Formal lab photo, spring 2026 edition.

The Biteen Lab is ready for action. 🔬🥼🦠🧫

We enjoyed putting our heads together with the Jakob and Freddolino labs to find that polyphosphate modulates the formation of functional RNA-protein condensates in response to nitrogen-starvation stress! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

David’s study of bacterial chromosome organization is now published in ChemPhysChem! doi.org/10.1002/cphc...

Congrats to Yunhan on winning the ACS Physical Chemistry Award and to Charlie on winning a summer undergraduate research fellowship! 🔬🦠🥼

Congrats to @juliebiteenlab.bsky.social PhD #20, Dr. Xiaofeng Dai! 🦠🔬💻🧬

After a set of productive rotations, we are thrilled to welcome Lyn, Yuhan, and Anna, three fabulous Chemistry students who have now **officially** joined the Biteen Lab! #SingleMolecule #SuperResolution Biophysical Chemistry.

Glad we could contribute to this beautiful work from Claire Dudley et al! I remain forever in awe of Dr. Daniel Foust’s amazing data visualization skills.

New preprint from the Vecchiarelli Lab! 🧵 Congratulations to first author Dr. Claire Dudley! @claire-dudley.bsky.social Claire uncovered a critical player in the organization for the photosynthetic cytoplasm of cyanobacteria - polyphosphate! #polyP www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

In the context of carboxysome positioning, @azaldegui.bsky.social found that the aggregation of a bacterial microcompartment is prevented by a self-organizing DNA-binding ATPase! #SingleMolecule #SuperResolution #Microscopy with @cellforganized.bsky.social and JianLiu doi.org/10.64898/202...

Still at #bps2026? Check out Xiaofeng’s flash talk on this paper at 2:45pm in room 201/202/203.

More great #bps2026 #SingleMolecule science on Monday! Sam’s poster (B393) identifies IDR function in HP1 protein homologs, and Xiaofeng’s poster (B178) describes combining 2D tracking and 3D simulations to measure how the nucleoid viscosity responds to cellular processes!

Lots of great #SingleMolecule science at #bps2026! Check out Ruochuan’s poster (B431) on Sunday—she is understanding bacterial warfare by investigating how bacteriocin toxins translocate into E. coli.

Xiaofeng combined 2D live-cell single-particle tracking with 3D simulations to specifically measure the bacterial nucleoid accessibility and viscosity! Our preprint describes how these nucleoid properties respond to cellular processes! Code is available too. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bacteria are amazing! The abundant Dps protein binds and protects DNA in stationary-phase cells with minimal effect on chromosome accessibility, dynamics, and organization. Now in NAR doi.org/10.1093/nar/...; I'm really proud of our multidisciplinary team led by Lauren, Lindsay, and Xiaofeng, et al.

Now published in Protein Science: Dan used single-molecule and SOFI microscopies to visualize curli fibers (the major component of E. coli biofilms) on living cells! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Also submitted just before the holidays: David Fuller collaborated with the Xindan Wang Lab to measure how growth-phase-dependent chromosome reorganization affects the behavior and function of bacterial nucleoid-associated proteins. #SingleMolecule #Microscopy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Submitted just before the holidays: Dan Foust collaborated with the Lyle Simmons Lab to measure how enzyme activity is spatially modulated to process RNA-DNA hybrids. #SingleMolecule #Microscopy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy New Year from the Biteen Lab!

@lortzrodz.bsky.social's manuscript was featured as a @natcomms.nature.com Editors' Highlight! Read more about this functional change in the material state of bacterial condensates: doi.org/10.1038/s414... , and see the rest of the collection at: www.nature.com/collections/...

Now in print: @lortzrodz.bsky.social with @schraderlab.bsky.social found that the stress-induced transition of the material properties of bacterial ribonucleoprotein bodies repurposes them from sites of mRNA decay to reservoirs for mRNA storage. @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🎃The annual Biteen Lab continues on a beautiful fall afternoon. 🎃

Thrilled to share our multidisiplinary work on how genome-wide DNA bridging by H-NS reshapes the stationary phase bacterial nucleoid and affects the transcriptional landscape. With Xindan Wang and @meyerroc.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

One of my proudest achievements from my time as DGS was designing and implementing a mandatory prof. dev. course focused on writing in the discipline. Daisy Haas @dahaas and I wrote up our teaching approaches and course content, now out in J. Chem. Ed. #chemicaleducation pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Lauren, Lindsay, Xiaofeng et al. coupled live-cell super-resolution microscopy with ChIPseq and Hi-C in starved E. coli to learn that the abundant protein Dps compacts DNA while only minimally affecting other nucleoid properties. XindanWang Lab & @meyerroc.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The fall semester is in full swing! Welcome to incoming PhD students Yuhan and Lyn! Looking forward to lots of amazing biophysical chemistry. sites.lsa.umich.edu/biteen-lab/p...

We took a day off to enjoy the sunshine ☀️ and the Huron River! We only made a few 🤓 jokes about phase separation and condensates as we tubed in the Argo Rapids.

Same place, new lab photo! We hope everyone's summer is filled with great science :) 🔬🦠🥼🤓

A thoughtful Current Opinion from Chris @azaldegui.bsky.social laying out how ParA-type ATPases partition DNA cargos—especially carboxysomes—in bacteria. Fun summer reading for those interested in how bacteria position their contents. @cellforganized.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/a/1lWGb4tPFp...

Congratulations to 🎓Dr. David Fuller 🔬🦠on his successful PhD defense!

Lab members enjoyed teaching the WISE GISE campers about fluorescence and microscopy last week—experiments included extracting chlorophyll from spinach and measuring the color with hand-held spectrometers! wise.umich.edu/k-12-familie...

Dan developed two complementary super-resolution fluorescence microscopy approaches (SMLM and SOFI) to visualize curli fibers (the major component of the E. coli biofilm) on living cells! Check out his preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New energy in the lab! This summer, the lab feels fresh as we welcome incoming PhD student Lyn Wang, and as our three first-year PhD students (Ruochuan, Ulises, and Sam) settle in after the transition from "rotators" to permanent lab members. A lot of exciting #SingleMolecule science is underway :)

Belated congratulations to Sarah El-Mohri: after a year as an undergrad researcher in our lab, she's earned admission to grad school. We'll miss her, but fortunately, she's not going far: congrats, Sarah, on joining the University of Michigan Chemistry PhD program—we know you'll do amazing! #GoBlue

Congrats to Ruochuan for winning the Krimm outstanding 1st year student award in UM Biophysics!! #GoBlue

Congratulations to Dr. Yekaterina (Kate) Fyodorova on her successful PhD defense!🎉🎓

Thrilled to share our collaborative work with the Kearns Lab at Indiana University. Dan Foust quantified patterning and mobility of flagella on the bacterial surface! Caroline Dunn et al. "Nascent flagellar basal bodies are immobilized by rod assembly in Bacillus subtilis" doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

Congrats Xiaofeng on a terrific presentation at the Agilent Measurement Science Symposium!

The hooding ceremony was a chance to celebrate these 2024 🎓 graduates all over again!

Congrats to Sam Steen on a great presentation at the @umich.edu CHEMBIO Student Poster Session!

In lighter news, does anyone want to see me get pied in the face for a good cause ❤️? #ProfessorLife

At the Tuesday #bps2025 poster session, Ulises will show how he's implemented HaloTag labeling in one of our favorite microbes: Halothiobacillus neapolitanus. See you at poster B540!

Monday will bring more terrific #BPS2025 content, including Dan's poster and flash talk preview on how he's combining transient-binding microscopy with polarization detection to understand biofilm formation! 10:05am in room 515B and then poster B587!

Get ready for the Sunday #BPS2025 Poster Session: Xiaofeng and Ishika will present their single-particle tracking measurements of bacterial nucleoid geometry, mobility, and rheology. Also, come say hi to *me* 1-3pm Sunday; I'll be at the UMich #Biophysics table at the Education & Career Fair.

Attending #BPS2025? Want to know more about tangible steps you can take to challenge the attacks on science in the U.S.? Please attend an Emergency Town Hall Meeting on Tuesday at 1:30! @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social @blackinbiophys.bsky.social Please spread the word!

On the plane to #bps2025 #BPS. Come find me at the Single-Molecule symposium on Subgroup Saturday—I'll be presenting our work on heterochromatin-associated proteins in fission yeast! 2:30pm Saturday in 408A

Welcome Rachel, a Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) student who kicks off her search for a great PhD lab with a February rotation in the Biteen Lab!

Michigan Chemistry took over the Yost Arena for a Saturday Night on Ice! The Canadian and Dutch faculty were not shy to show off our roots ⛸️❄️

Ringing in the new year with a belated lab holiday party and some OUTSTANDING white elephant gifts!

Kicking off 2025 with new energy! The Biteen Lab is so glad to welcome Ryan and Sam who will be rotating in the lab this semester! #SingleMolecule