SmithLabUMBC
We are a diverse group of chemists and biochemists studying the structure-function relationship of metalloproteins 🏳️🌈🧪🧬
Find us here: t.co/eHC3pQp4dz
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCProtein degradation in Turnip - an adapted Arg/N-degron pathway. Preprint from Brian Mooney et al. Emmanuelle Graciet lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCA quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen -in PNAS from @anukharelab.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCLots of PhD opportunities for UK + international students involving my lab. Topics relate to metals & microbiology. First up: TonB-dependent receptors in commensal Neisseria in my lab at Durham, with @kjosts.bsky.social and @mattbashton.bsky.social. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Come be our colleague--we're hiring! We have an opening for TT Asst. Prof. in Physical Chemistry in the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Interests in spectroscopy, optics, or biophysics broadly defined! I know we're late to the game, but see our add here: apply.interfolio.com/180223 Please RT!
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThis is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
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- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCBeen hearing some horrifying chatter about dealing with the new #NIH common form and #ScienCV system, so I put together a short video with some tricks for mitigating some of those pain points. Hope it helps? 🧪 open.substack.com/pub/emptymod...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCWe are excited to announce the 💎 2026 Applied Crystallization Workshop 💎 at @getacrystal.bsky.social at University at Buffalo! Dive into Biomolecular Crystallization! We are holding 2 workshops in 2026. Each will be an intensive, hands-on session to learn about crystallizing your ❤️ biomolecule!
- Da Bears!!!!! 🐻
- It's the best day of the year: lab clean-up day! What will we find this year?! 😁🫠😱
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCIs your New Year's resolution to unveil structural details for your biological macromolecule? Reserve a spot in our January protein crystallization run before Friday! Package Acceptance & Plate Setup: Tues Jan 12th – Thurs Jan 15th Tues Jan 20th – Thurs Jan 22nd
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCAttention NY Area #cryoem #cryoet enthusiasts - The 6th Annual NY Area Cryo-EM meeting is May 27th - Features a workshop/discussion format where new results and techniques will be discussed - We are sponsoring and attending the meeting - zurl.co/WD7l5
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCIs arginine the new cysteine?! Check out our lab's latest in collaboration with @ianseiple.bsky.social's team where we introduce ninhydrin as a selective covalent warhead and probe targeting reactive arginines. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC🚨Excellent editorial in ACS Central Sci 📣 Thank you @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social for your support and to @louisflwilson.bsky.social for spotting these mistakes + drafting an excellent manuscript #CryoEM #StructuralBiology #vidalized ACS Central Science pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCGreetings! I decided to make a YouTube video of my AlphaFold workshop that I've given a few times in the past year. Caveats aside, people seem to find this useful for thinking about how to model protein interactions and how to interpret various AF outputs 1/2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=u63o...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCCome to Buffalo & be my colleague! The Department of Biochemistry at Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is seeking applications at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. We have a collegial & active department!!
- Time to celebrate the graduates!
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCI am proud to share a new paper out of our lab. We showed that our antimicrobial works with copper and zinc to kill MRSA & Staph epi. It can function through mature biofilms they form and on multiple surfaces. This outstanding work was led by Yamil Sanchez-Rosario. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThrilled to announce a new @natcomms.nature.com paper led by Alastair Stewart and team @victorchang.edu.au with contributions from @mcdevittlab.bsky.social Using #cryoEM we discovered unique features of the #Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATP synthase including an unexpected role for #zinc in the complex 🦠🔬
- Congratulations to the newest PhD from the lab!!
- Looking forward to @hhmi-science.bsky.social Gilliam Fellow Alexander Paredes' Ph.D. thesis defense today at 11 am in Meyerhoff Chemistry and Biochemistry seminar room 120! Don't miss it!!
- Congratulations to the newest PhD!!
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCwww.nature.com/articles/d41... Vaccines save lives
- Was feeling really good about a manuscript in review until receiving feedback from a **single** reviewer that was **1461 words long** and asked for a solid R01's-worth of work for a single manuscript revision. Sigh.
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCProf. Laura Dassama (Stanford Chem) is developing a small-molecule therapy for sickle cell disease that removes BCL11A, restoring fetal hemoglobin without gene editing. Her goal is a simpler, more affordable sickle cell therapy. brnw.ch/21wXP8k
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCAt my blog, I write more about my concerns for aspiring entering grad students in chemistry for Fall 2026. To reiterate - if you don't have a plan for next fall RIGHT NOW, you need to talk to your professors and advisers and develop a plan NOW: chemjobber.blogspot.com/2025/11/towa... #chemchat 🧪⚗️
- Pleased to be hosting @jeffmugridge.bsky.social here at @umbc.bsky.social Chemistry & Biochemistry! Look out for his great talk today from 12 - 1 pm in Meyerhoff 120 entitled: "Metals, mechanisms, and messages: how metalloenzymes do chemistry on RNA to control gene expression" 🧪🧬⚛️
- 🚨Just in press @asbmb.bsky.social JBC!🚨 Alex & Chioma's paper detailing the interaction of Fe(II) with an intact membrane His kinase for the first time! Binding stoichiometry ✅ Fe(II) structure ✅ Direct observation of selectivity ✅ Signal transmission pathway ✅ Read more here: tinyurl.com/49wdkecu
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe National Crystallization Center is hiring for two positions: a research scientist position focused on progressing our crystallization optimization projects, and a research support specialist to support operations of the Crystallization Center!
- What another fantastic biomolecules costume night in CHEM 437!! 🎃 🧪 🧬
- Chemistry pumpkins 2025! The periodic table o' pumpkins continues to grow!
- And Dan’s contributions added, too! Spooky 👻!
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe structure of B. subtilis DegQ from the DegS–DegU two-component system provide structural insight into DegQ oligomerization and its potential role in modulating DegS autophosphorylation and DegU binding #BacillusSubtilis #CrystalStructure #DegQ doi.org/10.1107/S205...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC🚨Our paper is out! 🥳 Hijacking a bacterial ABC transporter for efficient genetic code expansion. Many congrats to everyone involved - a multi-year effort led by @taruniype.bsky.social @maxfottner.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... it all started years ago with a failed experiment 🧵👇 1/9
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC"The pause has many academic researchers feeling anxious. The timing couldn’t be worse for Julie Kovacs, a bioinorganic chemist at the University of Washington (UW) whose grant proposal was slated to be reviewed on 23 October. Even if the... 1/2 www.science.org/content/arti...
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- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCUnintended proteins can easily sneak into experiments, but cryo-EM shows surprising power to uncover these `off-target' proteins in great detail #CryoEM #ArnA #AcrB doi.org/10.1107/S205...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCGayathri Yuvaraj et al.: Critical evaluation of three cryo-EM structures of particulate methane monooxygenase by quantum refinement #QuantumRefinement #CryogenicElectronMicroscopy @lundsuni...#IUCr journals.iucr.org/paper?S2059798325008356
- Hey, that's us! 😀
- Join us on Monday Oct. 13 for Biochemistry Colloquium with Aaron Smith! Research in Smith's lab focuses on understanding the structure and function of metalloproteins involved in crucial biological processes. More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe structure of the full catalytic cycle of Vibrio cholerae NFeoB biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/202…
- 🚨 Just out in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social 🚨 Kate, Candice, and Mark's paper on the structure of the V. cholerae NFeoB NTPase catalytic cycle. Serendipity of a P1 spacegroup with 4 mols in the ASU played a role in capturing all the states, and Mg is pivotal! Read the paper here: tinyurl.com/263u9vtn
- A great opportunity to work with a great mentor!
- For our lab at Virginia Tech, we are hiring a postdoctoral scholar to advance catalytic and energy storage systems. This is a collaborative project, and expertise in synthesis, photocatalysis, electrochemistry, or energy storage is ideal. For details see here: spartantalent.uncg.edu/postings/32936
- Someone got pooped from helping us decorate for Halloween…🎃
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC🚨 Our 4th example of metalloallosteric regulation of kinase activity. Out today in @CellReports with @KJSsci. The ER stress sensor kinase PERK needs copper to work. Without copper, PERK can’t protect cells under stress. cell.com/cell-reports/p…
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe NSF GRFP is now limited to undergrads and first-year grads drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/09/26/t...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThis may be the most important paper ever published about NIH funded research. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCNew paper alert! We ID resides of CIA targeting complex that recruit clients - in contradiction to what was predicted from previous studies, we find it is the cia1-cia2 interface, not cia1 on its own, that mediates the interaction. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCCopper regulates the evolution of REM sleep and transition of animals from water to land! It all relies on a new “metalloadaptor” function for RAD23B linking Cu uptake to distribution to multiple Cu targets. Tong and Dan co-led this @cp-molcell.bsky.social story www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCSBGrid's eLife paper received a citation in August from @fisherlab.bsky.social at @wesleyanuniversity.bsky.social in Journal of Biological Chemistry: Copper acquisition in Bacillus subtilis involves Cu(II) exchange between YcnI and YcnJ. Read more here: buff.ly/myITTv8 #SBGrid #ScienceMatters
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCNew review on the generation and consequences of N-terminal proteoform diversity from Evan Morrison and Olivia Rissland | #N-degron #RNA @cp-cellreports.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCSee our @natmicrobiol.nature.com News&Views on the publication from Yun Chen laboratory A rapid writing exercise for María Negre Rodríguez, a PhD student in my group Ecological function of phenazine in soil www.nature.com/articles/s41... #MicrobiomeEcology at #LeidenBiology
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC@jonathanccc-chem.bsky.social's predictor for discovering lipid interacting proteins is now in press - congratulations to all the authors!. We are delighted that SLiPP has spurred so many new research directions in the lab and nucleated many collaborations! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe 4th Annual Early Career Symposium at IBBR is Sept. 17th - Its a forum for graduate students & post-docs to share their scientific research in the fields of disease biology & biotherapeutics development & analysis - zurl.co/4oUyS We are sponsoring & exhibiting there
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCExciting news 🎉! Notice of Award from NIH National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for a new instrument in the National Crystallization Center! Stay tuned for more details... hint: 🦟 🤖 @getacrystal.bsky.social
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCMinipreps eating up your day? Skip the pipetting. Skip the spins. Send your colonies and get full plasmid sequences the next morning. No prep needed. Curious? Learn more about ZeroPrep: plasmidsaurus.com/products/zer...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCZinc is a critical nutrient for many bacterial pathogens. New research in #JBacteriology expands our understanding of a novel zinc transport system & provides evidence for an alternative mechanism of cell wall protein localization in C. diphtheriae. asm.social/2zf
- Cool story on the re-purposing of a protein I worked on in graduate school! Curious about other work that led to this? See: tinyurl.com/56mybjmd tinyurl.com/ksmau4xm tinyurl.com/yw9av9yh tinyurl.com/yuujhajc tinyurl.com/5987f53r Way to go Burstyn Group alumni!! And check out: tinyurl.com/mvvpzj3f
- New engineered protein shows promise as antidote for carbon monoxide poisoning www.medschool.umaryl...
- Pyrite would obviously win if it were there; however, in its absence, it's got to be either hematite or azurite...
- Behold, the #MinCup35 bracket! Use it to follow along, plan campaigns to support your favs, or make predictions on how voting will shake out. We start at the top left on September 1st, then alternate left and right as we work our way down.
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCNew Title Alert: UGENE- a free open-source bioinformatics software for macOS, and Linux. Learn more here: ugene.net #SBGridSoftware #SBGrid #StructuralBiology
- Alright folks, first day of Biochemistry 1 for the Fall 2025 semester at UMBC. Let's go!! 😀🧬🧪🔬
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCHere is the video from the Clinical Center patient in a different format. Thanks for @carolynyjohnson.bsky.social for covering this story.
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe final #ACSBIOL sessions of #ACSFall2025 are tomorrow! In the Westin, River Birch room B: ⌚ Current Topics in Biochem/ChemBio and Virtually: 💻 Translational Biomaterials Science We hope to see you there!
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCNitric oxide promotes cysteine N-degron proteolysis through control of oxygen availability | Important finding by Kim, Tian, Ratcliffe and Keeley @ox.ac.uk @ispt-proteinterm.bsky.social #N-degron www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- Congrats to the newly-minted Ph.D. from the @smithlabumbc.bsky.social Dr. Misti Cartwright @chemisti.bsky.social ! Way to go on an excellent thesis defense!!
- Looking forward to @chemisti.bsky.social 's Ph.D. thesis defense today at 10 am in Meyerhoff Chemistry and Biochemistry seminar room 120! Don't miss it!!
- But...why...?
- Because making funding announcements harder to find is "efficient". smh. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...
- To be clear, I "understand" *why* 🤬
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCI swear if we reach 1000 followers on here before #ACSFall2025 I'll eat an entire banana 🍌
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBC“thinking like a scientist also requires us to feel like a scientist [...] How do we broaden the ability to feel like a scientist when sharing the value of and passion for science with the public or other communities?" @cenmag @AmerChemSociety #POTACS cen.acs.org/acs-news/com...
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCMadison local achievement unlocked. I was interviewed live on-air this morning on WORT-FM about mRNA research! www.wortfm.org/dispelling-t...
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- Way to go!!
- Truly thrilled that @isaacapaddy.bsky.social has been named a Gilliam Fellow!! Isaac is a model trainee and has been a delight to work with. Many congratulations, Isaac! We found out during our weekly individual meeting that he would be a Gilliam Fellow, and I happened to capture the moment 🤗.
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCWell, this is a huge Executive Order power grab... www.whitehouse.gov/presidential... 1/3
- Reposted by SmithLabUMBCThe 4th Annual Early Career Symposium at IBBR is Sept. 17th - Its a forum for graduate students & post-docs to share their scientific research in the fields of disease biology & biotherapeutics development & analysis - zurl.co/4oUyS We are sponsoring & exhibiting there
