Excited to share our review article "Finding functional microproteins", published in @TrendsGenetics. It was fun writing it together with Alex and @FeiyueYang1 in the lab. #microprotein

RT @ophirshalem: Check out our paper, now extensively revised and published in @MolecularCell! This has been a real tour de force led by @s….

Our updated preprint on the mechanism behind the 1st & only human disease linked to tissue-specific ribosome: fatal heart failure caused by RPL3L mutations. Very proud of this work led by the talented and fearless Michael Murphy @MMurphyCUNY—check out his thread for more details!.

6, I was really surprised to find that most refseq annotated microproteins remain uncharacterized. This includes 11 out of the 13 proteins shorter than 30 amino acids, many if which are highly conserved. To me, these are low hanging fruit for function studies.

5, should the field pivot from riboseq annotated microproteins to those annotated by mass spec? While fewer in number, ms supported microproteins still total in the 100s and could expand significantly through targeted proteomics in diverse samples.

4, for most hits, DNA or RNA based noncoding functions have not been ruled out, which should be the default hypothesis for KO phenotypes. Most studies did not adequately rule out translation dependent but protein independent functions, ie only the act of translation is functional.

3, eg for lncRNA derived microproteins that show KO phenotypes, the majority do not have CRISPRi KD phenotype. I'm still trying to understand this. If this observation holds, it may point toward a DNA based function rather than one mediated by the encoded microprotein.

2, >90% cannot be detected by conventional mass spec but many are detected as MHC-I antigens, hinting at rapid degradation. While protein roles cannot be ruled out, most effects may arise from DNA, RNA, or the act of translation. KO screen cannot distinguished those.

1, >1000 microproteins have been identified as functional hits across six CRISPR KO screens. However, large-scale complementary validation screens to rule out false positives are lacking. My estimate is tat a large fraction of these hits are false positives, for several reasons.

We hope this review stimulates interest and sparks discussion in functional studies of microproteins. While we tried to be balanced in the review, there were some potentially controversial opinions that I intentionally left out. Here is a short thread to share those thoughts:.

Part 1 of the exciting work from Michael Murphy @MMurphyCUNY in the lab. Great experience with @biorxivpreprint - submitted 2pm yesterday and already online 6am today. This is what science publishing should look like

As alumni I'm sad to see a mit professor publicly shaming chinese students in a top conference without citing credible sources. The more serious question is: did she make it up? I dont see any sensible person would make such a confession. @MIT @NeurIPSConf.

We are hiring a technician to help with CRISPR screens. Prior experience with CRISPR screens and large-scale cell culture is preferred but not required. Please feel free to share:

I don't usually give feedback during the interview, in part b/c I need all 30min to evaluate the candidate. Now I feel like this is not right. Our feedback will be super useful for them. It's like grant review, reviewers did the assessment without sharing comments w/ applicants.

Question for faculty interviewing students for PhD admission: do you give feedback at the end to help them do better in future interviews? eg things they should change/clarify in personal statement/CV, that they need to prepare better questions for faculty, their weakness etc.

Hey RNA folks, a question about the discovery of the genetic code: Nirenberg and Matthaei famously showed that poly-U encodes poly-phenylalanine using a poly-U synthetic RNA in E. coli lysate. But there is no start codon in poly-U. How did translation start on poly-U RNA?.

Thrilled to share our review article, 'Mechanisms Suppressing Noncoding Translation,' co-authored w/ @JordanKesner1. Grateful to @TrendsCellBio editors Bryan Harada (@structural_biol) and Ilaria Carnevale (@i_carnevale) for their invitation and support!

RT @ColumbiaSysBio: We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Markus Covert from @Stanford on May 1st, hosted by Dr. @MoAlQuraishi. The title of the s….

great opportunity for those interested in translating RNA regulation into therapeutics!.

Super excited to start our new adventure in neurodegeneration with the support from @MINDPrize, our 2nd grant from @PershingSqFdn. Congrats to other awardees especially my @ColumbiaPS colleague and fellow RNA enthusiast Hachung @hchung03!.