Cedric Feschotte
@cedricfeschotte.bsky.social
Prof at Cornell, #firstgen, immigrant 🇫🇷🇺🇸. Transposons, viruses, and all the cool stuff genomes are made of. https://www.feschottelab.com
Enchanted by the serene beauty of the Princeton campus and inspired by the creativity and generosity of the scientists I’ve met throughout this visit. Such a privilege to visit all these amazing places to present our science! Thanks Ricardo Mallarino for hosting me!
September 25, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Enchanted by the serene beauty of the Princeton campus and inspired by the creativity and generosity of the scientists I’ve met throughout this visit. Such a privilege to visit all these amazing places to present our science! Thanks Ricardo Mallarino for hosting me!
Kathy Burns kicks off #MGEMBL25 in beautiful Woods Hole, MA. It’s the 5th iteration of this meeting on mobile genetic elements devotedly spearheaded by Irina Arkhipova. Grateful and excited to be back here!
August 28, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Kathy Burns kicks off #MGEMBL25 in beautiful Woods Hole, MA. It’s the 5th iteration of this meeting on mobile genetic elements devotedly spearheaded by Irina Arkhipova. Grateful and excited to be back here!
🥳 CONGRATS 🍾 Dr. Satyam Srivastav who defended brilliantly his PhD thesis: “Function and Evolution of the PIWI-piRNA
Pathway: Insights from Fish and Flies”. Andy Clark & I are proud of you @kerogens101.bsky.social & can’t wait to see what u discover next as a postdoc with @marymullins.bsky.social!
Pathway: Insights from Fish and Flies”. Andy Clark & I are proud of you @kerogens101.bsky.social & can’t wait to see what u discover next as a postdoc with @marymullins.bsky.social!
August 6, 2025 at 9:17 PM
🥳 CONGRATS 🍾 Dr. Satyam Srivastav who defended brilliantly his PhD thesis: “Function and Evolution of the PIWI-piRNA
Pathway: Insights from Fish and Flies”. Andy Clark & I are proud of you @kerogens101.bsky.social & can’t wait to see what u discover next as a postdoc with @marymullins.bsky.social!
Pathway: Insights from Fish and Flies”. Andy Clark & I are proud of you @kerogens101.bsky.social & can’t wait to see what u discover next as a postdoc with @marymullins.bsky.social!
Looking forward to this new installment of the Woods Hole Mobile DNA Meeting! Fantastic program, laid-back atmosphere, and gorgeous setting at the Marine Biological Laboratory ⛵️🪼🐋
Abstract submission closes Aug 7 but registration after that date is possible. www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...
Abstract submission closes Aug 7 but registration after that date is possible. www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...
August 5, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Looking forward to this new installment of the Woods Hole Mobile DNA Meeting! Fantastic program, laid-back atmosphere, and gorgeous setting at the Marine Biological Laboratory ⛵️🪼🐋
Abstract submission closes Aug 7 but registration after that date is possible. www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...
Abstract submission closes Aug 7 but registration after that date is possible. www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...
Last day of sabbatical in 🇨🇭🥹… What an amazing experience! 💯🙏 to Trono lab & EPFL for welcoming me so warmly & fostering a bounty of stimulating interactions all year long. Feeling immensely privileged, deeply inspired, and eternally grateful! 💫
July 30, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Last day of sabbatical in 🇨🇭🥹… What an amazing experience! 💯🙏 to Trono lab & EPFL for welcoming me so warmly & fostering a bounty of stimulating interactions all year long. Feeling immensely privileged, deeply inspired, and eternally grateful! 💫
Excited to return to Paris this week for a seminar at @institutcurie.bsky.social hosted by @deborahbourchis.bsky.social - I especially appreciate they allocated 13 hours and 59 minutes for my presentation. They know me well 😜
May 20, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Excited to return to Paris this week for a seminar at @institutcurie.bsky.social hosted by @deborahbourchis.bsky.social - I especially appreciate they allocated 13 hours and 59 minutes for my presentation. They know me well 😜
Stockholm 🇸🇪🤩 A fave of mine! Fun & stimulating to play opponent to PhD defendant Ivar Westerberg, i.e. chatting TEs for 3 hours! 💕Yay! Watch for Ivar’s upcoming work on coevolution of RIP, TE and gene duplication across fungal species, a dynamic genomic ecosystem!
May 17, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Stockholm 🇸🇪🤩 A fave of mine! Fun & stimulating to play opponent to PhD defendant Ivar Westerberg, i.e. chatting TEs for 3 hours! 💕Yay! Watch for Ivar’s upcoming work on coevolution of RIP, TE and gene duplication across fungal species, a dynamic genomic ecosystem!
Good times in Lund 🇸🇪 with @jakobssonlab.bsky.social. Beautiful campus, great food, and awesome science! Thanks Johan!
May 15, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Good times in Lund 🇸🇪 with @jakobssonlab.bsky.social. Beautiful campus, great food, and awesome science! Thanks Johan!
Teratorn. 180-kb transposon. Freakin scary.
May 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Teratorn. 180-kb transposon. Freakin scary.
Awesome day packed with creative science! Muchas gracias Joaquin @mads100tist.bsky.social for hosting me 🙌
May 8, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Awesome day packed with creative science! Muchas gracias Joaquin @mads100tist.bsky.social for hosting me 🙌
Complete ape genomes! 🦍🦧 Our closest relatives get the deluxe sequencing treatment, resolving the most complex & often most interesting parts of the genome.
Happy to make a tiny contribution alongside @panpan100.bsky.social to awesome teamwork & fantastic resource.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to make a tiny contribution alongside @panpan100.bsky.social to awesome teamwork & fantastic resource.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 8, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Complete ape genomes! 🦍🦧 Our closest relatives get the deluxe sequencing treatment, resolving the most complex & often most interesting parts of the genome.
Happy to make a tiny contribution alongside @panpan100.bsky.social to awesome teamwork & fantastic resource.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Happy to make a tiny contribution alongside @panpan100.bsky.social to awesome teamwork & fantastic resource.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
See you tomorrow @biozentrum.unibas.ch 👋
Cornfish 😍🤣 poster courtesy of my creative host @mads100tist.bsky.social
Cornfish 😍🤣 poster courtesy of my creative host @mads100tist.bsky.social
May 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
See you tomorrow @biozentrum.unibas.ch 👋
Cornfish 😍🤣 poster courtesy of my creative host @mads100tist.bsky.social
Cornfish 😍🤣 poster courtesy of my creative host @mads100tist.bsky.social
TE addiction may pave the way for cooption of individual TE genes and explain why Gag genes have been repeatedly coopted for cellular function during evolution, such as Arc in memory we studied before w @jasonsynaptic.bsky.social; or Peg10 in placenta Sylvia now studies as postdoc in Fang Zhang lab
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
TE addiction may pave the way for cooption of individual TE genes and explain why Gag genes have been repeatedly coopted for cellular function during evolution, such as Arc in memory we studied before w @jasonsynaptic.bsky.social; or Peg10 in placenta Sylvia now studies as postdoc in Fang Zhang lab
In sum, at least three different vertebrate TEs encode Gag proteins required for embryonic development! How did we get there? We propose a TE ADDICTION model: TE products (eg Gag) are redundant with & progressively displace essential host proteins establishing dependence on TE for development.
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
In sum, at least three different vertebrate TEs encode Gag proteins required for embryonic development! How did we get there? We propose a TE ADDICTION model: TE products (eg Gag) are redundant with & progressively displace essential host proteins establishing dependence on TE for development.
Is this unique to zebrafish then? We don’t think so! Another mysterious TE-encoded protein called ERNI was prev shown to regulate neural plate development in chick🐣 We found that ERNI is actually a Gag encoded by an ERV fam recently spread in🐔... but very distant from zebrafish Bik!
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Is this unique to zebrafish then? We don’t think so! Another mysterious TE-encoded protein called ERNI was prev shown to regulate neural plate development in chick🐣 We found that ERNI is actually a Gag encoded by an ERV fam recently spread in🐔... but very distant from zebrafish Bik!
Is Bik1 unique for its role in zebrafish development? It's not! Turns out a distantly related TE family called Bik2 (aka crestin) is expressed in neural crest lineage and sure enough KD of Bik2 Gag impaired neural cell migration! Thus, Gag proteins from TWO diff TEs are critical for development!🤯
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Is Bik1 unique for its role in zebrafish development? It's not! Turns out a distantly related TE family called Bik2 (aka crestin) is expressed in neural crest lineage and sure enough KD of Bik2 Gag impaired neural cell migration! Thus, Gag proteins from TWO diff TEs are critical for development!🤯
Bik1 KD phenocopies loss of cell adhesion protein N-cadherin, suggesting Bik1 Gag promote cell adhesion and/or oppose cell migration. Indeed, Bik1 Gag is enriched at cell membrane and expressing it ectopically in chick neural crest cells reduces their migration! (collab w Simoes Costa lab 🙏)
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Bik1 KD phenocopies loss of cell adhesion protein N-cadherin, suggesting Bik1 Gag promote cell adhesion and/or oppose cell migration. Indeed, Bik1 Gag is enriched at cell membrane and expressing it ectopically in chick neural crest cells reduces their migration! (collab w Simoes Costa lab 🙏)
Notably somite extension failed in KD embryos; early muscle development was messed up. Importantly morpholino blocking Bik1 mRNA translation caused same phenotype and phenotype was rescued by co-injecting Bik1-Gag mRNA, but not a mRNA with nonsense mutation in Gag!
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Notably somite extension failed in KD embryos; early muscle development was messed up. Importantly morpholino blocking Bik1 mRNA translation caused same phenotype and phenotype was rescued by co-injecting Bik1-Gag mRNA, but not a mRNA with nonsense mutation in Gag!
Sylvia used several techniques to deplete Bik1 from developing embryos, achieving consistent knockdown with LNA-ASO degrading ~70% of Bik1 mRNA. KD phenotypes were striking: most embryos died within 24 hours and showed gross developmental defects
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Sylvia used several techniques to deplete Bik1 from developing embryos, achieving consistent knockdown with LNA-ASO degrading ~70% of Bik1 mRNA. KD phenotypes were striking: most embryos died within 24 hours and showed gross developmental defects
Jon Wells brought his computational chops to the project and collected evidence that Bik1 is a recently active TE family: many copies are near identical and insertionally polymorphic across zebrafish strains. Looks like the family is still in the midst of its genomic invasion.
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Jon Wells brought his computational chops to the project and collected evidence that Bik1 is a recently active TE family: many copies are near identical and insertionally polymorphic across zebrafish strains. Looks like the family is still in the midst of its genomic invasion.
We focused on an endogenous retrovirus family called Bhikhari (Bik1) because it was specifically expressed in the mesendoderm, a somatic lineage where one would not expect a TE to be expressed for pure selfishness.
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
We focused on an endogenous retrovirus family called Bhikhari (Bik1) because it was specifically expressed in the mesendoderm, a somatic lineage where one would not expect a TE to be expressed for pure selfishness.
But fortunately Sylvia persisted. VERY HARD work because robustly manipulating repetitive TE copies is tricky and she wanted to do this in zebrafish embryos we had little prior experience working with. She took a course at MBL and came back with this movie 👇 We were hooked!
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
But fortunately Sylvia persisted. VERY HARD work because robustly manipulating repetitive TE copies is tricky and she wanted to do this in zebrafish embryos we had little prior experience working with. She took a course at MBL and came back with this movie 👇 We were hooked!
~7 years ago, Sylvia joined the lab for her PhD. Her goal: to show that active TEs can cooperate with their host to promote development. I was skeptical… entrenched in dogma that active TEs are purely selfish genetic elements. I tried to steer her away from this project I deemed too risky…
April 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
~7 years ago, Sylvia joined the lab for her PhD. Her goal: to show that active TEs can cooperate with their host to promote development. I was skeptical… entrenched in dogma that active TEs are purely selfish genetic elements. I tried to steer her away from this project I deemed too risky…
The Magic of Istanbul 🇹🇷🕌
I could not have found a better place to clear my head. So much beauty and kindness. Teşekkürler! 🙏
I could not have found a better place to clear my head. So much beauty and kindness. Teşekkürler! 🙏
April 29, 2025 at 4:13 AM
The Magic of Istanbul 🇹🇷🕌
I could not have found a better place to clear my head. So much beauty and kindness. Teşekkürler! 🙏
I could not have found a better place to clear my head. So much beauty and kindness. Teşekkürler! 🙏
Verbier🇨🇭🏔️ incredible
today
today
April 18, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Verbier🇨🇭🏔️ incredible
today
today