iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Schlundt lab @lab-nmr.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Interested in RNA and proteins? Perfect! 😀 We seek to fill a fully funded 3+ years PhD position for a project on pre-mRNA splicing regulation using structural biochemistry in combination with cell biology and bioinformatics. Find more information on our lab's homepage and get in contact via e-mail!

biochemie.uni-greifswald.de

Analytische Biochemie - Fakultät - Universität Greifswald

Universität Greifswald

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Congrats again and an amazing exam, and it’s a pleasure to have you on board! Cant wait to see what you discover next!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

So excited to see our newest study out in print! Led by the brilliant @jgezelle.bsky.social and @sophiekorn.bsky.social, we discovered how viruses from highly divergent families converge on a shared RNA structure mechanism to inhibit cellular nucleases. #RNAsky #LoveVirology

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Jeanine Gezelle @jgezelle.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Our study from the Steckelberg lab is out now in @narjournal.bsky.social !! We dove into a new nuclease-blocking viral #RNA structure important for viral infection, which provided evidence of similar structure-based strategies across diverse viral families. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

academic.oup.com

A conserved viral RNA fold enables nuclease resistance across kingdoms of life

Abstract. Viral exoribonuclease-resistant RNA (xrRNA) structures block cellular nucleases to produce subgenomic viral RNAs during infection. High sequence

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Excited to be back in the Rhineland this week to celebrate #RNAday with all the other RNA lovers!

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · 25/07/2025

The most important story in the world right now.

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Hannah Burgess @hannahmburgess.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Registration is now ✨open✨ for the 2025 Eukaryotic RNA turnover meeting, this year in Brighton, UK 🏖️☀️ www.biochemistry.org/events-and-t... Lots of great invited speakers and @biochemsoc.bsky.social bursaries for student/postdoc attendees who register early!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Sad that #RNA2025 is almost over? Join us in August in the UK for another fun meeting on RNA! #RNAsky #RNAdecay

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nycrnasymposium.bsky.social @nycrnasymposium.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Save the Date: 2025 NYC RNA Symposium — Tuesday, October 21, 2025 more @ www.nycrnasymposium.com

nycrnasymposium.com

Home | Nycrnasymposium

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

It was so much fun being part of this project. Much progress on the RNA structure modeling front, but so much more left to be done! Can’t wait to see when RNA structure predictions finally catch up to AF and co!

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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

TV watching recommendations The lead story on 60 Minutes tonight is about NIH and concerns about damage done and continuing during the current administration. 1/2

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Alt NIH Bluesky 🧪 @altnih4science.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Can confirm: 60 Minutes will be worth watching tonight about #NIH.

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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Out in today's @science.org: Rallying for US science! I wrote about speaking at Stand Up for Science in DC. "Science delivers breakthroughs even though its path is unpredictable. I emphasized the importance of investing in science & warned that trust in science is under threat.

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

This meeting is a particularly great opportunity for early career #RNA scientists to present their work!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

Please join us for an exciting meeting on "Eukaryotic RNA turnover: from fundamentals to applications" in Brighton, UK this August! We have an exciting lineup of speakers, and will feature many selected talks. Abstract deadline is June 27! www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

eventsforce.net

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Working with an interdisciplinary team, we have developed a website to communicate how the White House's proposed cuts to health research would cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. Find out how your community may be impacted. Explore more at SCIMaP: scienceimpacts.org a 🧵

US map via scienceimpacts.org visualization of economic loss due to IDC cuts to 15% as part of Feb 7, 2025 executive order, with shading denoting intensity of cuts.

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BK. Titanji @boghuma.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Sobering portraits of some of the people facing the dire consequences of disruptions to HIV treatment as a fall out in cuts to US foreign aid. It's easy to erase dehumanize human lives when framed as "DOGE cuts and reducing the size of government". www.npr.org/sections/goa...

npr.org

Portraits: A 10-year-old, a house painter and a mom who are running out of HIV pills

HIV medications were supposed to be exempt from U.S. aid cuts. In Zambia, for example, those on the ground say otherwise.

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Christina Homer @christinahomer.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

A tragic turn of events for understanding the health of 50.5% of our population. This has been a landmark study and such a waste to end it early and disassemble the massive infrastructure built to yield new insights into women's health.

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

What an incredibly good idea! At UNC alone PhD students come from hundreds of hometowns across the nation. If you're a scientist help your home community see the value of your work & the importance of supporting the next generation of scientists by bring it home to them. Happy to share an example RT

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Dr. Suzanne R Lee @suzannerleephd.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

Abstracts for poster sessions at the RNA Society meeting are due March 31st! This includes the first education session - see here for more! www2.rnasociety.org/conferences/... #RNASky #RNA2025 #RNA@PUI #RNASociety

www2.rnasociety.org

Education Session – Training Future Scientists through RNA Research | RNA Society

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

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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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · 12/03/2025

We are in a biotech space race, cutting off basic science via slashing NIH and NSF funding robs the US of our competitive advantage: early innovation.

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Andy Pekosz @andrewpekosz.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

A massive loss to the virology community. Ann was an amazing scientist and mentor, whose service to UW and the virology community in general will be sorely missed. www.cressfuneralservice.com/obituaries/a...

cressfuneralservice.com

Ann Carol Palmenberg, Ph.D Obituary February 20, 2025 - Cress Funeral and Cremation Services

View Ann Carol Palmenberg, Ph.D's obituary, find service dates, and sign the guestbook.

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Rita Strack @ritastrack.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

I wonder if spreading extremely encouraging experimental results on helping treat pancreatic cancer with *gasp* mRNA vaccines may help people who have villainized them come around. This is a good press release on the study and links to the Nature paper. www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrn...

mskcc.org

In Early-Phase Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trial, Investigational mRNA Vaccine Induces Sustained Immune Activity in Small Patient Group

Learn how MSK researchers are deploying mRNA vaccines against pancreatic cancer.

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Dr. Suzanne R Lee @suzannerleephd.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

Interested in RNA education&efforts to engage students in RNA research? RNA2025 will feature two education-related events this year - a PRE-MEETING WORKSHOP and a NEW IN-MEETING SESSION with oral and poster presentations. See below links to learn more! #RNAsky #RNA2025 #RNASociety #RNA@PUI #RNA

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Only one more week until the abstract submission deadline of RNA2025! I’m looking forward to chairing a session on „Viral RNA and innate immune responses“. If you have some exciting new science to share, don’t forget to submit your abstracts! #RNAsky #lovevirology

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Xuebing Wu @xuebingwu.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

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 authors.elsevier.com/a/1kNCscQbJB...

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

There have been a few attempts to use them for RNA therapeutics (nature.com/articles/s41...) &to visualize RNA decay intermediates (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31019309/) - but keep in mind that xrRNAs will protect de-capped RNAs, so you need an also IRES or 3'CITE to make translationally active mRNAs!

nature.com

Enhancement of prime editing via xrRNA motif-joined pegRNA - Nature Communications

The prime editors (PEs) have shown great promise for precise genome modification. Here the authors place a stabilizing viral xrRNA motif to the 3′ of pegRNAs to enhance editing efficiencies.

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Reposted by Lena Steckelberg

Jeanine Gezelle @jgezelle.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Hey #RNAsky check out our new preprint! we solved a new nuclease-blocking viral #RNA structure and found some illuminating similarities across diverse viral families. Thread below ⬇️ biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

biorxiv.org

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

My original post was missing the full video. Here it is. Enjoy!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Thanks! Had to delete and repost because the video wasn’t moving 🙃

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

This work was led by the amazing @jgezelle.bsky.social , within invaluable contributions from highly talented Sophie Korn, Jayden, Feiyue and Matt. Special thanks to our collaborators Zhen Gong and Brian Wimberly for help with crystallography, and Yen-Wen Kuo & team for viral infections!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

We propose that these 2 classes of viral xrRNAs are just the "tip of the iceberg" and are currently hunting for more examples of nuclease-resistant RNA structures in viral genomes and beyond. Stay tuned!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

This illustrates how viral RNAs achieve a common functional outcome through highly different sequences, and identifies the ring topology as a defining feature of viral xrRNAs. Check out this video to see the remarkable similarity of xrRNAs from different viruses.

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Here we present the first structure of a plant-virus xrRNA in its active, nuclease-resistant conformation. The RNA forms a pseudoknot that creates a protective ring around the RNA. This ring is highly similar to that of flavivirus xrRNAs, despite lacking sequence similarity!!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

We recently discovered xrRNAs in hundreds of additional RNA viruses that infect plants. Surprisingly, these xrRNAs share no sequence similarity with flavivirus xrRNAs, leaving us to ask: What are the common structural features of xrRNAs?

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

XrRNAs were initially identified in flaviviruses, such as the human-pathogenic Dengue and Zika viruses. All flavivirus xrRNAs form a conserved double-pseudoknot structure that creates a characteristic ring topology around the 5’ end of the RNA structure.

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Viruses are nifty master hijackers & often use complex RNA structures to manipulate cellular machinery. A particularly interesting example are xrRNAs–viral RNA structures that block viral genome degradation by cellular 5’-3’ exoribonucleases to produce subgenomic RNAs during infection.

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Hi Bluesky, just in time for the holidays I am excited to share the latest pre-print from my group! We solved the 3D structure of a mysterious viral RNA that resists degradation by host nucleases. A short 🧵 &link below – please also check out the full video! #RNA #RNAbiology #RNASky #lovevirology

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

This work was led by the amazing @jgezelle.bsky.social, within invaluable contributions from highly talented Sophie, Jayden, Feiyue and Matt. Special thanks to our collaborators Zhen Gong and Brian Wimberly for help with crystallography, and Yen-Wen Kuo and team for their infection studies!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

We propose that these 2 classes of viral xrRNAs are just the "tip of the iceberg" and are currently hunting for more examples of nuclease-resistant RNA knots in viral genomes and beyond! Stay tuned!

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Lena Steckelberg @lenasteckelberg.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

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