Splicing factor 3B1 (SF3B1) is a core splicing protein that stabilizes the interaction between the U2 snRNA and the branch point (BP) in the RNA target during splicing. SF3B1 is heavily phosphorylated at its N terminus and a substrate of cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs). Although SF3B1 phosphorylation coincides with splicing catalysis,...
Hybrid Organic-inorganic halide perovskites are emerging semiconducting materials that have shown over 23% in power conversion efficiency (PCE) for solar cells. The most prominent materials, three-dimensional (3D) perovskites, have limited scope for structural engineering and exhibit instability when encounter with moisture and heat. Here, we focus on studying the structure-property...
Liquid helium-3 is a remarkable substance. Even prior to the discovery of superfluidity in 1972, liquid helium-3 was the paradigm of a strongly interacting Fermi liquid. At even lower temperatures, liquid helium-3 undergoes a phase transition to a p-wave Fermi superfluid. Over 40 years since its discovery, superfluid helium-3 is...
Many transcription factors (TFs) regulate oncogenic processes and are therefore desirable targets for drug intervention. However, few TF inhibitors have been developed to date due to a lack of specificity and few TF binding pockets. The Meade Lab has overcome these challenges by using cobalt-based complexes that disrupt Cys2His2 zinc...
A replication crisis has enveloped several scientific fields since the early 2000s (see Baker, 2016). This has given rise to improved research and reporting practices (e.g., F. S. Collins & Tabak, 2014), as well as a cottage industry of research into issues of replication and reproducibility (e.g., R. A. Klein...
This dissertation theorizes and examines the revival of interest in figure painting (renwuhua) in Republican China (1911–49). I argue that, in this period, figure painting assumed a central role to painters who sought to reform Chinese art, which was commonly understood as “declining.” This investigation will focus on the achievements...
Understanding and controlling microbial community assembly is critical to developing novel bioprocesses for nutrient and energy recovery from wastewater and preparing for global climate change. As molecular biology tools and DNA sequencing improve, microbial ecologists can progress from answering qualitative questions about “who is there, and what are they doing?”...
Electrostatic interactions mediated by ionic environments play a central role in physical processes across materials science, chemistry and biology. Key biological phenomena, such as the condensation and packaging of DNA, ion transport across cellular membranes and the enzymatic action of proteins, rely on the complex interplay between nanoscale electrostatic, osmotic...
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of highly modular materials with welldefined three-dimensional architectures, permanent porosity, and diverse chemical functionalities, which show promise for a wide range of applications, including gas storage and separation, drug delivery, chemical sensing, and catalysis. Nanoparticle forms of MOFs have similar properties but are dispersible...
Due to their widespread use and subsequent release, ENMs may exist as mixtures in the natural environment where their chemical interactions can control the toxic stress to exposed microorganisms. Will complex environmental mixtures containing ENMs produce microbial stress that is synergistic, attenuated, or simply additive relative to single ENM exposure,...