Defending PhD student, looking over their thesis: “If I knew then what I know now, I could’ve done all of this in like 9 months.” A thread about my favorite pioneering cave explorers and why I don’t think AI will ever “solve” biology.

Speaker lineup posted for FASEB: Dynamics and Encoding in Cell Signaling (June 2026)! Live-cell imaging, biosensors, signal dynamics, and quant. modeling/analysis, across the biosciences. Stellar lineup, Keynotes from Tobias Meyer and Jin Zhang Join us in Nashville! tinyurl.com/bd9wmyve

lol real love

(1/n) What if you never had to make your bed? What if your laundry could fold itself? Folding is everywhere around us - but did you know that folding flat sheets are at the ❤️ of diversity of shapes in the animal world - since 500 million years ago. Our latest work: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudC...

🚨Preprint 2/2: Several studies implicate condensates in RTK fusion onco-signaling. So we were surprised to find that condensates are entirely dispensable😮(!). A study from proteins to mice, by dynamic duo @davidgonzmar.bsky.social and @trmumford.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 👇

🚨New preprint(1/2)! We show that RTK fusion oncoproteins broadly suppress EGFR signaling. How? Sequestration of adapters as the shared principle. Led by superb PhD student Carol Gao. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Implications for drug tolerance/resistance, and includes one big surprise🫧.👇

Researcher back to at least 1912 have noticed that nephrons, the blood-filtering units of the kidney, tend to be born just as the nearest epithelial tubule begins to branch. This tree of tubes is called the 'ureteric bud epithelium' - the future urinary collecting system.

🤩🤯 work by @hugheslabpenn.bsky.social: cyclic mechanics entrain proper dev’t timing/patterning in the kidney. Super innovative concepts and approach, congrats all!!

Our lab neighbors @bugajlab.bsky.social are presenting some cool cell signaling science today and tomorrow at #CellBio2025!

#Cellbio2025 come see the latest from the lab, including on opto/thermogenetics, condensates, RTK fusions, stress granules, biosensors of clustering. Talks and posters today and tomorrow!

#cellbio2025 please stop by my talk (Mon 4:35 evolution) and poster (Mon 12:45 #B479 optogenetics) tmr! Title: Intraprotein domain competition dictates pulsatile response of photoreceptors shaped by temperature and evolution. BcLOV4 as a model. I’m also looking for postdoc opportunities!

if you are attending #CellBio2025 please check out the posters from our lab @hugheslabpenn.bsky.social. The lab will have a great showing this year featuring my talented colleagues @lsprahl.bsky.social @danielalber.bsky.social and many others!

#CellBio2025 come check out the workshop on applying optogenetic tools in cell biology! Today (Sunday) at 5:30p in Rm 121. Note that this session does *not* appear in the app for some reason

My lab website is now live! My lab feels a bit real now 🥺. Website: www.jasonzhanglab.com

Join us at the 2nd Workshop on Biological Control Systems by @bioctrl.bsky.social . On Nov 19 at 3 PM CET, Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Gebel will present Ningaloo’s work on optogenetic control in biomanufacturing and its role in cyber-bioproduction. 📝Register: lnkd.in/enrHdv_m #optogenetics #synbiology

BE Seminar Series this Thurs w Lukasz Bugaj University of Pennsylvania “Using Light, Temperature, and Protein Condensation to Understand and Control Cells” https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/

Absolutely outrageous interference in NIH extramural funding by OMB dropping this evening. Damaging to our nation’s world leadership, innovation, and training today and for years in the future. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Don’t miss this great opportunity for a wonderful workshop run by NCI to discuss genetic tools and omics to better understand cancer. Join us to learn and contribute to unraveling the complexities of cancer. Let’s do this together! Details 👇🏼

Last day to apply!

Explore how synthetic & systems biology can advance our understanding of cancer initiation at NCI’s virtual S³ Innovation Lab! Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply! Application deadline now June 5: apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...

Final #SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch workshop (#3) on Tuesday! Drug response and resistance Featuring: Gordon Mills, Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Matt Thomson, Brian Brown, Stacey Finley, Andriy Marusyk, Pulin Li, Karmella Haynes, Arjun Raj, Justin Prichard events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...

Join us Thursday (tomorrow!) for session 2: Tumor-Immune Interactions. Including: Thea Tlsty, Karin Pelka, Evanthia Roussos Torres, Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, Elizabeth Wayne, Jose Reyes, Xiaojing Gao, Tullia Bruno, Lucas Pelkmans, Josh Leonard events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

“Maybe if people see [images from my research], they will understand why I want to get back to work.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...

First session *tomorrow*, on Tumor Initiation. Speakers: Lau, Dumitrascu, Snyder, Schutt Ibsen, Cukierman, Burdziak, Stevens, Bugaj, Lander, Khalil Join us for this interactive event! events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti... #SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch

Are you interested in synthetic and systems biology approaches to study #spatiotemporal processes in cancer? Join NCI for virtual workshops on May 13, 15, & 20 (next week!) from 12:00–4:30 PM ET: registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti... #SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch

Proteins often bind targets using avidity, the combined interaction strength of multiple weak binders. Now we’ve harnessed this principle for compact, *single*-component optogenetic tools for translocation. Lead by phenom PhD student @dennishuang.bsky.social #synbiosky🧵 📝 tinyurl.com/aviatar

Pulsatory response of the BcLOV4 photoreceptor through intramolecular feed-forward regulation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.08.647774v1

Super clever, turning biosensors into bio-actuators. 👏👏👏

Check out our paper, now extensively revised and published in @cp-molcell.bsky.social! This has been a real tour de force led by Stephanie Sansbury and @ysereb.bsky.social and we are very excited about the findings and future potential of this approach www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Happy to share a new preprint from my lab! We characterize the on/off kinetics, light dosage-dependence, and more for a suite of optogenetic signaling activators in zebrafish embryos 💡 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New preprint! We found dynamic signal processing (IFFL) in a single protein, which pulses in response to step inputs. New insights for capability of protein computation + implications for new opto and thermo probes www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Check out the 🧵 from first author Dennis Huang:

I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.

everyone doing image analysis should try Nimbus. Hands down the freshest and most intuitive, user-friendly platform. Powerful functions for cell labelling, single-cell tracking (+track fixing), simple back-and-forth between data and images. And web-based, so easy sharing of data/annotations w/ link

Our paper on 96-well control of temperature is now out @cp-cellsystems.bsky.social. Exceedingly proud of this work led by Will Benman, plus Pavan Iyengar, @trmumford.bsky.social, and much of our lab. Come for DIY hardware, stay for the stress granule dynamics and memory🧵 📝 tinyurl.com/thermoPlate

Excited to share a new preprint! Wireless devices use FM modulation to transmit multiplexed noise-resistant data. Led by @born2raisecell.bsky.social, we create a biochemical analogue of this paradigm using genetically encoded oscillators (GEOs) for single-cell FM streaming tinyurl.com/nbs8rw42 🧵

This Valentine's day I want to share the LOV2 with you! ❤️ Roses are red, the light is blue, stimuli are read by the domain LOV2.

thanks for the highlight @stemcellpodcast.com!

We are still looking for postdocs to carry forward this work! Please get in touch if interested in developing thermal protein switches and/or applying them in vivo to study inflammation/cancer.

Some hope: NOA appeared this morning for a pending new R01 on eRA. Some gears still turning at NIH.

Excited and grateful that our initial report on temperature-sensitive protein switches is now published @naturemethods.bsky.social Co-led by PhD students Will Benman and @dennishuang.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... Brief thread:

Thank you for the highlight Rita! We also think these types of tools will open many new avenues, both fundamental and applied. And kudos for the very thoughtful and fair process @naturemethods.bsky.social

Wow, what a fantastic Christmas present to get - the main output of my @wellcometrust.bsky.social Henry Wellcome Fellowship is now out @molsystbiol.bsky.social and should be of interest to anybody who loves (PI3K) signalling and quantitative biology! www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

We are looking for postdocs! Projects on 1) probes for remote control of cell death and inflammation, and 2) application in vivo to study inflammation in cancer and therapy. Exciting science in an unparalleled environment @ Penn Bioengineering DM or email if interested!

New direction for our lab: we've worked with light-control of proteins, but the proteins below respond to temperature 🔥❄️. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Introducing Melt, a protein whose localization and clustering can be toggled w/ a few deg C. Led by PhD students Will Benman + Dennis Huang

interesting and study on how PI3K-activating oncogenes can alter a cell's perception of growth factor ligands. Oncogenes can act as more than just "on-switches" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

very happy to publish our work on the optoPlateReader, a device for optogenetic stimulation, spectroscopy, and feedback in 96 independently-controlled wells. No special skills to build your own! Started with iGEM, led and finished by coauthors Benman and Datta🥇 www.nature.com/articles/s42...