JStark lab
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jstarklab.bsky.social
JStark lab
@jstarklab.bsky.social
Chasing DNA double strand break repair outcomes and clastogen response

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=JZpgwJwAAAAJ&hl=en
📢📢Apply now for GRS/GRC on DNA Damage Mutation & Cancer in sunny Ventura CA.
November 5, 2025 at 10:02 PM
This data is really striking - mRNA vaccine priming ICI response in several tumors
People with some cancers live longer after COVID vaccination 😮

mRNA vaccines can augment immune checkpoint inhibition efficacy for patients with skin or lung cancers - by globally boosting immune responses 💉🧪⚕️

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Grippen et al study:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
People with some cancers live longer after a COVID vaccine
mRNA vaccines seem to boost the effectiveness of an immune therapy for skin and lung cancer ― in an unexpected way.
www.nature.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
Today I kicked off No Kings Day with hundreds of fired up patriots at NIH who are standing up to this lawless president.

Together we said NO to his attacks on public health.
NO to his assault on our Constitution.
NO to kings in America.

And YES to standing up for our democracy.
Kicking off No Kings Day with fired up patriots at NIH
YouTube video by Senator Chris Van Hollen
youtube.com
October 18, 2025 at 6:23 PM
No Kings! In Pasadena
October 18, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Registration is open for the 2025 SoCal Genome Stability Symposium. Free registration. All talks by trainees. www.cityofhope.org/genome-stabi...
SoCal Genome Stability Symposium
The annual Genome Stability Symposium provides a forum for trainees in the Southern California region to present their research on the field of genome stability.
www.cityofhope.org
October 17, 2025 at 8:44 PM
www.nature.com/articles/s41... saw @lablegube.bsky.social present this last week. Provides important clarity on RNA at chromosomal DSBs. Including rigorously debunking the nascent synthesis idea.
Transcriptional repression facilitates RNA:DNA hybrid accumulation at DNA double-strand breaks - Nature Cell Biology
Saur, Lesage et al. report that RNA:DNA hybrids arise at double-strand breaks in transcribed genes, independently of de novo recruitment of RNA polymerase II/III, as a result of DSB-induced transcriptional repression.
www.nature.com
September 30, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Exciting to have 3 days to focus on this pathway.
September 25, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Reposted by JStark lab
It’s been a long time coming! Grateful to all co-authors and colleagues who supported this study, especially @yilanfan.bsky.social 🙌 We have been working on this complex for nearly 3 years together and finally managed to tame it. MRN gave us Many Restless Nights, but we’re More Relaxed Now 😎
Thrilled that our work is now finally out in Nature Comms!
rdcu.be/eG3vP

We reveal cryo-EM structures of the MRN complex bound to DNA & TRF2 - showing how DNA breaks are sensed and regulated at telomeres.
Fantastic work by first authors @yilanfan.bsky.social @filizkuybu.bsky.social & Hengjun!
September 20, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Reposted by JStark lab
L1 insertion intermediates recombine with one another or with DNA breaks to form genome rearrangements https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.17.676864v1
September 19, 2025 at 12:18 AM
I’m using this icon for my talk at nhej2025.sciencesconf.org
Guess the topic
September 17, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Gearing up to head to Paris for nhej2025.sciencesconf.org but indulging in some LA delicacies before I go.
September 16, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I’ve met many raw milk is healthy, we already have the cure for cancer, immunizations are dangerous, HIV isn’t the cause of AIDS people. As a scientist I thought it important to counter with respect and logic, and wonder how we are failing at public health. No more. New response - “that’s stupid!”
August 30, 2025 at 3:16 AM
Reposted by JStark lab
I am delighted to announce that the UW Department of Biochemistry has opened searches for TWO tenure-track positions.

Descriptions and links in the following two posts.
August 28, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto.

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Please repost!
August 28, 2025 at 6:34 AM
We have openings for a postdoctoral training program on DNA Damage and Oncogenic Signaling. Our past trainees have been very successful. Apply by Aug 31 for full consideration. See link for details. www.imgs-coh.edu/postdoctoral...
Postdoctoral Training Programs
Funded by the National Cancer Institute (T32CA186895), the program at City of Hope provides exceptionally motivated, recent (2 years or less) postdoctoral fellows with scientific knowledge, researc
www.imgs-coh.edu
August 19, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
this is so wonderful and so critical right now
Phil and Penny Knight announced today a record-breaking $2 billion gift to the Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute to transform the future of cancer care and set a new standard globally.

Thank you to Phil and Penny Knight for their incredible generosity.

#GiveCancerHell
August 14, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
Advertisements for 2 tenure-track assistant professor positions at Vanderbilt School of Medicine Basic Sciences:
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Vanderbilt University - Nashville, Tennessee job with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine | 12843515
Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine—Basic Sciences
www.nature.com
August 14, 2025 at 4:57 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
Beyond BRCA status: machine-learning assisted multichannel imaging platform for cell-by-cell analysis of HR competency, enabling patient stratification. “Editor’s Choice” in NAR Cancer. academic.oup.com/narcancer/ar...
Automated machine learning profiling with MAP-HR for quantifying homologous recombination foci in patient samples
Abstract. Accurate visualization and quantification of homologous recombination (HR)-associated foci in readily available patient samples are critical for
academic.oup.com
August 14, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
Our sister journal, Nucleic Acids Research, has opened a search for an Executive Editor. Great opportunity for mid-career or senior investigator looking to be part of a great team, handle 100-150 papers per year, and attend the annual EE meeting. Details at: academic.oup.com/nar/pages/ex...
NAR seeks a new Executive Editor
Overview of the Journal Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) is a leading open access molecular biology journal published by Oxford University Press. It provides rapid
academic.oup.com
August 5, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
I was thinking about this too as I'm a standing member at NIH and review did the DoD. The amount of time and effort for no monetary benefit that is expected of us is unreasonable even at a 10th percentile funding rate. But at 4%.... what are we even asking of scientists?
4% payline demoralizing for reviewers - review 9 grants each taking 3-4hrs (total reviewed by all is 90) flying to DC, a hotel conference room to discuss the top half of grants (45) 15 min each, 3x a year for 4 yrs. Paid $300. 4% = maybe 3/90, 0-1 that you reviewed funded. I couldn’t.
July 28, 2025 at 3:50 AM
4% payline demoralizing for reviewers - review 9 grants each taking 3-4hrs (total reviewed by all is 90) flying to DC, a hotel conference room to discuss the top half of grants (45) 15 min each, 3x a year for 4 yrs. Paid $300. 4% = maybe 3/90, 0-1 that you reviewed funded. I couldn’t.
July 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
Our new review on how the initiation of DNA replication is coordinated with transcription is now online! Congratulations to @syedshahidmusvi.bsky.social!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
From cooperation to conflicts – a complicated relationship between transcription and replication.
A tight coordination between transcription and DNA replication is essential to maintain genome stability. Both excessive transcription and upregulated…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 17, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Reposted by JStark lab
😢 RIP. Still to this day my favorite experiment in molecular biology.
July 8, 2025 at 3:04 AM
June 14, 2025 at 5:02 PM