Jolanda van Leeuwen

Including @litinice.bsky.social who DOES have a Bluesky account :)

Compared to the preprint, we added data on the functional effect of the suppressors (about half are LOF). Thanks again to @leopoldparts.bsky.social @ptck72.bsky.social @markashe.bsky.social @nicolo-tellini.bsky.social and all co-authors without Bluesky accounts!

Now published! www.cell.com/cell-systems...

Abstract submission is open! Looking forward to seeing everyone in Pacific Grove, CA 🧬

2026 #Yeast #Genetics Meeting is 13–17 June 2026 in Pacific Grove CA. Conference website has invited speakers, abstract submission topics, preliminary schedule, etc. Bookmark the site as additional updates will be published as they become available. #YEAST26

genetics-gsa.org/yeast-2026/

Graphic says Advancing science together Applications open for Biomedical Sciences PhD program

Join a collaborative home of Nobel Prize-winning biomedical research. Advance discoveries of the treatment and prevention of diseases. The Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences is accepting applications for the Biomedical Sciences PhD program: direc.to/nEHU

#PhD #PhDSky

RNA Pol II inhibition activates cell death independently from the loss of transcription When RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) is inhibited, the inhibition is sensed and signaled to mitochondria, leading to programmed cell death independently of the loss of RNA Pol II transcription activity...

I’m excited to highlight our latest paper, just published in Cell 🎉

We report the existence of a previously uncharacterized signaling pathway that is responsible for activating cell death upon loss of gene expression.

1/n 🧪

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

The May issue of #G3journal features work by Paltenghi and @jsvanleeuwen.bsky.social which identifies highly conserved genetic suppression mechanisms across genetically diverse yeast isolates in an effort to reduce disease severity in genetic disorders.

Read more: buff.ly/AhEqx0f

A new milestone for pertomics 😂

The finding that genetic suppressors are highly conserved across genetic contexts is potentially reassuring for the development of therapeutics that mimic genetic suppressors. More details on all of this in the paper. If you have any comments, please let me know!

Heatmap showing the conservation of 11 suppressors across 4 genetic backgrounds

Almost every suppressor that she studied could rescue the TS mutant in all genetic backgrounds. Despite this high conservation, the fitness of the mutants, and thus the “strength” of the suppression, did vary across the genetic backgrounds

Claire used yeast as a model to study the conservation of genetic suppression. She isolated suppressors of temperature sensitive (TS) mutants, and then tested whether the suppressors could still rescue the TS mutants if she moved them into other, genetically diverse backgrounds

Sometimes the detrimental effects of a disease mutation can be rescued by another mutation. Such suppressor mutations may identify new therapeutic targets, but these would be more useful if their protective effect would occur in many, genetically diverse patients

Genetic suppression interactions are highly conserved across genetically diverse yeast isolates Sometimes the detrimental effects of a mutation can be rescued by another mutation. For genetic diseases, such suppressor mutations may identify new therap

The latest work of PhD student Claire Paltenghi
@fbm-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social @umasschan.bsky.social, on the conservation of genetic suppression interactions across genetic contexts, now published in G3 @genetics-gsa.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1093/g3jo...

<grumble> funding agencies, scoring schemes on “clarity of hypothesis” is quite a straightjacket. There is plenty of v good discovery/ hypothesis generating science which doesn’t have a “narrow” hypothesis

For those of you interested in cancer synthetic lethality, this should be a v interesting Gordon Conference organised by @mgarnett.bsky.social @vazquezf.bsky.social & Benjamin Schwartz- highly recommended ! www.grc.org/synthetic-le...

Thanks to the teams @fbm-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social @umasschan.bsky.social and collaborators @leopoldparts.bsky.social‬ @ptck72.bsky.social @markashe.bsky.social
@nicolo-tellini.bsky.social Gianni Liti, Andrei Chabes, and all lab members without Bluesky accounts!

Finally, we explored the importance of the mapped modifiers for evolutionary trajectories in natural populations. Using a set of >1,000 yeast isolates, we show that modifier variants may allow the accumulation of otherwise deleterious mutations in the bypassed essential genes

Pie charts comparing natural to laboratory bypass suppressor variants

The identified modifiers are quite different from spontaneous bypass suppressor mutations that were isolated in a laboratory. These differences are likely due to the deleteriousness of the laboratory suppressor mutations, suggesting that these are unlikely to become fixed in natural populations

A network of mapped bypass suppressor interactions

In most cases, a single gene was responsible for the change in essentiality. This genetic “simplicity” is somewhat surprising given the focus on complex genotype-to-phenotype relationships in scientific literature, but can be explained by the rare and extreme nature of the phenotype we are studying

Yeast phylogenetic tree, highlighting the 18 yeast strains used in the study

We selected 18 natural yeast strains, whose genomes are about as different from each other as those of two human beings, and asked whether ~800 genes that are required for viability in a laboratory yeast strain were also essential in these wild yeast strains. We found 39 genes that were not

Many studies have identified differences in gene essentiality between genetically distinct individuals or organisms. But, the genetic causes (“modifiers”) that are underlying these differences often remain unknown. Here, we set out to systematically identify such modifiers in the budding yeast

The modifiers that cause changes in gene essentiality

Some science news to brighten up your timelines ☀️ Our latest work on the modifiers that cause changes in gene essentiality between genetic backgrounds, now on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

So what did we find?

Randomizing the human genome by engineering recombination between repeat elements We lack tools to edit DNA sequences at scales necessary to study 99% of the human genome that is noncoding. To address this gap, we applied CRISPR prime editing to insert recombination handles into re...

We're delighted to share our work on scrambling the human genome using prime editing, repetitive elements, and recombinases in @science.org , led by @jonaskoeppel.bsky.social , @f-raphael.bsky.social , with @proftomellis.bsky.social and George Church.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Yeast Genetics & Genomics at CSHL
July 22 - August 12, 2025

Application Deadline: March 31, 2025
Arrival: July 22nd by 6pm EST
Departure: August 12th around 12pm EST

For more info and to apply please visit the Yeast Genetics & Genomics course website: meetings.cshl.edu/courses.aspx...

📢 #Yeast2025 News!
Registration and abstract submission are NOW OPEN!
Join us at the 32nd ICYGMB
📅 Save the Date: 21-24 July 2025
📍 Location: Paris @sorbonne-universite.fr
🔗 Submit: premc.org/yeast2025/su...
🕒 Register now to take advantage of the Early Bird fee premc.org/yeast2025/re...

Come join us at CSHL in March for the Network Biology meeting! Less than two weeks left to submit your abstract

Network Biology Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meetings & Courses -- a private, non-profit institution with research programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, bioinformatics.

Hey #networkbiology bubble and affinionados. Don't miss the CSHL Meeting: Network Biology in spring 2025. Great panel of speakers lined up by the organizers @fritzroth.bsky.social @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social, Roded Sharan, and @jsvanleeuwen.bsky.social.

meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Calling all systems and computational biologists in search of a faculty position:

We have Assistant and Associate Professor positions! 🚀

Pittsburgh is beautiful, and we are doing amazing science here.

cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

Please apply by Dec 2!