We've been busy!

The title says it all: the news section of our lab website has been awfully quiet in the last ~12 months, not for lack of news, but for lack of time to sit down and write about them!

I have been quite active on Linkedin and will likely continue prioritizing that faster way of communicating going forward, so follow me there if you do not want to miss any updates. (Please note, however, that my account on X/Twitter is currently on hiatus until a better time comes for such a platform—if ever.) Nevertheless, I would like to continue sharing news here, especially those better suited for a longer format.

What better way to re-ignite the news section than with a classic "year-in-review" post? Don’t worry, I will not aim to cover all the news but will instead share some highlights and future outlooks.

Where to Start? Two key focuses characterised 2024: publishing and disseminating

Publishing: a record year
This year was our most productive yet, with 11 publications co-authored by yours truly in 2024 (check Google Scholar for the full list). However, there’s a catch: six of these are preprints at different stages of peer review, so we’re in for a busy 2025! Of the published work, I want to highlight two major accomplishments:

1. Matteo and Giulia’s elegant work on the metabolic activity of Melusin, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine.​Here is more detail on why this story deserves reading in full.
2. Bobby's report and validation of trans-C, a bioinformatics method to identify groups of loci that interact significantly intra-chromosomally, published in Genome Research. This is our first output linked to our ERC StG TRANS-3 and a pivotal method to achieve our ultimate goal of uncovering the functional role of trans chromatin architecture. Expect to see more of trans-C in the future!

Disseminating: engaging and advocating
On the dissemination front, we may have been guilty of over-sharing, but such is our duty as scientists, especially when misinformation leads to poor policy choices. Two highlights here:

1. The CultMeat crowdfunding project exceeded its dual goals of fundraising and raising awareness, with over 500 donors and extensive media coverage. My personal favorite? A feature by a news outlet focused on meat products, signaling that the industry is finally seeing the potential for synergy.
2. Our multi-disciplinary commentary involving 19 experts across technical, social, and humanities fields, published in One Earth. We have also launched a petition based on this work. If you believe in the potential of cultured meat, please consider signing and sharing it!

There has been much, much more, such as quite a bit of grant writing (with some good news hopefully on the horizon!), plenty of teaching and mentoring excellent students and trainees (check out our recently updated team page, which is already in need of a refresher!), two patent application, and the start of an entrepreneurial journey (including an important recognition).

Something tells me it will not be easy to keep up the pace in 2025, but here’s to hoping we can surpass even this incredible year.

After all, science thrives not only in what we achieve but in the dreams we dare to pursue. Here’s to a future of boundless discovery and impact!