Marc Halfon

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day. It's sobering on this day to reflect this week, the U.S. has (1) proposed a Federal registry of people with autism & (2) sent a questionnaire to Barnard employees asking if they are Jewish. nytimes.com/2025/04/23/n... cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-...

ICYMI: REDfly database has moved to Bluesky! Follow us at redfly-database.bsky.social for news and updates. Come try our new Search interface (beta) at redfly.ccr.buffalo.edu

REDfly is moving to Bluesky! Please follow us at @redfly-database.bsky.social for all our latest updates #drosophila #arthropods #genomics #gene-regulation

Major new update! Not only did we add ~50 new reporter constructs and update info on over 800 more, we introduced the beta version of our new Search and Download interface with vastly expanded and improved functionality. Try it out! #cisreg #enhancers #drosophila

Another opening @michiganstateu Assistant Professor for functional genomics! Non-traditional models are encouraged. #evodevo #genomics

Our first µPublication! Kudos to Geyenna for her thorough analysis of this region and recognition that what at first appeared to be just another enhancer is more likely a sequence with a different regulatory role. Hopefully we will have more on this story in the near future.

We will continue to add new annotations and new species, with the data available via @REDfly_database. A detailed protocol will be available shortly in @PLOSONE (Asma et al. 2024), so you can try it too! (3/3)

We use the machine-learning SCRMshaw method trained on Drosophila enhancers (from @REDfly_database ) to predict enhancers across the holometabolus insects (and some Hemiptera!). Various different metrics, including in vivo reporter-gene validation, suggests good accuracy. (2/3)

Excited to report the final version of our paper out today: In @eLife: Regulatory genome annotation of 33 insect species doi.org/10.7554/eLife.… Kudos to all involved in this monumental effort that provides a preliminary regulatory annotation of 33 insect genomes. (1/3)

How cool is it that @Co_Biologists plants trees to acknowledge reviewers? Just protected For a peer review by Marc Halfon forest.biologists.com/landscape/?id=…

#PrideMonth seems like a good time to restate that Everyone is Welcome in the Halfon Lab and on the @REDfly_database team!

Kudos to Bill and Geyenna on their beautiful writeup of our protocol for working with #Aedes aegypi embryos, complete with detailed how-to videos!

#PLOSONE: Improved methodology for fixation and preparation of Aedes aegypti embryos dx.plos.org/10.1371/journa…

Wife profiled in ASCO Post: ascopost.com/issues/june-3-…

The deadline for applications to our summer workshop has been extended to May 24th. Please help us get the word out!

Very happy to share that our paper on regulatory #evolution of the #Drosophila and #Aedes aegypti sim locus is out today in @PLOSGenetics. Kudos to Isabella, Bill, and Geyenna for tackling this massive project and bringing #mosquito genetics to our lab! journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/a…

This week’s #FluorescenceFriday #onlywithHCR spotlight is on Marc Halfon! #HCRimaging enabled @MarcHalfon to obtain more accurate results (over those obtained from traditional whole-mount ISH techniques), as he and his team were able to prove using orthogonal methods like CRISPR-inserted GFP gene fusion. Check out his latest manuscript here: biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

We're hiring a research tech.  Great for a post-bac interested in genetics, development or cancer biology.  bilderlab.berkeley.edu Will update w/ official posting but feel free to reach out now, esp. candidates w/ model organism experience #drosophila. Please RT.

@AnyiMazo @EvoDevoPanAm Congratulations Anyi!

Look what I did: anyimv.weebly.com

Kudos to former PhD student Isabella Schember for tackling the new world of mosquito biology for us and persevering through a pandemic, lab move, and many other hurdles to move this work along!

One enhancer looks just like the ones known in #Drosophila. One is completely different wrt location, mechanism, and cell-type specificity. Continued exploration of these two loci should provide a lot of insight into how regulation of conserved developmental TFs evolves.

Our latest paper: we cloned two enhancers for #Aedes aegypti sim and demonstrate function in vivo in transgenic #mosquitoes. Conserved and novel enhancers regulate expression of Aedes aegypti single-minded in the embryonic ventral midline biorxiv.org/content/10.110…