Peter Chien

Will see you there!! ( with alums of your lab!)

FYI, Jr lab was the big lab course in physics major so Sarah and I spent waaay too much time in cold radio telescope control rooms!

It's awesomely amazing to hear from my old undergrad junior lab partner @veatchlab.bsky.social how excited they were to see my student's poster at Protein Society. Even after 30 years we still get excited about each other's science!!

NPR readers share stories of love and adversity in honor of Loving Day June 12th is Loving Day, a holiday that commemorates the Loving v. Virginia case, which allowed interracial marriage in all parts of the U.S. NPR readers share how the case changed their lives.

Today is Loving Day! Anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1967 legalizing interracial marriage, without which my relationship and family would not be considered legal.
Best name for a celebratory day! ❤️❤️❤️

www.npr.org/2025/06/08/g...

So much FOMO

We had such a fantastic time hearing all about you and your team! So excited to have you visit!

A reminder that nominations for the Sternberg Award for the 2025 Molecular Genetics of Phages and Bacteria (Phages Meeting) is due in one week! Nominate your amazing graduating students!!! conferences.union.wisc.edu/phages/award...

huh, really wacky - the lack of ATP dependence is also weird... thanks for calling it out!

Congrats to all!

I am so curious about other pronunciations of codon!

Well played sir

My son just came up with a great joke. "Why wasn't the RNA shivering? Because it had a CODON!" 😀 🧪

Greatest comment from a student in my PChem class (meets at 8:30 AM). "I really like it, it's like gen chem, but with physics". Boom achievement unlocked.

I appreciate the challenges of leadership in this complex and chaotic environment, the EOs seem to empower going after non-federal groups in a way that is chilling. But having the trust of the membership is paramount for any society.

Explaining more about reasoning, process and what will happen with any future actions is also an important task for society leadership.

I will continue to review for society journals because I still feel that it is one of the best forums for people to have their work evaluated and read by their peers. But, clear communication with the society members is needed for the kinds of changes that were made (before they are made).

Like many, I do NOT love the recent bungling they did with their website nor the press release after the fact. I absolutely still believe in the purpose of the society to support its broad and diverse membership (which drew me to it in the first place).

We published in J Bacteriology because I love society journals, appreciate the work of the editors (our peers!) and strongly believe in @asm.org as a membership society.

Proteolytic control of FixT by the Lon protease impacts FixLJ signaling in Caulobacter crescentus - PubMed The Lon protease shapes protein quality control, signaling pathways, and stress responses in many bacteria species. Loss of Lon often results in multiple phenotypic consequences. In this work, we foun...

first off, how did you get Caulobacter contaminants? 👀 We have a durned time growing them when we want to some time. We did end up connecting Lon with heme through the control of the FixT pathway, but the physiological impact of this is still mysterious! (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38940598/)

An amazing meeting. Strongly recommend for anyone in the general new england area!

My partner Holly is an amazing artist and scientist. She is contemplating a book about a visual appreciation of colors and forms in the natural world. This is her hand painted panel on shell chirality! Whattya think?

A legacy role for DNA binding of Lon protects against genotoxic stress DNA binding proteins are essential for cellular life, but persistently bound complexes have toxic consequences. Here we show that the proteotoxic responsive bacterial protease Lon clears proteins from...

Great question. We think one aspect is about repairing DNA damage! We have a preprint on this in the context of chromosomal DNA binding www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Justyne Odgahl successfully defended! Her paper was also just accepted at JBC, check it out to learn about allostery and DNA binding in the Lon protease! #microsky

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Giving thanks for an awesome group of folks to work with (they came up with this lab shirt), wishing you all a graceful break!

Because of the new followers, wanted to repost this! Priority deadline is this Friday (15th). Hit me up with questions!

We are looking for a new colleague to join our department, the focus is on quantitative and/or structural biology. Let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to repost or tag appropriately! careers.umass.edu/amherst/en-u...

and I forgot to tag, but #microsky

upload deadline is May 15!

Don't forget to submit your nomination for the Sternberg Award to celebrate your amazing graduating student! LMK if you have questions #phages2024

conferences.union.wisc.edu/phages/award...

Max's paper is accepted! Plus he's doing his MS defense today shortly after the eclipse :)
It's 4pm EST - here's a zoom link umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/97307789899 if you want to join us!