Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
@centromellone.bsky.social
Professor studying how genetic information is passed down to the next generation | She/Her | 🇮🇹 expat in the 🇺🇸 | Wannabe 🐎 rider | She/her | Posts and likes=mine
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
A Naïve RNA Sampling Core Enables Adaptive piRNA Specificity Against Transposable Elements https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704324v1
February 13, 2026 at 3:11 PM
How does the piRNA pathway solve the self vs. non-self problem? 🧬
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
Since piRNAs come from single-stranded RNA, how does the cell choose the right ones? For years, "piRNA clusters" were seen as THE privileged source. But are they really special and earmarked for biogenesis? (1/19)
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
New preprint from the lab! We identify the ZnF protein Mulberry as a condensation-dependent structural regulator of genome topology that organizes “multi-way regulatory hubs” in early Drosophila embryos.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 5, 2026 at 10:56 AM
New preprint from the lab! We identify the ZnF protein Mulberry as a condensation-dependent structural regulator of genome topology that organizes “multi-way regulatory hubs” in early Drosophila embryos.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
February 2, 2026 at 5:58 PM
NSF GRFP applicants (and mentors): Was your application Returned Without Review and deemed ineligible despite fitting in the allowed topics?
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
1) Write NSF
2) Write your Congressperson
3) CC us at grfp@grant-witness.us so we can compile + follow up
Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter
Step 1: seed public distrust on vaccines with misinformation
Step 2: dismantle medical system supporting vaccines
Step 3: blame public distrust
Step 2: dismantle medical system supporting vaccines
Step 3: blame public distrust
BERNIE SANDERS: Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I do not believe that the measles vaccine causes autism
SANDERS: Nah. Uh uh. I didn't ask measles. Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism
BHATTACHARYA: I do not believe that the measles vaccine causes autism
SANDERS: Nah. Uh uh. I didn't ask measles. Do vaccines cause autism?
BHATTACHARYA: I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism
February 3, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Step 1: seed public distrust on vaccines with misinformation
Step 2: dismantle medical system supporting vaccines
Step 3: blame public distrust
Step 2: dismantle medical system supporting vaccines
Step 3: blame public distrust
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
The #NIH is awesome. We're proud to work with @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social . #BethesdaDeclaration #strongertogether #fedstrong #NIHStrong
N.I.H. Worker Who Criticized Trump Seeks Whistle-Blower Protection
www.nytimes.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:25 PM
The #NIH is awesome. We're proud to work with @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social . #BethesdaDeclaration #strongertogether #fedstrong #NIHStrong
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
We believe this so much, we put it on a 700 square foot sign on the outside of our ballpark
January 30, 2026 at 1:04 AM
We believe this so much, we put it on a 700 square foot sign on the outside of our ballpark
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
If you are a student whose NSF GRFP application was returned without review for vague 'eligibility' reasons:
1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress
2) Write to your congressional reps.
3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;
1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress
2) Write to your congressional reps.
3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;
January 30, 2026 at 5:15 PM
If you are a student whose NSF GRFP application was returned without review for vague 'eligibility' reasons:
1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress
2) Write to your congressional reps.
3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;
1) Let your department chair & Graduate School know. Encourage them to contact NSF & congress
2) Write to your congressional reps.
3) Write to grfp@nsf.gov to request re-consideration;
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
📉25% LOWER ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY! Wowzers—one of the largest long-term safety studies ever undertaken: “Among 28 mil adults, those who received an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to die in subsequent 4 years than unvaccinated, corresponding to a 25% lower risk of death from all causes.”
January 29, 2026 at 2:32 AM
📉25% LOWER ALL-CAUSE MORTALITY! Wowzers—one of the largest long-term safety studies ever undertaken: “Among 28 mil adults, those who received an mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine were less likely to die in subsequent 4 years than unvaccinated, corresponding to a 25% lower risk of death from all causes.”
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
CBS news jumping on the autism-vaccine misinformation wagon. Anyone that asks for a proper trial is intentionally misleading people because all the studies have in fact been done when debunking Andrew Wakefield's fraud. They are just hoping you do not know or remember about the Wakefield MMR scandal
He discussed autism/vaccines with Jay Bhattacharya on his show in June saying “If the data are robust that vaccines don’t cause autism, then run a proper trial” (those studies have been done) and discounted the idea that the rise in autism diagnoses can be explained by changes in testing/criteria.
January 28, 2026 at 3:10 AM
CBS news jumping on the autism-vaccine misinformation wagon. Anyone that asks for a proper trial is intentionally misleading people because all the studies have in fact been done when debunking Andrew Wakefield's fraud. They are just hoping you do not know or remember about the Wakefield MMR scandal
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
"ICE will leave Minnesota if you hand over your voter rolls" tells you everything you need to know.
This was never about immigration or fraud. It was always about rigging elections.
This was never about immigration or fraud. It was always about rigging elections.
January 25, 2026 at 11:01 PM
"ICE will leave Minnesota if you hand over your voter rolls" tells you everything you need to know.
This was never about immigration or fraud. It was always about rigging elections.
This was never about immigration or fraud. It was always about rigging elections.
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
January 18, 2026 at 2:00 AM
The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets.
We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Interested in the unexpected? How about a link between piRNAs and maternal histone mRNAs … Great collab with @sebastianfalk.bsky.social, @koenig-lab.bsky.social and Florian Steiner.
#piRNA #histone #mRNA #maternal #RNAbiology #RNASky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#piRNA #histone #mRNA #maternal #RNAbiology #RNASky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 8, 2026 at 8:51 AM
Interested in the unexpected? How about a link between piRNAs and maternal histone mRNAs … Great collab with @sebastianfalk.bsky.social, @koenig-lab.bsky.social and Florian Steiner.
#piRNA #histone #mRNA #maternal #RNAbiology #RNASky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#piRNA #histone #mRNA #maternal #RNAbiology #RNASky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Our renent paper on CENP-A deposition was just out in EMBO J. Please check it out. Congrats Tetsuta! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Dual pathways via CENP-C and Mis18C recruit HJURP for CENP-A deposition into vertebrate centromeres - The EMBO Journal
Centromere position is specified and maintained by sequence-independent epigenetic mechanisms in vertebrate cells, with the incorporation of the centromere-specific histone H3 variant CENP-A into chro...
link.springer.com
January 8, 2026 at 10:42 AM
Our renent paper on CENP-A deposition was just out in EMBO J. Please check it out. Congrats Tetsuta! link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
“…an intro. sociology course on race and ethnicity was canceled, a comm. course on religion and the arts was renumbered and stripped of core curriculum credit, and a philosophy prof. was told to remove Plato readings and other material related to race and gender from a core course or be reassigned.”
Texas A&M restrictions on race, gender could affect 200 courses
With the semester set to begin next week, professors have been directed to alter courses, and some classes have been removed or reassigned from the core curriculum at the College Station campus.
www.texastribune.org
January 8, 2026 at 3:25 AM
“…an intro. sociology course on race and ethnicity was canceled, a comm. course on religion and the arts was renumbered and stripped of core curriculum credit, and a philosophy prof. was told to remove Plato readings and other material related to race and gender from a core course or be reassigned.”
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Graduate school interview season is approaching.
After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back...
#GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicBluesky
👇
After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back...
#GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicBluesky
👇
December 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Graduate school interview season is approaching.
After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back...
#GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicBluesky
👇
After ~12 years of interviewing PhD and MD/PhD applicants, I’ve noticed some common interview mistakes that hold otherwise strong candidates back...
#GraduateSchool #PhDLife #MDPhD #GradSchoolTips #AcademicBluesky
👇
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!🎄✨
December 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!🎄✨
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Hey all, I reached out to the PO of my NIGMS MIRA to ask if the gov't shut down, and rescheduling of study sections, might allow for some accommodation to the standard rule that PIs cannot resubmit a MIRA while their MIRA (or other RPG) is under review (waiting in scores or summary statements) 🧪
December 19, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Hey all, I reached out to the PO of my NIGMS MIRA to ask if the gov't shut down, and rescheduling of study sections, might allow for some accommodation to the standard rule that PIs cannot resubmit a MIRA while their MIRA (or other RPG) is under review (waiting in scores or summary statements) 🧪
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Thrilled to share our latest work - now available in full in Nature Communications - led in my lab by @vcherdy.bsky.social, with key collaborative contributions from @nitikataneja.bsky.social .
rdcu.be/eVrxX
rdcu.be/eVrxX
Nucleoplasmic Lamin A/C controls replication fork restart upon stress by modulating local H3K9me3 and ADP-ribosylation levels
Nature Communications - Replication fork plasticity upon genotoxic stress is modulated by nuclear architectural components by elusive mechanisms. Here the authors implicate Lamin A/C – best...
rdcu.be
December 19, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Thrilled to share our latest work - now available in full in Nature Communications - led in my lab by @vcherdy.bsky.social, with key collaborative contributions from @nitikataneja.bsky.social .
rdcu.be/eVrxX
rdcu.be/eVrxX
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
"We find that while TAD boundaries pair more frequently than non-boundary regions, these interactions are infrequent and are uncorrelated with transcriptional activity of genes within the TAD. (...) These results suggest that TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are largely uncoupled"
TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are uncoupled
Topologically associating domains (TADs) are prominent features of genome organization. A proposed function of TADs is to contribute to gene regulation by promoting chromatin interactions within a TAD...
www.biorxiv.org
December 18, 2025 at 11:43 AM
"We find that while TAD boundaries pair more frequently than non-boundary regions, these interactions are infrequent and are uncorrelated with transcriptional activity of genes within the TAD. (...) These results suggest that TAD boundary architecture and gene activity are largely uncoupled"
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
"The only kind of thinking that matters in science is structured thinking. The only way to give structure and substance to your thoughts is to write them down. Writing. Is. Thinking."
Thinking about this in the context of AI tools....
Thinking about this in the context of AI tools....
An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write - Nature Biotechnology
Nature Biotechnology - An open letter to graduate students and other procrastinators: it’s time to write
www.nature.com
March 25, 2025 at 2:46 PM
"The only kind of thinking that matters in science is structured thinking. The only way to give structure and substance to your thoughts is to write them down. Writing. Is. Thinking."
Thinking about this in the context of AI tools....
Thinking about this in the context of AI tools....
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
If you’ve ever been on an NSF panel, you know how damaging these “reforms” will be to research and science
NSF plans to streamline merit review to heal self-inflicted staffing wound www.science.org/content/arti...
NSF pares down grant-review process, reducing influence of outside scientists
Memo cites overburdened staff, but some say move also aims to elevate White House priorities
www.science.org
December 16, 2025 at 12:01 AM
If you’ve ever been on an NSF panel, you know how damaging these “reforms” will be to research and science
Reposted by Barbara Mellone 🇺🇦
Can one map the genome-wide binding (1) and its protein partners (2) simultaneously from the same sample?
Yes, one can. with CUT&ID ✂️🪪
Spearheaded — singlehandedly — by @annanordin.bsky.social
No need of transgenesis, cloning and overexpression.
Check it out, it's fast and its works.
Yes, one can. with CUT&ID ✂️🪪
Spearheaded — singlehandedly — by @annanordin.bsky.social
No need of transgenesis, cloning and overexpression.
Check it out, it's fast and its works.
December 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Can one map the genome-wide binding (1) and its protein partners (2) simultaneously from the same sample?
Yes, one can. with CUT&ID ✂️🪪
Spearheaded — singlehandedly — by @annanordin.bsky.social
No need of transgenesis, cloning and overexpression.
Check it out, it's fast and its works.
Yes, one can. with CUT&ID ✂️🪪
Spearheaded — singlehandedly — by @annanordin.bsky.social
No need of transgenesis, cloning and overexpression.
Check it out, it's fast and its works.