Jens Schmidt
@jenscs83.bsky.social
Cancer Biologist, Husband, Father. Interested in Genomic Integrity, Telomeres, Autophagy, and Single Molecule Microscopy.
https://www.theschmidtlab.com/
https://www.theschmidtlab.com/
We are recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to study DNA damage repair via the homologous recombination pathway using quantitative cell biology approaches. The position will be initially supported for two years by the MSU Research Foundation Postdoctoral Scholars program. Please share! 1/5
September 15, 2026 at 1:53 PM
We are recruiting a postdoctoral fellow to study DNA damage repair via the homologous recombination pathway using quantitative cell biology approaches. The position will be initially supported for two years by the MSU Research Foundation Postdoctoral Scholars program. Please share! 1/5
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
The ULK1 complex triggers autophagy on membranes, but with no typical membrane binding domains, how does it get there? See the answer in a brilliant collective effort out now in Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/....
September 6, 2026 at 5:02 PM
The ULK1 complex triggers autophagy on membranes, but with no typical membrane binding domains, how does it get there? See the answer in a brilliant collective effort out now in Science Advances: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/....
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
“Super-enhancer hubs are rare, nonspecific, and neither necessary nor sufficient for transcriptional bursting”
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Single-cell 3D genome imaging shows super-enhancer hubs are rare, nonspecific, and neither necessary nor sufficient for transcriptional bursting
Super-enhancers have been proposed to cluster in the nucleus when compared to other
genomic elements. Le et al. found that super-enhancer clustering was rare and driven
by non-specific interactions. P...
www.cell.com
August 18, 2026 at 5:38 PM
“Super-enhancer hubs are rare, nonspecific, and neither necessary nor sufficient for transcriptional bursting”
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
www.cell.com/cell-genomic...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
RESEARCH PAPER: SMARCAL1 is a candidate therapeutic target for ALT-positive tumors
By Taglialatela et al., and Alberto Ciccia
➡️ https://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/15-16/1283.full
Alberto Ciccia Angelo Taglialatela Columbia University
#cancer #telomere #cancertherapy
By Taglialatela et al., and Alberto Ciccia
➡️ https://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/15-16/1283.full
Alberto Ciccia Angelo Taglialatela Columbia University
#cancer #telomere #cancertherapy
August 12, 2026 at 6:00 PM
RESEARCH PAPER: SMARCAL1 is a candidate therapeutic target for ALT-positive tumors
By Taglialatela et al., and Alberto Ciccia
➡️ https://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/15-16/1283.full
Alberto Ciccia Angelo Taglialatela Columbia University
#cancer #telomere #cancertherapy
By Taglialatela et al., and Alberto Ciccia
➡️ https://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/40/15-16/1283.full
Alberto Ciccia Angelo Taglialatela Columbia University
#cancer #telomere #cancertherapy
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Sequential division of labor between PAXX and XLF drives NHEJ synaptic complex stability and maturation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.10.743781v1
August 13, 2026 at 12:49 AM
Sequential division of labor between PAXX and XLF drives NHEJ synaptic complex stability and maturation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.10.743781v1
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Online Now: A dynamic RNA hub facilitates activation-induced cytidine deaminase recruitment to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus Online now:
A dynamic RNA hub facilitates activation-induced cytidine deaminase recruitment to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus
Mikhova et al. used live-cell single-molecule imaging to track the nuclear dynamics of AID and switch region transcription in B cells undergoing class switch recombination and discovered an RNA hub formed by tethered nascent transcripts that facilitates the recruitment and retention of AID at the IgH locus.
dlvr.it
June 24, 2026 at 10:58 PM
Online Now: A dynamic RNA hub facilitates activation-induced cytidine deaminase recruitment to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus Online now:
We are looking to hire 2 postdoctoral fellows to study the molecular mechanisms underlying class switch recombination using advanced single-molecule imaging techniques in living B Cells. The positions are fully funded and will build on our findings published today in Molecular Cell. Please Share!
Out today in Molecular Cell! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
A dynamic RNA hub facilitates activation-induced cytidine deaminase recruitment to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus
Mikhova et al. used live-cell single-molecule imaging to track the nuclear dynamics
of AID and switch region transcription in B cells undergoing class switch recombination
and discovered an RNA hub fo...
www.cell.com
June 23, 2026 at 4:06 PM
We are looking to hire 2 postdoctoral fellows to study the molecular mechanisms underlying class switch recombination using advanced single-molecule imaging techniques in living B Cells. The positions are fully funded and will build on our findings published today in Molecular Cell. Please Share!
Out today in Molecular Cell! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
A dynamic RNA hub facilitates activation-induced cytidine deaminase recruitment to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus
Mikhova et al. used live-cell single-molecule imaging to track the nuclear dynamics
of AID and switch region transcription in B cells undergoing class switch recombination
and discovered an RNA hub fo...
www.cell.com
June 23, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Out today in Molecular Cell! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
(1/n) Very excited to share tri-lab collab (Mirny & Zechner) led by Harvey, Henrik & Jack:
Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)?
A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec):
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)?
A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec):
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
June 22, 2026 at 3:32 PM
(1/n) Very excited to share tri-lab collab (Mirny & Zechner) led by Harvey, Henrik & Jack:
Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)?
A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec):
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Q: How do enhancers & promoters interact in space (contact vs. action-at-a-distance) and time (stable vs. transient)?
A: Transient E-P contact (~25-42 nm lasting ~10-20 sec):
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
New paper! How do RNAs "know" where to go inside a cell? We dug into the sequence elements that route RNAs to the right place. It turns out that, in mammals, they're surprisingly massive (>200 nt), multipartite, and wonderfully complicated. 🧵
June 11, 2026 at 2:59 PM
New paper! How do RNAs "know" where to go inside a cell? We dug into the sequence elements that route RNAs to the right place. It turns out that, in mammals, they're surprisingly massive (>200 nt), multipartite, and wonderfully complicated. 🧵
I am looking to recruit 2 postdoctoral fellows to the lab to work on a recently funded project focused on class switch recombination in B cells. If you are interested in immunology, gene expression, and RNA and protein single molecule imaging, please reach out ([email protected]). Please share!
June 11, 2026 at 3:01 PM
I am looking to recruit 2 postdoctoral fellows to the lab to work on a recently funded project focused on class switch recombination in B cells. If you are interested in immunology, gene expression, and RNA and protein single molecule imaging, please reach out ([email protected]). Please share!
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Excited to finally share our preprint on mapping the genetic interaction network of the DNA damage response with combinatorial knockout screens led by Sam Hayward, Alina Vaitsiankova, and Tomas Lama-Diaz! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Mapping the genetic landscape of the DNA damage response with Cas12a-based combinatorial knockout screens
The DNA damage response (DDR) is a complex network of cellular pathways that ensures the faithful maintenance of our genomes upon a wide array of genomic insults. To elucidate the functional architect...
www.biorxiv.org
June 8, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Excited to finally share our preprint on mapping the genetic interaction network of the DNA damage response with combinatorial knockout screens led by Sam Hayward, Alina Vaitsiankova, and Tomas Lama-Diaz! www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
🔥PREPRINT🔥: Metformin Redirects Autophagy from Bulk Turnover to Mitochondrial Clearance.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This truly was a team effort. @kupharmchem.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This truly was a team effort. @kupharmchem.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org
June 6, 2026 at 12:48 PM
🔥PREPRINT🔥: Metformin Redirects Autophagy from Bulk Turnover to Mitochondrial Clearance.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This truly was a team effort. @kupharmchem.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
This truly was a team effort. @kupharmchem.bsky.social
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
@science.org Evolution of error correction through a need for speed | Science #evolution 🧬🔬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Evolution of error correction through a need for speed
Kinetic proofreading is a class of error-correcting mechanisms in biology that expend energy to avoid mistakes during replication, transcription, and translation. Proofreading is typically assumed to ...
www.science.org
February 19, 2026 at 7:07 PM
@science.org Evolution of error correction through a need for speed | Science #evolution 🧬🔬 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
New pre-print from the lab! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 23, 2026 at 2:49 PM
New pre-print from the lab! Lead by Mariia Mikhova and in collaboration with Kefei Yu’s lab @msumgi.bsky.social we dug into the molecular mechanism of class switch recombination in B cells using simultaneous RNA and protein single-molecule imaging. 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
New @natcomms.nature.com paper today from Tracy Bryan's lab @cmri.bsky.social: "Nuclear actin and DNA replication stress regulate telomere maintenance by telomerase".
Happy our lab could play a small part.
Congrats Tracy, Ash Harman, Noa Lamm and the whole team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy our lab could play a small part.
Congrats Tracy, Ash Harman, Noa Lamm and the whole team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Nuclear actin and DNA replication stress regulate telomere maintenance by telomerase - Nature Communications
Telomerase recruitment to telomeres is a tightly regulated process which is stimulated by replication stress. Here, the authors identify that nuclear filamentous actin is important for interaction bet...
www.nature.com
December 3, 2025 at 12:19 AM
New @natcomms.nature.com paper today from Tracy Bryan's lab @cmri.bsky.social: "Nuclear actin and DNA replication stress regulate telomere maintenance by telomerase".
Happy our lab could play a small part.
Congrats Tracy, Ash Harman, Noa Lamm and the whole team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy our lab could play a small part.
Congrats Tracy, Ash Harman, Noa Lamm and the whole team.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
New lab preprint! ERCC6L2 disease is a recessive bone marrow failure syndrome caused by mutations in the putative DNA helicase ERCC6L2. Using mouse genetics, biochemistry and AF3 we uncover ERCC6L2-MRI as a KU-regulatory complex stimulating NHEJ at staggered DSBs: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The ERCC6L2-MRI-KU complex coordinates NHEJ at staggered DNA double-strand breaks
ERCC6L2 disease is a recessive bone marrow failure (BMF) syndrome caused by mutations in the SNF2-like putative DNA helicase ERCC6L2. While implicated in DNA replication, double strand break (DSB) rep...
www.biorxiv.org
December 1, 2025 at 9:28 PM
New lab preprint! ERCC6L2 disease is a recessive bone marrow failure syndrome caused by mutations in the putative DNA helicase ERCC6L2. Using mouse genetics, biochemistry and AF3 we uncover ERCC6L2-MRI as a KU-regulatory complex stimulating NHEJ at staggered DSBs: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New Print Alert! A fun collab with Kathy Meek at MSU. Led by talented bioinformatician Giovanni Pascarella we demonstrate that Ku70/80 binds intronic antisense Alu elements to inhibit cryptic splice sites. For details see the thread below! 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Ku limits aberrant mRNA splicing promoted by intronic antisense Alu elements
Alu elements are short repeats that occupy approximately 10% of the human genome. Saturation of primate genomes with Alu sequences occurred at the prosimian/new-world monkey evolutionary juncture. Alu...
www.biorxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 3:52 AM
New Print Alert! A fun collab with Kathy Meek at MSU. Led by talented bioinformatician Giovanni Pascarella we demonstrate that Ku70/80 binds intronic antisense Alu elements to inhibit cryptic splice sites. For details see the thread below! 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Our paper in Science is out! @souravagrawal.bsky.social, @rlynn.bsky.social, @susvirkar.bsky.social, and the rest of the team show human RPA is a telomerase processivity factor essential for telomere maintenance. This reshapes our thinking about telomerase regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Human RPA is an essential telomerase processivity factor for maintaining telomeres
Telomerase counteracts telomere shortening by repeatedly adding DNA repeats to chromosome ends. We identified the replication protein A (RPA) heterotrimer as a telomerase processivity factor critical ...
www.science.org
October 30, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Our paper in Science is out! @souravagrawal.bsky.social, @rlynn.bsky.social, @susvirkar.bsky.social, and the rest of the team show human RPA is a telomerase processivity factor essential for telomere maintenance. This reshapes our thinking about telomerase regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
"Our findings uncovered a species survival strategy in which telomerase RNA extends telomeres for the next generation by hitchhiking on introns of germline-expressed genes." 🤯
#Celegans 🧪
#Celegans 🧪
Nematode telomerase RNA hitchhikes on introns of germline–up-regulated genes
Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein complex that elongates telomeric DNA, ensuring germline immortality. In this study, we identified the Caenorhabditis elegans telomerase RNA component 1 (terc-1), as t...
www.science.org
October 23, 2025 at 10:16 PM
"Our findings uncovered a species survival strategy in which telomerase RNA extends telomeres for the next generation by hitchhiking on introns of germline-expressed genes." 🤯
#Celegans 🧪
#Celegans 🧪
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
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...
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
🚨 Excited to share my main postdoc work from the @jenscs83.bsky.social lab, now out in Cell Reports! 👉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We dissect how shelterin proteins organize at telomeres in human cancer cells—revealing distinct subcomplexes that maintain chromosome ends. 🧵
TRF1 and TRF2 form distinct shelterin subcomplexes at telomeres
The shelterin complex protects chromosome ends from aberrant DNA repair and regulates telomerase access to telomeres. Shelterin is composed of six pro…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
🚨 Excited to share my main postdoc work from the @jenscs83.bsky.social lab, now out in Cell Reports! 👉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We dissect how shelterin proteins organize at telomeres in human cancer cells—revealing distinct subcomplexes that maintain chromosome ends. 🧵
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Find the plasmids here! www.addgene.org/Francesca_Bo...
Thanks for sharing protocols and materials!
Thanks for sharing protocols and materials!
August 13, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Find the plasmids here! www.addgene.org/Francesca_Bo...
Thanks for sharing protocols and materials!
Thanks for sharing protocols and materials!
Reposted by Jens Schmidt
Our protocol for gene editing is online and all plasmids are on @addgene.bsky.social! CRISPR away everybody and get in touch if you need anything 🤩
Protocol for fast antibiotic resistance-based gene editing of mammalian cells with CRISPR-Cas9 #protocol #starprotocols #cellpress
Protocol for fast antibiotic resistance-based gene editing of mammalian cells with CRISPR-Cas9
Protein tagging with CRISPR-Cas9 enables the investigation of protein function in its native environment but is limited by low homology-directed repair (HDR) efficiency. Here, we present a protocol for fast antibiotic resistance-based gene editing with CRISPR-Cas9 (FAB-CRISPR), which streamlines N/C-terminal tagging using an antibiotic resistance cassette for rapid selection and enrichment of gene-edited cells. We describe in detail guide RNA and HDR donor plasmid cloning, transfection of editin...
dlvr.it
August 13, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Our protocol for gene editing is online and all plasmids are on @addgene.bsky.social! CRISPR away everybody and get in touch if you need anything 🤩