This #GivingTuesday, you can directly impact our ability to conduct groundbreaking research for the advancement of human health and well-being. Join us in catalyzing new discoveries and propelling scientific progress across the life sciences! maizeraise.umich.edu/schools/Univ...

Happy Thanksgiving from the LSI! We are extra thankful for our collaborative scientists, staff and students who make discovery possible every day (and for the PPE that keeps us safe, and even festive, in the process)! 🦃

Researchers from the @narayanlab.bsky.social have unlocked a novel mechanism for transforming molecules. Their findings, described in a new @nature.com study, open new ways to develop important molecules with fewer wasteful byproducts. nature.com/articles/s41...

From MBoC... Lois Weisman ( @umichnews.bsky.social ) reveals how one protein’s teamwork — or lack of it — could hold clues to treating childhood neurodegenerative disease. 🔗 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10....

Why does it matter what a protein looks like? @umich.edu structural biologist Janet Smith explains why her lab aims to uncover protein structures and describes the hidden impacts of structural biology on drug discovery and human health: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVG...

Pediatric oncologist @johnprensner.bsky.social has teamed up with the LSI's Natural Products Discovery Core to explore thousands of #NaturalProducts in search of new treatment paths for #DIPG, a deadly childhood brain cancer. Learn more about the project: research.umich.edu/research-sto...

✨ Save the Date! ✨ LSI SciComm Speaker Series welcomes Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science. 📅 Thursday, Oct. 9 ⏰ 10:00 a.m. 📍 Rackham Amphitheatre 📖 Book-signing after the talk! @umlifesciences.bsky.social

Prof. Alison Narayan (@alisonnarayan.bsky.social) discusses the motivation behind CATNIP, a data-driven platform that makes biocatalysis more accessible to chemists. The tool, developed by Narayan's lab and collaborators at @cmu.edu is described in a new @nature.com study: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A team from @umich.edu and @cmu.edu has developed CATNIP for chemists — a data-driven open-access platform that removes a major barrier to wider adoption of #biocatalysis, making greener chemistry more accessible. Read more: myumi.ch/dgp2Z @narayanlab.bsky.social @alisonnarayan.bsky.social

A new @natcomms.nature.com study from Dan Klionsky’s lab, conducted in yeast, reveals how mutations that were thought to shut down one essential cellular process can actually help some types of cancer cells grow, while making them more resistant to stress. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Studying venom resistance in opossums, scientists have discovered that differences between human and opossum versions of a blood-born protein enable the animals to combat the blood-clotting effects of snake venom. Their findings could have relevance for human coagulopathies. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

In a new @jcb.org study, a team of @umich.edu researchers reveal new details in a complex cellular mechanism that is central to the brain’s ability to learn and form memories. www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-09...

We've had a great week celebrating our dedicated, innovative postdocs as part of National Postdoc Appreciation Week. And while #NPAW2025 is coming to an end, our gratitude is not! Thank you, LSI postdocs, for your scientific expertise, mentorship, and all you contribute to the LSI community!

Join us October 9 for the LSI #SciComm Series lecture featuring Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science." Details: events.umich.edu/event/137203 Cosponsored by @umisr.bsky.social and the U-M Wallace House

Congratulations to LSI Research Associate Professor Wenjing Wang, who has been named a MBioFar Award recipient. This award from the U-M Biosciences Initiative recognizes faculty for their "research achievements, academic excellence, and potential to drive scientific breakthroughs." myumi.ch/4mN4n

A @umich.edu research team, including Shawn Xu's lab at the LSI, has uncovered the neural circuit that allows skin to sense cool temperatures and send that info to the brain. In addition to deepening our understanding of fundamental biology, the findings have medical implications: myumi.ch/796gx

LSI Director Roger Cone discusses his lab's research into the melanocortin system, and how that work has led to new drug-development programs targeting both anorexia and obesity: Protein targets can act as a switch for obesity and anorexia | www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/p...

LSI faculty members @byneuron.bsky.social and Peng Li teamed up with colleagues in the U-M School of Dentistry (including LSI alum @elizabithian.bsky.social) to uncover how neurons inside teeth do more than just sense pain: news.umich.edu/ouch-tooth-n...

#PostdocOpportunity: The Fung lab is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to explore human structural cell biology using #cryoEM and #cryoET, with a focus on chromatin and nuclear structures during development. Learn more and apply: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

Scientists have developed a new method for rapid discovery of RNA-protein interactions. Combining the multiplexed method with #cryoEM, @jbquerido.bsky.social & colleagues identified novel interactions between RNA & the LARP1 protein impacting translation initiation. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

“When everyone’s interests align, there’s almost no science we cannot do here at Michigan.” Learn how the the LSI's comprehensive suite of research cores support drug-discovery and basic science research for @umich.edu researchers, while also advancing novel research:

In the 2 decades that they've worked together at the LSI, faculty members David Sherman & Janet Smith have published over 40 studies together. They recently discussed how this long-standing cross-discipline collaboration has helped each of their research programs: www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...

In the most recent LSI Magazine, @umich.edu alum @aefraley.bsky.social describes how she has charted a unique career path to from the LSI to her own lab at @ethz.ch, where she is focused on "caring for the planet and caring for human health at the same time." www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...

One month left to apply! The Michigan Pioneer Fellows program is accepting applications for its 2025 cohort. Spanning the @umich.edu Medical School, LSA, School of Dentistry, & LSI, this postdoc program is designed to launch innovative scientists into groundbreaking careers. pioneerfellows.umich.edu

LSI Prof. David Ginsburg, one of the nation’s leading scholars in the molecular genetics of bleeding and clotting disorders, has been selected as U-M’s 2025 Henry Russel Lecturer! myumi.ch/w9dm2

I’m excited to share the first publication from my lab on the unexpected strategy that MCPyV, a cancer-causing virus, uses to enter cells. This was truly a team effort and I am so grateful for each of the brilliant women who contributed to this research project. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

LSI researchers have uncovered new details of the process that HIV uses to hijack cells’ transportation systems and cause infection. Their findings overturn a decades-old theory and offer a new system for studying viral trafficking and infection. @science.org www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-06...

"Education like this is an opportunity, but it's what we do with that opportunity that matters." —Joslyn Johnson, Assistant Dean of Student Development & Career Initiatives, welcoming the 2025 Perrigo & Aspirnaut students, who will spend their summers immersed in hands-on research at the LSI.

Last week, U-M Program in Chemical Biology students, alumni & faculty celebrated the program's 20th anniversary! Alumni came in from across U.S. to present talks about their journey and what they've been able to achieve as graduates of the program. @alisonnarayan.bsky.social @annamapp.bsky.social

By combining experiments in baker’s yeast and human cell lines with a generative AI tool, @umich.edu researchers have determined how specific genetic mutations found in children with neurodegenerative diseases disrupt an essential cellular process. Read the full story: myumi.ch/QwVrA

Thank you to all the presenters and scientists from around the country who attended the LSI's 2025 #CryoEM Workshop and made the event such a successful hands-on learning experience! Thanks also to our event sponsors, SubAngstrom, @globusorg.bsky.social, @mitegen.com and @structurabio.bsky.social

Congratulations to Natural Products Discovery Core Director Ashu Tripathi, Ph.D., who has been recognized by U-M for his research leadership and significant contributions to the field of natural products chemistry. myumi.ch/8qJnj @umichpharmacy.bsky.social

The 2025 Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium is this Thursday (5/29)! @brangwynnelab.bsky.social will start us off with the Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Lecture at 9:00 AM, followed by talks from @jamesknunez.bsky.social at 9:55 and @leonardomorsut.bsky.social at 10:25. myumi.ch/lsi-symposiu...

Cargo adaptors use a handhold mechanism to engage with #myosin V for #organelle transport, say Hye Jee Hahn, Natalya Pashkova, Michael Cianfrocco, & Lois Weisman @umlifesciences.bsky.social rupress.org/jcb/article/... #Microbiology #Organelles #Trafficking

LSI Professor Carole Parent (@caroleparentlab.bsky.social) discusses her lab's new study in Nature Cell Biology, which reveals how DNA secretions help the immune system’s first responders reverse their own inflammatory response. Read the study: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

New research led by @caroleparentlab.bsky.social reveals how the immune system’s first responders can reverse their own inflammatory response by shedding tiny pieces of their identity. Read more: www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-05... @umichresearch.bsky.social

Join us one week from today for the 2025 Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium! This day-long event will examine the next-generation genetic tools that are unlocking new discoveries and understandings of human health and disease. May 29, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM myumi.ch/lsi-symposiu...

"This new structural model of the binding mechanism offers important insights into how this crucial process is tightly regulated to support proper cell function.” —Lily Hahn, Ph.D., discussing a new @jcb.org study that reveals how cellular cargo hitches to one class of motor proteins myumi.ch/P33MD

Courage Therapeutics, a @umich.edu spinout company developing medications for eating disorders and obesity, has announced a significant investment from Arsenal Bridge Ventures to help advance drug candidates to clinical trials. www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-05...

Hye Jee Hahn, Natalya Pashkova, Michael Cianfrocco, & Lois Weisman @umlifesciences.bsky.social reveal that the vacuole-specific cargo adaptor uses a handhold mechanism to attach to 2 areas on the #myosin-V tail, & suggest that other adaptors use a similar strategy. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

LSI researchers have uncovered an unexpected tactic that one class of proteins uses to ferry cargo to its cellular destination, offering understanding of a process that is fundamental to cell survival in organisms from yeast to humans. @jcb.org www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-05...

Congratulations to Peng Li, who has been promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure!

The Mass Spectrometry Query Language (MassQL) is an open-source language for instrument-independent searching across mass spectrometry data for complex patterns of interest via concise and expressive queries without the need for programming skills. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The LSI is hiring! We are seeking a research specialist in #AI and #MachineLearning to support the labs of @shyamalm.bsky.social and Herman Fung. This individual will help develop advanced computer vision workflows for #cryoET and automated adaptive microscopy. careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

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...

The Michigan Pioneer Fellows program is accepting applications for its 2025 postdoctoral cohort! Spanning Michigan Medicine, LSA, the School of Dentistry, and the LSI at @umich.edu, this program is designed to launch innovative scientists into groundbreaking careers. Apply: pioneerfellows.umich.edu

The power of a snake’s venom to incapacitate its prey may depend on more than just its potency, or even the prey’s evolved tolerance to the toxin, according to new research from U-M, the University of Utah, and the University of Nevada Reno. @umichresearch.bsky.social @uofubiology.bsky.social

**Deadline extended** There is one week left to apply for the 2025 #Biocat workshop! Attendees will learn the basics of #biocatalysis in this hands-on, interactive workshop. Apply by 4/18: myumi.ch/QwqMD @alisonnarayan.bsky.social @narayanlab.bsky.social

Through federal grants, U-M researchers help drive innovation and economic growth which support thousands of jobs and generate millions in research-related spending across the U.S. More from #URecord: myumi.ch/XyVJb

We are excited to share the 2025 LSI Magazine! In our cover story, learn how a new crop of faculty members are rapidly growing their research programs within the LSI’s unique culture of collaboration. Read about that and much more in the complete issue: myumi.ch/lsi-magazine @shyamalm.bsky.social