Heankel Lyons
@heankel.bsky.social
Scientist interested in gene regulation by condensates in the 🧠 | Postdoc with Aaron Gitler @Stanford | PhD @UTSW studying IDR-IDR specificity in transcriptional condensates | 🇲🇽
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
🎃 🥁This Wednesday in our 1st session of spookiest month👻 at #FragileNucleosome seminar, we are excited to host @sanimr.bsky.social & Alex Federation!
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
October 6, 2025 at 7:22 PM
🎃 🥁This Wednesday in our 1st session of spookiest month👻 at #FragileNucleosome seminar, we are excited to host @sanimr.bsky.social & Alex Federation!
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Let’s kickstart new series of #FragileNucleosome seminars! We are delighted to have @gracebower.bsky.social from Kvon lab and @creminslab.bsky.social to present their work!
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
September 5, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Let’s kickstart new series of #FragileNucleosome seminars! We are delighted to have @gracebower.bsky.social from Kvon lab and @creminslab.bsky.social to present their work!
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here for upcoming session and the entire series:
us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Thank you, @philipcball.bsky.social ! It was a pleasure to meet you in person!
I saw Tanja talk about this interesting work in Copenhagen a few weeks ago. Do stress condensates act as a precursor to amyloid fibrils or, on the contrary, a diversion from them? It seems the latter.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Tunable metastability of condensates reconciles their dual roles in amyloid fibril formation
The authors show that biomolecular condensates formed by prion-like domains are metastable
with respect to amyloid fibrils. Interiors of metastable condensates suppress fibril
formation, whereas their...
www.cell.com
June 5, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Thank you, @philipcball.bsky.social ! It was a pleasure to meet you in person!
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Lou Gehrig’s courage brought ALS to national attention. On Lou Gehrig Day, we honor his legacy. Join Target ALS and #PacBio in an upcoming webinar to learn how long-read sequencing is powering the largest ALS genomics study to date.
Register to learn more: bit.ly/4mFUEZo
Register to learn more: bit.ly/4mFUEZo
June 2, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Lou Gehrig’s courage brought ALS to national attention. On Lou Gehrig Day, we honor his legacy. Join Target ALS and #PacBio in an upcoming webinar to learn how long-read sequencing is powering the largest ALS genomics study to date.
Register to learn more: bit.ly/4mFUEZo
Register to learn more: bit.ly/4mFUEZo
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Excited to share my postdoctoral research on how neuronal #aging contributes to RNA dysfunction is now online at Nature Neuroscience! Here we find that aged neurons suffer from chronic cellular stress that compromises resiliency to new stressors🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Neuronal aging causes mislocalization of splicing proteins and unchecked cellular stress - Nature Neuroscience
Rhine et al. find that neuronal aging leads to widespread dysregulation of RNA biology, including mislocalization of splicing proteins like TDP-43, chronic cellular stress and reduced resiliency.
www.nature.com
June 2, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Excited to share my postdoctoral research on how neuronal #aging contributes to RNA dysfunction is now online at Nature Neuroscience! Here we find that aged neurons suffer from chronic cellular stress that compromises resiliency to new stressors🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to be back for graduation! Thankful for my mentor @bsabari.bsky.social , @utswtxid.bsky.social and family/friends who were there last night! 🙏🏼
May 23, 2025 at 4:46 PM
Happy to be back for graduation! Thankful for my mentor @bsabari.bsky.social , @utswtxid.bsky.social and family/friends who were there last night! 🙏🏼
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
🧵1/
🚨Check out our significantly updated preprint, now out on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Together with Sasi Conte lab, we characterize a novel role for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in promoting RNA-binding selectivity in RNA binding proteins (RBPs): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨Check out our significantly updated preprint, now out on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Together with Sasi Conte lab, we characterize a novel role for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in promoting RNA-binding selectivity in RNA binding proteins (RBPs): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
An intrinsically disordered region mediates RNA-binding selectivity and pro-oncogenic activities of LARP6
Intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) are prevalent in RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), yet their roles in RNA interactions remain poorly defined. Here, we examined the structured and disordered RNA-bin...
www.biorxiv.org
April 15, 2025 at 11:36 PM
🧵1/
🚨Check out our significantly updated preprint, now out on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Together with Sasi Conte lab, we characterize a novel role for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in promoting RNA-binding selectivity in RNA binding proteins (RBPs): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨Check out our significantly updated preprint, now out on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Together with Sasi Conte lab, we characterize a novel role for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in promoting RNA-binding selectivity in RNA binding proteins (RBPs): www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Protein organ clocks, as assessed in over 6,000 people (~4,000 plasma proteins, 8 organs) with 20-year follow-up are predictive for over 30 age-related diseases
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
February 26, 2025 at 12:10 AM
Protein organ clocks, as assessed in over 6,000 people (~4,000 plasma proteins, 8 organs) with 20-year follow-up are predictive for over 30 age-related diseases
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Really excited this is out! We found polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were beneficial in models of C9orf72 FTD/ALS and the greatest benefit occurred when increasing levels specifically within neurons @ukdri.ac.uk @uclqsion.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @cziscience.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ebbZf
rdcu.be/ebbZf
Neuronal polyunsaturated fatty acids are protective in ALS/FTD
Nature Neuroscience - Lipidomics revealed that neurons of patients with ALS/FTD have reduced levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing phospholipids. Increasing neuronal PUFA levels...
rdcu.be
February 25, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Really excited this is out! We found polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) were beneficial in models of C9orf72 FTD/ALS and the greatest benefit occurred when increasing levels specifically within neurons @ukdri.ac.uk @uclqsion.bsky.social @ucl.ac.uk @cziscience.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ebbZf
rdcu.be/ebbZf
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Today @nature.com on how pancreatic cancer can hijack our nervous system and how denervation may be therapeutic
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Characterization of single neurons reprogrammed by pancreatic cancer - Nature
Nature - Characterization of single neurons reprogrammed by pancreatic cancer
www.nature.com
February 18, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Today @nature.com on how pancreatic cancer can hijack our nervous system and how denervation may be therapeutic
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Unpause! I'm super happy to now be able to share the published version of our paper at Science Advances showing that:
1) active histone mods occur independently of transcription
2) transcription coordinates histone deacetylation at active promoters
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1) active histone mods occur independently of transcription
2) transcription coordinates histone deacetylation at active promoters
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
RNA polymerase II coordinates histone deacetylation at active promoters
Transcription initiation limits histone acetylation and H2AZ incorporation at promoters.
www.science.org
February 12, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Unpause! I'm super happy to now be able to share the published version of our paper at Science Advances showing that:
1) active histone mods occur independently of transcription
2) transcription coordinates histone deacetylation at active promoters
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
1) active histone mods occur independently of transcription
2) transcription coordinates histone deacetylation at active promoters
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Very proud of our first peer-reviewed paper from the lab: a review on the multifaceted role of RNA-binding proteins in the metabolic control of stem cells. Check it out! This is a truly amazing effort by my PhD student Ellie Koletsou @mpiage.bsky.social #proudPI
doi.org/10.1038/s443...
doi.org/10.1038/s443...
RNA-binding proteins as versatile metabolic regulators - npj Metabolic Health and Disease
npj Metabolic Health and Disease - RNA-binding proteins as versatile metabolic regulators
doi.org
January 14, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Very proud of our first peer-reviewed paper from the lab: a review on the multifaceted role of RNA-binding proteins in the metabolic control of stem cells. Check it out! This is a truly amazing effort by my PhD student Ellie Koletsou @mpiage.bsky.social #proudPI
doi.org/10.1038/s443...
doi.org/10.1038/s443...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Thrilled to see this paper out!! 🧪
Spatial transcriptomics of brain aging and 'spatial aging clocks' identify cells that have pro-aging or pro-rejuvenating effects on their neighbors!
Huge CONGRATS to Eric Sun and all authors! Fantastic collaboration with @jameszou.bsky.social!
rdcu.be/d33uQ 🧵
Spatial transcriptomics of brain aging and 'spatial aging clocks' identify cells that have pro-aging or pro-rejuvenating effects on their neighbors!
Huge CONGRATS to Eric Sun and all authors! Fantastic collaboration with @jameszou.bsky.social!
rdcu.be/d33uQ 🧵
Spatial transcriptomic clocks reveal cell proximity effects in brain ageing
Nature - A spatially resolved single-cell transcriptomics map of the mouse brain at different ages reveals signatures of ageing, rejuvenation and disease, including ageing effects associated with T...
rdcu.be
December 18, 2024 at 10:40 PM
Thrilled to see this paper out!! 🧪
Spatial transcriptomics of brain aging and 'spatial aging clocks' identify cells that have pro-aging or pro-rejuvenating effects on their neighbors!
Huge CONGRATS to Eric Sun and all authors! Fantastic collaboration with @jameszou.bsky.social!
rdcu.be/d33uQ 🧵
Spatial transcriptomics of brain aging and 'spatial aging clocks' identify cells that have pro-aging or pro-rejuvenating effects on their neighbors!
Huge CONGRATS to Eric Sun and all authors! Fantastic collaboration with @jameszou.bsky.social!
rdcu.be/d33uQ 🧵
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
👀 Less than 24 hours! Don't forget to register!
🎄🔔Ho Ho ho!😆 Our final
#FragileNucleosome
seminar of the year! We are excited to host Julia and Nithya, two amazing ECR scientists!
🗓️Don't forget to register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
#FragileNucleosome
seminar of the year! We are excited to host Julia and Nithya, two amazing ECR scientists!
🗓️Don't forget to register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
December 17, 2024 at 11:32 PM
👀 Less than 24 hours! Don't forget to register!
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
As you make have seen, there is a special issue of JMB on "Controlling Transcription Elongation and Termination: More Than a Means to An End" curated by my colleague here at Pitt Karen Arndt and by Steve Buratowski from Harvard Medical School 🧪🧵 1/ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Controlling Transcription Elongation and Termination: More Than a Means to An End
www.sciencedirect.com
November 27, 2024 at 3:00 PM
As you make have seen, there is a special issue of JMB on "Controlling Transcription Elongation and Termination: More Than a Means to An End" curated by my colleague here at Pitt Karen Arndt and by Steve Buratowski from Harvard Medical School 🧪🧵 1/ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Our latest paper, a fantastic collaboration with the Mendell Lab, is out. Great work by Xiaoqiang Zhu and Victor Cruz. We uncover how tRNA structural features in the ribosomal P-site modulate co-translational mRNA decay by the CCR4-NOT complex. #RNAsky #RNAbiology #translation #ribosome #cryoEM 1/5
www.science.org
November 21, 2024 at 7:58 PM
Our latest paper, a fantastic collaboration with the Mendell Lab, is out. Great work by Xiaoqiang Zhu and Victor Cruz. We uncover how tRNA structural features in the ribosomal P-site modulate co-translational mRNA decay by the CCR4-NOT complex. #RNAsky #RNAbiology #translation #ribosome #cryoEM 1/5
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Nice to see all you chromatin & epigenetics aficionados here! As we build our network back up please repost details for our upcoming webinar this Friday!
We are delighted to welcome Emma Farley for her webinar 'Dependency Grammar of Developmental Enhancers' on November 22nd. Registration below 👇
We are delighted to welcome Emma Farley for her webinar 'Dependency Grammar of Developmental Enhancers' on November 22nd. Registration below 👇
November 19, 2024 at 3:58 PM
Nice to see all you chromatin & epigenetics aficionados here! As we build our network back up please repost details for our upcoming webinar this Friday!
We are delighted to welcome Emma Farley for her webinar 'Dependency Grammar of Developmental Enhancers' on November 22nd. Registration below 👇
We are delighted to welcome Emma Farley for her webinar 'Dependency Grammar of Developmental Enhancers' on November 22nd. Registration below 👇
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Trying for a molecular and cellular neurobiology starter pack - happy to add folks and connect :) #neuroskyance #cellbiology
go.bsky.app/PgEk7aF
go.bsky.app/PgEk7aF
November 11, 2024 at 8:55 PM
Trying for a molecular and cellular neurobiology starter pack - happy to add folks and connect :) #neuroskyance #cellbiology
go.bsky.app/PgEk7aF
go.bsky.app/PgEk7aF
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
I am excited to share our review published online with Nature Reviews MCB. Pilong Li, Gaofeng Pei, Heankel Lyons, and I review the current literature on the regulation of transcription by condensates, large length scale assemblies of complexes (Figure 1).
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Transcription regulation by biomolecular condensates - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Transcriptional condensates, which are formed through dynamic multivalent interactions between proteins, RNA and chromatin, regulate transcription by compartmentalizing its machinery in the crowded nu...
www.nature.com
November 18, 2024 at 11:06 PM
I am excited to share our review published online with Nature Reviews MCB. Pilong Li, Gaofeng Pei, Heankel Lyons, and I review the current literature on the regulation of transcription by condensates, large length scale assemblies of complexes (Figure 1).
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Heankel Lyons
Biomolecular condensate starter pack!
Trying to compile & to bring together biomolecular condensate enthusiasts & critics!
Please join this non-exhaustive (sorry!) collection & just ping me for addition.
#condensates, #phaseseparation, #granules, #IDPs
go.bsky.app/NFqmffa
Trying to compile & to bring together biomolecular condensate enthusiasts & critics!
Please join this non-exhaustive (sorry!) collection & just ping me for addition.
#condensates, #phaseseparation, #granules, #IDPs
go.bsky.app/NFqmffa
November 18, 2024 at 9:44 AM
Biomolecular condensate starter pack!
Trying to compile & to bring together biomolecular condensate enthusiasts & critics!
Please join this non-exhaustive (sorry!) collection & just ping me for addition.
#condensates, #phaseseparation, #granules, #IDPs
go.bsky.app/NFqmffa
Trying to compile & to bring together biomolecular condensate enthusiasts & critics!
Please join this non-exhaustive (sorry!) collection & just ping me for addition.
#condensates, #phaseseparation, #granules, #IDPs
go.bsky.app/NFqmffa