Nice work from the Deliz Liang lab @lab-adl.bsky.social on genetically encoding diverse His analogs

🚨Our paper is out! 🥳 Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion. Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... it all started years ago with a failed experiment 🧵👇 1/9

Our latest work seeks to answer a longstanding question: why is discovering new protein binders seemingly unpredictable – and can we better quantify and understand the de novo binder discover process? 1/12 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share our work with Eranthie Weerapana and Tim van Opijnen, co-led by Conor Loynd, Soumya Roy, and Sarah Canarelli! We introduce a new generation of BONCAT tools for the versatile characterization of newly synthesized proteins in pathogenic bacteria. rdcu.be/eI4M5

🚀 Our new paper is out @natmethods.nature.com! Kuffer & Marzilli engineered conditionally stable MS2 & PP7 coat proteins (dMCP & dPCP) that degrade unless bound to RNA, enabling ultra–low-background, single-mRNA imaging in live cells. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧬 www.addgene.org/John_Ngo/

Faculty opening in Cornell Chemistry at the Assistant Professor level in the area of chemical biology, broadly defined! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/30338 #chemjobs

Thrilled to see this in print! Co-translational incorporation of a noncanonical monomer into a protein, followed by its triggered post-translational chemical rearrangement, yields novel backbone modifications. One step closer to novel genetically encoded biopolymers!

Continuous evolution in E. coli using an orthogonal replisome www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cool technology from the @chembiobryan.bsky.social lab for high-throughput discovery of protein binders

Finally out in Nature Chem Bio: SNAP-tag2 for faster and brighter protein labeling www.nature.com/articles/s41... Thank you Steffi and Veselin.

The further a researcher or inventor moves from their previous work, the less cited their latest work will be https://go.nature.com/44VjEW9

David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏 youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...

I am a big believe of doing your own research and checking facts and sources. BUT THE BIG PROBLEM IS THAT A POST FROM SOME DUDE ON THE INTERNET SHOULD NOT BE WEIGHTED THE SAME AS INFORMATION FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS SPENT DECADES STUDYING AN ISSUE.

Chemists Stuart Schreiber of Harvard University and Arena BioWorks and Peter Schultz of @scripps.edu will split the 2025 Welch Award in Chemistry for their work in the field of chemical biology. cen.acs.org/people/award... #chemsky🧪

They're terminating OPT. Today the nominee to head USCIS stated directly: he will end Optional Practical Training, the single largest channel for high-skill immigrants to work in the US. 6 weeks ago I warned about this & summarized the research on impacts of this drastic action—> @piie.com

Happy to share a paper from our group on "MapID-tRNA-seq" for confidently identifying modifications by RT mutation signatures in human tRNAs. This method will enable future discoveries of modifications' occurrence and functions in tRNA biology and diseases. www.cell.com/cell-chemica...

HAPPY 75th, NSF! We’re celebrating this milestone by highlighting some of NSF’s most transformative accomplishments—innovations that have shaped our world and continue to drive progress in health, technology, the environment, and beyond. Read on 🧵(1/11):

🧪 Though a doubling of NSF's budget might seem far-fetched, that's exactly what Congress said what's needed to maintain national competitiveness in science & tech. From the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act of 2022:

Escherichia coli with a 57-codon genetic code https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.02.651837v1

BREAKING: Reports that Trump would try to cut NIH's budget by 40% have come true. The request released moments ago would: - Cut $18 BILLION to NIH's $47b budget - Eliminate NIMHD, NCCIH, FIC - Collapse ICs into five 'focus areas' There's also a long screed about NIH's deficiencies.

Badass Surgeon Puts On Fingerless Latex Gloves Before Operating

So excited for the annual student-organized Chemistry-Biology Interface symposium today! Amazing lineup including @hsulab.bsky.social @achemsynbio.bsky.social, Sloan Devlin (Harvard), & Nick Agard (Genentech) + stellar Cornell student and faculty speakers. Looking forward to some great science!

SCAM ALERT. This is a fake conference that ripped off my and other people’s names to trick people into registering. There is no such conference that I or the others shown were invited or agreed to. We are working to try to get this fraud taken down from the web. chemsymposia.com

Great news: NIH postbac program is recruiting again! If your grad school plans were affected by program cutbacks or admissions freezes this year I highly encourage you to apply, this could be a perfect opportunity. Please repost. www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

Quick look at NSF GRFPs awarded 2021-2025. Overall 50% drop from 2024, with biggest absolute decreases in engineering, life sciences and chemistry. (sorry about the meh viz, in a hurry)

Congrats to lead author Doug and team on their new preprint, which describes a genome mining strategy to find non-canonical amino acid-based secondary metabolites outside of RiPP and NRPS pathways! Read more below: chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Cool work from @klanglab.bsky.social group on identifying and engineering a novel bacterial transporter to import challenging noncanonical amino acids in E. coli, enabling improved incorporation efficiency proteinsproteinshttps://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.06.641855v1.abstract

Excited to share this one! We developed an in vivo model for specific manipulation of transfer RNA acetylation and found it serves as a sentinel modification whose loss causes ribosome stalling and stress signaling. Implications for a genetic disorder and cancer. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ATTENTION: ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS Nothing posted yet in the Federal Register I had heard that at least some institutes and centers had tentatively scheduled "make-up" meetings in April but are no longer planning these. 1/2

I’m a biomedical researcher who lost his wife to cancer. Finding cures is personal to me. What’s happening at the NIH is devastating. Here’s my editorial in my hometown newspaper. www.vindy.com/opinion/edit...

Confirmation!! And including open sessions!

I now have multiple sources that say at least one round of NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS will now be announced in the Federal Register.

Some encouraging news on the NIH front. The NIA council meeting that was cancelled in January convened virtually in the last day or so and voted on pending grants. This should free up some Alzheimer’s funding.

UMASS IS RESCINDING ALL GRAD POSITIONS FOR THIS YEAR

Bluetorial: My NIH grant got funded; The money is in the bank What happens behind the scenes with NIH fund transfers

ACTION ITEM I was chatting with a young scientist who expressed concern re the multiplicity of ongoing issues Over the course of our conversation, we arrived at the idea of a DASHBOARD where issues could be tracked If anyone is interested in helping with this (ideally with expertise) please DM me

NASA has closed its chief science office, its technology/policy/strategy office, and the DEI branch of its equal opportunity office. 23 people have been fired, per a HQ spokesperson.

Judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump cuts to NIH research overhead payments www.statnews.com/2025/03/05/n...

NIGMS encouraged PIs to consolidate their grants into a single R35, which requires a PEDP. I appreciated this move for the increased efficiency and fairness. Now it makes those PIs an easy target. Resistance is necessary.

I am not going to call this a Bluetorial, because I do not want to sully that term (which, at least I, find joyful). Let’s call it a Orwellial.

Francis Collins led the mapping of the human genome, and chose to do big scientific to benefit the public. He is a a former NIH Director. He just resigned his position in government. His resignation letter: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

Extending my grant update this morning. Here are data limited to new and competitive renewal applications. The Pause is dead, Long live the Pause...

Beyond excited to announce our in-person symposium to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ChemBioChem/ChemPhysChem! Advances in Structural Analysis of Biomolecules From Subcellular Imaging to Drug Design October 23-24, 2025, Berlin Please like and share: cbc-cpc2025.org

Move over CRISPR-Cas, here comes TIGR-Tas www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

Read every word of this article to see what the Trump folks are doing to the good civil servants at NIH -- and to the important work that protects all of our health. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...