Out now in @natcomms.nature.com: We found a plasmid in a preterm infant’s gut microbiome that’s 1.58 million base pairs long, about 30X the size of a typical E. coli plasmid. Then we found its relatives in hundreds of microbiomes worldwide. Read on to learn more about the elusive pMEGAs! 🧵

We're hiring, including for multiple research associate roles, research analyst, research program manager, and more, with roles in Berkeley and San Francisco. Learn more and apply: https://innovativegenomics.org/careers/

New from IGI's Ross Wilson, a review of peptide-based #CRISPR delivery strategies. Read here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1367593126001122?via%3Dihub

Congrats to IGI's @mexpositoalonso.bsky.social, a 2026 Packard Fellow! Learn more about his work on plants and climate change: shorturl.at/AggfL

We're hiring two research associates to work on our new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) BIOGAMI program studying disordered proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases! Learn more and see other open positions here: https://innovativegenomics.org/careers/

We're hiring two research associates to work on our new Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) BIOGAMI program studying disordered proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Learn more and see other open positions here: innovativegenomics.org/careers/

New from IGI's Patrick Shih — a novel framework for exploring genome regulation across the evolutionary tree, starring (over 1000) fungi. Learn more: https://innovativegenomics.org/news/machine-learning-unstudied-fungi/

Most neurodegenerative diseases begin with misfolded proteins. A new project funded by the ARPA-H BIOGAMI program seeks to prevent neurodegenerative diseases by learning the language of disordered proteins in human cells at scale. Learn more: https://ow.ly/fLju50ZW7EC

🧠 ICYMI: IGI's Martin Kampmann's team uncovered a novel pathway to clear toxic #tau buildup in the brain, which could lead to a new strategy to treat dementias like Alzheimer's disease. Read more in his Cell - a Cell Press journal paper from earlier this year: https://ow.ly/2HFA50ZU3hu

📣New paper alert! From Pam Ronald's lab, "Signaling by a tyrosine-sulfated peptide balances growth and osmotic stress response in rice." 🌾Read here: https://ow.ly/RHLK50ZU32z

UC Berkeley has once again been named the top public university in North America in the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. This adds to the growing list of #1 rankings Berkeley has earned this year. https://bit.ly/4delZyI

UC Berkeley is the No. 1 public university in North America in Times Higher Education rankings - Berkeley News

Berkeley tied for ninth worldwide in the publication’s 2027 assessment of a record 2,297 universities.

news.berkeley.edu

🧬 Out recently in Nature, IGI Investigator Yun S. Song has shared a new language model that can detect overlooked gene variants that impact human health. Learn more about how the Song lab is using #AI to investigate the human genome: https://ow.ly/44os50ZLxsk

IGI Affiliate Ksenia Krasileva on evolutionary design and innate #immunology. Join us today at 2 PM Pacific, in Berkeley or on Zoom! More info here: https://endpoints.news/in-a-changed-world-for-cystic-fibrosis-a-familys-fight-reveals-a-new-gap-in-care/

The 2026 UC Regents Innovation Awards honor two of IGI's Investigators! Fyodor Urnov for his contributions to #CRISPR medicine & Sue Lynch for her work on how the infant gut #microbiome. Read more: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/23-uc-innovators-who-are-changing-world

Predicting how #RNA folds would be a valuable tool for scientists, but #AI has not been able to crack the problem. A team at the IGI made significant progress on two key hurdles: limited structural data, and the fact that RNA can take on multiple shapes. Read more: https://ow.ly/Yjgo50ZJcU3

📣 We are looking for a PhD student in 2027! Interested in studying rapid evolutionary dynamics of species in changing climates? Apply to the MOI LAB by Nov 19! Flyer below & tinyurl.com/flyerphdmoilab @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social

2027_PhD_RapidEvolutionGenomicsEcology-MoiLab_Berkeley-HHMI

PhD positions: Rapid evolutionary genomics in plants Moi Exposito-Alonso Lab — www.moilab.science Assistant Professor, Freeman Hrabowski Scholar HHMI · Department of Integrative Biology · Innovative G...

tinyurl.com

As a postdoc, Phillip Cleves became the first person to genetically modify #coral. Now, he's trying to figure out how to save reefs and the magnificent ecosystems they host. Learn more about IGI's newest investigator: https://innovativegenomics.org/news/saving-coral-reefs-phil-cleves/

I wrote about what came before CRISPR 4 billion years ago: a war among viruses. Gift link: nyti.ms/3TBq4q0

The Next Gene-Editing Technology May Also Be the Oldest (Gift Article)

Scientists have discovered a powerful gene-targeting system in viruses. Billions of years old, VIPR seems to predate CRISPR and may be even more powerful.

nyti.ms

Before #CRISPR, there was VIPR — a tool viruses used to battle each other with a never-before-seen genetic coding system, uncovered by researchers in the Doudna Lab. Read more here: https://ow.ly/KblS50ZOxwQ #AI #LanguageModel #RNA

The latest in our Inside Genomics short video series — IGI researchers Sue Lynch at UCSF The Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine & Ben Rubin Rubin Lab UC Berkeley are creating a new way to prevent & treat childhood #asthma by editing the #microbiome. Watch here: https://ow.ly/abyU50ZGLAR

🧬 Out today in Nature, IGI Investigator Yun S. Song has shared a new language model that can detect overlooked gene variants that impact human health. Learn more about how the Song lab is using #AI to investigate the human genome: https://ow.ly/44os50ZLxsk

It was an honor to meet the eight brilliant HBCU undergraduate students who spent the summer at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social labs across the UC system at part of the UC-HBCU Rising Stars program! They are working on the cutting edge of technology.

Out today in Nature Nanotechnology, a Q&A with IGI's Niren Murthy on his new way to engineer lipid nanparticles (LNPs) for safer genome editing. Read it here: https://innovativegenomics.org/news/safer-lipid-nanoparticles-gene-editing/

Predicting how #RNA folds would be a valuable tool for scientists, but #AI has not been able to crack the problem. A team at the IGI made significant progress on two key hurdles: limited structural data, and the fact that RNA can take on multiple shapes. Read more: https://ow.ly/Yjgo50ZJcU3

📝 BRIEF COMMUNICATION 📝 Targeted Knockout of CYP79A1 Reduces Cyanogenic Potential in Grain Sorghum - Groover et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/pbi.... #plantscience 🧪 @evangroover.bsky.social @savagecatsonly.bsky.social @innovativegenomics.bsky.social @natureatcal.bsky.social @berkeleymcb.bsky.social

Thanks to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences for highlighting our work on reducing methane emissions frow cows! This work is led by IGI Investigators Ermias Kebreab and Matthias Hess The Hess Lab @ UC Davis. Read the article: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2626533123

#Asthma is one of the most common childhood diseases. IGI researchers Sue Lynch at UCSF The Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine & Ben Rubin Rubin Lab UC Berkeley are creating a new way to prevent & treat asthma by editing microbes. More in our new Inside Genomics video! https://ow.ly/abyU50ZGLAR

Happy Monday! ☀️ On the last day of August, the Rubin Lab presents a researcher interview. We sat down with @leosong.bsky.social, co-first author of this paper, at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social! 🎥🧬 Hear more about the science directly from one of the researchers behind the study!

Rubin Lab@therubinlab.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Happy New Year from the Rubin Lab! 🎇  We're excited to start 2026 off with a fresh publication at @science.org Advances. Here, we identified a cast (😉) of host factors affecting VchCAST using genome-wide screens and validated their improvement or inhibition of CAST activity. (1/2)

🫁 New from IGI's Sue Lynch: "Upper airway microbiome interacts with GSDMB and ORMDL3 asthma risk SNPs to influence early-life wheeze risk." Read here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0091674926004057?via%3Dihub

A decade ago, Phil Cleves became the first person to genetically modify #coral. Now, he's trying to figure out how to save reefs and the magnificent ecosystems they host from #ClimateChange. Learn more about IGI's newest investigator: ow.ly/fK9F50ZG9s5 Video by @shumpeim.bsky.social