Agreed, really quick for this huge building!

Portrait of a woman with glasses wearing a scarf inside a circular frame with the Max Planck Institute logo above and text about her fellowship below

Wow! 😱

María José Pérez Jiménez has received a 🚀 Klaus Tschira Boost Funding by @klaus-tschira-stiftung.de & @gso-forresearchers.bsky.social

María José investigates how estrogen regulates the response of brain cells to mitochondrial stress – learn more about the exciting project: s.gwdg.de/EhBnhR

This is sooo nice from the University’s Safety Department. And? Has the @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social been fast enough? 🤗

We are also very happy when it happens from time to time; an ideal opportunity to meet everybody and mingle.😆

#JobAlert

We’re looking for a #ScienceCommunication Officer (parental leave coverage) with creativity, a strong feel for language and media, and curiosity for emerging topics.

🗓️ Apply by 24 April 2026
👉 More info: kurzlinks.de/6qoo

Fixed-term until 27 November 2026.

#UniversityOfFreiburg

Epigenetics Update - Histone acetylation-dependent clustering of BRD2 instructs transcription dynamics go.nature.com/4tJjSJ7

Niyazi Umut Erdogdu and asifa-akhtar.bsky.social at @mpi-ie.bsky.social in Nat Genet

#Epigenetics #Chromatin #BRD2
---

Discover the breakthrough at epigenometech.com

White-gloved hands pulling back a red curtain to reveal a blue molecular structure interacting with red and purple strands against a dark blue background The curtain rises on gene activation: a molecular illustration of transcription, the process by which cells “read” their genes. New research findings show that a protein called BRD2 acts as a previously overlooked “stage manager” — it coordinates the preparations before RNA polymerase II (blue) can finally begin making the RNA copy (red) of the DNA (purple). © Juan Gaertner & Pixel-Shot / Shutterstock.com; Montage: MPI-IE

New in @natgenet.nature.com by @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social lab.

BRD2 & BRD4 control different steps of transcription, yet most BET inhibitors target their shared bromodomain – hitting both at once & producing effects that are hard to predict.

Why it matters for cancer
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Close-up of a laboratory instrument with a needle near a metal funnel, surrounded by text mentioning Mittler Lab and a job title for scientists in proteomics at Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics

Text listing tasks in the research group of Gerhard Mittler including organisational tasks for the Nanodiag BW project, creating proteomics workflows, and advancing LC-MS methods for histone analysis

Text listing reasons to love the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg including collaborative culture, epigenetics research, competitive grants, international network, public benefits, family support, relocation service, social life, and Freiburg location

Green background with a Minerva Max Planck Logo at the top and text inviting to join the Proteomics team with an application deadline of April 30, 2026, and a URL for more information: https://www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/proteomics

💥 Mass spec expert with passion for #epigenetics?

Our #Proteomics Facility is hiring a scientist (m/f/d)! Develop cutting-edge proteomics workflows (with a focus on histone analysis) to drive innovation in cancer diagnosis & treatment (@nanodiagbw.bsky.social project)

Apply here: s.gwdg.de/EHNeAs

Closes tomorrow. ☝️

Poster for the Max Planck Freiburg 8th Epigenetics Meeting from 2 to 4 December 2026 listing speakers, keynote, registration details, and contact information on a dark blue background with yellow and white text

The 8th Epigenetics Meeting is coming — Dec 2–4, 2026, Max Planck Freiburg.

27 top speakers. Chromatin biology, epigenetic regulation, and real conversations. And you☝️!?

Registration is open. Don't wait. 👇
🔗 events.ie-freiburg.mpg.de

What a wonderful event — great line-up, great keynote by Michael Hall! Looks like a fantastic event to establish collaborations for the next four years. 🚀

Many thanks to @sfb1381.bsky.social, the organizers and the helpers behind for bringing everyone together! 🙏

Congratulations 🎉 to SFB 1381 student Iga Grzadzielewska, who successfully defended her doctoral thesis at the University of Freiburg.

All the best for the future, Dr. Grzadzielewska!

@biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social
@mpi-ie.bsky.social

Sharepic: Portrait of Asifa Akhtar wearing a dark blazer and red top inside a circular frame with text 'Order of Merit Baden-Württemberg', 'Asifa Akhtar', '2026', and 'Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics, Freiburg'

Congratulations to Asifa Akhtar (@asifa-akhtar.bsky.social Akhtar) 🎉 on receiving the Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg or her groundbreaking work in epigenetics! 🏅

www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/6125128/2026...

Ministerpräsident Kretschmann ehrt Fritz Keller und Asifa Akhtar in Stuttgart mit Verdienstorden Ministerpräsident Kretschmann hat Fritz Keller und Asifa Akhtar mit dem Verdienstorden des Landes geehrt. Beide haben in ihren Bereichen – Weinbau, Sport und Wissenschaft – Maßstäbe gesetzt.

Ministerpräsident Kretschmann hat Fritz Keller und Asifa Akhtar mit dem Verdienstorden des Landes geehrt. Beide haben in ihren Bereichen – Weinbau, Sport und Wissenschaft – Maßstäbe gesetzt.

Stage-specific epigenetic priming amplifies gene activation during lineage commitment Gene expression is amplified during differentiation by epigenetic priming of regulatory regions.

(6/6) This gives a mechanistic handle on how epigenetic mis-regulation during neural induction may contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Not broken genes — but broken timing. ⏰

Read all the details in this open-access study in Science Advances.

Model summarizing MSLc-­ mediated functions during neurodevelopment. Created in BioRender. Förtsch, A. (2026) https://BioRender.com/un2ljw7.

(5/6) The critical finding: there's a narrow window at the onset of differentiation. Rescue attempts later in development cannot reverse the morphological defects. Epigenetic priming isn't just early — it's irreversible if missed. 😱

(4/6) The mechanism is kind of interesting: MSLc-mediated H4K16ac acts as a temporal signal that licenses gene programs for cell morphogenesis and synaptogenesis. Without it, the right genes simply don't get read at the right time.

(3/6) Knocking out MSL1 in mouse models causes severe neuroectodermal defects and embryonic lethality. The MSLc turns out to be essential for chromatin accessibility and enhancer-promoter looping at neural loci. And this long before neurons actually form.

(2/6) The team shows that the Male-Specific Lethal Complex (MSLc) doesn't just regulate dosage compensation 🪰. It also primes neural genes for activation during early embryogenesis in mice 🐭. – Miss this window, and development goes wrong. Here's why timing matters: ⬇️

An in vitro differentiated neuron; the confocal images showing H4K16ac and α-­ tubulin signals in day 7 Msl1-­neurons. Tubulin is in red and the green nuclear stain is the lab’s favourite histone mark H4K16ac.

What does a fruit fly dosage compensation complex have to do with human brain development? More than one expected.

Stunning paper by the lab of @asifa-akhtar.bsky.social in Science Advances: »Stage-specific epigenetic priming amplifies gene activation during lineage commitment« (1/6)

Illustration of a fly and cellular structures connected by red and black thread-like lines inside a circle with a blue dot labeled 'TF' and text 'AlHaj Abed LAB' and 'Postdoctoral Researcher (m/w/d) Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology & Epigenetics'

Text listing tasks in AlHaj Abed lab including Hi-C and Micro-C analysis, adapting multi-way contact genomic tools for Drosophila, building visualization framework for Pore-C data, image analysis, and programming in R and/or Python

Text listing reasons to appreciate the Max Planck Institute in Freiburg including collaborative culture, core facilities, grants, scientific network, international diversity, public benefits, family support, relocation service, social life, and location, with a website link

Logo of the Max Planck Society; below text inviting to join the AlHaj Abed Lab with application deadline April 8, 2026, and a project website URL

🚨 Postdoc in 3D genome architecture – join the @jumanaaha.bsky.social lab at the MPI-IE, Freiburg (🇩🇪)

The wonderful lab of Jumana AlHaj Abed is pushing the limits of how chromosomes fold and interaction – and we need someone who can code, image, & think across scales.

Apply here: s.gwdg.de/9c8838

Welcome to Freiburg! ☀️

TriRhena Gene Regulation Club The TriRhena Gene Regulation Club is a one-day symposium that brings together researchers from France (IGBMC), Germany (MPI-IE) and Switzerland (FMI) who share a common interest in gene regulation.

It is a beautiful day in the TriRhena region. ☀️ 😎 Perfect for traveling to today’s Gene Regulation at @igbmc.bsky.social in Strasbourg 🇫🇷.

Check out the program with exciting talks in chromatin, transcription & ZGA including the NewPI talk by @simonelsasser.bsky.social.

Davor Solter receives the 2026 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize Davor Solter, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg wins 2026 Paul Ehrlich & Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize

… and established an entirely new field of research: #epigenetics that shaped really modern biology and medicine.

Congratulations, Davor! 🥳

Learn more about the discovery, including links to the award speeches and photos from the ceremony by the Paul Ehrlich Foundation.

Four men, awardees Azim Surani and Davor Solter, Denis Duboule (laudatory speaker) and Thomas Boehm (Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation) in suits standing indoors next to a stone wall and a bust of Paul Ehrlich on a white pedestal. Photo by Paul Ehrlich Foundation, © Uwe Dettmar

A milestone recognized. 🎉

We congratulate our Director Emeritus Davor Solter and Azim Surani on winning the 2026 Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, which they both received on Saturday in Frankfurt!

Their discovery of genomic imprinting revolutionized our understanding of heredity and …

Schedule of the TriRhena Gene Regulation Club 2026 symposium listing times, speakers, and topics on gene regulation and chromatin accessibility, organized by IGBMC Strasbourg, FMI Basel, and MPI-IE Freiburg.

Next week, the Gene Regulation Club has its first stop in 2026. The 1-day symposium brings together researchers from TriRhena 🇫🇷🇨🇭🇩🇪 region including IGBMC, MPI-IE & FMI.

This time at the @igbmc.bsky.social (Strasbourg) with a NewPI talk by @simonelsasser.bsky.social

More: www.ie-freiburg.mpg.de/grc

⚡This Wednesday! 🥁We've got two exciting chromatin talks coming up from @almassalha.bsky.social and @carmeloferrai.bsky.social
🐣If you haven't registered for the series, please register and join us: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Two papers on important roles of the Arp2/3 complex in microglia in the CNS microenvironment by the labs of Jeremy Rotty and Tim Lämmermann @laemmermann-lab.bsky.social @mpi-ie.bsky.social and ZMBE @uni-muenster.de.

Read more:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Sharepic for a seminar at the MPI-IE: Green-blue gradient background. The top left shows the name of the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics and its logo. Below is the heading 'MAX PLANCK SEMINAR FREIBURG'. The center displays the lecture title: 'INSPECTING THE ROLES OF CHROMATIN ORGANIZATION IN TRANSCRIPTION REVEALED BY SPATIAL GENOMICS'. The lower left lists the date, time, and venue: 'WED, 11 MARCH 2026, 15:00', 'MPI-IE, LECTURE HALL', 'Stübeweg 51, 79108 Freiburg, Germany'. The lower right shows the speaker's name and affiliation: 'Marcelo Nollmann, Center for Structural Biology, CNRS/INSERM, University of Montpellier, France'.

🤗 Next week, we are happy to welcome Marcelo Nollmann from @cbsmontpellier.bsky.social | @cnrs.fr | @umontpellier.bsky.social.

His lab develops single-molecule and advanced imaging methods to investigate DNA organization, segregation and transcription in multicellular organisms.

Join us at 3pm. ⬇️

Registration closes today.