Meredith Frazier, PhD

My guy wrote an op-ed and it's really good.

Send it to your advancement officer, your dean, your grandmother, your neighbor.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/02/o...

Posing with the NCCAT mascots in front of a glacios

Discussing our screening results

Clipping grids

Freezing grids

Whirlwind few days at #NCCAT with my students freezing and screening grids—they picked up everything quickly! Everyone at the center was so knowledgeable and friendly. Back to the heat and humidity we go now….

A chart showing cancelled NIH grants

“I would like to cure brain cancer. I think that's not particularly controversial.” Be that as it may, the NIH terminated that scientist's grant. Here's a huge survey of the 2,500 grants that NIH has killed or delayed...so far. Gift link: nyti.ms/43Jz1yJ

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...

Naturally ornate RNA-only complexes revealed by cryo-EM https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.08.627333v1

Rural students’ options shrink as colleges slash majors As enrollments fall, rural-serving universities are shedding degree programs ranging from music to chemistry.

University of New Hampshire is among these rural universities that is shedding majors — and this is especially bad since we are the state’s flagship.

When states gut public higher ed funding it’s especially a “fuck you” to rural folks #giftlink

wapo.st/3ZyU5ap

Colorful, used lab tape repurposed into a garden mural.

Belated update—the flowers are wilting but the sky is brilliant!

Nonfiction Science New Releases November, 2024 A teal background with 10 book covers: LOST WONDERS by Tom Lathan WHAT THE CHICKEN KNOWS by Sy Montgomery VANISHING TREASURES by Katherine Rundell THE SERVICEBERRY by Robin Wall Kimmerer POWER METAL by Vince Beiser THE LOST WORLD OF THE DINOSAURS by Armin Schmitt TREEKEEPERS by Lauren E Oakes CHAIN REACTIONS: The Hopeful History of Uranium TIME EXPANSION EXPERIENCES by Steve Taylor INTO THE THAW by Jon Waterman In the bottom right-hand of the slide is a hand drawing of the molecule morphine.

New nonfiction science book releases for November, 2024!

What books did I miss? Which of these books are on your tbr?

I am hoping to read THE SERVICEBERRY this month. I have heard it is a more distilled version of Wall Kimmerer's masterpiece BRAIDING SWEETGRASS.

Date Announcement #MECC-2025
2025 - Enzyme Mechanisms Chemistry Conference (MECC)
September 27th, 2025.
Univ. of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Please put the date on your calendar for MECC. This is a one-day event and registration is free for all participants.

More details to come in the Spring.

A white cosmos flower on a white background, with a yellow center. Overlaid on the center of the flower are p-coumaric acid ball-stick molecular representations tinted yellow to represent pollen.

This white cosmos #flower grown in my garden is overlaid with p-coumaric acid molecules, a major constituent in pollen and an essential component in the diet of #bees. It is found in several types of #plants, fruits, and vegetables.
🧪🥽 #gardening #science #chemistry #education #iteachchem #chemed

Used lab tape “art”—several flowers, a sun, and the start of the sky. A dry erase marker bee and clouds round out the scene.

Our used lab tape garden is coming along nicely. How much will it grow over the summer?! #science #art

Frazier lab members show off their friendship bracelets

Science themed friendship bracelets

So make the (lab) friendship bracelets, take the moment and taste it…congrats to our graduates Jaci and Andrew!

Meredith standing beside the list of BPS travel awardees

Excited to see old faces, meet new people, and discuss science at #BPS2024!

Why is it impossible for me to make a normal amount of soup? One thing turns into another and I’ve got 3x the number of ingredients and 5L cooking on the stove.

Basic science is not just a foundation - Nature Cell Biology Intellectual freedom for scientists, unconstrained by commercial interests and direct application, fuels unexpected discoveries. Curiosity-driven, basic science has yielded a deeper understanding of h...

"To fully harness the potential of basic science in laying the groundwork for curing diseases, it must receive robust funding...it is equally vital to balance [NIH funding to address healthcare needs] with a commitment to maximizing the chance for basic science discovery" 🧪

Counterfeit and compounded semaglutide? It's a mess out there (link fixed this time):

www.science.org/content/blog...

Yay, the all-new MRC-LMB 2023 #cryoEM course lectures are now online! Happy learning. 🥳

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Thanks for the awesome spotlight #RNASociety, written by Jennifer!

www.rnasociety.org/prof--cassan...

Meredith is wearing a dress with cats playing in a science lab. A grey cat wearing a witch’s hat sits in her lap.

Happy Halloween! #catabolism #sciencepuns

Meredith is wearing a dress with cats playing in a science lab. A grey cat sits in her lap with a witch’s hat.

Happy Halloween!! #catabolism #sciencepuns

AlphaFold and the future of structural biology AlphaFold and the future of structural biology

Scientists- please read this.
Recently I had a reviewer question why we even solved the crystal structure if Alphafold could predict it.
This editorial summarizes a lot of what I said in response and needs to be talked about more!
#structuralbiology

journals.iucr.org/d/issues/202...

Unusual repetitive DNA sequence in the E. coli genome --> CRISPR ---> genome editing

Ψ Pseudouridine ---> mRNA immunogenicity and potency ---> mRNA COVID vaccine

#basicresearch

Dear funders, dear governments

please increase the basic research budget !

Congratulations to the winners of the Nobel prize! I hope their stories, particularly KK's, force us to confront the misogyny, bias and assumptions about "impact" and "excellence" that very likely limit the recognition of similar innovations that could improve our world.

New archenemy: 0.6 mL epi tubes. Note to self: make companies send a sample to test for easy open close BEFORE making 200 aliquots #chemsky 👩🏻‍🔬

Your projector likely isn’t compatible but using an Apple TV to connect to projectors wirelessly is my favorite. Very easy to hand off too.

Ad for Rice BioSciences faculty search

Come join us! BioSciences at Rice University is searching for 3 positions (!) in Neuroscience, Structural Biology and Synthetic Biology. Bring your research to Houston and the Texas Medical Center by applying here: apply.interfolio.com/130021

SUNY Potsdam announces downsizing plan to cut $9M deficit Up to 14 degrees could be eliminated, and an unknown number of faculty and staff will lose their jobs.

SUNY Potsdam announces downsizing plan

On the block:

• Art history (BA)
• Arts management (BA)
• Biochemistry (MS)
• Chemistry (BA and BS)
• Dance (BA)
• French (BA)
• Music performance (MM)
• Philosophy (BA)
• Physics (BA)
• Public health (BS and MS)
• Spanish (BA)
• Theater (BA)

Hey everybody! The CDC has a bridge program to get people no or reduced-cost COVID vaccines if you don’t have insurance (or have shitty insurance). Open to everyone 18 and older!

www.cdc.gov/vaccines/pro...

The 2024 Chemistry Faculty Jobs List (by Andrew Spaeth, me) has 270 tenure-track positions and 18 teaching positions: bit.ly/facultychemjobs2024 facultychemjobs chemjobs chemsky 🧪⚗️