We are excited to see the tremendous efforts of Dr. Ryuta Asada published. The most significant piece of work to come from my group to date, he demonstrates compositional heterogeneity of single mRNPs and plasticity across different growth conditions, defines the major co-occupants of nuclear mRNPs, and shows a function for Yra1 in nuclear mRNP packaging. Data that provides a quantitative framework for gene- and condition-dependent RBP occupancy and stoichiometry in individual nuclear mRNPs.
Ben was recently able to attend a conference on mRNP structure and function in Rome (yes, life is hard) where he shared recently published data from Dr. Ryuta Asada in the lab. The science was great, as was the art, culture, food, and friendly company. We cannot wait for the next time this meeting is held.
Congratulations to Arvind for receiving his PhD and publishing a paper in eLife describing a new mode of regulation for the DEAD-box ATPase Dbp5 by structured RNAs and Gle1. Arvind is now headed to the Bay Area and the next phase of his career. We wish him well and look forward to the great science he will do!
Theresa received two pieces of good news this past month. First, she was awarded a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31) to explore the connection between disease linked mutations and gene expression outcomes using yeast as a model system. Second, Theresa was selected to give a talk at the CSHL Eukaryotic mRNA Processing meeting on her work describing co-transcritional mRNP assembly using live cell imaging. Both amazing accomplishments, congratulations Theresa!
We are excited to welcome Christian Torres and Pragyan Singh to the lab.
Christian joins us as a PREP Scholar for the next year. Our goal is to convince him of the wonders of yeast to study fundamental biology, and have some fun too along the way.
Pragyan is a postdoctoral fellow who brings previous experience in yeast RNA and telomere biology, who was most recently at the Tel Aviv University in Israel within the laboratory of Dr. Martin Kupiec.
October means cooler days in Davis, Halloween, and the T32 retreat. Once again Fallen Leaf Lake was an amazing place to spend a few days and hear about the fantastic science going on at UC Davis. Andrew gave a great talk on an RNA-directed proximity labeling methodology he is developing in yeast, while Theresa gave a poster on a live-cell imaging assay that can track co-transcriptional mRNP assembly. Congratulations to Theresa for also taking home a poster presentation prize. Among all of that there may have also been some fun had… it was a real re”TREAT”.
We are super excited to have just received an R35 (Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to support our work for another five years on gene expression regulation and RNA-binding protein biology. To the NIH staff and reviewers who supported us, thank you, muchas gracias, merci beaucoup, ありがとうございま!
We had a great time at the recent RNA Society meeting in Boulder. There we were able to see a lot of great science, visit with colleagues, start new collaborations, and enjoy a bit of nature. Both Theresa and Ryuta presented posters at the meeting, which were both very busy during the >2.5 hours they presented. Congrats to Ryuta for being awarded a poster prize!
Congratulations to Andrew for being offered a spot on the MCB T32 training program at UC Davis. This is a great program that provides additional training of predoctoral graduate students in the area of molecular and cell biology, with a focus on preparing scholars for careers in the biomedical sciences.
Science is exciting, rewarding, and hard at times, so we all need to remember to relax and enjoy life. To help us do this, we have our own in house therapist…Phoebe. She, like the rest of us, likes to have fun, has the odd bad hair day, and needs to relax at times too!
We are excited to have received funding from the NSF Div. Of Molecular and Cellular Bioscience to study mRNP assembly in relation to mRNA export from the nucleus in budding yeast. This grant is in partnership with the BSF who is funding Yarn Shav-Tal’s group from Bar Ilan University to perform related studies in mammalian cells.
Congratulations to Kalyn for presenting her first research poster! She enjoyed it so much, Kalyn may even join the lab to continue her project in the summer.
Excited to have Andrew Dominguez join the Montpetit lab! Andrew is part of the BMCDB graduate group at UC Davis and comes to us with an interest in gene expression regulation after time spent in the Bay Area biotech industry and Fred Hutch in Seattle. Welcome to the lab!
2020-21 will be a year to remember, not because of the pandemic, but for the success of Kim Marinelli and Gita Mallya in their graduate research. Congratulations on receiving your Master’s degrees from the Viticulture and Enology program. Looking forward to drinking your success in the future!
2020 was a challenging year, so it is great to start 2021 right, with a publication. Congratulations to Rima for publishing her work on meiotic splicing regulation by Npl3 in Nucleic Acids Research!
