Jin Zhang Lab
@jinzhanglab.bsky.social
We are a lab of diverse scientists developing genetically encoded biosensors for studying cell signaling at UC San Diego. Check us out at jinzhanglab.ucsd.edu or the database of biosensors we maintain at biosensordb.ucsd.edu
🚨🚨Double preprint alert! 🚨🚨
Two papers went up on Biorxiv this week!
The first presents new chemigenetic FRET-based biosensors: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
And the second presents an improved version of our C-Y FRET PKA reporters, AKAR6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 🧵 1/5
Two papers went up on Biorxiv this week!
The first presents new chemigenetic FRET-based biosensors: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
And the second presents an improved version of our C-Y FRET PKA reporters, AKAR6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 🧵 1/5
www.biorxiv.org
February 13, 2026 at 7:49 PM
🚨🚨Double preprint alert! 🚨🚨
Two papers went up on Biorxiv this week!
The first presents new chemigenetic FRET-based biosensors: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
And the second presents an improved version of our C-Y FRET PKA reporters, AKAR6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 🧵 1/5
Two papers went up on Biorxiv this week!
The first presents new chemigenetic FRET-based biosensors: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
And the second presents an improved version of our C-Y FRET PKA reporters, AKAR6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 🧵 1/5
Happy birthday to graduate student Yingqi! Another year, another #dragonknife and cake! 🎂
February 13, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Happy birthday to graduate student Yingqi! Another year, another #dragonknife and cake! 🎂
Congratulations to graduate student Rosie Zhou and postdoc Nick Bergkamp on winning poster prizes at last month’s Roger Tsien Cell Signaling Symposium! It was a great day with lots of amazing science, and nice to have our trainees’ work highlighted.
February 9, 2026 at 9:46 PM
Congratulations to graduate student Rosie Zhou and postdoc Nick Bergkamp on winning poster prizes at last month’s Roger Tsien Cell Signaling Symposium! It was a great day with lots of amazing science, and nice to have our trainees’ work highlighted.
Just before the holidays we celebrated project scientist Ben Li, who is moving on to a new position at Zymo Research. Congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors, Ben!
January 2, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Just before the holidays we celebrated project scientist Ben Li, who is moving on to a new position at Zymo Research. Congratulations and good luck in your future endeavors, Ben!
At our annual holiday party we wished a happy birthday to graduate student Evan Wen! Happy birthday and happy holidays, Evan! #dragonknife
December 16, 2025 at 7:22 PM
At our annual holiday party we wished a happy birthday to graduate student Evan Wen! Happy birthday and happy holidays, Evan! #dragonknife
We recently said farewell to Ryan Weeks, who defended his thesis a few months ago and is now moving on from the lab to do a postdoc in Mia Myong-Hee Sung’s lab at the NIH (irp.nih.gov/pi/myong-hee...)! We'll miss him but we're proud to see him take his next scientific steps. Congrats, Dr. Weeks!
November 11, 2025 at 7:27 PM
We recently said farewell to Ryan Weeks, who defended his thesis a few months ago and is now moving on from the lab to do a postdoc in Mia Myong-Hee Sung’s lab at the NIH (irp.nih.gov/pi/myong-hee...)! We'll miss him but we're proud to see him take his next scientific steps. Congrats, Dr. Weeks!
Congratulations to graduate student Evan Wen on receiving and NIH F31 Fellowship Award for his project “Spatial diversity of GPCR-mediated ERK signaling and its role in cardiovascular disease”!
September 4, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Congratulations to graduate student Evan Wen on receiving and NIH F31 Fellowship Award for his project “Spatial diversity of GPCR-mediated ERK signaling and its role in cardiovascular disease”!
Check out this recent paper from the lab, which sheds light on the physiological role of RIa phase separation, including its impact on insulin secretion! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
This work was led by project scientist Skott and former grad student Julia, part of our phase separation team!
This work was led by project scientist Skott and former grad student Julia, part of our phase separation team!
September 2, 2025 at 7:42 PM
Check out this recent paper from the lab, which sheds light on the physiological role of RIa phase separation, including its impact on insulin secretion! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
This work was led by project scientist Skott and former grad student Julia, part of our phase separation team!
This work was led by project scientist Skott and former grad student Julia, part of our phase separation team!
Last week we celebrated Wei, @weilin1113.bsky.social, who has left the Zhang lab to start his independent career at Jiangnan University, focused on glycobiology. Wei has led numerous projects including the kinase integrator, KINACT. We’re proud of his work here and excited to see his next steps!
August 29, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Last week we celebrated Wei, @weilin1113.bsky.social, who has left the Zhang lab to start his independent career at Jiangnan University, focused on glycobiology. Wei has led numerous projects including the kinase integrator, KINACT. We’re proud of his work here and excited to see his next steps!
Congratulations to Leah Bae, who successfully defended her master’s thesis last week! We’re very proud of her achievements in the lab and are excited for her next steps!
August 25, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Congratulations to Leah Bae, who successfully defended her master’s thesis last week! We’re very proud of her achievements in the lab and are excited for her next steps!
Congratulations to Dr Ayse Sahan! Ayse defended her thesis this summer, and just finished up in the lab to move to her next adventure: a postdoc at UChicago! We miss Ayse already, but we’re very proud of what she’s accomplished here and excited to see her future work! #DragonKnife #PhDone
August 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Congratulations to Dr Ayse Sahan! Ayse defended her thesis this summer, and just finished up in the lab to move to her next adventure: a postdoc at UChicago! We miss Ayse already, but we’re very proud of what she’s accomplished here and excited to see her future work! #DragonKnife #PhDone
Last week we said “au revoir” to Prof. Xavier Nicol, who joined us for his sabbatical over the last year. It’s been great to have him for discussions and ideas, and we’re excited to keep working with him on collaborations!
July 2, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Last week we said “au revoir” to Prof. Xavier Nicol, who joined us for his sabbatical over the last year. It’s been great to have him for discussions and ideas, and we’re excited to keep working with him on collaborations!
Congratulations to Dr Emily Pool, who defended her thesis last week! She’s been an incredible asset to the lab, from her precision, to her mentorship, to the subject of her work, phase separation of PKA regulatory subunits. We’re so excited to see what she does next! Congrats, Dr. Pool!
June 9, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Congratulations to Dr Emily Pool, who defended her thesis last week! She’s been an incredible asset to the lab, from her precision, to her mentorship, to the subject of her work, phase separation of PKA regulatory subunits. We’re so excited to see what she does next! Congrats, Dr. Pool!
Reposted by Jin Zhang Lab
We are counting down the days to our Protein Science Symposium on June 10-12! Thrilled to be hosting our colleagues from WCM @weillcornell.bsky.social as well as keynote speakers Dr. Christopher Lima @christopherdlima.bsky.social and Dr. Jin Zhang @jinzhanglab.bsky.social
May 22, 2025 at 12:27 AM
We are counting down the days to our Protein Science Symposium on June 10-12! Thrilled to be hosting our colleagues from WCM @weillcornell.bsky.social as well as keynote speakers Dr. Christopher Lima @christopherdlima.bsky.social and Dr. Jin Zhang @jinzhanglab.bsky.social
Three cakes! 🎂🎂🎂 The Zhang lab is full of May birthdays! Happy birthday to grad students Rosie and Max, and to postdoc Su-Hyun. (And belated birthdays to postdocs Nick and Ben, not part of today’s triple cake event, but celebrated nonetheless)
#dragonknife
#dragonknife
May 19, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Three cakes! 🎂🎂🎂 The Zhang lab is full of May birthdays! Happy birthday to grad students Rosie and Max, and to postdoc Su-Hyun. (And belated birthdays to postdocs Nick and Ben, not part of today’s triple cake event, but celebrated nonetheless)
#dragonknife
#dragonknife
Congratulations to graduate student Rosie Zhou, who won the Shu and KC Chien Best Poster in Bioengineering award at the annual Jacobs School of Engineering Research Expo for her poster “Visualizing Protein Communication in Human Cells to Improve Cancer Treatment”
@jacobsschool.bsky.social
@jacobsschool.bsky.social
May 9, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Congratulations to graduate student Rosie Zhou, who won the Shu and KC Chien Best Poster in Bioengineering award at the annual Jacobs School of Engineering Research Expo for her poster “Visualizing Protein Communication in Human Cells to Improve Cancer Treatment”
@jacobsschool.bsky.social
@jacobsschool.bsky.social
Congratulations to two members of the lab on receiving fellowships and prizes! We're very proud of them, and these awards will support their work on signaling in heart disease and lung cancer, respectively.
Details in the thread for each of their projects. 🧵
Details in the thread for each of their projects. 🧵
May 5, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Congratulations to two members of the lab on receiving fellowships and prizes! We're very proud of them, and these awards will support their work on signaling in heart disease and lung cancer, respectively.
Details in the thread for each of their projects. 🧵
Details in the thread for each of their projects. 🧵
So happy to see Michelle’s excellent paper from her postdoc with us now out! Her expertise allowed us to develop a new class of KARs with enhanced dynamic range and shifted to the far-red.
Everyone should keep an eye on her independent career, more incredible work is on the way!
Everyone should keep an eye on her independent career, more incredible work is on the way!
Happy to see my Postdoc work out @natbiotech.nature.com. Using HaloTag and synthetic fluorophores instead of FPs enables us to shift the spectral properties of kinase activity reporters (KARs) to the far-red 🔬. Huge thanks to everyone involved @jinzhanglab.bsky.social!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Far-red chemigenetic kinase biosensors enable multiplexed and super-resolved imaging of signaling networks - Nature Biotechnology
Far-red kinase biosensors are applied to image kinase signaling networks at super resolution.
www.nature.com
April 21, 2025 at 3:25 PM
So happy to see Michelle’s excellent paper from her postdoc with us now out! Her expertise allowed us to develop a new class of KARs with enhanced dynamic range and shifted to the far-red.
Everyone should keep an eye on her independent career, more incredible work is on the way!
Everyone should keep an eye on her independent career, more incredible work is on the way!
Reposted by Jin Zhang Lab
Your yearly reminder to acknowledge the core facilities you use and their staff scientists in your papers. These scientists are a crucial part of the scientific ecosystem and to continue to exist they need tangible credit for their work. Plus their associated expertise adds credibility to your work.
April 10, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Your yearly reminder to acknowledge the core facilities you use and their staff scientists in your papers. These scientists are a crucial part of the scientific ecosystem and to continue to exist they need tangible credit for their work. Plus their associated expertise adds credibility to your work.
Reposted by Jin Zhang Lab
🧵 1/6
Just dropped in @naturecomms.bsky.social
We’ve engineered the most photostable yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) to date—mGold2s and mGold2t—with up to 25× greater photostability than mVenus and mCitrine, without compromising brightness.
👇
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Just dropped in @naturecomms.bsky.social
We’ve engineered the most photostable yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) to date—mGold2s and mGold2t—with up to 25× greater photostability than mVenus and mCitrine, without compromising brightness.
👇
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
April 9, 2025 at 8:59 PM
🧵 1/6
Just dropped in @naturecomms.bsky.social
We’ve engineered the most photostable yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) to date—mGold2s and mGold2t—with up to 25× greater photostability than mVenus and mCitrine, without compromising brightness.
👇
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Just dropped in @naturecomms.bsky.social
We’ve engineered the most photostable yellow fluorescent proteins (YFPs) to date—mGold2s and mGold2t—with up to 25× greater photostability than mVenus and mCitrine, without compromising brightness.
👇
🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congratulations to graduate student Ayse Sahan and former student Shawn Mingyuan Chen on the publication of their lipid biosensors in PNAS! With these sensors, we’re able to track PI(3,4)P2 and PIP3 signaling in the cell, and show the lysosome is a PIP3 signaling site. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
March 31, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Congratulations to graduate student Ayse Sahan and former student Shawn Mingyuan Chen on the publication of their lipid biosensors in PNAS! With these sensors, we’re able to track PI(3,4)P2 and PIP3 signaling in the cell, and show the lysosome is a PIP3 signaling site. www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
Last week we celebrated 3 lab birthdays! Happy birthday to grad students Qian and Pal, and Project Scientist Scott! #DragonKnife
March 10, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Last week we celebrated 3 lab birthdays! Happy birthday to grad students Qian and Pal, and Project Scientist Scott! #DragonKnife
Reposted by Jin Zhang Lab
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE! Join us and thousands nationwide on Friday, March 7th at noon at the UC San Diego Geisel Library / Silent Tree
February 28, 2025 at 2:08 PM
STAND UP FOR SCIENCE! Join us and thousands nationwide on Friday, March 7th at noon at the UC San Diego Geisel Library / Silent Tree
On Friday we had our lab farewell party for postdoc @chrisqs.bsky.social, with lunch, cake, and lab sweater and mug! #DragonKnife Qi is moving on to a position in Dr. Diane Simeone’s lab at Moores Cancer Center. We’ve loved working with Qi, and are excited to see what he does going forward!
March 3, 2025 at 6:13 PM
On Friday we had our lab farewell party for postdoc @chrisqs.bsky.social, with lunch, cake, and lab sweater and mug! #DragonKnife Qi is moving on to a position in Dr. Diane Simeone’s lab at Moores Cancer Center. We’ve loved working with Qi, and are excited to see what he does going forward!
Two members of the lab, @ammgest.bsky.social and @anne-lyons-bioe.bsky.social will be at the Biophysical Society Meeting #bps2025 02/15 -02/19! Check out their posters on 02/18 from 1:45 to 2:45!
February 15, 2025 at 4:27 AM
Two members of the lab, @ammgest.bsky.social and @anne-lyons-bioe.bsky.social will be at the Biophysical Society Meeting #bps2025 02/15 -02/19! Check out their posters on 02/18 from 1:45 to 2:45!