Vincent Pasque

biorxiv.orgXIST Drives X-Chromosome Inactivation and Safeguards Female Extraembryonic Cells in HumansDosage compensation of sex chromosomes through X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) is required for mice extra-embryonic tissue growth and embryo development. The species specificity in mechanisms and timi...

25 Nov 2025

𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐭! 🎉 “𝐗𝐈𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐫𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐗-𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐅𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐇𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐬” 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐑𝐱𝐢𝐯! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Léo Carrillo

@leo-carrillo.bsky.social

So happy to see my PhD paper now published in Nature Communications ! 🎉 A special thanks to @amiteshp.bsky.social for the great team work, as well as our supervisors @crougeulle.bsky.social, @jfouimette.bsky.social and @pasquelab.bsky.social for their support and guidance during the project !

nature.comXIST drives X-chromosome inactivation and safeguards female extraembryonic cells in humans - Nature CommunicationsX-chromosome inactivation (XCI) silences one of the two X chromosomes in females, but its role in human development is unclear. Here, the authors show that human extraembryonic differentiation trigger...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... We are delighted to share our new study published in Nature Communications today.

This work is an amazing collaboration between our team (KU Leuven @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social , Belgium) and the team of Claire Rougeulle @crougeulle.bsky.social (Institut Curie @institutcurie.bsky.social , France),

as well as Jean-François Ouimette @jfouimette.bsky.social (Institut Curie, France), Joost Gribnau (Leiden University @unileiden.bsky.social, The Netherlands), Kathy Niakan (University of Cambridge @cam-repro.bsky.social, UK) and Peter Rugg-Gunn (The Babraham Institute @babrahaminst.bsky.social, UK).

www.nature.com/articles/s41... We are delighted to share our new study published in Nature Communications today.

However, a long standing question is wheter XIST is also required for the estalbishment of X-chromosome inactivation in humans. We found that depleting XIST prevents the establishment of X-chromosome inactivation in a human system.

Congratulations to Amitesh Panda @amiteshp.bsky.social and Léo Carillo @le, the two co-first authors who worked very hard on this study.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... We are delighted to share our new study published in Nature Communications today.

During this transition, cells switch from two active X chromosomes to one active and one inactive X chromosome. The inactive X chromosome acquires multiple hallmarks of X-chromosome inactivation, including gene silencing, formation of a repressed compartment, and repressive chromatin marks.

However, there are also unusual chromatin states. We show that this system can be used for mechanistic studies of X-chromosome inactivation establishment in humans. The long non-coding RNA Xist has long been known to induce X-chromosome inactivation in mice.

www.nature.com/articles/s41... We are delighted to share our new study published in Nature Communications today.

jpi-recruitment-curie-umr3215-u934.curie.frCall for applications - Junior Group Leader (M/F)

By differentiating naïve human pluripotent stem cells into extraembryonic mesoderm cells and trophoblast stem cells, we have discovered that female cells establish multiple hallmarks of X-chromosome inactivation.

Vincent Pasque reposted

Bardin Lab

@bardinlab.bsky.social

Our Dept. of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Institut Curie in the heart of Paris is hiring a new junior PI. It has a nice start up package and excellent I. Curie facilities. Please spread the word: Deadline Dec. 18th! jpi-recruitment-curie-umr3215-u934.curie.fr

Later today the Dosage Compensation and Evolution of the X Chromosome EMBO Workshop starts at Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan. I am looking forward to several days of exciting science and conversations with great colleagues.

Very excited and a little terrified to put these new ideas forward. I am very grateful to our team and collaborators, in particular Claire Rougeulle, Joost Gribnau and Rafael Galupa, and to the organisers for bringing us together in beautiful Japan.

Grateful to be here, for the science, the conversations, and a little time to enjoy the delicious food and autumn in Japan.

I will propose a revised hypothesis for the evolution of dosage compensation in mammals: compensation on autosomes first, followed by X-chromosome upregulation as the Y chromosome evolved.

Departing from Susumu Ohno’s classic hypothesis, I will propose that X-chromosome inactivation arose not to correct excess X-linked gene dosage in females, but to give XX cells an advantage in coping with dominant deleterious mutations.

In my talk “X-chromosome upregulation & inactivation in placental mammals”, I will share how we use naive human pluripotent stem cells to understand how X-chromosome inactivation is established in humans, and how X-chromosome upregulation balances gene dosage between the X chromosome & autosomes.

science.orgX and Y chromosomes as determinants of aging and diseaseSex differences have traditionally been attributed to gonadal hormones, but accumulating evidence shows that sex chromosomes exert distinct, cell-autonomous effects on health, aging, and disease. XX a...

X and Y chromosomes as determinants of aging and disease www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

biorxiv.orgSWI/SNF-Dependent Chromatin Remodelling Establishes Gene Regulatory Programs in Early Human Embryos and BlastoidsEstablishment of cell lineages during development is regulated by transcription factors binding at cis-regulatory elements to activate gene regulatory programs. Many transcription factors require chro...

Very happy to share the updated version of our bioRxiv preprint. New experiments further support a role for SWI/SNF in regulating epiblast and trophectoderm specification in early human embryos and blastoids. Congrats Sam van Knippenberg, Maria Tryfonos & all involved www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Vincent Pasque@pasquelab.bsky.social

We are excited to share our new preprint: SMARCA2/4-Dependent Chromatin Remodelling Establishes Gene Regulatory Programs in Early Human Embryos and Blastoids. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.01.691499v1

Vincent Pasque reposted

Agathe Chaigne

@agathechaigne.bsky.social

I'm super proud of this review written (mostly) by Zoé Ducarne and @myanhtruong.bsky.social about the extraordinary genomic features of the placenta. Such a crazy organ! journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

journals.biologists.comThe curious case of the placental genomeSummary: The placenta is the only mammalian organ that harbors a cancer-like genome while remaining functional and healthy. This Review highlights its high mutational load, structural variants, aneupl...

10 Sept

Excited to share our News & Views published in Nature @nature.com rdcu.be/CYRkCWQMQPJa In this piece, Sherif Khodeer and I discuss two important studies using DNA base editing in human embryos to study gene function in development and to introduce disease protecting alleles.

nature.comDNA-editing ‘pencils’ probe early human developmentA genome-rewriting approach known as adenine base editing offers a precise way to investigate gene function in early human embryos.

10 Sept

Beyond the spectacular advances, we argue that editing embryos to enhance the traits of future babies should be forbidden. Congratulations to the Kathy Niakan and Dieter Egli labs at the University of Cambridge and Columbia University for this work. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Agnese Loda

@agneseloda.bsky.social

3 Sept

🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥🚀💥 New preprint on the 3D features of X-linked escapee domains 💥🚀💥🚀💥 Fun collaboration with @mamartirenom.bsky.social lab! We hope you’ll like it 👇👇

heardlab.bsky.social@heardlab.bsky.social

New preprint from the Heard Lab and the Marti-Renom lab! 🧬 We show that X-inactivation escapee domains form distinct chromatin compartments independently of CTCF and cohesin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgX-inactivation escapee domains are CTCF-cohesin independent chromatin compartmentsX-chromosome inactivation involves chromosome-wide gene silencing accompanied by extensive chromatin changes, as well the loss of topologically associating domains. Yet discrete regions of the inactiv...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Nature Cell Biology

@natcellbio.nature.com

28 Aug

☕Embryos from aged mice have increased contractility & tissue viscosity on E4.5, causing poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanical changes in human embryos correlate with implantation potential. @katecavanaugh.bsky.social 👉https://rdcu.be/fCDVb www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comElevated contractility drives implantation failure in mouse embryos from aged females - Nature Cell BiologyCavanaugh et al. show that embryos from aged mice have increased contractility and tissue viscosity on embryonic day 4.5, which leads to poor spreading and attachment. Similar age-associated mechanica...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Teresa Rayon

@trayon.bsky.social

15 Aug

Our work on the role of the proteasome in developmental tempo is out!!!! 🐭⌛️👤⏳ Six years after identifying an association between protein stability and developmental tempo, we now demonstrate a causal link between protein turnover and developmental tempo through proteasomal degradation

Developmental Cell@cp-devcell.bsky.social

Online now: Proteasome-dependent protein degradation shapes developmental tempo in mouse and human neural progenitors #biology #science

dlvr.itProteasome-dependent protein degradation shapes developmental tempo in mouse and human neural progenitorsWhy do mammalian species develop at different speeds? Nakanoh, Stamataki, et al. show that mouse neural progenitors have faster protein synthesis and proteasome-mediated degradation than human. Manipulating proteasome activity alters the pace of neural development, implicating protein turnover in the evolution of developmental tempo.

link.springer.comStem Cell-Based Human Embryo ModelsThis book covers diverse aspects of stem cell research and exemplifies some of the developments and improvements in the field.

Delighted to see our book on Stem Cell-Based Human Embryo Models published in Methods in Molecular Biology. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

...Stefan Giselbrecht, Erik Vrij, Idse Heemskerk, Ali Shariati, Yosef Buganim, Ivan Bedzhov, Duanquing Pei, Joshua Brickman, Peter Zeller, Adrian Ranga, Era Jain and all other authors. Thanks also to Kursad Turksen for co-editing the book. @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social

@bernasozen.bsky.social, @jun-wu-lab.bsky.social, @jun-wu-lab.bsky.social, @santoslab.bsky.social, @erikvrij.bsky.social, @yossibuganim.bsky.social, @adrianranga.bsky.social

link.springer.comStem Cell-Based Human Embryo ModelsThis book covers diverse aspects of stem cell research and exemplifies some of the developments and improvements in the field.

Delighted to see our book on Stem Cell-Based Human Embryo Models published in Methods in Molecular Biology. link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Topics covered include Methods and Protocols to culture human pluripotent stem cells and the generation of early embryo-like structures, including blastoids, opening up opportunities to study the first steps of development and associated diseases.

I would like to thank all authors who have so very kindly agreed to contribute: Tsutomu Sawai, Berna Sozen, Jun Wu, Jennifer Nichols, Ayaka Yanagida, Yasuhiro Takashima, Cantas Alev, Silvia Santos, Nestor Fabián Diaz, Mina Popovic, ...

nature.comEpiblast diversification and blood formation in a human pregastrula - NatureHigh-resolution spatial transcriptome analysis of a human embryo at Carnegie stage 6 reveals three distinct developmental trajectories from the epiblast towards amnion, primitive streak and axial meso...

25 June

Epiblast diversification and blood formation in a human pregastrula. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Nature

@nature.com

25 June

For the second time this month, a team of researchers has reported harnessing a precise gene-editing technique to alter the DNA of human embryos go.nature.com/4vwIXrO

go.nature.com‘Edited’ human embryos reveal secrets of our development — and fuel ethical debateEthical discussions are urgently needed as genome-editing science advances, some researchers say.

Vincent Pasque reposted

Alex Eve

@amjeve.uk

18 June

Journal impact factors were released yesterday. In our latest @dev-journal.bsky.social Editorial, @jamesbriscoe.bsky.social and I discuss how we are all architects of impact, highlighting that measuring the influence and support journals provide goes beyond a single number. doi.org/10.1242/dev....

doi.orgThe elephant in the room: impact factorSummary: This Editorial offers an honest look at impact factor trends in developmental biology, explains how Development serves its community, and makes the case that sustaining developmental biology ...

cell.comContinuous modeling of primate embryogenesis from totipotency to early organogenesisA primate embryoid system is established from cynomolgus totipotent blastomere-like cells. This fertilization-independent system recapitulates development from a totipotent-like state through an inter...

11 June

Continuous modeling of primate embryogenesis from totipotency to early organogenesis. Cell. www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Vincent Pasque reposted

Agnese Loda

@agneseloda.bsky.social

16 Mar

I am very happy to share that I've started my new position @upcite.bsky.social and opened my lab @institutimagine.bsky.social 🎉 In the lab we will study how differences in X-linked gene dosage between the sexes affect fetal growth and survival and contribute to sex differences later in life 👩‍🔬🧪🧬🧫

Vincent Pasque reposted

Denis Duboule

@denisduboule.bsky.social

15 Mar

Friends Davor Solter and Azim Surani receiving the wonderful Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize for Genomic Imprinting👏 👍 @Frankfurt Germany. With official talks from politicians using words like Education, Knowledge, Democracy 🙏 @maxplanck.de @gurdoninstitute.bsky.social

Vincent Pasque reposted

Cell Stem Cell

@cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social

9 Mar

Two decades of induced pluripotent stem cell research: From discovery to diverse applications

dlvr.itTwo decades of induced pluripotent stem cell research: From discovery to diverse applicationsSince the discovery of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) 20 years ago, iPSC technology has transformed stem cell research and regenerative medicine. This perspective reviews key advances in reprogramming mechanisms and highlights the growing clinical, translational, and societal applications of iPSCs.

molgen.mpg.de2nd Meeting on Early Embryogenesis and Epigenetics

13 Feb

I look forward to presenting the work of the lab at the 2nd Meeting on Early Embryogenesis and Epigenetics in Berlin next week. My talk will summarise ongoing work on early human development using naive pluripotent stem cells and embryo models. www.molgen.mpg.de/embryo2026

Vincent Pasque reposted

Seppe De Winter

@seppedewinter.bsky.social

15 Jan

We are thrilled to share our new pre-print: “System-wide extraction of cis-regulatory rules from sequence-to-function models in human neural development”. S2F-deeplearning models can accurately encode enhancers, yet decoding these models into human-interpretable rules remains a major challenge.

rdcu.beEscape from X inactivation is directly modulated by Xist noncoding RNANature Cell Biology - The authors show that increased Xist RNA levels can induce de novo silencing of genes that normally escape X inactivation. SPEN depletion prevents the silencing of escape...

15 Dec 2025

Amazing and important work from Agenese Loda and colleagues! Happy to see this out. Congratulations to all co-authors.

Agnese Loda@agneseloda.bsky.social

Very happy to share our paper rdcu.be/eUImj out today in @natcellbio.nature.com 🎉🎉🎉 We uncover an unexpected role for endogenous Xist RNA in regulating X-linked genes that escape X-inactivation.

nature.comReversibility, regulation, and the community of development: the legacy of Sir John B. Gurdon - Nature CommunicationsNature Communications - Reversibility, regulation, and the community of development: the legacy of Sir John B. Gurdon

5 Dec 2025

We have just published a tribute to John Gurdon, reflecting on his scientific legacy and the profound influence he had on generations of developmental biologists. The piece is available open access in Nature Communications: www.nature.com/articles/s41...