The Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, which supports our work, has produced a short film about our research:

Della Syau successfully defended her PhD thesis today. Congrats, Dr. Syau. Strike #3!

New week, new tool: Find our Protein Domain Designer tool to generate publication-ready protein domain diagrams here: domaindesigner.farnunglab.com

🚀 Ordering lab supplies just got way easier in our lab.
We built a workflow (github.com/farnunglab/N...) where tapping an NFC tag on a reagent bottle automatically triggers an order request in Quartzy. No more scribbling notes or hunting for a computer. Here’s how 👇

Martin Filipovski successfully defended his PhD thesis today! Congrats, Dr. Filipovski.

In our IWS1 story, we also visualize the histone reader LEDGF PWWP domain on a transcribed downstream nucleosome. Because the PWWP requires both DNA gyres for binding, it binds to the promoter-distal side of the nucleosome during transcription through the nucleosome.

🧬 Transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II relies on a web of elongation factors. Our new work shows how IWS1 acts as a modular scaffold to stabilize & stimulate elongation. Fantastic work by Della Syau! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congratulations to our own @sophiero.bsky.social and team for achieving 3rd place 🥉 in the Merck Innovation Cup 2025. The entire lab is very proud of Sophie's achievement!

First PhD candidate (congrats, Dr. James!) to graduate today and check out this beautiful nucleosome/ocean cake made by PhD candidate Della Syau:

Congratulations to 🎓 Dr. Allison James 🎉. Allison is the first PhD candidate to graduate from the Farnung Lab!


🧬🎉Thrilled to share our new chromatin remodeling study! We reveal three states of human CHD1 and identify a novel "anchor element" that interacts with the acidic patch—conserved among remodelers. Our structures clarify mechanisms of remodeler recruitment! Link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1l2ik3vVUP...

🔬 New from the Farnung Lab: We established a fully in vitro reconstituted chromatin replication system and report the first cryo-EM snapshots of the human replisome engaging nucleosomes. Brilliant work by @felixsteinruecke.bsky.social with support from @jonmarkert.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/replisome

🚨New paper🚨Our new study with the lab of Phil Cole uncovers how SIRT6 dynamically adapts structurally and enzymatically to target diverse histone acylations (e.g., H3K27ac) within nucleosomes. @jonmarkert.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1016/j.jb... #Chromatin #SIRT6 #CryoEM

Another highlight from our story: @jonmarkert.bsky.social uncovered how SPT6 binds the exposed H2A–H2B dimer during nucleosomal traversal by Pol II. AlphaFold helped tremendously in validating this interaction. tinyurl.com/setd2 Also check out our H2A–H2B screen: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In our SETD2 paper, we visualize a novel nucleosome transfer intermediate during txn. It is the earliest intermediate visualized yet. In the intermediate, the histone chaperone FACT coordinates histone binding with a previously uncharacterized RTF1 helix. All details in the paper: tinyurl.com/setd2

Ever wondered how transcription choreographs histone modifications? Our work reveals the basis of co-transcriptional H3K36me3 by SETD2. We visualize how a histone writer coordinates with the transcription machinery! This is the magnus opus of @jonmarkert.bsky.social!
tinyurl.com/setd2

Our paper on the structure of the complete Rpd3S-nucleosome complex is now out in Nat Comm: rdcu.be/ds6k1 . Congrats to @jonmarkert.bsky.social
and co-corresponding author Seychelle Vos! This is the second HDAC-nucleosome structure from Jon this year. Amazing!

Doing much better on antibodies: