Peter Wang
@wyppeter.bsky.social
Postdoc at Doudna Lab (UC Berkeley). Biochemical + biophysical principles of protein/RNA mechanisms. Previously PhD at Bartel lab (MIT/Whitehead).
Reposted by Peter Wang
Check out the latest work from our lab, led by Daniel Lin and Lara Elcavage: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/3)
mRNA 3′ UTRs direct microRNA degradation to participate in imprinted gene networks and regulate growth
MicroRNAs direct downregulation of target mRNAs. Sometimes, however, this regulatory paradigm inverts, and a target RNA triggers the degradation of a microRNA. This target-directed microRNA degradatio...
www.biorxiv.org
November 7, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Check out the latest work from our lab, led by Daniel Lin and Lara Elcavage: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/3)
Reposted by Peter Wang
My first first-author paper is out!🎉
Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity.
Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!
Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity.
Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity.
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing?
PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
September 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
My first first-author paper is out!🎉
Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity.
Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!
Here we propose a model where a silencing complex, PIWI*, assembles on target RNAs to recruit effectors and shut down transposon activity.
Huge thanks to the Brennecke and Plaschka labs, especially Julius and Clemens, and all co-authors!
Reposted by Peter Wang
Check out the latest work from Jordan Ray (@jordanray.bsky.social), a collaboration between our lab and David Sabatini’s lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
Lysosomal RNA profiling reveals targeting of specific types of RNAs for degradation
Autophagy targets a wide variety of substrates for degradation within lysosomes. While lysosomes are known to possess RNase activity, the role of lysosomal RNA degradation in post-transcriptional gene...
www.biorxiv.org
September 11, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Check out the latest work from Jordan Ray (@jordanray.bsky.social), a collaboration between our lab and David Sabatini’s lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
Reposted by Peter Wang
Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans
A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.
www.science.org
September 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Peter Wang
Argonautes are coming :-) ... soon at @imgprague.bsky.social ... finishing preparations. Still missing a few things like drums, guitar, badges, beer ... but it's under control. I think. I hope. :-))
#argonautes2025
#argonautes2025
August 21, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Argonautes are coming :-) ... soon at @imgprague.bsky.social ... finishing preparations. Still missing a few things like drums, guitar, badges, beer ... but it's under control. I think. I hope. :-))
#argonautes2025
#argonautes2025
Reposted by Peter Wang
"why [would] anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist choose to be one [given] the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio "?
One of the most intelligent people you could meet offers some answers: having ideas, watching them develop, and sharing them journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
One of the most intelligent people you could meet offers some answers: having ideas, watching them develop, and sharing them journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Why would anyone want to be a scientist?
It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently...
journals.biologists.com
August 15, 2025 at 4:16 PM
"why [would] anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist choose to be one [given] the unfavorable risk-to-reward ratio "?
One of the most intelligent people you could meet offers some answers: having ideas, watching them develop, and sharing them journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
One of the most intelligent people you could meet offers some answers: having ideas, watching them develop, and sharing them journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
Reposted by Peter Wang
Check out the latest study from our lab, led by Coffee Xiang (@coffeebond007.bsky.social) www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
PAL-AI reveals genetic determinants that control poly(A)-tail length during oocyte maturation, with relevance to human fertility - Nature Communications
Gene regulation in oocytes relies heavily on poly(A) tail-length changes. Here, the authors develop PAL-AI, a neural network model that predicts tail-length changes, identifies regulatory motifs, and ...
www.nature.com
August 2, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Check out the latest study from our lab, led by Coffee Xiang (@coffeebond007.bsky.social) www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/2)
Reposted by Peter Wang
Beautiful work by Katya Khalizeva from @iaincheeseman.bsky.social lab, uncovering a surprising feedback loop to globally suppress mRNA decay during mitosis! This helps explain how cells maintain their transcriptome during a mitotic arrest without new transcription!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Global inhibition of deadenylation stabilizes the transcriptome in mitotic cells
In the presence of cell division errors, mammalian cells can pause in mitosis for tens of hours with little to no transcription, while still requiring continued translation for viability. These unique...
www.biorxiv.org
July 23, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Beautiful work by Katya Khalizeva from @iaincheeseman.bsky.social lab, uncovering a surprising feedback loop to globally suppress mRNA decay during mitosis! This helps explain how cells maintain their transcriptome during a mitotic arrest without new transcription!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Wang
New preprint! We solve a mystery you didn't know existed. Mitotic cells lack new transcription but require ongoing translation. Interphase mRNA half life is only 2-4 hrs. So how do cells arrest in mitosis for hours without depleting their transcriptomes?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Global inhibition of deadenylation stabilizes the transcriptome in mitotic cells
In the presence of cell division errors, mammalian cells can pause in mitosis for tens of hours with little to no transcription, while still requiring continued translation for viability. These unique...
www.biorxiv.org
July 23, 2025 at 10:57 AM
New preprint! We solve a mystery you didn't know existed. Mitotic cells lack new transcription but require ongoing translation. Interphase mRNA half life is only 2-4 hrs. So how do cells arrest in mitosis for hours without depleting their transcriptomes?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Wang
Nucleic acid structural biologists expose that many CASP16 predictions, even ones obtaining high scores by CASP metrics, are inaccurate in the most functionally relevant regions! Read more insights on functionally relevant features by the expert structure determiners (doi.org/10.1101/2025...).
Functional relevance of CASP16 nucleic acid predictions as evaluated by structure providers
Accurate biomolecular structure prediction enables the prediction of mutational effects, the speculation of function based on predicted structural homology, the analysis of ligand binding modes, exper...
doi.org
May 20, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Nucleic acid structural biologists expose that many CASP16 predictions, even ones obtaining high scores by CASP metrics, are inaccurate in the most functionally relevant regions! Read more insights on functionally relevant features by the expert structure determiners (doi.org/10.1101/2025...).
Reposted by Peter Wang
AlphaFold is amazing but gives you static structures 🧊
In a fantastic teamwork, @mcagiada.bsky.social and @emilthomasen.bsky.social developed AF2χ to generate conformational ensembles representing side-chain dynamics using AF2 💃
Code: github.com/KULL-Centre/...
Colab: github.com/matteo-cagia...
In a fantastic teamwork, @mcagiada.bsky.social and @emilthomasen.bsky.social developed AF2χ to generate conformational ensembles representing side-chain dynamics using AF2 💃
Code: github.com/KULL-Centre/...
Colab: github.com/matteo-cagia...
April 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
AlphaFold is amazing but gives you static structures 🧊
In a fantastic teamwork, @mcagiada.bsky.social and @emilthomasen.bsky.social developed AF2χ to generate conformational ensembles representing side-chain dynamics using AF2 💃
Code: github.com/KULL-Centre/...
Colab: github.com/matteo-cagia...
In a fantastic teamwork, @mcagiada.bsky.social and @emilthomasen.bsky.social developed AF2χ to generate conformational ensembles representing side-chain dynamics using AF2 💃
Code: github.com/KULL-Centre/...
Colab: github.com/matteo-cagia...
Reposted by Peter Wang
Don’t miss this Q&A with Dr. Michelle Frank (@michelle-frank.bsky.social), an awesome postdoc in our lab!
Our latest Postdoc Q&A features Michelle Frank from the Bartel lab. Michelle is interested in how the brain balances the ability to learn new things with the need for maintaining stable connections. wi.mit.edu/news/meet-wh... #WhiteheadPostdocProfiles @bartellab.bsky.social
April 5, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Don’t miss this Q&A with Dr. Michelle Frank (@michelle-frank.bsky.social), an awesome postdoc in our lab!
Reposted by Peter Wang
What was that you said? You are looking for new #RNA research to read in the weekend?
You are in luck!
📣 📣 Check out the new preprint from our lab!!!! 📣 📣
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
You are in luck!
📣 📣 Check out the new preprint from our lab!!!! 📣 📣
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
AGO2 slicing of a domesticated retrotransposon is necessary for normal vasculature development
Argonaute (AGO) mediated slicing of RNA, also known as RNAi, is a highly conserved phenomenon that is evolutionarily linked to the repression of transposons and other repeats. Although RNAi is no long...
www.biorxiv.org
April 4, 2025 at 5:35 PM
What was that you said? You are looking for new #RNA research to read in the weekend?
You are in luck!
📣 📣 Check out the new preprint from our lab!!!! 📣 📣
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
You are in luck!
📣 📣 Check out the new preprint from our lab!!!! 📣 📣
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Wang
Preprint alert! ✨ In this project that I co-led with @benadler.bsky.social, we show that a miniature CRISPR-Cas10-like enzyme, mCpol, uses a novel inverse signaling mechanism to prevent the spread of viruses that attempt immune evasion by depleting host cyclic nucleotides.
Check it out:
Check it out:
A miniature CRISPR-Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by an inverse signaling pathway
Microbial and viral co-evolution has created immunity mechanisms involving oligonucleotide signaling that share mechanistic features with human anti-viral systems. In these pathways, including CBASS a...
www.biorxiv.org
March 31, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Preprint alert! ✨ In this project that I co-led with @benadler.bsky.social, we show that a miniature CRISPR-Cas10-like enzyme, mCpol, uses a novel inverse signaling mechanism to prevent the spread of viruses that attempt immune evasion by depleting host cyclic nucleotides.
Check it out:
Check it out:
Congrats Jimmy and team! Excited to see this work out
Excited to share my work with @iaincheeseman.bsky.social! We show that alternative translation produces differentially localized protein variants mutated in rare human diseases. This was a fun collaboration, blending cell biology with evolution and clinical genetics!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Alternative start codon selection shapes mitochondrial function during evolution, homeostasis, and disease
Mitochondrial endosymbiosis was a pivotal event in eukaryotic evolution, requiring core proteins to adapt to function both within the mitochondria and in the host cell. Here, we systematically profile...
www.biorxiv.org
March 28, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Congrats Jimmy and team! Excited to see this work out
Congrats Leo and all!
Here is our paper showing in vivo folding of nascent RNA right after synthesis, published now in @cp-molcell.bsky.social!
With @karlaneugebauer.bsky.social, @isaac-vock.bsky.social, @mattdsimon.bsky.social
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
With @karlaneugebauer.bsky.social, @isaac-vock.bsky.social, @mattdsimon.bsky.social
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Rapid folding of nascent RNA regulates eukaryotic RNA biogenesis
Schärfen et al. develop a method to measure the structure of nascent RNAs during their
synthesis by RNA polymerases. Base pairing occurs rapidly in cells, revealing the
strong regulatory potential of ...
www.cell.com
March 26, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Congrats Leo and all!
Reposted by Peter Wang
Check out the latest study from our lab, led by @mhall98.bsky.social :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
March 15, 2025 at 12:36 AM
Check out the latest study from our lab, led by @mhall98.bsky.social :
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/2)
Check out the latest work led by @mhall98.bsky.social in the Bartel lab! Matt solved a long-standing mystery about miRNA targeting, and drove the story to impressive mechanistic detail. More information below:
March 13, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Check out the latest work led by @mhall98.bsky.social in the Bartel lab! Matt solved a long-standing mystery about miRNA targeting, and drove the story to impressive mechanistic detail. More information below:
Reposted by Peter Wang
ARGONAUTES 2025
The grassroot meeting of Argonaute afficionados is looking for afficionados! Full coverage of Argonautes from prokaryotes to #RNAi, #piRNA and #microRNA Join us in Prague at @imgprague.bsky.social during 27-30/8, 2025. Registration, program and more info here:
argonautes.img.cas.cz
The grassroot meeting of Argonaute afficionados is looking for afficionados! Full coverage of Argonautes from prokaryotes to #RNAi, #piRNA and #microRNA Join us in Prague at @imgprague.bsky.social during 27-30/8, 2025. Registration, program and more info here:
argonautes.img.cas.cz
March 12, 2025 at 6:56 AM
ARGONAUTES 2025
The grassroot meeting of Argonaute afficionados is looking for afficionados! Full coverage of Argonautes from prokaryotes to #RNAi, #piRNA and #microRNA Join us in Prague at @imgprague.bsky.social during 27-30/8, 2025. Registration, program and more info here:
argonautes.img.cas.cz
The grassroot meeting of Argonaute afficionados is looking for afficionados! Full coverage of Argonautes from prokaryotes to #RNAi, #piRNA and #microRNA Join us in Prague at @imgprague.bsky.social during 27-30/8, 2025. Registration, program and more info here:
argonautes.img.cas.cz
Reposted by Peter Wang
Today we're thrilled to announce our 2024 #HannaGrayFellows! Please join us in welcoming and celebrating these outstanding early career scientists!
January 8, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Today we're thrilled to announce our 2024 #HannaGrayFellows! Please join us in welcoming and celebrating these outstanding early career scientists!
Reposted by Peter Wang
After a remarkable 300 columns, David Goodsell has retired from the Molecule of the Month. We are very grateful for his service.
@jiwasa.bsky.social will continue the series, beginning with January's article on Assembly Line Polyketide Synthases
Details: cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
@jiwasa.bsky.social will continue the series, beginning with January's article on Assembly Line Polyketide Synthases
Details: cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
EDUCATION CORNER: Molecule of the Month: Celebrating 25 Years of Storytelling and Announcing New Beginnings
After a remarkable 300 columns, David Goodsell has retired from the Molecule of the Month series. Janet Iwasa will be continuing the series for PDB-101.
cdn.rcsb.org
January 6, 2025 at 5:12 PM
After a remarkable 300 columns, David Goodsell has retired from the Molecule of the Month. We are very grateful for his service.
@jiwasa.bsky.social will continue the series, beginning with January's article on Assembly Line Polyketide Synthases
Details: cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
@jiwasa.bsky.social will continue the series, beginning with January's article on Assembly Line Polyketide Synthases
Details: cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
Happy 2025! Excited to finally share our published slicing structure of human AGO2, the catalytic structure for RNAi by siRNAs and miRNAs. This was an amazing collab effort between @voslab.org and @bartellab.bsky.social with @amohamed98.bsky.social
Our collaborative AGO2 work with @bartellab.bsky.social is published! Abdallah and Peter used cryo-EM and biochemistry to determine the structure of AGO2 in a slicing competent conformation with a fully paired RNA. Read more about it here: tinyurl.com/AGO2-slicing
The structural basis for RNA slicing by human Argonaute2
Mohamed et al. report the cryoelectron microscopy structure of human AGO2 with fully paired guide RNA. Their analysis reveals the structural basis for the slicing activity that drives RNAi, showing that the slicing-competent conformation is achieved by domain movements and RNA-protein contacts distinct from those of conformational intermediates and prokaryotic homologs.
tinyurl.com
January 1, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Happy 2025! Excited to finally share our published slicing structure of human AGO2, the catalytic structure for RNAi by siRNAs and miRNAs. This was an amazing collab effort between @voslab.org and @bartellab.bsky.social with @amohamed98.bsky.social
Reposted by Peter Wang
Bartel Lab bids a fond farewell to our incredible lab manager, Asia Stefano. Wishing you all the best on your new adventures in the Rocky Mountains, Asia—thank you for the amazing time we shared together!
December 18, 2024 at 10:24 PM
Bartel Lab bids a fond farewell to our incredible lab manager, Asia Stefano. Wishing you all the best on your new adventures in the Rocky Mountains, Asia—thank you for the amazing time we shared together!