Liana Lareau
@lianafaye.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Bioengineering, Berkeley. Living in an RNA world. lareaulab.org
Pinned
Liana Lareau
@lianafaye.bsky.social
· Aug 7
Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice
Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...
www.biorxiv.org
This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Fifteen Years
xkcd.com
November 24, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The past is so recent www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Viola Fletcher, Oldest Survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, Dies at 111
www.nytimes.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:11 AM
The past is so recent www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
In a special edition of her “How to teach this paper” column, Ashley Juavinett @analog-ashley.bsky.social explains how to best educate students about how the business of scientific research actually works.
www.thetransmitter.org/how-to-teach...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/how-to-teach...
#neuroskyence
How to teach students about science funding
As researchers reel over the uncertain state of U.S. federal funding, educating students on the business of science is more important than ever.
www.thetransmitter.org
February 19, 2025 at 2:43 PM
In a special edition of her “How to teach this paper” column, Ashley Juavinett @analog-ashley.bsky.social explains how to best educate students about how the business of scientific research actually works.
www.thetransmitter.org/how-to-teach...
#neuroskyence
www.thetransmitter.org/how-to-teach...
#neuroskyence
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
November 22, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Just an absolutely gutting essay by Tatiana Schlossberg, a writer, mother of two young children, and cousin of RFK Jr who is dying of leukemia.
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 AM
In the century leading up to 1975, nearly 6000 freighters went down in the Great Lakes.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
The Edmund Fitzgerald was the last.
The last. In 50 years, not a single commercial freighter has been lost in the Great Lakes.
Why?
It's NOAA. Of course it's NOAA.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Giant copy of the Constitution being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue.
October 18, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Giant copy of the Constitution being carried down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.
October 10, 2025 at 9:11 PM
after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
October 2, 2025 at 6:14 AM
Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
September 30, 2025 at 4:37 PM
AAUP v. Rubio is out, and look at how it starts. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."
It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 11:23 AM
9 CDC Directors going back to 1977 speak out. What RFK Jr has done to our nation’s public health system "should alarm every American."
It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
It "is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
mRNA vaccines are safe, have been in development for decades, & have far broader applications than older vaccine technologies.
New vaccine technologies evolve when scientists have tools & knowledge to make something more elegant or complex that wasn’t possible before.
5/
New vaccine technologies evolve when scientists have tools & knowledge to make something more elegant or complex that wasn’t possible before.
5/
August 31, 2025 at 1:06 AM
mRNA vaccines are safe, have been in development for decades, & have far broader applications than older vaccine technologies.
New vaccine technologies evolve when scientists have tools & knowledge to make something more elegant or complex that wasn’t possible before.
5/
New vaccine technologies evolve when scientists have tools & knowledge to make something more elegant or complex that wasn’t possible before.
5/
Reposted by Liana Lareau
On the new acting CDC director. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
August 29, 2025 at 1:59 AM
On the new acting CDC director. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Spread the word - we at @stanford-chemh.bsky.social are searching to fill a new junior faculty at the interface of molecular and computational science. See link below!
Open faculty position!
We're seeking applicants for a tenure-track faculty position at the junior level (Assistant or untenured Associate Professor) with research programs that exist at the interface between molecular science and computation. Apply here: stanford.io/45MF3Qa
We're seeking applicants for a tenure-track faculty position at the junior level (Assistant or untenured Associate Professor) with research programs that exist at the interface between molecular science and computation. Apply here: stanford.io/45MF3Qa
August 27, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Spread the word - we at @stanford-chemh.bsky.social are searching to fill a new junior faculty at the interface of molecular and computational science. See link below!
Reposted by Liana Lareau
We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in MCB. Learn more and apply online:
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096
August 20, 2025 at 10:45 PM
We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Immunology and Molecular Medicine in MCB. Learn more and apply online:
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05096
Reposted by Liana Lareau
We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Molecular Therapeutics in MCB. Learn more and apply online:
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
August 20, 2025 at 10:44 PM
We're Hiring! Assistant Professor of Molecular Therapeutics in MCB. Learn more and apply online:
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05098
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Come join our new Department of Neuroscience @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05041
Assistant Professor - Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Neuroscience - Department of Neuroscience
University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.berkeley.edu
August 20, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Come join our new Department of Neuroscience @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor! aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05041
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Would you want to invest in a country where the regime expropriates assets from its opponents?
In related news, "personalist regimes are characterized by lower total factor productivity and ... low private investment, poor public-goods provision, and conflict" www.nber.org/system/files...
In related news, "personalist regimes are characterized by lower total factor productivity and ... low private investment, poor public-goods provision, and conflict" www.nber.org/system/files...
August 9, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Would you want to invest in a country where the regime expropriates assets from its opponents?
In related news, "personalist regimes are characterized by lower total factor productivity and ... low private investment, poor public-goods provision, and conflict" www.nber.org/system/files...
In related news, "personalist regimes are characterized by lower total factor productivity and ... low private investment, poor public-goods provision, and conflict" www.nber.org/system/files...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Science is effectively dead in the US for at least the next 3½ years, and will then take another several years to even get started again. Canceled research doesn’t just uncancel itself, and scientists who find opportunity elsewhere won’t just come flocking back.
The damage is generational.
The damage is generational.
All scientific grant funding must now be approved by a political appointee and "demonstrably advance the President's policy priorities."
I wonder where innovation will happen in the future? It won't be in the US
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
I wonder where innovation will happen in the future? It won't be in the US
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
New executive order puts all grants under political control
All new funding on hold until Trump administration can cancel any previously funded grants.
arstechnica.com
August 8, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Science is effectively dead in the US for at least the next 3½ years, and will then take another several years to even get started again. Canceled research doesn’t just uncancel itself, and scientists who find opportunity elsewhere won’t just come flocking back.
The damage is generational.
The damage is generational.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Reposted by Liana Lareau
We are on a bullet train to the end of US science, and possibly the country as a whole, when political appointees are reviewing every scientific grant submitted to NIH to determine if The Regime finds the science acceptable.
August 7, 2025 at 10:28 PM
We are on a bullet train to the end of US science, and possibly the country as a whole, when political appointees are reviewing every scientific grant submitted to NIH to determine if The Regime finds the science acceptable.
In all, how much constraint on synonymous positions? From our model, the equivalent of 9% are predictable (sum of smaller effects on more positions) but that excludes strong overall preferences for fast codons. And 3% is just what we can see in a short competition. So: more than zero, less than all!
At the same time, we made thousands of synonymous mutations in endogenous yeast genes and measured their growth. We used careful statistics and controls. Only 3%, 204 of 6874, had a fitness effect! This goes against a controversial recent result that most synonymous mutations had fitness effects.
August 7, 2025 at 5:09 PM
In all, how much constraint on synonymous positions? From our model, the equivalent of 9% are predictable (sum of smaller effects on more positions) but that excludes strong overall preferences for fast codons. And 3% is just what we can see in a short competition. So: more than zero, less than all!
This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice
Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...
www.biorxiv.org
August 7, 2025 at 8:29 AM
This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Liana Lareau
i think it is hard for some people to really their heads around the reality that kennedy is staunchly anti-vaccine and thinks that people should suffer through disease and that those who die deserved it and that those who survive are a better order of human being
August 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
i think it is hard for some people to really their heads around the reality that kennedy is staunchly anti-vaccine and thinks that people should suffer through disease and that those who die deserved it and that those who survive are a better order of human being
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
Release from HHS: HHS will wind down its development of the mRNA vaccine development activities under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
August 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Every reputable expert I know considers mRNA vaccine technology to be one of the most revolutionary advances in medicine in our lifetimes. Its inventors won the Nobel Prize in 2023. Shutting it down now is pointless self-harm to humanity.
Reposted by Liana Lareau
Maurene Comey's goodbye note to SDNY colleagues:
July 17, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Maurene Comey's goodbye note to SDNY colleagues: