Laura White
@laurakwhite.bsky.social
Colorado RNA biologist & tRNA enthusiast exploring the wild frontiers of nanopore direct RNA sequencing at the intrepid venn diagram of northern blots & machine learning.
Pinned
Laura White
@laurakwhite.bsky.social
· Aug 22
Nanopore sequencing of intact aminoacylated tRNAs - Nature Communications
Accurate protein synthesis depends on aminoacylated tRNAs, but their identities have been hard to measure. Here, authors present aa-tRNA-seq, a nanopore-based method that reveals the amino acid, seque...
doi.org
Our paper is out in its final form! Back in April 2023, my coauthor Aleks Radakovic, then a PhD student, approached me after a talk in Chicago to ask what I thought an aminoacylated tRNA would look like if we pulled it through a @nanopore.
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Laura White
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 AM
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
Reposted by Laura White
Rare Earth will be back on air soon & in preparation for a programme on Darwin, Wallace & evolution, I found this ace example of evolutionary adaptation. The plant C. argenteum makes seeds that look & smell like dung, so dung beetles roll them away, bury them, then lose interest. Free seed planting!
November 5, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Rare Earth will be back on air soon & in preparation for a programme on Darwin, Wallace & evolution, I found this ace example of evolutionary adaptation. The plant C. argenteum makes seeds that look & smell like dung, so dung beetles roll them away, bury them, then lose interest. Free seed planting!
Reposted by Laura White
We live in a tumultuous world. But I take solace in the fact that the 2010 University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey intro video remains the most unhinged thing I’ve ever seen.
November 1, 2025 at 3:45 PM
We live in a tumultuous world. But I take solace in the fact that the 2010 University of Alaska Fairbanks hockey intro video remains the most unhinged thing I’ve ever seen.
Reposted by Laura White
Scott Campbell (character designer for Psychonauts) does this ongoing series called Great Showdowns and puts 'em up for sale. He posted this Happy Death Day one today.
I have a ton waiting for frames.
I have a ton waiting for frames.
October 29, 2025 at 12:39 AM
Scott Campbell (character designer for Psychonauts) does this ongoing series called Great Showdowns and puts 'em up for sale. He posted this Happy Death Day one today.
I have a ton waiting for frames.
I have a ton waiting for frames.
Reposted by Laura White
How to become a "hot RNA" 🌡️? The answers were kindly provided by hyperthermophilic archaea: rRNA modifications are key! Check out this new publication presenting pan-modification profiling of the epitranscriptome. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... (1/3)
Pan-modification profiling facilitates a cross-evolutionary dissection of the thermoregulated ribosomal epitranscriptome
Pan-Mod-seq enables systematic, multi-modification mapping of rRNA across life. Applying
it to diverse organisms reveals that hyperthermophiles dynamically install stabilizing
modifications to support...
www.cell.com
October 27, 2025 at 1:19 PM
How to become a "hot RNA" 🌡️? The answers were kindly provided by hyperthermophilic archaea: rRNA modifications are key! Check out this new publication presenting pan-modification profiling of the epitranscriptome. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... (1/3)
Just sent @foodbankrockies.bsky.social the same amount we’d spend on a really nice dinner out to help with the coming SNAP cliff.
October 27, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Just sent @foodbankrockies.bsky.social the same amount we’d spend on a really nice dinner out to help with the coming SNAP cliff.
Reposted by Laura White
If you've been wondering how to tell ring-tailed lemurs apart, Duke Lemur Center has a very wonderful graph mapping individual variations based on ear angle and pointiness
Pointiness range is Round to Elf
Angle range is Cat (straight up) to Airplane (side-to-side)
lemur.duke.edu/catta-ears/ 🧪
Pointiness range is Round to Elf
Angle range is Cat (straight up) to Airplane (side-to-side)
lemur.duke.edu/catta-ears/ 🧪
October 26, 2025 at 7:21 PM
If you've been wondering how to tell ring-tailed lemurs apart, Duke Lemur Center has a very wonderful graph mapping individual variations based on ear angle and pointiness
Pointiness range is Round to Elf
Angle range is Cat (straight up) to Airplane (side-to-side)
lemur.duke.edu/catta-ears/ 🧪
Pointiness range is Round to Elf
Angle range is Cat (straight up) to Airplane (side-to-side)
lemur.duke.edu/catta-ears/ 🧪
Reposted by Laura White
A university that signs the “compact” is one that acknowledges its own inability to compete and succeed based talent and merit. It would signal insecurity and mediocrity to current and future students and faculty. Say no. Recruit the best people, protect their freedom and support their hard work.
October 18, 2025 at 12:05 AM
A university that signs the “compact” is one that acknowledges its own inability to compete and succeed based talent and merit. It would signal insecurity and mediocrity to current and future students and faculty. Say no. Recruit the best people, protect their freedom and support their hard work.
Reposted by Laura White
We have a bunch of new job ads out @arcadiascience.com. If you haven’t checked them out, take a look!
www.arcadiascience.com/careers
www.arcadiascience.com/careers
Careers | Arcadia Science
Evolve with Arcadia.
www.arcadiascience.com
October 16, 2025 at 2:45 AM
We have a bunch of new job ads out @arcadiascience.com. If you haven’t checked them out, take a look!
www.arcadiascience.com/careers
www.arcadiascience.com/careers
this is both clever and I object
Kicking us off is @maccoss.bsky.social , melting my mind at 8am with this observation that LC-MS is really a lossless single molecule compression method at its core.
October 16, 2025 at 3:42 PM
this is both clever and I object
Reposted by Laura White
tRNA-modification mutants in mycobacteria boost antibiotic recalcitrance by activating WhiB7 & coupling alanine metabolism to ribosome rescue and survival, new study reveals.
✍️ @jvaubourgeix.bsky.social & coll.
📖 shorturl.at/86JTs
#MicroSky #AMR #RNAsky
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @inserm.fr
✍️ @jvaubourgeix.bsky.social & coll.
📖 shorturl.at/86JTs
#MicroSky #AMR #RNAsky
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @inserm.fr
October 13, 2025 at 3:29 AM
tRNA-modification mutants in mycobacteria boost antibiotic recalcitrance by activating WhiB7 & coupling alanine metabolism to ribosome rescue and survival, new study reveals.
✍️ @jvaubourgeix.bsky.social & coll.
📖 shorturl.at/86JTs
#MicroSky #AMR #RNAsky
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @inserm.fr
✍️ @jvaubourgeix.bsky.social & coll.
📖 shorturl.at/86JTs
#MicroSky #AMR #RNAsky
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @inserm.fr
Reposted by Laura White
Reposted by Laura White
Cute little ET discovered 10,000 feet down off the coast of California.
(Remember “terrestrial” has two opposites, one of which is “marine”.)
Meet the bumpy snailfish!
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...
(Remember “terrestrial” has two opposites, one of which is “marine”.)
Meet the bumpy snailfish!
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...
September 13, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Cute little ET discovered 10,000 feet down off the coast of California.
(Remember “terrestrial” has two opposites, one of which is “marine”.)
Meet the bumpy snailfish!
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...
(Remember “terrestrial” has two opposites, one of which is “marine”.)
Meet the bumpy snailfish!
🧪
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/s...
Reposted by Laura White
Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
October 7, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Over the weekend ICE abducted an NIH contractor when he showed up to a courthouse for his green card hearing. He is documented. His wife is a citizen.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
He is also member of the skeleton crew of animal care staff that works through a shutdown, to ensure the health and wellbeing of research animals.
Quoncierge updates: v0.2 adds an alternative, even more opinionated setup with organization and auto-routing of notebook outputs, intended for users who do lots of interactive exploratory data analysis. Sometimes the notebooks ARE the work, so let's make them reproducible. github.com/lkwhite/Quon...
GitHub - lkwhite/Quoncierge: Automate initializing reproducible Quarto + Jupyter + GitHub projects
Automate initializing reproducible Quarto + Jupyter + GitHub projects - lkwhite/Quoncierge
github.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Quoncierge updates: v0.2 adds an alternative, even more opinionated setup with organization and auto-routing of notebook outputs, intended for users who do lots of interactive exploratory data analysis. Sometimes the notebooks ARE the work, so let's make them reproducible. github.com/lkwhite/Quon...
Reposted by Laura White
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
October 5, 2025 at 2:00 AM
And look at this graphic abstract….. 😱🤯
Reposted by Laura White
☕Pan, David, Chevrier & co show that the microbial #metabolites queuine and preQ1 modify the same host tRNA. PreQ1-tRNA reduces cell proliferation, slows #tumor growth, decreases the translation of ribosomal proteins and is cleaved by IRE1 on the ER #ribosome.
👉https://rdcu.be/eJqFc
bit.ly/46BPXtJ
👉https://rdcu.be/eJqFc
bit.ly/46BPXtJ
Two microbiome metabolites compete for tRNA modification to impact mammalian cell proliferation and translation quality control - Nature Cell Biology
Zhang, Lahry, Cipurko et al. show that the microbial metabolites queuine and preQ1 modify the same host tRNA. PreQ1-tRNA reduces cell proliferation, slows tumour growth, decreases the translation of ribosomal proteins and is cleaved by IRE1 on the ER ribosome.
bit.ly
October 4, 2025 at 2:21 PM
☕Pan, David, Chevrier & co show that the microbial #metabolites queuine and preQ1 modify the same host tRNA. PreQ1-tRNA reduces cell proliferation, slows #tumor growth, decreases the translation of ribosomal proteins and is cleaved by IRE1 on the ER #ribosome.
👉https://rdcu.be/eJqFc
bit.ly/46BPXtJ
👉https://rdcu.be/eJqFc
bit.ly/46BPXtJ
Reposted by Laura White
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
October 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Reposted by Laura White
Beautiful reconstitution of amino acid stress-dependent ISR activation by my @harvardcellbio.bsky.social colleagues presenting a unifying mechanism for GCN2 activation, which requires ribosome collisions and is enhanced by cognate uncharged tRNA in the A site! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
GCN1 couples GCN2 to ribosomal state to initiate amino acid response pathway signaling
During nutrient deprivation, activation of the protein kinase GCN2 regulates cell survival and metabolic homeostasis. In addition to amino acid stress, GCN2 is activated by a variety of cellular stres...
www.science.org
October 3, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Beautiful reconstitution of amino acid stress-dependent ISR activation by my @harvardcellbio.bsky.social colleagues presenting a unifying mechanism for GCN2 activation, which requires ribosome collisions and is enhanced by cognate uncharged tRNA in the A site! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
This looks useful.
Finally using {pins} #rstats package to share heavy files that can't be shared among collaborators through GitHub, and it works like a breeze! Supports data versioning, cache, etc. Thanks @posit.co
Here using Google Drive to share files, but can use many different servers, see pins.rstudio.com
Here using Google Drive to share files, but can use many different servers, see pins.rstudio.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:32 PM
This looks useful.
The grad student organizers of Colorado's long-running RNA Club have been putting together this event to demystify the PhD application process for the past few years. Pass along to folks applying to grad school this cycle 🍁
October 1, 2025 at 2:39 PM
The grad student organizers of Colorado's long-running RNA Club have been putting together this event to demystify the PhD application process for the past few years. Pass along to folks applying to grad school this cycle 🍁
Reposted by Laura White
This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important
⚠️ Chinese researchers have invented bone glue that mimics how oysters stick to surfaces underwater.
The adhesive can reportedly repair orthopedic fractures in 2-3 minutes, even in blood-rich environments, and is bioabsorbable.
interestingengineering.com/science/chin...
The adhesive can reportedly repair orthopedic fractures in 2-3 minutes, even in blood-rich environments, and is bioabsorbable.
interestingengineering.com/science/chin...
China's oyster-inspired 'bone glue' bonds fractures in minutes
A new oyster-inspired Bone-02 adhesive can revolutionize bone repair without metal fasteners.
interestingengineering.com
September 30, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important
Fun fact: the Japanese Spider Crab’s Latin name (M. kaempferi) refers to this 17th century Dutchman who “discovered” it in… a restaurant. 🙄
September 30, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Fun fact: the Japanese Spider Crab’s Latin name (M. kaempferi) refers to this 17th century Dutchman who “discovered” it in… a restaurant. 🙄
Reposted by Laura White
I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool
September 30, 2025 at 2:29 PM
I think the R01 is basically a non-starter at NIGMS now. Data from NIH Reporter for new and competing awards, comparing number of R01s issued relative to R35s (MIRA). This has major ramifications for basic science and basic science investigators that are not yet in the MIRA pool
Every single one of these leaves is a bug.
September 29, 2025 at 12:34 AM
Every single one of these leaves is a bug.