I am so honored to give the Ira Herskowitz Award lecture at #Yeast26! Please join us, it’s going to be a fantastic meeting! @genetics-gsa.bsky.social

SMC and recombination enthusiasts: we updated our work describing the loop extrusion properties of budding yeast condensin and its function in biasing donor usage for mating-type switching. Lots of cool new data, check it out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature

Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...

nature.com

Unquestionably the result of combined effort from all current and former lab members, support from colleagues @CSU and @CU, and support from @hhmi-science.bsky.social and NIH over decades. A heartfelt 🙏 to my nominators and of course @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social. vilcek.org/prizes/prize...

Karolin Luger - Vilcek Foundation

Karolin Luger's research led to the capture of a high resolution image of chromatin, resulting in the development of innovative drug treatments for diseases like cancer.

vilcek.org

So proud of my former PhD student ‪@tadasu443.bsky.social‬ for starting his own lab at @umassamherst.bsky.social ! Wishing him all the best in this exciting new chapter. Looking forward to his future discoveries! 🎉🧬

Tadasu Nozaki@tadasu443.bsky.social · 9mo ago

I launched my lab at UMass Amherst this fall. We study the mechanisms of meiotic homolog pairing using advanced live‑cell and super‑resolution imaging. Currently in budding yeast, with plans to expand to other eukaryotes. #Chromosome #Meiosis #Mitosis www.umass.edu/biology/abou...

Excited to share our latest fully in-house paper! 🎉 We show how cohesin integrates loop extrusion with sister tethering to guide the homology search during DNA repair. Huge congratulations to all authors, and to @fedeteloni.bsky.social for leading this work 👏 We’re excited to see his next steps!

Federico Teloni@fedeteloni.bsky.social · 8mo ago

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! 🧵

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

Thrilled to share that my postdoc research is published today in @science.org! We found that DNA repair uses cohesin complexes to build new chromatin loops that guide the homology search and boost accurate repair! 1/n www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cohesin drives chromatin scanning during the RAD51-mediated homology search

Cohesin folds genomes into chromatin loops, the roles of which are under debate. We found that double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce de novo formation of chromatin loops in human cells, with the loop bas...

science.org

Chromosome Dynamics 2026 @ Awaji Japan www.fbs.osaka-u.ac.jp/labs/fukagaw...

I launched my lab at UMass Amherst this fall. We study the mechanisms of meiotic homolog pairing using advanced live‑cell and super‑resolution imaging. Currently in budding yeast, with plans to expand to other eukaryotes. #Chromosome #Meiosis #Mitosis www.umass.edu/biology/abou...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

RPA directly stimulates Mer3/HFM1 helicase processivity to ensure normal crossover formation in meiosis

Meiotic crossover formation is critical for generating viable gametes and enhancing genetic diversity. The helicase Mer3 (HFM1 in humans) is a highly conserved factor essential for promoting crossover...

biorxiv.org

We found a new asymmetry in the large-scale chromosome structure: sister chromatids are systematically shifted by hundreds of kb in the 5′→3′ direction of their inherited strands! The work was led by Flavia Corsi, in close collaboration with the Daniel Gerlich lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/

Dynamic chromosomes

In the latest #Yeast research article of the series #FantasticYeasts, Pei-Jie Han, Feng-Yan Bai & team describe a new yeast species isolated from a Chinese forest: Saccharomycopsis yichangensis, that can prey on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts 😲 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Saccharomycopsis yichangensis sp. nov., a Novel Predacious Yeast Species Isolated From Soil

Saccharomycopsis yichangensis sp. nov. occurs in soil from a subtropical forest in central China. This novel species is homothallic and produces asci containing four spheroidal ascospores, which can ...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Please see our latest paper on the role of EXO1 in meiosis: "EXO1 promotes the meiotic MLH1-MLH3 endonuclease through conserved interactions with MLH1, MSH4 and DNA". Congratulations to both first authors, Megha Roy and Aurore Sanchez and thanks to all our collaborators!

🧬My retrospective chromatin review is out @Proc Jpn Acad: doi.org/10.2183/pjab... The textbook view of #chromatin as 30-nm fibers is fading. A new paradigm: chromatin forms #liquid-like domains—locally dynamic, yet globally stable at the chromosome level (viscoelastic)—supporting genome function. ✨

A blutorial on my latest manuscript, which will appear as a Hypothesis article in Journal of Cell Science (no embargo requested as far as I am aware). If you are interested in mitosis/meiosis/kinetochores/evolution/deep phylogeny, please read it (1/n)

New open access review from Jon Harper and George Brown—charting the evolutionary history of Spo11 and its regulation. portlandpress.com/biochemsoctr... #meiosis4eva

I’m pleased to announce that I have now officially started my research group at the University of Dundee, UK. My laboratory focus on how transcription factors orchestrate epigenetic reprogramming in mammalian embryos.

Excited to share our latest work on how cells fold their genomes, and build mitotic chromosomes! Out in Science today! Lots of interesting results and proposals for those interested in loop extrusion, and chromosomes! With @golobor.bsky.social, Leonid Mirny, Bill Earnshaw labs. See thread below:

Anton Goloborodko@golobor.bsky.social · last yr.

Earnshaw, Goloborodko, Dekker & Mirny labs are excited to present our latest work, "Rules of engagement for condensins and cohesins guide mitotic chromosome formation" - now accepted!! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... A short clip describing the key results: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmvO...

James M. Berger will Deliver the Paul Doty Lecture on April 10 www.mcb.harvard.edu/department/n... @rachellegaudet.bsky.social @dulaclab.bsky.social @neurovenki.bsky.social @naoshigeuchida.bsky.social @rivaselenarivas.bsky.social @fleshball.bsky.social @jeeyunc.bsky.social @hekstralab.bsky.social

James Berger will Deliver the Paul Doty Lecture on April 10 - Harvard University - Department of Molecular & Cellular Biology

This year, James M Berger, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine will return to Harvard to present the Doty Lecture, “Still Unscrambling the Puzzle of Biological Machines: […]

mcb.harvard.edu

Our new paper is out@ScienceAdvances👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... 🧬Our Repli-Histo labeling marks nucleosomes in euchromatin and heterochromatin in live human cells. 🔍 @katsuminami.bsky.social et al. have developed a chromatin behavior atlas within the nucleus. 1/2

Check out our review on DNA end resection! With Raphael Ceccaldi, www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Countdown to an epic new pre-print. Mitochondria are cells within our cells. They need the same core activities - replication, transcription, translation. How do cells enable these diverse activities in both compartments? We uncover an unexpected + broad strategy with ancient origins. Stay tuned!

Our new findings on how chromosomes get ready for cell division are now published in @cellpress.bsky.social! Congratulations, Kai, @andibrunner.bsky.social and everyone else involved! 🤩 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Nanoscale DNA tracing reveals the self-organization mechanism of mitotic chromosomes

How genomic DNA is folded during cell division to form the characteristic rod-shaped mitotic chromosomes essential for faithful genome inheritance is …

sciencedirect.com

EMBL@embl.org · last yr.

Did you know that DNA must form overlapping loops to give rise to the well-known X-shape of chromosomes? 🧬🧪 New research from EMBL's Ellenberg Group provides new insights into the process of chromosome formation. @ellenberglab.bsky.social @andibrunner.bsky.social www.embl.org/news/science...

There are ~180 chromosomes in this diplonemid, which organize into two rings during mitosis. Chromosomal passenger complex proteins localize in between the rings. Indirect evidence suggests that the cell is in metaphase but the two rings are separated by up to 1 µm. How are they connected?

I am happy to share a preprint on the marine plankton project I started one year ago (thanks to Julius and Drahomira's help) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Discovery of unique mitotic mechanisms in Paradiplonema papillatum

Diplonemids are highly diverse and abundant marine plankton with significant ecological importance. However, little is known about their biology, even in the model diplonemid Paradiplonema papillatum ...

biorxiv.org

Bungo Akiyoshi@bungoakiyoshi.bsky.social · 2y ago

So I started working on a marine plankton called Diplonema papillatum, a non-traditional model of diplonemids (which turned out to be very abundant and diverse in the ocean). Everything is difficult! But it is so much fun to try to explore unknown unknowns

Happy that Jon Chen @jonchenjk.bsky.social's cryo-ET and confocal study of RPE-1 chromatin in situ is online www.embopress.org/doi/full/10.1038/s44318-025-00407-2 Congrats also to coauthors Tingsheng Liu, @shujuncai.bsky.social, Cai Tong Ng, Jian Shi and collaborators Weimei Ruan Uttam Surana.