Hi Rebecca, for the data in the paper paper and in the current version of the software, we are removing genic (exonic) reads downstream of the Stellarscope output matrix. Future plans are to implement this as an option in the main workflow.
7/ 🔗 “A single-cell transposable element atlas of human cell identity” Cell Reports Methods, 2025. doi.org/10.1016/j.cr...
TY: @bhavyasighs.bsky.social @hamarillo.bsky.social @3rduarte.bsky.social @weillcornell.bsky.social
🔄 RT to share with colleagues in #singlecell and #genomics!
6/ 💡 Key takeaway: TEs aren’t "genomic junk"—they’re informative regulators of cell identity and offer additional layers of biological insight.
www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
5/ Stellarscope is open‑source, scalable, and built to integrate with existing scRNA‑seq workflows—empowering labs to explore TE dynamics at single‑cell resolution.
github.com/nixonlab/ste...
4/ This TE atlas uncovers novel signatures within immune compartments, offering new avenues for cellular taxonomy and understanding TE biology in health and disease.
3/ Applied to human PBMCs, it quantifies locus‑specific TE expression, which was previously hidden in standard scRNA‑seq pipelines
The surprising finding? TE activity signatures distinctly mark cell types and subsets—sometimes even more sharply than conventional mRNA markers
2/ A major challenge with scRNA-seq is the low per-cell read depth - instead of having 30M reads to inform the model, we are lucky if we get 30K! To overcome this, we developed "pooling modes", where we can borrow strength from other cells to help reassign ambiguous reads.
🧵1/ Introducing Stellarscope: an EM-based tool for quantifying locus-specific transposable element expression in single cells.
A single-cell transposable element atlas of human cell identity: Cell Reports Methods www.cell.com/cell-reports...
@hamarillo.bsky.social #TEHub #singlecell #genomics
Read the full story here:
doi.org/10.1016/j.is...
A special congratulations to FIRST AUTHOR @bhavyasighs.bsky.social
Thanks to an amazing team and collaborators! @ecesarman.bsky.social @heymannjonas.bsky.social @hamarillo.bsky.social @weillcornell.bsky.social
#lymphoma #HERV #bioinformatics
Bottom line: HERV expression can uncover hidden lymphoma biology 🧫
🧬 Inform classification
🧬 Refine prognosis
🧬 Suggest new therapeutic targets
A new frontier for cancer retrotranscriptomics!
7/
Importantly, HERV-based subtypes predict prognosis.
Clusters enriched for plasma cell-like signatures had the poorest survival — a finding invisible in gene-only classifications.
6/
In DLBCL, we identified 7 distinct HERV-driven subtypes, refining the traditional 3-subtype COO model.
Some "unclassified" DLBCLs actually fit into new HERV-defined groups — with distinct survival outcomes! 📉📈
5/
Findings:
- Healthy B-cells show dynamic HERV activity during differentiation.
- Lymphomas retain HERV signatures from their cell of origin (COO).
- BL subtypes cluster by EBV status better with HERVs than with genes!
4/
A logo for the Telescope software package containing a CIRCOS-style genomic feature plot around a drawing of a telescope and a double helix. The words "TELESCOPE" and "DARK MATTER" are written within the circle.
We created the first locus-specific map of HERV activity in:
- Healthy B cells (Naïve, Memory, Germinal Center subtypes)
- Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
- Follicular lymphoma (FL)
- Burkitt lymphoma (BL)
🎯 Using RNAseq + #Telescope quantification.
3/
Endogenous retroelements (EREs), like HERVs, make up ~8% of the human genome. Their expression is often overlooked — but we found they hold key information about B-cell identity, both in healthy germinal centers and in malignancy!
2/
🚨 Excited to share our latest work: 🚨
@bhavyasighs.bsky.social et al. show that locus-specific #HERV expression can reveal the origins and heterogeneity of B-cell lymphomas!
Locus-specific human endogenous retroviruses reveal lymphoma subtypes www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
#TEsky #TEworldwide
1/
What does this mean for DCPS teachers/admins? Are they required to comply?
This is very upsetting
Thanks Bhavya glad she has scientists like you to look up to!
She’s our future!! DC was ⚡️!
Hope we can continue ✊✊✊ by SIGNING/SHARING the declaration to #defendresearch from #censorship and erasure
Join us and share widely #standupforscience: tinyurl.com/3bwuc38f bc #scienceforall is the only kind of science worth doing.
Yes! Unfortunately as DC residents we have no (voting) representation. For all those who do have representation in the US please contact your representatives and let them know that preserving science is important for us now and for the generations to come!
My writing (non-spell checked) would support this conclusion. But somehow I can spell correctly when I’m coding?
There was one poster, forget exactly what it was but something about ELONgated MUSKrats. She was so pleased when she got it.
I spent a lot of the rally trying to explain the posters to my 7yo daughter who is just starting to read. Like, “why did they write f-word trump?”
Glad I didn’t have to get into it with this one.
lol the Kendrick poster love it
A young girl holding a card that says “I am here because when I am a grown-up I want to be a scientist”
At the DC #standupforscience today.
The question was “Why are you here?” She came up with this on her own! (I helped her with the spelling)
So proud of her! #standupforscience2025
@standupforscience.bsky.social
