Structural basis for DNA processing and membrane translocation by ComEC in natural transformation Natural transformation is one of the major pathways of horizontal gene transfer in bacteria, enabling the acquisition of extracellular DNA and its integration into the host genome. ComEC is a membrane...

ComEC structure is out!! 😍
Congratulations to the authors! That’s not an easy one. We have been trying for years to get that structure…
We failed and gave up.

Breakthrough Prize – Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Bryan Traynor

There is not just one but two Breakthrough Prize winners from the NIH intramural program this year! Hearty congratulations Bryan Traynor “For the discovery of the most common genetic cause of ALS and frontotemporal dementia ….”

breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/2/...

Palmitoylation of Tspan4 is essential for migrasome formation Wang et al. show that migrasome formation requires tetraspanin 4 palmitoylation regulated by DHHC6 and PPT1. This modification drives tetraspanin 4 cluster

Palmitoylation of Tspan4 is essential for migrasome formation. zDHHC6 and PPT1 are identified as the main enzymes regulating this modification. Hearty congratulations, Yuwei Huang and all coauthors.

#proteinlipidation #proteinpalmitoylation #zDHHC6 #PPT1

rupress.org/jcb/article-...

S-acylation and membrane localization of the small GTPase ARL15 are mediated by the Golgi S-acyltransferases ZDHHC7 and ZDHHC3 ARL15 is a member of the ARF-like (ARL) family of small GTPases, implicated in the regulation of ion homeostasis and metabolic signaling pathways. Although ARL15 has been suggested to undergo S-acylat...

S-acylation and membrane localization of the small GTPase ARL15 are mediated by the Golgi S-acyltransferases ZDHHC7 and ZDHHC3. Hearty congratulations, Kenji Kontani and all coauthors.
#proteinpalmitoylation #proteinlipidation

- Journal of Biological Chemistry www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Breakthrough Prize – Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize Laureates – Swee Lay Thein

Hearty congratulations to Swee Lay Thein, my colleague in the NIH Intramural Program, for winning the 2026 Breakthrough Prize. Sky is the limit of what one can achieve here. And perhaps the tide is finally turning for Asian Americans in major scientific awards ?
breakthroughprize.org/Laureates/2/...

Hearty congratulations, Josefina @delmarmollab.bsky.social

Don’t Perish! A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper (2026 edition) Great science deserves to be read — not buried under unclear writing. This is the updated 2026 edition of your favorite guide to writing…

I just published Don’t Perish! A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing a Scientific Paper (2026 edition)

Great science deserves to be read—not buried under unclear writing. This is the updated 2026 edition of your favorite guide to writing scientific papers.

medium.com/p/dont-peris...

Hearty congratulations to Cailyn @cailyncreative.bsky.social , and to you as well.

An exposé of the plastic industry : Fresh Air In award-winning journalist Beth Gardiner’s new book, ‘Plastic Inc.,’ she traces how plastic went from a wartime miracle to the survival strategy of the fossil fuel industry. What Gardiner found after...

The problem of plastic is not waste management but uncontrollable greed of the fossil fuel industry. Fascinating when something becomes so cheap on an individual use basis, the demand-supply cycle can get messed up.

www.npr.org/2026/04/01/n...

A high-affinity split-HaloTag for live-cell protein labeling Nature Communications - Lin and colleagues present high-affinity split-HaloTag pairs for protein tagging and multiplexed labelling. This versatile system allows protein visualisation with diverse...

A high-affinity split-HaloTag for live-cell protein labeling. And much more.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hearty congratulations to my colleagues Juan Bonifacino @juanbonifacino.bsky.social , Debbie Hinton and Wanjun Chen, all in the NIH Intramural Program for being elected to the class of 2025 AAAS Fellows.

Congratulations James @jamessaenz.bsky.social . Heidelberg University is lucky to have recruited you. All the best.

Very proud of Kevin Choi, who was a postbac in my lab starting in the midst of the most difficult circumstances possible - during the pandemic and was a spectacular scientist. Congratulations to Kevin and all co-authors on this paper.

China could be the world’s biggest public funder of science within two years Forecast by science-policy researchers raises questions about where the epicentre of global research will shift to in the coming decade.

The research center of gravity is shifting faster than many expected.
New data suggests China's public R&D spending could overtake the US by 2028. While our investment grew 12% since 2013, theirs surged 90%.

Looks like a labor of love @jeremybaskin.bsky.social . Thanks so much for the huge time and effort that went behind this.

China pledges billion-dollar spending boost for science Funding for national laboratories and important research projects would increase under the government’s plans.

Meanwhile
"Although the country’s latest R&D budget proposal is the same as the target set in the 14th FYP, China’s spending on science and technology in absolute numbers is rising significantly (...) Today’s 7% represents an absolute annual increment far exceeding that of five years ago”

Thanks so much for sharing.

A story of rebirth 🧵

One of my father's passions was the outdoors, particularly the forests of the American west.

As a kid who grew up in New York City, he said he always wanted to own a tree.

1/8

Like cellular cysteines, democracy is fragile and can exist in very many altered (oxidized) states. If we don't take ownership and do our best to protect it, no one else will , for us !

Continuing my thoughts on skipping plastic caps on coffee cups, SAFETY PERMITTING, …

The downside of having coffee without a plastic lid in snow is getting a few specks in, but still so much better than the thought of nanoplastics in my system. I know my preference, any day.

Antimicrobial resistance in India Rejecting ignorance as the cause of antibiotic overuse, a pair of sociologists find more likely explanations

Antimicrobial resistance in India | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I felt really proud when she showed this slide on Earl and Thressa Stadtman, a pioneering scientist couple who spent their careers at the NIH Intramural Research Program. We have a rich legacy and high scientific standards to look upto and live upto. Thank you Kim for reminding us !
n/n
#asbmb26

To great joy of the audience, Kim Orth sang an ode to experimental biochemistry in her beautiful talk as the Earl and Thressa Stadtman Distinguished Scientist Awardee at the 2026 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) @asbmb.bsky.social National Meeting.
1/n
#ASBMB26

Monther’s research is amazing but his career trajectory is no less spectacular. Looking for a real life role model of resilience in a scientist? Right there !Inspirational seminar at the Walter A. Shaw Young Investigator Award in Lipids Research at the ASBMB National Meeting today.
#ASBMB26

Cycling molecular assemblies for Golgi imaging and disruption - Nature Communications Tan and colleagues present “cycling molecular assemblies” that borrow cellular lipidation machinery to build nanostructures inside the Golgi apparatus. These tools enable rapid organelle imaging and s...

Creative use of peptide chemistry, protein S-acylation/deacylation and supramolecular assembly for building tools to image Golgi. Led by the lab of Bing Xu at Brandeis @brandeisuniversity.bsky.social

#proteinpalmitoylation #ptoteinthioesterase #proteinlipidation

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My culture and upbringing taught me to listen to people who make you feel bad about yourself, in a good way. James Saenz @jamessaenz.bsky.social fit that bill beautifully in his talk at the recently concluded 2026 annual meeting of the Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social
#bps2026

Jue Chen gave the inaugural Chris Miller Award talk in the Membrane Transport Symposium at 2026 Annual Meeting of Biophysical Society. Chris is my academic grandfather and I am truly proud to be part of his scientific family. His introduction to Jue was full of wit, humor and intellect.
#bps2026

Tagging @membraneenzymology.bsky.social

Almost half of the session themes for the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social meeting came from member submissions. So feel free to suggest ideas every year!

So very appreciate your kind response. Will surely do.