Thank you for your words, Fillip! Some of my most cherished memories in my scientific career are those from my time working alongside you during your postdoc @mrclmb.bsky.social ✨ thanks for introducing me to the amazing Drosophila and showing me how fun science can be!

Thank you, Moritz! 🙌

Thanks, 2 m Peter! 🤩

So incredibly grateful and excited to be joining the @mpi-cbg.de as a RGL from January 2026! If you are interested in becoming part of a growing team studying how zebrafish embryos know how much protein to make and when as they develop, embedded in a thriving research community, please apply.

A dire warning about what is happening in the U.S. thenode.biologists.com/hungary-offe...

I am excited to share that I will join the Friedrich Miescher Institute @fmiscience.bsky.social in Basel as a group leader, starting my lab in March 2026 🎉

We will explore cell fate regulation during organogenesis, with a focus on how cell elimination underlies the emergence of functional tissues.

Excited to share our latest work, led by the incredible @automnenine.bsky.social (now an Ass. Prof. at Princeton)! We uncover key insights into the retrotransposition mechanisms of LINE-1 ORF2p, the enzyme responsible for writing a significant portion of our genome.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

So cool to see this work out! Congrats ✨

Applications open: Masters in Cancer Biology in Heidelberg. 100% English, international program focusing on hands-on research from discovery to translation in a top European science hub. Apply now:

www.dkfz.de/en/career/ca...

Using a newly developed AI model, the research group @schierlab.bsky.social @biozentrum.unibas.ch @unibasel.ch has discovered in #zebrafish that certain sections of #mRNA control the extent of protein synthesis during early embryonic development. ow.ly/4zyU50V7v1c @cellpress.bsky.social

📢 Don't miss! Matthias Muhar of ETH Zurich Corn Lab will speak at our #DahlemColloquium!

📜 How chemical scars mark proteins for degradation
📆 05. MAR, 11:00 AM (CET)
📍 MPIMG, Berlin
🔗 www.molgen.mpg.de/events/41002...

Translation of mRNA can be triggered with spatiotemporal control in zebrafish 🐟 embryos by light ⚡ & FlashCaps 🧪⚗😊 Kudos to all authors and collaborators 🙏👍
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

How cool! 🙌

I still do RNA extractions the „old school“ way i.e. using regular tubes and hand precision.

Our new preprint is out - please share!

We asked: How can we make CRISPR knockouts in vivo more efficient? And set up an assay that enables detection of CRISPR cutting with 100s-1000s of sgRNAs over entire chromosome arms in living animals.

Grab a ☕ and let’s dive in. 🧵🧪 1/n
#CRISPR #geneediting

Thank you all in the schierlab.bsky.social for constant support and especially Alex for giving me the freedom to geek out on 5′ UTRs. Thank you Georg and Sebastian for your enthusiasm and the great collaboration!

Shoutout to Sebastian (Seelig lab) for developing the deep learning model DaniO5P that disentangles the contribution of 5′ UTR elements to predict translational behaviors based on the 5′ UTR sequence alone.

The answer is yes! We observe that 5′ UTR length is a major determinant of translation initiation in vivo and identify cis-acting motifs associated with differential translation initiation.

We developed an in vivo 5′ UTR MPRA during early zebrafish embryogenesis and found that the 5′ UTR is sufficient to confer translational dynamics. The MPRA recapitulates the effect of known elements like uORFs and the TIS context. But do other 5′ UTR features drive translational dynamics?

We (schierlab.bsky.social and Seelig lab) are very happy to share that our work has found a home at DevCell cellpress.bsky.social! Free access here: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
What are the features in 5′ UTRs that determine when and how much of a protein to make during embryogenesis?