Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Marina Lusic

Kevin J. CREATURE @kevinjkircher.com · 6d

Sometimes I think about how from 1935-1975ish, Bell Labs produced an insane amount of revolutionary science and technology, including 11 Nobel Prizes, the transistor, UNIX, C, the laser, the solar cell, information theory, etc. The secret? Provide scientists with ample, steady, no-strings funding.

sites.stat.columbia.edu

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Mathias Munschauer @munschauerlab.bsky.social · 9d

🚀We’re hiring! Join our international team at @ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social and @uniheidelberg.bsky.social
as a PhD Student or Postdoctoral Researcher to lead cutting edge research projects at the virus-host interface

Postdoc: tinyurl.com/d5sdhbnp

PhD: tinyurl.com/bdz5e5u6

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NPR @npr.org · 9d

JUST IN: Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.

Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91

Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.

n.pr

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History Channel @historyachannel.bsky.social · Jun 7

In 1668, Francesco Redi challenged the idea of spontaneous generation by proving that maggots came from fly eggs, not from rotting meat. His experiment laid the foundation for modern microbiology and disproved centuries of misconceptions about life’s origins. #ScienceHistory

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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 15d

Nucleosome phasing by chromatin remodelers regulates macrophage lineage fidelity by preserving nucleosome arrays flanking PU.1-bound sites to prevent lineage-inappropriate transcription by C/EBPβ @cp-immunity.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

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Benoit Bruneau @benoitbruneau.bsky.social · 20d

about the $100K H1B fee, here's some interesting details: "If an employee is in the U.S., he or she will not be subject if (i) applying to extend or amend H-1B status, or (ii) applying to change from another visa category into H-1B status from within the U.S."

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Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · 21d

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Do you think this is a matter of progress or concern?

World's first AI-designed viruses a step towards AI-generated life

Scientists used AI to write coherent viral genomes, using them to synthesize bacteriophages capable of killing resistant strains of bacteria.

www.nature.com

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John Greally @greally.bsky.social · 23d

1/ One of the questions I get asked about my book is what new they'll discover about #epigenetics.

I hope there will be a lot to learn, but maybe one of the most intriguing stories will be about the contribution of John Pugh.

www.amazon.com/Epigenetics-...

Epigenetics: History, Molecules, and Diseases

Buy Epigenetics: History, Molecules, and Diseases on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders

www.amazon.com

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janeskok.bsky.social @janeskok.bsky.social · Sep 9

@kazu_maeshima from the Genome Dynamics Laboratory at the National Institute of Genetics (@NIG_idenken) will present groundbreaking research on chromatin organization and behavior in live cells revealed by super-resolution imaging. nyulangone.zoom.us/webinar/regi... #chromatin2025

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janeskok.bsky.social @janeskok.bsky.social · 23d

Speaker Spotlight: Don’t miss @Anders_S_Hansen from MIT as he unpacks the secrets of distal gene regulation in space and time! Learn how enhancers find and activate their target genes—revealing new insights into the selectivity and dynamics of gene control. Reserve your seat:

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Daniel MacPhee 🇨🇦 @d-macphee.bsky.social · 22d

“Antiscience has gone beyond U.S. borders to Europe, Australia, and Africa. Defeating it will require unprecedented commitment and international cooperation, not only between scientific organizations, but also their host governments.”
🧪 #Disinformation #AntiScience
time.com/7317436/scie...

Antiscience Is an Existential Threat

The ideologically-motivated assault on science threatens us all.

time.com

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Karsten Rippe @karsten-rippe.bsky.social · Jul 11

Liquid-liquid phase separation of HP1? Not in our mouse fibroblasts… This paper by the Fabian Erdel group offers a fresh perspective on how this can be reconciled with seemingly conflicting reports: The phase separation propensity of HP1 decreases from yeast → fly → mouse. doi.org/10.1038/s414...

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DZIF - Deutsches Zentrum für Infektionsforschung @dzif.bsky.social · 24d

🧬DZIF researchers have discovered that #HIV does not randomly integrate into the genome: the virus follows R-loops as signposts, with the enzyme Aquarius enabling the process. These findings open new avenues for potentially curative treatments.

@marinalusic.bsky.social @natmicrobiol.nature.com

How HIV enters the genome – Researchers identify previously unknown mechanism | German Center for Infection Research

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Heidelberg University Hospital have decoded a previously unknown mechanism by which

www.dzif.de

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Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · 25d

www.dzif.de/en/how-hiv-e...
@dzif.bsky.social @dfg.de @natmicrobiol.nature.com #HIV #HIVScience #HIVCure #Nucleus #Nucleararchitecture #Splicing #R-loops #Genomeorganization

How HIV enters the genome – Researchers identify previously unknown mechanism | German Center for Infection Research

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Heidelberg University Hospital have decoded a previously unknown mechanism by which

www.dzif.de

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Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · 26d

Lipid Nanoparticles with Aptamers Enable Targeted mRNA Delivery to CD4⁺ T Cells @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · Sep 10

Stellar!!!

Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · Sep 10

I love his comment on productive careers being unpredictable - and how he was never consciously directing himself anywhere, he was just following his nose

www.science.org/content/arti...

Remembering David Baltimore, a titan who transformed biology and spoke bluntly

The influential Nobel laureate ran institutions, trained future scientific leaders, survived a scandal, and shaped policy

www.science.org

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EPIGENETIC HULK @epigenetichulk.bsky.social · Sep 9

🎵WHY DO ENHANCER!
SUDDENLY APPEAR!
EVERY TIME!
THEY ARE NEAR!?!
JUST LIKE ME!
THEY LONG TO BE!
CLOSE TO POLII! 🎵
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Distal enhancers loop to proximal enhancers, not to promoters - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology

This Comment posits that enhancers stimulate the transcription machinery only through short-range interactions and, therefore, that enhancer activity at a distance is mediated by chromatin loops betwe...

www.nature.com

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Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · Sep 9

Ahaha that is great!! Love it and will sing this forever!!!!

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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · Sep 8

"I think each virus is its own set of surprises."
- David Baltimore. RIP.

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · Sep 7

Co-discoverer of reverse transcriptase at 32, Nobel Prize at 37, played a key role at the 1975 Asilomar comference.

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87

www.nytimes.com

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jenna newman phd @jennanewman.bsky.social · Sep 8

David Baltimore passed away yesterday, “a Nobel Prize-winning biologist whose work…profoundly shaped modern molecular biology &immunology. His discoveries…altered our understanding of viruses &immune responses, laying the foundation for advancements in gene therapy, cancer research, &vaccine devt”🧪🛟

Christopher Michel @christophermichel.com · Sep 7

Rest in peace, David Baltimore. explorers.com/david-baltim... @nationalacademies.org
@nobelprize.bsky.social

New Heroes: David Baltimore

Dr. David Baltimore is a Nobel Prize-winning biologist whose work has profoundly shaped modern molecular biology and immunology. His discoveries have altered our understanding of viruses and immune…

explorers.com

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Marina Lusic @marinalusic.bsky.social · Sep 7

Sad to hear about the passing of David Baltimore

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87

www.nytimes.com

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Wim Meijer @wimgmeijer.bsky.social · Sep 7

Researchers implanted CRISPR-edited pancreas cells into a person with type-1 diabetes.

The cells produced insulin for months

There was no need for immune-dampening drugs, due to gene edits that allowed the cells to evade detection by the recipient’s immune system.

🧪
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Hope for diabetes: CRISPR-edited cells pump out insulin in a person – and evade immune detection

Edits create cells that don’t trigger an immune response, allowing implant recipient to forego immune-suppressing drugs.

www.nature.com

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Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · Aug 18

Out now!

🍫🦠A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour #chocolate fermentation

By Gabriel Castrillo, David Salt & co

#microsky #microbiomesky 🧪

Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology

An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

www.nature.com

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Atin Sharma @atinsharma.bsky.social · Aug 22

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Why chocolate tastes so good: microbes that fine-tune its flavour

Manipulating the microbial communities involved in cocoa-bean fermentation could make chocolate even more delicious.

www.nature.com

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