Dr. Sedona Murphy
@sedonamurphy.bsky.social
Group leader @mpi-mg, Berlin
Chromatin tracing, epigenetics, development. Equity and advocacy in academia.
Chromatin tracing, epigenetics, development. Equity and advocacy in academia.
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Super excited to share my postdoctoral work at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social -
We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route.
A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route.
A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
September 24, 2026 at 7:50 AM
Super excited to share my postdoctoral work at @imbavienna.bsky.social @viennabiocenter.bsky.social -
We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route.
A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
We discovered that some retrotransposons, or "jumping genes" 🧬, are able to spread from cell to cell via a new viral infectivity route.
A short thread: 🧵👇 (1/7)
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
The Brantley Lab is hiring a Research Technician/Lab Manager!
Looking for someone with a strong foundation in molecular biology, a team player, and excited about basic science.
If you know someone who would be a great fit, please share!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35995
Looking for someone with a strong foundation in molecular biology, a team player, and excited about basic science.
If you know someone who would be a great fit, please share!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35995
Research Lab Technician
The Brantley Lab is seeking a Research Technician who is passionate about basic science and being a reliable, collaborative member of an academic research team. Research in the Brantley Lab uses quant...
spartantalent.uncg.edu
September 17, 2026 at 7:47 PM
The Brantley Lab is hiring a Research Technician/Lab Manager!
Looking for someone with a strong foundation in molecular biology, a team player, and excited about basic science.
If you know someone who would be a great fit, please share!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35995
Looking for someone with a strong foundation in molecular biology, a team player, and excited about basic science.
If you know someone who would be a great fit, please share!
spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/35995
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
🧬🔬 Why are enhancers transcribed and how does that impact gene regulation? I’m really excited to share our new paper in @science.org showing that noncoding RNAs control the timing of gene activation in embryos. With Mike Levine #ScienceResearch @columbiamed.bsky.social
A few highlights below... 🧵👇
A few highlights below... 🧵👇
Noncoding transcription controls the developmental dynamics of long-range gene regulation
The genomic regions regulating gene expression are often themselves transcribed into a variety of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). However, the regulatory roles of this noncoding transcription remain largely ...
www.science.org
September 10, 2026 at 10:05 PM
🧬🔬 Why are enhancers transcribed and how does that impact gene regulation? I’m really excited to share our new paper in @science.org showing that noncoding RNAs control the timing of gene activation in embryos. With Mike Levine #ScienceResearch @columbiamed.bsky.social
A few highlights below... 🧵👇
A few highlights below... 🧵👇
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
📣 Interested in non-coding disease-causing variants? Check out our review "Mechanisms underlying disease-causing variants in promoters and enhancers". Interesting mechanisms, challenges and future perspectives. Great to work with @wbickmor.bsky.social, Kun and Ryan! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
📣 Interested in non-coding disease-causing variants? Check out our review "Mechanisms underlying disease-causing variants in promoters and enhancers". Interesting mechanisms, challenges and future perspectives. Great to work with @wbickmor.bsky.social, Kun and Ryan! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you for having me! It was fun to reflect on how much our understanding of 3D genome biology has changed over the years ☺️
Excited to start our joint Summer School on "Gene Expression Across Scales"! 🧬 A great collaboration between Berlin and Göttingen (IMPRS-BAC, GS, MOLBIO, and NEURO). 5 days of innovative science and networking ahead, starting with @sedonamurphy.bsky.social! @molgen.mpg.de @mpi-nat.bsky.social
September 8, 2026 at 5:47 PM
Thank you for having me! It was fun to reflect on how much our understanding of 3D genome biology has changed over the years ☺️
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Is euchromatin really “open”? 🧬 Using super-resolution imaging🔬 our new study @natgenet.nature.com reveals: Euchromatin forms condensed domains in live cells. Cohesin constrains them and prevents domain mixing for proper transcriptional insulation🚧 🔗
www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
September 8, 2026 at 10:22 AM
Is euchromatin really “open”? 🧬 Using super-resolution imaging🔬 our new study @natgenet.nature.com reveals: Euchromatin forms condensed domains in live cells. Cohesin constrains them and prevents domain mixing for proper transcriptional insulation🚧 🔗
www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Structural mechanism of nuclear membrane sealing by LEM2-ESCRT-III https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748678v1
September 3, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Structural mechanism of nuclear membrane sealing by LEM2-ESCRT-III https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.01.748678v1
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
1/ out in @science.org! We found a new asymmetry in large-scale chromosome structure: sister chromatids are shifted by hundreds of kb in the 5′→3′ direction of their inherited strands! A close collaboration w/ @gerlichlab.bsky.social , led by @flaviacorsi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
September 3, 2026 at 8:09 PM
1/ out in @science.org! We found a new asymmetry in large-scale chromosome structure: sister chromatids are shifted by hundreds of kb in the 5′→3′ direction of their inherited strands! A close collaboration w/ @gerlichlab.bsky.social , led by @flaviacorsi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Really cool! Smaller than GFP and reversibly binding last-generation rhodamine dyes. De novo pan-rhodamine binders for fluorescence microscopy from mammalian cells to extremophiles www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Congrats @bohuang.bsky.social @rhodamine110.bsky.social @mullinslab.bsky.social et al
September 2, 2026 at 9:20 AM
Really cool! Smaller than GFP and reversibly binding last-generation rhodamine dyes. De novo pan-rhodamine binders for fluorescence microscopy from mammalian cells to extremophiles www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Congrats @bohuang.bsky.social @rhodamine110.bsky.social @mullinslab.bsky.social et al
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Have you ever wondered why developmental genes are often regulated by enhancers located at long distances? In this @natgenet.nature.com perspective, we speculate that long-range enhancer positioning may provide regulatory properties essential for proper gene expression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mechanisms and functional implications of long-range enhancer-dependent gene regulation - Nature Genetics
Development depends on gene regulation by enhancers across long genomic distances. This Perspective discusses mechanisms enabling long-range enhancer–promoter communication and the potential advantage...
www.nature.com
September 1, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Have you ever wondered why developmental genes are often regulated by enhancers located at long distances? In this @natgenet.nature.com perspective, we speculate that long-range enhancer positioning may provide regulatory properties essential for proper gene expression
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
AlBawardi et al, 2026. Irregular nucleosome positioning governs a crystalline to liquid-like phase transition and tunes chromatin accessibility www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
▶️heterochromatin-like sequences produce compact fibres
▶️positional irregularity (>2-3 bp) triggers a state transition
▶️heterochromatin-like sequences produce compact fibres
▶️positional irregularity (>2-3 bp) triggers a state transition
August 30, 2026 at 10:52 AM
AlBawardi et al, 2026. Irregular nucleosome positioning governs a crystalline to liquid-like phase transition and tunes chromatin accessibility www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
▶️heterochromatin-like sequences produce compact fibres
▶️positional irregularity (>2-3 bp) triggers a state transition
▶️heterochromatin-like sequences produce compact fibres
▶️positional irregularity (>2-3 bp) triggers a state transition
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
First synthetic mouse enhancers active in defined embryonic tissues! Great collaboration led by @alex-stark.bsky.social lab now at @natgenet.nature.com
August 25, 2026 at 2:08 PM
First synthetic mouse enhancers active in defined embryonic tissues! Great collaboration led by @alex-stark.bsky.social lab now at @natgenet.nature.com
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
How do nuclear compartments form inside cell nuclei? We show RNA glues certain loci together to form a nuclear compartment. This involves special GC-rich regions of highly expressed genes that also associate with nuclear speckles, but interactions between these loci are independent of speckles!
Formation of an RNA-mediated nuclear compartment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.20.746005v1
August 24, 2026 at 3:41 PM
How do nuclear compartments form inside cell nuclei? We show RNA glues certain loci together to form a nuclear compartment. This involves special GC-rich regions of highly expressed genes that also associate with nuclear speckles, but interactions between these loci are independent of speckles!
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
The newly established Department of Systems Biology (systems.bio.uci.edu) @UCIrvine is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Systems Biology. Great science, incredible faculty support, and beautiful, sunny SoCal weather! ☀️🌴 Details: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF10377. Please share.
recruit.ap.uci.edu
August 24, 2026 at 4:41 PM
The newly established Department of Systems Biology (systems.bio.uci.edu) @UCIrvine is hiring a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Systems Biology. Great science, incredible faculty support, and beautiful, sunny SoCal weather! ☀️🌴 Details: recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF10377. Please share.
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
2 great papers on species-specific developmental tempo now @cp-devcell.bsky.social
Congrats @trayon.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
@ebisuyamiki.bsky.social & their teams 🧪
1. On protein degradation in neural progenitors
2. On differences in protein stability
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Congrats @trayon.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
@ebisuyamiki.bsky.social & their teams 🧪
1. On protein degradation in neural progenitors
2. On differences in protein stability
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Proteasome-dependent protein degradation shapes developmental tempo in mouse and human neural progenitors
Why do mammalian species develop at different speeds? Nakanoh, Stamataki, et al. show
that mouse neural progenitors have faster protein synthesis and proteasome-mediated
degradation than human. Manipu...
www.cell.com
August 13, 2026 at 4:26 PM
2 great papers on species-specific developmental tempo now @cp-devcell.bsky.social
Congrats @trayon.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
@ebisuyamiki.bsky.social & their teams 🧪
1. On protein degradation in neural progenitors
2. On differences in protein stability
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Congrats @trayon.bsky.social @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social
@ebisuyamiki.bsky.social & their teams 🧪
1. On protein degradation in neural progenitors
2. On differences in protein stability
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
New paper from my group at @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social, MIT IMES, and MIT Biology! I am thrilled to share that our paper describing scAmp, a new method for analyzing extrachromosomal DNA amplifications at single-cell resolution, has been published in @natcomms.nature.com. Thread below 👇
August 10, 2026 at 9:40 PM
New paper from my group at @mitkochinstitute.bsky.social, MIT IMES, and MIT Biology! I am thrilled to share that our paper describing scAmp, a new method for analyzing extrachromosomal DNA amplifications at single-cell resolution, has been published in @natcomms.nature.com. Thread below 👇
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Very happy to see this story finally out in @natbiotech.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fantastic collaboration with @lancasterlab.bsky.social on how to identify and ‘fix’ differentiation-compromised human pluripotent stem cells.
@babrahaminst.bsky.social
@mrclmb.ac.uk
🧵 below
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fantastic collaboration with @lancasterlab.bsky.social on how to identify and ‘fix’ differentiation-compromised human pluripotent stem cells.
@babrahaminst.bsky.social
@mrclmb.ac.uk
🧵 below
Reversible epiblast regionalization determines differentiation potential of human pluripotent stem cells - Nature Biotechnology
The differentiation variability of human pluripotent stem cell lines is diagnosed and corrected.
www.nature.com
August 7, 2026 at 10:07 AM
Very happy to see this story finally out in @natbiotech.nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fantastic collaboration with @lancasterlab.bsky.social on how to identify and ‘fix’ differentiation-compromised human pluripotent stem cells.
@babrahaminst.bsky.social
@mrclmb.ac.uk
🧵 below
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fantastic collaboration with @lancasterlab.bsky.social on how to identify and ‘fix’ differentiation-compromised human pluripotent stem cells.
@babrahaminst.bsky.social
@mrclmb.ac.uk
🧵 below
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Come be our colleague. I have been in this Division for 27 years (4 as a postdoc and 23 as a PI). It is an amazing place to work, collaborate, and be inspired. If you are applying to be an Assistant or Associate Professor this Fall, don't miss this deadline.
Join @FredHutch.org's Basic Sciences Division as an Assistant or Associate Professor and help shape the future of fundamental biology. We welcome applicants whose work will complement, extend, or bring new directions to the division.
Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
August 6, 2026 at 3:02 AM
Come be our colleague. I have been in this Division for 27 years (4 as a postdoc and 23 as a PI). It is an amazing place to work, collaborate, and be inspired. If you are applying to be an Assistant or Associate Professor this Fall, don't miss this deadline.
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
A really cool preprint from Joanna Wysocka's lab showing that housekeeping genes use distal enhancers as dosage buffers against TF fluctuations, but only during critical cell fate transitions. Makes so much sense!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Enhancer buffering protects dosage-sensitive housekeeping genes during vulnerable developmental transitions
Housekeeping genes maintain robust expression across cell types despite dynamic transcription factor fluctuations, yet their haploinsufficiency is associated with many tissue-specific developmental di...
www.biorxiv.org
August 5, 2026 at 2:15 AM
A really cool preprint from Joanna Wysocka's lab showing that housekeeping genes use distal enhancers as dosage buffers against TF fluctuations, but only during critical cell fate transitions. Makes so much sense!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Our new study shows a CHD-family remodeler can nucleate and spread H3K9 methylation de novo, inverting the canonical hierarchy between writers and remodelers. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Nucleosome remodeling by a CHD enzyme promotes H3K9 methylation establishment and spreading via remodeler-writer feedback
In Schizosaccharomyces pombe , the conserved CHD remodeler Mit1 function within the SHREC remodeler-deacetylase complex (a homolog of the metazoan Mi-2/NuRD complex), which is essential for H3K9 methy...
www.biorxiv.org
August 3, 2026 at 12:05 PM
Our new study shows a CHD-family remodeler can nucleate and spread H3K9 methylation de novo, inverting the canonical hierarchy between writers and remodelers. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com
Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some highlights below
Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some highlights below
Diversity and evolution of chromatin regulatory states across eukaryotes - Nature Genetics
This study introduces iChIP2, a low-input chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing method that profiles histone post-translational modifications (hPTMs) simultaneously across diverse eukar...
www.nature.com
August 3, 2026 at 9:08 AM
Happy to share the final version of our study on the evolution of chromatin states across eukaryotes, out today in @natgenet.nature.com
Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some highlights below
Led by @crisnava.bsky.social and @seanamontgomery.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Some highlights below
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Our study published today @science.org shows that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) attracts L1 mutations to the human X chromosome:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
July 30, 2026 at 6:17 PM
Our study published today @science.org shows that X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) attracts L1 mutations to the human X chromosome:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
With outstanding Perspective from @aurelien-doucet.bsky.social & @retrogenomics.bsky.social:
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
RNA-seq tells us how much RNA is present in the cell. But to understand gene regulation, we need to easily measure the synthesis and decay rates driving this abundance. We introduce AIR-seq: analog intrinsic recoding sequencing. (1/6) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Analog intrinsic recoding measures RNA dynamics without chemical conversion
Steady-state RNA abundance measurements mask the synthesis and decay rates that shape gene expression. Analog intrinsic recoding sequencing (AIR-seq) repurposes the base-pairing properties of N4-hydro...
www.biorxiv.org
July 28, 2026 at 5:20 PM
RNA-seq tells us how much RNA is present in the cell. But to understand gene regulation, we need to easily measure the synthesis and decay rates driving this abundance. We introduce AIR-seq: analog intrinsic recoding sequencing. (1/6) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
New paper in @natphys.nature.com!
We uncovered a stress adapation mechanism where keratin intermediate filaments in stretched epithelia undergo a supracellular bundling transition that uncages the nucleus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@ibecbarcelona.eu, @upc.edu @qmul.bsky.social
We uncovered a stress adapation mechanism where keratin intermediate filaments in stretched epithelia undergo a supracellular bundling transition that uncages the nucleus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@ibecbarcelona.eu, @upc.edu @qmul.bsky.social
July 27, 2026 at 9:30 AM
New paper in @natphys.nature.com!
We uncovered a stress adapation mechanism where keratin intermediate filaments in stretched epithelia undergo a supracellular bundling transition that uncages the nucleus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@ibecbarcelona.eu, @upc.edu @qmul.bsky.social
We uncovered a stress adapation mechanism where keratin intermediate filaments in stretched epithelia undergo a supracellular bundling transition that uncages the nucleus.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@ibecbarcelona.eu, @upc.edu @qmul.bsky.social
Reposted by Dr. Sedona Murphy
Facing federal science budget cuts, biologist Daniel Blumstein resorted to uploading marmot videos to OnlyFans to raise funds for his marmot research. However, when he uploaded his driver’s license for verification, OnlyFans informed him that his appearance didn’t match the marmots in the videos.
‘OnlyMarms’: Marmots Are on OnlyFans to Raise Money for Research (Gift Article)
A team of scientists uploaded videos of the squirrel-like rodents in the wild on the adult-content site OnlyFans to raise money amid government budget cuts.
www.nytimes.com
July 26, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Facing federal science budget cuts, biologist Daniel Blumstein resorted to uploading marmot videos to OnlyFans to raise funds for his marmot research. However, when he uploaded his driver’s license for verification, OnlyFans informed him that his appearance didn’t match the marmots in the videos.