Frances Yap
@ribo1214.bsky.social
Principal Investigator | Northwestern University Microbiology-Immunology | #RNA #ribosome #antibiotic resistance #AMR #MRSA | hails from 🇲🇾 by way of 🇹🇼 |Views are my own. 🧪 🧬🔬💉
Pinned
Frances Yap
@ribo1214.bsky.social
· Dec 1
Homepage | Yap Laboratory
sites.northwestern.edu
🚨The Yap Lab at Northwestern Univ is looking to fill 2 postdoc positions in 2026 to study aspects of Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic resistance and RNA synthesis-degradation. Please contact Frances Yap at frances.yap@northwestern.edu for details. sites.northwestern.edu/yaplab/. Pls repost #Microsky
Reposted by Frances Yap
Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Microbiology
Come and join great students and colleagues at Hofstra Biology. Please apply using the link below and/or spread the word!
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Come and join great students and colleagues at Hofstra Biology. Please apply using the link below and/or spread the word!
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
December 12, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Microbiology
Come and join great students and colleagues at Hofstra Biology. Please apply using the link below and/or spread the word!
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Come and join great students and colleagues at Hofstra Biology. Please apply using the link below and/or spread the word!
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Hypoxia-induced D(5S)m2449 and Cm(5S)m2498 modifications in the 23S rRNA promotes protein synthesis #MicroSky #RNASky 🧪 www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Hypoxia-induced ribosomal RNA modifications in the peptidyl-transferase center contribute to anaerobic growth of bacteria
Ishiguro et al. identify stereoselective ribose-backbone methylations in the peptidyl-transferase
center of E. coli ribosomes, installed by the cobalamin-dependent enzyme RlmX. These
methylations, tog...
www.cell.com
December 11, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Hypoxia-induced D(5S)m2449 and Cm(5S)m2498 modifications in the 23S rRNA promotes protein synthesis #MicroSky #RNASky 🧪 www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
🔽 !!??? #RNASky 🧪
3' to 5' Translation of Circular RNAs? https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.692888v1
December 10, 2025 at 12:06 AM
🔽 !!??? #RNASky 🧪
Colibactin-DNA interstrand crosslinks structure reveals DNA-damaging acitivity of colibactin that is linked to colorectal cancer #MicroSky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The specificity and structure of DNA cross-linking by the gut bacterial genotoxin colibactin
Accumulating evidence has connected the chemically unstable, DNA-damaging gut bacterial natural product colibactin to colorectal cancer, including the identification of mutational signatures that are ...
www.science.org
December 4, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Colibactin-DNA interstrand crosslinks structure reveals DNA-damaging acitivity of colibactin that is linked to colorectal cancer #MicroSky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🚨The Yap Lab at Northwestern Univ is looking to fill 2 postdoc positions in 2026 to study aspects of Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic resistance and RNA synthesis-degradation. Please contact Frances Yap at frances.yap@northwestern.edu for details. sites.northwestern.edu/yaplab/. Pls repost #Microsky
Homepage | Yap Laboratory
sites.northwestern.edu
December 1, 2025 at 4:45 PM
🚨The Yap Lab at Northwestern Univ is looking to fill 2 postdoc positions in 2026 to study aspects of Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic resistance and RNA synthesis-degradation. Please contact Frances Yap at frances.yap@northwestern.edu for details. sites.northwestern.edu/yaplab/. Pls repost #Microsky
Structure of the Hibernating Francisella tularensis Ribosome and Mechanistic Insights into Its Inhibition by Antibiotics https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.25.690415v1
November 26, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Reposted by Frances Yap
POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
We need a structural biologist to work on several CryoEM datasets. For more information, please visit: www.antonylab.org
Expertise in structure refinement and model-building are required.
Please share.
We need a structural biologist to work on several CryoEM datasets. For more information, please visit: www.antonylab.org
Expertise in structure refinement and model-building are required.
Please share.
ANTONY LAB SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
Edwin Antony Lab Website
www.antonylab.org
November 18, 2025 at 7:05 PM
POSTDOCTORAL POSITION IN STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY
We need a structural biologist to work on several CryoEM datasets. For more information, please visit: www.antonylab.org
Expertise in structure refinement and model-building are required.
Please share.
We need a structural biologist to work on several CryoEM datasets. For more information, please visit: www.antonylab.org
Expertise in structure refinement and model-building are required.
Please share.
Reposted by Frances Yap
Excited about Kolya Aleksashin's new work, enabling preparation of active in vitro translation systems from primary human cells and difficult-to-edit cells (fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes). This opens new opportunities to probe mechanisms of translation regulation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Overcoming the eIF2α Brake in Human Cell-Derived Translation Systems
Cell-free translation from human cells is a powerful platform for studying mammalian gene expression and building synthetic biology tools, but productivity is often curtailed by inhibitory phosphoryla...
www.biorxiv.org
November 18, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Excited about Kolya Aleksashin's new work, enabling preparation of active in vitro translation systems from primary human cells and difficult-to-edit cells (fibroblasts and cardiomyocytes). This opens new opportunities to probe mechanisms of translation regulation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Not all RelE toxins are created equally. RelE1, E2 cut 16S rRNA, RelE3 degrades mRNA in a ribosome-dependent manner. #MicroSky #Ribosome 🧪 #RNASky ⬇️
Two M. tuberculosis RelE toxins don’t cut mRNA, they slice 16S rRNA itself, shutting down translation in a totally unexpected way, new study reveals.
A big leap in understanding TB’s survival tricks and new angles for therapies.
📖 shorturl.at/Z8MVX
✍️ @genevauxpierre.bsky.social & coll.
#MicroSky
A big leap in understanding TB’s survival tricks and new angles for therapies.
📖 shorturl.at/Z8MVX
✍️ @genevauxpierre.bsky.social & coll.
#MicroSky
November 18, 2025 at 6:56 PM
🩶 the carefully done experiments by Imlay's lab about commonly used dye to measure ROS. #MicroSky 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS
Dihydrodichlorofluorescein derivatives have been employed as reporters of intracellular
reactive oxygen species (ROS) in innumerable studies. Their...
www.pnas.org
November 18, 2025 at 6:31 PM
🩶 the carefully done experiments by Imlay's lab about commonly used dye to measure ROS. #MicroSky 🧪 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Frances Yap
I am so excited to share our project with you! We find prokaryotic proteases activate toxic enzymes and pores as a modular strategy in phage defense. We studied four fascinating protease-toxin pairs that are abundant across bacterial genomes:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Proteolytic activation of diverse antiviral defense modules in prokaryotes
Linked protease–effector modules are widespread in prokaryotic antiviral defense, yet the mechanisms of most remain poorly understood. Here we show that four of the most prevalent modules—metallo-β-la...
www.biorxiv.org
November 15, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I am so excited to share our project with you! We find prokaryotic proteases activate toxic enzymes and pores as a modular strategy in phage defense. We studied four fascinating protease-toxin pairs that are abundant across bacterial genomes:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Structural insights into the chaperone role of uncharged tRNA(Arg/Gln) in viral RNAP assembly #RNASky 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
tRNA as an assembly chaperone for a macromolecular transcription-processing complex - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Here, the authors solve a series of cryo-electron microscopy structures that show how transfer RNAs (tRNAs) can guide the assembly of the multisubunit poxvirus RNA polymerase, uncovering a role of tRN...
www.nature.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Structural insights into the chaperone role of uncharged tRNA(Arg/Gln) in viral RNAP assembly #RNASky 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Frances Yap
Eric Green, who was director of the NHGRI until [he was forced out] this spring, has served on more than two dozen search committees for NIH leaders.
The process “has worked amazingly well for decades,” he says, and including non-NIH scientists “added broad and deep expertise”…
The process “has worked amazingly well for decades,” he says, and including non-NIH scientists “added broad and deep expertise”…
Is NIH cutting corners as it rushes to fill leadership positions?
Unlike in the past, agency searches appear to exclude help from outside academic researchers
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Eric Green, who was director of the NHGRI until [he was forced out] this spring, has served on more than two dozen search committees for NIH leaders.
The process “has worked amazingly well for decades,” he says, and including non-NIH scientists “added broad and deep expertise”…
The process “has worked amazingly well for decades,” he says, and including non-NIH scientists “added broad and deep expertise”…
Reposted by Frances Yap
Hearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers.
I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.
As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.
As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
November 14, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Hearing a rumor that NIH/HHS may now plan to retaliate against other Bethesda Declaration signers.
I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.
As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
I am one, but it’s not about me: we have been speaking out because of the ongoing damage to US medical research, cancer and Alzheimer’s research.
As @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social put well: 1/
Want to help us as an abstract reviewer for the @asm.org #ASMMicrobe2026? Abstract Review Period: January 29 - February 5, 2026. Please fill out the Abstract Reviewer Interest Form: asm.org/Microbe2026-... Thanks for your help!
November 9, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Next Codon Usage Meeting, May 31st to June 3rd, 2026 in Montreal right after the RNA Society Meeting. The list of speakers will be up soon.
sites.google.com/view/codonus...
sites.google.com/view/codonus...
codon usage
About the Conference
Codon usage bias—the preference for certain synonymous codons—is a key factor in genome regulation. Codon usage and synonymous codon mutations have been shown to influence gene ex...
sites.google.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Reposted by Frances Yap
We're just 6 months away from @keystoneSymposia.bsky.social Beyond #Antibiotics : Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection, May 2026 in Breckenridge! 👉Scholarship and short talk abstract deadlines are Jan 7! 🧐 keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26
Beyond Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies for Combating Bacterial Infection | Keystone Symposia
Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Beyond Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies for Combating Bacterial Infection, May 2026, in Breckenridge, with field leaders!
keysym.us
November 4, 2025 at 2:47 PM
We're just 6 months away from @keystoneSymposia.bsky.social Beyond #Antibiotics : Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection, May 2026 in Breckenridge! 👉Scholarship and short talk abstract deadlines are Jan 7! 🧐 keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26
Reposted by Frances Yap
#TobRegSky #PedSky #MedSky #EpiSky #addictionsci #policysky #polisky #neuroskyence #neurosci 🧪🛟🫁
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
How New Trump Multiyear Policy Makes NIH Grants Even Harder To Get
The new Trump administration multiyear funding policy for NIH grants has dropped National Cancer Institute grant funding rates from one in 10 applicants to one in 25.
www.forbes.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:39 PM
#TobRegSky #PedSky #MedSky #EpiSky #addictionsci #policysky #polisky #neuroskyence #neurosci 🧪🛟🫁
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
Excellent reporting by @bruceylee.bsky.social in @forbes.com about the new NIH multi year funding policy decimating US biomedical research.
www.forbes.com/sites/brucel...
Reposted by Frances Yap
We have a new preprint for you. Naked mole rats are very long-lived rodents and have increased translational fidelity.
Interestingly, 28S ribosomal RNA is split. Here we investigated the structure of the ribosome by single particle cryo-EM. Take a look.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Interestingly, 28S ribosomal RNA is split. Here we investigated the structure of the ribosome by single particle cryo-EM. Take a look.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Cryo-EM structure of the naked mole-rat ribosome reveals a stabilized split 28S rRNA
The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a long-lived mammal with remarkable resistance to cancer and hypoxia, suggesting the evolution of robust proteostasis networks. The ribosome, the central ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 28, 2025 at 3:24 PM
We have a new preprint for you. Naked mole rats are very long-lived rodents and have increased translational fidelity.
Interestingly, 28S ribosomal RNA is split. Here we investigated the structure of the ribosome by single particle cryo-EM. Take a look.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Interestingly, 28S ribosomal RNA is split. Here we investigated the structure of the ribosome by single particle cryo-EM. Take a look.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Frances Yap
Come be my colleague! We have new faculty searches in Virology & Fungal Biology/Medical Mycology. UMN has great people & the Twin Cities are beautiful year-round!
Virology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Fungal Biology / Medical Mycology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/36547
6
Virology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Fungal Biology / Medical Mycology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/36547
6
Careers
Minimum qualifications:PhD, MD, or equivalent in a relevant field of study, plus applicable postdoctoral experience.
hr.myu.umn.edu
October 24, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Come be my colleague! We have new faculty searches in Virology & Fungal Biology/Medical Mycology. UMN has great people & the Twin Cities are beautiful year-round!
Virology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Fungal Biology / Medical Mycology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/36547
6
Virology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/365...
Fungal Biology / Medical Mycology: hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/ext/36547
6
Reposted by Frances Yap
From the Daily Texan, the UT student newspaper: Academic freedom should not be for sale.
thedailytexan.com/2025/10/16/a...
thedailytexan.com/2025/10/16/a...
Academic freedom should not be for sale
The Editorial Board argues the University should join the league of universities rejecting Trump’s compact in favor of in institutional independence.
thedailytexan.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:58 AM
From the Daily Texan, the UT student newspaper: Academic freedom should not be for sale.
thedailytexan.com/2025/10/16/a...
thedailytexan.com/2025/10/16/a...
Reposted by Frances Yap
After 158 years of publication.
UPDATE: Following the firing of the director of the student newspaper, Indiana University has now cut the print edition of the newspaper entirely.
www.idsnews.com/article/2025...
www.idsnews.com/article/2025...
October 15, 2025 at 10:50 PM
After 158 years of publication.
Glucose capping of 5'-mRNAs in E. coli 😱, presumably is installed during transcriptional initiation #MicroSky #RNASky www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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
October 14, 2025 at 6:19 PM
Glucose capping of 5'-mRNAs in E. coli 😱, presumably is installed during transcriptional initiation #MicroSky #RNASky www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Something to celebrate for Northwestern Univ (Joel Mokyr) when the dark clouds of federal funding freeze are still over our heads "..Mokyr pioneered a theory of how technological change and improvement has helped to fuel two centuries of growth and higher living standards.." @thedailynu.bsky.social
October 13, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Something to celebrate for Northwestern Univ (Joel Mokyr) when the dark clouds of federal funding freeze are still over our heads "..Mokyr pioneered a theory of how technological change and improvement has helped to fuel two centuries of growth and higher living standards.." @thedailynu.bsky.social
🚀 New preprint!
We used a human cell-free translation screen (~28 000 compounds) to discover NT-2, a #Fusarium -derived #mycotoxin that blocks human ribosomes.
#Cryo-EM at 1.72 Å reveals a link between chemical inhibition and ribosome dormancy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We used a human cell-free translation screen (~28 000 compounds) to discover NT-2, a #Fusarium -derived #mycotoxin that blocks human ribosomes.
#Cryo-EM at 1.72 Å reveals a link between chemical inhibition and ribosome dormancy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A human cell-free translation screen identifies the NT-2 mycotoxin as a ribosomal peptidyl transferase inhibitor
Translation inhibitors are invaluable for probing ribosome function and therapeutic applications, but systematic discovery in human systems is limited by the lack of scalable, screening-compatible cel...
www.biorxiv.org
October 13, 2025 at 12:24 PM