Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 20d

Love RNA biology?

Join us to explore the piRNA pathway with structural and genetic approaches (see 👇👇).

PhD student/postdoc position co-supervised by Clemens Plaschka & myself.

DM or email us if you’d like to know more!

@vbcscitraining.bsky.social @imbavienna.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social

Julius Brennecke @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social · 21d

PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.

But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?

PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

20 17

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

IBMP | Institut de biologie moléculaire des plantes @ibmp-cnrs.bsky.social · 2d

🌿⚖️ Growth or defense? A new study in Science Advances
shows how the PAF1 complex helps plants toggle between growth and immune responses by regulating gene expression.
📖 science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🔬 Collaboration between Wuhan Univesity & @cnrs.fr

1 3

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Bardin Lab @bardinlab.bsky.social · Jun 13

Students (Master's/PhD), do not miss this fantastic Developmental Biology course of @sorbonne-universite.fr and @institutcurie.bsky.social - It is FREE and open to international students, however, room and board + travel are not included.

training.institut-curie.org/courses/deve...

1 49 67

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Marc Bühler @marcbuhler.bsky.social · Jul 3

Novel insights into the silencing of an understudied transposable element - check out our latest preprint by @jakobschnabl.bsky.social and colleagues

Jakob Schnabl @jakobschnabl.bsky.social · Jul 3

📖 Happy to share our recent preprint! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We discovered how SINEs are kept silent: the ChAHP protein complex acts as a molecular brake on POL III transcription retrotransposons. A 🧵:

ChAHP Silences SINE Retrotransposons by Inhibiting TFIIIB Recruitment

Short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) are abundant non-autonomous transposable elements derived from RNA polymerase III (POL III)-transcribed short non-coding RNAs. SINEs retain sequence feature...

www.biorxiv.org

11 29

Emilie Brasset @emiliebrasset.bsky.social · Jul 2

Honored to see our work highlighted in this News & Views by Germano Cecere @cecerelab.bsky.social and @arantxarojas.bsky.social in @natsmb.nature.com!
A great read on how H3K27me3 shapes piRNA transcription in 🪱 worms and 🪰 flies. rdcu.be/euuRJ

H3K27me3 expands the epigenetic control of piRNA transcription

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Constitutive heterochromatin can promote piRNA transcription, a crucial step in genome defense. Two studies now show that piRNA transcription in...

rdcu.be

1 5

Emilie Brasset @emiliebrasset.bsky.social · Jul 2

Huge thanks to Ben Czech Nicholson, Greg Hannon, and all co-authors @abdouak.bsky.social @susbo.bsky.social for this amazing work!
#transposon #drosophila #piRNA

1 1

Emilie Brasset @emiliebrasset.bsky.social · Jul 2

A little late to share, but still thrilled 🤗!
What started as two independent stories, one in Clermont-Ferrand (@igred.fr) and one in Cambridge (Hannon’s group @cruk-mi.bsky.social ), turned into a joint adventure to decode how Rhino picks its favorite piRNA clusters.
When forces unite…
👇👇👇

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology @natsmb.nature.com · Jun 17

New online: Binding of heterochromatin protein Rhino to a subset of piRNA clusters depends on a combination of two histone marks

Binding of heterochromatin protein Rhino to a subset of piRNA clusters depends on a combination of two histone marks

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 17 June 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01584-8The authors reveal that, in fruit fly ovaries, the protein Rhino is guided to specific regions of the genome by a combination of two histone modifications, enhancing understanding of how cells protect their DNA from harmful virus-like elements.

go.nature.com

3 13 26

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · Apr 9

Did you know…
It’s free to publish in Journal of Cell Science – there are no submission charges, page charges or colour fees. We also plant a tree for every peer-reviewed article we publish🌳
For details, visit our website:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/re...

Image of three covers of Journal of Cell Science

1 48 98

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Juliane Glaser @julianeg.bsky.social · Jun 27

Very excited to have joined the @mpi-ie.bsky.social !
Thank you for the warm welcome 🤩🤩

Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics @mpi-ie.bsky.social · Jun 25

We are excited to officially welcome a new group leader at the MPI-IE in #Freiburg. 🎉

Dr Juliane Glaser 🥳 – she studies epigenetic mechanisms of embryonic development, with a focus on transposable elements. 👉 Interview: www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/6043545/2025...

Welcome, @julianeg.bsky.social!

3 3 40

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Tony Zador @tonyzador.bsky.social · Jun 18

Nice write up on @joshdubnau.bsky.social's "transposon storm" hypothesis: Alzheimer’s and ALS may be triggered by reawakened viral-like jumping genes that spark inflammation and kill neurons. Antiviral drugs could stop the storm.

knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...

How rogue jumping genes can spur Alzheimer’s, ALS

Our genomes are peppered with DNA segments called retrotransposons that can move from place to place. When unleashed, some can kill nerves and promote inflammation — a discovery that may inspire treat...

knowablemagazine.org

14 87 300

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Michelle Percharde @mpercharde.bsky.social · Jun 26

The Chromatin And Development lab are hiring a postdoc!

Come join us; we are a happy and hard working team @mrc-lms.bsky.social in London UK. Projects span the intersection of chromatin and transposon biology in dev't and disease. Email/DM for more info. Pls RT!

lms.mrc.ac.uk/work/vacanci...

MRC Postdoctoral Research Scientist - MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences

The MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) is a biomedical research institute where scientists and clinicians collaborate to advance the understanding of biology and its application to medicine. LMS...

lms.mrc.ac.uk

31 30

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Rafeeque Mavoor @rafeeque.com · May 13

🧵5 Top Free Alternatives to BioRender for Scientific Illustrations!

These five websites offer free scientific illustrations for biologists. Great for presentations, research papers and other research communication needs.

Save and share the post!

33 350 680

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Dmitri Petrov @petrovadmitri.bsky.social · Jun 3

Flybase lost all of the NIH support overnight - it is a disaster for the community. Please consider donating. I just did! www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

Drosophila Genetic Database

The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk

4 150 140

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · May 8

Complete ape genomes! 🦍🦧 Our closest relatives get the deluxe sequencing treatment, resolving the most complex & often most interesting parts of the genome.
Happy to make a tiny contribution alongside @panpan100.bsky.social to awesome teamwork & fantastic resource.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Complete genome sequences for 6 apes species

8 29

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Cedric Feschotte @cedricfeschotte.bsky.social · Apr 30

💥🥳 At long last, our latest paper is out!

Gag proteins of endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Led heroically by Sylvia Chang & @jonowells.bsky.social

A study which has changed the way I think of #transposons! No less! 🧵 1/n

Gag proteins encoded by endogenous retroviruses are required for zebrafish development | PNAS

Transposable elements (TEs) make up the bulk of eukaryotic genomes and examples abound of TE-derived sequences repurposed for organismal function. ...

www.pnas.org

14 110 260

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Institute of Molecular Biotechnology @imbavienna.bsky.social · Apr 25

👉 IMBA is hiring a Junior Group Leader in the molecular life sciences. Apply by May 18: imba.science/beagroupleader
#hiring #biology #research #groupleader #europe

imba.science/beagroupleader

imba.science

3 3

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Clément Goubert @clementgoubert.bsky.social · Mar 10

DFAM (database of transposable elements) 3.9 is out! A lot of cool new stuff and a special update for Drosophila melanogaster... 1/2 #Transposon #DFAM

Dfam Database of Transposable Elements @dfam.bsky.social · Mar 10

Today we released Dfam 3.9 with many new community submissions and the result of a thorough curation and update of the Drosophila Melanogaster library. www.dfam.org (release notes: www.dfam.org/releases/Dfa...)

Dfam

Open database of transposable elements and repetitive DNA families

www.dfam.org

1 21 40

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

matthew capek @matthewcapek.bsky.social · Mar 6

🎉 so excited to share my first first-author paper is out in @Nature.com, from my PhD work in the Gallio Lab! we uncover the neurobiological mechanisms that drive the evolution of temperature preference behavior in flies of the genus Drosophila 👇

go.nature.com/4i1VQn9

Evolution of temperature preference in flies of the genus Drosophila - Nature

A study using flies of the genus Drosophila adapted to life in diverse thermal environments shows how evolution has shaped temperature preference by acting on both molecular heat receptors and th...

go.nature.com

9 23

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · Mar 27

Proud of this work, led by the amazing Jeannette Tenthorey (now Assistant Professor at UCSF), demonstrating the adaptive power of single indel mutations in host-virus arms races, but a little sad that this is the coda to her amazing postdoc in the Malik & Emerman labs.

www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Indels allow antiviral proteins to evolve functional novelty inaccessible by missense mutations

Tenthorey et al. compare the effects of missense and indel mutations on the acquisition of functional novelty by the rapidly evolving antiviral protein TRIM5α. They find that single indel mutations al...

www.cell.com

7 41 150

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Trends in Genetics @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social · Apr 4

A selfish gene in Drosophila has met its match: Trailblazer.

“An innovation in host responses to escalating genomic conflicts”
by @emilianomarti.bsky.social & Amanda Larracuente

highlights work from @peiwei-chen.bsky.social et al in PNAS.

FREE till May 24 at
authors.elsevier.com/a/1ktQOcQbJF...

7 9

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Cécile Courret @cecilecourret.bsky.social · Apr 10

Join us at ESEB 2025 in Barcelona!

I'm thrilled co-organize a symposium with Beatriz Navarro Domínguez (bioevolbea.bsky.social) on "Genetic conflict: Evolutionary and Genomic consequences"
eseb2025.com/list-of-symp...

Submit your abstracts by April 25, 2025 — don’t miss out! eseb2025.bsky.social

2 5 4

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

König Lab @koenig-lab.bsky.social · Mar 26

How to find binding sites or your favorite #RNA binding protein?

Join us for the EMBO practical course "iCLIP2, mapping protein RNA interactions: from A to Z". from 7.-12. September in Genoa, Italy

Learn more and register here:
meetings.embo.org/event/25-icl...

@embo.org @mixmue.bsky.social

iCLIP2, mapping protein-RNA interactions: from A to Z

RNA is increasingly recognized as a key therapeutic target , driving the development of RNA-based therapeutics for a broad spectrum of diseases. RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) play a fundamental ro…

meetings.embo.org

13 25

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Waggoner Lab @labwaggoner.bsky.social · Apr 10

Engineered nucleocytosolic vehicles that can be loaded with programmable gene editors (like Cas9-sgRNA ribonucleoproteins) to enable more efficient delivery than existing virus-like particle systems
@cellcellpress.bsky.social @earthnut89.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

1 2

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Alexandra Delbot @alexandradelbot.bsky.social · Apr 9

Elisabeth Borne à LCP : "il faut se préparer, très jeune, dès le départ, presque depuis LA MATERNELLE, à réfléchir à la façon dont on se projette dans une formation et dans un métier demain"
J'ai vérifié pour vous parce que je suis journaliste : non, nous ne sommes pas le 1er avril

Elisabeth Borne, ministre de l'éducation nationale, sur le plateau de LCP hier mardi 8 avril

10 3 45

Reposted by Emilie Brasset

Institut Jacques Monod @ijmonod.bsky.social · Apr 9

📣 The @ijmonod.bsky.social is hosting this year the Paris-Munich Epigenetics - Workshop and Symposium, an exciting exchange between the Paris and Munich epigenetic research communities!

1 6 7