SalehLab

We're excited to share - our ERC Eligibility calculator is live! 🚀 Our fully updated tool now considers the latest 2027 rules and features a brand-new interface. Try it now: 👉 buff.ly/0INzNaX #ERC #HorizonEurope #GrantStrategy #ResearchFunding

📢🦟 If you work in #VectorEcology and/or #VectorControl, save the date and submitt your abstract to present your work/research at the 24th ESOVE Conference (deadline 26th May)‼️ 👥 Our Scientific Committee ready 🚀 👉 esove2026-valencia.com/index.php/abst… #Mosquitoes #Ticks #ESOVE2026VLC

BiO is pleased to launch a new grant: BiO Global South Conference Travel Grants, to help ECRs based in the Global South attend international biological and biomedical science conferences. Next application deadline: 19 June 2026. tinyurl.com/2pzwtset

A new mechanism for “RNA memory”! 😱 Thrilled to share another crazy paper from the lab (can’t believe we posted 2 in 2 days!), summarizing >10 years of research: Work on transgenerational inheritance of small RNAs in the powerful model organism C. elegans changed how we think about what’s possible in inheritance and evolution, because it allows the most heretical thing: inheritance of parental responses to the environment! However, it’s still unclear whether RNAs are inherited across generations in other animals, largely because the RNA-dependent RNA polymerases that amplify heritable small RNAs and prevent their dilution in C. elegans are not conserved in mammals. In this new work, an amazing collaboration with the Rink and Wurtzel labs, we show that planarians establish long-lasting and heritable small RNA–based gene regulatory states despite lacking canonical RNA-dependent RNA polymerases and nuclear RNAi machinery (that are required in C. elegans). You might say “they are both worms…” BUT planarians are evolutionarily very distant from C. elegans (flatworms vs. roundworms, diverged more than 500 million years ago), making this particularly surprising. These are totally different animals. We find that ingestion of double-stranded RNA induces sequence-specific silencing that persists for months and survives repeated cycles of whole-body regeneration. Even more strikingly, RNAi can be transferred between animals, echoing James V. McConnell’s controversial “RNA memory” experiments from the 1970s (his lab was targeted by the Unabomber terrorist Ted Kaczynski, who sent McConnell a bomb. This and other controversies ended this line of experiments…) Mechanistically, we find that the response transitions from a transient systemic dsRNA-triggered phase to a stable, cell-autonomous post-transcriptional “memory phase” maintained by antisense small RNAs. Using a new luminescence reporter (transgenesis is currently impossible in planarians), we show that silencing spreads along the targeted gene and identify a weird type of planarian small RNAs with untemplated polyA tails. RNAi inheritance without canonical RdRPs establishes planarians as a powerful system for studying RNA-based regulatory inheritance beyond C. elegans and raises the possibility that RNA-mediated inheritance may be more broadly conserved in animals, potentially even in mammals. Here’s a video of a planarian that is treated by RNAi against β-catenin and develops multiple heads instead of just one. This is one of the phenotypes that is inherited. Another phenotype is “loss of eyes” (which we show is not only inherited across multiple regeneration cycles, but can also be transmitted between animals in transplantation experiments). Amazing work led by first authors Prakash Cherian and Idit Aviram (co-supervised by Omri and me). Please read the preprint, the link is in the next tweet, and share!

International Women's Day 2026 This year at SalehLab.eu, we drew inspiration from Greek mythology to honor the powerful qualities that drive our lab forward every day. Real traits of real women doing real science today. Swipe to see our pantheon ➡️

Day 023, orbit 0355 – Yes, you can be a woman, and at the same time, love high tech / high speed activities, and love being a woman and wearing high heels. Today is the day to celebrate women. If there is one thing I want to share with other women on this occasion, it’s this: dare to embrace all parts of your personality and dare to chase your dreams – even if some people around you have doubts! Happy women’s day! 👠 😉 📷 Credit : Lionel Monnier, photoshoot with my test pilot helmet in 2022 #εpsilon

Jour 023, orbite 0355 – Oui, on peut être une femme et aimer à la fois les activités très techniques ou les grandes aventures, et en même temps aimer être femme et porter des talons hauts !
On célèbre les femmes en ce dimanche, et si je ne devais partager qu’un seul message, ce serait celui-ci : osez assumer toutes les facettes de votre personnalité et osez poursuivre vos rêves, même confrontée aux doutes de ceux qui vous entourent. 📷 Crédit : Lionel Monnier, séance photo avec mon casque de pilote de test en 2022 #εpsilon

🚨VIROLOGY GRADUATE STUDENTS 🚨 Are you looking for a postdoc? We have a webinar Just for you We hope you come

📢 If you work on #VectorEcology or #VectorControl, Valencia (Spain) is the place to be last week of October 2026‼️🦟🔬 #ESOVE2026VLC #Mosquitoes #Sandflies #Ticks #VectorBorneDiseases @EuropeanSOVE

Do you want a say in the future of ASV leadership? Look for your election ballot for ASV Councilors and President Elect in your member email!

Happy 134th birthday to humans knowing that viruses exist! OTD in 1892 Dmitri Ivanovsky presented his evidence of a tobacco mosaic disease caused by filterable agents (not bacteria!). Martinus Beijerinck confirmed this independently in 1898. And voila, virology is born!

.@WHO is looking for an innovative science professional to join us as the Director of Environment, Climate Change, One Health and Migration. This department works to reduce the global disease burden caused by unhealthy environments by igniting health-centric decisions in public policies, informing them with data, scientific evidence, norms and standards, and catalyzing support to protect the most vulnerable. Closing Date for applications: Feb 8, 2026. More information about this position here: careers.who.int/careersection/…

@MarionKoopmans Thank you Marion for sharing! Extremely useful and eye opening at every level.

severe weather events in 2025 that were studied and eventually attributed to global warming. Impact global, although uneven because of big differences in resources and resilience. Report from UN office for disaster risk reduction preventionweb.net/media/114055/d…

Kicking off 2026 the best way we know how: together! Our annual Galette des Rois 👑brought the team together, and Mori Yoshida won for the 4th year running! But the real treasure? These moments that unite us before another year of discovery. Here's to an incredible 2026! 🔬✨

@gulianusslab Congrats Monika!!!!

Ringing in 2026 with the news that I have been promoted to full professor. Won’t be assisting or associating anymore 😍

If you want to work with the UN, this opportunity is for you. UNESCO is hiring remote Research Consultants Eligibility: - A Master’s degree or equivalent in Education, Economics, Social Sciences, or a related field - At least two years of relevant research or analytical experience Deadline: February 28, 2026 Link: careers.unesco.org/job/Multiple-J…

We just opened 5 junior group leader positions at the Ignaz Semmelweis Institute in Vienna. We are looking for motivated, enthusiastic young leaders in infectious disease research that complement our current team. More information here: semmelweisinstitute.ac.at/training-caree…

What a day! Another one flies the nest with a brilliant PhD defense. Congratulations Doctor Mauro! I am so proud of you!!! #PILife #ProudMentor #PhD

📣 Applications for the #EIPOD-Linc Postdoctoral Fellowships Programme are open! Join us to work on self-designed interdisciplinary research on projects related to exploring life in context. ✍ Apply now: embl.org/about/info/pos…

So happy to be part of #ImmunoCambodia 2025! Magnificent setting, great Science. Master classes in the morning, grant writing in the afternoon. Such a range of nationalities, what energy! Everyone is here to learn and to be inspired. #ImmunoEducation #IUISCourse @PasteurCambodia