David Suter

A two-layer safeguard for stem cell identity EPFL researchers uncover how two proteins work together to prevent stem cells from activating the wrong genetic programs.

EPFL news story here actu.epfl.ch/news/a-two-l...

Big thanks to the genomics, bioimaging, flow cytometry and biomolecular screening core facilities of EPFL and to the SNSF for funding this project.

Many of the TFs targeted by H2A.Z at the transcriptional level are the same that are blocked in their binding by SRCAP.
H2A.Z and SRCAP thus work together in restricting both expression and activity of lineage-specific TFs, thereby gatekeeping the pluripotent state of mouse ES cells.

Turns out that H2A.Z restricts transcriptional activation of lineage-specific genes. While SRCAP deposits H2A.Z on chromatin, it also showed a surprising H2A.Z-independent function by blocking pioneer transcription factor binding to nucleosomes by steric hindrance.

Armelle and coworkers (big thanks in particular to Enes Ugur, Heinrich Leonhardt, Susanna Dalla Longa, @gebhardtlab.bsky.social & Cédric Deluz) combined rapid SRCAP degradation, a catalytically dead SRCAP mutant, omics and single molecule imaging to dissect the specific functions of H2A.Z and SRCAP

How do the H2A.Z histone variant and its dedicated chromatin remodeller SRCAP regulate gene expression ?
Beautiful work from @armelletollenaere.bsky.social now published @ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

You are finishing your PhD and looking to continue in science?

The Martin lab @biology-unige.bsky.social has an open postdoctoral position in cell biology to study cell-cell fusion. For more information, please consult mocel.unige.ch/research-gro....

Thanks for reposting!

Useless chart of the month 🥇

Engineering intrinsically disordered regions for guiding genome navigation Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) navigate transcription factors (TFs) to their binding sites in genomes, raising the question of how IDR sequen…

Beautiful and intriguing piece of work on the role of hydrophobic residues in IDRs in guiding TFs to their binding sites
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Together they reveal a rule:
biophysics and partnership entwine—
speed and specificity, co-written in the search.

Big thanks to co-authors Cédric Deluz and Louise Font, as well as to the flow cytometry (FCCF) and genomics (GECF) core facilities of EPFL

In the crowded nucleus,
SOX2 and ESRRB wander DNA-
seeking their precise words

When hydrophobic pull grows strong,
they linger in tight embraces,
yet miss their true genomic homes

Extra negative charge dims weak whispers;
ESRRB loses its way without SOX2,
drifting toward borrowed binding grounds

📢 New preprint from the lab by super-talented postdoc Ludovica Vanzan www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... - thread 👇

Journal X: 👊 you have two weeks max to submit your final revisions !
> 3 weeks after submission: ms status = "submitted"
🫥

Y-axis label 😱

I miss these pieces so much...sigh...

Congratulations Fiona, this is fantastic news ! You telling me the story of your lab about neurogenesis in pregnant mice was the big highlight of my 2024 visit at the Biozentrum

Many congrats to the two 2026 laureates of the Jeantet Prizes!👏💐

Start your independent as an ELISIR fellow right after your PhD, in one of the most terrific places in Europe !

And here the EPFL news actu.epfl.ch/news/how-cel...

Thank you for your kind words Manuel, and Merry Christmas !

Big shout out to all co-authors involved, as well as to EPFL bioimaging, proteomics, genomics and flow cytometry core facilities for their fantastic help on this project.

As a consequence proteome is virtually unperturbed even after strong reduction of their protein synthesis rate ! Speculation: might contribute to the resilience of the blastocyst to fluctuating/harsh nutrient conditions of oviduct.

We describe passive adaptation as a general mechanism adapting protein degradation rates to change in protein synthesis. Naïve ES cells leverage a 2nd, mTOR-dependent mechanism to reach perfect adaptation 💪.

Happy holiday ❄️⛄🎅! Global protein synthesis rates can fluctuate dramatically as a function of food intake, infections, energy resources, etc. Wondering whether/how protein elimination routes adapt to these changes to maintain proteome homeostasis ? Find out here: www.cell.com/cell-systems....

Your ability to cope with this with such grace forces admiration 🙂👏

Things are going great over at X, The Everything App

Remind me, how much money does Cell pay reviewers to deal with this ?

Are we living through the fall of civilisation? | The Reith Lectures 2025 YouTube video by BBC Sounds

My first Reith Lecture is now out in video form: A Time of Monsters.

On moral decay, elite cowardice, and why we need a moral revolution. Watch here 👉 youtube.com/watch?v=fUJ-...

(With one tiny edit at 4:28, for those who notice such things 😉)

📢 Open position alert: the Institute of Bioengineering of EPFL is looking for a new IBI manager ➡️ careers.epfl.ch/job/Lausanne...

I think one of the reasons is the soaring complexity of papers with exponential rise in numbers of panels per figure and numbers of supplementary figures, can feel quite discouraging sometimes