FMI Annual Meeting

For the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic, the FMI Annual Meeting took place in its usual format — as a three-day meeting in the Swiss alps. Nearly 250 scientists from across the institute, a few colleagues from Novartis, as well as the members of the FMI Scientific Advisory Board, met in Grindelwald to discuss exciting science, network and have fun together. The program included talks by postdocs and PhD students, a keynote lecture by Brenda Schulman from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, two poster sessions and an afternoon of recreational activities. The winners of this year’s FMI science prizes were recognized during the traditional gala dinner, which was followed by a night of follies.

Time to part: How to produce sex cells with the right number of chromosomes

FMI researchers have honed in on a key process that happens when yeast cells divide to form gametes, which are the equivalents of human sperm and egg. Their work suggests that proteins conserved from yeast to humans ensure the production of gametes with the right number of chromosomes — a finding that may help to understand conditions such as Down syndrome and certain cancers.

Kuzdere et al., EMBO Reports

The FMI hits TikTok

At the end of September, the FMI posted its first video on TikTok, a social media platform that allows users to create, watch and share short videos shot on mobile