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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein

@vjrubenstein.bsky.social
1.3K followers 1.5K following 338 posts

Lucky me, lucky mud. Cell biology. Protein quality control. Yeast. PUI in Muncie, Indiana. Survivor and Traitors superfan He/him Views my own, not my employer's

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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 21h
I’m so sorry. This is the worst.
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Loved hearing you on the Wanda interview. Glad they could pull you out of retirement for that moment of joy.
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Wyoming Wormboy @wyomingwormboy.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Passing through the Bighorns after visiting Sheridan College - on the way to Northwest College. Community colleges provide affordable access to higher ed for millions and enroll twice the number of students than all the private colleges and universities combined.
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Found this on the lab whiteboard this morning. I endorse this message!
A whiteboard sketch of the lab PI (VJ Rubenstein) with a message: "Keep up with your lab notebooks to keep up the smile"
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Messages like this are the best part of my job Congrats to Katrina, an undergrad researcher in my lab, for landing the microbiology scientist job! Katrina did great work in my lab & persisted through challenging projects. Looking forward to the great work she will continue to do in her new role!
Screenshot of text message from student Katrina telling me she got the microbiology technician job she applied for:
"Wellllll. I got offered it. The one I really wanted"
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I'm sorry this is happening, and that your team has been so profoundly affected.
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Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Too easy: Ferroptosis (literal death metal)
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Big day for Rubenstein Labs
Master’s Student Kaikeyi standing in front of a whiteboard with messages celebrating her successful thesis proposal meetingSign at Doggy Daycare: Daycare Superstar Basil Rubenstein Bark to School picture of English Labrador Basil
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c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
A Pirate Ribosome's first love is the C ... (GU). (🧑‍🎨: Science Fried Art)
Pirate ribosome:  a brown ribosome cartoon wears a pirate hat with skull and crossbones and eyepatch, and a long string of ARG amino acids is on the nascent chain, while an mRNA consisting of CGU repeats is labeled from 5' to 3'.
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Michael Baym @baym.lol · 13/09/2026
Ten years ago Tami, Roy, and I released a movie we made of antibiotic resistance evolving in real time. I thought maybe a couple thousand people tops would see it. I couldn't have imagined it would be seen millions of times, and be taught from middle school through the graduate level worldwide
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Sonya Neal @neal-lab.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Neal lab is hiring a postdoctoral fellow to lead exciting structural and biophysical studies of membrane protein quality control! Competitive HHMI-scale salary + cutting-edge science + a genuinely wonderful and supportive lab culture. Please share widely with anyone who might be interested!
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Sonya Neal @neal-lab.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Come be my colleague!! 🎉 We’re hiring an Assistant Professor in Developmental Biology at UCSD! If you’re doing exciting work in development or regeneration, come join us!! Please spread the word and apply! apol-recruit.ucsd.edu/JPF04591
apol-recruit.ucsd.edu
Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology
University of California, San Diego is hiring. Apply now!
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
On #LongCovid and profiling my colleague @julialmv.bsky.social @smithsonianmag.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/m...
smithsonianmag.com
For Many Americans, Covid Is Still a Chronic, Disabling Disease. These Scientists Are Working Tirelessly to Bring Them Relief
Long Covid saps the strength and vitality of patients, who have little recourse to fight it. A team of specialists—including an afflicted researcher working mostly from her bed—is looking for answers
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emily fraser 🌿🐌✨ @emilyesfraser.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Three cheers for the incredible @julialmv.bsky.social 👏🏻🥳 And to the wonderful UCSF team featured as well! @michaelpelusomd.bsky.social Gratitude to these Long Covid researchers & to @smithsonianmag.bsky.social for covering them 🙏
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Saddened to learn of the death of Ada Yonath. Her work on ribosome structure and function and antibiotic mechanisms was an immense contribution to biology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Yon...
en.wikipedia.org
Ada Yonath - Wikipedia
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Fall 2026 Rubenstein Lab at Ball State! I can't wait to see what this group of talented HS, undergrad, and master's students discover this semester! These scientists have misfolded proteins shaking in their boots!
10 happy scientists posing for a group picture in a lab
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 26/08/2026
nytimes.com
F.D.A. Approves the Drug Daraxonrasib That’s Poised to Transform Pancreatic Cancer (Gift Article)
In a key clinical trial, patients who got the pill, daraxonrasib, lived twice as long as those who got chemotherapy.
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The Berro lab @berrolab.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We are recruiting two experimentalists with interests 1) in stem cells, organoids and/or immune cells, and/or 2) in protein and/or cell engineering, to work on mechanobiology projects and develop the next generation of force sensors and force transducers. forms.gle/zKLGsPzpJoLf...
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Describing molecular biology to my non-scientist wife, and when I got to the proteasome, she interrupted and said, "I think you mean the Waribosome?" 🤯 😍
static.klipy.com
Wario's Victory Pose in Mario Party
Alt: Wario's Victory Pose in Mario Party
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Author Bill Sullivan @authorbillsullivan.com · 21/08/2026
Can’t Get Along? Try Rejecting Free Will A new approach to building trust and bridging our divides. www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/plea...
psychologytoday.com
Can’t Get Along? Try Rejecting Free Will
No one freely became who they are, but we can influence who they become.
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Congratulations on all counts, and best wishes!
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Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 20/08/2026
Tunnel traffic: Import stress induces bidirectional mitochondria transfer between cells. Konstanze Winklhofer and Johannes Herrmann @rptu.bsky.social discuss new study from Glover, Wilkinson, Collinson @ianofbristol.bsky.social et al. (doi.org/10.1083/jcb....) in Spotlight: doi.org/10.1083/jcb....
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Wyoming Wormboy @wyomingwormboy.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
With most 1st-year PhD students starting graduate programs this month, it seemed like a good time to address the most important dilemma faced by many incoming PhD students—how to choose rotation labs. Although perhaps obvious to those with experience, many of the key factors are often overlooked.
helpimascientist.com
Choosing rotations and a dissertation lab - Help, I'm a Scientist!
By David Fay Choosing a lab in which to carry out your PhD is admittedly one of the more important decisions you’ll make in your early scientific career. But it’s important to have some perspective. F...
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
You’ve got a year. Don’t stress.
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Lina Dahlberg @linadahlberg.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Proud of this international collaboration between a public PUI in the US and an R1 in Denmark. Research can and should build friendships and breakdown borders. Also, we learn about the (molecular) networks we didn’t recognize before! doi.org/10.1093/g3jo... @genetics-gsa.bsky.social
doi.org
Validate User
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
This is awesome! Beautiful work! This will be a valuable community resource. Congratulations!!
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Bittersweet to say farewell to MS student James Avaala. He contributed to many projects & trained many students. I'll never forget his hard work over break (despite my insistence to take time off) to complete expts for an article revision. Next: PhD @ FSU! Last pic: ceremonial dumping of tubes!
professor (VJ) and student (James) after graduation. James is in his regalia.Student (James) is presenting his thesis research at the Annual Meeting of the Indiana Academy of ScienceJames is posing in front of a subset of the enormous number of samples he has generated during his master's studies.James is ceremonially dumping his waste tubes in the lab garbage
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Congratulations!!
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
PHASE ONE of our fight against the OMB rule is complete and YOU ALL SHOWED UP!!! HALF A MILLION COMMENTS is WILD. We absolutely exceeded our goal of 100,000! So, what happens next??? Welcome to PHASE TWO: Pressure and Preparation! 1/x
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
“It could take at least a year for OMB to respond to the comments and amend the draft rule”. Friends, this is a direct result of our collective action. The OMB Rule that would require political review of grants has prompted at least 50K comments. Thanks to all who commented, and you still can.
nytimes.com
A Proposed Rule Would Politicize Medical Research. Scientists Are Not Happy.
In tens of thousands of comments, researchers, doctors and others warned the rule could hamper progress on important health issues.
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Thank you for your continued encouragement and advocacy. I really appreciate your voice and your efforts.
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Here is the comment I posted commenting on the OMB Rules about federal funding. My is jut an example: It's key to personalize it and this tool from @faseborg.bsky.social helps one do so. Do it NOW--the future of American science is at stake www.faseb.org/science-poli...
I am a Professor of Biology at UNC-Chapel Hill and have run an NIH-funded research lab there for 33 years.  The rule changes proposed by OMB would negatively affect our work and that of my colleagues in multiple ways and weaken American science at a time when international competition is accelerating.
I am especially concerned about section §200.205 which would require that a senior political appointee personally review and approve every discretionary grant, with authority to override peer review.  I have reviewed grants for both NIH and NSF. The peer review system developed here is the envy of my colleagues around the world.  Experts in the field assess the significance of the work, and its likely impact, and this is then used to rank grants for funding.  It has made America the leader in biomedical research. Replacing this with review by political appointees without expertise in the areas of study will reduce the impact of the grants funded.  I also am concerned that the sheer number of grants will overwhelm the ability of the relatively small number of political appointees’ ability to review all of the proposals, thus reducing grant funding.
The impact of this new policy will be amplified by section §200.340 , which would allow grant termination in the middle of a funding cycle simply due to a decision, likely made by a political appointee, that the agencies priorities have changed.  We hire personnel, PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and technicians, based on the awarded grant funding. Allowing immediate termination where there was no noncompliance will leave people in our labs subject to immediate job loss, without the time to plan for a transition. This will further discourage young people for entering this important enterprise at a time when the need for and benefits of science have never been greater. 

I am also concerned about Section §200.454, which would make Journal subscriptions unallowable.  This will have a significant negative impact on lab alumni who are faculty members at some of the nation’s top liberal arts colleges, where the institution cannot maintain subscriptions to all needed journals.  These small labs train the future generation of scientists.  Without access to key journal publications, their work will be less impactful.

Section §200.461 would prohibit use of grant funds for publication costs without prior approval. Our lab publishes two or more research papers a year.  I understand the concern over rising APCs at some for-profit journals, but a blanket prohibition will slow our rate of publication at a time when international competitors do not need to do so, reducing the competitiveness of American science.
Section §200.220 puts very severe regulations on foreign collaborations.  Our group has had or currently has international collaborators in Canada, Germany, France, Israel and the Netherlands. These have allowed us to take advantage of approaches and technologies in our collaborators’ labs and have led to important discoveries regarding signaling pathways important in cancer and the mechanisms cancer cells use to leave tumors and metastasize.  All are currently reviewed internally for any security concerns. Removing or substantially hindering our ability to collaborate will reduce the impact of our work.
Under section §200.202, programs proposed by funding agencies much must align with administration priorities. Once again, this sort of top-down management by political appointees who are not well versed in the relevant science is likely to lead to decisions that are less well founded than if programs are designed by experts in each field. It will also lead to uncertainty, as new Administrations with new priorities take office.  When we write a grant to NIH, we already need to provide strong scientific justification of the significance of…
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
You've still got three hours to submit a comment. The why and how are in Ginexi's article below. The fast and easy way is to use this tool, from FASEB:
faseb.org
Defend Research
We advance health and well-being by promoting research and education in biological and biomedical sciences through collaborative advocacy and service to our societies and their members.
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bioRxivpreprint @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Dfm1 promotes Ste24-dependent translocon quality control www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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American Society for Cell Biology @ascbiology.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
White House draft regulations could reshape federally funded research, including peer review and international collaborations. Learn what's proposed and why it matters. Comments due July 13. www.ascb.org/science-policy/white-h…
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Bittersweet to say farewell to Katrina, who performed undergrad research in my lab for 4 yrs! I'm so proud of the way Katrina has persevered through challenging times, in & out of the lab. I can't wait to see the great things she does in the future! Last pic is the Ceremonial Dumping of the Tubes!
Mentor (VJ Rubenstein) and graduating undergraduate researcher Katrina standing in front of the Rubenstein Lab at Ball State. The white board behind Katrina says "We love yeast. We dislike clogged translocons." Amen to that!Lab picture after lab lunch: Clockwise from Left: Mentor (VJ/me), James, Elva, Adam, Kaikeyi, KatrinaKatrina posing with the membrane from one of her first ever western blotsKatrina is dumping her old tubes in the trash
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Michelle says: Be kind. Always. ❤️ @snarkysillysad.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Young, Brazilian football fan being bullied for his hair gets words on encouragement from Erling Haaland on his birthday: #AGoodPlace Source: www.reddit.com/r/MadeMeSmil...
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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Me relentlessly harassing my colleagues for feedback at every step of grant writing
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Existential Comics @existentialcomics.com · 07/07/2026
Okay fine but I'd like to see how the Belgians would do against us in one of OUR sports. Like beer pong. Or lawn mower racing. Or hot dog eating.
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I’ve had this same dream!
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
I love her. Our Basil says Happy fourth, Roxie, and stay cool!
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I'm so thankful for many folks in the scientific community who have shared reagents & advice for this project, including Sonya Neal, Randy Hampton, Maya Schuldiner, Susan Michaelis, Can Kayatekin, Stefan Kreft, & Toshifumi Inada. (4/4)
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Consistent with previous reports of genetic suppression, we found loss of Dfm1 is suppressible in multiple ways. For ex, increased levels of TQC factors Ste24 or Hrd1 rescue Dfm1 deficiency even without catalytic activity, revealing an unexpected non-enzymatic function for these proteins. (3/4)
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
We show Dfm1 functions specifically in the Ste24 translocon quality control (TQC) pathway. Loss of Dfm1 or Ste24 sensitizes cells to, & prevents ER entry of, a yeast model for oligomeric IAPP, which impedes translocation. IAPP accumulates & likely worsens pancr beta cell function in diabetes. (2/4)
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Excited to share our new preprint! The derlin Dfm1 promotes Ste24-dependent translocon quality control! I'm so proud of the many master's, undergrad, & high school students who contributed to this project over many yrs. Very grateful to collab w/ Robb Tomko! (1/4) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Dfm1 promotes Ste24-dependent translocon quality control
Proteins stalled during endoplasmic reticulum translocation clog Sec61 channels and require translocon quality control (TQC) mechanisms for clearance. Genetic screens implicated the derlin Dfm1 in TQC...
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Congrats to MS student Kaikeyi & team on our latest #micropublication! We validated & extended results obtained by undergrads in our cell bio CURE @ BSU showing the E4 Ufd2 helps cells resist proteotoxic stress. Grateful to work with this team of TAs (James, Chance, Joseph) & colleague (Jason)!
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microPublication Biology @micropub7n.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Ubiquitin-elongating enzyme Ufd2 confers resistance to hygromycin B in Saccharomyces cerevisiae #micropublication #biology #data #caltechlibrary #Scerevisiae #PhenotypeData #UndergraduateResearchExper micropublication.org/journals/biolo…
Figure 1
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Eric (“VJ”) Rubenstein @vjrubenstein.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Congratulations!
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Abby Buchwalter @abbybuch.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
After some good funding news, we are hiring! Looking for a postdoc to join our team and lead our explorations into transposon repression by the nuclear lamina. Check out the full ad on our lab website at buchwalter-lab.github.io/postdoc-ad.pdf + contact me to learn more!
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Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Our Special Issue: Cell Biology of the Nucleus has been building over the last few months. In the coming weeks, we’ll be highlighting all the articles in this issue. First up, we have an interview with our Guest Editor @abbybuch.bsky.social: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/... #CellBio #nucleus
Abby Buchwalter
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