Francoise Helmbacher
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fhelmbacher.bsky.social
Francoise Helmbacher
@fhelmbacher.bsky.social
Developmental Biologist, #CNRS researcher, studying morphogenesis, muscle regeneration and pathologies, and curious for all life sciences.
Lab website: https://helmbacherlab.org/
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
📣 Paper alert!

I am delighted that our paper exploring the impact of Neanderthal-derived variants on the activity of a disease-associated craniofacial enhancer has been published in Development today!
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
November 10, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Huge congrats to the team of project "PatCorg" for the prestigious ERC Synergy grant dedicated to studying organoids to uncover mechanisms underlying cortical development: A Pierani (@ipnp.bsky.social), S Nedelec (Institut Monod), S Descroix and B Sorre (Institut Curie), and A Baffet (Inst Curie).
November 8, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Dan Perez founded the #FSHD Society to foster research & help patients w this painful & debilitating muscular dystrophy. It was a privilege to have known this brave, caring, smart person who was instrumental in getting research money for FSHD, a strange epigenetics-related disease. Melanie Ehrlich
In Memoriam: Daniel Paul Perez - FSHD Society
Written by Howard Chabner, Board Vice Chair, and shared on behalf of the entire FSHD Society Board of Directors The Board of Directors of the FSHD Society is deeply saddened to announce that Dan Perez...
www.fshdsociety.org
November 5, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
It was a privilege to have known Dan, a brave, caring, loving, & extremely smart person who was instrumental in getting research money for FSHD, a strange epigenetics-related disease. My deepest sympathy for his lovely and loving wife Sue & for his many devoted friends. Melanie Ehrlich #Epigenetics
"The Board is deeply saddened to announce that Dan Perez, co-founder & former President/CEO, died on October 2. Everything being accomplished today stands on the foundation he built."

Read the full In Memoriam piece: https://www.fshdsociety.org/2025/10/08/in-memoriam-daniel-paul-perez/
November 4, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
How do pleiotropic TFs generate organized diversity in developing tissues? @spinalorga.bsky.social shows that PAX3 & PAX7 organize #SpinalCord by acting as both repressors & pioneer activators, regulated by #morphogens to ensure precise neural subtype specification @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4qumsla
October 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Intussusceptive angiogenesis: bridging in vivo and in vitro observations

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Thanks, Dr. Steven Mentzer and Dr. Maximilian Ackermann🙏 for this insightful highlight of our recent PNAS paper on #IntussusceptiveAngiogenesis😁

www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
October 21, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
🎂 Mon blog (Neuro)biologie et société (neurobiologieetsociete.org) associé au @cafe-sciences.org a 10 ans en ce mois d'octobre 2025 !

neurobiologieetsociete.org

Les 5 billets les plus populaires au cours de ces 10 ans 👇 :

#CultureScientifique #vulgarisationscientifique
(Neuro)biologie et société
Voir l’article pour en savoir plus.
neurobiologieetsociete.org
October 14, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
So sad to hear the news - John truly was an inspiration to so many, and one of a kind.

www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
Nobel Laureate Professor Sir John Gurdon dies aged 92
It is with great sadness that the University shares the news of the death of Professor Sir John Gurdon, founder of the Gurdon Institute.
www.cam.ac.uk
October 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Establishment of a mouse hepatocellular carcinoma tumoroid panel recapitulating inter- and intra- heterogeneity for disease modelling and combinatorial drug discovery
biosignaling.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
another big milestone from the Maina lab @crcm.bsky.social ! Contratulations!
October 3, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Ventricle position can be remodeled after heart looping!
In a model of heterotaxy we uncovered a new asymmetric morphogenesis process during which the heart reorients its chambers.
So grateful to all the authors for their expertise and input during this long (but fun) ride 💪
Read more here ⬇️
September 24, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
✨ Post-doc opportunity in axon biology, funded by #ATIP-Avenir!

👀 We are looking for an enthusiastic post-doc to join our team at @ibdm.bsky.social to explore translation dynamics in axon regrowth, using live imaging approaches.

Apply at: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Thank you for sharing! 👋 🙏
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Post-doctoral researcher in axon biology (M/F)
emploi.cnrs.fr
September 11, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Thrilled to share our new paper: "OpenEMMU: A versatile, open-source EdU multiplexing methodology for studying DNA replication and cell cycle dynamics"!

We've developed a new resource that make this crucial research more accessible, accurate, powerful and low-cost.

www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
OpenEMMU: A versatile, open-source EdU multiplexing methodology for studying DNA replication and cell cycle dynamics
Biochemistry; Cell biology; Developmental biology; Computational bioinformatics
www.cell.com
September 2, 2025 at 9:44 PM
The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin renders liver cancer vulnerable to RTK targeting and immunologically active
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fantastic new paper from Flavio Maina, Celia Sequera, Margherita Grattarola and colleagues at the @crcm.bsky.social

#CancerResearch, #CRCM, #LiverCancer
The HDAC inhibitor romidepsin renders liver cancer vulnerable to RTK targeting and immunologically active - Nature Communications
Targeting histone deacetylases (HDACs) alone has shown limited success in solid tumours. Here, authors report that the HDAC1/2 inhibitor romidepsin confers responsiveness to receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors, with enhanced therapeutic effects in models of hepatocellular carcinoma, leading to tumour regression and an immune-stimulatory profile.
www.nature.com
August 26, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
🧠 Position still opened! Don't hesitate to apply if you want to use human pluripotent stem cell based models to understand the evolution of human cerebellar neurons and disorders!
🧠 Opportunity for a post-doctoral position on human neurobiology, funded by the @erc.europa.eu!
🧫You want to use human pluripotent stem cell based models to understand the evolution of human cerebellar neurons and disorders, this position is for you!
🔗Apply here: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...
Portail Emploi CNRS - Offre d'emploi - Postdoctoral researcher in human neurobiology (M/F)
emploi.cnrs.fr
August 18, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Neurotrophin-3 produced by motor neurons non-cell autonomously regulate the development of pre-motor interneurons in the developing spinal cord https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.27.665825v1
July 30, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Kicking off the lab BlueSky with this picture of a happy hairy growing #axon!
Looking forward to connecting with science chats and to growing research ideas 🧠🔬✨
July 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
SARCOMERES divide! Mechanism how muscles grow while contracting - daughter sarcomeres appear everywhere. Seen live, registered on our cover. Pioneered by @clementrodier.bsky.social @friedrich-group.bsky.social Ian Estabrook @ibdm.bsky.social $ by @hfspo.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
July 10, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
🚨 PLF : Les préconisations de l’IGF/IGESR menacent directement notre santé et celle de nos enfants !

📣 Les principales fondations et associations de recherche biomédicale expriment leur profonde inquiétude

bit.ly/44u3aSR
July 7, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Postdoc🚨!

Come join our HFSP team to uncover how chromatin moves in cells and what this means for genome function! Great opportunity to combine single-cell genomics, live imaging and polymer physics in the unique mammalian retina with @andersshansen.bsky.social, Davide Michieletto & Sandra Tenreiro
Wissenschaftliche*r Mitarbeiter*in/ Postdoc (m/f/d)
Chromatin ist nicht unbeweglich. Es handelt sich um ein hochdynamisches Material, dessen 3D-Struktur zentrale genomische Prozesse – von der Transkription bis zur DNA-Reparatur – steuert. Doch wie verhält sich Chromatin als Material – als Flüssigkeit, Feststoff oder viskoelastisches Gel –, um diese Funktionen in lebenden Zellen auszuführen? Ohne eine Antwort auf diese Frage können wir nicht vollständig verstehen, wie Chromatin bei Krankheiten gestört wird.
www.mdc-berlin.de
June 20, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Textbooks: “Enhancers are just a bunch of TFBSs”

But how do they REALLY work?

New paper with many contributors here @berkeleylab.lbl.gov, @anshulkundaje.bsky.social, @anusri.bsky.social

A 🧵 (1/n)

Free access link: rdcu.be/erD22
June 18, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
The amazing organization team of #ShapingLife3 meeting of @sfbd.bsky.social in sunny Cassis! Thanks to the great scientists for sharing their passion for embryos, and the beauty of life ! @maitrejl.bsky.social @cedricmaurange.bsky.social @maevalux.bsky.social @ibdm.bsky.social and others
June 7, 2025 at 7:07 AM
The tumor suppressor FAT1 controls YAP/TAZ protein degradation and tumor cell proliferation through E3 ligase MIB2
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

This work from Rui Li, Stefan Offermanns, and colleagues, extends the role of this FAT1-MIB2-YAP axis to the control of tumour growth
The tumor suppressor FAT1 controls YAP/TAZ protein degradation and tumor cell proliferation through E3 ligase MIB2
FAT1 is a tumor suppressor gene encoding the protocadherin FAT1, which has been found to be mutated in different types of human cancers with the highest frequency in head and neck squamous cell carcin...
journals.plos.org
June 7, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Reposted by Francoise Helmbacher
Do you want to join us to work in neurodevelopmental biology? Please apply 👇 #SEBD
June 4, 2025 at 4:33 AM