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Reposted by Tamanash Bhattacharya

Edward T Eng @edwardteng.bsky.social · 4d

Muyuan Chen has turned structural biology into an immersive experience with his new video game Meowtabolism, now available on Steam.
Try the demo here: store.steampowered.com/app/4045010/...
Give Muyuan feedback: steamcommunity.com/app/4045010
#ScienceGaming #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #STEMOutreach

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Emmanuelle Genoyer @immunuelle.bsky.social · 5d

Excitingly, we are now hiring at all levels!! Please reach out if you are interested in RNA viruses, viral replication, innate immunity, RNA imaging, or are just excited about having fun doing cool science! Information about specific positions here www.genoyerlab.com/join

Join — Genoyer Lab

www.genoyerlab.com

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

It is a very interesting question and I would definitely try it in vitro if I could. That being said, the first study that hinted at this temperature dependency was done using rabbit reticulocytes.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

This means that while wild-type viruses carrying the opal codon is clearly the fittest at high temperature, at lower temperature the fitness gap between it and other codon variants becomes much more narrow.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

But at “lower” mosquito-specific temperature, other stop codons exhibit higher translational read-through, enough to partially rescue fitness. This also means opal codon has higher read-through, and over produces polyprotein, like the sense codons, leading to similar processing issues.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

At vertebrate-specific “high” temperatures, the opal codon produces the optimal amount of polymerase via read-through (unlike the other stop codons) without overproducing the polyprotein (like sense codons do) because it disrupts the processing cadence.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

Thank you, Laura. Based on this study and others it would seem that the temperature sensitivity of the opal codon manifests via changes in the rate of programmed translational read-through and polyprotein processing efficiency.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

Having access to the beautiful SHAPE-MaP data was absolutely crucial!

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

Finally, here is a link to the prequel study. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A conserved opal termination codon optimizes a temperature-dependent trade-off between protein production and processing in alphaviruses

Alphaviruses optimize viral polymerase production and polyprotein processing at distinct temperatures via a premature stop codon.

www.science.org

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

This work would not have been possible without the efforts of two talented mentees Tiia Freeman and Eva Alleman (currently UW MCB), and my mentors @harmitmalik.bsky.social and @memerman.bsky.social. Also big thanks to Kevin Myles and his lab at Texas A&M for carrying out in vivo experiments!

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

The paper also contains an unexpectedly cool finding which we discovered on a short side-quest. Check out the preprint to see if you can spot it! As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

This in turn prevents viral dsRNA sensing by cytoplasmic RNA sensors Dicer 2 and MDA5, in mosquito and human cells, respectively. Dicer 2, in particular, exerts strong selective pressure on the opal codon, such that sense-codon substitutions are highly disfavored in RNAi-competent mosquitoes.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

Building on our previous study, we demonstrate that by maintaining proper non-structural polyprotein processing, the nsP3 opal codon also helps maintain the integrity of viral replication spherules.

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Tamanash Bhattacharya @tamanash.bsky.social · 9d

New preprint alert! 🦟 <-> 🦠 <-> 🧑

I am thrilled to share our latest study on alphavirus host adaptation. More specifically, on how a single codon helps blunt alphavirus-induced host innate immune responses in mosquito and human cells. Continue reading for more!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Sindbis virus nsP3 opal codon protects viral RNA and fitness by maintaining replication spherule integrity

Most alphaviruses encode an in-frame opal stop codon between nsP3 and nsP4 in their nsP ORF. This opal stop codon mediates a temperature-dependent balance between viral polymerase production and prote...

www.biorxiv.org

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 18d

And now this is the first statement from a named White House official, hours before the proclamation is set to go into effect.

Despite saying “to be clear,” her first tweet in this thread contained an FAQ posted yesterday which contains NONE of the information she lists below.

To be clear:
1.) This is NOT an annual fee. It's a one-time fee that applies only to the petition.
2.) Those who already hold H-1B visas and are currently outside of the country right now will
NOT be charged $100,000 to re-enter.
H-1B visa holders can leave and re-enter the country to the same extent as they normally would; whatever ability they have to do that is not impacted by yesterday's proclamation.
3.) This applies only to new visas, not renewals, and not current visa holders.
It will first apply in the next upcoming lottery cycle.
4:16 PM • 9/20/25 • 397K Views

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 18d

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

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Jeremy Hollis @jeremyahollis.bsky.social · 28d

So excited to see the first part of my thesis work with @harmitmalik.bsky.social and @melodygcampbell.bsky.social in print! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... We have a bit of evolution and a whole lotta structure to figure out how new protein domains work

Molecular exaptation by the integrin αI domain

An ancient protein domain insertion seamlessly preserved conformational signaling while providing a novel surface for adaptation.

www.science.org

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Rupinder Kaur, PhD @kaurr.bsky.social · 29d

Excited to share that I’ll be joining @uicbios.bsky.social as an Asst. Prof. in Jan 2026! My lab will explore the epi/genetic principles of host–microbe interactions, symbiosis, and vector biology. We’ll be hiring postdocs and techs—details and lab website coming soon!

bios.uic.edu/news-stories...

Meet the Faculty | Biological Sciences | University of Illinois Chicago

bios.uic.edu

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Ram Savan @ramlabuw.bsky.social · Sep 7

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/s...

David Baltimore, Nobel-Winning Molecular Biologist, Dies at 87

www.nytimes.com

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Jeanine Gezelle @jgezelle.bsky.social · Sep 2

Our study from the Steckelberg lab is out now in @narjournal.bsky.social !! We dove into a new nuclease-blocking viral #RNA structure important for viral infection, which provided evidence of similar structure-based strategies across diverse viral families. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

A conserved viral RNA fold enables nuclease resistance across kingdoms of life

Abstract. Viral exoribonuclease-resistant RNA (xrRNA) structures block cellular nucleases to produce subgenomic viral RNAs during infection. High sequence

academic.oup.com

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Bloom lab @jbloomlab.bsky.social · Sep 4

In new study led by Xiaohui Ju, we define how mutations to Chikungunya virus envelope proteins affect entry in human vs mosquito cells.

Sheds light on functional constraints & enables us to make loss-of-tropism mutants, which could be of use for vaccines.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Determinants of human versus mosquito cell entry by the Chikungunya virus envelope proteins

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infects both humans and mosquitoes during its transmission cycle. How the virus’s envelope proteins mediate entry in cells from such different species is unclear. MXRA8 is a ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · Sep 3

Go home Evolution you're drunk

Nature @nature.com · Sep 3

A common type of ant in Europe breaks a fundamental rule in biology: its queens can produce male offspring that are a whole different species

go.nature.com/4mOb5T9

‘Almost unimaginable’: these ants are different species but share a mother

Ant queens of one species clone ants of another to create hybrid workers that do their bidding.

go.nature.com

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Hugo Bisio @molbiolgv.bsky.social · Aug 27

Finally out! Did you ever wonder how a phylum with 10 core genes can make a conserved organelle? Read the paper! It's all about intrinsically disordered proteins! | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

PNAS

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...

www.pnas.org

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Kay Choi Lab @kaychoi-lab.bsky.social · Aug 21

New from the Choi lab!
Our study shows how West Nile virus polymerase recognizes its RNA promoter, stem-loop A. Excitingly, RNA decoys mimicking this structure can block viral replication + infection.

👏 Mandi Feinberg & My Le in collaboration with the Barrett Lab!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Interaction of West Nile virus NS5 with orthoflavivirus SLA RNAs and their effects on viral replication and inhibition | Journal of Virology

West Nile virus (WNV) causes West Nile disease in humans. Approximately 1 in 150 cases develops serious neurological complications, such as meningitis or encephalitis. Currently, no vaccines or antivi...

journals.asm.org

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Bloom lab @jbloomlab.bsky.social · Aug 20

Our lab has an opening for a research technician to contribute to our efforts to understand RSV evolution & its impact on antibody countermeasures (see journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....). The tech will also help w lab management.

If interested, apply here: careers-fhcrc.icims.com/jobs/29940/job

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