New findings indicate that early embryonic DNA methylation patterns are governed by universal physical principles, offering fresh insights into how cell fate and tissue formation are determined. doi.org/hbztg6

Embryo epigenome follows universal physical rules, reshaping views of early cell fate

The development of an embryo is one of the most fundamental processes in biology. Early in this process, it is determined which cells will give rise to which tissues—controlled by epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation.

phys.org

New paper out in Nature Physics: we show that the embryonic epigenome forms according to universal physical rules. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New Perspective form Rory Maizels & me: "Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations" Gene regulatory networks are supposed to give us mechanistic explanations of development, so why are we drowning in 'hairballs' of statistical correlations? rdcu.be/e7zx7

Gene regulatory networks: from correlative models to causal explanations

Nature Reviews Genetics - In this Perspective, Maizels and Briscoe discuss the limitations of current models of gene regulatory networks and outline solutions to harness data abundance without...

rdcu.be

Great to see this out in Nature. Tumors shape their environment to influence survival.

Maria Alcolea@mariapalcolea.bsky.social · 5mo ago

🚨 New paper from our lab just published in Nature🚨 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Discover how 🌱 tumour formation is shaped by tissue context from the very beginning. Cancer is not driven by genetics alone ✨Fantastic team led by Greta Skrupskelyte, Eduardo Rojo, @hariajith.bsky.social

There is a strange phenomenon in epigenetics where cells use energy to cycle chemical DNA modifications.Nobody knows what such oscillations are good for. We show that chromatin-mediated interactions lead to complex genomic patterns in DNA methylation oscillations.@prxlife.bsky.social bit.ly/4tBS1LJ

Spatiotemporal Patterns of Active Epigenetic Turnover

Chromatin-mediated coupling between cycles of DNA methylation and demethylation can lead to the emergence of phase-locked domains --- regions of locally synchronized turnover activity whose coarsening...

bit.ly

New preprint out now, where we track clonal cancer evolution with barcodes and predict treatment outcome.

Silvia Fre lab@frelab.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Check out our beautiful story on tumour clonal dynamics with barcodes, performed in the @frelab.bsky.social by my super talented post-doc @candice-merle.bsky.social and @ivanditerlizzi.bsky.social from @rulands.bsky.social lab! #barcodes #plasticity

Check out our workshop on mechanisms by which 1D and 3D processes are integrated in the genome: pks.mpg.de/neg26. I am organizing this with Buddhapriya Chakrabarti, Srinjan Basu and Angelo Rosa. #epigenetics #genomics #physics #chromatin #genomeorganization

Interested in learning about #intelligent #active #matter? We have three open spots for presenting a poster at an international conference close to Munich. Please send an email to frey@lmu.de before Friday noon (25.7) iam.physik.lmu.de

New preprint! Non-reciprocal interactions don’t arise from a potential. Yet, we found a way to encode them in a Hamiltonian, which captures the phase transitions of non-reciprocal systems! With Yubo Shi, Roderich Moessner, and @marinbukov.bsky.social @mpipks.bsky.social. arxiv.org/pdf/2505.05246

Registration has started for the conference "Emerging Trends in the Physics of the Cell" in memoriam of Erich Sackmann at TU Munich from October 15-18 2025 www.cpa.tum.de/cpa/conferen...

In collaboration with @fakhrilab.bsky.social we show how cell shape can be controlled with light 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Light-induced cortical excitability reveals programmable shape dynamics in starfish oocytes - Nature Physics

Optogenetically induced chemo-mechanical excitations are used to drive and study shape deformations in starfish oocytes. Understanding and eventually controlling such waves is important for the develo...

nature.com

New preprint: How do cells measure time? In human development, pluripotent epiblast cells pause for about two weeks before differentiating into more specialised cell types. We show that this timing is controlled by a transcriptional clock that works like an hourglass. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A transcriptional clock of the human pluripotency transition

Developmental timing differs strikingly between mammals. All embryonic and some placental lineages emerge from the pluripotent epiblast in a temporally defined sequence, lasting about two weeks in the...

biorxiv.org

🚀 The Frey Group is now on Bluesky! 🌐 We explore statistical physics, biophysics, and nonequilibrium systems. From active matter to self-organization in biology, we uncover fundamental principles of complex systems. #Physics #Biophysics #ActiveMatter #ComplexSystems #TheoreticalPhysics

Had a fantastic time at the CeNS retreat at Lake Spitzingsee! 🚀 Great scientific talks and posters, valuable feedback from Barbara Beege/Sprachraum, insights from@lfmilles.bsky.social, and an unforgettable night sleigh ride! ❄️✨ #CeNSRetreat #Science #Networking

🚨 Job Alert 🚨🔬🧪👩‍💻🖥️ Are you interested in #BioimageAnalysis #ComputerVision #AI #ML methods for the #LifeSciences? Do you want to work on #DigitalPathology of tissues, cells, organelles? Check out this #PostDoc opportunity in a collaboration with Jens Rittscher from @oxengsci.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk

Research assistant / Post-doctoral fellow image analysis - Center for Stroke Research DM.16.25

full-time | 21.02.2025 | Campus Charité Mitte

karriere.charite.de

We are pleased to announce that the upcoming conference, “Emergence and Self-organization in Biological Systems” (ESBS 2025), will be held at the Arnold Sommerfeld Center in the Physics Department of LMU Munich from August 18 to 22, 2025.

New preprint: are deep neural networks just complicated curve fitters or can they show emergent behavior that is independent of the data? We show that training deep neural networks gives rise to emergent weight morphologies independent of the training data. arxiv.org/abs/2501.05550

Interspecies scaling laws (allometries) are a fascinating phenomenon. Here we investigate allometric scaling relationships of quantitative cardiomyocyte properties across different mammalian species. doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... (w/ Tanja Kloock and Christian Mühlfeld)

New preprint: Ageing is tightly reflected in longitudinal evolution of DNA methylation marks. We show that ageing also leaves a stereotypic footprint in how DNA methylation is correlated in the genome: positions that are roughly 500bp apart become more correlated. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Unfortunately, today in the lecture Boltz-man was brutally beaten up by S-man.

Steffen Rulands@rulands.bsky.social · 2y ago

Teaching statistical physics this term. If things get difficult, we get help from super heroes like Mr T (who can relate macroscopic variables) or S-man (who can derive them micrscopically). There is also a villain called Boltz-man who has the habit of creating super-large numbers.

Now that we have recovered from Oktoberfest the Christmas market season begins. #Bavaria

Starting a theoretical biophysics starter pack, feel free to (self-) nominate, I’ll keep updating this in the next days/weeks! go.bsky.app/RMF7jUK

Teaching statistical physics this term. If things get difficult, we get help from super heroes like Mr T (who can relate macroscopic variables) or S-man (who can derive them micrscopically). There is also a villain called Boltz-man who has the habit of creating super-large numbers.

In this collaboration with Ben Simons' and Shosei Yoshida's lab, we propose a minimal mechanism for the intricate spatiotemporal dynamics of the spermatogenic wave. Congratulations to Toshiyuki Sato (experiment) and Yuting I. Li (theory) for their outstanding work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...