Our latest preprint out! We show BMP from somatic support cells helps sperm development in the fly testis. This has been unknown for quite some time, turned out to be a classic BMP pathway. Congratulations, Emma! biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Happy Chinese New Year! 🍊🍊 it’s a pleasure to report that our paper on stable introns in regulating germline mitochondrial quality is out today! nature.com/articles/s4146… Congratulations to Annabel (former RA) & Chris (current postdoc). Thanks for your contributions! 🐉

Researchers at UConn Health have made strides to better understand stem cells – in this case, gaining knowledge on how a signaling molecule can prevent a stem cell from transforming into a specialized cell. today.uconn.edu/2024/03/when-l…

Insulin signaling regulates R2 retrotransposon expression to orchestrate transgenerational rDNA copy number maintenance biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

There was a strong movement by geneticists to put Barbara McClintock on the $10 bill. She's certainly the female scientist I'm most indebted to personally. #InternationalWomensDay #transposons

Capping a 10-year-long adventure, in today's Cell we unveil the molecular mechanism whereby the fertilized egg permanently blocks polyspermy, a lethal condition for the embryo: doi.org/10.1016/j.cell… #structuralbiology #reproduction #fertilization #infertility

Spring

having my paper selected for the journal club is the best thing! Thank you!

From Connecticut now

It's almost exactly a year since war broke out in Sudan. Millions have been displaced and 15,000+ have been killed. As we mark the anniversary, we must redouble efforts to end the violence, to provide humanitarian aid, and to find a peaceful, democratic future for the country.

Many faculty members across the country have signed statements in support of students' right to protest. We invite our members to do the same. The statement is in the link below. forms.gle/txioqSa4raRuoS…

😬🙂

See: doi.org/10.1038/s41556… A close-up view of mRNA organization and regulation during active translation in germ granules! Congrats to Roy Chen, William Stainier, and our collaborators Jeremy Dufourt and Mounia Lagha! Nature Cell Biology!

Summer students are finishing up their jobs next week! Thank you for hard work, Emily, Vedansh and Justin!

Published: our study on a new Drosophila gene Moat shows strong polarity-based junctions allow weak myosin to promote productive apical constriction, leading to ectopic folding of ectodermal anterior midgut (ectoAMG). The ectopic folding requires Baz/Par3. molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10.10…

An RNA binding regulatory cascade controls the switch from proliferation to differentiation in the Drosophila male germ line stem cell lineage biorxiv.org/content/10.110…