Important aster update!

How are we supposed to advise undergraduates interested in applying to graduate school soon? They are scared that their options will be limited. They don't know if it is better to rush to get in or wait until things maybe get better. They don't have as many options for post-bacc programs. It's rough

This preprint was accepted @rnajournal.bsky.social! It is now online ahead of print! @cancer-inst-purdue.bsky.social @purduernaclub.bsky.social rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/earl...

Patience was rewarded. Wonderfully set and no soggy bottom.

What to do while you wait for the apple pie to cool? Eat the mini pie you made with the extra pastry, of course. This hack brought to you by my grandma.

The fall bloomers are starting to make an appearance! Skip the mums, plant asters!

Welcome to the bsky account for the Purdue RNA Club! Our meeting dates for Fall 2025 are September 12, October 10, November 14, and December 5.

Anyone in the West Lafayette area have an explanation for why they closed the right lane of River Road here? It's closed for maybe 200 ft. I think that they did this either to intentionally make traffic worse or to further aggravate the businesses that didn't sell their land.

I might need to dial back the jalapeños for the next batch. 🔥🔥

Our tomatillos finally started producing!

This manuscript was accepted @rnajournal.bsky.social and is online ahead of publication now! Congratulations to first author Addison Young and all the co-authors (for several this is their first publication). @cancer-inst-purdue.bsky.social 1/2 rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/earl...

Here is the post thread I promised: We have been interested in ADAR1 as a therapeutic target for triple-negative breast cancer for a while. That project was supported by the NIH before Trump terminated it, but that is another story. While ADAR1 is a promising target - there aren't any inhibitors 1/n

Our second preprint is out today! Post thread to come later.

So, when this gets packaged into an exosome, is it a virus? I'm only being a little sarcastic.

A moment of beauty in the garden provides a brief distraction from the slow death of science in this country.

I wonder if tenure committees and university administration will consider this when making tenure/promotion decisions?

This is terrible, and unfortunately, based on my experience sharing this information with others, many in academia (especially more senior faculty) aren't even aware of this change.

I treated the lab to a trip to the San Diego Zoo to celebrate our first preprint and for the members attending their first conference, surviving #RNA25. While the zoo is famous for the pandas, the koalas were my favorite!

This evening, the newest Cottrell Lab graduate student, Cassandra Smoak, will be presenting poster 402. Over the last few months she has been evaluating a recently published ADAR1 inhibitor - ZYS-1. I'll let her tell you if it is a good inhibitor or not... #RNA25

Purdue Biochemistry and @cancer-inst-purdue.bsky.social at #RNA25

Just in time for #RNA25, the Cottrell Lab has posted our first independent preprint to bioRxiv. This is the first first-author publication from graduate student Addison Young and the first publication for the four undergraduate co-authors. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n

I haven't had time to make a post thread for this, but if you are at #RNA25, the first-author Addison Young is presenting a poster on this work tonight - P1-108.

This is our first preprint! The post thread is coming later today.

The Cottrell Lab (minus the undergrads) is on our way to RNA25!

If you plant it, they will come.

Mother's Day Strawberry Shortcakes and flowers from our garden.

The dynasty continues. Our third straight IM championship!

...but the MRI isn't covered under most plans. It should be covered as a preventative like the mammogram is under the ACA. Shout out to the breast cancer advocates in Indiana that pushed for a state law that requires clinicians to inform patients of breast density. www.hoosierbcadvocates.com/hb-1058

The Cottrell lab is in Indy for Pink Out the Statehouse. @cancer-inst-purdue.bsky.social www.hoosierbcadvocates.com/registration...

I'm really going to miss Kevin. I've been following him, probably my entire adult life. I mostly gave up political commentary after the 2016 election, but I never stopped reading his blog. If you aren't familiar with Kevin, I suggest you read some of his work on the 'lead crime hypothesis'.

I'm glad that study sections will resume soon, but I am furious that the study section for my first R01 application didn't meet today. I'm sure they will be able to quickly reschedule. After all, it should be fairly simple to find a full day for 35 faculty to meet... 1/2

Possibly a controversial opinion, but a well informed one as a partent: Mott's fruit snacks are better than Welch's.

Really wonder if the university did any traffic studies before they decided to close half the roads on one side of campus.

Last lecture until August today. A new one on KRAS inhibitors. It ties together everything we have talked about in the course. Mutations, proteins, enzymes, inhibitors (irreversible inhibitors that modify cysteine), and it puts all of that in the context of a disease that affects everyone.

Last baked good for a while. Thanksgiving leftover pie. Bottom layer of stuffing (to absorb moisture and because it is fantastic), top is turkey, onion, celery, carrots, edamame, a little half&half, homemade turkey stock. All wrapped in a homemade crust and topped with turkey gravy. 11/10

We decided on pretzels for the Great British Baking Show finale! The pretzel dogs are still in the oven, along with soon to be cinnamon sugar bites.

Turkey is fine, and so is stuffing and sweet potatoes. But let's be honest, the real star of Thanksgiving dinner is the homemade roll!

No 'soggy bottoms' here.

It's the day before Thanksgiving, which means pumpkin pie baking. Turned out pretty well!

We don't really promote Santa in our house. No letters to Santa or anything like that. Of course our daughter still hears all about Santa from her friends and media. This year we've tasked her with figuring out if he exists. She's gone back and forth. But, now she has come up with a test. 1/2

The lab website has been updated! www.cottrellrna.com

British Baking Show once again tempting me with a croquembouche. Eventually, I will make one, despite my wife's opposition.

Fuck this!

I'm thinking of shifting careers. I figure a job as a truck lift-kit salesperson would be more in line with the interests of our society, or maybe a job in the iron lung industry. There's gonna be a lot of demand there soon.

Tomorrow, we are wrapping up our module on antibiotics. Which means I get to explain the mechanism of action of puromycin! Seriously, if you don't know how puro works you should look it up.

I guess I'll start posting here again.

My first review is online @MolecularCell. It was a joy writing this with Brenda Bass and Ryan Andrews in the Bass Lab (I don't think either have migrated to this app), hopefully others will enjoy reading it! Free for 50 days here: authors.elsevier.com/c/1iHXd3vVUP...

Writing the above tweet made me realise that all the RNA biologists who I could find on here in 5 minutes are dudes. Let's fix that? Please RT the RNAbiology feed!

This didn't go well, but my first review was just submitted! Wouldn't be academic science without the emotional rollercoaster.

Last day of the first rotation tomorrow. Reason enough to make peanut brittle for the lab.