.1002/ijc..... Kudos to Isabelle Seufert, @claire-vrgs.bsky.social and Sina Wille 👏

Thanks to the Wissenschaftsrat @wissrat.bsky.social — the German Science and Humanities Council — for their clear statement expressing solidarity with US research institutions and scientists and defending academic freedom. www.wissenschaftsrat.de/SharedDocs/P...

“We all rely on science.” U.S. scientists are speaking out for scientific integrity and academic freedom. What they’re doing matters. We owe them our solidarity and a clear stand beside them. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/s...

Trump Administration Has Begun a War on Science, Researchers Say (Gift Article)

Nearly 2,000 scientists urged that Congress restore funding to federal agencies decimated by recent cuts.

nytimes.com

A mechanism for maintaining and spreading H3K9me3 in heterochromatin from the Fejes Toth and Aravin labs that depends on the local H3K9me3 density: HP1 dimers recruit SetDB1 to chromatin by simultaneously binding H3K9me3 on histone H3 and auto-methylated SetDB1. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fakten sind das Rückgrat unserer Demokratie Facts are the backbone of our democracy When facts are treated as opinions and replaced by rhetoric or propaganda, meaningful discourse suffers, threatening democracy and leaving it vulnerable to manipulation. www.openpetition.de/!ychtb

Fakten sind das Rückgrat unserer Demokratie - Online-Petition

Liebe Mitbürgerinnen und Mitbürger, als Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler arbeiten wir täglich daran, die Grundlagen für fundierte Entscheidungen und Innovationen zu schaffen – basierend auf üb...

openpetition.de

www.uni-heidelberg.de/en/newsroom/...

🧬 1/ Heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) still surprises us after all these years: It simply sticks to chromatin when pericentric heterochromatin domains – the chromocenters – are activated in mouse fibroblasts and acts as a local rather than global repressor. New preprint: doi.org/10.1101/2024...

Please RS/RT. #GordonConference on "Histone and DNA Modifications" #epigenetics #chromatin 20-25. July 2025. Il Ciocco, Italy. Great speaker lineup. ➡️Register now www.grc.org/histone-and-...

By definition, enhancers can activate from a distance. But with increased distance between enhancer and promoter, the activation drops. To study this systematically, we build a synthetic locus: www.cell.com/molecular-ce... 1/12

Like ‘old Twitter’: The scientific community finds a new home on Bluesky | Science www.science.org/content/arti...

Like ‘old Twitter’: The scientific community finds a new home on Bluesky

After recent changes to Elon Musk’s X, a gradual migration turns into a stampede

science.org

Single-cell and molecular analyses show that long-term multiple myeloma survivors experience persistent immune alterations decades after therapy. Residual myeloma cells may fuel inflammatory immune circuits: Nature Communications doi.org/10.1038/s414... #MultipleMyeloma #CancerResearch #Immunology

Multiple myeloma long-term survivors exhibit sustained immune alterations decades after first-line therapy - Nature Communications

Understanding the immunological underpinnings of long-term survival in cancer is of high interest. Here, authors dissect the immune parameters of multiple myeloma long-term survivors following a singl...

doi.org

📣 Preprint alert! We have studied the formation of pair-wise and multi-way enhancer-promoter interactions in the #3Dgenome in a lymphoid-to-myeloid transdifferentiation system and learned interesting new things about their function in #GeneRegulation. 1/10 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

📢 Join us for the 26th Single Cell Center Heidelberg Workshop! 📍 EMBL, Large Operon 📅 Thursday, December 5, 2024 🌟 Register: indico.dkfz.de/event/871/ organized by @karsten-rippe.bsky.social, @eileen-furlong.bsky.social, Josephine Bageritz, Charles Girardot & Natalia Gabrielli