Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · 4d

Oh how fantastic evolution is… every day it drops a new plot twist. 🤯🧬 Nature, who coded you?! 🤩

t.co/yXmctCX6PA

Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · 11d

Congrats Dr. Silvia DIAZ MARTIN on a brilliant PhD defense. 🙏to jury Maryse, Thierry, Matthew, Ludovic & Diego for their sharp eval. Shout-out to Alexandre and Christopher for their steady mentorship. You made us proud Silvia and I saw the whole galaxy of family pride reflected in your dad’s eyes.

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · 27d

🙏 @inserm.fr de promouvoir nos travaux récemment publiés dans EMBO Mol. Med
doi.org/10.1038/s443...

www.inserm.fr/actualite/to...

Toxoplasmose : un tandem de biomarqueurs pour diagnostiquer les infections chroniques · Inserm, La science pour la santé

Une équipe Inserm a identifié deux protéines du parasite responsable de la toxoplasmose dont le dosage combiné aiderait à identifier les infections chroniques dormantes. Ce test pourrait apporter des ...

www.inserm.fr

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Sep 6

I should start by correcting that it was Heracles—not Zeus—who fought the Hydra 😉

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Sep 6

Zeus had his Hydra ⚔️, now Toxoplasma has its own.

Meet Hydra: not a monster, but a brand-new protein domain.
It multimerizes like crazy & rewrites the chromatin landscape 🧬 in Toxoplasma.

Our team and colleagues from @embl.org #Grenoble just dropped the preprint 👉
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Sep 2

Pas mieux cher ami 😉

Reposted by Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI

Belen Pachano @belenpachano.bsky.social · Aug 30

Thrilled to share our latest review! 🎉 It captures the ideas and discussions that have shaped our work in recent years. Big shoutout to the amazing authors 👏 @hakimi.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Decoding the epigenetic blueprint behind Toxoplasma (pre)sexual commitment and chronic persistence

Toxoplasma gondii, a widespread apicomplexan parasite, navigates a complex life cycle in which it switches back and forth between tachyzoites and brad…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Aug 30

Toxoplasma facing career options:
🏃 Tachyzoite (fast life)
😴 Bradyzoite (chronic sleeper)
🙀 Pre-sexual (cat-ready)
Spoiler: epigenetics makes the call.
Our recent review in Current Opinion in Microbiology decodes how chromatin remodelers, TFs& AP2s orchestrate these fates 👇🏽
doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...

Redirecting

doi.org

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Aug 29

Bravo @meryemaloulou.bsky.social , @nfazilleau.bsky.social et al. 🥳

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Reposted by Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI

EMBO Molecular Medicine @embomolmed.org · Jul 11

Our July issue is online 👉 www.embopress.org/toc/17574684...

The cover highlights the article by M Robert, C Swale, MP Brenier-Pinchart, @hakimi.bsky.social‬ & al. that identifies BSM & BCLA as #biomarkers for chronic #ToxoplasmaGondii infection

Scientific image by @hakimi.bsky.social @inserm.fr

EMBO Molecular Medicine: Vol 17, No 7

EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.

www.embopress.org

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Jul 11

Thrilled to see our work featured on the cover of @embomolmed.org 🎉We identify new biomarkers to track chronic toxoplasmosis—paving the way for improved diagnosis and patient care.

doi.org/10.1038/s443...

It’s time to bring such tools to the clinic—let’s encourage biotech to take it from here.

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Jul 5

Huge congrats @belenpachano.bsky.social on your PhD! Honored to have shared the journey. Your brilliance shines through your articles — past and future. You’ll be missed, but my lab will always be your home. Come back anytime. You’ve earned every success!

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Jun 11

I hear you, brother. Loud and clear. Your courage speaks volumes. Standing strong with you—and with Palestine. You're not alone.

Omaya Dudin 𓂆 ¦🍉¦🦠¦🔬¦ @dudinlab.bsky.social · Jun 10

90% of you probably don’t need to read this.
But maybe some of you are curious & 10% will feel seen. Or a little less alone. This isn’t about seeking sympathy.
It’s about sharing something hard to say out loud;
partly to heal, partly in case someone needs to hear it too. (1/3)
tinyurl.com/DudinO

Omaya Dudin

Interview with Omaya Dudin, who uses Ichthyosporea as models to study how and why unicellular organisms evolved multicellularity at the University of Geneva.

www.cell.com

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 20

🙏🏽the editors, and the reviewers for their warm reception of our manuscript. @embomolmed.org is clearly an excellent journal to highlight—especially to the industrial sector—the importance of incorporating these markers into the portfolio of toxoplasmosis detection tests.

EMBO Molecular Medicine @embomolmed.org · May 20

Uncovering #biomarkers for chronic #toxoplasmosis detection highlights alternative pathways shaping parasite dormancy

By M. G. Robert, C. Swale, M-P. Brenier-Pinchart, @hakimi.bsky.social & colleagues @inserm.fr ‬

🗞️ doi.org/10.1038/s443...

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 20

🙏🏽

Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

👏Bravo Moritz's dream team 🤘

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

Massive shoutout to my dream team! 💥 Gladys & Christopher (co–first authors) et al. A squad of brilliant scientists but also clinicians. Nor forgetting our fantastic coll. Special thanks to our funders, especially @inserm.fr Transfert and MSD Avenir, for believing in this project from the start. 🙏

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

Under the hood (mechanistically), it’s not just one switch running the show: 🧬 MORC and HDAC3 team up to control BFD1—the dormancy boss. But surprise: BSM plays by its own rules, skipping BFD1 entirely.
👉 There’s more than one road to parasite sleep mode.

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

In this study we identify two biomarkers for chronic infection:
✅ BSM (Bradyzoite Serological Marker)
✅ BCLA (Cyst-associated antigen)
🧪 These markers nail cyst detection in mice and human.
High sensitivity. High specificity. Zero ambiguity. 🧪💥

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

Current clinical tests can spot Toxoplasma infection but struggle to identify the dormant 😴 parasites. That’s bad news if your immune system takes a break—because this parasite loves to reactivate and “rumble in the jungle”.
Think:
🧠 Neurological disorders

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

Meet Toxoplasma —the microscopic zombie-maker. 🧟‍♂️ This neurotropic parasite infects ~1/3 of us, then goes quiet... While acute infections are usually mild, the chronic stage, marked by dormant bradyzoites in tissue cysts 🧠, is much harder to detect—and potentially dangerous.

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 19

🧵 Ever wondered what Toxoplasma is doing in your brain years after that undercooked steak 🥩 or a sip of contaminated water? Turns out, it's been hiding in your brain 🧠and we finally have a way to spot it. New study just dropped in EMBO Molecular Medicine 👇
doi.org/10.1038/s443...

Uncovering biomarkers for chronic toxoplasmosis detection highlights alternative pathways shaping parasite dormancy | EMBO Molecular Medicine

imageimageDespite their clinical relevance, bradyzoite-filled cysts - the hallmark of chronic toxoplasmosis - are largely overlooked in current diagnostics. This study highlights bradyzoite serologica...

doi.org

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · May 9

“In the meantime, the world’s richest man (Musk) has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children”

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Bill Gates says his Foundation will close in 2045 and decries Musk for USAID cuts

Microsoft co-founder accuses Trump ally of involvement in ‘killing the world’s poorest children’ by slashing US aid funding

www.theguardian.com

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Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI @hakimi.bsky.social · Apr 30

scienmag.com/iswi-chromat...

ISWI Chromatin Remodeller Controls Toxoplasma Gene Expression

In the intricate world of eukaryotic gene regulation, ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling complexes represent a pivotal force shaping the accessibility and organization of genomic DNA. These

scienmag.com

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Reposted by Mohamed-Ali HAKIMI

LabEx ParaFrap @parafrap.bsky.social · Apr 22

An ISWI-related chromatin remodeller regulates stage-specific gene expression in #Toxoplasma gondii. By Belen Pachano (ParaFrap PhD student) et al., team @hakimi.bsky.social. In @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Toxoplasma gondii evolved two ISWI remodellers, TgSNF2h and TgSNF2L. TgSNF2h forms a complex that insulates active genes, regulates MORC-driven sexual commitment and ensures precise gene expression, s...

www.nature.com

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