Christopher P Jones
@cpricejones.bsky.social
RNA structure geek using X-ray crystallography and cryoEM, unknown soldier in a doomed battle against barbarism
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
Nucleic acid structural biologists expose that many CASP16 predictions, even ones obtaining high scores by CASP metrics, are inaccurate in the most functionally relevant regions! Read more insights on functionally relevant features by the expert structure determiners (doi.org/10.1101/2025...).
Functional relevance of CASP16 nucleic acid predictions as evaluated by structure providers
Accurate biomolecular structure prediction enables the prediction of mutational effects, the speculation of function based on predicted structural homology, the analysis of ligand binding modes, exper...
doi.org
May 20, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Nucleic acid structural biologists expose that many CASP16 predictions, even ones obtaining high scores by CASP metrics, are inaccurate in the most functionally relevant regions! Read more insights on functionally relevant features by the expert structure determiners (doi.org/10.1101/2025...).
Over the last 100 days at the NIH, the Trump administration has been dismantling science. In this Medium post linked below, I describe what the last 100 days have been like for an scientist at the bench, doing research on RNA viruses.
#science #RNA
medium.com/@jones.cpric...
#science #RNA
medium.com/@jones.cpric...
The last 100 days at the NIH
Overview: My contract at the NIH was terminated on 25 April 2025. However, my science and NIH research more broadly have been stifled ever…
medium.com
May 7, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Over the last 100 days at the NIH, the Trump administration has been dismantling science. In this Medium post linked below, I describe what the last 100 days have been like for an scientist at the bench, doing research on RNA viruses.
#science #RNA
medium.com/@jones.cpric...
#science #RNA
medium.com/@jones.cpric...
What’s next? Tariffs against Arrakis?
April 4, 2025 at 12:22 PM
What’s next? Tariffs against Arrakis?
“Let there be an epsilon > 0” takes me back to my Analysis days in college. I just wish the epsilon here were a dummy variable and not just dumb.
April 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM
“Let there be an epsilon > 0” takes me back to my Analysis days in college. I just wish the epsilon here were a dummy variable and not just dumb.
Excited to share my latest research. In this paper in PNAS, I use #cryoEM and #crystallography to solve multiple new structures of a viral RNA motif that controls frameshifting.
#virus #retrovirus #structuralbiology #science #biochemistry
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#virus #retrovirus #structuralbiology #science #biochemistry
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Structural switching dynamically controls the doubly pseudoknotted Rous sarcoma virus–programmed ribosomal frameshifting element | PNAS
A hallmark of retrovirus replication is the translation of two different polyproteins
from one RNA through programmed –1 frameshifting. This is a m...
www.pnas.org
April 2, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Excited to share my latest research. In this paper in PNAS, I use #cryoEM and #crystallography to solve multiple new structures of a viral RNA motif that controls frameshifting.
#virus #retrovirus #structuralbiology #science #biochemistry
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#virus #retrovirus #structuralbiology #science #biochemistry
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Trees in our backyard blooming 😍😍
March 31, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Trees in our backyard blooming 😍😍
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
My friend from graduate school found out that funding for her NF1 project got pulled. From $25 mil to 0 with a stroke of a pen. NF1=Neurofibromatosis Type 1, an inherited genetic disorder. Both of us are early career scientists. 🧪🔬🧬 #Science #AcademicSky
www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
March 24, 2025 at 1:58 PM
My friend from graduate school found out that funding for her NF1 project got pulled. From $25 mil to 0 with a stroke of a pen. NF1=Neurofibromatosis Type 1, an inherited genetic disorder. Both of us are early career scientists. 🧪🔬🧬 #Science #AcademicSky
www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
www.wired.com/story/the-ch...
Kate Shaw on Preet is like the eclipse of my two favorite legal podcasts @strictscrutiny.bsky.social and @preetbharara.bsky.social . I just wish it weren’t about whether we still have a Constitution.
March 24, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Kate Shaw on Preet is like the eclipse of my two favorite legal podcasts @strictscrutiny.bsky.social and @preetbharara.bsky.social . I just wish it weren’t about whether we still have a Constitution.
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
March 22, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Today I lost an NIH grant training clinicians to do research about intimate partner violence with perinatal women.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
More women are murdered in the perinatal period than die of obstetric complications.
I didn't just lose a grant. We lost an entire cohort of people building careers to prevent that.
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
DOGE laid off 10,000 postal workers today.
Farewell to the US Postal Service – more than 10,000 employees will be laid off following the agreement signed with DOGE
unionrayo.com/en/usps-job-...
Farewell to the US Postal Service – more than 10,000 employees will be laid off following the agreement signed with DOGE
unionrayo.com/en/usps-job-...
Farewell to the US Postal Service - more than 10,000 employees will be laid off following the agreement signed with DOGE
A season full of twists is coming to the United States, as the United States Postal Service (USPS) has confirmed that more than 10,000 employees will be laid
unionrayo.com
March 20, 2025 at 9:45 PM
DOGE laid off 10,000 postal workers today.
Farewell to the US Postal Service – more than 10,000 employees will be laid off following the agreement signed with DOGE
unionrayo.com/en/usps-job-...
Farewell to the US Postal Service – more than 10,000 employees will be laid off following the agreement signed with DOGE
unionrayo.com/en/usps-job-...
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world.
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
March 19, 2025 at 7:32 PM
1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world.
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
Since the cherry blossom festival is happening soon, I am expecting an announcement any day now that DOGE is cutting them all down
March 20, 2025 at 12:18 AM
Since the cherry blossom festival is happening soon, I am expecting an announcement any day now that DOGE is cutting them all down
Liberation day, when the dollar will be liberated from the tyrannical yoke of value
March 19, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Liberation day, when the dollar will be liberated from the tyrannical yoke of value
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
There are days in life that shake you.
I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵
I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵
March 18, 2025 at 11:27 PM
There are days in life that shake you.
I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵
I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University
& academic career... 1/🧵
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
NIH is likely cutting up to 25% of its workforce this week. NIH staff have substantial expertise, typically PhDs. And they really *believe* in the work. NIH's will not be able to meet its mission w/these cuts. The scientific threat is not just direct funding cuts www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...
At NIH, ‘everyone is on edge’ as they brace for deep cuts and more centralized control
As the NIH braces for cuts of up to 5,000 of its 20,000 positions, “people are scrambling and freaking out,” a researcher said.
www.statnews.com
March 17, 2025 at 3:45 PM
NIH is likely cutting up to 25% of its workforce this week. NIH staff have substantial expertise, typically PhDs. And they really *believe* in the work. NIH's will not be able to meet its mission w/these cuts. The scientific threat is not just direct funding cuts www.statnews.com/2025/03/14/n...
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
Exclusive: NIH officials have advised scientists to remove reference to mRNA vaccines from their grant applications, in expectation the Trump administration intends to abandon most research in the field.
By @arthurallen202.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
By @arthurallen202.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Scientists Say NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub mRNA References on Grants - KFF Health News
Two senior scientists say National Institutes of Health officials advised them to remove references to mRNA vaccines in grant applications, and they fear the Trump administration will abandon a promis...
kffhealthnews.org
March 16, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Exclusive: NIH officials have advised scientists to remove reference to mRNA vaccines from their grant applications, in expectation the Trump administration intends to abandon most research in the field.
By @arthurallen202.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
By @arthurallen202.bsky.social
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
Without scientific progress, no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation.
-Vannevar Bush, requoted in this week’s New Yorker
-Vannevar Bush, requoted in this week’s New Yorker
March 13, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Without scientific progress, no amount of achievement in other directions can insure our health, prosperity, and security as a nation.
-Vannevar Bush, requoted in this week’s New Yorker
-Vannevar Bush, requoted in this week’s New Yorker
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
Our paper describing our Transcription Elongation Complex Display platform for high-throughput cotranscriptional RNA functional assays is now online at @naturecomms.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... We used TECdisplay to assess the activity of >1M ZTP riboswitch variants!
Systematic analysis of cotranscriptional RNA folding using transcription elongation complex display - Nature Communications
Understanding how RNA folds into functional structures requires methods that can systematically assess how sequence perturbations affect RNA structure and function. Here, the authors develop a broadly...
www.nature.com
March 10, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Our paper describing our Transcription Elongation Complex Display platform for high-throughput cotranscriptional RNA functional assays is now online at @naturecomms.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... We used TECdisplay to assess the activity of >1M ZTP riboswitch variants!
Is it too much to ask that next time we vote for a President, we vote for an American?
March 10, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Is it too much to ask that next time we vote for a President, we vote for an American?
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
Students: I cannot stress enough how powerful you are. People will tell you aren't because they want to quiet you, but you really are.
Students jeered. Faculty members sharpened their words like weapons. Carter attempted to soften the blow offering reassurances that Ohio State was still a place for all. The room erupted into laughter. #OhioState #DEI #Ohio @redguju.bsky.social @osuaaup.bsky.social @cgsosu.bsky.social bit.ly/3XuX8im
"We Rise": Ohio State Students Fight Back as University Dismantles
The tension in the room was palpable. A majority-minority crowd of Ohio State students, faculty, and staff packed the meeting space, faces tight with frustration, hands ready to clap in defiance. As
bit.ly
March 4, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Students: I cannot stress enough how powerful you are. People will tell you aren't because they want to quiet you, but you really are.
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
I am very happy to announce that we solved the in-virus #cryoEM structure of the #HIV matrix protein. The structure helped us to resolve a long mystery in HIV biology. A🧵1/5
Read more in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
Read more in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
March 3, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I am very happy to announce that we solved the in-virus #cryoEM structure of the #HIV matrix protein. The structure helped us to resolve a long mystery in HIV biology. A🧵1/5
Read more in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
Read more in Nature: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
Hmm all orders at NIH placed on hold until further notice … I have multiple papers accepted—must I stiff the publishers?
March 3, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Hmm all orders at NIH placed on hold until further notice … I have multiple papers accepted—must I stiff the publishers?
Reposted by Christopher P Jones
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...
Inside the Collapse at NIH
Administration officials pressured NIH to avoid clear advice from the agency’s own lawyers to restart grant funding now.
www.theatlantic.com
February 27, 2025 at 4:13 PM
I talked to NIH officials, current and former, about what's been happening inside the agency since the Trump administration shut down their grantmaking pipeline in January. Their stories showed just how willing our new leaders are to break the law: www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...