Dr. Sedona Murphy
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sedonamurphy.bsky.social
Dr. Sedona Murphy
@sedonamurphy.bsky.social
Group leader @mpi-mg, Berlin

Chromatin tracing, epigenetics, development. Equity and advocacy in academia.
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

happy i could be a part of this paper from the Gilan lab out now. Along with many other things, it provides strong evidence of chromatin memory for gene activation, and suggests that DOT1L is the missing link balancing the fast and slow arms of the MLL/Polycomb axis
DOT1L provides transcriptional memory through PRC1.1 antagonism - Nature Cell Biology
Neville, Ferguson et al. show that non-canonical Polycomb repressive complex 1.1-mediated gene silencing is antagonized by DOT1L and is required for the therapeutic efficacy of Menin and DOT1L inhibit...
www.nature.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Terrific paper on a new chromosomal
compartment where extensive loop
extrusion isolates domains from
other such domains
How do compartmentalization & loop extrusion organize eukaryotic genomes beyond classical model organisms?
Hi-C analysis of silkworm chromosomes by Drinnenberg, Muller, Mirny et al reveals new combination of these mechanisms, and a new, secluded “S” compartment
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Unique territorial and compartmental organization of chromosomes in the holocentric silkworm - The EMBO Journal
Hallmarks of multicellular eukaryotic genome organization are chromosome territories, compartments, and loop-extrusion-mediated structures, including TADs. However, these have mainly been observed in ...
link.springer.com
February 3, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
New Year, New Paper!🎊

Pervasive cis-regulatory co-option of a transposable element family reinforces cell identity across the mouse immune system
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Centerpiece of Jason Chobirko's PhD, talented PhD student co-mentored by Andrew Grimson & me. Really excited about it!🧵
Pervasive cis-regulatory co-option of a transposable element family reinforces cell identity across the mouse immune system
Transposable elements (TEs) make up about half of the human and mouse genomes and play important regulatory roles in immune responses. However, the cis -regulatory contribution of TEs to immune cell d...
www.biorxiv.org
January 7, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Preprint alert: Jiangyuan Liu developed a new workflow for chromatin loop calling across Hi-C datasets, e.g., during differentiation. Most loops are shared between datasets/cell states. Important work for all interested in chromatin loops and how to identify them!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org
January 21, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Now online in Cancer Discovery @aacrjournals.bsky.social: LINE-1 Locus Transcription Nucleates Oncogenic Chromatin Architecture - by Michael Lee, Yuannyu Zhang, Jian Xu, and colleagues doi.org/10.1158/2159... @stjuderesearch.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Join our virtual seminar!

@sedonamurphy.bsky.social presents cutting-edge research on 3D genome organisation & epigenetic memory in development, moderated by @stefanschoenfelder.bsky.social

📅 Jan 8, 4pm UK
💻 Zoom

Register: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#3DGenome #Epigenetics #ChromatinBiology
January 6, 2026 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Activator-promoter compatibility in mammals - Hcfc1 is a key and intrinsically CGI-promoter-specific co-activator that cannot activate non-CGI promoters. Lead by @nemcko.bsky.social & Kevin Sabath in collab. with @plaschkalab.bsky.social @impvienna.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... (1/2)
Activator-promoter compatibility in mammals: a CpG-Island-specific co-activator directly bridges transcription factors to TFIID
Transcription from CpG island (CGI) promoters controls the expression of two-thirds of mammalian genes, yet despite their prevalence, it remains unknown whether CGI-specific co-activators with intrins...
www.biorxiv.org
December 30, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
As usual this time of year, started drafting the list of gene regulation conferences for 2026, enjoy! generegulation.org/conferences-...
Know of a relevant event that’s missing? Please reply below
Conferences & Schools – 2026 – Gene Regulation – Teif Lab
generegulation.org
December 29, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Excited to share new manuscript on histone acylations, exploring how H4K16 acylations regulate inter and intranucleosomal interactions and how they confer resilience to metabolic challenges in vivo. Thanks to all authors +1 author @sandrani.bsky.social Enjoy 👇👇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
H4K16 acylations destabilize chromatin architecture and facilitate transcriptional response during metabolic perturbations
Histone modifications play crucial roles in genome function. However, how chromatin integrates physiological and metabolic responses at the molecular …
www.sciencedirect.com
December 19, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Our preprint "Predictive design of tissue-specific mammalian enhancers that function in vivo in the mouse embryo" is on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... . Amazing collaboration by @shenzhichen1999.bsky.social, Vincent Loubiere (@impvienna.bsky.social,@viennabiocenter.bsky.social),... (1/2)
Predictive design of tissue-specific mammalian enhancers that function in vivo in the mouse embryo
Enhancers control tissue-specific gene expression across metazoans. Although deep learning has enabled enhancer prediction and design in mammalian cell lines and invertebrate systems, it remains uncle...
www.biorxiv.org
December 24, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Very happy to share the published version of our study on the benefits of sodium sulfite + trolox (SST) as oxygen scavenger for #DNA-PAINT - now out in Small!

Thanks to the reviewers for helpful comments and again congrats, Becky, on your PhD's first paper!!

tinyurl.com/54m2pt9c
December 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Excited that SpaceBar is now out in Nature Methods!🥳

We combined clone tracing with spatial transcriptomics to untangle what drives gene expression in tumors: a cell's identity or its neighborhood?

Most genes were driven by location, but some showed strong clonal patterns.

rdcu.be/eVhpc
SpaceBar enables single-cell-resolution clone tracing with imaging-based spatial transcriptomics
Nature Methods - SpaceBar is a cellular barcoding strategy for simultaneous analysis of cell clonal and spatial identities.
rdcu.be
December 18, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
After a huge amount of work w/ @alex-stark.bsky.social's group, a new version of our Ledidi preprint is now out!

In an era of AI-designed proteins, the next leap will be controlling when, where, and how much of these proteins are expressed in living cells.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Programmatic design and editing of cis-regulatory elements
The development of modern genome editing and DNA synthesis has enabled researchers to edit DNA sequences with high precision but has left unsolved the problem of designing these edits. We introduce Le...
www.biorxiv.org
December 10, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Lovely little pre-Christmas present to see this out @natcellbio.nature.com! Some 🔥 new results in here since the biorvix incl (1) a new RARE-GFP reporter ✳️🙌, (2) additional NMP quantification 🔢, (3) no neural tube patterning on RA inhibition 🙅 etc. Enjoy! 😍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Modelling co-development between the somites and neural tube in human trunk-like structures - Nature Cell Biology
Makwana, Tilley et al. generate human stem cell-based trunk-like structures approximating Carnegie stage 13–14 of development. They use them to model and study the development of the thoracic and lumbar trunk.
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
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.
December 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
🧬 Are you interested in synthetic biology, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and cutting-edge genomics? Apply by 07.01.2026 to join Stefan Mundlos’ lab @stemundi.bsky.social at the MPIMG. #IMPRS-BAC #gradschool! @nataliabenetti.bsky.social
👉 www.molgen.mpg.de/5124667/Mund...
December 11, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Thrilled to share that my postdoc research is published today in @science.org! We found that DNA repair uses cohesin complexes to build new chromatin loops that guide the homology search and boost accurate repair! 1/n
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cohesin drives chromatin scanning during the RAD51-mediated homology search
Cohesin folds genomes into chromatin loops, the roles of which are under debate. We found that double-strand breaks (DSBs) induce de novo formation of chromatin loops in human cells, with the loop bas...
www.science.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
@science.org 🧬🔬 Multiscale structure of #chromatin condensates explains phase separation and material properties | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @janhuemar.bsky.social et al.
Multiscale structure of chromatin condensates explains phase separation and material properties
The structure and interaction networks of molecules within biomolecular condensates are poorly understood. Using cryo–electron tomography and molecular dynamics simulations, we elucidated the structur...
www.science.org
December 5, 2025 at 5:24 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
We just released IRIS (7+yrs project), a tech we believe will transform cell biology by pairing high-resolution cell images with matched #scRNAseq, letting us interpret cellular form by its molecular ground truth.
Huge tx to @JohannesBues, @JoernPezoldt, @CamilleLambert et al.
shorturl.at/zgY8Z
December 2, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Are you a #devbio postdoc planning to go on the job market in 2026? Then this is the initiative for you! Offering training, networking, mentoring and profile-raising components, Development's PI Programme can give you that extra support you might need while navigating this challenging time...
Apply for our Pathway to Independence (PI) programme, supporting postdocs in #devbio and #stemcell research during the transition to their first group leader position: www.biologists.com/grants/devel...

Application deadline: 2 February 2026.
December 2, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
🎉 Our deconstructed, stem-cell–based approach to studying signaling centers and limb-development cell types is out! 🥳 So nice to see it in its final form after the preprint— and huge thanks to the community for all the enthusiasm and interest since then!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Specialized signaling centers direct cell fate and spatial organization in a mesodermal organoid model
Stem cell–derived mesodermal organoids reveal how signaling centers guide cell fate and tissue organization.
www.science.org
December 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Bah, who needs cohesin if you're at the right place (near). Grover once taught us the difference between near and far (my favourite Sesame Street piece), and now amazing work from @elphegenoralab.bsky.social led by @karissalhansen.bsky.social shows us how: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Synergy between regulatory elements can render cohesin dispensable for distal enhancer function
Enhancers are critical genetic elements controlling transcription from promoters, yet how they convey regulatory information across large genomic distances remains unclear. Here, we engineer pluripote...
www.science.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Want to analyze the role of endogenous retroviruses in early human development or investigate their regulation in pluripotency and early development for your PhD?

Join the lab of @fueyoraquel.bsky.social via the IMPRS-BAC #gradschool!

👉 www.molgen.mpg.de/5094682/Fuey...
November 27, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Now online! Thermodynamic principles link in vitro transcription factor affinities to single-molecule chromatin states in cells
Thermodynamic principles link in vitro transcription factor affinities to single-molecule chromatin states in cells
In vitro-derived insights into features that drive transcription factor binding to DNA, including motif-adjacent sequence, enable prediction of chromatin states and transcription factor occupancy in cells.
dlvr.it
November 26, 2025 at 7:51 PM