Dan Starr

a blurry picture of a person wearing red sunglasses and a colorful shirt ALT: a blurry picture of a person wearing red sunglasses and a colorful shirt

Submitting an R01 to NIH today. We're super proud of the work, and feel its important, but where is it going now?

Just a reminder if you're getting a manuscript together (like we are) to thank your core facilities!

🎉Check out our new preprint!! 🧬We found that lamin mutations in muscular dystrophy don’t just affect the nucleus — they disrupt a nucleolar–ribosomal axis that reorganizes the entire cytoplasm.
Very grateful to @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social, @gwgl.bsky.social and our lab for collaboration & support!

🧬 NEW Starr-Luxton Lab PREPRINT: Our 🌠grad student
@XiangyiDing
figured out why muscular dystrophy mutations cause such widespread cellular chaos. The answer wasn't what we expected - and it changes how we think about the disease. Thread🧵 (1/6). www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Worms Reveal Just How Cramped Cells Really Are In a new study published in Science Advances on September 10, a team of UC Davis researchers tracked the movement of fluorescent particles inside the cells of microscopic worms, providing unprecedente...

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

🧬Want the full story of our paper without the science jargon? Our @ucdavis.bsky.social department broke down our "cells are crowded AND constrained" findings in plain English! Perfect explanation of why worm cells are nothing like cultured cells 🪱🌠

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

🧬BREAKING!🪱Plot twist: Cells aren't meditation pools, they're overcrowded concerts with VIP ropes everywhere! Our
study reveals worm cells are insanely crowded AND compartmentalized. Ribosomes = packing peanuts, ANC-1 = the bouncer!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Giant KASH proteins and ribosomes establish distinct cytoplasmic biophysical properties in vivo Living tissues maintain unique intracellular biophysical properties under the control of cytoplasmic constraints and crowding.

Thrilled to share that a big piece of my thesis here in the Starr–Luxton is now out in Science Advances! We discovered that the cytoplasm of living animal tissues is extremely crowded and constrained, maintained by ribosomes and the giant KASH protein ANC-1.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The KASH protein UNC-83 differentially regulates kinesin-1 activity to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration Nuclear migration plays a fundamental role in development, requiring precise spatiotemporal control of bidirectional movement through dynein and kines…

🚨Our fabulous graduate student Selin's paper on how the KASH protein UNC-83 regulates the activity of kinesin-1 to control developmental stage-specific nuclear migration is out! Another great collaboration between the Starr-Luxton and MOM labs.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

One of the best arguments I have read about DEI:

Gift article from The New York Times. You can read it for free without a subscription. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/o...

Screech owl on a windowsill

What does one do if there is an owl on our bathroom?

A quick video on Thursday’s #SCOTUS ruling re: NIH funding—a short-term win for Trump, but one that signals a big long-term loss. #supremecourt TikTok video by Steve Vladeck

Would recommend constitutional law professor Steve Vladeck’s take which is more optimistic! www.tiktok.com/@steve_vlade...

They look confused.

Trump is withholding $300M in science funding from UCLA based on antisemitism & inviting UCLA to “resolve this matter,” presumably by giving Trump control of the university.

Having worked hard to stop antisemitism at UCLA & other UCs, I’ll say the following about this pretextual, fascist move:🧵

Happy to share the latest work from the lab, led by @mudgal17.bsky.social‬, in collaboration with the Weis lab @ethzurich.bsky.social.
How do nuclear membranes fuse during NPC assembly? We answer this question in our latest work, where we identify a new mechanism for membrane fusion… (1/13)

Fay: Cuts to research funding risk the collapse of U.S. science and technology I started as an assistant professor of molecular biology at the University of Wyoming in 2001.

Thanks to @isakoditomassi.bsky.social and the McClintock Letters Initiative who motivated me to submit this.

I stick to Capital Public Radio for this very reason. Also, traffic isn’t as bad here!

While our whole field has been experiencing undeserved turmoil, a few of us have been fortunate enough to receive positive news on funding. This link describes positions that are now open in the Fay Lab. Perhaps some who’ve been displaced can find a home with us. 1/2
drive.google.com/file/d/1XuDO...

Health Care: Jonathan Gruber A key founding father of Obamacare on what comes next

Fascinating piece from Paul Krugman with Jonathan Gruber with a powerful argument for public funding of science.

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/health-car...

1/n

What Mr. Ramirez Taught Me July Fourth means community.

I’m thinking about him today. I hope he’d be proud of me. I hope my sense of citizenship has lived up to his.

Happy Fourth.

/thread

Full essay here for easier sharing: charlotteclymer.substack.com/p/what-mr-ra...

Incredible plenary presentation by Starr-Luxton Lab student @xiangyiding.bsky.social at the International Worm Meeting! Who knew C. elegans cytoplasm has the viscosity of strawberry jam? 🍓 So proud! #Worm2025 #frontierscience @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social

Ellen Gregory, @gwgl.bsky.social‬, & @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social‬ show how heterochromatin helps cell nuclei migrate through tight spaces in #Celegans! Learn more in #GENETICS about the process of heterochromatin anchoring to the nuclear periphery that supports nuclei squeezing: buff.ly/kZttVdX

Thank you so much! It was such a joy to see Xiangyi's transformation through the MBL program. Looking forward to the blog post - and thanks for highlighting how these summer courses shape the next generation of scientists!

It was awesome! 3700. In Woodland!

Today I had the honor of speaking in front of nearly 3000 people today at the Woodland #NoKings rally. WE FEAR NO KING BECAUSE WE DONT HAVE ONE ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾 let’s gooooooo

@doctheagrif.bsky.social on fire 🔥 in Woodland today

Federal investment in UC research Federal funds are the university’s single most important source of support for research, accounting for more than half of UC’s total research awards. Many of California’s leading industries grew from UC research, including biotechnology, computing, semiconductors, telecommunications and agriculture. Providing health care at UC University of California Health (UC Health) is one of the nation’s largest public academic health systems, serving as a critical part of the California safety net. UC trains approximately 36% of the medical residents in California

The university of California is a powerhouse of innovation, healthcare, and social mobility for California and the US.

Celebration of PREP@UC Davis We hosted the 2024-2025 PREP@UC Davis research symposium today and wrapped a celebration of our alumni.So proud of them all. Open the .pdf and you'll see why!2024-25_PREP_retrospective.pdf

We hosted the 2024-2025 PREP@UC Davis research symposium today and added on a celebration of our alumni.

Eight cohorts and "The most important thing I've done in my career. " -- @danstarrucdavis.bsky.social

They are the future of our science. prep.ucdavis.edu/news/celebra...

There is a lot of chatter about how the proposed budget hurts research at our Universities. But there are other horrors. The maximum Pell Grant is proposed to be cut by $1,685 per student (23%) and Federal Work Study by 80%. This will hurt the working class, not the Ivy elites. 1/n

Boston Has Worms (The Good Kind) Inside the world of C. elegans worms and the scientists who know them best.

“I was starting to think that these worms have a way of bringing out the best in humans—generosity, cooperation, and an unbridled curiosity about life. But these days, the worm people are worried.”