Nezha Benabdallah
@nsbenab.bsky.social
Group leader at the University of Edinburgh.
Chromatin, Gene Regulation & Sarcoma
https://www.benabdallah-lab.com/
Chromatin, Gene Regulation & Sarcoma
https://www.benabdallah-lab.com/
Beautiful (jaw-dropping 😉) work from Hannah Long’s group revealing how Neandertal enhancers influence facial morphology!
📣 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/...
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 11:42 AM
Beautiful (jaw-dropping 😉) work from Hannah Long’s group revealing how Neandertal enhancers influence facial morphology!
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
I guess I need to apologize to the writers of Alien: Prometheus. it turns out scientists really do touch everything like that
World's biggest spiderweb discovered inside 'Sulfur Cave' with 111,000 arachnids living in pitch black.
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
www.livescience.com/animals/spid...
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 PM
I guess I need to apologize to the writers of Alien: Prometheus. it turns out scientists really do touch everything like that
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
🥁This Wednesday , in #FragileNucleosome seminar, we are excited to host @hannahlong.bsky.social and @jeffvierstra.bsky.social to tell us about amazing work they are doing!
🗓️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...
November 3, 2025 at 12:03 PM
🥁This Wednesday , in #FragileNucleosome seminar, we are excited to host @hannahlong.bsky.social and @jeffvierstra.bsky.social to tell us about amazing work they are doing!
🗓️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 Nezha Benabdallah
Ever wondered what drives enhancer-promoter specificity? Why would an enhancer activate one gene rather than another neighboring one?
Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Promoter-proximal gatekeepers restrict pleiotropic enhancer inputs to achieve tissue specificity
Developmental enhancers are central regulatory elements that can activate multiple genes, yet how they selectively regulate one gene over its neighbours remains unclear. Using the Drosophila twist E3 ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Ever wondered what drives enhancer-promoter specificity? Why would an enhancer activate one gene rather than another neighboring one?
Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check our latest preprint, led by @mmasoura.bsky.social, to find out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
What is a promoter? And how does it work?
We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility.
I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility.
I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Enhancer-promoter compatibility is mediated by the promoter-proximal region
Gene promoters induce transcription in response to distal enhancers. How enhancers specifically activate their target promoter while bypassing other promoters remains unclear. Here, we find that the p...
www.biorxiv.org
October 16, 2025 at 3:06 PM
What is a promoter? And how does it work?
We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility.
I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We very happy to share our latest work trying to understand enhancer-promoter compatibility.
I am very excited about the results of @blanka-majchrzycka.bsky.social, which changed the way I think about promoters
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Programmable promoter editing for precise control of transgene expression - @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social go.nature.com/4h9wlR1
October 13, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Programmable promoter editing for precise control of transgene expression - @mitcheme.bsky.social @mitdeptofbe.bsky.social go.nature.com/4h9wlR1
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
🦖 Something HUGE just hatched.
Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results
Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results
Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
October 15, 2025 at 4:02 PM
🦖 Something HUGE just hatched.
Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results
Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis:
• As fast as 3 day turnaround
• $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry
• Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample
• Interactive results
Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
If you’re interested in exploring the relationship between chromatin organization and epigenetic memory using chromatin tracing microscopy, my group is recruiting a talented PhD student 🥳
🚨 Please share! We are seeking motivated PhD students who wish to work at the intersection of molecular life sciences and computational sciences.
#IMPRS #IMPRSBAC @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
Check out our projects and apply by Jan 7th, 2026!
www.molgen.mpg.de/IMPRSPhDproj...
#IMPRS #IMPRSBAC @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social @maxplanck.de
Check out our projects and apply by Jan 7th, 2026!
www.molgen.mpg.de/IMPRSPhDproj...
October 8, 2025 at 5:05 PM
If you’re interested in exploring the relationship between chromatin organization and epigenetic memory using chromatin tracing microscopy, my group is recruiting a talented PhD student 🥳
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
🧵1/ Excited to share our new paper introducing a new #singlecell assay: scTF-seq, a high-throughput single-cell approach to explore how transcription factor (TF) dose shapes cell identity and reprogramming outcomes. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Big congrats to the entire team @EPFL & @SIAT_China
Dissecting the impact of transcription factor dose on cell reprogramming heterogeneity using scTF-seq - Nature Genetics
This study introduces single-cell transcription factor (TF) sequencing, a single-cell barcoded and doxycycline-inducible TF overexpression approach that reveals dose-sensitive functional classes of TFs and cellular heterogeneity by mapping TF dose-dependent transcriptomic changes during the reprogramming of mouse embryonic multipotent stromal cells.
www.nature.com
October 6, 2025 at 6:57 AM
🧵1/ Excited to share our new paper introducing a new #singlecell assay: scTF-seq, a high-throughput single-cell approach to explore how transcription factor (TF) dose shapes cell identity and reprogramming outcomes. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... Big congrats to the entire team @EPFL & @SIAT_China
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
October 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
'Innovation does not occur in a vacuum. It requires raw materials: the findings of basic research. We are currently burning through a stockpile of knowledge accumulated during a more enlightened era of public investment, while allocating insufficient resources for replenishing it.'
For the love of frontier research, or why Elon’s rockets keep blowing up | EMBO reports
EMBO Press is an editorially independent publishing platform for the development of EMBO scientific publications.
www.embopress.org
October 3, 2025 at 8:43 AM
'Innovation does not occur in a vacuum. It requires raw materials: the findings of basic research. We are currently burning through a stockpile of knowledge accumulated during a more enlightened era of public investment, while allocating insufficient resources for replenishing it.'
Fascinating!
See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...
October 3, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Fascinating!
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Lancet editor: "I can’t forgive Bhattacharya and Makary...both know reliable evidence does not exist to restrict paracetamol use during pregnancy...both know evidence linking vaccines to autism simply doesn't exist. What are they doing?"
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
www.thelancet.com
October 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Lancet editor: "I can’t forgive Bhattacharya and Makary...both know reliable evidence does not exist to restrict paracetamol use during pregnancy...both know evidence linking vaccines to autism simply doesn't exist. What are they doing?"
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
[politics - that's what]
www.thelancet.com/action/showP...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Hot off the press!
Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4 - Nature Communications
Here they perform a systematic dissection of OCT4 and reveal how intrinsically disordered regions can be used to serve specific functions during reprogramming and embryonic development. This can be exploited to engineer more efficient and specific reprogramming factors.
www.nature.com
September 30, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Hot off the press!
Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell-type-specific functionality encoded within the intrinsically disordered regions of OCT4
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
For #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth, @lesleys20.bsky.social is taking part in a @cancerresearchuk.org seminar exploring the challenges of experiencing cancer in a personal capacity while working in cancer research. Sign up for the seminar: edin.ac/4gRvvZl and read her story here: edin.ac/4741m5y
September 30, 2025 at 4:34 PM
For #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth, @lesleys20.bsky.social is taking part in a @cancerresearchuk.org seminar exploring the challenges of experiencing cancer in a personal capacity while working in cancer research. Sign up for the seminar: edin.ac/4gRvvZl and read her story here: edin.ac/4741m5y
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Wonderful meeting @embl.org to celebrate the amazing career of #AnneEphrussi 👏🎉🤟
September 30, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Wonderful meeting @embl.org to celebrate the amazing career of #AnneEphrussi 👏🎉🤟
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
By focusing research on either ‘adult cancer’ or ‘childhood cancer’, we risk excluding teenagers and young adults (TYA). We need to treat TYA patients as a distinct subpopulation that straddles paediatric and adult cancer services.
September 29, 2025 at 12:04 PM
By focusing research on either ‘adult cancer’ or ‘childhood cancer’, we risk excluding teenagers and young adults (TYA). We need to treat TYA patients as a distinct subpopulation that straddles paediatric and adult cancer services.
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
We have space for two postdoctoral fellows in the Taipale Lab at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social. This is a core-funded open position! Come with your ideas and interests and we can develop a project together.
sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...
sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...
Postdoctoral Fellow - Gene Regulation and Functional Genomics
Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenge...
sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
September 25, 2025 at 10:58 AM
We have space for two postdoctoral fellows in the Taipale Lab at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social. This is a core-funded open position! Come with your ideas and interests and we can develop a project together.
sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...
sanger.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Wellco...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Great opportunity! Up to 4 Group Leader positions at the NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (NIMSB) in Computational & Experimental Medical Systems Biology
📍 Lisbon
⏳ Apply by Oct 8
🔗 nimsb.unl.pt/wp-content/u...
#Job #SciencePositions #JobOffer #GroupLeaders #Innovation #systemsbiology
📍 Lisbon
⏳ Apply by Oct 8
🔗 nimsb.unl.pt/wp-content/u...
#Job #SciencePositions #JobOffer #GroupLeaders #Innovation #systemsbiology
August 7, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Great opportunity! Up to 4 Group Leader positions at the NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (NIMSB) in Computational & Experimental Medical Systems Biology
📍 Lisbon
⏳ Apply by Oct 8
🔗 nimsb.unl.pt/wp-content/u...
#Job #SciencePositions #JobOffer #GroupLeaders #Innovation #systemsbiology
📍 Lisbon
⏳ Apply by Oct 8
🔗 nimsb.unl.pt/wp-content/u...
#Job #SciencePositions #JobOffer #GroupLeaders #Innovation #systemsbiology
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Join @cmaley.bsky.social, @lucielaplane.bsky.social, Joel Brown and Benjamin Spada for a live EvoChat discussion about "How we define cancer matters", hosted by the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer (ISEEC).
Oct 1st at 8am PST, 11am EST, 5pm CEST
ucsb.zoom.us/j/8313111375...
Oct 1st at 8am PST, 11am EST, 5pm CEST
ucsb.zoom.us/j/8313111375...
September 23, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Join @cmaley.bsky.social, @lucielaplane.bsky.social, Joel Brown and Benjamin Spada for a live EvoChat discussion about "How we define cancer matters", hosted by the International Society for Evolution, Ecology and Cancer (ISEEC).
Oct 1st at 8am PST, 11am EST, 5pm CEST
ucsb.zoom.us/j/8313111375...
Oct 1st at 8am PST, 11am EST, 5pm CEST
ucsb.zoom.us/j/8313111375...
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
This is a disaster if the EU doesn't follow up by doubling the budget 😬🧪
record 17,058 Marie Curie proposals in 2025 vs. 10,360 in 2024!!! the reason is pretty obvious, but wow that is a huge jump marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 receives record number of 17,058 proposals
This year’s annual MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships call has attracted considerable interest from the research community with 17,058 proposals submitted.
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu
September 14, 2025 at 8:09 AM
This is a disaster if the EU doesn't follow up by doubling the budget 😬🧪
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
The scent of silence! Cool research in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social to brighten up your day🌹. The mystery of why some roses are fragrant and others aren't has an answer. It's called SCREP: a rose-specific gene that evolved from non-coding DNA 16.8 million years ago 👇
September 3, 2025 at 1:40 AM
The scent of silence! Cool research in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social to brighten up your day🌹. The mystery of why some roses are fragrant and others aren't has an answer. It's called SCREP: a rose-specific gene that evolved from non-coding DNA 16.8 million years ago 👇
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Still two weeks left to apply to the #postdoc position in my lab via the @dkfz.bsky.social fellowship program.
#epigenomics #hematology #leukemia #computationalbiology #precisiononcology
#epigenomics #hematology #leukemia #computationalbiology #precisiononcology
+++ Postdoc Opportunity +++
My lab is looking for researchers interested in combining cutting edge #genomics, #epigenetics and #AI for precision oncology in pediatric #leukemia.
www.dkfz.de/fileadmin/us...
Applications via the #DKFZ postdoc program:
www.dkfz.de/en/karriere/...
My lab is looking for researchers interested in combining cutting edge #genomics, #epigenetics and #AI for precision oncology in pediatric #leukemia.
www.dkfz.de/fileadmin/us...
Applications via the #DKFZ postdoc program:
www.dkfz.de/en/karriere/...
August 30, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Still two weeks left to apply to the #postdoc position in my lab via the @dkfz.bsky.social fellowship program.
#epigenomics #hematology #leukemia #computationalbiology #precisiononcology
#epigenomics #hematology #leukemia #computationalbiology #precisiononcology
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
This is not a HiC map! Ever wondered if multiple enhancers get activated simultaneously? We measured chromatin accessibility on thousands of molecules by nanopore to create genome-wide co-accessibility maps. Proud of @mathias-boulanger.bsky.social @kasitc.bsky.social Biology in the thread👇
August 18, 2025 at 1:00 PM
This is not a HiC map! Ever wondered if multiple enhancers get activated simultaneously? We measured chromatin accessibility on thousands of molecules by nanopore to create genome-wide co-accessibility maps. Proud of @mathias-boulanger.bsky.social @kasitc.bsky.social Biology in the thread👇
Reposted by Nezha Benabdallah
Domain analysis identifies a discrete nucleic acid-binding domain (NBD) within SUZ12 responsible for constraining PRC2 activity. CryoEM studies showed the NBD in close proximity to nucleic acids. Loss of this region (NEC, VEFS) causes global H3K27me3 hypermethylation. 11/13
July 23, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Domain analysis identifies a discrete nucleic acid-binding domain (NBD) within SUZ12 responsible for constraining PRC2 activity. CryoEM studies showed the NBD in close proximity to nucleic acids. Loss of this region (NEC, VEFS) causes global H3K27me3 hypermethylation. 11/13