I should say, I got almost all (maybe all?) of these from Bryan Thurtle-Schmidt at Davidson College! And I am happy to share my reaching questions if you decide to use any of them!

5. Noji et al, Direct observation of the rotation of F1-ATPase, from lab of Kazuhiko Kinosita. This one is really difficult for students but makes them really understand ATP synthase

I've also looked at the newer Fiedorczuk and Chen, Mechanism of CFTR correction by type I folding correctors. I haven't taught it yet but I like using these CFTR papers to talk about drug discovery

3. Zaug and Cech, The Intervening Sequence RNA of Tetrahymenta Is an Enzyme, a little weird because it is a ribozyme but really nice classic enzyme characterization
4. Liu et al, Structural identification of a hotspot on CFTR for potentiation, from Jue Chen's lab - nice structure and transport data

Super interested in others thoughts but here are some I use:
1. Watson and Crick's Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids (with lots of context)
2. Steitz and Steitz, A general two-metal-ion mechanism for catalytic RNA, to get them comfortable with mechanisms

Especially in this time of funding cuts and wondering if programs to support students are going to survive, this community provided hope that we can continue to support each other because in fact we have been doing this for millenia. 5/5

Given my beginnings inviting just one Native person to a symposium, I am so thankful to @willowcoyote.bsky.social for his vision and the entire organizing team for making this happen. Being able to talk deeply about science while bringing our full selves was the refocusing I needed. 4/5

Since then I have kept a running list of Native scientists I would like to meet. I have been fortunate enough to connect with many amazing Native and Indigenous biochemists and microbiologists but this symposium was by far the largest number of Native scientists I have ever been in a room with. 3/5

This experience was so fulfilling because I have spent so much of my career looking for and thinking about this exact community. When I was a graduate student, I invited a Native scientist to speak at a campus symposium because I had never met an established Native researcher. 2/5

Fresh Banana Leaves by Jessica Hernandez! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675699...

I've heard from people at several PUIs that they've had very small applicant pools. Our applicant pools have been okay in size but my colleagues said they are much smaller than they were pre-pandemic.