Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · 3d

If you are a computational biologist come, apply and join Howard & Klose lab in a joint Norwich-Oxford collaboration on chromatin dynamics!

John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 4d

VACANCY - We have an opportunity for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Howard Group, working to develop computational models of epigenetic dynamics in the Polycomb system.

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

Closing date - 9 November 2025
Salary - £37,500 - £45,350
Contract - 36 months, full-time

Postdoctoral Researcher (Howard Group) | John Innes Centre

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Howard Group at the John Innes Centre, working on cutting-edge science in the field of Computational and Systems Biology.

www.jic.ac.uk

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Emilia Dimitrova @edimitrova.bsky.social · 4d

If you are a computational biologist interested in how chromatin states are established and maintained to regulate transcription, this is the dream job for you! This will be in close collaboration with the Klose lab in Oxford and we have a lot of cool projects you can get involved in. Apply!

John Innes Centre @johninnescentre.bsky.social · 4d

VACANCY - We have an opportunity for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Howard Group, working to develop computational models of epigenetic dynamics in the Polycomb system.

www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

Closing date - 9 November 2025
Salary - £37,500 - £45,350
Contract - 36 months, full-time

Postdoctoral Researcher (Howard Group) | John Innes Centre

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the Howard Group at the John Innes Centre, working on cutting-edge science in the field of Computational and Systems Biology.

www.jic.ac.uk

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Benoit Bruneau @benoitbruneau.bsky.social · 6d

Happy Pluripotency Day! #Oct4

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Fena Ochs @fenaochs.bsky.social · Sep 10

Delighted to share our lab's first preprint identifying DDIAS as a mitotic DNA repair protein. Great collaboration with the @andrewblackford.bsky.social, @tcr-miller.bsky.social and @profstewartlab.bsky.social labs, and many more. Read the paper here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

DDIAS is a single-stranded DNA-binding effector of the TOPBP1-CIP2A complex in mitosis

DNA double-strand breaks and unresolved DNA replication intermediates are particularly dangerous during mitosis. Paradoxically, cells inactivate canonical DNA repair mechanisms during chromosome segre...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Emilia Dimitrova @edimitrova.bsky.social · Sep 9

Double celebration on our floor @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social with @guifengwei.bsky.social from the Brockdorff lab and Dounia and Sherry from Fisher lab having their papers published today! And I hear there is more to come...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

m6A and the NEXT complex direct Xist RNA turnover and X-inactivation dynamics - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Wei et al. show that the primary function of m6A on the nuclear long noncoding RNA Xist, a master regulator of X inactivation, is to promote RNA degradation. Xist turnover is mediated by the nuclear e...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Magda Kopczyńska @mgkopczynska.bsky.social · Dec 27

Do you know where transcription of a gene actually stops? Hint: it is not the annotated gene end.
In our new paper in Nucleic Acids Research we argue that phosphorylation on threonine 4 of RNA Pol II CTD is a marker of transcription termination in animals... 🧵
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

László Tora @tlaszlo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Check out our new collaborative preprint about Affinity-ligand purification of native human low-abundance multi-protein complexes doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Affinity-ligand purification of native human low-abundance multi-protein complexes for structure determination

In human cells, large multi-protein transcription co-activators, such as chromatin remodelers or histone acetyltransferases, play critical roles in gene-expression regulation and are often implicated ...

doi.org

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Jul 21

well done guys, it's an interesting read! I have compared previously the effect of either gradual or instant denaturation on chromatin structure (academic.oup.com/nar/article/..., fig.2) - perhaps you'll find that interesting. Congrats!

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Pradeepa Madapura @pradeepmadapura.bsky.social · Jun 26

Registration for Transcription and Chromatin UK is OPEN! Taking place from September 17 to 19, 2025, this conference will showcase cutting-edge research and is a ‘must-attend’ event for the UK transcription and chromatin community & both at home and abroad.
Pl register ow.ly/7QQb50W9Alo & share

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Jun 27

good job Jei! :) Congratulations!

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Guifeng Wei @guifengwei.bsky.social · Jun 26

Fresh preprint by @flavia-con.bsky.social from our lab uncovers how SMCHD1 finds & binds chromatin using live-cell single-molecule imaging🔬

She reveals how SMCHD1 dynamically engages chromatin, including the inactive X chromosome, to maintain gene silencing.

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

Selective interaction of the protein SMCHD1 with specific chromatin regions is governed by the loading factor LRIF1 and SMCHD1 ATPase activity

The chromosomal protein SMCHD1 is a GHKL ATPase that plays important roles in epigenetic silencing, including on the inactive X chromosome (Xi) and at the D4Z4 macrosatellite linked to regulation of D...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Jun 18

Check out new paper on single-molecule live-cell imaging of SMCHD1 binding to an inactive X chromosome by Flavia Constantinescu from Neil Brockdorff's team! :)

www.biorxiv.org

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · May 6

yup, very few attractive options for funding research in Europe. Basically ERC starting grant... and that's it

Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Miguel Ramalho-Santos @mrsantos.bsky.social · May 6

Also noted: The first two blastomeres contribute unequally to the human embryo. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The first two blastomeres contribute unequally to the human embryo

Labeling and live imaging of human embryos reveal that the majority of the future body originates, mostly, from one of the 2-cell stage blastomeres. Descendants of the first 2-cell stage blastomere to...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Lothar Schermelleh @lschermelleh.bsky.social · Apr 16

All you nuclear biologists out there: Here is a cautionary tale not to be fooled by peripheral organelle staining. It might just be that your antibody got trapped because it is "too good".

Konrad Chudzik @konrad-chudzik.bsky.social · Apr 14

🚨 Preprint alert 🚨
Excited to share our work on "Ab-trapping," an antibody artifact causing misleading peripheral ("rim") staining in imaging & genomics (IF, CUT&Tag, CUT&RUN). Antibodies fail to penetrate structures, accumulating at the periphery. A 🧵👇
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Ab-trapping - a peripheral staining artifact in antibody-based microscopy and genomics

Antibodies (Ab) are essential for detecting specific epitopes in microscopy and genomics, but can produce artifacts leading to erroneous interpretations. Here, we characterize a novel artifact, Ab-tra...

doi.org

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Apr 17

this is really cool! 😉

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

jihwanjameslee.bsky.social @jihwanjameslee.bsky.social · Apr 9

🧵 1/6
Just dropped in @naturecomms.bsky.social

We’ve engineered the most photostable yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) to date—mGold2s and mGold2t—with up to 25× greater photostability than mVenus and mCitrine, without compromising brightness.

👇
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Connor Rogerson @doctorconnor.bsky.social · Apr 1

Transcription and Chromatin UK is back for 2025 in Manchester! Make sure you register your interest to be kept in the loop about registration and abstract submission. www.biochemistry.org/events-and-t...

Transcription and Chromatin UK 2025

Transcription and Chromatin UK brings together the rich transcription and epigenetics community in the UK and leading experts from abroad, and will feature all aspects of transcription and chromatin r...

www.biochemistry.org

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Apr 2

well done guys!

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Mar 25

Cool perspective on cohesin as a "disruptor" by Adrian Bird: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Cohesin as an essential disruptor of chromosome organization

Chromosomes are long strings of DNA carrying multiple genes. A chromosomal factor called cohesin creates loops of DNA proposed to be functional units of the genome. By contrast, it is proposed here th...

www.cell.com

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Ellenberg Lab @ellenberglab.bsky.social · Mar 24

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...

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Aleksander Szczurek @aleksszczurek.bsky.social · Mar 23

straight onto my reading list!

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Hannah Long @hannahlong.bsky.social · Mar 20

📣 We are advertising for a postdoc to join our team at the University of Edinburgh! Our lab studies gene regulatory mechanisms in development, and how genetic changes may impact these processes to alter development and shape human craniofacial form and function 🧬🧪

Postdoctoral Researcher

Our research is focused on understanding how genetic changes in the non-coding genome can impact gene regulatory mechanisms, alter developmental processes and ultimately affect human craniofacial shap...

elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com

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Reposted by Aleksander Szczurek

Anja Groth @groth-anja.bsky.social · Mar 15

Very interesting finding!

Chen Davidovich @davidovichlab.bsky.social · Mar 15

1/ H3K27me3 mimicry has repeatedly emerged through evolution, but what's the physiological relevance?

We show that JARID2 and PALI1 mimic H3K27me3 to antagonise PRC2 in vivo and restrict the spread of Polycomb domains.
🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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