Valdir discovered that a single toxin does not slow M. tuberculosis growth by simply inhibiting protein synthesis. Instead, it reprograms M. tuberculosis cells by a novel mechanism. It first reduces the level of a SINGLE rare tRNA species, this leads to ribosome stalling at the mRNA codon requiring the depleted tRNA, which in turn reduces Read More
Valdir, Heather and Unnati hit the pub in London after a fantastic meeting with leaders in the field at the historic Cumberland lodge inside Windsor Great Park. Valdir and Nancy tag-teamed on oral presentations; Valdir and Unnati also presented posters.
When identifying toxin RNA targets, in vivo trumps in vitro. We used a battery of approaches to demonstrate that the best way to find the true RNA targets of endoribonuclease toxins is to study their activity in their natural host; here we demonstrate this using an M. tuberculosis toxin and host.
This annual meeting coincides with World TB Day; this year hosted by TB researchers at the David Axelrod Institute at the Wadsworth Center/New York Department of Health. Great chance to hear the latest and greatest research of colleagues in the Northeast!
Eduardo was just awarded his MS degree in Virology in Brazil and will be starting graduate school at Rutgers in the Fall. Welcome!
PhD candidate Valdir Barth and new postdoc Julia Puffal gave fantastic talks on their latest research (Valdir) or PhD thesis work in the Morita lab (Julia) at the Keystone meeting “Tuberculosis: Mechanisms, Pathogenesis and Treatment” in Banff, Alberta, Canada. What an incredible meeting and venue! Check them out on Twitter @woychiklab and #KStuberculosis .
Julia successfully defended her PhD thesis in the Morita lab at UMass-Amherst on novel features of mycobacterial membranes in December 2018. Welcome!