Chrystal Starbird
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drstarbird.bsky.social
Chrystal Starbird
@drstarbird.bsky.social
Scientist, mother, perpetual learner. Assistant Professor, Structural Biologist, Advocate, and Speaker. Views my own.
signal @starbic.01

www.starbirdlab.com
Pinned
Hi All! I’m a structural biologist who studies the structural basis of signaling via RTKs. I’m a new Assistant Professor at UNC and a #firstgen scholar who fights to make science accessible! I’m a bit spicy 😁, but try my best to lead with kindness. A recent lab outing:
February 9, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Technically, I was born in Tacoma (near Seattle), but I’m From
Boston. This is embarrassing 😬😬😬
February 9, 2026 at 2:31 AM
Just WOW! 🥹🇵🇷 #BadBunnyBowl
February 9, 2026 at 1:39 AM
Super Bowl prep! Pernil has been cooking all day for tripletas. We are almost ready! #BadBunnyBowl
February 8, 2026 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
For #BlackHistoryMonth we’re partnering with scholars to highlight and connect Black scientists worldwide.

Explore the Index of Inspiring Black Scientists to find collaborators, mentors, speakers, and new research.

Explore the Index.

👉 https://ow.ly/3xrw50Y8lha
February 6, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
Happy Black History Month! I am sharing a permanent and continuously updated list of inspiring Black scientists! Check it out! Huge thank you to the folks who gathered this info. Thank you to @drstarbird.bsky.social and the rest of the Index Committee! www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...
Index of Inspiring Black Scientists | Wiley
The Inspiring Black Scientists Index is a curated database celebrating diverse contributions to science. Join us in promoting education and collaboration.
www.wiley.com
February 6, 2026 at 7:45 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
Representation Matters, ESPECIALLY now. Huge shoutouts to Gelila Petros & Alex Washington (UNC PREP alumni), @drstarbird.bsky.social, Wiley, Hutch, and the entire committee! We did it!

(Yes, there’s actually a couple more Atlas projects in progress 🤪🤭🤫)
I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond!

www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...
February 5, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
So honored to be apart of this!
I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond!

www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...
February 5, 2026 at 5:44 PM
I am SO incredibly excited to announce the launch of a global list of Inspiring Black Scientists. You can use this list to nominate and connect with researchers. Please share and join us in highlighting these outstanding scientists for #BlackHistoryMonth and beyond!

www.wiley.com/en-us/resear...
February 5, 2026 at 5:36 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
February 1, 2026 at 10:07 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
Hey cuties. Everything sucks ass. Get some valentines and send them to your friends.

I'm sad. You're sad. They're probably sad.

Send them a valentine.

It keeps Skype a Scientist running, which hey, is very good too.

squidfacts.bigcartel.com/product/deep...
January 28, 2026 at 3:58 PM
New article on the impact of the past year on conference attendance and scientific societies.

As I mentioned, I had a great experience at many of the meetings I attended, though I know some attendance numbers were down and societies continue to need our support.

www.science.org/content/arti...
Trump slump? Attendance plummets at some science meetings, but others hold steady
Amid travel bans, a government shutdown, and funding crunches, 2025 was a turbulent year for U.S. scientific societies
www.science.org
January 30, 2026 at 9:02 PM
I know we have more important things to focus on, like ensuring the safety of many, but…

I couldn’t resist posting this for those scientists who still insist this is like 2008 and will just blow over. This is only one sector of scientists. It’s well past time to stop pretending it’s all ok.
The U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office.

A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies. Read more: https://scim.ag/4boPkq8
U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
A Science analysis reveals how many were fired, retired, or quit across 14 agencies
scim.ag
January 29, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
⏰ Submit short talk abstracts and/or scholarship apps by Feb 4 at 11:59 PM for the Symposium on Tumor Microenvironment.

🎤 Speaker preview: youtu.be/lyK8XkYC8cI
🔗 Apply: keysym.us/KSTumorMicro26

@coussenslab.bsky.social @sandramcallister.bsky.social @laurakiessling.bsky.social

#KSTumorMicro26
Tumor Microenvironment Meeting Promo
YouTube video by KeystoneSymposia
youtu.be
January 29, 2026 at 3:09 PM
HUGE Congratulations to the Mudumbi Lab!!! 🎉👇🏾
Not new, but a new to us update:

The first preprint out of my lab! We joined forces with @kinasekid.bsky.social @jasonzxzhang.bsky.social and David Baker to study protein phosphorylation! Congrats to Isabella from my lab on her first first author paper! tinyurl.com/43jwwfua
De novo design of phosphotyrosine peptide binders
Phosphorylation on tyrosine is a key step in many signaling pathways. Despite recent progress in de novo design of protein binders, there are no current methods for designing binders that recognize phosphorylated proteins and peptides; this is a challenging problem as phosphate groups are highly charged, and phosphorylation often occurs within unstructured regions. Here we introduce RoseTTAFold Diffusion 2 for Molecular Interfaces (RFD2-MI), a deep generative framework for the design of binders for protein, ligand, and covalently modified protein targets. We demonstrate the power and versatility of this method by designing binders for four critical phosphotyrosine sites on three clinically relevant targets: Cluster of Differentiation 3 (CD3ε), Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR), Insulin Receptor (INSR) and Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription 5 (STAT5). Experimental characterization shows that the designs bind their phosphotyrosine containing targets with affinities comparable to native binding sites and have negligible binding to non-phosphorylated targets or phosphopeptides with different sequences. X-ray crystal structures of generated binders to CD3ε and EGFR are very close to the design models, demonstrating the accuracy of the design approach. A designed binder to an EGFR intracellular region phosphorylated upon EGF activation co-localizes with the receptor following EGF stimulation in single-particle tracking (SPT) experiments, demonstrating pY specific recognition in living cells. RFD2-MI provides a generalizable all-atom diffusion framework for probing and modulating phosphorylation-dependent signaling, and more generally, for developing research tools and targeted therapeutics against post-translationally modified proteins. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. NIH NCI, 1K99CA293001
www.biorxiv.org
January 29, 2026 at 1:04 PM
Yum!
January 26, 2026 at 2:25 AM
One of my favorites! A true trailblazer!
Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941

+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012

#WomenInSTEM
January 26, 2026 at 2:24 AM
Thank you @keystonesymposia.bsky.social for another great Advisory Board meeting! Being a Keystone Fellow was a highlight of my faculty career and I suggest anyone eligible apply!
January 26, 2026 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
Statement from the family of Alex Pretti.
January 25, 2026 at 7:46 PM
Me and my oldest deep in the Colorado mountains 😁
January 25, 2026 at 8:10 PM
The work portion of the trip is over and my flight was canceled, so going exploring! 😁
January 25, 2026 at 6:20 PM
Reposted by Chrystal Starbird
Minnesota’s justice system will have the last word.
January 24, 2026 at 10:06 PM
Is it crazy to be flying out today with the impending Snowmaggedon. Probably.
a woman singing into a microphone with the words livin ' on the edge written below her
ALT: a woman singing into a microphone with the words livin ' on the edge written below her
media.tenor.com
January 23, 2026 at 11:07 AM
So excited to see this preprint up from my colleague @berlowlab.bsky.social and team! Very cool work on how differences in sequence encode for changes in the conformational ensembles adopted by human CITED proteins! Congrats!!! 🎉

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Sequence-encoded differences in the conformational ensembles of CITED transcriptional activation domains impact coactivator binding
Recent advances in predicting and modeling conformational ensembles of intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) have provided much needed insights into sequence-ensemble relationships. It is thought that conservation of physicochemical properties, but not the exact identity or order of the amino acids, maintains IDP ensemble properties that are crucial for function. However, detailed experimental studies are still required to fully understand the relationships between sequence and function in IDPs. The human CITED proteins, which are fully disordered transcriptional regulators, share conserved C-terminal transactivation domains (CTADs) that interact with the TAZ1 domain of the transcriptional coactivators CBP/p300. The conserved CTADs harbor amino acid substitutions in regions that are known to be important for interactions of CITED2 with TAZ1, but the effects of these substitutions on TAZ1 binding for the other CITED proteins are unknown. Here, we use solution NMR spectroscopy, circular dichroism, and surface plasmon resonance to characterize the conformational ensembles, dynamics, and interactions of the CITED CTADs. The CTADs are disordered in isolation, although the CITED2 CTAD uniquely displays residual helical structure that is sensitive to ionic strength and protein concentration. In contrast, the CITED1 and CITED4 CTADs remain largely disordered and exhibit more uniform dynamics. Quantitative binding measurements reveal differences in thermodynamics and kinetics for the CTADs' interactions with TAZ1, with CITED2 binding most tightly and CITED4 exhibiting significantly weaker affinity. Our results highlight the sensitivity of IDP conformational ensembles to minor sequence changes and the impacts that changes in IDP structures and dynamics can have on biological functions. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Cancer Institute, https://ror.org/040gcmg81, P30CA016086 National Institute of General Medical Sciences, https://ror.org/04q48ey07, P41GM111135
www.biorxiv.org
January 21, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Honored and Thankful! 🙏🏾 #MLKDay
January 21, 2026 at 12:22 AM