Belated post⦠last year, our lab painted a glia mural!
It took about 1 day and we used a projector for tracing.
Can you guess which cell is which?
New preprint from the lab π: Ξ³-tubulin is a novel target of the tubulin autoregulation pathway! Previously thought to exclusively target Ξ±- and Ξ²-tubulin mRNAs, we show that the TTC5βSCAPERβCNOT11 axis also degrades Ξ³-tubulin mRNA, expanding the scope of this fundamental regulatory mechanism.
Weβre big fans of carbon steel! We got an induction stove recently (and love it!), but it was a bit difficult early on to figure out how to cook eggs again. We only use carbon steel for eggs and omelettes now π
Very exciting news Alex!
Vaults. They are cell biology's greatest puzzle! This preprint from Martin Beck's lab shows them docked on ER membranes with a ribosome inside. What on earth is going on there??
#CellBiology #WTFology
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech
Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025
Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!!
www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
One of my Oxford visit highlights? I got to see these priceless slides that Ruffini sent to Sherrington of various sensory end organs. And yes, Ruffini had to excise these receptors from his own skin π³π¬π§
Thanks!
It was fantastic to work w. Ved & Rhiju! Ved was incredibly productive & received a R21 for this work.
This was a project that survived COVID, 2 lab moves, sabbatical...
We're fortunate & grateful to Brad Zucheroβs lab for help w. oligo cultures after I left Stanford π
8/8
Combined w. work from Jackie Trotter & Doug Fields Labs, we propose a RNA switch model:
- During transport, hnRNP-F binds unstructured MLS to inhibit translation.
- At the cell periphery, membrane-bound Fyn kinase phosphorylates & releases hnRNP-F to initiate translation.
7/8
Next, we used mass spec to ask what proteins associate with the MLS mRNA region.
We found hnRNP-F and proteins involved in translation!
Our structure of the MLS also had the canonical hnRNP-F-binding GGG(A) motifs!
6/8
Importantly, the MLS can be used to deliver CDS cargos throughout oligodendrocyte processes.
Here, we used EGFP as a reporter cargo.
5/8
We found a ~120-nt region sufficient for transport that we call the MLS.
Comparing to decades-old results from the Carson lab:
- Their RTS regions was not validated.
- But our MLS partially overlaps with their RLR region.
4/8
We asked which part of the ~1.5-kb Mbp 3' UTR is important for mRNA transport?
Ved applied 2 orthogonal techniques to primary olives:
- DMS-MaPseq to solve the RNA structure
- SLAP-seq - a method he innovated combining ~270 reporters and Boyden chambers cultures
3/8
Mbp (myelin basic protein) is the most abundant mRNA in oligodendrocytes
MBP functions in compaction, a bizarre cellular phenomenon that extrudes cytoplasm from the myelin sheath. It acts as a molecular glue between adjacent membranes. Hence, it is locally translated.
2/8
Excited to share our new pre-print collab w. @rdaslab.bsky.social
Study led by Ved Topkar brilliant MD/PhD student who used biochemistry and bioinformatics to probe the relationship between Mbp mRNA structure & transport/local translation in oligodendrocytes!
biorxiv.org/content/10.110β¦
1/8
Thatβs terrifying πβ¦ so many US scientists in our field have DOD (Dept. of Defense) grants, but it doesnβt mean theyβre working on anything that harms people (usually working on diseases that affect veterans) and certainly theyβve never been targeted like this.
Great first post!
We have a pink frog in our lab todayβ¦ already knocked over an Erlenmeyer π
Study from Mayo Clinic on deep brain stimulation (DBS) for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Not currently FDA approved but promising!
We have an exciting PhD position available in the Williams lab related to cerebral small vessel disease and funded through our Racing Against Dementia project - if you are interested then do apply here: regenerative-medicine.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate...
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
The UNC Department of Biology is seeking a Director of Biology Teaching Labs, a key leadership role overseeing our undergraduate laboratory program. 1/n
Learn more and apply here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
Well deserved! π
Two tenure-track faculty positions open in our department:
1) Microbial Ecology and Evolution careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49...
2) Cellular Neuroscience careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49...
Join our collaborative, interdisciplinary community, which has proved to be a fantastic place to start a lab!
The NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad.
I made a video explainer about why.
Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social
1/4
π§ͺ
Donβt forget rejecting submissions because itβs over the word countβ¦ before it even gets seen by a scientist! Dealing with that now π
Thanks Kathrin! Meghan (first co-author) did the actin imaging that you saw and of course you know Lana π€
This is the creepiest Halloween decoration Iβve ever seenβ¦ IRL itβs very lifelike π±
# BerkeleyLife
Thanks! Reposted link.
Reposting link:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
So this preprint opens up many new questions in astrocyte cell biology!
This was a real team effort:
- Postdoc Will Barclay started the project at the NIH
- Postbac Johanna Bergstrom and undergrad Eva Lopez analyzed data
- PhD student Lana Ho contributed imaging data
