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A new paper is out: the use of CRISPRoff and synthetic receptors to determine cellular behaviors including neurogenesis of stem cells
Jun. 13, 2024—This paper is originated from a side project. It is another example that one sometimes needs to think outside of the box. When the project doesn’t work as expected, it is not necessary the technology or environment. The nature of biology may play a dominant role there. Never give up and keep digging the underlying...
It is great to be awared for 15 years of service
Feb. 9, 2022—It is always great that your long-term contribution and service are recognized and appreciated by your organization. Thanks for all mentors, colleagues, and students that I have worked with in the past 15 years. https://hr.vanderbilt.edu/employee-appreciation/2021-service-awards.php
How is the intrinsic clock operated in malaria parasite cells? A whole new circadian clock mechanism!
May. 25, 2020—It is clear now that the malaria parasite has an intrinsic clock. Two recent Science articles by the labs of Dr. Takahashi at UTSW and Dr. Haase at Duke elegantly demonstrated this very exciting discovery. The massive gene expression programs that are regulated by this newly discovered circadian oscillator in Plasmodium is more like what...
More circadian rhythms detected by omics approaches
Apr. 30, 2019—The S2 cell line is a popular Drosophila cell line, which is widely used in the fields of cell biology and biochemistry. By measuring a traditional reporter and canonical clock genes expression, it seemed that this cell line lacked a circadian rhythm. However, when omics approaches were applied, circadian rhythms were detected at all levels from...
A beloved community, a top university.
Oct. 19, 2018—“Vanderbilt’s mission of research, teaching and service to humanity cannot be fully achieved unless we create a beloved community that includes everyone equally and provides the opportunity to realize each person’s full potential.” Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos https://admissions.vanderbilt.edu/life/diversity.php
We love research. How to prepare a successful doctoral and postdoctoral research?
Mar. 4, 2018—I believe almost all professors want to be great mentors as professors themselves benefited greatly from their own mentors’ support during their career development. Different trainees may have different type of views in the relationship with their mentors. Those resources might be helpful for those who want to learn more about this topic. https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/choose-mentor https://www.niaid.nih.gov/grants-contracts/postdoc-guide
Outside of rhythms, a role of Clock gene in human brain evolution
Jan. 30, 2018—Clock gene, a core clock component is also involved in gene regulation outside of circadian rhythms. A recent study of the labs of Drs. Genevieve Konopka and Joe Takahashi suggests that Clock is also a key point in the hierarchy of molecular pathways for human brain development and evolution. We look forward that the involvement of “humanized...
Divergent sequence of clock genes in different organisms are not a barrier for a convergent evolutionary clock.
Jan. 10, 2018—How circadian clocks were evolved is a big topic. At the first sight, it might be hard to believe that the clock we have seen in fungus, animals and many other organisms share similar mechanism. Well, it was also hard to believe that the complex behavior like rest/activity is regulated by only a set of...