Ian Henderson
@hendersi.bsky.social
Plant genetics and epigenetics @ University of Cambridge, Department of Plant Sciences
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo giving the Genetics Society public lecture at @crick.ac.uk. Svante is recounting how Neandertals and Denisovans live on in many of us!
November 13, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo giving the Genetics Society public lecture at @crick.ac.uk. Svante is recounting how Neandertals and Denisovans live on in many of us!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congratulations @hilarycmartin.bsky.social from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Balfour Lecture!
November 14, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Congratulations @hilarycmartin.bsky.social from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Balfour Lecture!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congratulations to @zaminiqbal.bsky.social from @milnerevolution.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Mary Lyon Medal!
November 14, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Congratulations to @zaminiqbal.bsky.social from @milnerevolution.bsky.social on being awarded the 2026 Mary Lyon Medal!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congratulations to @vinuesalab.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk on winning the 2026 JBS Haldane Lecture. Carola will present her JBS Haldane Lecture next year at @rigb.org!
November 14, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Congratulations to @vinuesalab.bsky.social from @crick.ac.uk on winning the 2026 JBS Haldane Lecture. Carola will present her JBS Haldane Lecture next year at @rigb.org!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congratulations to Joe Felsenstein on being awarded the 2026 Mendel Medal!
November 14, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Congratulations to Joe Felsenstein on being awarded the 2026 Mendel Medal!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congratulations to Richard Durbin on being awarded our Genetics Society Medal!
November 14, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Congratulations to Richard Durbin on being awarded our Genetics Society Medal!
FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...
November 11, 2025 at 7:20 PM
FastGA -> ALNview; step into the centromeric matrix! github.com/thegenemyers Probably the best dot plot software on the planet...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Some impressions from the rather fabulous #EMBOmobilegenome Mobile Genome meeting in Heidelberg
Morning walk through the woods, exciting panel discussion, flash talks, lab community, drosophila friends, …
@events.embl.org
The transposon community is going very strong. see you all again in 2027!!
Morning walk through the woods, exciting panel discussion, flash talks, lab community, drosophila friends, …
@events.embl.org
The transposon community is going very strong. see you all again in 2027!!
November 7, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Some impressions from the rather fabulous #EMBOmobilegenome Mobile Genome meeting in Heidelberg
Morning walk through the woods, exciting panel discussion, flash talks, lab community, drosophila friends, …
@events.embl.org
The transposon community is going very strong. see you all again in 2027!!
Morning walk through the woods, exciting panel discussion, flash talks, lab community, drosophila friends, …
@events.embl.org
The transposon community is going very strong. see you all again in 2027!!
Reposted by Ian Henderson
After 5 years of waiting, the new #CRISPR classification by Makarova et al. is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
An updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR–Cas systems including rare variants - Nature Microbiology
An exploration of previously undescribed variants from the long tail of the CRISPR–Cas distribution.
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
After 5 years of waiting, the new #CRISPR classification by Makarova et al. is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
November 6, 2025 at 10:09 AM
BehaveAI is live!
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Our biologically inspired video analysis tool sees motion as colour. Track animals or objects, classify their behaviour, and handle complex natural scenes with ease.
Semi-supervised annotation, no GPUs required, user-friendly, free & open source.
Pre-print tinyurl.com/BehaveAI
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Magnus Nordborg of the GMI from the @oeaw.bsky.social has received a Synergy Grant from the @erc.europa.eu. With Richard Durbin and @felipekteixeira.bsky.social, they will investigate how transposable elements shape genome evolution in eukaryotes.
Read more: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve...
Read more: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve...
November 6, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Magnus Nordborg of the GMI from the @oeaw.bsky.social has received a Synergy Grant from the @erc.europa.eu. With Richard Durbin and @felipekteixeira.bsky.social, they will investigate how transposable elements shape genome evolution in eukaryotes.
Read more: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve...
Read more: www.oeaw.ac.at/gmi/news-eve...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Very excited to share our work published in Nature Comms last week! Here we describe a range of cool things that can be done once you have the power to control deposition of H3K4me3…
rdcu.be/eNEf4
A short thread:
rdcu.be/eNEf4
A short thread:
CRISPR targeting of H3K4me3 activates gene expression and unlocks centromere-proximal crossover recombination in Arabidopsis
Nature Communications - Binenbaum et al. demonstrate that precise CRISPR-based targeting of a key chromatin mark (H3K4me3) can switch on genes, boost disease resistance, and unlock meiotic...
rdcu.be
November 5, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Very excited to share our work published in Nature Comms last week! Here we describe a range of cool things that can be done once you have the power to control deposition of H3K4me3…
rdcu.be/eNEf4
A short thread:
rdcu.be/eNEf4
A short thread:
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Our latest paper has just been published in Cell!
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
We developed a new method called MCC ultra, which allows 3D chromatin structure to be visualised with a 1 base pair pixel size.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
We developed a new method called MCC ultra, which allows 3D chromatin structure to be visualised with a 1 base pair pixel size.
November 5, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Our latest paper has just been published in Cell!
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
We developed a new method called MCC ultra, which allows 3D chromatin structure to be visualised with a 1 base pair pixel size.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
We developed a new method called MCC ultra, which allows 3D chromatin structure to be visualised with a 1 base pair pixel size.
Reposted by Ian Henderson
great to be at the #EMBOMobileGenome meeting in Heidelberg with a wonderful bunch of colleagues, speakers and attendees.
this meeting is a good reflection of the excitement and collegiality in the transposon field.
kindly sponsored by @embo.org
this meeting is a good reflection of the excitement and collegiality in the transposon field.
kindly sponsored by @embo.org
Welcome to Day 1 of 'The mobile genome: genetic and physiological impacts of transposable elements'! 🧬
The opening remarks by Julius Brennecke accompanied by his fellow scientific organisers:
🔹Déborah Bourc'his
🔹Josefa González
🔹Joseph Peters
#EMBOMobileGenome
The opening remarks by Julius Brennecke accompanied by his fellow scientific organisers:
🔹Déborah Bourc'his
🔹Josefa González
🔹Joseph Peters
#EMBOMobileGenome
November 4, 2025 at 8:25 PM
great to be at the #EMBOMobileGenome meeting in Heidelberg with a wonderful bunch of colleagues, speakers and attendees.
this meeting is a good reflection of the excitement and collegiality in the transposon field.
kindly sponsored by @embo.org
this meeting is a good reflection of the excitement and collegiality in the transposon field.
kindly sponsored by @embo.org
‘Epigenetic serum’ makes you wonder !
November 2, 2025 at 3:53 PM
‘Epigenetic serum’ makes you wonder !
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Really cool work by the @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social lab @embl.org www.cell.com/molecular-ce... #archea #evochromo
Cryo-EM reveals open and closed Asgard chromatin assemblies
Ranawat et al. show the cryo-EM structures of Asgard archaeal chromatin assemblies,
revealing that the histone HHoB assembles into both compact closed and extended open
hypernucleosomes. The closed co...
www.cell.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Really cool work by the @dodonova-sveta.bsky.social lab @embl.org www.cell.com/molecular-ce... #archea #evochromo
Reposted by Ian Henderson
We are recuiting two new Associate Professors here in Oxford Biochemistry. Come join us! Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! tinyurl.com/mr3m7bd3
October 17, 2025 at 2:56 PM
We are recuiting two new Associate Professors here in Oxford Biochemistry. Come join us! Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! tinyurl.com/mr3m7bd3
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Crazy red flesh apple - tastes good too! 🍎
October 12, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Crazy red flesh apple - tastes good too! 🍎
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Out in @science.org this week:
A new FRET sensor for salicylic acid gives insight into spatial dynamics of pathogen infection www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/2)
#PlantScience
A new FRET sensor for salicylic acid gives insight into spatial dynamics of pathogen infection www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/2)
#PlantScience
SALICYLIC ACID SENSOR1 reveals the propagation of an SA hormone surge during plant pathogen advance
Salicylic acid (SA) is a key phytohormone that orchestrates immune responses against pathogens, including Pseudomonas syringae bacteria. The timing and extent of SA accumulation are tightly controlled...
www.science.org
October 10, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Out in @science.org this week:
A new FRET sensor for salicylic acid gives insight into spatial dynamics of pathogen infection www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/2)
#PlantScience
A new FRET sensor for salicylic acid gives insight into spatial dynamics of pathogen infection www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
(1/2)
#PlantScience
Reposted by Ian Henderson
Congrats, Joe Ecker @salkinstitute.bsky.social, to receiving the McClintock Prize! Joe has been a visionary leader of the field of genetics and genomics – not only for plants – for decades
www.salk.edu/news-release...
www.salk.edu/news-release...
October 10, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Congrats, Joe Ecker @salkinstitute.bsky.social, to receiving the McClintock Prize! Joe has been a visionary leader of the field of genetics and genomics – not only for plants – for decades
www.salk.edu/news-release...
www.salk.edu/news-release...
Reposted by Ian Henderson
🚨 New paper alert on telomeres! 🚨
Something different from the group! Thanks to Yuxin, a talented student in the lab, we used long-reads in 75 human trios to study telomeres and their inheritance.
Something different from the group! Thanks to Yuxin, a talented student in the lab, we used long-reads in 75 human trios to study telomeres and their inheritance.
October 9, 2025 at 5:33 AM
🚨 New paper alert on telomeres! 🚨
Something different from the group! Thanks to Yuxin, a talented student in the lab, we used long-reads in 75 human trios to study telomeres and their inheritance.
Something different from the group! Thanks to Yuxin, a talented student in the lab, we used long-reads in 75 human trios to study telomeres and their inheritance.