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dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger
@dbenzinger.bsky.social
190 followers 180 following 4 posts
Postdoc at the Crick in the Briscoe Lab. Previously PhD student with Mustafa Khammash at ETHZ. Development, synthetic biology, and optogenetics. And Art and stuff.
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dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger @dbenzinger.bsky.social · Aug 27
Super excited that our latest work is out!

We use optogenetics to dynamically control and study the formation of morphogen gradients.

If you are interested in optogenetic tools and/or how cells shape and process extracellular signals, check out @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social's thread and the paper.
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · Aug 26
Our latest: We developed a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production. Using dual light + small molecule control of Sonic Hedgehog production, we recapitulated neural tube patterning in vitro & measured spread of Shh

🧵

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production
Morphogen gradients provide the patterning cues that instruct cell fate decisions during development. Here, we establish an optogenetic system for the…
www.sciencedirect.com
2 11 32
Reposted by Dirk Benzinger
oliveringe.bsky.social
Ollie Inge @oliveringe.bsky.social · Sep 9
1/7 Really happy to see my PhD work published in ✨Developmental Cell✨ today! We find human endoderm is specified by two developmental trajectories 🔀, and the choice between alternate routes is dictated by the combinatorial BMP4/Activin signalling. www.cell.com/developmenta...
Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation
Inge et al. show that human endoderm originates from two converging developmental routes with distinct dynamics and efficiencies yet similar developmental potential. Combinatorial activin and BMP4 sig...
www.cell.com
6 28 78
dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger @dbenzinger.bsky.social · Aug 27
Thank you 😊
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dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger @dbenzinger.bsky.social · Aug 27
Hahah, amazing! Thank you Sally!
1 1
dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger @dbenzinger.bsky.social · Aug 27
Super excited that our latest work is out!

We use optogenetics to dynamically control and study the formation of morphogen gradients.

If you are interested in optogenetic tools and/or how cells shape and process extracellular signals, check out @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social's thread and the paper.
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · Aug 26
Our latest: We developed a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production. Using dual light + small molecule control of Sonic Hedgehog production, we recapitulated neural tube patterning in vitro & measured spread of Shh

🧵

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production
Morphogen gradients provide the patterning cues that instruct cell fate decisions during development. Here, we establish an optogenetic system for the…
www.sciencedirect.com
2 11 32
Reposted by Dirk Benzinger
toettch.bsky.social
jared toettcher @toettch.bsky.social · Mar 25
I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
Large-scale control over collective cell migration using light-activated epidermal growth factor receptors
Programmable control over tissue movement is a fundamental challenge for tissue engineering and wound healing. Suh, Thornton, et al. discovered that a light-controlled EGF receptor controls long-range...
www.cell.com
2 17 50
dbenzinger.bsky.social
Dirk Benzinger @dbenzinger.bsky.social · Mar 12
It has been fun being part of this.

Interested in design rules governing cis-regulatory element activity and how they can be used to engineer gene expression?

Check out Jake’s thread/paper!
jcornwallscoones.bsky.social
Jake Cornwall-Scoones @jcornwallscoones.bsky.social · Mar 10
Excited to share my latest work with @joadelas.bsky.social and @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social

Predictable Engineering of Signal-Dependent Cis-Regulatory Elements

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1/11
Predictable Engineering of Signal-Dependent Cis-Regulatory Elements
www.biorxiv.org
2
Reposted by Dirk Benzinger
jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · Dec 19
Our latest: how to generate the notochord
"Timely TGFβ signalling inhibition induces notochord"

A thread:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Timely TGFβ signalling inhibition induces notochord - Nature
Through analysis of developing chick embryos and in vitro differentiation of embryonic stem cells, a study develops a method to generate a model of the human trunk with a notochord.
www.nature.com
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