So proud of Saloni Modi who won the Kusum Lata Excellence Award for her PhD work @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social on pregnancy and labor onset presented at #SRI2026

🧠 SOX2 is a key #transcription factor for brain development & neural #stem cells—but its enhancers have been all over the map! New review untangles years of data and offers a unified roadmap for understanding SOX2 regulation across species #Neuroscience https://ow.ly/shyk50YqsEP

Come join us in person for an AI workshop watch party.

Canadian Epigenetics@ceehrc.bsky.social · last yr.

📢 Join Drs. Ma’n Zawati & James Tsui for a dynamic workshop on the ethics & impact of AI in scientific research. 📍 Attend in Montreal, UBC, or U of T — or join via Zoom! 🗓️ Free & in person with snacks 🍪 🔗 Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/harnessing... #AI #Genomics #CEEHRC #ScienceEthics

The Department of Cell & Systems Biology at University of Toronto invites applications for a full-time tenure stream position in the field of Animal Morphogenesis. #CellBiology #DevelopmentalBiology #mechanobiology #TissueMorphogenesis #SystemsBiology jobs.utoronto.ca/job/Toronto-...

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS! The deadline for abstract submission (for talk consideration), early-bird rates, and travel award applications for the 2025 CEEHRC Annual Meeting is TODAY, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19! event.fourwaves.com/... #epigenetics #ceehrc #epigenomes 1/2

CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics

Fourwaves - CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics

event.fourwaves.com

DEADLINE EXTENDED! Early-bird registration, abstract submission for talk consideration, and travel award application deadline has been extended to FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19! Abstracts submitted after Sep 19 will be included in poster sessions. event.fourwaves.com/... 1/2

Come join us in person for an AI workshop watch party.

Canadian Epigenetics@ceehrc.bsky.social · last yr.

📢 Join Drs. Ma’n Zawati & James Tsui for a dynamic workshop on the ethics & impact of AI in scientific research. 📍 Attend in Montreal, UBC, or U of T — or join via Zoom! 🗓️ Free & in person with snacks 🍪 🔗 Register: www.eventbrite.com/e/harnessing... #AI #Genomics #CEEHRC #ScienceEthics

🚨🚨🚨 Please repost We are looking for postdocs to join our lab at NIH. Apply: www.nichd.nih.gov/research/atNICHD/Investigators/rocha/apply Learn more about training at NIH : www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

We're super excited to announce the entire lineup for the Fall season of Fragile Nucleosome Seminars, starting on Sept 10th at 1200 EDT / 1600 UTC with @gracebower.bsky.social and @creminslab.bsky.social! register here for the entire series: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Our latest is online now, we discovered that enhancers cause surrounding chromatin to acquire euchromatin modifications and produce non-coding RNA making regions without enhancer activity look like enhancers. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Enhancers mediate euchromatin hopping at chromatin contact points

Enhancer-mediated gene activation involves the recruitment of chromatin modifiers and RNA polymerase to target promoters, but it is unknown if enhancers influence chromatin beyond their target genes. ...

doi.org

🧪🌱Plants started off as aquatic organisms. But how did they make the jump to land? The Christendat lab show in @molbioevol.bsky.social that SKL1 is necessary for chloroplast formation and this function is conserved in land plants from liverworts to flowering plants! www.utoronto.ca/news/researc...

Researchers identify protein that evolved to enable plants to thrive on land

Evolutionary plant biologists at the University of Toronto have identified a protein that evolved approximately 500 million years ago that enables plants to convert light into energy through photosynt...

utoronto.ca

#DYK there is #SciArt on display around the CSB Buildings @utoronto.ca? Keep your eyes open for gorgeous images created by our @uoftartsci.bsky.social students, from their research and as artwork You can also view these images in our online gallery! csb.utoronto.ca/research-ove...

The CEEHRC Annual Meeting returns this fall! Register NOW for the 11th Canadian Conference on Epigenetics taking place November 12-15, 2025 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Banff, Alberta. event.fourwaves.com/... 1/7

CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics

Fourwaves - CEEHRC 11th Annual Canadian Conference on Epigenetics

event.fourwaves.com

Our study of how the AP1 transcription factor JUND regulates gene expression during human pregnancy is out now in @PLOS Genetics can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...

JUND plays a genome-wide role in the quiescent to contractile switch in the pregnant human myometrium

Author summary The muscular layer of the uterus, is responsible for the forceful contractions that deliver the baby at the end of pregnancy. During the majority of pregnancy this muscle is not able to...

can01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com

It’s a pun-tastic research day @uoftcellsysbiol.bsky.social

CSB students from @uoftartsci.bsky.social networked with alumni during a recent Backpack to Briefcase speed mentorship reception with @uoftalumni.bsky.social. Check out the story for career tips and examples of potential career paths!

b2B speed networking event: connecting CSB students and alumni through shared experiences and snacks - Department of Cell & Systems Biology

CSB students networked with alumni during a recent speed mentorship reception. Along with specific career advice, students learned a few common themes for the modern job market

csb.utoronto.ca

It's #WorldHealthDay Since 2000, maternal deaths globally declined by 40%! 💙 BUT—progress is slowing, and aid funding cuts mean major threats to lifesaving maternity services in many parts of the world. ❌

Melanie Woodin, an internationally recognized neuroscientist who studies the mechanisms underlying learning and memory in the brain, has been named #UofT’s 17th president. ➡️ uoft.me/uoftpres

As you scroll through our skeets, you’ll see that women scientists are vital to discoveries made at CSB. For International Day of Women & Girls in Science, we’ve highlighted some recent impressive accomplishments #IDWGS2025 #WomenInScience csb.utoronto.ca/supporting-t...

Supporting the talented women scientists of CSB on IDWGS csb.utoronto.ca/supporting-t...

Our work on the enhancers regulating Sox2 in neural stem cells is published! This one has been a long time in the works. We found a cluster of downstream enhancers, including the more well studied SRR2, are required to maintain Sox2 expression and anterior neural identity. doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...

A Sox2 Enhancer Cluster Regulates Region-Specific Neural Fates from Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Abstract. Sex-determining region Y box 2 (Sox2) is a critical transcription factor for embryogenesis and neural stem and progenitor cell (NSPC) maintenance

doi.org

Career achievement unlocked - two publications come out on the same day! Great collaboration with Tom Sexton doi.org/10.1126/scia... And fantastic work by Tiegh Taylor and Mitchell lab colleagues journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Transcription processes compete with loop extrusion to homogenize promoter and enhancer dynamics

Gene promoters and enhancers share the same constrained mobilities during transcription, opposing cohesin-mediated loop extrusion.

doi.org

Out now in @ScienceAdvances A great team effort, spearheaded by Angeliki, showing that promoter and enhancer dynamics become homogenized on transcriptional activation, and that loop extrusion and transcription compete to put brakes on chromatin doi.org/10.1126/scia...

Transcription processes compete with loop extrusion to homogenize promoter and enhancer dynamics

Gene promoters and enhancers share the same constrained mobilities during transcription, opposing cohesin-mediated loop extrusion.

doi.org

The cells are all-right: Regulation of the Lefty genes by separate enhancers in mouse embryonic stem cells. How are 2 genes separately regulated even though they are fairly close to each other in the genome, we find a primary role for gene separation distance. journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

The cells are all-right: Regulation of the Lefty genes by separate enhancers in mouse embryonic stem cells

Author summary Our study explores how two closely related genes, Lefty1 and Lefty2, are regulated independently despite their proximity in the genome. Both genes play important roles in stem cell main...

journals.plos.org

Beautiful walk at #AsilomarChromatin this afternoon. Looking forward to the evening session.

Always been amazed how cells actually INTENTIONALLY cause double strand breaks. At @asilomarchroma last night, Cheyenne Sadeghi @FrockLab @Stanford showed evidence supporting that during #meiosis, #ATM kinase can suppress translocations after #SPO11 induces the meiotic double strand break.

Kicking off the 2024 @asilomarchromatin meeting with Maria Aristizabal Queen’s Univ drilling down on cancer-derived #histone mutations in budding yeast. Affect #genome integrity, transcription, and chromatin compaction! So cool that her first talk was THIS conference when she was an undergrad!

Students in our Stem Cell & Developmental Biology Focus are attending the Medicine by Design Symposium today. A great opportunity to learn about the latest developments in Regenerative Medicine! #MbDSymposium @mitchell-lab.bsky.social

Collaborating with @pedroprocha.bsky.social, they identified a distal Sox2 regulator in neural progenitors and showed that "Enhancer–promoter interactions can bypass CTCF-mediated boundaries and contribute to phenotypic robustness" www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Enhancer–promoter interactions can bypass CTCF-mediated boundaries and contribute to phenotypic robustness - Nature Genetics

Genetic manipulation of the Sox2 locus in mice shows that gene activation by distal enhancers does not require CTCF-mediated loops and can occur across ectopic CTCF-mediated boundaries. The ability to...

nature.com

Their paper in @genesdev.bsky.social showed that transcription factor proteins can keep DNA organized in embryonic stem cells even in the absence of CTCF sites fencing in the TAD doi.org/10.1101/gad....