I am honored. So many of my scientific heroes are ASCB fellows. Thanks to my nominators, my mentors, and to UC Davis ASCB fellows Mark Winey, Jon Scholey, and Jodi Nunnari. But thanks most to all those who have done science with me, @gwgl.bsky.social and all the graduate students and postdocs

American Society for Cell Biology@ascbiology.bsky.social · 2d ago

Congratulations to the 2026 ASCB Fellows! ASCB is proud to recognize 15 scientists whose careers have advanced cell biology through outstanding research, leadership, mentorship & service. Meet the 2026 Fellows: https://www.ascb.org/society-news/fifteen-visionary-scientists-named-2026-ascb-fellows/

Led by @xiangyiding.bsky.social . Starr-Luxton lab (me and @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social) with the @stephanieweber.bsky.social lab. Supported by @NIGMS and the @allenphilanthro.bsky.social .

A 20 year study on 2 NIH diversity programs in Science Advances shows they doubled undergrads' odds of getting a Ph.D. That is, before the funding for those programs and for the study itself was terminated last year: www.statnews.com/2026/06/17/n...

NIH diversity programs doubled undergraduates’ odds of getting a Ph.D., 20-year study finds

A new study found that two diversity-oriented programs supported by the NIH doubled the odds that an undergraduate would earn a Ph.D.

statnews.com

Reaganism, the perennial student loan debt debate and decency drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/04/14/r...

Reaganism, the perennial student loan debt debate and decency

The response of many Boomers, particularly those who went through higher education in California, to talk of ballooning student loan debt and the unaffordability of University education is often a …

drugmonkey.wordpress.com

I’m completely convinced we should never use student evaluations (good or bad) to merit and promotion at the university. What can we use to better evaluate teaching at the university?

Recent studies in living animals reveal that the cytoplasm is a thick, jam-like fluid. And yet, miraculously, hoards of molecules find their way to each other in every crowded cell. www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...

Forget the textbook view of a cell as a calm, orderly place. Glowing trackers reveal that it is jam-packed as a crowded nightclub — raising questions about how molecules can encounter their partners for the reactions that enable life. www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...

An estimated 1 billion biochemical reactions occur every second in every cell of our bodies. New research is revealing how cells harness physics by packing molecules into tiny spaces to make these reactions happen.

The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell | Quanta Magazine

Innovations in imaging and genetic engineering are coming together to probe the biophysics of cytoplasm inside living animals.

quantamagazine.org

New in @quantamagazine.bsky.social: the science of cytoplasmic crowding. From Liam Holt & Simone Reber's work to our discovery that in vivo cytoplasm is 50x more crowded than cultured cells. Thanks @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social & @gabepopkin.bsky.social! www.quantamagazine.org/the-biophysi...

The Biophysical World Inside a Jam-Packed Cell | Quanta Magazine

Innovations in imaging and genetic engineering are coming together to probe the biophysics of cytoplasm inside living animals.

quantamagazine.org

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)

YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen

youtu.be

My sister-in-law's dad died last week, in hospice in the VA hospital in Minneapolis. I just learned Alex Pretti was part of his care team. They shot Alex less than 1/2 mile from my niece's house while doing the same observation work that my niece is doing. These are real people. Step up folks!

The conference (agreement between House and Senate) appropriations bill that includes HHS and NIH was released this morning. www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit... 1/5

Committee Releases Conferenced Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bi...

United States Senate Committee on Appropriations

appropriations.senate.gov

NIGMS R35 Maximizing Investigator's Research Award (MIRA) for Outstanding Investigators new NOFO is available!! Submission dates starting in January 2026 through May 2028. See link below: simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...

We persist.

Grateful to be featured in Nature Methods discussing how @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social and I run the joint Starr-Luxton Lab @ucdavis.bsky.social together. Thanks to Vivien Marx for the thoughtful interview - she really captured what makes this model work. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New York Times article on science funding with some depressing but familiar curves with interactive graphics. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine (Gift Article)

A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

nytimes.com

This is our community!

Oded Rechavi@odedrechavi.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Read this inspiring perspectives coauthored by the Worm Resource directors and worm Nobel Laureates! 4 Nobel Prizes and how they were enabled by major NIH-supported research resources (the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, WormBase, and WormAtlas) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

@padilla.senate.gov @schiff.senate.gov do not vote to open the govern without obtaining an extension of the ACA subsidies. Protect working class. Protect access to healthcare. DO NOT CAVE.

Warning. ⚠️ If you are writing an NSF GRFP, new this year, you need official transcripts to apply. Beware. They will not review applications without official transcripts. ‼️

@joann-trejo.bsky.social, @marymunson4.bsky.social and I have a commentary in @natcellbio.nature.com on recent attacks on DEI in biomedical research: "If scientific research, especially biomedical research, is meant to serve everyone, then it requires that everyone has an opportunity to participate"

Submitting an R01 to NIH today. We're super proud of the work, and feel its important, but where is it going now?

a blurry picture of a person wearing red sunglasses and a colorful shirt

ALT: a blurry picture of a person wearing red sunglasses and a colorful shirt

media.tenor.com

Just a reminder if you're getting a manuscript together (like we are) to thank your core facilities!

🎉Check out our new preprint!! 🧬We found that lamin mutations in muscular dystrophy don’t just affect the nucleus — they disrupt a nucleolar–ribosomal axis that reorganizes the entire cytoplasm. Very grateful to @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social, @gwgl.bsky.social and our lab for collaboration & support!

GW Gant Luxton@gwgl.bsky.social · 11mo ago

🧬 NEW Starr-Luxton Lab PREPRINT: Our 🌠grad student @XiangyiDing figured out why muscular dystrophy mutations cause such widespread cellular chaos. The answer wasn't what we expected - and it changes how we think about the disease. Thread🧵 (1/6). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧬 NEW Starr-Luxton Lab PREPRINT: Our 🌠grad student @XiangyiDing figured out why muscular dystrophy mutations cause such widespread cellular chaos. The answer wasn't what we expected - and it changes how we think about the disease. Thread🧵 (1/6). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biology.ucdavis.edu/news/worms-r...

Worms Reveal Just How Cramped Cells Really Are

In a new study published in Science Advances on September 10, a team of UC Davis researchers tracked the movement of fluorescent particles inside the cells of microscopic worms, providing unprecedente...

biology.ucdavis.edu

🧬Want the full story of our paper without the science jargon? Our @ucdavis.bsky.social department broke down our "cells are crowded AND constrained" findings in plain English! Perfect explanation of why worm cells are nothing like cultured cells 🪱🌠

🧬BREAKING!🪱Plot twist: Cells aren't meditation pools, they're overcrowded concerts with VIP ropes everywhere! Our study reveals worm cells are insanely crowded AND compartmentalized. Ribosomes = packing peanuts, ANC-1 = the bouncer! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo

Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

science.org

Thrilled to share that a big piece of my thesis here in the Starr–Luxton is now out in Science Advances! We discovered that the cytoplasm of living animal tissues is extremely crowded and constrained, maintained by ribosomes and the giant KASH protein ANC-1. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo

Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

science.org

🚨Our fabulous graduate student Selin's paper on how the KASH protein UNC-83 regulates the activity of kinesin-1 to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration is out! Another great collaboration between the Starr-Luxton and MOM labs. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The KASH protein UNC-83 differentially regulates kinesin-1 activity to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration

Nuclear migration plays a fundamental role in development, requiring precise spatiotemporal control of bidirectional movement through dynein and kines…

sciencedirect.com

One of the best arguments I have read about DEI: Gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/o...