Bret Freudenthal
@freudlab.bsky.social
Professor studying the interplay between DNA damage and human health. WY➡️CSU➡️UI➡️NIEHS➡️KU. Personal posts from science to society.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Check out the perspective my lab wrote with @freudlab.bsky.social. We provide our perspective on recent work describing the structural basis of chromatin-based base excision repair!
🎉 Joint paper from the Freudenthal and @tmweaver.bsky.social Labs!
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
Base excision repair in chromatin: A tug-of-war for DNA damage
Base excision repair (BER) is a genome surveillance pathway responsible for repairing DNA base lesions distributed throughout the chromatinized eukary…
tinyurl.com
November 4, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Check out the perspective my lab wrote with @freudlab.bsky.social. We provide our perspective on recent work describing the structural basis of chromatin-based base excision repair!
🎉 Joint paper from the Freudenthal and @tmweaver.bsky.social Labs!
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
Base excision repair in chromatin: A tug-of-war for DNA damage
Base excision repair (BER) is a genome surveillance pathway responsible for repairing DNA base lesions distributed throughout the chromatinized eukary…
tinyurl.com
November 3, 2025 at 3:47 PM
🎉 Joint paper from the Freudenthal and @tmweaver.bsky.social Labs!
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
Abbey Vito’s first publication discusses a tug-of-war between BER enzymes and chromatin for access to damaged DNA, a battle central to genome stability.
Built on Tyler's foundational work! tinyurl.com/ywkt2bt5
It was wonderful hosting you for the seminar visit! Also appreciate you being a good sport for having an anglerfish introduce you.🤣
Thanks @freudlab.bsky.social for the kind invitation at @kumedcenter.bsky.social BMB. 😁
November 2, 2025 at 12:03 AM
It was wonderful hosting you for the seminar visit! Also appreciate you being a good sport for having an anglerfish introduce you.🤣
🎃 Happy Halloween from the Freudenthal Lab! 🐟🖤
Anglerfish PI + Emo Researchers = Bioluminescent Despair #Scienceunderpressure
Anglerfish PI + Emo Researchers = Bioluminescent Despair #Scienceunderpressure
October 31, 2025 at 4:43 PM
🎃 Happy Halloween from the Freudenthal Lab! 🐟🖤
Anglerfish PI + Emo Researchers = Bioluminescent Despair #Scienceunderpressure
Anglerfish PI + Emo Researchers = Bioluminescent Despair #Scienceunderpressure
One of my favorite activities of the year is our annual pumpkin carving competition with the Bose Lab. Everyone’s pumpkins were amazing!
October 29, 2025 at 9:42 PM
One of my favorite activities of the year is our annual pumpkin carving competition with the Bose Lab. Everyone’s pumpkins were amazing!
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
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/
Yes it’s true that some scientific discoveries are complete paradigm changers, and we celebrate these. 1/
October 16, 2025 at 4:11 PM
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/
Yes it’s true that some scientific discoveries are complete paradigm changers, and we celebrate these. 1/
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
By far. Juvenile.
October 17, 2025 at 1:27 AM
By far. Juvenile.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
whoever did this little bit of magnificence, take a bow
October 14, 2025 at 5:48 PM
whoever did this little bit of magnificence, take a bow
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Spread the word if you can.
We have an unused stopped flow accessory from Applied Photophysics. We traded in our Chirascan CD instrument so we have no use for this anymore. Reach out if you are interested and can find a home for this setup. Will ofcourse only work with a Chirascan!
We have an unused stopped flow accessory from Applied Photophysics. We traded in our Chirascan CD instrument so we have no use for this anymore. Reach out if you are interested and can find a home for this setup. Will ofcourse only work with a Chirascan!
October 8, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Spread the word if you can.
We have an unused stopped flow accessory from Applied Photophysics. We traded in our Chirascan CD instrument so we have no use for this anymore. Reach out if you are interested and can find a home for this setup. Will ofcourse only work with a Chirascan!
We have an unused stopped flow accessory from Applied Photophysics. We traded in our Chirascan CD instrument so we have no use for this anymore. Reach out if you are interested and can find a home for this setup. Will ofcourse only work with a Chirascan!
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Santa Fe were beautiful today! Wonderful day for a hike.
October 11, 2025 at 2:12 AM
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains outside Santa Fe were beautiful today! Wonderful day for a hike.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Congratulations to our #EMGS2025 Best Oral Presentation Award Winners!
Best Student Oral Presentation
1st Place (Tied): David Schuster and Abigayle Vito
2nd Place: Foster Jacobs
Best Early Career Investigator Oral Presentation
1st Place: Elijah Newcomb
2nd Place: Lindsay Volk
Best Student Oral Presentation
1st Place (Tied): David Schuster and Abigayle Vito
2nd Place: Foster Jacobs
Best Early Career Investigator Oral Presentation
1st Place: Elijah Newcomb
2nd Place: Lindsay Volk
September 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Congratulations to our #EMGS2025 Best Oral Presentation Award Winners!
Best Student Oral Presentation
1st Place (Tied): David Schuster and Abigayle Vito
2nd Place: Foster Jacobs
Best Early Career Investigator Oral Presentation
1st Place: Elijah Newcomb
2nd Place: Lindsay Volk
Best Student Oral Presentation
1st Place (Tied): David Schuster and Abigayle Vito
2nd Place: Foster Jacobs
Best Early Career Investigator Oral Presentation
1st Place: Elijah Newcomb
2nd Place: Lindsay Volk
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
ALT: a white cat is sitting on a box with the words where written on it .
media.tenor.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
The fiscal year is over.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
So how was the NIH appropriation committed?
A long thread with institute by institute results about where the money went.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
The fiscal year ends tomorrow.
Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.
The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.
1/3
Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.
The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.
1/3
September 29, 2025 at 5:38 PM
The fiscal year ends tomorrow.
Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.
The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.
1/3
Here are results from NIH Reporter downloaded an hour ago.
The total amount of funding committed for FY2025 at this point is 99.0% of that for FY2024. The same difference could be due to a variety of technical factors.
1/3
How it started: Assistant to the Professor 👨🔬✨
How it’s going: Professor mode unlocked 👨🏫
Also clear evidence that science doesn’t just build knowledge… it ages ya too. 😉
🙏Grateful to all the mentors, colleagues, trainees, friends & family who made this journey possible. I am here because you all!
How it’s going: Professor mode unlocked 👨🏫
Also clear evidence that science doesn’t just build knowledge… it ages ya too. 😉
🙏Grateful to all the mentors, colleagues, trainees, friends & family who made this journey possible. I am here because you all!
September 25, 2025 at 11:25 PM
How it started: Assistant to the Professor 👨🔬✨
How it’s going: Professor mode unlocked 👨🏫
Also clear evidence that science doesn’t just build knowledge… it ages ya too. 😉
🙏Grateful to all the mentors, colleagues, trainees, friends & family who made this journey possible. I am here because you all!
How it’s going: Professor mode unlocked 👨🏫
Also clear evidence that science doesn’t just build knowledge… it ages ya too. 😉
🙏Grateful to all the mentors, colleagues, trainees, friends & family who made this journey possible. I am here because you all!
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Here is a plot in terms of PROJECTS rather than dollars. I am using projects rather than awards so that projects that received supplements do not get double-counted.
While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.
While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.
September 22, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Here is a plot in terms of PROJECTS rather than dollars. I am using projects rather than awards so that projects that received supplements do not get double-counted.
While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.
While the FY25 curve is improving, it seems that the number of funded projects will drop by 3000-4000 compared with FY24.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
i think regardless of who has authored a paper, we (the scientific community) can and should stop criticizing the work on lack of perceived novelty. we can do better than perpetuating harmful myths about individual scientific papers having to present a discovery no one has ever thought of before.
September 21, 2025 at 7:10 PM
i think regardless of who has authored a paper, we (the scientific community) can and should stop criticizing the work on lack of perceived novelty. we can do better than perpetuating harmful myths about individual scientific papers having to present a discovery no one has ever thought of before.
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!
We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.
Read on for details... 1/x
We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.
Read on for details... 1/x
September 13, 2025 at 12:05 AM
This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!
We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.
Read on for details... 1/x
We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.
Read on for details... 1/x
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Some (+)ve news to lighten another heavy weekend: our latest preprint (c/o Mattiroli + Ramani labs) is up!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
The eukaryotic replisome intrinsically generates asymmetric daughter chromatin fibers
DNA replication is molecularly asymmetric, due to distinct mechanisms for lagging and leading strand DNA synthesis. Whether chromatin assembly on newly replicated strands is also asymmetric remains un...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Some (+)ve news to lighten another heavy weekend: our latest preprint (c/o Mattiroli + Ramani labs) is up!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A tour-de-force by 1st authors Bruna Eckhardt & @palindromephd.bsky.social, focusing on chromatin replication. RTs welcome; tweetorial in 3,2...(1/n)
What an incredible @EMGSUS 2025 meeting last week! 🎉 Great science, community, and presentations. #EMGS2025
Special congrats to our lab members🏆 #proudPI:
Abbey Vito – 1st, Student Oral Presentation
Eli Newcomb – 1st, ECI Oral Presentation
Spencer Thompson – 2nd, Student Poster
Special congrats to our lab members🏆 #proudPI:
Abbey Vito – 1st, Student Oral Presentation
Eli Newcomb – 1st, ECI Oral Presentation
Spencer Thompson – 2nd, Student Poster
September 22, 2025 at 12:40 AM
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
Are you a student, early career Investigator, or first time #EMGS meeting attendee?
Take part in the #EMGS2025 Quest to make sure you don’t miss anything and earn prizes along the way!
Start the Quest: form.jotform.com/251895711320...
Take part in the #EMGS2025 Quest to make sure you don’t miss anything and earn prizes along the way!
Start the Quest: form.jotform.com/251895711320...
September 6, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Are you a student, early career Investigator, or first time #EMGS meeting attendee?
Take part in the #EMGS2025 Quest to make sure you don’t miss anything and earn prizes along the way!
Start the Quest: form.jotform.com/251895711320...
Take part in the #EMGS2025 Quest to make sure you don’t miss anything and earn prizes along the way!
Start the Quest: form.jotform.com/251895711320...
Thrilled to share our lab’s latest work in JBC! 🎉 We uncovered a critical role for APE1 Asn174 in stabilizing AP-sites using mutagenesis, enzymology, crystallography, and MD-simulations. Congrats to Kaitlin Dehart and all the co-authors! Check it out: www.jbc.org/article/S002...
APE1 active site residue Asn174 stabilizes the AP-site and is essential for catalysis
Apurinic/Apyrimidinic (AP)-sites are common and highly mutagenic DNA lesions that
can arise spontaneously or as intermediates during Base Excision Repair (BER). The
enzyme apurinic/apyrimidinic endonu...
www.jbc.org
September 5, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Thrilled to share our lab’s latest work in JBC! 🎉 We uncovered a critical role for APE1 Asn174 in stabilizing AP-sites using mutagenesis, enzymology, crystallography, and MD-simulations. Congrats to Kaitlin Dehart and all the co-authors! Check it out: www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
New from us in @natrevmcb.nature.com -- @szmyd-radoslaw.bsky.social & @radoncdocgee.bsky.social explore how DNA repair actively shapes cancer cell fate following DNA damage, reframing repair as both a protective process & a driver of treatment response and cell death. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
DNA-repair-driven cell death compels us to rethink cancer therapies - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology
Emerging evidence suggests that, following genotoxic therapy, it is the repair of DNA double-strand breaks, rather than the damage itself, that frequently drives cancer cell death.
www.nature.com
August 4, 2025 at 5:48 AM
New from us in @natrevmcb.nature.com -- @szmyd-radoslaw.bsky.social & @radoncdocgee.bsky.social explore how DNA repair actively shapes cancer cell fate following DNA damage, reframing repair as both a protective process & a driver of treatment response and cell death. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Bret Freudenthal
truly unreal. he's the guy who buys a lap dance and thinks the stripper and he had a deep connection
Trump on a hot mic on Putin: "I think he wants to make a deal for me. Do you understand? As crazy as it sounds."
August 18, 2025 at 9:56 PM
truly unreal. he's the guy who buys a lap dance and thinks the stripper and he had a deep connection
Great catching up with Matt during his visit with @barneslab.bsky.social!
August 15, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Great catching up with Matt during his visit with @barneslab.bsky.social!
Congratulations Dr. Sowa! Such a great defense and project. Sara has a great lab and is doing wonderful work.
Congratulations Dr. Dana J. Sowa, our second PhD of the lab, and again, I'm so proud of all she has accomplished. A problem-solver and leader, wherever she lands next is going to be very lucky to have her! Thanks to her committee @gdwantibiotics.bsky.social @freudlab.bsky.social and Dr. Zhu.
August 13, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Congratulations Dr. Sowa! Such a great defense and project. Sara has a great lab and is doing wonderful work.