Renée van Amerongen
@wntlab.bsky.social
Wnt signaling || Mammary gland || Developmental Stem Cell and Cancer Biology || vanamerongenlab.nl || reneevanamerongen.nl || sils.uva.nl
My Bacon number is lower than my h-index
My Bacon number is lower than my h-index
Find 'filmmakers'
Replace with 'wetenschappers'
Replace with 'wetenschappers'
October 18, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Find 'filmmakers'
Replace with 'wetenschappers'
Replace with 'wetenschappers'
Deze blijft hier even vast bovenin hangen tot aan de verkiezingen van 29 oktober.
Lees meer op www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/public...
Lees meer op www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/public...
September 18, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Deze blijft hier even vast bovenin hangen tot aan de verkiezingen van 29 oktober.
Lees meer op www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/public...
Lees meer op www.universiteitenvannederland.nl/files/public...
Ik snap nog steeds niet hoe dit programma met al die smileys en confettis de officiële werkomgeving van academisch Nederland heeft weten over te nemen.
August 25, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Ik snap nog steeds niet hoe dit programma met al die smileys en confettis de officiële werkomgeving van academisch Nederland heeft weten over te nemen.
Wanted to set an out of office reply that was essentially this cartoon summary (spot the shortened holiday and the looming grant deadline that some person decided was best scheduled for 1 Sep), but outlook doesn't allow images in the auto-reply.
My e-mail contacts are missing out.
My e-mail contacts are missing out.
July 22, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Wanted to set an out of office reply that was essentially this cartoon summary (spot the shortened holiday and the looming grant deadline that some person decided was best scheduled for 1 Sep), but outlook doesn't allow images in the auto-reply.
My e-mail contacts are missing out.
My e-mail contacts are missing out.
Los van 't feit dat ik per ongeluk iets leerde (over middeleeuwen én principe onderzoeksbalans), vond ik ook de omschrijving van identiteiten iets waarvan je denkt: ja, logisch - wat doen we daar toch vaak moeilijk over met z'n allen wanneer 't zo breed en helder omschreven kan worden. Ook anno nu:
July 20, 2025 at 10:51 AM
Los van 't feit dat ik per ongeluk iets leerde (over middeleeuwen én principe onderzoeksbalans), vond ik ook de omschrijving van identiteiten iets waarvan je denkt: ja, logisch - wat doen we daar toch vaak moeilijk over met z'n allen wanneer 't zo breed en helder omschreven kan worden. Ook anno nu:
Stumbled upon a “the science of theatre” themed open house at the @ri-science.bsky.social this weekend.
June 1, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Stumbled upon a “the science of theatre” themed open house at the @ri-science.bsky.social this weekend.
Ah, nothing like fictional Oxford science with blood to show 1) your multichannel pipet needs calibrating and 2) someone needs to improve their pipetting skills and 3) even the biochem department prefers to just look at blood under the microscope w/ a 10x objective.
#DiscoveryOfWitches
#DiscoveryOfWitches
April 20, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Ah, nothing like fictional Oxford science with blood to show 1) your multichannel pipet needs calibrating and 2) someone needs to improve their pipetting skills and 3) even the biochem department prefers to just look at blood under the microscope w/ a 10x objective.
#DiscoveryOfWitches
#DiscoveryOfWitches
Thanks for sticking around. Happy to get your input and questions once you have checked out the pre-print. I formatted it especially nice for you guys!
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Thanks for sticking around. Happy to get your input and questions once you have checked out the pre-print. I formatted it especially nice for you guys!
Finally, this also really affected how we look at gene regulatory complexes as collaborating transcription factors do not necessarily have to sit on the same enhancer sequence: They can be far away in linear sequence and only come together in 3D chromatin space. But that's a story for another day.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Finally, this also really affected how we look at gene regulatory complexes as collaborating transcription factors do not necessarily have to sit on the same enhancer sequence: They can be far away in linear sequence and only come together in 3D chromatin space. But that's a story for another day.
So where does that lead us? Well, with a two-step model for progesterone-dependent Wnt4 regulation and a conserved enhancer that physically separates the Wnt4 TAD into two separate loops to control enhancer exchange. The overall features are conserved between mouse and humans, but sequences differ.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
So where does that lead us? Well, with a two-step model for progesterone-dependent Wnt4 regulation and a conserved enhancer that physically separates the Wnt4 TAD into two separate loops to control enhancer exchange. The overall features are conserved between mouse and humans, but sequences differ.
Therefore, we also mapped and dissected the human WNT4 enhancer network, which led us to discover conserved, and species-specific features.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Therefore, we also mapped and dissected the human WNT4 enhancer network, which led us to discover conserved, and species-specific features.
On the bright side, we do detect a solid, 50% decrease of Wnt4 expression (still sufficient to ensure normal development) in the E14.5 embryonic lung when the single mCRS4 enhancer is removed.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
On the bright side, we do detect a solid, 50% decrease of Wnt4 expression (still sufficient to ensure normal development) in the E14.5 embryonic lung when the single mCRS4 enhancer is removed.
Time to scrutinise our single-enhancer knockout mice!
The hunt for a phenotype ended where some might have feared it would: with presumable redundancy among enhancers to ensure robustness in vivo. I seem to be rather cursed when it come to knocking out conserved sequences.
The hunt for a phenotype ended where some might have feared it would: with presumable redundancy among enhancers to ensure robustness in vivo. I seem to be rather cursed when it come to knocking out conserved sequences.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Time to scrutinise our single-enhancer knockout mice!
The hunt for a phenotype ended where some might have feared it would: with presumable redundancy among enhancers to ensure robustness in vivo. I seem to be rather cursed when it come to knocking out conserved sequences.
The hunt for a phenotype ended where some might have feared it would: with presumable redundancy among enhancers to ensure robustness in vivo. I seem to be rather cursed when it come to knocking out conserved sequences.
Turns out only a subset of enhancers are progesterone responsive, and that doesn't include the CRS4 enhancer that loops to the promoter and functions as a chromatin hub... But this enhancer does control baseline Wnt4 expression in cell lines, according to our CRISPR KO experiments.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Turns out only a subset of enhancers are progesterone responsive, and that doesn't include the CRS4 enhancer that loops to the promoter and functions as a chromatin hub... But this enhancer does control baseline Wnt4 expression in cell lines, according to our CRISPR KO experiments.
There was still a major hole in the story: We were struggling to measure progesterone-dependent effects. With fresh energy, Marleen slayed this prior-to-last dragon and developed the tools to finally do so (you can never tell because this ended up in Figure 1):
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
There was still a major hole in the story: We were struggling to measure progesterone-dependent effects. With fresh energy, Marleen slayed this prior-to-last dragon and developed the tools to finally do so (you can never tell because this ended up in Figure 1):
Look, that's a conserved binding site for GRHL proteins, right next to the conserved CTCF site.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Look, that's a conserved binding site for GRHL proteins, right next to the conserved CTCF site.
Then we added a transcription factor discovery pipeline to link individual enhancers to the transcription factors that bind them). Slowly, we began to see the complete picture.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Then we added a transcription factor discovery pipeline to link individual enhancers to the transcription factors that bind them). Slowly, we began to see the complete picture.
Then the pandemic hit. Initially forced by limited access to the lab, but with increasing gusto, Yorick threw himself at bioinformatics (including Cicero analysis to predict which elements would be open and active at the same time as - and thus potentially interacting with - the Wnt4 promoter.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Then the pandemic hit. Initially forced by limited access to the lab, but with increasing gusto, Yorick threw himself at bioinformatics (including Cicero analysis to predict which elements would be open and active at the same time as - and thus potentially interacting with - the Wnt4 promoter.
We were still very much in limbo as to which enhancer we were going to knock out in vivo, until Yorick performed 4C experiments that showed physical looping between mCRS4 and the mouse Wnt4 promoter. We had our candidate.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
We were still very much in limbo as to which enhancer we were going to knock out in vivo, until Yorick performed 4C experiments that showed physical looping between mCRS4 and the mouse Wnt4 promoter. We had our candidate.
Around 2019 we had a collection of cis-regulatory sequences and dCas9 assays to show that they were in communication with the Wnt4 promoter.
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Around 2019 we had a collection of cis-regulatory sequences and dCas9 assays to show that they were in communication with the Wnt4 promoter.
Katrin and Nika began the heroic effort of exploring the Wnt enhancer landscape in the mammary gland, starting entirely from scratch and eventually zooming in on Wnt4 (which is the sole protein coding gene in its predicted TAD).
April 17, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Katrin and Nika began the heroic effort of exploring the Wnt enhancer landscape in the mammary gland, starting entirely from scratch and eventually zooming in on Wnt4 (which is the sole protein coding gene in its predicted TAD).
Female physiology being understudied is this network showing up in a STRING analysis with the description "prostate gland epithelium morphogenesis"
April 6, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Female physiology being understudied is this network showing up in a STRING analysis with the description "prostate gland epithelium morphogenesis"
Spring is coming!
March 16, 2025 at 5:24 PM
Spring is coming!
Vroege start (wel lekker fietsweer, gelukkig) voor de selectie / toetsdag bachelor biomedische wetenschappen UvA voor de aankomend studenten voor studiejaar 2025-2026
March 15, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Vroege start (wel lekker fietsweer, gelukkig) voor de selectie / toetsdag bachelor biomedische wetenschappen UvA voor de aankomend studenten voor studiejaar 2025-2026