This work was led by @mfdspicer.bsky.social at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social , in wonderful collaboration with the @rcollepardo.bsky.social & Rosen labs 🧬 @janhuemar.bsky.social @juliamaristany.bsky.social @nachper.bsky.social @lifengchen.bsky.social @mualaabo.bsky.social

Our paper on apoptotic chromatin compaction is out now! Take a look in @embojournal.org, where we investigate compaction in living and dying cells, and show that histone deacetylation prevents DNA from spilling into extracellular vesicles in apoptosis @gerlichlab.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 3w ago

How does DNA remain confined to dying cells despite its fragmentation? @mfdspicer.bsky.social @rcollepardo.bsky.social @gerlichlab.bsky.social et al show histone deacetylation compacts apoptotic chromatin, preventing it from entering apoptotic extracellular vesicles link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Dream labmates, dream lab, dream institute - thank you for a wonderful time @gerlichlab.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social

Gerlich Lab@gerlichlab.bsky.social · last mo.

Last week, we said goodbye to our PhD student—now Dr. Max @mfdspicer.bsky.social 👋. It’s been a pleasure having you as part of the lab over the past few years. The whole lab wishes you all the best for what comes next. Cheers, Max! 🎉🍻

Congratulations to Max Spicer on the completion of his PhD! The title of Spicer’s talk was “Electrostatic control of apoptotic chromatin compaction”.

Chuffed to have defended my PhD thesis! Big thanks to @danielgerlich.bsky.social for all his support and guidance; and to the wonderful @gerlichlab.bsky.social, @imbavienna.bsky.social & @viennabiocenter.bsky.social for being an incredible scientific home these past few years. On to the next :)

New preprint out!🧬 How do cells keep replicated sister chromatids linked for DNA repair while folding 3D loops for gene expression? Extrusion folds DNA but separates sisters, while cohesion connects them, risking mutual interference. How do they coexist?🧵👇 🔗 doi.org/10.64898/2026.05.02.722390 1/6

Excited to share this work done during my PhD here in Vienna! We show how chromatin compaction prevents the release of fragmented DNA in apoptosis, and use new tools to study the mechanism of compaction itself. See our summary/"bluetorial" below & our preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Gerlich Lab@gerlichlab.bsky.social · 9mo ago

1/New preprint just dropped! 🔥🔥 We investigate how the genome is destroyed in apoptotic cells in a way that prevents DNA fragments from spreading beyond the dying cell 🧬⚰ Done here at @imbavienna.bsky.social & in the super @rcollepardo.bsky.social & Rosen labs: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I am happy to share that my postdoctoral work in the @gerlichlab.bsky.social at @imbavienna.bsky.social is finally out 🎉! Our study reveals how cohesin guides focused and accurate homology search. Read more 👉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Follow along for key insights and updates! 🧵

Cohesin guides homology search during DNA repair using loops and sister chromatid linkages

Accurate repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) is essential for genome stability, and defective repair underlies diseases such as cancer. Homologous recombination uses an intact homologous sequenc...

science.org

🚨 New Science paper from the Gerlich lab! The team shows how cohesin helps broken DNA find the right template: by opening local DNA loops to shrink the search area and by keeping the damaged strand close to its sister copy: science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adw0566

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

Huge congratulations to @mfdspicer.bsky.social, PhD student in our lab, for winning the Best Poster Prize at the 2nd Spatial Genome Organization Conference! 🎉 A proud moment for the lab and well-deserved recognition for his creativity and dedication. 👏 @fusionconf.bsky.social #SGO25