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Jarrett Byrnes @jebyrnes.bsky.social · 1d

That's right, folk! THREE TENURE TRACK JOBS IN BIOLOGY AT UMASS BOSTON! You might even be a good fit for more than one! Check 'em out! We'd love to have you!

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Simon Fisher @profsimonfisher.bsky.social · 4d

Twenty-four years ago today, our paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” was published: www.nature.com/articles/350....
A personal thread about the ups & downs of the journey we took to get to that point....1/n
🗣️🧬🧪

Image shows the first two printed pages of the paper “A forkhead-domain gene is mutated in a severe speech and language disorder” by Cecilia Lai and colleagues, published in Nature in 2001 (volume 413, pages 519-523). The abstract reads as follows:
Individuals affected with developmental disorders of speech and language have substantial difficulty acquiring expressive and/or receptive language in the absence of any profound sensory or neurological impairment and despite adequate intelligence and opportunity. Although studies of twins consistently indicate that a significant genetic component is involved, most families segregating speech and language deficits show complex patterns of inheritance, and a gene that predisposes individuals to such disorders has not been identified. We have studied a unique three-generation pedigree, KE, in which a severe speech and language disorder is transmitted as an autosomal-dominant monogenic trait. Our previous work mapped the locus responsible, SPCH1, to a 5.6-cM interval of region 7q31 on chromosome 7. We also identified an unrelated individual, CS, in whom speech and language impairment is associated with a chromosomal translocation involving the SPCH1 interval. Here we show that the gene FOXP2, which encodes a putative transcription factor containing a polyglutamine tract and a forkhead DNA-binding domain, is directly disrupted by the translocation breakpoint in CS. In addition, we identify a point mutation in affected members of the KE family that alters an invariant amino-acid residue in the forkhead domain. Our findings suggest that FOXP2 is involved in the developmental process that culminates in speech and language.

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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 5d

Many congratulations Raquel, happy to see this published (and so well!)!

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Raquel Fueyo @fueyoraquel.bsky.social · 7d

Today in @nature.com, we present our work leveraging functional genomics and human blastoids to uncover a human-specific mechanism in preimplantation development driven by the endogenous retrovirus HERVK.
Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD

A human-specific regulatory mechanism revealed in a pre-implantation model

Nature - Genetic manipulation of blastoids reveals the role of recently emerged transposable elements and genes in human development.

rdcu.be

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James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 5d

Mechanical constraints disrupt gastruloid polarisation without changing gene expression - uncouples morphogenesis & patterning

Gregor & co use tunable hydrogels to show cell motility, not gene expression, drives axis formation in gastruloids

journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

Fine-tuning mechanical constraints reveals uncoupled patterning and gene expression programs in murine gastruloids

Highlighted Article: A bioinert confinement system enables dissection of how stiffness and timing shape gastruloid development, revealing uncoupling between polarization and transcriptional programs.

journals.biologists.com

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EMBO @embo.org · 8d

Explore gene-regulatory mechanisms that drive developmental reprogramming at EMBO Workshop "Awakening the Genome During Developmental Reprogramming: From Embryos to Organoids" in Seville, Spain, 4–7 May 2026.

Deadline: 2 February

meetings.embo.org/event/26-awa...
#EMBOGenomeAwakening #EMBOevents 🧪

Awakening the Genome During Developmental Reprogramming: From Embryos to Organoids

This EMBO Workshop explores the gene-regulatory mechanisms that drive developmental reprogramming upon fertilization. It focuses on the interplay of transcriptional, post-transcriptional, and develop…

meetings.embo.org

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Sally Lowell @cellysally.bsky.social · 8d

Hot off the press!

Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4 - Nature Communications

Here they perform a systematic dissection of OCT4 and reveal how intrinsically disordered regions can be used to serve specific functions during reprogramming and embryonic development. This can be exploited to engineer more efficient and specific reprogramming factors.

www.nature.com

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James Briscoe @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social · 9d

Nice work from Val Wilson & co on neuromesodermal progenitors

SOX2/TBXT co-expressing cells are self-propagating bipotent NMPs

Increasing TBXT levels (not SOX2/TBXT ratio) switch NMPs from neural- to mesoderm-biased

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Brachyury expression levels predict lineage potential and axis-forming ability of in vitro derived neuromesodermal progenitors

Neuromesodermal progenitors (NMPs) produce the spinal cord and musculoskeleton in the elongating anterior-posterior axis. In vivo, NMPs possess dual potency, coinciding with regions coexpressing SOX2 ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Sofiya Hupalo @sofiyahupalo.bsky.social · 14d

New NIH structure for applications/awards with foreign components:
Effective for due dates on or after 1/25/26, competing apps must use the PF5 activity code for grants (UF5 for cooperative agreements).

Policy:
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

News news article:
grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

NOT-OD-25-155: New Application Structure for NIH-Funded International Collaborations

NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: New Application Structure for NIH-Funded International Collaborations NOT-OD-25-155. NIH

grants.nih.gov

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Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 14d

This is very exciting! A small clinical trial using gene therapy for Huntington's disease has been successful. microRNAs were used to edit the Huntington mRNA, stopping it making mutant protein that can damage neurons. Huge hopes now for treating such a devastating condition

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time

One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 16d

Our study on the role of LTR5HS and SVAs in regulation of human neural crest migration is now published as peer-reviewed paper on @molsystbiol.org!
Congrats to first author brilliant postdoc Laura Deelen, and all the authors involved! @imperialsci.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 16d

Thank you Geoff!

Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 16d

Our study on the role of LTR5HS and SVAs in regulation of human neural crest migration is now published as peer-reviewed paper on @molsystbiol.org!
Congrats to first author brilliant postdoc Laura Deelen, and all the authors involved! @imperialsci.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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bioRxiv Developmental Biology @biorxiv-devbio.bsky.social · 18d

WDR5 and Myc Cooperate to Regulate Formation of Neural Crest Stem Cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.19.677424v1

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 18d

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

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mathiaseder.bsky.social @mathiaseder.bsky.social · 19d

✨Exciting news: the main story of my PhD is out in Science!

Together with Christine Moene @cmoene.bsky.social, we explored what happens when you scramble the genome—revealing how Sox2’s position shapes enhancer activation.

📖 Read the full story here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Functional maps of a genomic locus reveal confinement of an enhancer by its target gene

Genes are often activated by enhancers located at large genomic distances, and the importance of this positioning is poorly understood. By relocating promoter-reporter constructs into thousands of alt...

www.science.org

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Alice Godden @alicegodden.bsky.social · 22d

Our new paper is out in Dev Biol! 🎉 🐸🧬
We show #miR-196a directs #neural crest fate in #Xenopus by repressing immature neural #ectoderm — evidence #miRNAs can potentially drive, not just fine-tune, early patterning
👉 Read more here: doi.org/10.1016/j.yd...
@devbiol.bsky.social @biouea.bsky.social

Schematic overview of our project. Dissection of Xenopus neural crest following morpholino knockdown of miRNA, then extraction of RNA for RNA-seq

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PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 23d

What's the role of microglial chromatin-mediated processes? This study shows that loss of ATRX in #microglia disrupts #chromatin structure, leading to de-repression of #retroelements & a viral mimicry #inflammation response that impairs hippocampal neuron function @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46cBaE4

Top left: Immunofluorescence images of anti-GFP (green) and anti-ATRX (red) counterstained with DAPI (blue) illustrating absence of ATRX in Sun1GFP+ microglia nuclei in 2-month-old ATRX miKO mice. Scale bar, 50 µm. Bottom left: Representative images of microglia tracings; Sholl analysis reveals excessive branching in ATRX miKO compared to control microglia. Right: Immunofluorescence staining of CD68 (green) and Ai14+ (red) cortical and hippocampal CA1 microglia. Scale bar, 50 µm.

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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 23d

“Developmental Cell” and “Genes and Development”whenever we submit a paper to them

a man wearing sunglasses and a white polo shirt is sitting in a chair and laughing .

Alt: a man wearing sunglasses and a white polo shirt is sitting in a chair and laughing .

media.tenor.com

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Marco Trizzino @marcotrizzino.bsky.social · 26d

Congratulations!

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Vincent J Lynch 🐘🦣🦥 🦇🐋🐢🐍 @devoevomed.bsky.social · 28d

Seriously, not every paper needs to be an epic novel, modeled on Anna Karenina...

www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Brief but not bland | EMBO reports

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

www.embopress.org

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EPIGENETIC HULK @epigenetichulk.bsky.social · 29d

🎵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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Ollie Inge @oliveringe.bsky.social · 29d

1/7 Really happy to see my PhD work published in ✨Developmental Cell✨ today! We find human endoderm is specified by two developmental trajectories 🔀, and the choice between alternate routes is dictated by the combinatorial BMP4/Activin signalling. www.cell.com/developmenta...

Combinatorial BMP4 and activin direct the choice between alternate routes to endoderm in a stem cell model of human gastrulation

Inge et al. show that human endoderm originates from two converging developmental routes with distinct dynamics and efficiencies yet similar developmental potential. Combinatorial activin and BMP4 sig...

www.cell.com

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Johan Jakobsson @jakobssonlab.bsky.social · Sep 7

New preprint from my lab! We describe how transposable elements are activated in Parkinson’s disease, which is linked to an interferon response. We believe this study significantly advances our understanding of transposons and their role in human brains.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Activation of transposable elements is linked to a region- and cell-type-specific interferon response in Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common age-related neurodegenerative disorder involving a neuroinflammatory response, the cause of which remains unclear. Transposable elements (TE) have been linked to i...

www.biorxiv.org

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Jackson Hoffman @jxhoffman.bsky.social · Sep 8

Really excited to get our seminars back up and running. @gracebower.bsky.social is going 1st and if you haven't read her range extender story, you're in for a treat!
+
@creminslab.bsky.social has the 2nd talk and will tell us about the amazing work happening in her lab!

FragileNucleosome @fnucleosome.bsky.social · Sep 5

Let’s kickstart new series of #FragileNucleosome seminars! We are delighted to have @gracebower.bsky.social from Kvon lab and @creminslab.bsky.social to present their work!
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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