Adriana Garibay

Sample Preparation for MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry of Model Prebiotic Reactions in Simulated Ocean World Environments The prebiotic potential of ocean worlds such as Europa and Enceladus, while not well constrained, is vital in the search for potential life elsewhere. To better understand this potential, laboratory studies provide experimental insight into the chemical environment(s) of ocean worlds and any constraints to hold prebiotically relevant systems. However, simulated ocean world solutions present a technical challenge for analytical techniques such as mass spectrometry (MS), as the high saline content required for simulating ocean world environments results in ion suppression and reduced sensitivity. Here, we compare three sample preparation techniques, C4 ZipTips, C18 ZipTips, and on-plate washing, for matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization – time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) MS of saline solutions similar to environments expected in ocean worlds. We determined that using C18 ZipTips was optimal when paired with 2,5-dihydroxybenzoic acid (DHB) matrix, whereas on-plate desalting was optimal when paired with α-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (CHCA) matrix. The methodology described here presents simple, low-volume sample preparation strategies for MALDI-TOF MS of model prebiotic reactions in saline solutions.

Sample Preparation for MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry of Model Prebiotic Reactions in Simulated Ocean World Environments #ACSOmega pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Disruption of acyl-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) synthetase in cyanobacteria impairs lipid remodeling as revealed by acyl-ACP measurements Free fatty acid (FFA) production in bacteria is a key target for metabolic engineering. The knockout of the acyl-ACP synthetase (AAS) prevents reincor…

Disruption of acyl-acyl carrier protein (acyl-ACP) synthetase in cyanobacteria impairs lipid remodeling as revealed by acyl-ACP measurements www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Lipid droplet growth is orchestrated by the seipin complex, which provides a structural platform for droplet nucleation and expansion. The microprotein adipogenin fine-tunes seipin’s conformation, remodeling its architecture to regulate lipid storage capacity. This modulation results in the formation of fewer but larger lipid droplets, revealing a key mechanism in lipid homeostasis.

Fat storage in the body relies on specialized structures called lipid droplets. In a new Science study, researchers identified the microprotein adipogenin as a regulator of adipocyte lipid droplet size, revealing a key mechanism in lipid homeostasis.

Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nFEGO7

Very excited to finally share my PhD paper, about advancing #chloroplast #synbio through high-throughput plastome engineering of #Chlamydomonas.
Huge thanks to the whole team!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Friedrich Merz says Syrians no longer have reason for asylum in Germany Chancellor suggests deportations could begin ‘in the near future’ as government seeks to counter rise of AfD

Recently, I read these disappointing news, showing that individuals dont realize the non-earned privileges they have by just being born in a particular piece of land... today, I read about Mamdani's win, and gives me hope that there are still many refusing to compromise their values...

In new study from Ryken, Bezanilla et al., analysis of PIIB-type calcium pump localization and function elucidates one of the molecular mechanisms that maintains the strength of the calcium gradient during polarized growth. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#PlantBiology #Cytoskeleton #Trafficking

Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7

PHYCUT: Scalable multiplex CRISPR/Cas9 editing forgenome engineering in the diatom Phaeodactylumtricornutum https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685893v1

Spain expresses regret over ‘injustice’ suffered by Mexico’s Indigenous people during conquest Acknowledgment shows shift in tone after six years of diplomatic spats over colonial-era abuses

"...apologies ennoble governments and peoples...It’s not humiliating, it’s just the opposite..." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

PsbE:Phe10 of Cytochrome b559 Modifies Inactivation and Recovery of Photosystem II in Response to High-Light Stress onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

"the study is an important step forward in understanding the core cellular processes that differ between life cycle phases"

🌟New awards alert!✨ We're thrilled to announce new awards in the diverse disciplines of materials science, aging, and RNA biology. Meet these talented scientists and hear from the Scouts who recommended them below!

Learn more: bit.ly/HFAwardees 1/

I think people adjacent to science (but who now find themselves deciding the fate of US science somehow) undervalue humility, valuing braggadocios hubris instead.
Yes it’s true that some scientific discoveries are complete paradigm changers, and we celebrate these. 1/

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

Synchronous spatio-temporal control of autophagy and organelle trafficking is necessary for appressorium-mediated plant infection by Magnaporthe oryzae The blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae infects plants using a specialised infection structure called an appressorium that generates physical force to break the rice leaf cuticle. Appressorium development...

I’m excited to share our new preprint from @talbotlabtsl.bsky.social lab!
🌱 Our latest study reveals how Magnaporthe oryzae synchronizes organelle trafficking and autophagy to infect plants. (1/13)
📄 Read more: doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Algal pyrenoids—condensates that mediate ~1/3 of Earth’s CO2 fixation—change size and number as cells divide. Our data suggest a simple control mechanism: a kinase that continuously ejects material from the condensate! ☀️🌍🔬💧 #Biophysics #Photosynthesis
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The first photosynthetic mutant in diatoms targets the subunit γ of plastidial ATP synthase and reveals a key role of thylakoid electrochemical proton gradient in photosynthesis regulation and heterot... Diatoms are major phytoplanktonic algae with secondary endosymbiotic plastids that differ in cellular and regulatory traits from those of the green lineage. Here we exploited the heterotrophic growth ...

The first photosynthetic mutant in diatoms targets the subunit γ of plastidial ATP synthase and reveals a key role of thylakoid electrochemical proton gradient in photosynthesis regulation and heterotrophic metabolism. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Professorship in plant genetics.
The Botanical Institute at Kiel University is advertising a W2 professorship. Great opportunity to do plant research in the north of Germany. See:
www.berufungen.uni-kiel.de/de/dateien/o...

Nobel Prizes This Year Offer Three Cheers for Slow Science

'All three awards (...) honored achievements rooted in fundamental research from decades ago. Some experts interpret the selections by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as representing the importance of slow, basic science, work pursued out of a desire to better understand the world.'

Stellenangebote: Universität Hohenheim Aktuelle Stellenangebote der Universität Hohenheim.

JOB ALERT! Do you also love large ecological experiments? Become coordinator of our big new geo-biosphere experiment in @terra-cluster.org. 7-year position! Follow link for details.
@gfoesoc.bsky.social
@britishecologicalsociety.org
@ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
@uslter.bsky.social

Please repost!

💜 31 minutos!! youtu.be/UEqTIwRrWvA?...

YouTube video by FlorenceMachineVEVO Florence + The Machine - One of the Greats (Official Visualizer)

"...so this one is for the ladies" 💜 🌸 youtu.be/t7XL4ehHoE0?...

The Night Science Institute Is Changing How Science Teaches Creativity In this interview with Professors Itai Yanai and Martin Lercher, explore how night science brings creativity, ideation and collaboration back into the heart of modern science.

The reality in science is that creativity is not treated as a core skill while hypothesis testing is, and that is the imbalance that we want correct through the Night Science Institute!
www.technologynetworks.com/genomics/art... www.night-science.org

Text summarising the paper by Hirano et al. and biography of the first author - Tomoko Hirano. Two images inserted, one showing the first author and the other, a photo of the Arabidopsis gall-induction assay with two induced galls highlighted with a white box-frame.

Having the gall to mimic insects... 🪳

Hirano et al. demonstrate how to artificially induce gall-like structures in host plants by applying a new insect-derived peptide in combination with #phytohormones #auxin & #cytokinin

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/pcp/...
🔗 academic.oup.com/pcp/pages/re...

#PlantScience

First report of microcystin-producing benthic cyanobacteria in Mexican mountain rivers: polyphasic characterization and HPLC toxin detection The detection and characterization of cyanotoxins produced by benthic cyanobacteria in rivers is an understudied topic compared to cyanotoxins produce…

First report of microcystin-producing benthic cyanobacteria in Mexican mountain rivers: polyphasic characterization and HPLC toxin detection www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Beware the drive to scale technology When it comes to technology, scalability—its capacity to be standardized and then distributed en masse and across contexts—is the ultimate goal. Scientists and engineers view scalability as the route ...

I am a new Expert Voices columnist @science.org and my first article just came out! In it, I argue that scaling technology has a dark side, particularly when it comes to alleviating inequality and injustice. And I suggest what scientists, engineers, and policymakers can do about it.

A unicellular green algae as seen under the microscope. The species is Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

📣 New Virtual Issue 📣

🟢 Chlamydomonas 🟢

A model organism in cell & molecular biology with broad biotech applications 🔬🧪

To mark #Chlamy2025 (24–29 Aug, Münster 🇩🇪), we’ve assembled recent JXB papers on Chlamydomonas and other algae.

👉 Explore now: academic.oup.com/jxb...

#PlantScience

Okay, gonna try something new (for me). Im gonna send a few colonies of Agrobacterium to @plasmidsaurus to see if agro has my plasmid, via their zero prep service. Typically this is done with ecoli so not sure if results will be guarenteed but this will save me months of guessin

Call for a tenure-track position at our Department of Plant Molecular Biology in Lausanne! We are searching for promising early-career researchers in the broad field of plant-organismal interactions. Deadline: November 30, 2025 - Please re-post!

career5.successfactors.eu/career?caree...

Finally out: my #TEDtalk on our work on #climatechange #impact on #forests🌲🌳 and #B2WALD amd #ECOSENSE @nemiahladd.bsky.social @laurameredith.bsky.social @ecosense-sfb-1537.bsky.social Happy to share: share.google/Ag6muXOslSln...