New work out today in PNAS! Secondary active transporters are everywhere, but direct observation of their structural dynamics is rarely achieved. Here, we capture the real-time dynamics of a sodium-coupled dicarboxylate transporter using smFRET. 🧵⬇️ doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

New Biochem Soc Trans review: eIF3 as a modular, central regulator of translation. Authored by @nickide.bsky.social and Colin Echeverría Aitken, this review integrates genetic, biochemical, and structural perspectives and highlights open mechanistic questions. doi.org/10.1042/BST2...

Slightly overdue article highlight! In PNAS, we use smFRET to reveal how polypeptide release factor 2 (RF2) undergoes a cascade of structural changes to catalyze polypeptide release during translation termination and ArfA-mediated ribosome rescue. 🧵⬇️ doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

A (belated!) highlight from an excellent collaboration with @dunhamlab.bsky.social and #HouLabTJU. In this Nat Commun paper, we combine smFRET and cryo-EM to show how the tRNA modification m¹G37 stabilizes the reading frame—and what happens when it’s missing.

The Gonzalez Lab at Columbia University is seeking a scientific leader! Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes. Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949

New from our lab in @narjournal.bsky.social: We dissect the folding dynamics of a fundamental element of RNA secondary structure—a stem-loop—at single-molecule and microsecond resolution. doi.org/10.1093/nar/... 1/5

Over 60 NIH staff are blowing the whistle on Trump’s assault on biomedical research — calling it unethical, illegal, and dangerous. Grants canceled. Trials halted. Science censored. This is a direct threat to public health. www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

A Puerto Rican Ph.D. student. A first-gen scientist. Both lost NIH grants under vague “new priorities.” Nearly 2,500 projects and $1.6B in cut or stalled grants. No vote. No debate. Just science erased. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

“If things continue as they are, American science is ruined.” This isn’t sabotage from the outside — it’s self-inflicted. Cuts to research, visa bans, and closed doors to global talent are doing what an enemy of the US could only dream of. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/w...

Check out group member Meghna Maiti’s poster at #RNA2025! She’s presenting new findings on how frameshift-suppressor tRNAs exhibit altered dynamics in the ribosomal A site that modulate translocation and +1 frameshifting. Friday, 8–10 PM PT — she’s at P2-492!

A blast from the past! The Gonzalez Group, circa 2008, celebrating our first publication! Check out much, much younger versions of, from left to right, Pallav Kosuri, yours truly, Sam Sternberg, Mike Englander, @jingyifei.bsky.social, Daniel MacDougall, Margaret Elvekrog, and Subasree Das!

Excited to share that group member Riley Gentry will present a talk at #RNA2025 tomorrow! He’ll reveal how PIC-bound eIFs collaborate to drive mRNA loading during translation initiation. Don’t miss “The mechanism of mRNA activation” at 9 AM in the Translation Mechanisms plenary.

“Undermining the future of American science is not a path to accountability — it’s a path to decline.” In a powerful new piece, my colleague Daphna Shohamy explains how canceled grants are driving young scientists out of science—and out of the country. 🔗 www.statnews.com/2025/05/07/u...

This op-ed details how the billionaires now destroying basic science at our universities built their fortunes on its breakthroughs. They're aggressively moving to deny others the very foundation that made their own successes possible. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/28/o...

A really important op-ed from my colleague, Matt Connelly, in our History Department. He sets the record straight on several important facts about Columbia’s response to the Trump administration that have been misreported and mischaracterized. 1/5 www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/o...

Young scientists are leaving science to stay in the US or leaving the US to stay in science. We’re losing the talent we trained. To lead in medicine, AI, and energy, we must support young scientists as if the future depends on them—because it does. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

As some of you already know, I was appointed Dean of Science at Columbia in December and began my role on Jan 1. It’s an honor to support our students, postdocs, and faculty—especially in this challenging moment. Science at Columbia is strong. #ColumbiaScience fas.columbia.edu/news/ruben-g...

This hot-off-press paper reveals how eukaryotic eIF4F recognizes & activates messenger RNA by stochastically sampling along its length & utilizing allosteric communication between its subunits. We get a revised model for mRNA activation & translation initiation. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thanks to #JeffreyKieft for an excellent SCI-Talk Seminar visit to #NYSBC! A great day of science, friends, and potential collaborations!

Our latest work is out in Nature today! Using smFRET, we directly visualized recruitment of the eIF4F complex to the 5' cap of eukaryotic mRNAs and formation of an activated mRNA. Our findings reveal new and surprising roles for each eIF4F component. 1/3 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A beautiful mechanistic study of coupled transcription translation, exciting new results, and several technical advances! Congrats on this awesome study, @olivierduss.bsky.social! 🍾

Amazing work revealing the mechanisms by which mRNAs are delivered to the bacterial ribosome! 🤯 Congrats to the Weixlbaumer lab and their collaborators in the Walter and Rappsilber labs! 🍾

Great review on the structure, dynamics, and function of ribosomes by Harry Noller!

New day, new platform, same mission: Unlocking molecular mysteries and breaking barriers in STEM and academia. 🚀 Let’s connect, collaborate, and amplify science for all! #BlueskyBound #RNA #Ribosomes #Transporters #SingleMolecules #ScienceForAll