Access to genetic information within the cell nucleus is regulated by the distribution of nucleosomes, which are the basic unit of chromatin. Local access to specific genomic regions is facilitated by repositioning nucleosomes to enable transcription and other nuclear processes. Nucleosome positioning is primarily regulated by ATP-dependent chromatin remodeling enzymes (CRs) that belong to the Snf2-type helicase family. These enzymes disrupt histone-DNA contacts by consuming ATP. The functions of CRs can be redundant or essential, complicating their study in vivo. To address this, we employ a unique bottom-up approach, in which we reconstitute chromatin in vitro using purified proteins and a yeast genomic plasmid library. To elucidate the diverse remodeling functions of CRs, we add purified CRs in combination with various transcription factors to the in vitro reconstituted chromatin. The resulting changes in nucleosome positioning are monitored using MNase-seq. Depending on the type of CR used, we observe distinct nucleosome positioning patterns. Furthermore, we have expanded our in vitro reconstitution approach to explore the 3D genome organization of reconstituted chromatin, discovering a role for CRs in the 3D genome organization of S. cerevisiae.
","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-01-23T09:41:37","last_modification_date":"2026-03-10T12:18:20","link_label":"","link_url":"","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"BCH 2218","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BCH%202218","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/2/?format=json"],"speaker":"Elisa Oberbeckmann (University of Goettingen)","organizer":"Professeur Beat Fierz","contact":"Marie Munoz","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":2,"fr_label":"Public averti","en_label":"Informed public"},"registration":{"id":3,"fr_label":"Entrée libre","en_label":"Free"},"keywords":"CBseminar","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/119413/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/1/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/6/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/14/?format=json"]},{"id":70936,"title":"Probing and Modulating Transcription Factor–DNA Interactions via Chemically Modified Proteins","slug":"probing-and-modulating-transcription-factordna-i-2","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/probing-and-modulating-transcription-factordna-i-2","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32324/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32324/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/32324/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-05-19","end_date":"2026-05-19","start_time":"16:15:00","end_time":"17:45:00","description":"Chemical protein synthesis provides a powerful means to prepare novel, modified proteins with atomic-level precision, offering unprecedented opportunities to understand fundamental biological processes.1 Of particular interest is gene expression, which is controlled through interactions between transcription factors (TFs) and DNA. This presentation will highlight the power of combining total synthesis and late-stage transformations to generate complex, modified proteins for deciphering the molecular roles of post-translational modifications (PTMs) in TFs regulation. Specific examples will focus on the synthesis of site-specifically phosphorylated and acetylated TFs, such as the Myc/Max system.2, 3 Remarkably, these studies revealed that phosphorylation and acetylation patterns modulate Max–DNA interactions by altering DNA binding affinity and sequence specificity. Importantly, such mechanistic insights led to the development of novel bioactive miniproteins derived from Max (μMax), capable of inhibiting oncogene expression and cancer cell proliferation through antagonistic binding to target genes in cancer cells, paving the way for the development of new therapeutic proteins targeting oncogene expression.4-6
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\r\n1. O. Harel, M. Jbara, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2023, 62, e202217716
\r\n2. R. Nithun, Y. Yao, X. Lin, S. Habiballah, A. Afek, M. Jbara, Angew. Chem. In. Ed., 2023, 62, e202310913
\r\n3. R. Nithun, Y. Yao, O. Harel, S. Habiballah, A. Afek, M. Jbara, ACS Central Science, 2024, 10, 1295–1303
\r\n4. X. Lin, S. Mandal, R. Nithun, R. Kolla, B. Bouri, H. Lashuel, M. Jbara, JACS, 2024, 146, 25788
\r\n5. X. Lin, O. Harel, M. Jbara, Angew. Chem. In. Ed., 2024, 63, e202317511
\r\n6. O. Harel, F. Nadal-Bufi, R. Nithun, Y. Yao, A. Afek, M. Vendrell, M. Jbara, JACS, 2025, 147, 46, 42647
It is becoming increasingly common to issue forecasts that are probabilistic, in the form of probability distributions over all possible outcomes. To generate good probabilistic forecasts, we must first be able to evaluate how good a forecast is. The evaluation of probabilistic forecasts focuses on two aspects of forecast performance: forecast accuracy and forecast calibration. Forecast accuracy refers to how 'close' the forecast is to the corresponding observation, which can be quantified using proper scoring rules. Forecast calibration considers whether probabilistic forecasts are trustworthy. While most scoring rules and calibration checks treat all possible outcomes equally, some outcomes are often of more interest than others when evaluating forecasts, and one could argue that these outcomes should therefore be emphasised during forecast evaluation. For example, extreme outcomes typically lead to the largest impacts on forecast users, making accurate and calibrated forecasts for these outcomes particularly valuable. In this talk, we discuss methods to focus on particular outcomes when evaluating probabilistic forecasts. We review weighted scoring rules, which allow practitioners to incorporate a weight function into conventional scoring rules when calculating forecast accuracy, and we demonstrate that the theory underlying weighted scoring rules can readily be extended to forecast calibration. Using this, we introduce methods to evaluate the calibration of probabilistic forecasts for extreme events.
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We present a novel necessary and sufficient principle for multiple testing methods controlling an expected loss. This principle asserts that every such multiple testing method is a special case of a general closed testing procedure based on e-values. It generalizes the Closure Principle, known to underlie all methods controlling familywise error and tail probabilities of false discovery proportions, to a large class of error rates -- in particular to the false discovery rate (FDR). By writing existing methods as special cases of this procedure, we can achieve uniform improvements, as we demonstrate for the e-Benjamini-Hochberg and the Benjamini-Yekutieli procedures, and the self-consistent method of Su (2018). We also show that methods derived using our novel e-Closure Principle generally control their error rate not just for one rejected set, but simultaneously over many, allowing post hoc flexibility for the researcher.
\r\nMoreover, we show that because all multiple testing methods for all error metrics are derived from the same procedure, researchers may even choose the error metric post hoc. Under certain conditions, this flexibility even extends to post hoc choice of the nominal error rate.
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14:15–15:00 (Swiss Time)
\r\nDr. Xavier Hernandez-Alias (Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry; in person)
\r\nMulti-scale analysis of mRNA translation adaptation to nutrient shifts reveals novel regulatory elements
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\r\n15:00–15:45 (Swiss Time)
\r\nProf. Silvi Rouskin (Harvard Medical School; online)
\r\nSequence is all you need – Large Language Models Decode the Structural Grammar of IRESes
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\r\nFree coffee & cakes for in-person participants from 14:00 at the AI Lounge
\r\nAI Center, ELE 117, EPFL
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\r\nRegister (in person): https://forms.office.com/e/KbdLYQ52fj
\r\nJoin online: https://epfl.zoom.us/j/61493685341
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Who develops, finances, and commissions architecture—and in whose interest? This lecture series examines the often-invisible forces that shape architectural production—the clients who commission, the contractors who build, and the capital flows that determine what gets realized. While architects are trained to focus on design, the political economy of construction is largely absent from architectural education—sustaining a disciplinary insularity that obscures architecture's deep entanglement with capital, labor, and power. Yet building is fundamentally contingent: dependent on forces beyond the designer's reach, shaped by actors whose decisions constrain and enable architecture far more than design intentions. The series invites scholars and practitioners whose research illuminates these dependencies: the bureaucratization of architectural practice through corporate management systems, the client as a Mephistophelean figure key to the attainment of projects, the contractor as a decisive agent in determining how architecture is produced, and the entanglement of real estate development, finance, building, and urban form. By exposing the structural conditions of construction's political economy, we seek not to lament architecture's lack of autonomy but to work productively within its contingencies—essential groundwork for reimagining how practice might be organized otherwise.
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\r\nDavide Spina (University of Hong Kong, online) Spina's award-winning dissertation examined the Vatican-controlled real estate developer and contractor SGI (Società Generale Immobiliare), which emerged as a major force in postwar Italy's reconstruction. His research on what journalist Antonio Cederna called \"the Leviathan\" reveals how SGI coordinated 10,000 employees, bureaucratized architectural production, exploited planning regulations, and delivered schemes from residential developments to industrial infrastructure. Currently working on real estate development in 1960s-70s Hong Kong, Spina examines how developers and contractors shape architectural culture through corporate management systems.
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Join us for a community event presenting the first outcomes of the review phase of the s’EPanouir-FLourish initiative that will take place on Monday 27th of April from 13h30-15h30. The event can also be followed online.
\r\nSince room capacity is limited, attendance on site will be first-come first-served. For logistical reasons, we kindly ask you to signal your intention to attend (on site or online) via the following link: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/gMCxd941Lp
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\r\nDuring this event, Nicolas Grandjean, Associate Vice President for Education (AVPE), and the chairs of the Working Groups will present the main points of the Draft Feasibility Report, which is now open for feedback from teachers, sections and students.
\r\nThe session will consist of short 5‑minute presentations for each topic, followed by time for Q&A and brief small‑group discussions. Participants will also be able to share individual feedback via an online form.
\r\nThe report can be accessed online with your EPFL e-mail.
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\r\nAgenda:
\r\n13h30 – Opening remarks
\r\n13h35 – Basic educational goals and design features
\r\n14h00 – Bachelor program: thinking deeply and engaging with complexity
\r\n14h25 – Mastery and depth in first-year core disciplines
\r\n14h50 – Resources and support
\r\n15h15 – Next steps
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\r\nWe look forward to seeing you there!
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This event is free and open to everyone. It aims to raise awareness of various issues concerning the ocean through workshops, exhibitions, conferences, and a roundtable discussion. The day will end with a convivial gathering over drinks and appetizers.
","image_description":"","creation_date":"2026-03-09T10:11:14","last_modification_date":"2026-03-09T11:01:26","link_label":"Register here","link_url":"https://infomaniak.events/fr-ch/conferences/camp-ocean-locean-de-demain-organise-par-sailowtech/77c17e0d-d9cf-46c8-bc8f-066c2ca7e639/events/386558","canceled":"False","cancel_reason":"","place_and_room":"DLLEL 0 28","url_place_and_room":"https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==DLLEL%200%2028","url_online_room":"","spoken_languages":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/spoken_languages/1/?format=json"],"speaker":"Sailowtech (EPFL association) - Jérome Chappellaz (EPFL, Laboratoire SENSE) - Lucas Paoli (EPFL, Laboratoire Microbiome Immunity and Ecology) - Anders Meibom (EPFL, Laboratory for Biological Geochemistry) - Lili Lesimple (Geneva Ocean Academy)","organizer":"Sailowtech association","contact":"contact@sailowtech.ch","is_internal":"False","theme":"","vulgarization":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Tout public","en_label":"General public"},"registration":{"id":1,"fr_label":"Sur inscription","en_label":"Registration required"},"keywords":"sustainability, marine conservation","file":null,"icalendar_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/export/120011/","category":{"id":1,"code":"CONF","fr_label":"Conférences - Séminaires","en_label":"Conferences - Seminars","activated":true},"academic_calendar_category":null,"domains":[],"mementos":["https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/10/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/398/?format=json","https://memento.epfl.ch/api/v1/mementos/79/?format=json"]},{"id":66556,"title":"Presentations Studios / UE","slug":"presentations-studios-ue","event_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/event/presentations-studios-ue","visual_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/28282/200x112.jpg","visual_large_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/28282/720x405.jpg","visual_maxsize_url":"https://memento.epfl.ch/image/28282/max-size.jpg","lang":"en","start_date":"2026-08-31","end_date":"2026-08-31","start_time":"08:30:00","end_time":"18:30:00","description":"This day is an opportunity for architecture students from the 2nd year Bachelor to the 2nd year Master to attend presentations of the studio and teaching unit programmes, to enable them to choose their options and finalise their enrolments.There will be no online replay and the event is not recorded. The presentation documents are available on the dedicated pages:
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\r\nDesign studios and teaching units ↗︎
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\r\nRegistration dates ↗︎