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Katie Berry

@katieberry.bsky.social
1.7K followers 706 following 96 posts

Associate Professor of Biochemistry Mount Holyoke College Loves RNA, bacteria, gene regulation, molecular genetics, mentoring undergraduates, inclusive pedagogy, outdoor adventures, photography, sports, and being a mom! tinyurl.com/berrylab

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Reposted by Katie Berry
Zeynep Baharoglu @zeynepbaharoglu.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... comprehensive review of bacterial RNA modifications 🦠
journals.asm.org
Compendium of RNA modifications for bacterial stress adaptation | Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews
SUMMARYRNA modifications in the tRNA, rRNA, and mRNA constitute a widespread layer of post-transcriptional gene regulation, commonly known as the epitranscriptome. In bacteria, tRNA and rRNA modifications are well documented and play essential roles in tRNA folding, rRNA maturation, translation, and peptidyl transfer. Although mRNA modifications have been extensively characterized in eukaryotes, their functional implications for mRNA fate in prokaryotes remain uncertain, and their identities and locations are the subject of an emerging field of research. Importantly, RNA modification is a dynamic process, and variation in the presence and abundance of these modifications has significant consequences for bacterial physiology. Here, we discuss current knowledge of modified RNA nucleotides in bacteria, with a particular focus on their roles in bacterial adaptation to environmental stress.
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Kathrin Fröhlich @microberna.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
The Bacterial RNA Biology Group in Jena is hiring a new PhD student! 🔬🧫🧬 We are looking for a motivated candidate to study bacteriophages of the opportunistic pathogen Klebsiella pneumoniae. 🔥 Apply by July 26, 2026 🔥 Details on the position and application: jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/9...
jobs.uni-jena.de
Doctoral Researcher in Molecular Microbiology (m/f/d)
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Stacey Ogden 🦔 @labogden.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Make some noise about this 🧪 www.npr.org/2026/06/03/n...
npr.org
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
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Katie Berry @katieberry.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
I literally screamed in the theater.
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Reposted by Katie Berry
Mandy Muller @mandymuller.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
🚨 Postdoc position open - please repost! Join our lab in Lausanne🇨🇭to study KSHV, virus–host interactions & RNA decay + great quality of life right by Lake Leman and the Alps ⛰️ Apply here 👉 sites.google.com/view/muller-...
sites.google.com
Muller Lab
Welcome to the Muller Lab website - here are our latest news:
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Sahar Melamed @saharmelamed.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
🚨Happy to share our new mini-review on phage-encoded small RNAs and their potential for phage therapy and antibacterial strategies, written with Aviezer Silverman! journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/... #RNA #phage @journals.sagepub.com @hebrewuniversity.bsky.social @phagedirectory.bsky.social
journals.sagepub.com
Bacteriophage-Encoded Small RNAs: Emerging Tools for Phage Therapy and Antibacterial Intervention - Aviezer Silverman, Sahar Melamed, 2026
Bacteriophages (phages) are viruses that specifically infect bacteria and play a central role in shaping microbial communities and bacterial evolution. Beyond t...
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Reposted by Katie Berry
Boston Bacterial Meeting @bostonbacteria.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
The moment you’ve all been waiting for… 🦠 SAVE THE DATE! 🦠 BBM2026 will be held from June 22nd - 23rd at Boston University’s George Sherman Union. Our featured speaker this year is Dr. Eric Skaar from Vanderbilt University! Registration opens soon! More info at: bostonbacterial.org #BBM2026
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Katie Berry @katieberry.bsky.social · 18/01/2026
Oof.
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Reposted by Katie Berry
George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
Summer REU in biofilms! Pls share. www.binghamton.edu/centers/biof...
binghamton.edu
Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) | Biofilm Research Center | Binghamton University
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Christina Stallings @stallingslab.bsky.social · 06/01/2026
Registration is open for the 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Stress Response to be held on July 19-24 2026!! Submit your abstract by February 15th to be considered for a short talk. Apply now before it fills up!! Hope to see you there!! www.grc.org/microbial-st...
grc.org
2026 Microbial Stress Response Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Stress Response will be held in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Apply today to reserve your spot.
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Flora Rutaganira @frutag33.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
16 (! What?) years ago I went to my first ABRCMS and was welcomed and encouraged to pursue my scientific dreams. I met folks that provided direct feedback on my graduate school applications and served a pivotal role in my career. I am honored return and give back again as faculty. #ABRCMS2025
Me in front of the ABRCMS sign
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Ricard Solé @ricardsole.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Can a single cell learn? Even without a brain, some microbes show simple forms of cognition. Can this basal cognition be engineered? Check our new paper with @jordiplam.bsky.social on the minimal synthetic circuits & their cognitive limits. @drmichaellevin.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Siegenthaler Lab @siegenthalerlab.bsky.social · 21/08/2025
Asking my #DevBio @socdevbio.bsky.social & #Neuroscience @sfn.org colleagues to join me in donating to the ABRCMS conference poster award fund. I am sure there will be 🤩 posters on these topics @ ABRCMS 2025 in Nov, let's make sure there is award $ to recognize their work! abrcms.org/donate/stude...
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Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 04/08/2025
“What a [sunburned] cell is trying to do is make decisions about whether to live or die based on how damaged the DNA is… but amazingly, it’s the RNA that signals that. That’s the remarkable observation.” — Rachel Green, biologist at Johns Hopkins University. www.quantamagazine.org/rna-is-the-c...
Portrait of Rachel Green, an RNA biologist at Johns Hopkins University
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Bhamla Lab @ Georgia Tech @bhamlalab.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
Hiring 4 postdocs — organismal biophysics, soft robotics, frugal Raman diagnostics, or your own bold idea. 3-year funding, $65K+ benefits. GT (Atlanta) now → CU Boulder BioFrontiers Institute in Fall ’26. PDF/details in next post. Tag/share if someone comes to mind. 🧪🪲🪳#livingphysics
Recruitment poster for the Bhamla Lab. Top shows Georgia Tech and CU Boulder logos. Main headline: “Hiring Multiple Postdoctoral Researchers: Organismal Biomechanics, Soft Robotics, and Raman Diagnostics.” Left column lists four roles—Organismal Biology, Bioinspired Engineering, Raman Diagnostics, and a Curiosity‑Based slot—plus note of 3‑year funding from DARPA, NSF, NIH, and Schmidt. Right side features a vintage collage of a Victorian‑era scientist with robotic arm, insects, and globe, and a circular “Physics of Life” diagram linking biology, physics, engineering, and mathematics. Tan background, Bhamla Lab crest at top.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
New NIH Notice rescinding the no DEI, no Israeli boycott term and condition added to NIH grants (covers the whole university) This is what Williams refused to sign and declined all federal funding. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide... 1/2
grants.nih.gov
NOT-OD-25-124: Notice of Rescission of Civil Rights Term and Condition of Award
NIH Funding Opportunities and Notices in the NIH Guide for Grants and Contracts: Notice of Rescission of Civil Rights Term and Condition of Award NOT-OD-25-124. NIH
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eric lai @lucksmith.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/s...
nytimes.com
9 Federally Funded Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed Everything
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Michael L. Barnett @mlbarnett.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
All of my NIH grants terminated this afternoon along with those of all of my colleagues including big (and extremely successful) P01 grants.
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Dr. Suzanne Le Menestrel @drsl.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
The Spencer Foundation is offering rapid response bridge funding for those who lost NSF research grants. www.spencer.org/grant_types/...
spencer.org
Rapid Response Bridge Funding Program
In the face of recent abrupt shifts in federal funding for education research, including large-scale terminations of National Science Foundation (NSF) research grant awards, we have developed a rap...
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Kerstin Göpfrich @kgoepfrich.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
Hey #RNA world, we are excited to share our RNA design engine #pyFuRNAce - an integrated tool for RNA origami experts and novices alike. Kudos to @monari-luca.bsky.social @floppleton.bsky.social et al! Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Try it out at pyfurnace.de Feedback welcome!
biorxiv.org
PyFuRNAce: An integrated design engine for RNA origami
To realize the full potential of RNA nanotechnology and RNA origami, user-friendly design tools are needed. Here, we present pyFuRNAce, an open-source, Python-based software package with a graphical u...
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anil oza @aniloza.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
BREAKING: NIH planning to prohibit funds going to institutions with DEI initiatives or engage w/ boycotts of Israel, according to internal documents www.statnews.com/2025/04/21/t...
statnews.com
NIH moving to ban all future grants to universities with DEI programs or Israel boycotts, document suggests
NIH appears to be preparing to prohibit the awarding of new grants to institutions that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 14/04/2025
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, said about President Trump's demands. nyti.ms/4jzSS9W
The gates of Harvard University. The text reads: "Harvard Says It Will Not Comply With Trump Administration's Demands." Photo by Sophie Park for The New York Times.
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Rodrigo Reis @rodrigoreislab.com · 10/04/2025
Regulation of translation speed by small RNA: slower is better www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Modulation of protein activity by small RNA base pairing internal to coding sequences
Most characterized interactions between bacterial small RNAs (sRNAs) and their target mRNAs occur near ribosome binding sites, resulting in changes in…
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Reposted by Katie Berry
Jonathan Jagodnik @jagodnikscience.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
I am thrilled to share this new preprint from our lab! We find (>800!) 30S binding sites in hundreds of 5'UTRs, but also new dynamic steps of translation initiation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Congrats to all co-authors at the RNA control of gene expression lab, IBPC CNRS (Thread, 1/6)
biorxiv.org
30S-seq redefines the bacterial Ribosome Binding Site
The translation initiation step is rate limiting for the efficiency of gene expression in all organisms. However, the mechanism of ribosome recruitment to mRNA start sites strikingly differs between e...
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Prasad Jallepalli, MD, PhD @prasad.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o... Really important piece to share widely. Too many Americans don’t know how severe a threat this Administration poses to our scientific infrastructure, global leadership, and health security
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article)
Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.
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Kathrin Fröhlich @microberna.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
Excited to share our new preprint on an RNA sponge counteracting sibling sRNAs in Caulobacter! Laura Vogt and @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social used RILseq, RNA biochemistry and great commitment to work out this story! www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...
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Rachael Sirianni, PhD @docsirianni.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
They are cutting cancer research. They are cutting cancer research. They can deny it all they want, but they are cutting cancer research. These are the cuts being made the DoD CDMRP cancer funding mechanism www.fightcancer.org/sites/defaul...
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Ethan Prall @ethanprall.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
NSF grantees and awardees can learn from a *new report* how they might respond to grant changes like termination! 🔬 Like @davidimiller.bsky.social says, prepare now. I helped edit this with the amazing @isaackamola.bsky.social at AAUP and other great colleagues. Posted w/ other CDAF resources here:
aaup.org
Publications
Executive Power Watch Our Executive Power Watch monitors executive action that weakens democratic society by targeting students, faculty, and campus workers in American colleges and universities.
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Katie Berry @katieberry.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
Now is a critical time for colleges and universities to coordinate a collective fight to protect our missions and freedom of expression. Please consider signing in solidarity with colleagues at UMass Amherst and other universities targeted by recent threats. sites.google.com/umass.edu/we...
sites.google.com
Home
March 20, 2025 Dear Presidents, Chancellors, and Boards of Trustees of the 60 Universities that received a March 10th warning letter from the U.S. Department of Education: You are on the frontlines ...
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Jon Rauch @jonrauch.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.
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Science Homecoming @sciencehomecoming.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Prof Amy Weeks, a Clinton, Massachusetts native 🫖, explains: funding cuts don’t just hurt labs—they hurt families seeking cures for fatal diseases & kids from Clinton like her who might grow up to find them. @amyweeks.bsky.social www.clintonitem.com/writes-cuts-...
Screenshot of linked article
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Tami Lieberman @contaminatedsci.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
It feels like the resumption of study section posting on the federal registrar, while continuing to block advisory council, was an attempt to quell the news cycle while still keeping funds frozen.
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@LaBonneLaB @labonnelab.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Dear all, Because of your help shining light on this all 15 were reinstated today. This is a huge win for science - When We Fight We Win!!!
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Sherry Pagoto, PhD @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
New report shows that NIH grants fueled $95 billion in economic activity and 407,782 jobs in 2024. That's not to mention the countless lives that biomedical research has saved. Show me a better investment than that. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
forbes.com
NIH Grants Fueled $95 Billion In FY 2024 Economic Activity, Finds New Report
National Institutes of Health grants generated almost $95 billion in economic activity nationwide in FY 2024 according to a new report by United for Medical Research.
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Rachael Sirianni, PhD @docsirianni.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
This is my institution. These are the people I work with making these decisions. The situation is heartbreaking. Public medical schools have no other choice; there is no other source of funding, and everyone in academia is at extreme risk right now.
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Sahar Melamed @saharmelamed.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Susan Gottesman and Gisela Storz, pioneers in regulatory RNA research, reflect on their personal scientific journeys and the evolution of their groundbreaking group research in two compelling articles. Gigi: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Susan: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #RNA
sciencedirect.com
Unexpected Richness of the Bacterial Small RNA World
I stumbled onto a small RNA (sRNA) induced by oxidative stress when I did the “wrong” northern blot experiment as a second-year graduate student. I wa…
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Bhamla Lab @ Georgia Tech @bhamlalab.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Our NIH SEPA program that provides training in synbio to rural students and teachers is on the block. The sepa website is down and funding call has been removed. The SciEd conference has been indefinitely postponed. nihsepa.org
nihsepa.org
Science Education Partnership AwardWebsite Maintenance - Science Education Partnership Award
The Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program funds grants for innovative educational programs. Such projects create partnerships among biomedical and clinical researchers and K-12 teachers a...
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Katie Berry @katieberry.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Lots of local events being added! Consider checking these out even if you can’t make it to DC or state capital. Western Mass folks who can’t get to Boston - closer events Friday in Hartford and now in Amherst.
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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Heartbreaking chats this week with students thinking of giving up on their dreams of getting a PhD. They worry about getting in PhD programs and careers post PhD. My suggestions: don’t be hasty, think broadly incl EU & Canada, & careers beyond traditional academia. What’re you telling your students?
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Nucleic Acids Research @narjournal.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
🚨 New #Breakthrough article from @holmqvist-lab.bsky.social: "ProQ prevents mRNA degradation through inhibition of poly(A) polymerase" #RNA #Stability #Degredation #mRNA 📖 Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf103
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Liana Lareau @lianafaye.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
xkcd with the truth today xkcd.com/3056/
xkcd.com
RNA
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Claire Cusack @claireecusack.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
For the people who may be on the fence: Happy to chat about my experience leading KY. Core leadership created a checklist of what to do, which helps keep priorities organized. A lot of us here already are kind and down to help you make it happen. #StandUpForScience
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Jeff Coller @jmcoller.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Basic research leads to critical medical advances. We are on the cusp of significant means to improve patient lives. NIH has driven these discoveries. #NIH www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
Gene therapies for neurogenetic disorders
Pathogenic variants in over 1700 genes can cause neurogenetic disorders. Monogenetic diseases are ideal targets for genetic therapies; however, the bl…
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE) If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread. There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
media.tenor.com
a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
ALT: a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
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Leah Greenberg ❌👑 @leahgreenberg.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
the richest man in the world has decided that your kids don't deserve special education programs
A screenshot of an email notifying Spotsylvania parents that funding for a program for youth with disabilities has been canceled
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
My heart is just shattered for NIH as an institution. It represents what, in my view, is best about America: A group of committed people working hard and creatively with one another to achieve important goals to help people across the country and around the world. 12/n
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 16/02/2025
soon enough, the mere presence of black and latino students on campus will be illegal racial discrimination against white students www.insidehighered.com/news/diversi...
insidehighered.com
Trump admin threatens to rescind federal funds over DEI
In a sweeping and unprecedented letter issued over the weekend, the Office for Civil Rights declared race-based scholarships, cultural centers and even graduation ceremonies illegal.
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Katie Sandlin @kmsandlin.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I maxed out my credit card, emptied my savings account, and took out a loan to move from Alabama to Bethesda, MD. I don’t even qualify for unemployment since I’ve only worked at NIH for a month. I will be financially and medically devastated. Seeking suggestions for anywhere that’s hiring!!
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
The rumored intent to fire some or all of the NIH institute and center directors will be tremendously damaging to research that benefits the health of the American people (and people around the world) and to the leadership position that America has held in biomedical research. con'ted 4/n
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