Sam Witus

This October I’m drawing one molecule a day inspired by proteins in pdb @rcsbpdb.bsky.social

Day 3/31
Prompt CROWN

Coronavirus spike protein. The crown sits on one of its three receptor-binding domains - a key element for successful infection.

Pdb: 6ZWV

Next prompt is MURKY and I’m at loss

For decades, human genome editing has been limited to small, localized modifications.

Today, in a new paper published in @science.org , researchers from Arc's Hsu lab show that bridge recombinase technology is capable of large-scale genomic rearrangements in human cells.

Dynamic regulation of the oxidative stress response by the E3 ligase TRIP12 Centered on the transcription factor NRF2 and its E3 ligase CUL3KEAP1, the oxidative stress response protects cells from damage by reactive oxygen spe…

Excited that our study identifying TRIP12 - an essential E3 ligase mutated in a neurodevelopmental disease - as a critical component of the oxidative stress response is now online. Congratulations to Andrew, Devlon and Jenny! @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Rewiring of cortical glucose metabolism fuels human brain cancer growth - Nature The cortex fuels essential physiological processes with glucose-derived carbon, while gliomas fuel their aggressiveness by rerouting glucose carbon pathways and scavenging alternative carbon sources s...

New discovery from our team defining how human brain cancers rewire the metabolism of the normal brain published this week @nature.com and led by stellar postdoc Drew Scott (comentored by @lyssiotislab.bsky.social and currently on job market with a K99/R00). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.

[Gift Link]

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Load and lock: An emerging class of therapeutics that influence macromolecular dissociation Biology is governed by macromolecular interactions, perturbation of which often lies at the heart of disease. Most therapeutic drugs, whether they are small molecules or biologics, exert their effects...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Motherfucking wind farms…

I wish our media had the knowledge for pushback. NIH is not a business. Funds science that no business would touch. Provides momentum for science that companies run with. Trains a pipeline of scientists for pharma/biotech. That Vought’s own kid has the quality of life because of NIH funded research

Many congratulations to Heegwang Roh for being selected as a Jane Coffin Childs postdoctoral fellow! Go Heegwang!

www.jccfund.org/wp-content/u...

That looks sUPeR!

BRCA1 turned 30 🎉
To celebrate, Jos Jonkers and I explored three decades of BRCA1 research - what we’ve learned about its biology, its role in tumorigenesis and future directions to improve the life of BRCA1 mutation carriers.
Now out in Cancer Discovery ⬇️: aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...

Graduate Reductions Across Biomedical Sciences (2025)

I created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Happy to have contributed to this nice follow up finding from the lab of Trisha Davis showing that centromere specific nucleosomal DNA sequence contributes to force transmission in fully reconstituted kinetochores.

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

It’s been a tough few weeks. My 10yo daughter was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive cancer called interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS). I’m reaching out to identify clinicians/patients who have encountered pediatric IDCS or other (non-LCH) dendritic or histiocytic sarcomas cases.

In a great collaboration with @hummerlab.bsky.social and the Kräusslich lab: HIV capsid doesn't break at the NPC; instead, it cracks open the NPC itself! Details in Cell: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... @mpibp.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social A thread below:

'Ubiquitin Lysine-Linkages' from the review 'Ubiquitin: a structural perspective' in Molecular Cell

New to #ubiquitin? Been with it for a while? Either way this review may be for you 🤩

Excited to share our review article in @molcell.bsky.social, diving deep into everything #ubiquitin
Read here 👉: kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...

@cellpress.bsky.social
@wehi-research.bsky.social