News & Fun

3 lab members at 2 international conferences happening simultaneously near each other = successful mini-lab meeting in Croatia!

Also congratulations to Jingjing on her selection as a Reed Memorial Fellow!

Today is Shuhui's last day in the lab after wrapping up his project with the Liao lab - sending him off with a feast and obligatory caffeine detour, and wishing him the best for his next position at Yale!

More parties with the Harper lab, stocking up on LB Amp plates courtesy of rotation student Justin, and some Colorado friends after a great RNA symposium!

Welcome to BBS rotation student, Justin Brueggeman!

Happy birthdays, etc.!

Welcome to BBS rotation student, Della Syau!

It's a good week for a Logan visit to lab and our holiday party with the Harper lab!

It's Matt's last week in the lab! He's obviously made a huge impact. Wishing him the best as he heads off to a well-deserved break - after being stuck in the US for ~3 years due to the pandemic/visa constraints - before moving on to a postdoc!

Also, we celebrated another birthday (this time João's), and we're excited to share our paper describing how corrective protein quality control by ATP13A1 prevents wasteful ERAD of mislocalized and misoriented proteins that are still capable of folding properly!

Photo dump from Matt's birthday celebration, departmental retreat (and associated prep), and obligatory lab pictures with new swag!

Also check out this paper analyzing eEF1A inhibitors - amazing work combining structural, single molecule, and additional functional assays led by the Taunton and Blanchard labs!

We welcomed two new postdocs this week! Fun fact: both Yingshi and Michael did their PhD studies at Princeton (in nearby bays but in different labs). 

Also caught on camera a Galleria dinner run during long purifications and some celebratory mimosas during a lab meeting. Finally, check out the review Mike worked on summarizing how the ER interfaces with mechanisms governing nascent protein localization!

Second successful thesis defense from the lab in the books - congratulations to Matt on a great seminar, expertly fielding questions, and an extremely productive PhD! Matt's hard work, formidable intellect, and characteristic food/beverage choices have been integral to the first era of the lab. It's been a huge privilege to be a part of his scientific journey, and we can't wait to see the amazing things he'll do next...after taking advantage of his presence for a few more weeks :)

The theme of the week has been lab bonding! Last Thursday, we went to the lab's first Red Sox game at Fenway to wish Rodrigo farewell (Red Sox won!). This week, we had our lab retreat in the White Mountains, featuring productive brainstorming, varied scenic walks, taking the cog railway up Mt. Washington, and great food (and weather - an unexpected bonus)!

It's a memorable RNA day coinciding with the publication of Matt and Sam's work showing how the hybrid E2/E3 enzyme UBE2O selects its clients, such as unassembled ribosomal proteins, for degradation!

Also check out our recent paper with the Kranzusch lab reporting the structure of an active bacterial TIR-STING filament complex and collaborative preprint taking a closer look at inhibitors that trap eEF1A on elongating ribosomes.

Finally, conference season calls for an updated lab photo (carefully coordinated around busy social schedules and immediately sent to France) to show off our new lab members, new experiences such as trying out cocktails at a brewery (thumbs up), and documenting Sage reunions.

Welcome to our new research associate, Muskaan Vasandani!

Welcome to SHURP student Rodrigo Berber-Pulido from UCLA! Rodrigo will spend the next ~9 weeks working with Sam on QC adaptor proteins!

We're excited to have Shuhui Wang from Maofu Liao's lab joining us to finish his project and help on new ones! Today is also Sam's birthday and the date Susan is officially promoted to Associate Professor, thanks to the lab's hard and amazing work over the past years (during which Sage has perfected her boss pose and assembled her golden posse during boarding stints)! Looking forward to more exciting things to come!

It's Ben's last day in the lab before moving on to a senior scientist position at Foghorn Therapeutics! His contributions will be felt for a long time as he's helped to churn out data for 4 different projects at a mind-blowing pace over the past month, during which we also squeezed in a goodbye lunch, the return of 4th-floor protein homeostasis get-togethers, and a celebration for Matt and Sam's paper acceptance!

It's Vincent's last day in the lab! Wishing him the best as he takes a few weeks of well-deserved vacation before starting his new position at C4 Therapeutics. Thanks for a wonderful 4 years and the lab-themed drinkware!

Welcome to Haruka Chino, a new postdoctoral fellow in the lab!

Congratulations to Vincent on a successful thesis defense! So excited for the great things on the horizon for the first student to join (and soon leave) the lab! Also celebrating quite a few winter/spring birthdays and getting used to displaying our noses again.

Exciting day in the lab! Alex's paper (with Matt and Ta-Chien) on metazoan GET chaperone complex structures came out, there was some cinematography going on after lab meeting, we checked the box to schedule the lab's first thesis defense (!), and half the lab ended the day decorating a gingerbread house. Last week, the Harper-Shao holiday party also made a comeback - with bowling. No one was especially good, but at least one of us didn't fail to notice which lab member ended up with the highest score of the evening...

After a year off (and negative COVID tests), we (aka Sam) managed to pull off lab retreat 2021! Great science and general lab bonding featuring Chopped: Mixed Drinks edition. We came back rejuvenated for an OO club that especially emphasized the now-traditional seating arrangement of everyone squeezing along the walls except for the presenter, PIs, and non-Shao/Rapoport lab members at the table.

Congratulations to Vincent, whose paper on the fate of polypeptides synthesized from mRNAs containing a premature termination codon is now online! A rainy day didn't dampen celebrations with Vincent and former rotation student Yang.

Welcome to our new postdoc, João Coelho! Since indoor socializing is not convenient, the lab got lawn chairs for happy hours and hangouts on the quad (occasionally with friends from the neighboring Harper lab) while the weather is nice. Also lots of celebrations over the summer--including an undocumented lab dinner--for birthdays, our paper with the Liau lab on a potent cycloheximide derivative, Sam's F31 NOA, and more! 

Last week, we said goodbye and good luck to Alex, who moved back to Toronto to take an EM manager position. Stay tuned to hear about more cool projects he worked on! Alex's leaving also provided incentive for the first (mostly) mask-less lab get-together of 2021. Looking forward to more--many overdue--celebrations soon!

This week, we welcomed Jingjing Gao, a new postdoctoral fellow, who was finally able to join us after over a year of Covid-related delays past her initial start date! Lab distancing restrictions also dropped this week, meaning everyone can check out the lab's growing succulent collection at the same time...although Sage has mixed feelings about the rapid progression back to 'normal'.