Catherine Eichhorn
@cdeichhorn.bsky.social
600 followers 450 following 25 posts
Assistant Professor and leader of @eichhornlab @ UNL | structure/dynamics/function of RNA & RNPs | views my own (she/her)
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cdeichhorn.bsky.social
Hi! I am a biophysical chemist & Assistant Professor at UNL passionate about all things #NMR and #RNA. I lead a research team that uses structural, biochemical+biophysical, and cellular tools to understand how RNA folding and macromolecular assembly impacts human health and disease.
A group of 15 undergraduate and graduate students stand posing in front of a gallery of artwork.
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
keanelab.bsky.social
UMich Biophysics has an open search for a new faculty member. Application materials are due 5/15. Search is open rank (despite the title in the link). Would love to bring more structural biology colleagues to Biophysics. #NMR careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
ASST PROFESSOR | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
micamer.bsky.social
We would love feedback on a new NCBI-BLAST service we are launching today: sky-blast.com

Under the hood it's the same BLAST executable and databases provided by NCBI, with a replica of the NIH's interface - providing an alternative to the US gov service that's less congested, faster & more reliable
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
aaup.org
AAUP @aaup.org · Mar 10
The AAUP wholly condemns this punitive weaponization of federal grant funding. This attempt to discipline & control a university campus is a transparent hallmark of authoritarian rule & harshly violates the central mission of education to serve the public good.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/n...
White House Cancels $400 Million in Grants and Contracts to Columbia
The Trump administration blamed the university’s failure to protect Jewish students from harassment during protests last year over the war in Gaza.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
compoundchem.com
For International Women's Day, here are twelve more women from chemistry history, with achievements ranging from developing antifungal medicines to creating milk substitutes for people with lactose intolerance 👩🏽‍🔬👩🏻‍🔬

www.compoundchem.com/2025/03/07/i...

#IWD2025 #ChemSky 🧪
Infographic showing twelve women in chemistry. Full alt-text at link!
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
valeriejhorsley.bsky.social
Please share:
@delauro.house.gov is cochair of the US House Congressional Rapid Response Task Force and Litigation Working Group.

They are looking for instances where the impoundment and restriction of NIH/NSF funds is having a negative impact. Submit examples here delauro.house.gov/constituent-...
2025 Federal Financial Assistance Freeze
On Monday, January 27th, 2025, President Trump issued an order to freeze virtually all of approved and legally required federal funding.
delauro.house.gov
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
sarahmackattack.bsky.social
Science IRL decisions went out today!

We were able to fund 13 of the 77 proposals that were submitted. They are communicating science in stage productions, boxes at bus stations, interactive frog statues, musical performances, farmers market tables, backs of cars, knitting clubs, and much more.
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
napaaqtuk.bsky.social
If you have an undergrad that will graduate this year but who needs a little more research experience before their next step, encourage them to apply to the UConn RAMP program.

genome-postbac.biology.clas.uconn.edu. The application deadline for the 2025 cohort is February 21st.
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Home | Research and Mentoring for Postbaccalaureates
Welcome to the UConn RaMP on Genomic NoveltyUConn RaMP is the yearlong Research Training Program for recent graduates with a primary focus on first generati ...
genome-postbac.biology.clas.uconn.edu
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
compoundchem.com
Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science 👩‍🔬🧑🏽‍🔬

The Women in Chemistry category on the Ci site has a range of graphics on women in chemistry, both historical and present-day! www.compoundchem.com/category/wom...

#ChemSky 🧪 #WomenInScience
Image showing cards depicting a number of contemporary women in chemistry Image showing a selection of women in chemistry history graphics
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
srikosuri.bsky.social
It’s been a tough few weeks. My 10yo daughter was diagnosed with a very rare, aggressive cancer called interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS). I’m reaching out to identify clinicians/patients who have encountered pediatric IDCS or other (non-LCH) dendritic or histiocytic sarcomas cases.
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Special Bluetorial: The benefits of different life experiences

The scientific community has folks with a very wide range of life experiences. We have a lot to learn from one another.
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
nmr900.bsky.social
Preprint, In situ light-driven pH modulation for NMR studies, Aarav Barde, Ruixian Han, Martin A. Olson, Marco Tonelli, Chad M. Rienstra, Katherine Henzler-Wildman, Thirupathi Ravula www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #NMRchat #NMR
In situ light-driven pH modulation for NMR studies
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
igorulitsky.bsky.social
Let's make a thread of RNA-related conferences in 2025 🧵 (add missing!)
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
jeremymberg.bsky.social
Let me give a concrete example of the importance of applications with high risk-high reward as well as the role of NIH staff in taking risks.

Decades ago, a physical chemist proposed ideas about doing mass spectrometry on proteins (when this was deemed probably impossible).

1/n
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
nmr900.bsky.social
Upcoming Magnetic Resonance Events, Workshops and Conferences (pinned) #NMRchat #NMRevents #NMR
Reposted by Catherine Eichhorn
hoxinsocks.bsky.social
Happy #TryptophanWednesday!
cdeichhorn.bsky.social
The intervening loop is highly conserved and contains a tryptophan cage, previously reported in the synthetic tryptophan cage (Trp-cage) peptide. To our knowledge, this is the first time a tryptophan cage has been reported in a naturally occurring protein.
Three panels showing the tryptophan cage motif. Left: hnRNPR eRRM1 with residues in the motif shown as sticks. Center: hnRNPR eRRM1 with residues in the motif shown as both surface representation and sticks showing W192 is surrounded by van der Waal contacts. Right: Superimposition of hnRNPR eRRM1 with the synthetic Trp-cage shows high similarity between the two.
cdeichhorn.bsky.social
Our work suggests that the tryptophan cage motif plays a structural role, rather than in RNA recognition. An NMR structural ensemble of the hnRNPR-like protein DND1 eRRM1-RRM2 domains bound to RNA (PDB ID 7Q4L), solved by the Allain group, showed that this region does not contact RNA:
Cartoon representation of the human DND1 eRRM1 domain. The Next motif is colored gold and the RRM motif is colored orange. The domain is bound to a short RNA oligomer colored blue.
cdeichhorn.bsky.social
Finally, we compare to previously solved structures of hnRNPR-like proteins hnRNPRQ and DND1 to identify common features in the eRRM motif.
cdeichhorn.bsky.social
To see if these residues are biologically significant, we surveyed the COSMIC database and found several cancer-associated missense mutations in the tryptophan cage motif and residues in the Next-RRM interface:
cdeichhorn.bsky.social
Alanine substitution of residues in the Next-RRM interface or tryptophan cage reduce thermal stability and increase conformational dynamics, indicating an important role in protein folding: