Reminder: Abstract deadline for the 2026 FASEB Aneuploidy meeting is coming up on Monday, August 3!

Peter Ly@peterlylab.bsky.social · last mo.

Join us this fall for the 2026 FASEB Aneuploidy Conference! Learn about exciting science in chromosome biology, genome stability, development, and cancer + plenty of trainee talks and career development sessions. @faseborg.bsky.social #ANESRC Abstracts due August 3! events.faseb.org/event/Aneupl...

🧬NEW PAPER🧬 To what extent is cancer development deterministic? Does the germline genome affect that predictability? Find out in our #StrainDifferences paper @nature.com "Genetic background sets the trajectory of experimental cancer evolution" www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵[1/14]

Genetic background sets the trajectory of experimental cancer evolution - Nature

Experimentally replaying tumour evolution in divergent mouse strains reveals the importance of interactions between genetic ancestry and acquired cancer-driving mutations in shaping the earliest stage...

nature.com

The Ly Lab is recruiting two #postdocs to study intercellular DNA transfer. Join us to tackle fundamental questions at the intersection of genome instability, cell-cell communication, and cancer evolution. Please share! 🙏 Full posting: cri.utsw.edu/careers/

and mammalian cells that transfer damaged DNA fragments between them! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Genome instability triggers intercellular DNA transfer between human cells

Mammalian cells can pass damaged pieces of their genome directly to neighboring cells via contact-dependent, nanotube-like connections. These transferred DNA fragments persist and function, revealing ...

cell.com

Scientists at @cri-utsw.bsky.social and @omrf.bsky.social have discovered that DNA can travel from one human cell to another through bridge-like nanotubes. Once in its new home, it can integrate into the new cell's genome and change how it functions. Dive deeper: https://bit.ly/4wUwlep

Chromosome loss is detrimental to cellular fitness, yet can be one of the earliest events in cancer. How can a deleterious genomic alteration initiate tumorigenesis? 🤔 Our latest preprint tackles this paradox using clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) as a model. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A single chromosome 3p break initiates clear cell renal cell carcinoma evolution

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) is initiated by chromosome 3p loss, yet chromosome losses impose a profound fitness burden on normal cells. How renal epithelial cells tolerate this deleterious...

biorxiv.org

Thrilled to share a new preprint from the lab, showing that active fork slowing and reversal is not confined to the damaged subnuclear compartment but rapidly extends throughout the nucleus, via non-canonical ATR signaling and modulation of MRN exonuclease activity. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Non-canonical ATR signalling via NBS1 phosphorylation propagates fork slowing from stressed to unperturbed nuclear regions

DNA replication forks frequently encounter obstacles and remodel into four-way junctions to actively slow DNA fork progression. Fork slowing can also spread to undamaged forks via an ATR-dependent mec...

biorxiv.org

Join us this fall for the 2026 FASEB Aneuploidy Conference! Learn about exciting science in chromosome biology, genome stability, development, and cancer + plenty of trainee talks and career development sessions. @faseborg.bsky.social #ANESRC Abstracts due August 3! events.faseb.org/event/Aneupl...

Very excited to share our new Nature study! We discovered that replication stress stabilizes CTCF-dependent chromatin loops enclosing stressed nascent DNA, where G9a-mediated heterochromatin protects it from nucleolytic degradation. rdcu.be/frzLg Huge thanks to all our collaborators and co-authors!

Replication-stress-induced chromatin loops protect fork stability - Nature

Replication stress induces the formation of transient chromatin loops that enclose de novo heterochromatin-enriched stalled replication forks.

nature.com

🧬 Our new paper is out in @natsmb.nature.com! ATRX is one of the most mutated genes in cancer, and linked to the rare ATR-X syndrome. We ran genome-scale CRISPR screens to map how it protects the genome, and found it is doing two separate jobs... 🧵 (1/4) nature.com/articles/s41594-026-01827-2

Distinct ATRX functions cooperate with 9-1-1 and CST complexes to safeguard replication and telomere integrity - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Segura-Bayona et al. uncover genetically separable ATRX functions that independently safeguard telomeres and genome replication, revealing how CST and 9-1-1 pathways suppress accumulation of toxic sin...

nature.com

After some good funding news, we are hiring! Looking for a postdoc to join our team and lead our explorations into transposon repression by the nuclear lamina. Check out the full ad on our lab website at buchwalter-lab.github.io/postdoc-ad.pdf + contact me to learn more!

ICYMI: New Online! Regulation and function of specialized membrane protrusions in intercellular communication

Regulation and function of specialized membrane protrusions in intercellular communication

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 19 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41580-026-00982-0Tunnelling nanotubes, cytonemes and migrasomes are specialized membrane protrusions that mediate intercellular transfer of signalling molecules, organelles and other cargo. This Review discusses recent advances in their formation, architecture and transport functions, and examines their roles in development and disease.

dlvr.it

ICYMI: New online: A horizontal gene-transfer-like mechanism in mammalian cells

If you have experience in biochemistry/cryo-EM, are interested in DNA replication, and would like to do a postdoc in New York - our lab has positions available! Just DM or email me with your CV.

Very excited to be sharing our new paper, just out in Nature Cell Biology! The big question we investigate: How do migrating cells put their front 🔴 and back 🔵 in the right place?

🚨#Preprint alert! @antoranlab.bsky.social in close collaboration with @imartincorena.bsky.social lab www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... How can we study human #epithelial tissues for months in the lab, while preserving their native structures and behaviour but without passaging?

Human 3D epithelioids enable continuous long-term clonal evolution studies across multiple epithelial tissues

Modeling human epithelia in vitro remains challenging because current systems do not fully preserve the combination of architecture, heterogeneity, clonal composition, and long-term dynamics shown in ...

biorxiv.org

Excited to finally share our preprint on mapping the genetic interaction network of the DNA damage response with combinatorial knockout screens led by Sam Hayward, Alina Vaitsiankova, and Tomas Lama-Diaz! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Mapping the genetic landscape of the DNA damage response with Cas12a-based combinatorial knockout screens

The DNA damage response (DDR) is a complex network of cellular pathways that ensures the faithful maintenance of our genomes upon a wide array of genomic insults. To elucidate the functional architect...

biorxiv.org

New Online! DNA voyages through intercellular tunnels

DNA voyages through intercellular tunnels

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 08 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41580-026-00987-9This study shows that genomic DNA in the cytoplasm can transfer between mammalian cells through nanotube-like structures, integrate into the genome of recipient cells and support gene expression.

dlvr.it

How much of the human genome is essential? Two pieces out today from our lab: 1) a method to map essential genomic intervals at gigabase scale, and 2) an argument that it's time to consider synthesizing a minimal human genome. biorxiv.org/content/10.6... nature.com/articles/d41...

Why a synthetic human genome is still worth building

A decade on from the launch of an ambitious project, it’s time to revisit the reasons for constructing a human genome from scratch.

nature.com

1/n What fraction of the human genome is essential for cells? Excited to share our preprint that explores this question by combining an unusual CRISPR system, phage promoters, and thousands of deletion launchpads. @sudpinglay.bsky.social @jshendure.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The Ly Lab is recruiting two #postdocs to study intercellular DNA transfer. Join us to tackle fundamental questions at the intersection of genome instability, cell-cell communication, and cancer evolution. Please share! 🙏 Full posting: cri.utsw.edu/careers/

Proud milestone for our lab – Congrats to our first two graduate students, Lizz Maurais, PhD, and Justin Engel, PhD (@justeng95.bsky.social)! We also celebrated Lizz’s last day as she moves on to an exciting new adventure. Good luck Lizz!

Multiple postdoc/RA vacancies to work on the Wellcome-funded team project shown below. I also have vacancies to study senescence and to develop a chemical-genetic approach to inhibit specific cyclin/CDK complexes. See thread for details. DM or email me with any questions.

Ever wondered why anaphase onset looks so rapid (but maybe not perfectly synchronous). As it turns out, separase is playing a small numbers game - at least in fission yeast. Thanks to Wendi Williams, @silkehauflab.bsky.social , and everybody involved.

Journal of Cell Biology@jcb.org · 3mo ago

Chromosome segregation synchrony in S. pombe is noise-limited and arises without positive feedback. New study from Wendi Williams, Julia Kamenz @kamenzlab.bsky.social, Silke Hauf @silkehauflab.bsky.social @virginiatech.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #CellDivision #Mitosis

Early registration for #GenRecSRC closes May 31! Since 1985, this meeting has brought together researchers studying genetic recombination & genomic rearrangements. This year’s focus: recombination mechanisms in diverse cellular contexts, genome instability, and aging. Register now: buff.ly/QCtoyKL

Are you ready for the Summer? Social DNAing is! Check out the 2026 Summer line-up! Please note one schedule change on June 4th, 2026. Please RT! Sign up at cancer.columbia.edu/research/pro...

Now online! Genome instability triggers intercellular DNA transfer between human cells

Genome instability triggers intercellular DNA transfer between human cells

Mammalian cells can pass damaged pieces of their genome directly to neighboring cells via contact-dependent, nanotube-like connections. These transferred DNA fragments persist and function, revealing an unexpected route by which genome damage can propagate between cells.

dlvr.it

Had a fun conversation with @sciencenews.bsky.social about our recent findings. Thanks for covering our work!

Science News@sciencenews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Like prisoners tunneling out of jail, damaged DNA travels via tubelike structures between neighboring cells. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/damaged-dna-spread-nanotubes-cells-cancer

#relentlessdiscovery from @peterlylab.bsky.social 🧪

Children's Research Institute at UT Southwestern@cri-utsw.bsky.social · 3mo ago

ONLINE NOW in @cellcellpress.bsky.social: @peterlylab.bsky.social has discovered large pieces of DNA can transfer directly between human cells & that DNA can persist, change how the recipient cell functions. 🧪 Read more about this #relentlessdiscovery ⬇️ cri.utsw.edu

ONLINE NOW in @cellcellpress.bsky.social: @peterlylab.bsky.social has discovered large pieces of DNA can transfer directly between human cells & that DNA can persist, change how the recipient cell functions. 🧪 Read more about this #relentlessdiscovery ⬇️ cri.utsw.edu

Human cells can exchange genomic DNA that alters cell behavior - Children's Medical Center Research Institute (CRI) | Dallas Texas

Children’s Research Institute scientists discover that DNA transferred between cells can be inherited, remain biologically active DALLAS – May 19, 2026 – Scientists at Children’s Medical Center Resear...

cri.utsw.edu