Honored to see that our collaborative work with Pratyush Tiwary and Adrian Ferré-D'Amaré on the ZTP riboswitch was selected as a very important paper by @angewandtechemie.bsky.social! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Machine Learning‐Augmented Molecular Dynamics Simulations (MD) Reveal Insights Into the Disconnect Between Affinity and Activation of ZTP Riboswitch Ligands

This study combines computational and experimental approaches to study how natural and synthetic small molecules interact with the ZTP riboswitch, a bacterial RNA element that regulates gene expressi....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Hear-hear! Science making amazing progress and saving lives despite increasing barriers is something to be celebrated.

Jordan Meier@doc-jlmeier.bsky.social · last yr.

This piece by George Church in @statnews.com is the best response I've read, key quote (emphasis mine): "Perhaps it's time to embrace the spirit of anti-complacency and pro-innovation WITHOUT HALLUCINATING A DEPRESSING DECLINE IN THE FACE OF REMARKABLE PROGRESS." 👏 www.statnews.com/2023/02/01/d...

Out now in @natchem.nature.com! Lots to unpack here, but in short - we show that SMM enabled fragment based design is useful on RNAs to improve chemical properties like affinity and brightness of fluorophore ligands. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structure-informed design of an ultrabright RNA-activated fluorophore - Nature Chemistry

Fluorogenic RNA aptamers such as Mango are powerful tools for RNA imaging. An ultrabright RNA-activated fluorophore with improved photophysical performance has now been developed using a structure-inf...

nature.com

New work from the lab - With Pratyush Tiwary and Adrian Ferre-D'Amare, we study ligands that activate the ZTP riboswitch. Experimental and theoretical approaches show that ligand on rates influence activity by non-obvious mechanisms when targeting RNA! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Machine learning‐augmented molecular dynamics simulations (MD) reveal insights into the disconnect between affinity and activation of ZTP riboswitch ligands

The challenge of targeting RNA with small molecules necessitates a better understanding of RNA-ligand interaction mechanisms. However, the dynamic nature of nucleic acids, their ligand-induced stabil...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Congratulations to Evan J. Burke, a grad student in the Krebs and Bollinger labs in Penn State's Department of Chemistry, on being named a 2025 #ACSBIOL Young Investigator! @jmarbol21.bsky.social

Another new piece of work from the lab - I played a small role in this really exciting work coming out of the Pearson lab at Sick Kids in Toronto dealing with preclinical studies on CAG repeat instability in Huntington disease. Check it out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Interventionally targeting somatic CAG expansions can be a rapid disease-modifying therapeutic avenue: Preclinical evidence.

Huntington disease (HD) is caused by inherited CAG expansions, which continue expanding somatically in affected brain regions to hasten disease onset and progression. Therapeutically diminishing somat...

biorxiv.org

Hey, check it out - new work from the lab! We report the design of design traceless, reversible small molecule photocrosslinking probes that can be used to photochemically control the translation of mRNAs just using molecular recognition! Congrats to all! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Harnessing Molecular Recognition for Small‐Molecule‐Mediated Reversible Photochemical Control Over mRNA Translation

A small molecule ligand undergoes traceless, reversible photocrosslinking to PreQ1 RNA aptamer in a selective manner, dependent on both the RNA sequence/structure and ligand chemical structure. A cag...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

We're looking for 1-2 enthusiastic early career chemists to join our Open Chemistry team at @hhmijanelia.bsky.social. Come help us create amazing dyes and share them with the world. Please share with the best recent/soon-to-be B.S. chemists you know! bit.ly/42w8C6N

Research Technician - Open Chemistry

Primary Work Address: 19700 Helix Drive, Ashburn, VA, 20147 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. Summary: Open Chemistry is a collaborative research group whose missio...

bit.ly

Great news: NIH postbac program is recruiting again! If your grad school plans were affected by program cutbacks or admissions freezes this year I highly encourage you to apply, this could be a perfect opportunity. Please repost. www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

New work from my awesome colleague @vidigaljoana.bsky.social!

Joana Vidigal@vidigaljoana.bsky.social · last yr.

What was that you said? You are looking for new #RNA research to read in the weekend? You are in luck! 📣 📣 Check out the new preprint from our lab!!!! 📣 📣 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The final #ACSBIOL sessions of #ACSSpring2025 are tomorrow morning, Thursday the 27th: 📰 Current Topics in #Biochem and #ChemBio, Room 31A 👩‍🎓 Undergraduate and Graduate Research, Hal G/H Room 8 Be sure to check out these excellent presentations!

#ACSBIOL Sessions on Wednesday, 26th at #ACSSpring2025: Morning, Room 31A: 🏆 Eli Lilly Award to @brianliau.bsky.social Afternoon, Room 31A: 🏆 ACS Chemical Biology Young Investigator Award to @jeremybaskin.bsky.social Evening, Hall B2/C: 📜 Poster Session, Current Topics @pubs.acs.org

Congrats @rche54.bsky.social, nice work!

Ross Cheloha@rche54.bsky.social · last yr.

Proud to share this work from my group in the intramural research program at NIH! We describe a new kind of conjugate made from a small molecule adenosine analog linked to a GPCR targeting nanobody to make antibody drug conjugates that potently and specifically activate signaling (1/n) 🧪 #chembio

Check out this awesome paper from my colleague @eunayoo.bsky.social about activity-based probes for USP18! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Chemical tools to define and manipulate interferon-inducible Ubl protease USP18 - Nature Communications

USP18 is a multifunctional cysteine protease involved in IFN pathways. Here, the authors report chemical probes and chemoproteomics platforms that allow to detect and perturb USP18 activity in complex...

nature.com

We often focus on publicizing our work to other scientists but it's just as important to have journalists communicate with non-scientists as well!

Leah@leah.myatproto.social · 2y ago

ALL journalists can benefit from the resources and best practices developed by the network of writers who have flourished in science journalism. Science writers and leaders like Siri and Laura help lift unheard voices and share knowledge of diligent reporting. 🧪https://www.theopennotebook.com/

I am about to survive my 1047th week in medicinal chemistry. This editorial is a visit on memory lane. Yes, starting in MedChem initially looks very daunting. MedChems love abbreviations & specialist slang to scare off laymen. But overcoming these hurdles is so rewarding in many dimensions.

What a week! Really proud to share this work with Venkat Gopalan and Damien Wilburn in Nucleic Acids Research. We show that our SMM platform can be used to identify allosteric chemical inhibitors of an archaeal RNase P, an ancient ribozyme. academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

Use of a small molecule microarray screen to identify inhibitors of the catalytic RNA subunit of Methanobrevibacter smithii RNase P

Abstract. Despite interest in developing therapeutics that leverage binding pockets in structured RNAs—whose dysregulation leads to diseases—such drug disc

academic.oup.com

Thrilled to see our work in @pnas.org this week! With Pratyush Tiwary, we show that "thermodynamic maps" can be used to infer and predict information about RNA 3D structural ensembles! Proud to have played a small role in this exciting work. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

This is deeply concerning!

Dr. Ronan Connolly@ronanconnolly.bsky.social · 2y ago

🧪A disturbing trend. The editor-in-chief of a high profile journal (IF=13.6) was recently offered the opportunity to make up to $250k/year to approve fake papers in his journal ($5k per paper). He declined & reported it. 👍 But, would other editors be tempted? 😬 richardtol.substack.com/p/crime-pays

Americans are now one-third less likely to die from cancer at the same ages as Americans in 1990

Really excited to see this work out! In collaboration with Prof. Jen Prescher, we showed that their cyclopropenone labeling strategy can be applied to structured RNA! Thrilled to work with this fantastic team of scientists. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Bioorthogonal Cyclopropenones for Investigating RNA Structure

RNA sequences encode structures that impact protein production and other cellular processes. Misfolded RNAs can also potentiate disease, but a complete picture is lacking. To establish more comprehens...

pubs.acs.org

One of the reasons Bluesky is seeing more engagement: other platforms have adopted the behaviour of de-prioritising external links (like, say, to research papers) due to Ad models. See this: bsky.app/profile/alt... Here links can be freely shared without being drowned out or de-emphasized

🎉 Our grad student @katherinelegg.bsky.social is a co-author on a new preprint about the genetic requirements and nutrient needs for Staphylococcus aureus growth in cystic fibrosis sputum. Congrats to @gramnegativity.bsky.social and all involved! shorturl.at/yfZQA 🧬 #CysticFibrosis #Microbiology

Analysis of genetic requirements and nutrient availability for Staphylococcus aureus growth in cystic fibrosis sputum

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most common pathogens isolated from the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis (CF), but little is known about its ability to colonize this niche. We performed a Tn-s...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Years after the idea and preliminary experiments, Claire Coupland's amazing structure of the endogenous vacuolar- or vesicular-ATPase in its NATIVE vesicle is now in bioRxiv "High resolution cryo-EM of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicles" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

So @altmetric.com is now tracking on @bsky.app too! Flagging for #Chemsky

Altmetric@altmetric.com · 2y ago

The CASP16 conference has started. Collectively predictors predicted coordinates of over one billion atoms

“NIH produces an astounding return on investment to the American taxpayer. In Fiscal Year 2022, NIH research funding supported 568,585 jobs and generated $96.84 billion in economic activity — that’s $2.64 of economic activity for every $1 of research funding.” www.researchamerica.org/2023-oped-us...

Catherine Rampell@crampell.bsky.social · 2y ago

Research supported by NIH has led more than 100 Nobel Prizes and has supported more than 99% of drugs approved by federal regulators from 2010 to 2019. But come January, NIH may face a wrecking ball nytimes.com/2024/12/01/h...

Got the chance to put together the "Click of Chemical Biologists" starter pack v1 and v2 over the Thanksgiving Break. Feel free to ping me on who else I might be missing! V1: go.bsky.app/3P5i7nJ V2: go.bsky.app/Cr4ej7

sunburn is from ribosomes stalled by UV damage to RNA? super cool www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

The ribotoxic stress response drives acute inflammation, cell death, and epidermal thickening in UV-irradiated skin in vivo

Solar UVB light causes damage to the outermost layer of skin. This insult induces rapid local responses, such as dermal inflammation, keratinocyte cel…

sciencedirect.com

We are happy to share the development of Co-transcriptional Structure Tracking by @leoschaerfen.bsky.social, which measures RNA structure formation during its synthesis in vivo. We are excited to discover the activity of helicases on nascent rRNA! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Rapid folding of nascent RNA regulates eukaryotic RNA biogenesis

An RNA′s catalytic, regulatory, or coding potential depends on RNA structure formation. Because base pairing occurs during transcription, early structural states can govern RNA processing events and d...

biorxiv.org