Photo of Dr Luke Yates

'Huge' congratulations to Dr Luke Yates, on being awarded a highly competitive Academy of Medical Sciences' Springboard programme — for research investigating how cells coordinate the process of DNA repair, using advanced molecular imaging and genetic tools @acmedsci.bsky.social

Congratulations! Great work!

Dear all, please see link below for Milano et al, describing a role for BRCA2 (& BRCA1) in the maturation of nascent DNA strand gaps during DNA replication in the presence of PARP inhibitor. Congratulations Larissa and all !

authors.elsevier.com/a/1mtQe3vVUP...

🚨 Preprint alert!

We solved the structure of human NSUN2 bound to Asp tRNA, revealing how it installs m⁵C and recognizes RNAs
#CryoEM #RNABiology

A collab between Casañal & Gullerova labs, with @miclass.bsky.social and me working side by side as co-first authors

🔗 doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Shout out to Boston

Paper alert from @codyz.bsky.social y.social and Yang Liu. New mechanism for chromatin remodeling by ATRX. Super cool story. Congrats to #lugerlab alumni.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

PARP1 and PARP2 are dispensable for DNA repair by microhomology-mediated end-joining at double-ended DSBs Abstract. Poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are standard of care treatment for cancers with homologous-recombination deficiencies. Yet, as tumou

new PARP paper from our neigbhors in the Arnoult lab at CU Boulder: indicates that PARP inhibitors alone are not good enough; we need combo therapy by adding inhibitors of MMEJ. academic.oup.com/nar/article/....

Dissolve My Nobel Prize! Fast! (A True Story) It's 1940. The Nazis have taken Copenhagen, and physicist Niels Bohr has just hours, maybe minutes, to make two Nobel Prize medals disappear.

Longer version with more detail: www.npr.org/sections/kru...

OMG This is so good.

The first chemical synthesis of ADP-ribosylated oligonucleotides provides powerful tools to study ADP-ribosylation of nucleic acids:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Happy to share our work on RPA exhaustion activating SLFN11 published in @natcellbio.nature.com today!

watercolor of DNA gel

#ArtAdventCalendar Gel Electrophoresis in Green and Blue, watercolor, 2023 #sciart

Fantastic celebration of Tony Carr’s scientific career at the @gdsc-sussex.bsky.social retreat 2025

Transcriptional repression facilitates RNA:DNA hybrid accumulation at DNA double-strand breaks | Nature Cell Biology RNA:DNA hybrids accumulate at DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and were shown to regulate homologous recombination repair. The mechanism responsible for the formation of these non-canonical RNA:DNA structures remains unclear although they were proposed to arise consequently to RNA polymerase II or III loading followed by DSB-induced de novo transcription at the break site. Here, we found no evidence of RNA polymerase recruitment at DSBs. Rather, strand-specific R-loop mapping revealed that RNA:DNA hybrids are mainly generated at DSBs occurring in transcribing loci, from the hybridization of pre-existing RNA to the 3′ overhang left by DNA end resection. We further identified the H3K4me3 reader spindlin 1 and the transcriptional regulator PAF1 as factors promoting RNA:DNA hybrid accumulation at DSBs, through their role in mediating transcriptional repression in cis to DSBs. Altogether, we provide evidence that RNA:DNA hybrids accumulate at DSBs occurring in transcribing loci as a result o

RNA:DNA hybrids increase at DSBs, crucial for repair, but form without RNA polymerase recruitment. Discover insights on hybrid accumulation. PMID:40447771, Nat Cell Biol 2025, @NatureCellBio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41556-025-01669-y #Medsky #Pharmsky #RNA #ASHG #ESHG 🧪

Good old @nathanwpyle.bsky.social 😀

Attending a wonderful DNA repair meeting in Trondheim, Norway. Thanks Barbara van Loon for being a splendid host.

NASP modulates histone turnover to drive PARP inhibitor resistance - Nature PARP inhibitor treatment triggers histone release from the chromatin in cancer cells; consequently, targeting the histone chaperone NASP renders cells vulnerable to PARP inhibition.

Thrilled to share our latest work, just published in @nature.com ⬇
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We discovered that PARP inhibitors 💊 trigger histone eviction from the chromatin and this creates a hidden vulnerability in PARPi resistant tumors.
🧵 (1/8)

So utterly honoured to have been recruited, mentored and supported by this incredibly influential individual. Long may he happily retire. @gdsc-sussex.bsky.social

The Most Beautiful Experiment: Meselson and Stahl YouTube video by Science Communication Lab

Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...

The DNA replication checkpoint limits Okazaki fragment accumulation to protect and restart stalled forks Canal et al. used biochemical reconstitution of DNA replication to show that continued Okazaki fragment synthesis after nucleotide exhaustion depletes PCNA, RFC, and DNA polymerases ε and δ, deprotecting replication forks and impairing restart. By limiting Okazaki fragment generation and factor depletion, the replication checkpoint protects forks, allows restart, and promotes survival.

Online Now: The DNA replication checkpoint limits Okazaki fragment accumulation to protect and restart stalled forks Online now:

Proud! 💙 Our scientific director Thijn Brummelkamp receives the Spinoza Prize, a prize for scientists who belong to the best researchers worldwide. A wonderful recognition for his groundbreaking research.

Congrats Thijn! 🎉 @thijnbrummel.bsky.social

Full article ➡️ bit.ly/40p4KnK

Prof. Evi Soutoglou describing what happens when DNA breaks, and when to cut, and when not to — on Brighton seafront, as part of Soapbox Science 2025 — a public outreach platform that promote women and non-binary scientists and the science that they carry out. ‪@soapboxscience.bsky.social‬

Dynamic assemblies and coordinated reactions of non-homologous end joining - Nature Structures associated with the final steps of non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and gap filling present new targets for NHEJ inhibition to enhance efficacy of radiotherapy and accuracy of gene editing...

Excited this study is out - we helped with an experiment on Paxx www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I spit out my iced tea when I saw this cartoon on Facebook by @nathanwpyle.bsky.social.

CryoEM structure of a RAD51 synaptic filament. Glass ribbons of RAD51 protein bind to three fluorescent DNA strands

Our latest paper describing the #cryoEM structure of the human RAD51 synaptic complex is now out with accompanying peer review in eLife - a landmark study according to the editors!

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

The Trump Presidency’s World-Historical Heist He is taking self-enrichment to a scale never seen before in America.

another great read from @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

We are looking to recruit three posts at the @crick.ac.uk in structural biology, cell biology, and pharmacology to join a 20+ strong multidisciplinary team focused on delivering the first precision medicines for the treatment of ALT cancers. Interested? Please check out the advertised jobs below:

From the lab to the clinic: developing the next generation of precision cancer therapies Crick group leader Simon Boulton co-founded Artios in 2016, a spin-out from Cancer Research UK’s Commercial Partnerships, where he is now VP of Science Strategy. Artios develops cancer treatments that...

Read our Q&A with Simon Boulton (@boultonlab.bsky.social), a group leader here at the Crick who co-founded the company Artios in 2016.

Artios is a biotech company that develops cancer treatments that target DNA damage response pathways.
www.crick.ac.uk/news-and-fea...