Our new paper is out! Using 19F NMR, we show that Hfq rewires the conformational dynamics of a model sRNA in a site-specific manner. Uridines at the rim undergo faster exchange (~100 μs) than those in the proximal pore (~300 μs). Congrats Elise! 🎉🎉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very proud of UGs Sydney and Jocelyn. Sydney was awarded a GRFP and Jocelyn received an honorable mention! Both are off to Princeton for grad school this fall!

As baseball season ramps up, it is time to re-post my favorite inspirational quote of all time from the great Mets left fielder and philosopher, Mookie Wilson.

Mine in this week’s @newyorker.com

If you’re around @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social 2026 and looking for some cool RNA-protein work related to microRNA biogenesis, stop by my poster today at 1:45 and I’ll tell you about some of my near-complete work with @keanelab.bsky.social! #BPS2026

New press about my mom, Prof. Susan Keane @uncg.edu and the impact of her work with Dream Camp, Right Track, and other mentoring in the Psychology Department. Very proud of the work she has done and luck to have her as a role model!

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Biochemist/molecular biologist Joan Steitz was born #OTD in 1941. She (& team) figured out how our cells read/use genetic instructions to make proteins. A key person who helped crack the code on RNA—the molecule that acts like a messenger between DNA & and the proteins our bodies need. #WomenInSTEM

Just out: NMR data processing, visualization, analysis and structure calculation with NMRFx

I'm also late in posting this work, but really proud of Megan @mnwestwood.bsky.social, Sydney, and Jocelyn for their contributions to making RNA NMR spectroscopy more accessible for novice learners! Check out their preprint here: chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Congratulations are in order!! Cade @chembiocade.bsky.social received the Sokol, Margaret and Herman, Fellowship in the Chemical Sciences and Antigone was selected as a departmental nominee for the Rackham-wide outstanding GSI award!

Congratulations to postbac Sydney Steele for receiving a poster award at the Rustbelt RNA meeting last weekend!

🔓Explore recent #OpenAccess work by @keanelab.bsky.social and colleagues where they describe a virtual screening approach to explore the druggability of the precursor structure of microRNA-31👀 pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/md/d5md00553a 📍 @umich.edu 🧪

Congratulations to the lab for placing 1st for the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts unit in the 2025 Freezer Challenge! A big thanks to Antigone and @chembiocade.bsky.social for leading the lab in sustainable practices.

Two papers from Grace's thesis have been published! Our journey into the world of small molecule RNA targeting.

And another poster award! This one to Antigone, who presented at the Karle Symposium today!!

Congratulations are in order! Two members of the lab, Moriah (a @NSF funded D-RISE high school student) and Diane (a UM undergrad) were awarded poster prizes at the URAN|UM symposium today!

I am (optimistically) looking for a postdoc with solution state biomolecular NMR expertise to join our group. I can provide access to high-end instrumentation and technical assistance via our membership at the New York Structural Biology Center. #nmr #academicsky #postdoc

Glad to see this work out in its final form! Congrats to the team! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Learn more about how Eterna puzzles are being used for RNA education and outreach at the middle school, high school, and college level in the latest RCSB PDB newsletter. 🧬 🧪 cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pdb/gen...

Congrats Qi!!

Grace's manuscript describing a combined virtual/experimental screening approach for identifying small molecule ligands that bind pre-miR-31 is online! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

2nd defense of the summer! Congratulations to Dr. Aldrex Munsayac! It has been a pleasure to work with and learn from you!

ACS Bio & Med Chem Au (open) Consolidated 3-Fold Isotopic Lens for Probing RNAs, Solomon K. Attionu, Lukasz T. Olenginski, Frances P. Stump, Theodore K. Dayie* pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #NMRchat 🧲

Please join the chorus of voices, including my own, in support of the talented, hardworking and dedicated scientists and staff at NIH. They serve their country by deploying their training and skills to improve the health and quality of life of all Americans 🙏 🇺🇸

Congratulations to Dr. Arhin for an outstanding thesis defense earlier this week!

Thrilled that @mnwestwood.bsky.social and I have been recognized with a PACE Fellowship for Graduate Student-Faculty Mentor Pairs! More great things to come!

After resigning from Michigan and bending over backwards to try and appease them, "The Florida Board of Governors voted Tuesday to reject Santa Ono as the next president of the University of Florida" www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

CONGRATULATIONS DENISE!! cen.acs.org/biological-c...

This is why he is The Boss

It's National Limerick day! A slight deviation from our regular posts. English artist, illustrator, author and poet Edward Lear was born on this day in 1812. To celebrate, Goss Scientific have put their own spin* on the classic limerick form. #NationalLimerickDay #nmr *pun intended

Another preprint posted! Yaping and Cade @chembiocade.bsky.social uncovered important structural elements in pre-miR-20a that impact Dicer processing. Huge thanks to both Megan @mnwestwood.bsky.social and Aldrex whose experiments rounded out this work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New preprint from the lab - Grace has been instrumental in leading the lab into the RNA-targeting space. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Over the last 100 days at the NIH, the Trump administration has been dismantling science. In this Medium post linked below, I describe what the last 100 days have been like for an scientist at the bench, doing research on RNA viruses. #science #RNA medium.com/@jones.cpric...

Congratulations to Megan! She received the Krimm Outstanding Graduate Student Award! @mnwestwood.bsky.social

Congratulations to LSI Associate Director and Professor Janet Smith, Ph.D., who has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in recognition of her outstanding achievements in science: record.umich.edu/articles/fiv...

Congratulations to the lab UGs who received departmental awards today! Jocelyn was awarded a summer research fellowship and Sydney was recognized with the outstanding student award!

Experimenting with chromatography!

You look at science (or at least talk of it) as some sort of demoralizing invention of man, something apart from real life, and which must be cautiously guarded and kept separate from everyday existence. But science and everyday life cannot and should not be separated. Rosalind Franklin (to father)

UMich Biophysics has an open search for a new faculty member. Application materials are due 5/15. Search is open rank (despite the title in the link). Would love to bring more structural biology colleagues to Biophysics. #NMR careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

You can download my protein structure-inspired artwork from pdb webpage: pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/bezs... @rcsbpdb.bsky.social @pdbeurope.bsky.social #sciart

I'm already hearing rumblings from academic leaders that tenure clock extensions may be part of how early career researchers weather this new storm. A reminder that clock extensions are not the easy solution some think them to be: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... We must do better by junior faculty.

Given my lab the day off on Friday, in case they have somewhere more important to be… #standupforscience

xkcd with the truth today xkcd.com/3056/

Incredibly honored to be able to host Prof. Tom Cech for a Gomberg lecture yesterday. What an incredible scientist and person. #RNA

Love an early morning update from the beamline!!!

There is (rightfully) a lot of frustration about the last minute cancellation of study sections. What I’m disappointed to see is academic colleagues turning on NIH staff, namely SROs, and somehow making them out to be the bad guys.

Still finding my scientific community on this site, but very happy to share this work 'Selective deuteration of an RNA:RNA complex for structural analysis using small-angle scattering', now in press! Minor text changes relative to the preprint. authors.elsevier.com/a/1karS3SNvc...