Happy to share that work led by grad students Zack Harmer and Jaron Thompson, with significant contributions from David Cole, is now out in the journal @ACSSynBio. This work developed out of a productive collaboration with the research groups of Zavala and Venturelli.

Happy to report that it is now Dr. Harmer and old traditions (awkwardly sitting around the Innovation room, research-themed cake) as well as new (ChatGPT generated poetry anyone?) were followed.

We're losing (in the best possible way) another student this month! Come tomorrow for all things yeasty optogenetics (or DM me for the Zoom link).

We're heading to #BMES2023! Please check out Zack's talk or catch me at the @UWMadison_BME booth!

Finally submitted a paper revision last night. This is the image the student sent me once we hit submit. Should I tell him it's pretty much always this tedious, or let that be a "surprise?"

And when family and friends get involved, new PhD traditions are born. I did not bring the sword, nor suggest the knighting. But I don't hate it.

There we go. Action shot.

Happy to report all went well, and it is now Dr. Stindt. Most likely one of the many paparazzo present captured a better picture than I did. 🥳🎉

A reminder that this is today! @UWMadBiophysics Kevin Stindt will present his dissertation defense! Please note this is happening in the Khorana Auditorium (NOT Mechanical Engineering).

Graduate student @UWMadBiophysics Kevin Stindt has set the bar pretty high for defense announcement images.....

A doctor^3 celebration absolutely requires three cakes. Congrats again to @UWMadison_BME Kieran Sweeney, @CMB_UWMadison Stephanie Geller and @UWMadBiophysics Neydis Moreno Morales!

Bittersweet moment walking these two lovely humans across the stage today. Congrats @UWMadBiophysics Dr. Moreno Morales and @CMB_UWMadison Dr. Geller!

Happy to report that it is now Dr. Moreno Morales!

Shout out to Twitterless Neydis Moreno Morales who will defend her @UWMadBiophysics dissertation today!

Happy to announce that it all worked out, and it is now Dr. Geller!

Congrats to @CMB_UWMadison student Stephanie Geller who will be defending her dissertation tomorrow. Stephanie has been a key member of the lab since its inception and we're looking forward to hearing about all of her hard work!

Also check out @UWMadEngr ‘s article on this work here: tinyurl.com/m94d3xev 9/9

The effects of changing TF affinity on decoding were promoter dependent. Increasing TF affinity allowed gene activation for a wider range of localization patterns, though the relative ability to respond to pulsed vs continuous TF dynamics was set primarily by the promoter. 4/9

We used CLASP (developed by @HanaScientist) to control the localization of high and low affinity Msn2 mutants with light. We then used an optoPlate (@BugajLab) to drive defined patterns of Msn2 localization and measured the response of downstream genes by microscopy. 3/9

Genes decode p53 and NF-ΚB dynamics by preferentially responding to localization patterns. Post-translational modifications (PTMs) also regulate the ability of these TFs to bind DNA. We used the yeast TF Msn2 as a model system to investigate how these mechanisms interact. 2/9