Dan Udwary
danudwary.secondarymetabolism.com
Dan Udwary
@danudwary.secondarymetabolism.com
Natural products biosynthesis and computational biologist at JGI. Host of http://naturalprodcast.com This is my personal account, not my employer's, and things I say or re-post are not representative of them, and maybe not even me.
Reposted by Dan Udwary
The morning so far
February 10, 2026 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Seems to me that having an analog clock in the room for an exam containing absolute configuration questions is a huge advantage. #iTeachChem
February 10, 2026 at 1:35 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
I made a map of 3.4 million Bluesky users - see if you can find yourself!

bluesky-map.theo.io

I've seen some similar projects, but IMO this seems to better capture some of the fine-grained detail
Bluesky Map
Interactive map of 3.4 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.
bluesky-map.theo.io
February 8, 2026 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition.

Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Gladys Mae West obituary: mathematician who pioneered GPS technology
She made key contributions to US cold-war science despite facing huge barriers as a Black woman.
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Every American needs to watch this:
February 5, 2026 at 8:41 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Evoquant's first set of bacterial strains are growing. We now have several strains in culture as we begin evaluating our novel strategy for obtaining bioactive and novel natural products.

Photo is of one of the strains growing on a minimal agar media.
January 30, 2026 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Here, we explore the protein-protein interactions between monoterpene indole alkaloid biosynthetic enzymes. This work was the result of strong effort by Chloe Langley, who Allwin McDonald and I had the privilege to work with. Congrats to the team!

ACS Chemical Biology pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
Protein–Protein Interactions Modulate a Key Branch Point in Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Biosynthesis
Biosynthetic pathways of specialized metabolites utilize protein–protein interactions (PPIs) to facilitate metabolic flux and sequester reactive intermediates. The monoterpene indole alkaloid pathway of Catharanthus roseus contains several metabolic branch points that may be mediated via transient PPIs. We investigated one branch point of this pathway that is responsible for the conversion of the intermediate dehydrosecodine into three possible cyclized alkaloid scaffolds, which act as intermediates en route to medicinally important alkaloids, such as vinblastine. We verified previously observed PPIs between reductase-cyclase pairs and additionally uncovered PPIs between evolutionarily related protein homologues. Through structural analysis of dehydrosecodine cyclases, we identified surface residues that appear to mediate interaction with the upstream reductase. We then demonstrated, via in vitro competition assays, that these residues impact the distribution of downstream products. These results highlight the significance of transient PPIs in the control and regulation of specialized metabolite pathways.
pubs.acs.org
February 1, 2026 at 9:17 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
I’m just saying that our politics would be a lot less polarized if Americans still read comics on a regular basis
February 1, 2026 at 7:07 PM
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With most psychedelic drugs, you never know what you're going to get. But this mysterious mushroom from China - without fail - causes users to hallucinate tiny people: crawling up walls, popping out from under furniture and marching under doors. www.bbc.com/future/artic...
'They saw them on their dishes when eating': The mushroom making people hallucinate dozens of tiny humans
Only recently described by science, the mysterious mushrooms are found in different parts of the world, but they give people the same exact visions.
www.bbc.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:31 PM
There's somebody in my life who keeps posting "we warned you about Trump" posts who I know, with certainty, did not vote for Harris, and it's taking all my willpower to not burn bridges.

Like, yes, Harris and Biden weren't my ideal choices either, but, come on. Glad you finally came around... 🙄
January 25, 2026 at 4:59 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
A reminder to the news media: “conflicting accounts” is what you say BEFORE the incontrovertible video evidence appears. After that, your job is to ask why one side is lying, not to repeat the lie and pretend no one knows the truth.
January 25, 2026 at 12:28 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
At the end of the day, the Black Lives Matter era was about whether people should be killed in the street, and lots of people decided yeah and put those little blue flags on their cars. It spread to everyone because it stopped for no one.
January 24, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
ARTE
January 23, 2026 at 5:45 PM
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If you're a writer, wondering why you should bother writing with the world on fire. It feels like it's not important, I need you to understand that it is.

Even if it is just because it keeps you moving forward? Even if it only brings YOU joy, that gives you energy to fight & survive.
January 16, 2026 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
very sad news. Peer Bork was one of the leaders of our field, a wonderful scientist, and he's much too young to be gone. www.embl.org/news/embl-an...
In remembrance of Peer Bork  | EMBL
EMBL and its community are deeply saddened by the death of Peer Bork, the organisation’s Interim Director General.
www.embl.org
January 16, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
I mean what can you say except dudes rock
Techno Syndrome (Mortal Kombat) - The Immortals [Speed Bag Cover]
YouTube video by Speedbag Bard
youtu.be
January 14, 2026 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
it’s come to my attention that my tumblr post has been crossposted to bluesky, so I’m posting it on my account here #AntiAI #GenAI
January 9, 2026 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
DAP-seq Reveals Cluster-Situated Regulator Control of Numerous Streptomyces Natural Product Biosynthetic Genes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.05.697754v1
January 6, 2026 at 10:32 AM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Cool new chemistry for covalent ligand development targeting arginine 👏
January 6, 2026 at 5:15 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Cool compounds, Leshmania activitiesw/ good therapeutic index, and nice structure work. Hard work: "A culture (322 × 10 mL, 3.2 L) of the strain was obtained in the FR23 medium... 0.6 - 3.2 mg isolated of several analogs". #secmet
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
December 28, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
Here's a simple happiness hack:

Do something for someone that is truly altruistic. Do it in secret if you can, and take no credit, if you can manage that in a world that sees everything.

Do this as often as your circumstances allow, which may be once a year or once a day.

Try it and see.
December 28, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Dan Udwary
This is GLORIOUS
'Tis the season for some festive science songs.

If you've ever wanted to hear someone sing about a dimunitive tyranosaur then now is your chance
December 20, 2025 at 8:02 PM
So incredibly funny!
Another incredible case of white racial grievance about the academic job market.

He reveals at the end that he wouldn’t provide the necessary application materials!
December 18, 2025 at 11:09 PM
🚨SAVE THE DATE!
5th Synthetic Biology of Natural Products Conference
📅Date: 01 - 04 November 2026
🌏Location: Playa del Carmen, Mexico
📢Early Bird & Talk Submission: 04 May 2026
Don't miss out, Register now ➡️https://bit.ly/4s4F3VU
#SBNP #FusionGenomics #FusionMolBio #FusionBioChem
December 18, 2025 at 4:52 PM