Thank you Christa! 😊

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...

Read the full story in our preprint! 👇
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Excited to share this work with my co-first author Kevin Sabath - a fantastic collaboration between the
@alex-stark.bsky.social and @plaschkalab.bsky.social labs! 🤝🧪

Using Hcfc1 as a model, we show it functions as a molecular bridge: it connects CGI-bound TFs directly to TFIID. This recruitment overcomes a rate-limiting step unique to CGI promoters, enabling transcription initiation. 🧬🌉

Do transcriptional activators work on any promoter? Our data says no. 🙅‍♂️
Despite driving ~2/3 of mammalian genes, CpG island (CGI) promoters have remained a puzzle. We identified >50 activators that are exclusively compatible with this promoter class. 🧬

Systematic Discovery of Pathogen Effector Functions across Human Pathogens and Pathways www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11....

The Vienna BioCenter Summer School 2026 call is now open for talented undergrads, it's a great opportunity for students who are interested in graduate study in the life sciences. Please RT
https://training.vbc.ac.at/summer-school/

Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.

Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...

Enjoyed reading and writing a perspective on your study, congrats!

Huge congratulations, Victoria!

Could one envision a synthetic receptor technology that is fully programmable, able to detect diverse extracellular antigens – both soluble and cell-attached – and convert that recognition into a wide range of intracellular responses, from gene expression and real-time fluorescence to modulation..

congratulations Christa! 🥳