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It was fantastic to work w. Ved & Rhiju! Ved was incredibly productive & received a R21 for this work. This was a project that survived COVID, 2 lab moves, sabbatical... We're fortunate & grateful to Brad Zuchero’s lab for help w. oligo cultures after I left Stanford 🙏 8/8

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Combined w. work from Jackie Trotter & Doug Fields Labs, we propose a RNA switch model: - During transport, hnRNP-F binds unstructured MLS to inhibit translation. - At the cell periphery, membrane-bound Fyn kinase phosphorylates & releases hnRNP-F to initiate translation. 7/8

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Next, we used mass spec to ask what proteins associate with the MLS mRNA region. We found hnRNP-F and proteins involved in translation! Our structure of the MLS also had the canonical hnRNP-F-binding GGG(A) motifs! 6/8

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Importantly, the MLS can be used to deliver CDS cargos throughout oligodendrocyte processes. Here, we used EGFP as a reporter cargo. 5/8

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We found a ~120-nt region sufficient for transport that we call the MLS. Comparing to decades-old results from the Carson lab: - Their RTS regions was not validated. - But our MLS partially overlaps with their RLR region. 4/8

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We asked which part of the ~1.5-kb Mbp 3' UTR is important for mRNA transport? Ved applied 2 orthogonal techniques to primary olives: - DMS-MaPseq to solve the RNA structure - SLAP-seq - a method he innovated combining ~270 reporters and Boyden chambers cultures 3/8

Mbp (myelin basic protein) is the most abundant mRNA in oligodendrocytes MBP functions in compaction, a bizarre cellular phenomenon that extrudes cytoplasm from the myelin sheath. It acts as a molecular glue between adjacent membranes. Hence, it is locally translated. 2/8

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Excited to share our new pre-print collab w. @rdaslab.bsky.social Study led by Ved Topkar brilliant MD/PhD student who used biochemistry and bioinformatics to probe the relationship between Mbp mRNA structure & transport/local translation in oligodendrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… 1/8

biorxiv.org

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That’s terrifying 😞… so many US scientists in our field have DOD (Dept. of Defense) grants, but it doesn’t mean they’re working on anything that harms people (usually working on diseases that affect veterans) and certainly they’ve never been targeted like this.

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Great first post! We have a pink frog in our lab today… already knocked over an Erlenmeyer 😆

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Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Study from Mayo Clinic on deep brain stimulation (DBS) for multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. Not currently FDA approved but promising!

Anna Williams @annawilliamslab.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Reposted by Meng-meng Fu

We have an exciting PhD position available in the Williams lab related to cerebral small vessel disease and funded through our Racing Against Dementia project - if you are interested then do apply here: regenerative-medicine.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate... www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

regenerative-medicine.ed.ac.uk

PhD opportunities | Centre for Regenerative Medicine | Centre of Regenerative Medicine

Information about available funded PhD Positions

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

The UNC Department of Biology is seeking a Director of Biology Teaching Labs, a key leadership role overseeing our undergraduate laboratory program. 1/n Learn more and apply here: unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/308...

unc.peopleadmin.com

Director of Biology Teaching Labs

The Director of Biology Teaching Labs provides leadership and direction in the management of the Biology Department's undergraduate laboratories and will be responsible for the undergraduate laborator...

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Reposted by Meng-meng Fu

Ben Larson @blarson.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Two tenure-track faculty positions open in our department: 1) Microbial Ecology and Evolution careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49... 2) Cellular Neuroscience careers.rpi.edu/en-us/job/49... Join our collaborative, interdisciplinary community, which has proved to be a fantastic place to start a lab!

careers.rpi.edu

Details - Assistant Professor, Microbial Ecology - RPI Jobs

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Reposted by Meng-meng Fu

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 23/10/2025

The NIH institute director firing last Friday is very bad. I made a video explainer about why. Stay for last post, w link to @science.org story from @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social 1/4 🧪

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Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 22/10/2025

Don’t forget rejecting submissions because it’s over the word count… before it even gets seen by a scientist! Dealing with that now 😞

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Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Thanks Kathrin! Meghan (first co-author) did the actin imaging that you saw and of course you know Lana 🤓

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

This is the creepiest Halloween decoration I’ve ever seen… IRL it’s very lifelike 😱 # BerkeleyLife

So this preprint opens up many new questions in astrocyte cell biology! This was a real team effort: - Postdoc Will Barclay started the project at the NIH - Postbac Johanna Bergstrom and undergrad Eva Lopez analyzed data - PhD student Lana Ho contributed imaging data

Many distal ends are enriched in GFAP. We don't know what this means yet - maybe these can become endfeet that contact blood vessels. Astrocyte processes are heterogeneous in vivo (some contact blood vessels, others contact synapses) - like axons vs. dendrites in neurons. 7/x

By cryo-ET, we could see a lot of intermediate filaments (IFs). The ratio of IFs:microtubules was very high ~7:1. Image below shows: IFs (blue), microtubules (green), actin (yellow). 6/x

Microtubules in primary processes are highly stable as indicated by: - Acetylation - Detyrosination - MIPs (microtubule inner proteins) - IF content 5/x

And we confirmed this with cryo-ET. 4/x

We used live-cell imaging with plus-end binding protein EB3 to determine microtubule polarity in astrocytes for the first time. They are ~88% plus-ends out. 3/x

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We isolated astrocytes using the immunopanning method. Most images are from cells grown in serum-free media for ~2 weeks... they make beautiful processes! Microtubules & GFAP dominate in thick long primary processes. And we see a novel actin structure - reticular webbing! 2/x

American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 04/08/2025

Excited to share our preprint on cytoskeletal organization in astrocytes! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Postdoc @mewynne759 looked at microtubules, IFs/GFAP & actin along long elaborate processes. Wonderful to collaborate w postdoc @dharshinigopal & @NogalesLab on cryo-ET 🤓 1/x

biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Meng-meng Fu

Meet the 2025 ASCB Award Winners—trailblazing scientists honored for research, mentoring, education, and innovation. Celebrate excellence across all career stages in cell biology. Read more: www.ascb.org/society-news...

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Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Wow! Good eye! You’re the only one who spotted the 5th chick 🤓

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Dang where’s the 5th chick? I could only spot 4 in the picture though there were 6 chicks total.

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Saw a family of quails! How many do you see?

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Harini Iyer @iyerharini.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Deepika Dogra, Karin Tuschl, and I are thrilled to host the Neural Disorders RIG meeting of the @ZDMSociety on July 30, 10:00-11:30 am ET. We have a fantastic line-up of speakers. Register here: zdmsociety.org/2025-zdms-ri....

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Reposted by Meng-meng Fu

Kathrin Leppek @katleppek.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

This week, we welcome Lana Ho (right), PhD student from @mengmengfu.bsky.social's lab at @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social, to our lab to teach us some cool smFISH (in a heatwave) as part of a lab exchange in the @hfspo.bsky.social Early Career Award.

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Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Vaults are cool! What do they do? We don’t know!

Meng-meng Fu @mengmengfu.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

I’m sorry to hear that 😞 I think it’s a simple and reasonable thing to ask for now.