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umlifesciences.bsky.social
U-M Life Sciences Institute
@umlifesciences.bsky.social
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University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute—exploring biological processes, structures and functions at the finest scale to create impact on a global scale.
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umlifesciences.bsky.social
Researchers from the @narayanlab.bsky.social have unlocked a novel mechanism for transforming molecules. Their findings, described in a new @nature.com study, open new ways to develop important molecules with fewer wasteful byproducts.
nature.com/articles/s41...
Synthesis of enantioenriched atropisomers by biocatalytic deracemization - Nature
A new method for deracemization of atropisomers is described which leverages a P450 enzyme-mediated process involving bond rotation for enantioenrichment.
nature.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by U-M Life Sciences Institute
ascbiology.bsky.social
From MBoC... Lois Weisman ( @umichnews.bsky.social ) reveals how one protein’s teamwork — or lack of it — could hold clues to treating childhood neurodegenerative disease.

🔗 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10....
November 10, 2025 at 2:10 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Why does it matter what a protein looks like?
@umich.edu structural biologist Janet Smith explains why her lab aims to uncover protein structures and describes the hidden impacts of structural biology on drug discovery and human health:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVG...
Hidden Impact: Why we study protein structure
YouTube video by TheLSIatUM
www.youtube.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:40 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Pediatric oncologist @johnprensner.bsky.social has teamed up with the LSI's Natural Products Discovery Core to explore thousands of #NaturalProducts in search of new treatment paths for #DIPG, a deadly childhood brain cancer. Learn more about the project:
research.umich.edu/research-sto...
Ashu Tripathi working with the NPDC’s high-throughput mass spectrometry system
October 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by U-M Life Sciences Institute
umwallacehouse.bsky.social
✨ Save the Date! ✨

LSI SciComm Speaker Series welcomes Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science.

📅 Thursday, Oct. 9
⏰ 10:00 a.m.
📍 Rackham Amphitheatre
📖 Book-signing after the talk!

@umlifesciences.bsky.social
October 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Prof. Alison Narayan (@alisonnarayan.bsky.social) discusses the motivation behind CATNIP, a data-driven platform that makes biocatalysis more accessible to chemists. The tool, developed by Narayan's lab and collaborators at @cmu.edu is described in a new @nature.com study:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Photo of Alison Narayan with a quote: Biocatalysis offers a more sustainable way to build molecules, and it can also give us access to molecules that we couldn’t build using traditional chemical methods. But most of the known substrates for these biocatalysts come from nature, which is just a very small subset of the molecules that chemists work with.
October 2, 2025 at 1:26 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
A team from @umich.edu and @cmu.edu has developed CATNIP for chemists — a data-driven open-access platform that removes a major barrier to wider adoption of #biocatalysis, making greener chemistry more accessible.
Read more: myumi.ch/dgp2Z
@narayanlab.bsky.social
@alisonnarayan.bsky.social
Abstract representation of the connections between chemical space and protein space
October 1, 2025 at 3:15 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
A new @natcomms.nature.com study from Dan Klionsky’s lab, conducted in yeast, reveals how mutations that were thought to shut down one essential cellular process can actually help some types of cancer cells grow, while making them more resistant to stress.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
V-ATPase-dependent induction of selective autophagy - Nature Communications
Here the authors show that mutations in V-ATPase genes in follicular lymphoma trigger V-ATPase-dependent autophagy. This process, linked to tryptophan metabolism and ribosome biogenesis, may help tumor cells thrive under stress conditions.
www.nature.com
September 30, 2025 at 11:59 AM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Studying venom resistance in opossums, scientists have discovered that differences between human and opossum versions of a blood-born protein enable the animals to combat the blood-clotting effects of snake venom. Their findings could have relevance for human coagulopathies.
doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Comparative microfluidic and enzymatic analyses reveal multifaceted snake venom resistance and novel VWF behavior in the opossum Monodelphis domestica
Interactions between predators and prey are often characterized by strong selection pressures that shape extreme physiological adaptations. Venom resistance in large-bodied South American opossums (Cl...
doi.org
September 29, 2025 at 12:03 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
In a new @jcb.org study, a team of @umich.edu researchers reveal new details in a complex cellular mechanism that is central to the brain’s ability to learn and form memories.

www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-09...
Hippocampal neuron with its central cell body, branching neurites and dendritic spines
September 26, 2025 at 2:13 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
We've had a great week celebrating our dedicated, innovative postdocs as part of National Postdoc Appreciation Week. And while #NPAW2025 is coming to an end, our gratitude is not! Thank you, LSI postdocs, for your scientific expertise, mentorship, and all you contribute to the LSI community!
Handwritten note on black paper: Thank you for your mentorship and guidance!
September 19, 2025 at 6:49 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Join us October 9 for the LSI #SciComm Series lecture featuring
Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science."
Details: events.umich.edu/event/137203

Cosponsored by @umisr.bsky.social and the U-M Wallace House
Illustration of a microscope examining female scientists working at a lab bench. Text: LSI SciComm Speaker Series, Kate Zernike, Author & Journalist. "The Exceptions: The Past, Present and Future of women in Science." 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., October 9, 2025, Rackham Amphitheater.
August 25, 2025 at 4:35 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Congratulations to LSI Research Associate Professor Wenjing Wang, who has been named a MBioFar Award recipient. This award from the U-M Biosciences Initiative recognizes faculty for their "research achievements, academic excellence, and potential to drive scientific breakthroughs." myumi.ch/4mN4n
Portrait of LSI Research Associate Professor, Wenjing Wang.
August 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
A @umich.edu research team, including Shawn Xu's lab at the LSI, has uncovered the neural circuit that allows skin to sense cool temperatures and send that info to the brain.

In addition to deepening our understanding of fundamental biology, the findings have medical implications:
myumi.ch/796gx
Coolness hits different; now scientists know why
Researchers at the University of Michigan have illuminated a complete sensory pathway showing how the skin communicates the temperature of its surroundings to the brain.
myumi.ch
August 4, 2025 at 4:20 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
LSI Director Roger Cone discusses his lab's research into the melanocortin system, and how that work has led to new drug-development programs targeting both anorexia and obesity:

Protein targets can act as a switch for obesity and anorexia | www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/p...
Protein targets can act as a switch for obesity and anorexia
In the U.S., dietary obesity has a prevalence of 40% and obesity increases the risk of other chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Even though anorexia nervosa has a prevalence of 1%, i...
www.michiganmedicine.org
August 1, 2025 at 4:59 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
LSI faculty members @byneuron.bsky.social and Peng Li teamed up with colleagues in the U-M School of Dentistry (including LSI alum @elizabithian.bsky.social) to uncover how neurons inside teeth do more than just sense pain:
news.umich.edu/ouch-tooth-n...
Ouch! Tooth nerves that serve as pain detectors have another purpose: Tooth protectors
Until now the sensory neurons inside the tooth were primarily thought to send pain signals to the brain, but a new study shows those neurons are multitaskers that also trigger a jaw-opening reflex tha...
news.umich.edu
July 29, 2025 at 3:57 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
#PostdocOpportunity:
The Fung lab is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to explore human structural cell biology using #cryoEM and #cryoET, with a focus on chromatin and nuclear structures during development.
Learn more and apply: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
July 25, 2025 at 1:39 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
Scientists have developed a new method for rapid discovery of RNA-protein interactions. Combining the multiplexed method with #cryoEM, @jbquerido.bsky.social & colleagues identified novel interactions between RNA & the LARP1 protein impacting translation initiation.
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Photo of Jay Brito Querido with a quote: "This new method allows us to uncover, at unprecedented detail and speed, unique changes in how RNA_binding proteins interact with RNA under different conditions, which is key to understanding how genes are regulated and respond to change."
July 22, 2025 at 3:02 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
“When everyone’s interests align, there’s almost no science we cannot do here at Michigan.”
Learn how the the LSI's comprehensive suite of research cores support drug-discovery and basic science research for @umich.edu researchers, while also advancing novel research:
Core Strength
Even before many of the faculty lab spaces were occupied, the nascent Life Sciences Institute was investing in its scientific cores — research centers with specialized expertise and technologies that ...
www.lsi.umich.edu
July 17, 2025 at 5:20 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
In the 2 decades that they've worked together at the LSI, faculty members David Sherman & Janet Smith have published over 40 studies together. They recently discussed how this long-standing cross-discipline collaboration has helped each of their research programs:
www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...
David Sherman and Janet Smith discuss one of their discoveries
July 10, 2025 at 5:49 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
In the most recent LSI Magazine, @umich.edu alum @aefraley.bsky.social describes how she has charted
a unique career path to from the LSI to her own lab at @ethz.ch, where she is focused on "caring for the planet and caring for human health at the same time."
www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...
Cartoon drawing of a scuba-diver collecting marine samples
July 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
One month left to apply!
The Michigan Pioneer Fellows program is accepting applications for its 2025 cohort. Spanning the @umich.edu Medical School, LSA, School of Dentistry, & LSI, this postdoc program is designed to launch innovative scientists into groundbreaking careers.
pioneerfellows.umich.edu
Shaping tomorrow’s scientific breakthroughs | Michigan Pioneer Fellows ProgramMichigan Pioneer Fellows Program
Our fellowship program identifies exceptional postdoctoral researchers and empowers them to become independent leaders through financial support and dedicated mentorship.
pioneerfellows.umich.edu
July 1, 2025 at 1:20 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
LSI Prof. David Ginsburg, one of the nation’s leading scholars in the molecular genetics of bleeding and clotting disorders, has been selected as U-M’s 2025 Henry Russel Lecturer! myumi.ch/w9dm2
Photo of David Ginsburg and text: Congratulations to David Ginsburg, U-M's 2025 Henry Russel Lecturer! This lectureship is the university's highest honor for senior faculty, awarded for exceptional achievements in research, scholarship, and an outstanding record of distinguished teaching, mentoring, and service to U-M and the wider community.
June 24, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by U-M Life Sciences Institute
drsprggs.bsky.social
I’m excited to share the first publication from my lab on the unexpected strategy that MCPyV, a cancer-causing virus, uses to enter cells. This was truly a team effort and I am so grateful for each of the brilliant women who contributed to this research project. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Temporal gating of nuclear import: How Merkel cell polyomavirus exploits the cell cycle for nuclear entry
Author summary Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) causes a rare but deadly form of skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma. However, many aspects of its infectious life cycle are unclear, including how...
journals.plos.org
June 19, 2025 at 4:05 PM
umlifesciences.bsky.social
LSI researchers have uncovered new details of the process that HIV uses to hijack cells’ transportation systems and cause infection. Their findings overturn a decades-old theory and offer a new system for studying viral trafficking and infection.
@science.org
www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-06...
Quote from Somaney Badieyan, first author of the new study: “This opens a new perspective on how the infection is happening. [HIV] is a much more opportunistic hijacker than we previously thought.”
June 19, 2025 at 6:55 PM