Sean Burgess

Snail Researcher Wins UC Davis Award for Innovation and Creative Vision Developmental biologist Alice Accorsi, an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is the recipient of the 2025 UC Davis Early Career Faculty Award for Creativity and I...

Congratulations to UC Davis faculty member Alice Accorci as the recipient of the UC Davis Award for Innovation and Creative Vision

biology.ucdavis.edu/news/snail-r...

New Academy Members Elected in 2025

Wow! Congrats @gcbias.bsky.social on election to American Academy of Arts and Sciences! 🤩 www.amacad.org/new-members-...

As a recipient of federal grants from #NIH (for now! 😭) that funds research in my lab, I'd like to sincerely thank American taxpayers on #TaxDay for investing in scientific research that lays the foundation for medical and technological innovation in this country and keeps us all safe and healthy

Integrated Genetics & Genomics Graduate Seminar Series: “Exploring the Angiosperm Polyploidy Continuum at the Species and Population Levels” Arun Sethuraman, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, San Diego State University, presents “Exploring the Angiosperm Polyploidy Continuum at the Species and Population Levels”.

Ayo @ucdavis.bsky.social peeps! I’m your next IGG seminar speaker this coming Monday (4/14), 3PM in 1022 Green Hall. I’ll be talking about our recent & ongoing work “Exploring the Angiosperm Polyploidy Continuum at the Species and Population Levels”. Come say hi! biology.ucdavis.edu/events/integ...

8 Elected as AAAS Fellows Eight faculty from UC Davis are among 471 scientists, engineers and innovators newly elected as fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the society announced today (March 2...

Congratulations to our three Integrative Genetics and Genomics faculty members as new Fellows of the the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS): Drs. Frédéric Chédin, Dario Cantù and Huaijun Zhou!
www.ucdavis.edu/news/eight-e...

Layer of multi-colored cells on the surface of a zebrafish scale.

Multicolored ‘skinbow’ cells on an adult zebrafish scale. Credit to Dr. Chen-Hui Chen (prev. Duke University). #ZebrafishZunday 🧪

Thanks Needhi. Your past work was inspiring!

Happy to report our pre-print on meiotic prophase checkpoints (or lack thereof) in zebrafish.

Zebrafish lack a strong meiotic checkpoint response to defects in chromosome synapsis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.18.644038v1

Thanks for the shout-out Zebrafish Rock!

Great turnout at Stand Up for Science march in Sacramento, CA!! Nice to see many colleagues and our wonderful trainees fight for science and a better world. Shout out to @doctheagrif.bsky.social @elisazhang.bsky.social and @rogerslabucd.bsky.social for inspiring speeches and organizing!

I write this from the perspective of an instructor of two upper division courses: Advanced Molecular Biology and Human Genetics and Genomics. ~1/3 of students are transfer students and many students are relying on summer internships for research and professional experience.

Two additional points in support of the proposed UC switch to semesters: 1) The accelerated quarter system disadvantages transfer students not accustomed to pace. 2) UC students (excluding Berkeley) are disadvantaged for acceptance to important off-campus internships that start in early June.

Crystal Rogers Honored as Chancellor's Fellow Associate Professor Crystal Rogers is one of eight faculty members who comprise the newest class of UC Davis Chancellor’s Fellows, given to early career academics doing exemplary work in their fields.

Huge thank you to Chancellor May and our wonderful @ucdavis.bsky.social donors for choosing me as a Chancellor’s Fellow! The UC Davis SVM did a lovely write up if you are interested in learning more about me and this award! www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/crystal...

Judge issues preliminary injunction blocking Trump cuts to NIH research overhead payments A federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from slashing NIH payments for research overhead

Preliminary injunction in nationwide indirect cost rate case.

This means that the judge found that the plaintiffs (AAMC, et al.) are likely to win on the merits when the ruling is finalized.

www.statnews.com/2025/03/05/n...

Meet The 2024-2025 Chancellor's Fellows Meet the eight faculty members who comprise the newest class of Chancellor’s Fellows, given to early career academics doing exemplary work in their fields.

Congratulations to MCB Professor Kassandra Ori-Mckenney as a new UC Davis Chancellors Fellow!

www.ucdavis.edu/news/meet-20...

Meet The 2024-2025 Chancellor's Fellows Meet the eight faculty members who comprise the newest class of Chancellor’s Fellows, given to early career academics doing exemplary work in their fields.

Congratulations to IGG professors Megan Dennis and Randy Carney as new Chancellor's Fellows

www.ucdavis.edu/news/meet-20...

PLOS statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity - The Official PLOS Blog Since its founding over twenty five years ago PLOS has been dedicated to advancing open science, ensuring that knowledge is accessible to…

PLOS has issued a statement on recent US Executive Orders and scientific integrity.

We are determined to stand firmly behind our mission, our values and our principles, and against any attempt at censorship or undermining of the core principles of scientific inquiry.

plos.io/3D4O8cH

Argonaute proteins regulate the timing of the spermatogenic transcriptional program Argonaute proteins are best known for their role in microRNA-mediated post-transcriptional gene silencing. Here, we show that AGO3 and AGO4, but not AGO2, localize to the sex chromatin of pachytene sp...

Happy new year to all! I am delighted to say that our new preprint went on @biorxiv-genetic.bsky.social today! The work was a labor of love for Mercedes Carro from my lab and Alexis Dzuibek from Andrew Grimson's lab - congrats to all! #meiosis #meiosis4eva #RNA

biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

We have updated our preprint, in response to reviews organized by @elife.bsky.social: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧪 #Meiosis4Eva

Opinion | American Science is Under Attack The Trump administration hobbles research and endangers the public health.

Varmus: "the executive branch is waging war on America’s scientific enterprise...nominating leaders hostile to science and unqualified for their roles...This is not a fight that our country can afford to lose." www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/o...

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%.

I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Feeling very lost today with the news of the passing of my undergrad advisor Scott Hawley. He had a huge impact on the field and on me personally. He was the first person to see me as a scientist and gave me the confidence to apply to grad school. I am so grateful to be a part of his legacy.

Scott will be dearly missed. He was a pioneer in the meiosis community. He inspired me in many ways. He made significant insights into the mysterious process of homolog pairing that have guided my research. He was mentor, friend and champion throughout my career, and inspired me as an educator.

New preprint from the lab! We defined the kinetics of strand invasion during meiosis in C. elegans. Great work from Antonia, Henry and Divya.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Join the Starr-Luxton lab & friends at #ASCB2024! Bringing exciting new research on nuclear envelope dynamics and cytoskeletal crosstalk.
2 Talks + 3 Posters, Dec 15-16 in San Diego
Topics: KASH proteins, motor proteins, nuclear movement & cellular biophysics!

I do remember Francine. Didn’t realize she joined Bill’s lab. Glad it worked out for her.

Who is Frano?

Yes that’s me! Went to UCSF (Guthrie)-> Harvard (Kleckner) -> Prof @ UCDavis

Experimental results showing DNA break formation by purified SPO11 protein. Above is an image of an electrophoresis gel, below is a graph showing quantification of the DNA cleaving activity

Hi Bluesky. For my first post, I'd like to advertise the latest preprint from my lab, describing at long last our reconstitution of SPO11-dependent double-strand break formation from purified recombinant proteins. Outstanding work from PhD student Zhi (Zack) Zheng.