Conor McClune Profile
Conor McClune

@conor_mcclune

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Following
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@DamonRunyon Postdoc @Stanford with @Sattely_lab & @fordycelab Plant chemistry, synthetic biology, and everything in between. Formerly Voigt & Laub labs @MIT

Stanford, CA
Joined April 2016
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
25 days
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
19 hours
It makes sense that skin microbes would have an intimate relationship with our immune cells. But engineering these bugs into topical vaccines still feels like sci-fi. Congrats @DjenetBousbaine!.
@DjenetBousbaine
Djenet Bousbaine
19 hours
It’s truly an honor to receive this year’s @ScienceMagazine Noster Microbiome prize. Here’s my essay on how we can engineer skin microbes to build vaccines:.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
4 days
Pithy coverage of our recent work elucidating and reconstituting how yew trees synthesize Taxol . #synbio.
@plantae_org
Plantae
4 days
Plant Science Research Weekly -- Elucidation and recreation of the biosynthetic pathway for taxol (Nature) @conor_mcclune (Summary by Mary Williams) . #PlantaePSRW.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
4 days
RT @plantae_org: Plant Science Research Weekly -- Elucidation and recreation of the biosynthetic pathway for taxol (Nature) @conor_mcclune….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
5 days
RT @chofski: What to agument your favourite protein with new functionalities? We've got a #biodesign workflow to help with that! In work le….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
5 days
RT @lpachter: This week in academia, a not so short🧵. 1. Staff reductions and other cost cutting measures coming to Brown University ht….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
8 days
RT @JohnStreicher1: My NIDA grant renewal is almost 2 months late and I’m going to have to start firing my students and staff. Not a lot of….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
8 days
RT @DamonLisch: Wise words from my friend John Fowler. Gutting funding basic research is a profoundly bad idea. Shocking that this has been….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
11 days
RT @SynBio1: Now that they've ported the biosynthetic pathway for taxol into tobacco plants you can finally get cancer and treat cancer at….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
11 days
Great article in today’s Stanford Report on our recent work deciphering how yew trees produce Taxol. @Sattely_lab @ctliu629
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
17 days
RT @cenmag: Baccatin III is a key precursor for the chemotherapy drug Taxol, and scientists have now figured out how it’s made in yew trees….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
18 days
A nice overview in @cenmag of our paper identifying how yew trees synthesize the cancer drug Taxol: .
Tweet media one
@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
25 days
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
22 days
RT @Nature: ‘Missing’ genes needed for the biosynthesis of a natural anticancer drug have been discovered by perturbing and analysing indiv….
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
22 days
RT @Nature: Nature research paper: Discovery of FoTO1 and Taxol genes enables biosynthesis of baccatin III.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
23 days
A nice overview of our new paper in @ScienceMagazine news.
@manuelacasasoli
Manuela Casasoli
24 days
"Paclitaxel is one of the most important drugs in the fight against #cancer.". It is derived from yew trees, but newly discovered plant genes could lead to cheaper synthesis of Taxol precursor in yeast cells. #Science #Genomics #Biology #Biochemistry.⏯️
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
24 days
Thank you to @Franke_Lab for his eloquent overview in @NatureNV News & Views on our Taxol @nature paper. He deftly articulates the history of this valuable drug, the longstanding biochemistry challenge we tackled, and how we broke it down.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
25 days
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
25 days
This work was only possible with generous funding from @HHMINEWS , a @DamonRunyon fellowship and a @NIH_NCCIH K99. Thank you!.
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@conor_mcclune
Conor McClune
25 days
Beyond Taxus and metabolism, we think this is a generalizable strategy to identify genes sets of value, even in especially intractable eukaryotes. We’d love to hear your ideas and thoughts 12/x.
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