What an amazing assay.

DAF-seq, the evolution of Fiber-seq from the Andrew Stergachis group, using the @pacbio.bsky.social platform:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This will revolutionise our understanding of transcriptional regulation and functional non-coding variants.

i'm glad it's posted now, but damn that's a gut-punch for any 2nd year students planning to apply this cycle

Continuing efforts to hurt the research pipeline, the very late NSF GFRP solicitation no longer allows 2nd year PhD students to apply. Lots of these students chose not to apply last year because they were told they would have a better change once in their thesis lab www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

The GRFP announcement from NSF cuts out an entire cohort of 2nd year students from consideration, without warning. This is so deeply unfair that it warrants a formal protest from the scientific community. If someone wants to work with me to craft an open letter and solicit signatures, LMK.

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

Carrington lab reunion, Oregon State edition

Push rDNA outside natural range and you get effects:
• Replication defects in yeast: academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
• Growth defects in yeast: academic.oup.com/genetics/art...
• Developmental issues in C. elegans: academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

Thanks to all collaborators!
3/3

Don’t trust short-read rDNA quantification:
📄 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/pmi...
📄 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

In C. elegans, natural variation = no phenotype (~100-400 copies!)
📄 doi.org/10.1101/2025... (now in press at PLOS gen)

2/3

Here ends our foray into rDNA variation in model organisms—w/ Christine Queitsch, Bonnie Brewer, and many others. Especially Ashley Hall and Elizabeth Morton.

tl;dr: In natural ranges of rDNA copy number, phenotypes are rare (yeast + C. elegans).
But outside those ranges? Some things happen.
1/3

Proposed cut to NSF Biology budget is 70%.

70%. Seventy.

Call your senators & reps nonstop. Give them numbers on NSF impact for state/district. tableau.external.nsf.gov/views/NSFbyN... explain this will decimate the economy if their districts, especially if it has a major research univ. 🧪

Love/hate this

important historical perspective on the value of federal funding of basic research at universities: "These are the building blocks of America's extraordinary strength, created over the last 100 years, and they are now being dismantled in 100 days" 🧪

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qk4...

Trump’s war on science is an attack against anyone who has ever loved someone with cancer.

The American people do not want us to slash cancer research in order to give more tax breaks for billionaires.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... new paper out!

Thrilled to present our collaboration w/ Stergachis lab members “The regulatory potential of transposable elements in maize”. Single-molecule Fiber-seq - accurate and sensitive accessibility in maize. New open chromatin regions in LTRs and much more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...