Miguel Branco
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brancolab.bsky.social
Miguel Branco
@brancolab.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.1K following 140 posts
Transposons and epigenetics.
https://brancolaboratory.com/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Miguel Branco
trevorgraham.bsky.social
Open postdoc position in our lab @icr.ac.uk to develop a cfDNA test for #early detection of colorectal #cancer in inflammatory bowel disease #IBD:
jobs.icr.ac.uk/vacancies/14...

It's bench-to-bedside research, translating biology of pre-cancer evolution.

Funded by @bowelcanceruk.bsky.social
Postdoctoral Training Fellow - Genomics and Evolutionary Dynimcs in Sutton | The Institute of Cancer Research
View details and apply for this Postdoctoral Training Fellow - Genomics and Evolutionary Dynimcs vacancy in Sutton. Salary: Dependent on relevant Postdoctoral experience. Durati...
jobs.icr.ac.uk
January 19, 2026 at 9:11 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
Always a fantastic meeting! Register now.
loke-ctr.bsky.social The Loke Centre for Trophoblast Research @loke-ctr.bsky.social · 7d
Exciting News!

🚀 Registration Open! | Loke CTR Annual Meeting 2026 🎉

📅 16-17 July 2026
📍 St John’s College, Cambridge | 💻 Hybrid conference (in-person & online)

🔬 Epigenetics of embryogenesis and placentation

📌 To find out more and to register
www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk/ctrconferenc...
January 15, 2026 at 12:18 PM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
seemagrewal.bsky.social
We’re hiring!
@jcellsci.bsky.social is looking for a Reviews Editor to join the team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who loves #cellbiology and wants to stay connected with the field. A great chance to work for an organisation that believes in helping the community!

Details below👇
biologists.bsky.social The Company of Biologists @biologists.bsky.social · 14d
Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social is recruiting an enthusiastic and motivated Reviews Editor. An exciting opportunity for a talented scientific editor to make a contribution to an important journal in the field of #cellbiology. Deadline 2 Feb.
More at: www.biologists.com/about-us/wor...
Work for us
Working for us We’re always looking for talented and motivated people to work as part of our close-knit team. Roles range from editorial to production, marketing to event co-ordination, HR to accounts...
www.biologists.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
tomgauld.bsky.social
A back-to-work cartoon for @newscientist.com
Two scientist walk through a lab. One is saying: "I am a scientist, Martin. My observations must be meticulously documented, rigorously analysed and objectively verified. Haste is the enemy of wisdom!" The other asks: "But could you share a preliminary appraisal of your general thinking?" The first replies: "Well, if you insist on a crudely reductive answer, then, yes, I had a nice christmas."
January 5, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
manusingh.bsky.social
🔥🎉 🧠 SuperThrilled to share our paper (preprint) - Human erythropoietin (rhEPO) reshapes the adult hippocampal chromatin landscape, around transposons to promote neurogenesis. 🧵1/8

Massive kudos to #UmutCakir who drove multi-omics through dark roads of the genome.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 5, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
hellefjorgensen.bsky.social
Happy New Year!

We are looking for a postdoc with computational expertise to join our group. Deadline for application is 13th January.

www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

#newjob #postdoc #vascularbiology #atherosclerosis #cellplasticitycontrol #functionalgenomics #cellheterogeneity
Research Associate (Fixed Term)
Postdoctoral Research Associate in vascular cell plasticity and translation (single-cell and omics) (Fixed Term) We invite applicants for a postdoc position (Research Associate) for a project in Dr
www.cam.ac.uk
January 5, 2026 at 10:14 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
the-node.bsky.social
Apply for Development's Pathway to Independence programme

The programme aims to support a small number of researchers in the fields of developmental biology, stem cells and regeneration as they transition from postdoc to group leader. Read more ⬇️

thenode.biologists.com/apply-for-de...
Apply for Development's Pathway to Independence programme - the Node
Development are currently welcoming applications for our Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, which aims to support a small number of researchers in
thenode.biologists.com
December 18, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
amjeve.uk
Please consider applying, @dev-journal.bsky.social provides:
- Profile raising
- Mentor sessions
- Leadership training

and a growing network of supportive peers.
dev-journal.bsky.social Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · Dec 2
Apply for our Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, supporting postdocs in #devbio and #stemcell research during the transition to their first group leader position: www.biologists.com/grants/devel...

Application deadline: 2 February 2026.
Pathway to Independence Support postdocs on the job market Line drawing of a person at a bench transitioning to working at a desk Development
December 2, 2025 at 3:19 PM
brancolab.bsky.social
More marsupial fun from @lab-turner.bsky.social. Congrats @sermenchero.bsky.social
Marsupial single-cell transcriptomics identifies temporal diversity in mammalian developmental programs - PubMed
Single-cell transcriptomics has demonstrated conserved and divergent programs of organogenesis in mammals, but existing studies have focused on eutherians. Marsupials exhibit short gestation and complete development externally, necessitating accelerated differentiation of anterior features required …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
December 4, 2025 at 8:35 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
Another envelope protein in the human genome. Expressed in the placenta, of course.
The human endogenous retroviral envelope HEMO protein interacts with BACE2: Novel partnership acquired in the primate lineage - PubMed
Endogenous retroviruses (ERV) represent 8 to 10% of mammalian genome. While most ERV are defective, a few retroviral genes, such as the envelope syncytins, were exapted during evolution and likely contributed to the emergence of placental mammals. We have previously identified the oldest full-length …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
December 4, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
smllmp.bsky.social
Molecular effects of transposable element sequences in mammalian cells #TESky

(Wen, MC.C., Welch, J.D. Genome Biol 26, 403 (2025)).

Interesting review of new-found functions of TEs in mammalian genomes, especially over the last three years.
doi.org/10.1186/s130... #TEWorldwide
Molecular effects of transposable element sequences in mammalian cells - Genome Biology
Transposable elements (TEs) are often epigenetically repressed in eukaryotic cells, but still affect the molecular state of the cell in certain contexts. A flurry of recent studies have elucidated new...
doi.org
November 28, 2025 at 8:05 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
Despite having been scooped big time by this paper from William Pastor's lab, really quite enjoyed reading it. Congrats to the authors.
Divergent roles of DNA methylation, TRIM28, and p53 surveillance in human embryonic and trophoblast stem cells
Transcriptional regulation of transposons and genes by TRIM28 and 5mC is critical for proper mammalian embryonic development, but the specific roles for these mediators in human embryonic and placenta...
www.biorxiv.org
November 28, 2025 at 10:56 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
😩
pedrobeltrao.bsky.social Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · Nov 21
Finally the scary example. The image of a western blot with a time course experiment, staining a protein of interest, showing the increase of protein over time and a second staining with a control antibody that does not change over time
November 21, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
alexdemendoza.bsky.social
Out today, our take on 6-methyladenine #6mA evolution in Eukaryotes @natgenet.nature.com. We asked a simple question, is really DNA 6mA common across the eukaryotes? The answer is "yes" if you're a unicellular eukaryote 🦠, not so if you're multicellular 🐝🌱🍄. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/9
Adenine DNA methylation associated with transcriptionally permissive chromatin is widespread across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
Long-read sequencing in 18 unicellular eukaryotes reveals that 6mA is widespread across eukaryotes and is enriched at transcriptionally permissive regions, which are also marked by H3K4me3.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
bedform.org
ooof this feels like most every university rn
bunch of executives on the deck of a ship with only one guy rowing and a quote "I don't understand, after so many budget cuts why dont we move faster?"
November 12, 2025 at 3:28 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
erc.europa.eu
📣 Meet the new ERC Synergy Grant awardees!

Sixty-six research teams have been selected for funding, bringing together 239 scientists. Congratulations to all!

➡️ buff.ly/PSn3bi9

#EUfunded #HorizonEurope #ERCSyG
November 6, 2025 at 11:12 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
Transposable elements drive species-specific and tissue-specific transcriptomes in human development - PubMed
Our results characterize the global profile of TE-initiated transcription and enhance our understanding of TE contribution to the primate-specific gene regulatory networks in human development.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
brancolab.bsky.social
ERV3-MLT1 provides cis-regulatory elements for human placental functioning and are commonly dysregulated in human-specific preeclampsia - PubMed
We conclude that ERV3-MLT1functions as a trophoblast-specific CRE for several human genes and may be dysregulated in preeclampsia. As EPS8L1 has a form in maternal circulation, it may have utility in diagnostics.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 5, 2025 at 12:39 PM
brancolab.bsky.social
Transposon invasion of primate genomes shaped human inflammatory enhancers and susceptibility to inflammatory diseases - PubMed
Human inflammatory response reflects adaptive alteration of immune-cell regulatory elements during human evolution. Yet the impact of the deeper evolutionary history of these elements, within primate genomes reshaped by transposon expansions, remains unclear. Tracing sequence changes in human immune …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 4, 2025 at 1:46 PM
brancolab.bsky.social
Comparative analysis of rhesus macaque and human placental organoids highlights evolutionary differences in placentation - PubMed
Throughout evolution, the placenta has diversified in structure and composition while maintaining its essential role in supporting fetal development. Trophoblasts, cells responsible for nutrient exchange and immune modulation, are a conserved feature of all placentas. Although primate placentas shar …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 3, 2025 at 8:22 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
The Chromosome 19 miRNA cluster guards trophoblasts against overacting innate immunity - PubMed
To maintain pregnancy health, the human placenta delicately balances protection of the developing fetus from invading pathogens with suppression of excessive inflammation that could lead to fetal and neonatal autoimmune disorders. Previous research, including our own, has shown that small RNA produc …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
October 31, 2025 at 11:15 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
N6-methyladenosine on L1PA governs the trans-silencing of LTRs and restrains totipotency in naive human embryonic stem cells - PubMed
Transposable elements (TEs) occupy nearly half of the genome and drive developmental innovation, yet the mechanisms of silencing long terminal repeats (LTRs) remain incompletely understood. We demonstrate that methyltransferase-like 3 deficiency reverts naive human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to a …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
October 31, 2025 at 11:01 AM
brancolab.bsky.social
Young KRAB-zinc finger gene clusters are highly dynamic incubators of ERV-driven genetic heterogeneity in mice - PubMed
KRAB-zinc finger proteins (KZFPs) comprise the largest family of mammalian transcription factors, rapidly evolving within and between species. Most KZFPs in human and mice have been found to repress endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) and other retrotransposons, with KZFP gene numbers correlating with th …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
October 31, 2025 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Miguel Branco
labrowe.bsky.social
How do pluripotent stem cells resist harmful interferon responses to safeguard development? Through total epigenetic lockdown of ligands, sensors and effectors of IFN-I. In our preprint, James Holt shares his PhD discoveries on the ground state of immune evasion 😊: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Epigenetic lockdown of type I interferon sensing and signalling in human pluripotent cells.
The Human Silencing Hub (HUSH) complex safeguards genome integrity in human somatic cells by repressing transposable elements and regulating type I interferon (IFN-I) induction. In early development, ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 29, 2025 at 6:03 PM