Lukasz Bugaj
@bugajlab.bsky.social
Asst. Professor @ Penn Bioengineering. Cell Signaling, optogenetics, synthetic biology, cancer signaling, regenerative medicine, bio-tinkering. www.bugajlab.com
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Join us at the 2nd Workshop on Biological Control Systems by @bioctrl.bsky.social . On Nov 19 at 3 PM CET, Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Gebel will present Ningaloo’s work on optogenetic control in biomanufacturing and its role in cyber-bioproduction.
📝Register: lnkd.in/enrHdv_m
#optogenetics #synbiology
📝Register: lnkd.in/enrHdv_m
#optogenetics #synbiology
November 14, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Join us at the 2nd Workshop on Biological Control Systems by @bioctrl.bsky.social . On Nov 19 at 3 PM CET, Dr. Schmidt and Dr. Gebel will present Ningaloo’s work on optogenetic control in biomanufacturing and its role in cyber-bioproduction.
📝Register: lnkd.in/enrHdv_m
#optogenetics #synbiology
📝Register: lnkd.in/enrHdv_m
#optogenetics #synbiology
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
BE Seminar Series this Thurs w Lukasz Bugaj University of Pennsylvania “Using Light, Temperature, and Protein Condensation to Understand and Control Cells”
https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/
https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/
November 4, 2025 at 3:22 PM
BE Seminar Series this Thurs w Lukasz Bugaj University of Pennsylvania “Using Light, Temperature, and Protein Condensation to Understand and Control Cells”
https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/
https://be.mit.edu/our-community/seminars/
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Absolutely outrageous interference in NIH extramural funding by OMB dropping this evening. Damaging to our nation’s world leadership, innovation, and training today and for years in the future. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding
The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.
www.wsj.com
July 30, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Absolutely outrageous interference in NIH extramural funding by OMB dropping this evening. Damaging to our nation’s world leadership, innovation, and training today and for years in the future. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Don’t miss this great opportunity for a wonderful workshop run by NCI to discuss genetic tools and omics to better understand cancer. Join us to learn and contribute to unraveling the complexities of cancer. Let’s do this together! Details 👇🏼
Last day to apply!
Explore how synthetic & systems biology can advance our understanding of cancer initiation at NCI’s virtual S³ Innovation Lab!
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
June 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Don’t miss this great opportunity for a wonderful workshop run by NCI to discuss genetic tools and omics to better understand cancer. Join us to learn and contribute to unraveling the complexities of cancer. Let’s do this together! Details 👇🏼
Last day to apply!
Explore how synthetic & systems biology can advance our understanding of cancer initiation at NCI’s virtual S³ Innovation Lab!
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
s3-cancer-initiation
apply.knowinnovation.com
June 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Last day to apply!
Explore how synthetic & systems biology can advance our understanding of cancer initiation at NCI’s virtual S³ Innovation Lab!
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
s3-cancer-initiation
apply.knowinnovation.com
May 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Explore how synthetic & systems biology can advance our understanding of cancer initiation at NCI’s virtual S³ Innovation Lab!
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
Synthetic biologists particularly encouraged to apply!
Application deadline now June 5:
apply.knowinnovation.com/s3-cancer-in...
Final #SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch workshop (#3) on Tuesday! Drug response and resistance
Featuring: Gordon Mills, Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Matt Thomson, Brian Brown, Stacey Finley, Andriy Marusyk, Pulin Li, Karmella Haynes, Arjun Raj, Justin Prichard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Featuring: Gordon Mills, Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Matt Thomson, Brian Brown, Stacey Finley, Andriy Marusyk, Pulin Li, Karmella Haynes, Arjun Raj, Justin Prichard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Are you interested in synthetic and systems biology approaches to study #spatiotemporal processes in cancer? Join NCI for virtual workshops on May 13, 15, & 20 (next week!) from 12:00–4:30 PM ET:
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
May 19, 2025 at 9:22 PM
Final #SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch workshop (#3) on Tuesday! Drug response and resistance
Featuring: Gordon Mills, Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Matt Thomson, Brian Brown, Stacey Finley, Andriy Marusyk, Pulin Li, Karmella Haynes, Arjun Raj, Justin Prichard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Featuring: Gordon Mills, Kathryn Miller-Jensen, Matt Thomson, Brian Brown, Stacey Finley, Andriy Marusyk, Pulin Li, Karmella Haynes, Arjun Raj, Justin Prichard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Join us Thursday (tomorrow!) for session 2: Tumor-Immune Interactions.
Including: Thea Tlsty, Karin Pelka, Evanthia Roussos Torres, Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, Elizabeth Wayne, Jose Reyes, Xiaojing Gao, Tullia Bruno, Lucas Pelkmans, Josh Leonard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Including: Thea Tlsty, Karin Pelka, Evanthia Roussos Torres, Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, Elizabeth Wayne, Jose Reyes, Xiaojing Gao, Tullia Bruno, Lucas Pelkmans, Josh Leonard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
May 14, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Join us Thursday (tomorrow!) for session 2: Tumor-Immune Interactions.
Including: Thea Tlsty, Karin Pelka, Evanthia Roussos Torres, Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, Elizabeth Wayne, Jose Reyes, Xiaojing Gao, Tullia Bruno, Lucas Pelkmans, Josh Leonard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Including: Thea Tlsty, Karin Pelka, Evanthia Roussos Torres, Rogelio Hernandez-Lopez, Elizabeth Wayne, Jose Reyes, Xiaojing Gao, Tullia Bruno, Lucas Pelkmans, Josh Leonard
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
May 13, 2025 at 11:37 PM
Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
“Maybe if people see [images from my research], they will understand why I want to get back to work.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...
Opinion | The Science I Would Be Doing if I Weren’t in ICE Detention
www.nytimes.com
May 13, 2025 at 10:50 AM
“Maybe if people see [images from my research], they will understand why I want to get back to work.”
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/13/o...
First session *tomorrow*, on Tumor Initiation.
Speakers: Lau, Dumitrascu, Snyder, Schutt Ibsen, Cukierman, Burdziak, Stevens, Bugaj, Lander, Khalil
Join us for this interactive event!
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
Speakers: Lau, Dumitrascu, Snyder, Schutt Ibsen, Cukierman, Burdziak, Stevens, Bugaj, Lander, Khalil
Join us for this interactive event!
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
May 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
First session *tomorrow*, on Tumor Initiation.
Speakers: Lau, Dumitrascu, Snyder, Schutt Ibsen, Cukierman, Burdziak, Stevens, Bugaj, Lander, Khalil
Join us for this interactive event!
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
Speakers: Lau, Dumitrascu, Snyder, Schutt Ibsen, Cukierman, Burdziak, Stevens, Bugaj, Lander, Khalil
Join us for this interactive event!
events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
Are you interested in synthetic and systems biology approaches to study #spatiotemporal processes in cancer? Join NCI for virtual workshops on May 13, 15, & 20 (next week!) from 12:00–4:30 PM ET:
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
May 9, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Are you interested in synthetic and systems biology approaches to study #spatiotemporal processes in cancer? Join NCI for virtual workshops on May 13, 15, & 20 (next week!) from 12:00–4:30 PM ET:
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
registration: events.cancer.gov/nci/syntheti...
#SynSysBio4SpatialCancerResearch
Proteins often bind targets using avidity, the combined interaction strength of multiple weak binders. Now we’ve harnessed this principle for compact, *single*-component optogenetic tools for translocation. Lead by phenom PhD student @dennishuang.bsky.social #synbiosky🧵
📝 tinyurl.com/aviatar
📝 tinyurl.com/aviatar
April 30, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Proteins often bind targets using avidity, the combined interaction strength of multiple weak binders. Now we’ve harnessed this principle for compact, *single*-component optogenetic tools for translocation. Lead by phenom PhD student @dennishuang.bsky.social #synbiosky🧵
📝 tinyurl.com/aviatar
📝 tinyurl.com/aviatar
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Pulsatory response of the BcLOV4 photoreceptor through intramolecular feed-forward regulation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.08.647774v1
April 14, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Pulsatory response of the BcLOV4 photoreceptor through intramolecular feed-forward regulation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.08.647774v1
Super clever, turning biosensors into bio-actuators. 👏👏👏
I'd like to share a little bit of happy lab news in these chaotic times: a new preprint, driven by the brilliant Qinhao Cao!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We address a big challenge in synbio: If you give me a protein "X", how can I give you a version of X whose activity is controlled by a kinase?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We address a big challenge in synbio: If you give me a protein "X", how can I give you a version of X whose activity is controlled by a kinase?
April 23, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Super clever, turning biosensors into bio-actuators. 👏👏👏
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Check out our paper, now extensively revised and published in @cp-molcell.bsky.social! This has been a real tour de force led by Stephanie Sansbury and @ysereb.bsky.social and we are very excited about the findings and future potential of this approach
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Pooled tagging and hydrophobic targeting of endogenous proteins for unbiased mapping of unfolded protein responses
Sansbury and Serebrenik et al. use pooled gene tagging with in situ sequencing and
high-throughput image analysis to generate a cell pool with endogenous HaloTag fusions.
Hydrophobic targeting is then...
www.cell.com
April 23, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Check out our paper, now extensively revised and published in @cp-molcell.bsky.social! This has been a real tour de force led by Stephanie Sansbury and @ysereb.bsky.social and we are very excited about the findings and future potential of this approach
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Happy to share a new preprint from my lab! We characterize the on/off kinetics, light dosage-dependence, and more for a suite of optogenetic signaling activators in zebrafish embryos 💡 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
An optogenetic toolkit for robust activation of FGF, BMP, and Nodal signaling in zebrafish
Cell signaling regulates a wide range of biological processes including development, homeostasis, and disease. Accessible technologies to precisely manipulate signaling have important applications in ...
www.biorxiv.org
April 21, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Happy to share a new preprint from my lab! We characterize the on/off kinetics, light dosage-dependence, and more for a suite of optogenetic signaling activators in zebrafish embryos 💡 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New preprint! We found dynamic signal processing (IFFL) in a single protein, which pulses in response to step inputs. New insights for capability of protein computation + implications for new opto and thermo probes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the 🧵 from first author Dennis Huang:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the 🧵 from first author Dennis Huang:
April 16, 2025 at 1:55 PM
New preprint! We found dynamic signal processing (IFFL) in a single protein, which pulses in response to step inputs. New insights for capability of protein computation + implications for new opto and thermo probes
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the 🧵 from first author Dennis Huang:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out the 🧵 from first author Dennis Huang:
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
Large-scale control over collective cell migration using light-activated epidermal growth factor receptors
Programmable control over tissue movement is a fundamental challenge for tissue engineering
and wound healing. Suh, Thornton, et al. discovered that a light-controlled EGF receptor
controls long-range...
www.cell.com
March 25, 2025 at 6:29 PM
I'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
everyone doing image analysis should try Nimbus. Hands down the freshest and most intuitive, user-friendly platform. Powerful functions for cell labelling, single-cell tracking (+track fixing), simple back-and-forth between data and images. And web-based, so easy sharing of data/annotations w/ link
Super excited to be launching NimbusImage.com! Cloud-based image analysis to democratize machine learning!
Documentation here!
docs.nimbusimage.com
Documentation here!
docs.nimbusimage.com
NimbusImage
NimbusImage.com
March 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
everyone doing image analysis should try Nimbus. Hands down the freshest and most intuitive, user-friendly platform. Powerful functions for cell labelling, single-cell tracking (+track fixing), simple back-and-forth between data and images. And web-based, so easy sharing of data/annotations w/ link
Our paper on 96-well control of temperature is now out @cp-cellsystems.bsky.social. Exceedingly proud of this work led by Will Benman, plus Pavan Iyengar, @trmumford.bsky.social, and much of our lab. Come for DIY hardware, stay for the stress granule dynamics and memory🧵
📝 tinyurl.com/thermoPlate
📝 tinyurl.com/thermoPlate
March 17, 2025 at 3:47 PM
Our paper on 96-well control of temperature is now out @cp-cellsystems.bsky.social. Exceedingly proud of this work led by Will Benman, plus Pavan Iyengar, @trmumford.bsky.social, and much of our lab. Come for DIY hardware, stay for the stress granule dynamics and memory🧵
📝 tinyurl.com/thermoPlate
📝 tinyurl.com/thermoPlate
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
Excited to share a new preprint! Wireless devices use FM modulation to transmit multiplexed noise-resistant data. Led by @born2raisecell.bsky.social, we create a biochemical analogue of this paradigm using genetically encoded oscillators (GEOs) for single-cell FM streaming tinyurl.com/nbs8rw42 🧵
March 4, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Excited to share a new preprint! Wireless devices use FM modulation to transmit multiplexed noise-resistant data. Led by @born2raisecell.bsky.social, we create a biochemical analogue of this paradigm using genetically encoded oscillators (GEOs) for single-cell FM streaming tinyurl.com/nbs8rw42 🧵
Reposted by Lukasz Bugaj
This Valentine's day I want to share the LOV2 with you! ❤️
Roses are red,
the light is blue,
stimuli are read
by the domain LOV2.
Roses are red,
the light is blue,
stimuli are read
by the domain LOV2.
February 14, 2025 at 5:25 PM
This Valentine's day I want to share the LOV2 with you! ❤️
Roses are red,
the light is blue,
stimuli are read
by the domain LOV2.
Roses are red,
the light is blue,
stimuli are read
by the domain LOV2.
thanks for the highlight @stemcellpodcast.com!
"I'm melting!" 🫠
The @bugajlab.bsky.social at @upenn.bsky.social used a temperature-sensitive protein switch called Melt to control mammalian #CellFate.
📑 @naturemethods.bsky.social - go.nature.com/3WRdku1
🎤 - bit.ly/4gydVYn
The @bugajlab.bsky.social at @upenn.bsky.social used a temperature-sensitive protein switch called Melt to control mammalian #CellFate.
📑 @naturemethods.bsky.social - go.nature.com/3WRdku1
🎤 - bit.ly/4gydVYn
February 12, 2025 at 9:59 PM
thanks for the highlight @stemcellpodcast.com!
We are still looking for postdocs to carry forward this work! Please get in touch if interested in developing thermal protein switches and/or applying them in vivo to study inflammation/cancer.
Every once in a while we publish a paper that moves a whole field forward. I think that's the case for this one from the Bugaj lab, where they describe proteins for THERMOGENETIC control of cellular behavior. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A temperature-inducible protein module for control of mammalian cell fate - Nature Methods
The Melt (Membrane localization using temperature) protein translocates to the plasma membrane upon temperature shift. Melt variants with a range of switching temperatures enable straightforward therm...
www.nature.com
January 27, 2025 at 4:54 PM
We are still looking for postdocs to carry forward this work! Please get in touch if interested in developing thermal protein switches and/or applying them in vivo to study inflammation/cancer.