eric lai
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lucksmith.bsky.social
eric lai
@lucksmith.bsky.social
study small RNAs/APA/splicing/m6A/Notch. neural development+behavior; genomic conflict+evolution.

http://www.mskcc.org/lai

also, indie rock and glassblowing.
Reposted by eric lai
Breaking News: The Supreme Court denied a request to consider overturning its landmark decision to legalize same-sex marriage a decade ago. nyti.ms/3Ju2Ayd
November 10, 2025 at 2:51 PM
new Lai lab paper @natsmb.nature.com! Dicer is specifically mutated in cancer, but we don't fully understand its molecular/reg impacts. with @danweihuangfu.bsky.social, we characterized the first knockin Dicer hotspot in hESCs, and found unexpected defects in miRNA biogenesis! 🧬 1/4

rdcu.be/eOc0q
Human DICER1 hotspot mutation induces both loss and gain of miRNA function
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Jee et al. study a cancer hotspot allele of DICER1 that disrupts RNaseIIIb activity. Beyond ablating 5p hairpin cleavage, 3p passenger strands are...
rdcu.be
November 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
ask for janice
November 9, 2025 at 8:27 PM
finally made it to sunshine laundromat. in the back beyond this door is a pinball bar!! (inc special edition addams family, which i've never seen/played).
November 9, 2025 at 7:34 PM
ladies and gentlemen there will be a delay
November 9, 2025 at 4:49 PM
startled to see this in the closet at the gym
November 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
as my friend points out, the blizzard logo on the upside-down blizzard pic is actually upside-down.
November 8, 2025 at 9:36 PM
i was reminiscing that i took my girlfriend, now spouse, to the screening of dick and carole rifkind's movie about science grad school, "Naturally Obsessed" (www.imdb.com/title/tt1470...) in part bc there would be a panel discussion with Jim Watson, moderated by Garrick Utley. Jim was horrible. 1/2
Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist (2009) ⭐ 7.6 | Documentary
1h
www.imdb.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:53 AM
hello 🪰 folks! i'm excited to host tim mosca @drosophilosophy.bsky.social for today's DB Program seminar. if you're on the upper east side of NYC at 2 pm, you don't want to miss his talk!
November 6, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Reposted by eric lai
[P] Found a higher-quality photo; IT *IS* TAPED UP SHEETS OF PAPER!
November 5, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by eric lai
It got drowned out in all the good news from last night, but Boston Mayor Michelle Wu became the youngest person to be reelected in the city's history.

She ran unopposed because her opponent--Patriots owner Bob Kraft's son--withdrew a few months ago after realizing he had no hope of winning.
November 5, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by eric lai
Mamdani: "New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight, led by an immigrant."
November 5, 2025 at 4:40 AM
Reposted by eric lai
😎😎😎😎 GOOD THINGS CAN STILL HAPPEN 😎😎😎😎
November 5, 2025 at 5:22 AM
feeling good this morning! lets gooooo 🌊💙
November 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM
one of the most gratifying things is to see past lab members make new discoveries! our former star PhD @brianjjoseph.bsky.social honed his skills on neural gene regulation and splicing in our lab. check out his new paper @natneuro.nature.com on ALS/FTD mis-splicing driving neural hyperexcitability!
November 4, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by eric lai
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by eric lai
Mariana Wolfner

Mariana Wolfner has spent her life studying a creature so small it could rest on the tip of her finger. In her hands, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster becomes something extraordinary, a key to understanding how life is shaped, sustained, and passed on. On a windy fall…
Mariana Wolfner
Mariana Wolfner has spent her life studying a creature so small it could rest on the tip of her finger. In her hands, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster becomes something extraordinary, a key to understanding how life is shaped, sustained, and passed on. On a windy fall afternoon at Cornell, she sat surrounded by papers, notes, and journals. The light came through the window in soft bands as she lifted a golden model of a fly and smiled.
explorers.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:45 PM
find out more about the boxcutter collective's puppetry: boxcuttercollective.org
November 3, 2025 at 3:19 PM
went to premiere of "dimension zero" by the Boxcutter Collective. zany musical/puppet sci-fi theater about strong women taking down space monsters and evil capitalist overlords. i went to college with people who wrote and performed stuff like this, so happy that weird art is still being made!!
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
our daughter won the Boooouldering comp this weekend. for extra difficulty, she competed in her mother's prom dress and helena bonham carter-style crazed makeup!!
November 3, 2025 at 12:37 AM
holy moley, what a 9th!
November 2, 2025 at 3:43 AM
having grown up on lake superior in the 70s, "the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald" was an indelible staple on the radio.
November 1, 2025 at 6:01 PM
thrilled to welcome max wilkinson to @mskcancercenter.bsky.social, and excited to learn the next crazy surprises in RNA his lab uncovers !! 🧬
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social

🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬

annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
Wilkinson Lab
We discover and study reverse transcriptases
wilkinsonlab.bio
November 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by eric lai
The United States was the leading destination for top scientists from all over the world.

That is ending. Politicians ended it. It will cripple our future competitiveness.

And it’s such a bitter tragedy. Almost no Americans, Conservative or Liberal, grasp what is now being stolen from them.
Top researchers consider leaving U.S. amid funding cuts: 'The science world is ending'
YouTube video by PBS NewsHour
youtu.be
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
hey everyone! i found a lobby with a big doughnut on the wall!!!
November 1, 2025 at 3:01 AM