Shelby Blythe
@shelbyflies.bsky.social
Developmental Biologist, Fly Geneticist, and Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. Statements posted here are my own.
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Nanopore-based sequencing of active DNA replication reveals key principles of metazoan replication fork progression, origin and termination sites https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678856v1
September 27, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Nanopore-based sequencing of active DNA replication reveals key principles of metazoan replication fork progression, origin and termination sites https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678856v1
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
September 17, 2025 at 10:39 AM
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
How cells lock down “jumping genes”:
Researchers from IMBA and IMP identify the first protein interactions that trigger PIWI–piRNA–mediated transposon silencing, using AlphaFold predictions, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology.
Read more: www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/t...
Researchers from IMBA and IMP identify the first protein interactions that trigger PIWI–piRNA–mediated transposon silencing, using AlphaFold predictions, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology.
Read more: www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/t...
September 8, 2025 at 6:52 AM
How cells lock down “jumping genes”:
Researchers from IMBA and IMP identify the first protein interactions that trigger PIWI–piRNA–mediated transposon silencing, using AlphaFold predictions, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology.
Read more: www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/t...
Researchers from IMBA and IMP identify the first protein interactions that trigger PIWI–piRNA–mediated transposon silencing, using AlphaFold predictions, genetics, biochemistry and cell biology.
Read more: www.viennabiocenter.org/about/news/t...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Excited to share my postdoc work, out on bioRxiv today! Histones package DNA into nucleosomes to form the building blocks of chromatin, but how modular and programmable is this system? 1/9
September 11, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Excited to share my postdoc work, out on bioRxiv today! Histones package DNA into nucleosomes to form the building blocks of chromatin, but how modular and programmable is this system? 1/9
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Are you someone who has been or could be affected by imminent ICE raids in Chicago?
Do you have friends, family members or neighbors who have been or could be?
If you have information you can share, please reach out to @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social on Signal or WhatsApp at 872-444-0011.
Do you have friends, family members or neighbors who have been or could be?
If you have information you can share, please reach out to @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social on Signal or WhatsApp at 872-444-0011.
September 6, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Are you someone who has been or could be affected by imminent ICE raids in Chicago?
Do you have friends, family members or neighbors who have been or could be?
If you have information you can share, please reach out to @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social on Signal or WhatsApp at 872-444-0011.
Do you have friends, family members or neighbors who have been or could be?
If you have information you can share, please reach out to @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social on Signal or WhatsApp at 872-444-0011.
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Tissue 'tectonic' collision is detrimental, but flies found two distinct solutions! Gratifying and grateful to be included in this collective effort, w/ Steffen Lemke, to crack the (or 'a') code of #cephalicfurrow, now out in @nature.com, all with @paveltomancak.bsky.social at the helm. (1/9)
September 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Tissue 'tectonic' collision is detrimental, but flies found two distinct solutions! Gratifying and grateful to be included in this collective effort, w/ Steffen Lemke, to crack the (or 'a') code of #cephalicfurrow, now out in @nature.com, all with @paveltomancak.bsky.social at the helm. (1/9)
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
We are all super happy and proud to see our work on the function and evolution of the #cephalic #furrow published in @nature.com. Let me say a few things about the background and history of this work on the #Evolution_of_Morphogenesis (1/12)
September 4, 2025 at 8:22 AM
We are all super happy and proud to see our work on the function and evolution of the #cephalic #furrow published in @nature.com. Let me say a few things about the background and history of this work on the #Evolution_of_Morphogenesis (1/12)
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Priyom's preprint is out on biorxiv. See below for a detailed thread. In a nutshell, she has discovered and characterized the oscillator that times notochord and spine segmentation in zebrafish. Turns out that there are uniform Erk oscillations across the entire tissue that act as timekeepers!
Building a spine is no joke, but thankfully zebrafish have their own clocks to keep the pace. Excited to share our preprint on the role of biological oscillators in coordinating notochord development! (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)
Additional thread below
Additional thread below
September 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Priyom's preprint is out on biorxiv. See below for a detailed thread. In a nutshell, she has discovered and characterized the oscillator that times notochord and spine segmentation in zebrafish. Turns out that there are uniform Erk oscillations across the entire tissue that act as timekeepers!
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
I have
NIGMS R35, impact score 12
NIHGRI R21, 4th percentile
NHGRI R01, 7th percentile (co-I)
and it seems like none will be funded. 0/3.
PO (who has been very helpful) said "Unfortunately, I do not expect this application will be selected for funding in FY25."
😭
NIGMS R35, impact score 12
NIHGRI R21, 4th percentile
NHGRI R01, 7th percentile (co-I)
and it seems like none will be funded. 0/3.
PO (who has been very helpful) said "Unfortunately, I do not expect this application will be selected for funding in FY25."
😭
August 19, 2025 at 11:29 PM
I have
NIGMS R35, impact score 12
NIHGRI R21, 4th percentile
NHGRI R01, 7th percentile (co-I)
and it seems like none will be funded. 0/3.
PO (who has been very helpful) said "Unfortunately, I do not expect this application will be selected for funding in FY25."
😭
NIGMS R35, impact score 12
NIHGRI R21, 4th percentile
NHGRI R01, 7th percentile (co-I)
and it seems like none will be funded. 0/3.
PO (who has been very helpful) said "Unfortunately, I do not expect this application will be selected for funding in FY25."
😭
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Extremely excited to share that I’m joining Columbia University @columbiauniversity.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor!
We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky
thawanilab.org
We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky
thawanilab.org
The Thawani Lab at Columbia University
The Thawani Lab at Columbia University describing their research on mobile genome, cryo-electron microscopy and genome engineering
thawanilab.org
August 19, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Extremely excited to share that I’m joining Columbia University @columbiauniversity.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor!
We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky
thawanilab.org
We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky
thawanilab.org
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
New paper on the role of H3K4me3 at enhancers! We (led by Haoming Yu) used dCas9 epigenome editing to add H3K4me3 to intergenic enhancers. This was (1) sufficient to turn up transcription at open, active regions and (2) has no effect on target gene transcription. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
H3K4me3 amplifies transcription at intergenic active regulatory elements
A biweekly scientific journal publishing high-quality research in molecular biology and genetics, cancer biology, biochemistry, and related fields
genesdev.cshlp.org
August 20, 2025 at 1:29 AM
New paper on the role of H3K4me3 at enhancers! We (led by Haoming Yu) used dCas9 epigenome editing to add H3K4me3 to intergenic enhancers. This was (1) sufficient to turn up transcription at open, active regions and (2) has no effect on target gene transcription. genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
NU Professor Jane Wu’s daughter and colleagues called her an “outstanding scientist” dedicated to “the greater good.” Before she died in July 2024, she was investigated, then cleared by the government. She still lost her funding and lab space.
—
Reported by William Tong
—
Reported by William Tong
NIH probe, lab closure preceded NU Feinberg professor death
Northwestern Feinberg Professor Jane Wu’s daughter, colleagues said she was ‘outstanding scientist’ dedicated to ‘the greater good’
dailynorthwestern.com
August 17, 2025 at 2:41 PM
NU Professor Jane Wu’s daughter and colleagues called her an “outstanding scientist” dedicated to “the greater good.” Before she died in July 2024, she was investigated, then cleared by the government. She still lost her funding and lab space.
—
Reported by William Tong
—
Reported by William Tong
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Congrats to UNC Biology professor En Yang, named one of this year's Pew Scholars. Yang uses zebrafish as an experimental model to study the neural pathways involved in learning and memory formation. 1/n
college.unc.edu/2025/08/en-y...
college.unc.edu/2025/08/en-y...
Carolina neuroscientist named a 2025 Pew Biomedical Scholar - College of Arts and Sciences
En Yang, a neuroscientist in the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, has won a Pew Biomedical Scholar award for her engineering-informed research on learning and memory.
college.unc.edu
August 12, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Congrats to UNC Biology professor En Yang, named one of this year's Pew Scholars. Yang uses zebrafish as an experimental model to study the neural pathways involved in learning and memory formation. 1/n
college.unc.edu/2025/08/en-y...
college.unc.edu/2025/08/en-y...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Big congrats to our postdoc @mary-flores.bsky.social, who's among the 2025 Pew Latin American Fellows! 🐟🧬🫀🧪
Onwards, always.
#PewLatinAmericanFellows #zebrafish #PILife #PostdocLife #devbio @cudevbio.bsky.social
Onwards, always.
#PewLatinAmericanFellows #zebrafish #PILife #PostdocLife #devbio @cudevbio.bsky.social
August 12, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Big congrats to our postdoc @mary-flores.bsky.social, who's among the 2025 Pew Latin American Fellows! 🐟🧬🫀🧪
Onwards, always.
#PewLatinAmericanFellows #zebrafish #PILife #PostdocLife #devbio @cudevbio.bsky.social
Onwards, always.
#PewLatinAmericanFellows #zebrafish #PILife #PostdocLife #devbio @cudevbio.bsky.social
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Snails with human-like eyes?!
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
August 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Snails with human-like eyes?!
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
Published in @natcomms.nature.com, the @planaria1.bsky.social & @accorsi-alice.bsky.social Labs have established apple snails as a novel model for studying vision restoration. They have complex camera-type eyes & the ability to regrow them in 28 days: bit.ly/4mvaxkq
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
The Parker Lab at UNC Biology is hiring a postdoc to work on insect–microbe interactions.
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Post-Doc Research Associate
The researcher will be primarily responsible for carrying out investigations related to our lab's research, using an insect model system (aphids) to address mechanistic and evolutionary genetic questi...
unc.peopleadmin.com
August 1, 2025 at 3:13 PM
The Parker Lab at UNC Biology is hiring a postdoc to work on insect–microbe interactions.
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Support available for multiple years from startup; we are open to a range of project ideas. Come join us to study symbiosis in a supportive, collaborative environment!
unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/303...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
"[Our] journals provide a rapid and informed assessment by expert scientific editors (on average, within 4 days)."
Friends, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. 😢
Friends, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. 😢
a man in a suit and tie wears a hard hat
ALT: a man in a suit and tie wears a hard hat
media.tenor.com
July 31, 2025 at 1:27 AM
"[Our] journals provide a rapid and informed assessment by expert scientific editors (on average, within 4 days)."
Friends, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. 😢
Friends, it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. 😢
Excited to share a new preprint from the lab!
This (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) and an earlier one (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) mark my lab's first steps into studying how Polycomb modifications get established in early Drosophila development.
🧵 1/10
This (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) and an earlier one (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) mark my lab's first steps into studying how Polycomb modifications get established in early Drosophila development.
🧵 1/10
Lower-order methylation states underlie the maintenance and re-establishment of Polycomb modifications in Drosophila embryogenesis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666882v1
July 29, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Excited to share a new preprint from the lab!
This (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) and an earlier one (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) mark my lab's first steps into studying how Polycomb modifications get established in early Drosophila development.
🧵 1/10
This (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) and an earlier one (doi.org/10.1101/2025...) mark my lab's first steps into studying how Polycomb modifications get established in early Drosophila development.
🧵 1/10
Happy to announce a new preprint from my lab looking in to the establishment of polycomb domains in early fly development and contributions from pioneer factors Zelda and GAGA-factor.
Nucleation-dependent propagation of Polycomb modifications emerges during the Drosophila maternal to zygotic transition https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.02.662854v1
July 3, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Happy to announce a new preprint from my lab looking in to the establishment of polycomb domains in early fly development and contributions from pioneer factors Zelda and GAGA-factor.
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Excited to share the bulk of my postdocotoral work from the @ditalialab.bsky.social on how cells interpret dynamic morphogen signaling during development! Many thanks to our collaborators & coauthors @shelbyflies.bsky.social, Massimo Vergassola, Jacqueline Janssen, and Anna Chao.
June 10, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Excited to share the bulk of my postdocotoral work from the @ditalialab.bsky.social on how cells interpret dynamic morphogen signaling during development! Many thanks to our collaborators & coauthors @shelbyflies.bsky.social, Massimo Vergassola, Jacqueline Janssen, and Anna Chao.
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(1/n) Ever wonder how transcription factors locate, "invade," and activate their enhancers during cell fate acquisition? 🧬🚀 Check out our latest collaborative work with the Soufi lab, now published in @Nature
(1/n) Ever wonder how transcription factors locate, "invade," and activate their enhancers during cell fate acquisition? 🧬🚀 Check out our latest collaborative work with the Soufi lab, now published in @Nature
Nucleosome fibre topology guides transcription factor binding to enhancers - Nature
Motif grammar on nucleosome fibres acts as signpost elements, directing TF combinatorial binding to enhancers.
www.nature.com
December 18, 2024 at 5:34 PM
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
(1/n) Ever wonder how transcription factors locate, "invade," and activate their enhancers during cell fate acquisition? 🧬🚀 Check out our latest collaborative work with the Soufi lab, now published in @Nature
(1/n) Ever wonder how transcription factors locate, "invade," and activate their enhancers during cell fate acquisition? 🧬🚀 Check out our latest collaborative work with the Soufi lab, now published in @Nature
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
First post on bsky. We've updated our preprint about the change in the histone H3 variant on chromatin during Zygotic Genome Activation. Thanks to new experiments by Anusha, it seems like our initial, simplistic idea that the embryo "ran out" of H3 was not right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Local nuclear to cytoplasmic ratio regulates H3.3 incorporation via cell cycle state during zygotic genome activation
Early embryos often have unique chromatin states prior to zygotic genome activation (ZGA). In Drosophila, ZGA occurs after 13 reductive nuclear divisions during which the nuclear to cytoplasmic (N/C) ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 13, 2024 at 5:21 PM
First post on bsky. We've updated our preprint about the change in the histone H3 variant on chromatin during Zygotic Genome Activation. Thanks to new experiments by Anusha, it seems like our initial, simplistic idea that the embryo "ran out" of H3 was not right.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Shelby Blythe
Please spread the word!
We are looking for postdoc(s) interested in quantitative problems in Development and Regeneration. Previous experience in quantitative biology is not required. We will support you and provide a great training environment if you are committed to learn new things.
We are looking for postdoc(s) interested in quantitative problems in Development and Regeneration. Previous experience in quantitative biology is not required. We will support you and provide a great training environment if you are committed to learn new things.
December 12, 2024 at 2:03 PM
Please spread the word!
We are looking for postdoc(s) interested in quantitative problems in Development and Regeneration. Previous experience in quantitative biology is not required. We will support you and provide a great training environment if you are committed to learn new things.
We are looking for postdoc(s) interested in quantitative problems in Development and Regeneration. Previous experience in quantitative biology is not required. We will support you and provide a great training environment if you are committed to learn new things.
Very proud to share the latest preprint from my lab by Ellie Degen and co. Here Ellie shows that a concentration threshold in the Bcd morphogen gradient is determined by competition with nucleosomes. Great mix of math, imaging, and genomics!
Bicoid-nucleosome competition sets a concentration threshold for transcription constrained by genome replication https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.10.627802v1
December 12, 2024 at 4:22 PM
Very proud to share the latest preprint from my lab by Ellie Degen and co. Here Ellie shows that a concentration threshold in the Bcd morphogen gradient is determined by competition with nucleosomes. Great mix of math, imaging, and genomics!