Akanksha Thawani, PhD
Assistant Professor, Columbia University | Mobile elements, Structural biology and Genome engineering | http://thawanilab.org
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDHow to keep in step when your (protein) partner speeds up… Here we investigated the adaptive remodeling of a protein-protein interaction surface essential for telomere protection. Congrats to whole team! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDExcited to share our new preprint in collaboration with Ahmet Yildiz's lab. Check out how our team uncovers a novel binding footprint and motor regulation mechanism for MAP9 Congrats to Burak Cetin and @aryantaheri.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhD📢 Our Dept. of Systems Biology at Columbia University has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the broad area of quantitative biology. Come join our awesome department in NYC! Please circulate. apply.interfolio.com/177622 Suggested deadline: 12/15/2025. @columbiasysbio.bsky.social
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDOur paper in Science is out! @souravagrawal.bsky.social, @rlynn.bsky.social, @susvirkar.bsky.social, and the rest of the team show human RPA is a telomerase processivity factor essential for telomere maintenance. This reshapes our thinking about telomerase regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Great work from our future neighbor!
- 1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from? Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Check out this extremely cool work by @fueyoraquel.bsky.social on how human specific ERVs contribute to early development!
- Today in @nature.com, we present our work leveraging functional genomics and human blastoids to uncover a human-specific mechanism in preimplantation development driven by the endogenous retrovirus HERVK. Special thanks to the reviewers whose comments improved our manuscript a lot! rdcu.be/eI3tD
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDToday in @nature.com , we highlight how a cousin of CRISPR-Cas10, mCpol, establishes an evolutionary trap in anti-phage immune systems. Check out @erinedoherty.bsky.social and my work from @doudna-lab.bsky.social lab here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Extremely excited to share that I’m joining Columbia University @columbiauniversity.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor! We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky thawanilab.org
- Huge thanks to my incredible mentors—Eva @nogaleslab.bsky.social, Kathy Collins and members of these two labs for their support and generosity during my postdoc. I've learned so much from you.
- Grateful for many other supporters in this journey: the entire @leadingedgeprogram.bsky.social community, @bwfund.bsky.social, @damonrunyon.org, and a number of mentors within and outside @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social. It's been a joy ride!
- 🧪 We’re hiring at all levels! If you're interested in transposons, genome biology, cryoEM, RNA, chromatin, or genome engineering—let’s talk! Particularly interested in enthusiastic technicians and postdoctoral fellows! Email me and check out our lab website to learn more! #TeamScience #WeAreHiring
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDRNA N-glycosylation enables immune evasion and homeostatic efferocytosis by chemically caging acp3U. Excited to report this work lead by Vinnie @vinnieviruses.bsky.social and in collaboration with @vijayrathinam.bsky.social in @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDLooking forward to this new installment of the Woods Hole Mobile DNA Meeting! Fantastic program, laid-back atmosphere, and gorgeous setting at the Marine Biological Laboratory ⛵️🪼🐋 Abstract submission closes Aug 7 but registration after that date is possible. www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDMany proteins bind RNA, yet we still don’t know what RNAs most bind because methods map one RBP at a time. In @cp-cell.bsky.social, with the Jovanovic lab, we describe SPIDR – a method for mapping the RNA binding sites of dozens of RBPs in a single experiment. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhD#TEsky Structural basis for the evolution of a domesticated group II intron–like reverse transcriptase to function in host cell DNA repair doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDReady to lead pioneering research that bridges systems-level investigations of biological systems to molecular mechanism? The EMBL Molecular Systems Biology Unit in Heidelberg is hiring a Group Leader!
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhD🦠🧍♀️From bacterial to human immunity. We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity. Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDThe Xue lab at UC Irvine is looking for a staff scientist to support our work investigating how microbes interact and evolve in the gut microbiome! Open to a wide range of previous experience levels, see ad for more. recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09601
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDWe wrote a review on Transposable Elements (TEs) and almost all aspects of TE silencing and their roles in biological processes & disease. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDDeeply touched and honored by the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, my alma mater, (@uam.es) making me Doctor Honoris Causa. Thank you to the Department of Physical Chemistry for nominating me for this recognition. It was a memorable day for me and my family👩🎓
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDLike a dream, my name next to that of @isabelallende.com, and to be recognized by Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo UIMP. Soon after, Irene Vallejo @irenevalmore.bsky.social will receive the same honor. I feel proud to be linked to these truly inspiring, talented women! Thank you UIMP!
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDStructures of vertebrate R2 retrotransposon complexes during target-primed reverse transcription and after second-strand nicking pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40540573/ #cryoEM
- Vertebrate retrotransposons are the future of gene therapy. But how do they insert their genes? 🔥🔥 Thrilled to share our new work now published with Kathy Collins, @nogaleslab.bsky.social @berkeleymcb.bsky.social where we investigate this with #cryoEM & biochemistry in 🧪 and cells! #RNAsky #TEsky
- We identified features of the avian R2 retrotransposons that we previously identified and a newly identified element from a turtle genome that support transgene insertion (2/n)
- The expanded zinc finger array within these new R2s covers the upstream target site entirely to enable more precise junction formation (3/n)
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View full threadLink to the article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDWe're thrilled to share the published version of our DRT9 story, online today @nature.com! Congratulations to all authors! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Our review article on the recent progress in understanding the mechanism of LINE element propagation in eukaryotes is out! Please check it out. #TEsky #RNAsky #RT #cryoEM
- Check out our review article on the structural and functional studies of retrotransposon proteins by @akankshathawani.bsky.social together with Kathy Collins' lab. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Akanksha Thawani, PhDIt is finally (FINALLY) out! We characterized Kathy Collin's super cool OTTR protocol for tRNA and tRF cloning, showing that it is comparable (mim-tRNA-seq, maybe nano-tRNA -seq and LIDAR) or superior (everything else) to the best protocols in the literature. elifesciences.org/articles/77616
- Amazing work @mayavoichek.bsky.social and team!
- 1/ Transposable elements are often called "jumping genes" because they mobilize within genomes. 🧬 But did you know they can also jump 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 cells? 🤯 Our new study reveals how retrotransposons invade the germline directly from somatic cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A short thread 🧵👇
