Huge congratulations, Alberto! A fantastic piece of work. It's been great to see how our studies complement each other and it’s really exciting to have them come out together!

12/12
For more great science on homology search, don’t miss the back-to-back study from @albertomarin.bsky.social, Adam Rybczynski and Namrata Nilavar in the Ha and Scully labs!
Their work adds exciting complementary perspectives on cohesin and DSB repair.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

11/12
Huge thanks to all the co-authors, @imbavienna.bsky.social and the great facilities at @viennabiocenter.bsky.social 🙏
Supported by @erc.europa.eu , #MSCA, @fwf-at.bsky.social , @snsf.ch , @embo.org , @wwtf.at and #BIF.
Happy to discuss or answer questions!

10/12
Our model:
🔹 Loop-forming cohesin sets a megabase-scale search radius within the TAD
🔹 Cohesive cohesin forms a local clamp that tethers DNA ends to the sister chromatid
Together, they focus RAD51 sampling and enable accurate repair!

9/12
ChIP-seq of specific cohesin subunits revealed distinct architectures:
🔹 Loop-forming cohesin (NIPBL-bound) spans broadly around the break
🔹 Cohesive cohesin (sororin-bound) concentrates at the break
Functionally, disturbing either loop extrusion or cohesion delays or blocks repair!

8/12
What happens if we disrupt sister cohesion?
Upon sororin depletion:
✅ Loops remain intact
❌ Sister contacts are lost
Without cohesion, the DSB cannot efficiently locate its sister chromatid 🚫