We also discuss how deprotected telomeres can persist across cell cycles, and how normally protective telomere-binding proteins can actively promote deprotection to signal mitotic stress.
Grateful to the many colleagues whose work and ideas have contributed to these concepts over the years.
A key concept is that telomere “deprotection” is a regulated process that enables loss of t-loops to signal growth arrest or cell death without compromising genome integrity.
We also discuss how telomere shortening during ageing may drive t-loop destabilisation and cellular senescence.
This piece explores how telomeres are not static chromosome-end caps, but dynamic DNA structures that actively regulate genome surveillance and cell fate.
We focus on telomere loops (t-loops) and their role in regulating DNA damage response activation at natural chromosome termini.
“T-loop Dynamics: Telomere Structure Shapes Cell Fate Decisions” is out now in @cp-trendscellbio.bsky.social .
www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
It was a pleasure to work on this with collaborator and friend @makotothayashi.bsky.social, whose insight was central to shaping the ideas in this review.
An important seasonal installation in the Cesare lab. March Madness bracket is up.
Go Tar Heels! 🏀
@lisannes.bsky.social gave an outstanding seminar at @cmri.bsky.social yesterday.
Full room, exciting data, and a 15-minute Q&A -- a fantastic discussion.
Amazing work, Lisanne. Thank you for visiting and sharing it with the institute.
Delighted to host @cellpress.bsky.social editor Ilaria Carnevale today at @cmri.bsky.social for a seminar and meetings with our trainees and lab heads.
Ilaria was Lead Editor at @cp-trendscellbio.bsky.social and now leads Trends Open.
Welcome to Australia, Ilaria. Thank you for visiting CMRI.
2026 @cmri.bsky.social seminar series starts today!
12:00 pm: Angelica Lau, Program Manager (Health), Cicada Innovations. www.cicadainnovations.com
Angelica will share how Cicada, Australia’s leading deep-tech incubator, supports researchers in translating lab discoveries into real-world impact.
3/Very grateful for the support of the NHMRC and our institutions. Excited to see this project, years in the planning, begin in 2026.
2/Led by @hildapickett.bsky.social, with co-investigators @genomestability.bsky.social, @lisannes.bsky.social, Jacob Lewis, @yuhenglau.bsky.social, Sarah Henrikus, & the Cesare Lab, this project brings together expertise in telomere biology, DNA repair, biochemistry, drug discovery, & cell biology.
1/Delighted to be part of a team from @cmri.bsky.social, @sydney.edu.au, the University of Wollongong, and SVI (Melbourne) awarded a $5M NHMRC Synergy Grant to explore: “A mechanistic approach to developing precision therapies for ALT-dependent cancers.”
www.nhmrc.gov.au/funding/find...
If I may be allowed a moment of fatherly pride.
Huge congratulations to Maddy Cesare on being selected for the New South Wales team competing at the Australian Youth Women’s Baseball Championship ⚾️🇦🇺
A big achievement, especially in her first year of eligibility.
Baseball is awesome.
3/ I’m relieved to have secured funding to sustain my lab, but am deeply concerned about the long-term health of Australia’s research sector. Our grant structures and peer review systems are in urgent need of reform.
2/However, this is a bittersweet moment. With a success rate of just 8.1%, many excellent grants from brilliant researchers across Australia went unfunded. Not due to lack of quality, but because of an under-resourced, overstretched system burdened by inadequate and often inappropriate peer review.
1/I’m proud to that our NHMRC Ideas Grant was successful and will support ongoing research in how DNA repair influences cancer cell fate.
This project builds on pioneering work by @szmyd-radoslaw.bsky.social and @radoncdocgee.bsky.social, supported by @cmri.bsky.social and @sydney.edu.au
Collage of four people in a professional setting. Each person is wearing business-casual clothing, with backgrounds showing bright laboratory spaces and equipment.
We are grateful to the National Health and Medical Research Council for granting four of our scientists highly sought after Ideas Grants. www.cmrijeansforgenes.org.au/news/cmri-researchers-aw...
Tony Cesare
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...
Thank you @cmri.bsky.social for the nomination; @sydney.edu.au for this recognition; and our team for making this research possible.
One name appears on an award, but it truly reflects the collective effort of an exceptionally talented team. All credit to @radoncdocgee.bsky.social, @szmyd-radoslaw.bsky.social, @drmelaniew.bsky.social, @annagmanjon.bsky.social, Lucy French, Sienna Casolin, Scott Page, & our awesome collaborators.
Thank you @karimmekhail.bsky.social, @chiololab.bsky.social, and @altmeyerlab.bsky.social for organising @fusionconf.bsky.social #SGO25.
Exciting science at a fantastic venue!
Delighted to be in beautiful Riviera Maya Mexico 🇲🇽 for @fusionconf.bsky.social #SGO25.
www.fusion-conferences.com/conference/188
The study reveals how actin filaments form at PML nuclear bodies during replication stress and how this nuclear actin assembly protect the genome.
A summary of all manuscript details and the study participants can be found here: www.linkedin.com/posts/noa-la...
The first preprint from Noa Lamm’s team @cmri.bsky.social is now available: Anillin-dependent actin assembly at PML nuclear bodies protects genome stability
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Delighted our lab could play a role supporting Noa’s vision on this project.
Our project uses telomeres to model how homologous recombination influences cell death & proliferation.
The Pickett–Giles project investigates 3D chromatin architecture in DNA repair.
Thank you @cmri.bsky.social, @sydney.edu.au, and the Australian government for supporting basic research.
Grateful that our lab was successful in two Australian Research Council Discovery Project grants last week.
I’m the sole CI on one, while @hildapickett.bsky.social and Cesare-lab post-doc @scientistkate.bsky.social are CIs on the other. Both projects explore genome stability in human cells
The Cesare Lab had an excellent time at the Australian Cell Cycle, DNA Repair & Telomere Meeting in Melbourne.
australiancellcycle.org
A huge thank you to @genomestability.bsky.social and all the organisers for putting together such a fantastic and inspiring meeting.
We're looking forward to 2027!
Simon is internationally recognised for pioneering discoveries in DNA repair, genome stability, and telomere biology. His lab’s work continues to redefine how we understand chromosome maintenance and cancer biology.
Join us at 12:30 for what promises to be an excellent talk!
Delighted to be hosting Simon Boulton (@boultonlab.bsky.social) today for seminar at @cmri.bsky.social.
Simon will present “Making T-loops to solve the end-protection problem”, sharing recent advances from his lab on how cells safeguard their chromosome ends.
Sharon Cantor (@cantorlab.bsky.social) is visiting @cmri.bsky.social tomorrow (Friday 17 October) to present her seminar -- "Defining and Targeting BRCAness".
If you’re in the area, stop by the CMRI Seminar Room at 12:30 PM for what will be an excellent talk!
Happy that @drmelaniew.bsky.social and I could play a small role in this lovely work led by @ssegurabayona.bsky.social. Please do give the preprint a look.