Inlay

🧵 CTCF is essential for embryonic development, but why has remained unclear. By combining gastruloids with a temporal degron system, we uncovered a surprising dual function — and it changes how we think about CTCF's role in development. 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thanks a lot to the organizers of ISCO ‘26 for a fantastic meeting and selecting me for best short talk ☺️. I had an amazing time! See you next year!

Absolutely amazing place for a staff technician with tons of cool technologies! APPLY!

Don’t forget to sign up — registration is still open for the International Dutch Embryo Model Meeting 2026 in Utrecht (7–8 May)! 🚀 Hope to see many of you there. Registration closes 24 April!

Incredibly happy to be back in Barcelona to attend ISCO ‘26 to present our work on multiplexed single cell epigenomics!

It’s a wrap! 🎉 iDEMM 2026 is done — two days, 160 scientists, the most exciting embryo model science around. Less conference, more rock festival — just with pipettes instead of guitars. 🎸🔬 Huge thanks to speakers, posters, attendees, and my co-organizers @bracciolilab.bsky.social and Hendrik Marks.

CTCF is an essential DNA binding protein whose absence leads to embryonic lethality. CTCF is primarily known for its role in 3D genome organization where its N-terminal domain interacts with cohesin to anchor chromatin loops. How CTCF facilitates proper embryonic development remains unclear, necessitating temporal control to resolve its stage-specific functions. By combining gastruloids, an in vitro model of embryonic development, with a degron system to rapidly deplete CTCF at defined timepoints, we show that early CTCF depletion impairs early gastruloid morphogenesis. Surprisingly, ATAC-seq and time-resolved RNA-seq revealed that differentiation was unaffected. CTCF binding is strongly enriched at promoters of downregulated genes. Re-expression of a CTCF variant with an N-terminal truncation, incapable of looping, was sufficient to rescue the expression of CTCF-promoter bound genes and the defects in morphogenesis. However, extended culture (up to 168 hours) of gastruloids reconstituted with N-terminal truncated CTCF led to their collapse. Our work shows that CTCF has a dual function in early mammalian development: at early stages CTCF regulates developmentally important genes through promoter binding, while at later stages its looping function is required for correct development. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, https://ror.org/0472cxd90, 637587, 865459 Dutch Research Council, https://ror.org/04jsz6e67, 016.161.316, VI.C.222.049 Dutch Cancer Society, https://ror.org/0368jnd28, N/A

The goal: high-quality data with a smaller environmental footprint, and methods that are openly accessible to labs beyond our own. Proud to be among 20 projects funded to make research practices greener. 🌱 #SingleCell #Epigenomics #Sustainability #OpenScience #NWO

Thrilled that our project received funding from the NWO Sustainable Science Fund! 🎉 We'll develop more sustainable single-cell epigenomic methods that cut plastic waste and energy use. www.nwo.nl/en/news/sust... @hubrechtinstitute.bsky.social @jopkind.bsky.social

Elzo de Wit lab @ NKI

Research contributes to knowledge about sustainability, but how do we make research practices themselves more sustainable? Funding has been awarded to twenty projects from the call launched in 2025 by...

Luca Braccioli Lab @ UU