Department of Translational Genomics - University of Cologne

We gratefully acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - German Research Foundation within the Collaborative Research Center SFB1399 and Deutsche Krebshilfe.

Functional synapses between neurons and small cell lung cancer - Nature Small cell lung cancer cells form functional synapses with glutamatergic neurons, receiving synaptic transmissions and deriving a proliferative advantage from these interactions.

📄The study was published in Springer Nature:
Read the full paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

👏 Congratulations to Dr. Filippo Beleggia, Prof. Christian Reinhardt, Dr. Elisa Motori, Prof. Matteo Bergami, and all collaborators for this important contribution to oncology and neuroscience!

💡 Why it matters:
This reveals an entirely new aspect of cancer biology: direct communication between cancer and the nervous system.
Targeting these neuron-cancer synapses could open up novel therapeutic strategies for one of the most aggressive forms of lung cancer.

🧠 Key findings:
SCLC cells establish synaptic connections using glutamate and GABA signaling.
Interaction with sensory or cortical neurons enhances tumor progression.
Blocking glutamatergic signaling reduces tumor burden and improves survival in experimental models.

🔬 How Small Cell Lung Cancer Hijacks Neuronal Synapses
A groundbreaking study led by researchers from the Department of Translational Genomics and SFB1399 has uncovered that SCLC cells form functional synapses with neurons— effectively hijacking neural signaling to promote tumor growth.

DynaTag for efficient mapping of transcription factors in low-input samples and at single-cell resolution - Nature Communications Transcription factors shape cell identity, but mapping their genomic targets remains challenging. Here the authors present DynaTag, a modified CUT&Tag method for profiling TF occupancy in bulk and...

Die neue Methode übertrifft bestehende Methoden wie #ChIP-seq und #CUT&RUN in Bezug auf Sensitivität und Auflösung der Ergebnisse. 📈
Die Studie wurde in ‪@natcomms.nature.com‬ veröffentlicht👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

DynaTag for efficient mapping of transcription factors in low-input samples and at single-cell resolution - Nature Communications Transcription factors shape cell identity, but mapping their genomic targets remains challenging. Here the authors present DynaTag, a modified CUT&Tag method for profiling TF occupancy in bulk and...

#DynaTag outperforms existing methods like #ChIP-seq and #CUT&RUN in terms of sensitivity and resolution. 📈 The study was published in @natcomms.nature.com 👇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Image credit: @gloglita.bsky.social @lifescienceeditors.bsky.social captured DynaTag in action: a pA-Tn5 probe (multicoloured) binds an antibody (white), which binds p53 (green) on DNA (blue) within 2 nucleosomes (7/7)‬‬‬

Thanks to former PhD student Pascal Hunold and lab members Giulia Pizzolato & Olivia van Ray for their amazing work. Grateful to @dtg-cologne.bsky.social‬, Peifer, George & Thomas labs, funders @unicologne.bsky.social‬ #CMMC #sfb1399 @crc1678.bsky.social #FOR5504 #Fritz_Thyssen_Foundation (6/7)‬‬‬‬

🗝️ #DynaTag can reveal nuanced TF occupancy behaviour and shed light on transcriptional regulation in health and disease. In small cell lung cancer #SCLC PDX models, it uncovered surprising gain-of-function p53, FOXA1 & MYC activity post-chemotherapy – not for ASCL1, NEUROD1, POU2F3 or YAP1 (5/7)

How is DynaTag better than CUT&Tag?
⚡Preserves weak/transient TF binding without signal loss
⚡Better signal-to-noise & resolution
⚡Works for all TFs (high and low DNA-binding affinity) & histone marks
⚡Low-input needed, bulk or single-cell, scalable to multi-cellular systems (4/7)

🤔 How to capture nuanced TF-DNA interactions?
💡 Enter #DynaTag: ‘Dynamic targets and Tagmentation’ captures transient TF-DNA interactions that standard CUT&Tag misses.
The trick? Sample prep under physiological salt stabilizes specific interactions without promoting untargeted tagmentation 🧂 (3/7)

❗TF occupancy mapping is still challenging. CUT&Tag was a breakthrough, but it has limits…
👉 Doesn’t work well for TFs that only transiently bind DNA
👉 These fleeting interactions are often lost during sample prep
That means we’re missing key regulatory events and it’s time for a new method (2/7)

🧵Let’s break down what makes DynaTag so powerful (1/7)
#Epigenomics #Genomics

🧪Move over CUT&Tag, there’s a new #TranscriptionFactor mapping method in town.

The newly developed DynaTag by Robert and his lab @epistrucstab.bsky.social is faster, cleaner, more sensitive than #ChIPseq, #CUT&RUN and #CUT&Tag.
🔗 Our @natcomms.nature.com‬ paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

On behalf of the conference chair Caroline Dive and the organizing committee Reinhard Büttner, Roman Thomas, Jürgen Wolf:
We are delighted to announce the 3rd Cologne Conference on Lung Cancer (CCLC), June 26th – 27th, 2025 at the Maritim Hotel in Cologne.

Registration is now open!! cologne-clc.com

👋Hallo Bluesky wir sind #DepartmentofTranslationalGenomics // we are #DepartmentofTranslationalGenomics