1/5: Our latest preprint is out! We show that LEA proteins can diversify particle orientations in cryo-EM, helping to overcome preferred orientation at the air-water interface (AWI). www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... with @cijilim.bsky.social and Tim Grant #CryoEM #LEAproteins

1/11 New preprint from the Sternberg lab in collaboration with the Fernández lab! We are excited to share our structure-function study of DRT10, a bacterial defense-associated reverse transcriptase that synthesizes long tandem-repeat DNA.🧵 Read the full story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@zjmaggiexu.bsky.social's story on suctorian trap structure adaptation is now online in @currentbiology.bsky.social , with new evolutionary analyses and modeling! This fall, Maggie will keep exploring predatory protists as a PD in @nbellono.bsky.social group; keep an eye out for her she's amazing!

Our updated full story on suctorian trap structure adaptation now online in @currentbiology.bsky.social! Huge thanks to Scott and all the co-authors for all the wow moments along the way! Also, if you’d like some new #protist #suctorian, let’s know! (They are surprisingly easy roommates/predators) 🤠

Sub-cellular architectures arise through integrating signaling and structure. @edenchang.bsky.social and @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social show how coupling reaction-diffusion signaling to protein condensation provides a tunable, regulatable landscape for sub-cellular structure www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Watching reaction-diffusion signaling couple to protein condensations feels like opening a new world of exotic subcellular spatial patterning 🌌 huge thanks to the evolving idea started from @edenchang.bsky.social and @cellraiser.bsky.social that make this journey possible and incredibly fun!

Thrilled to share our work on the 🔥 single-celled predator Podophrya collini, which rewires its cell morphology to hunt more efficiently. Huge thanks to our amazing team—Amy, Lauren, Omaya, Marine, Mari, and especially Scott—for making this shine! ✨

How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926

1/9 Metagenomics lets us read microbiomes in nature without cultivation, but writing (editing) them in their native context is still a major challenge. Meet MetaEdit: a platform for pathway-scale metagenomic editing inside the gut microbiome. science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Congratulations to all authors! Happy to have contributed to the cryo-EM side. It was a lot of fun learning more about the herpesvirus DNA replication process and how clinical drugs inhibit it 🦠💊. Big thanks to @cijilim.bsky.social and Tahir for the support!

The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social 🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬 annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)

Our paper in Science is out! @souravagrawal.bsky.social, @rlynn.bsky.social, @susvirkar.bsky.social, and the rest of the team show human RPA is a telomerase processivity factor essential for telomere maintenance. This reshapes our thinking about telomerase regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from? Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬 Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025

1/10 New pre-print(s) from the Sternberg Lab in collaboration with Leifu Chang's Lab! We uncover the unprecedented molecular mechanism of CRISPR-Cas12f-like proteins, which drive RNA-guided transcription independently of canonical promoter motifs. Full story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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 🧵