Massive thanks to @Armandomics for all the day to day work in the lab. And of course @Smanski_Lab for the guidance and lessons in perseverance. Congrats to the entire team!

Excited to share our work on Programmable Transcriptional Activators (PTAs) for plants! We started by screening a library of activation domains in monocots&dicots, culminating in using these PTAs to activate enhancers in protoplasts.

We did not set out to develop new #SynBio tools for plants, but when the existing tools weren't cutting it (or more specifically weren't expressing it), postdoc Armando Casas-Mollano decided we needed improved CRISPRa for plants. [1/2] https://t.co/UW105fBzO7

Excited this pre-print is finally up! Big kudos to Ryan for all the hard work. Lots of conversation at Minnesota, to the final experiments at Berkeley. Who would’ve thought messing with Wuschel could be so fun?

Roots are hard but this is cool. Massive in field root phenotyping->GWAS/selection scans->gene candidates->transgenic validation in a single paper! Seven years of work (2015-2022) and tens of thousands of dug and imaged roots. Respect. (h/t @MZinselmeier) https://t.co/n1pjz4g39o

Deep learning based genomic prediction methods can start outperforming conventional GP once you get into the thousands of samples. Tested using data from 1,404 maize lines evaluated in five locations, plus wheat and tomato datasets (h/t @MZinselmeier): https://t.co/LjIwfnlOGk

Optimized dCas9 Transcription Activators for Plants https://t.co/zm77P6G5bj #biorxiv_plants

Our review paper on CRISPR-Cas activators is finally out in @CRISPRjournal. Many thanks to all authors @MZinselmeier, Samuel E. Erickson and @Smanski_Lab for their great work.

#JusticeForGeorgeFloyd

We now have enough #SARSCoV2 genomic data from different states to make some broad conclusions about how the #COVID19 epidemic has unfolded in the US. 1/14

I’ve had the privilege of meeting Karl and I'm deeply sorry for the loss in his family. Minnesota has lost 79 of our grandparents, brothers, parents and loved ones to this virus. Each one is heartbreaking. We need to keep working to contain this–it will save lives. #StayHomeMN

During this pandemic I’d like to remind you all that Ludacris once absolutely murdered the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama

WE CAN BEAT THIS, BUT THIS IS SERIOUS AND WE NEED TO TAKE EVERY PRECAUTIONS. https://t.co/zxMqVB9AWk via @YouTube

“Since this disease is caused by a new virus, people do not have immunity to it and a vaccine may be many months away. Doctors and scientists are working on estimating the mortality rate of COVID-19, but at present it is thought to be higher than that of most strains of the flu.”

COVID-19: 3995 deaths / 113579 cases worldwide = ~3.5% death rate Flu: 468500 deaths / 1000000000 cases worldwide = ~0.05% death rate https://t.co/t3wAA5sOil

Upon further reading: @WeAreSinclair can you explain why streaming platforms are dropping regional Fox Sports networks after you acquired them from Disney?

I will be canceling my subscription on Feb 29 and switching to @hulu for the same reason I canceled @Sling and switched to @YouTubeTV months ago. This is so frustrating as a consumer. I now expect Hulu to conveniently drop local sports coverage in 6-12 months time

Here is a really cool application of genetic engineering - GM bacteria that normally live in the gut of honeybees engineered to express genes that can kill off the Varroa mite Engineered symbionts activate honey bee immunity and limit pathogens | Science

Just a reminder for when her “health” show comes out on @netflix

'What's the harm in giving Gwyneth Paltrow a health show on @Netflix?' This morning I put two of my children on the school bus. The third is a box of ashes. Health information should come from experts, not celebrities. Stop giving them platforms. 1/5 https://t.co/wHF1iXHLuC