Contreras Group at UT

Getting the 1st structural & biochemical view of how this enzyme interacts with its oxidized RNA has been exciting work for our lab, led by my student @lucasg_miller in collaboration with @Resendizlab, @ZhangLab_UT , @CSSBatUT & Phanourios Tamamis (Texas A&M). #whatstartshere 🤘🏾

Recently, our lab had a blast teaching budding scientists how to extract DNA from strawberries as part of the annual UT Austin STEM Girl Day! @UTWiSTEM #UTSTEMGirlDay #WhatStartsHere #FutureScientists #STEM

We are excited to share that 3 of the Contreras Lab’s talented undergraduate researchers have been awarded a prestigious UT Austin Undergraduate Research Fellowship! Congratulations to Audrey Chu, Irene Alapatt, and Laci Moline! #undergraduateresearch #awards

Our very own Agata Turula (@AgataTurula) showcased some of her awesome work on sRNA discovery in the human pathogen, B. pertussis, at the @TexasChE Grad Student Success Celebration late last week!

Poetry in science? Check out this cool story detailing our recent collaboration with renowned poet @christianbok and lab alumni @TCordovaBio where we engineered the extremophile, Deinococcus radiodurans, to encode a poem! Link 👉 cockrell.utexas.edu/news/conan-the…

(2/2) uncovering the coordinated efforts of nucleoid-associated proteins, transcription factors, and sRNAs. We also uncovered and validated 5 transcription factors that regulate nutrient-responsive sRNAs.

(1/2) Check out our latest publication in NAR led by lab alumni, @Alyssa_Ekdahl : academic.oup.com/nar/article/53… ! This work captured the global transcriptional regulation of E. coli in response to nutrient stress, ...

(2/2) programmable gene repression! Check it out here: biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #WhatStartsHere

(1/2) We are excited to announce our latest preprint, led by @TCordovaBio and @TrevorRSimmons: We present a standardized genetic toolkit for engineering in the extremophile Deinococcus radiodurans, enabling tunable gene expression, efficient genome engineering, and (...)

Please join our lab in congratulating Dr. Antonio Cordova (@TCordovaBio)! Today Antonio successfully defended his thesis on developing novel synbio tools within the extremophile D. radiodurans!

Just wrapped up another amazing STEM Girl Day @UTAustin! Our strawberry DNA extraction workshop gave students hands-on experience with real scientific techniques. Seeing young minds light up while discovering biology fundamentals made the day special! @UTWiSTEM #UTSTEMGirlDay 🤘🏾

What an honor to work with @FUTURUMCareers on one of their recent videos, "Decoding RNA mysteries". This animation is a free educational resource aimed at inspiring the next generation of minds in STEM & SHAPE! Check it out! #whatstartshere 🤘🏾youtube.com/watch?v=MzSS84…

Congratulations to our Lab Member, Ryan Buchser, for his 1st Place finish in the @ProcterGamble Graduate Student Poster Competition this week! Ryan competed with 10 of the best and brightest graduate students from across @UTAustin. Well done, Ryan! #whatstartshere🤘🏾

Stressed about diseases and aging? @UTAustin engineers have discovered insights into an enzyme, polynucleotide phosphorylase (PNPase), that helps protect cells from oxidative stress, a condition linked to sources like air pollution and cigarette smoke.

We are excited to share our most recent publication, led by @lucasg_miller - wherein we use structural & biochemical techniques to uncover the site of 8-oxo-rG recognition by polynucleotide phosphorylase & its impacts in-vitro & in-vivo! #whatstartshere 🤘🏾pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

Exciting day in the Phillip lab. There is such a special feeling to see your first PhD student successfully defend their Thesis 😁. Introducing Dr. Pratik Kamat. He did an absolutely amazing job. I am so proud of him! 👏👏👏

We thrilled to share our latest work in @NatureComms, led by @TrevorRSimmons, in which we rewired CsrA to build designer post-transcriptional genetic circuits. Our approach supports the idea of co-opting native networks for complex bacterial computation. doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

We are excited to share our latest preprint, led by @matsuri_rojano & @TrevorRSimmons, in which we identify concentration dependent regulation of CsrA on a novel mRNA target and repurpose this interaction to build a genetic BANDPASS Filter. biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… #WhatStartsHere

As #chemical #engineer Prof Lydia Contreras (@Contreras_Lab, @UTAustin, @theNASEM) highlights, everyone belongs in #science. Where will you find connections and community in science? futurumcareers.com/decoding-rna-m…

For more information, see the @FUTURUMCareers website: futurumcareers.com

This article was produced by Futurum Careers, a free online resource & magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-y/o's worldwide to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, maths & medicine (STEM), & social sciences, humanities & the arts for people & the economy (SHAPE).

Big thanks to @FUTURUMCareers for featuring Lydia in their latest article: "Decoding RNA mysteries: a new era for biology and medicine"!! We are excited to be at the forefront of scientific innovation in the field of RNA biology. #whatstartshere 🤘🏾 futurumcareers.com/decoding-rna-m…