Meng-meng Fu
Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley. Cytoskeleton and transport in glia. Prev: NIH, Stanford, UPenn, Caltech.
- Belated post… last year, our lab painted a glia mural! It took about 1 day and we used a projector for tracing. Can you guess which cell is which?
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuNew preprint from the lab 🎉: γ-tubulin is a novel target of the tubulin autoregulation pathway! Previously thought to exclusively target α- and β-tubulin mRNAs, we show that the TTC5–SCAPER–CNOT11 axis also degrades γ-tubulin mRNA, expanding the scope of this fundamental regulatory mechanism.
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuVaults. They are cell biology's greatest puzzle! This preprint from Martin Beck's lab shows them docked on ER membranes with a ribosome inside. What on earth is going on there?? #CellBiology #WTFology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Reposted by Meng-meng Fu@hhmi.org Summer Undergraduate Research Experience - #CechFellows named in honor of Prof Tom Cech Deadline to apply: 12/22/2025 Spend 9 weeks in a paid, mentored biomedical research experience in an HHMI lab. See you next summer!!! www.hhmi.org/programs/cec...
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuOne of my Oxford visit highlights? I got to see these priceless slides that Ruffini sent to Sherrington of various sensory end organs. And yes, Ruffini had to excise these receptors from his own skin 😳🔬🧠
- Excited to share our new pre-print collab w. @rdaslab.bsky.social Study led by Ved Topkar brilliant MD/PhD student who used biochemistry and bioinformatics to probe the relationship between Mbp mRNA structure & transport/local translation in oligodendrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 1/8
- Mbp (myelin basic protein) is the most abundant mRNA in oligodendrocytes MBP functions in compaction, a bizarre cellular phenomenon that extrudes cytoplasm from the myelin sheath. It acts as a molecular glue between adjacent membranes. Hence, it is locally translated. 2/8
- We asked which part of the ~1.5-kb Mbp 3' UTR is important for mRNA transport? Ved applied 2 orthogonal techniques to primary olives: - DMS-MaPseq to solve the RNA structure - SLAP-seq - a method he innovated combining ~270 reporters and Boyden chambers cultures 3/8
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View full threadIt was fantastic to work w. Ved & Rhiju! Ved was incredibly productive & received a R21 for this work. This was a project that survived COVID, 2 lab moves, sabbatical... We're fortunate & grateful to Brad Zuchero’s lab for help w. oligo cultures after I left Stanford 🙏 8/8
- Study from Mayo Clinic on deep brain stimulation (DBS) for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Not currently FDA approved but promising!
- At least once per year I see someone with debilitating MS-related tremor, usually cerebellar or rubral. This is a study I was hoping would be done... journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuWe have an exciting PhD position available in the Williams lab related to cerebral small vessel disease and funded through our Racing Against Dementia project - if you are interested then do apply here: regenerative-medicine.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate... www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuThe UNC Department of Biology is seeking a Director of Biology Teaching Labs, a key leadership role overseeing our undergraduate laboratory program. 1/n Learn more and apply here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...
- Well deserved! 👏
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuTwo tenure-track faculty positions open in our department: 1) Microbial Ecology and Evolution careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49... 2) Cellular Neuroscience careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49... Join our collaborative, interdisciplinary community, which has proved to be a fantastic place to start a lab!
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuThe NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad. I made a video explainer about why. Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social 1/4 🧪
- This is the creepiest Halloween decoration I’ve ever seen… IRL it’s very lifelike 😱 # BerkeleyLife
- Reposting link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Excited to share our preprint on cytoskeletal organization in astrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Postdoc @mewynne759 looked at microtubules, IFs/GFAP & actin along long elaborate processes. Wonderful to collaborate w postdoc @dharshinigopal & @NogalesLab on cryo-ET 🤓 1/x
- Excited to share our preprint on cytoskeletal organization in astrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Postdoc @mewynne759 looked at microtubules, IFs/GFAP & actin along long elaborate processes. Wonderful to collaborate w postdoc @dharshinigopal & @NogalesLab on cryo-ET 🤓 1/x
- We isolated astrocytes using the immunopanning method. Most images are from cells grown in serum-free media for ~2 weeks... they make beautiful processes! Microtubules & GFAP dominate in thick long primary processes. And we see a novel actin structure - reticular webbing! 2/x
- We used live-cell imaging with plus-end binding protein EB3 to determine microtubule polarity in astrocytes for the first time. They are ~88% plus-ends out. 3/x
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View full threadSo this preprint opens up many new questions in astrocyte cell biology! This was a real team effort: - Postdoc Will Barclay started the project at the NIH - Postbac Johanna Bergstrom and undergrad Eva Lopez analyzed data - PhD student Lana Ho contributed imaging data
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuMeet the 2025 ASCB Award Winners—trailblazing scientists honored for research, mentoring, education, and innovation. Celebrate excellence across all career stages in cell biology. Read more: www.ascb.org/society-news...
- Powerful stuff!
- We’re super grateful to see our work amplified by @sciencenews.bsky.social , which covered our study’s implications for ICU practice, surprise diagnoses, and what must change for genetic testing to help more adults. 📰 Read the feature: www.science.org/content/arti...
- Saw a family of quails! How many do you see?
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuDeepika Dogra, Karin Tuschl, and I are thrilled to host the Neural Disorders RIG meeting of the @ZDMSociety on July 30, 10:00-11:30 am ET. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers. Register here: zdmsociety.org/2025-zdms-ri....
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuThis week, we welcome Lana Ho (right), PhD student from @mengmengfu.bsky.social's lab at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, to our lab to teach us some cool smFISH (in a heatwave) as part of a lab exchange in the @hfspo.bsky.social Early Career Award.
- Vaults are cool! What do they do? We don’t know!
- 1/x New story - the structure of the Vault cap, at 2.3Å! Matching a beautiful preprint from @sjorsscheres.bsky.social, we show that the cap of the vault particle has C13 symmetry, in contrast to the 39-fold symmetry of the body. Study lead by talented postdoc @huanli00.bsky.social from my group! ⬇️
- Really beautiful study from Mike & collaborators! Basic cell biology question: how do axons know how long to grow? Important implications for PNS & CNS injury. Unexpected link between retrograde signaling & transposon/lncRNA mediated feedback! Wonderful demonstration of omics use & team science!
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuAs the incoming Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, I am looking for a Director of Research. Exciting opportunity for a PhD scientist to shape the future of this new Department! Apply here: jobs.weill.cornell.edu/NY/job/New-Y...
- Saw some cool mushrooms on campus today! Near Euclid and Hearst. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathru...
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuThe Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants. www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuMy dear health equity peers, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is doubling down on their DEI efforts. 💪🏽 Here’s a grant opportunity tinyurl.com/3pnxhy2d with a rapid response option those whose “health equity research projects have lost federal funding.” ⭐️ Please share ⭐️
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuImportant to celebrate trainee victories: excited to have Holly Merta's @hollymerta.bsky.social paper out! We use TurboID sub-organelle proteomics to map the ER network. We find calmin/CLMN, an ER-to-actin tether regulating focal adhesions & cell motility. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Great This American Life episode: www.thisamericanlife.org/857/transcript So important now more than ever to have a solid biology education! Judge Ana Reyes on the EO banning transgender military personnel: “this executive order is premised on an assertion that's not biologically correct…
- … There are anywhere near about 30 different intersex examples. So someone who does not have just an XX or XY chromosome is not just male or female, they're intersex. And there are over 30 potential different intersex examples. We've got genetic differences. We have people with XXX chromosomes…
- … We have androgen insensitivity, XY genetically, but may have female external sex characteristics and internally have testes. There's a 5-alpha reductase deficiency that causes changes in testosterone metabolism.”
- In these trying times, grateful for little kindnesses 🥰 Spotted on my walk home! #BerkeleyLife
- Face palm! This is just an excuse… The computers go to sleep very quickly then need a password to login in even with PIV card. I often left mine in my office when I was in the lab. One time I found a PIV card and returned it.
- Jennifer Doudna: I would not be here if not for NIH training grants! UC Berkeley @standupforscience.bsky.social
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuExcited to finally have this published! Out today in @naturecomms.bsky.social, we show that following demyelination in a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis, treatment of senescent microglia with senolytics leads to improved remyelination. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/3
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuI just wrote a book about how the type of work @markhisted.org is doing is key to breaking through the bottlenecks holding back new treatments for brain and mental disorders (from Alzheimers to depression). Seeing his work in danger makes me ill, and angry. We must @standupforscience.bsky.social.
- Compelling pushback from @jmgrohneuro.bsky.social and the Board of Scientific Counselors at the National Institute on Mental Health (NIMH) regarding termination of tenure-track investigators driven by DOGE. 1/2
- One of my students was accepted to this program earlier this month and asked me what’s going on? 😞 Dr. Milgram cares a lot about all trainees at the NIH. This must be a gut punch.
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuTwo new opportunities in Edinburgh: Research technician in our lab elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid... Senior research technician to support the Zebrafish Imaging and Screening Facility elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
- Reposted by Meng-meng Fu[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuRoughly 9% of NIH employees fired yesterday - rumors are IC directors may be next. Please call your senators and representatives!
- So sad to see this is the result of top NIH officials following federal court orders. For non-govt folks, retiring means he can keep his pension 😞 For those more politically savvy than me, is it time to start impeachment or is that a dead end in a Republican controlled Senate, House, Supreme Court?
- So important for our scientist colleagues in states that voted for Trump to reach out to their Senators, reps, and state reps (to join the federal lawsuit). A cut to indirects will affect the hardest working & least appreciated folks in science: our custodians, animal techs, grants admins, etc. 😞
- Reposted by Meng-meng FuGiving access to SSNs, other data on government employees to non-employees like Musk is a violation of 5 USC 552a, and carries with it a penalty of $1000 per person whose data was accessed. We are building a case. Govt employees who want to participate should contact me directly
