Michael Murphy
@mmurphyrna.bsky.social
Postdoc based in New York studying RNA, ribosome heterogeneity and cardiac disease
Pinned
Thrilled to share our research on how mutations in the muscle-specific ribosomal protein RPL3L, a paralog of RPL3, cause a rare infant heart disease.
Hotspot mutations are both proteotoxic and induce unproductive splicing in RPL3 mRNA, preventing phenotypic rescue.
rdcu.be/eYkC7
Hotspot mutations are both proteotoxic and induce unproductive splicing in RPL3 mRNA, preventing phenotypic rescue.
rdcu.be/eYkC7
Reposted by Michael Murphy
A pungent weed has been genetically edited to become a potentially profitable winter crop
go.nature.com/4khfxcv
go.nature.com/4khfxcv
Genetically engineered ‘stinkweed’ comes up roses for making seed oil
Field pennycress could become a valuable winter crop, with benefits for both carbon storage and farm profitability.
go.nature.com
January 29, 2026 at 5:37 PM
A pungent weed has been genetically edited to become a potentially profitable winter crop
go.nature.com/4khfxcv
go.nature.com/4khfxcv
Reposted by Michael Murphy
now online:
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Structures of naked mole-rat, tuco-tuco, and guinea pig ribosomes—is rRNA fragmentation linked to translational fidelity?
Abstract. Ribosomes are central to protein synthesis in all organisms. In mammals, the ribosome functional core is highly conserved. Remarkably, two rodent
academic.oup.com
January 29, 2026 at 1:47 PM
now online:
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Online Now: Mitochondria as sources and targets of cellular signaling Online now:
Mitochondria as sources and targets of cellular signaling
Meichsner et al. review recent insights into mitochondria as dynamic signaling hubs. The authors describe how structural plasticity and interorganellar communication enable mitochondria to serve as both sources and targets of signaling, coordinating stress responses, metabolic adaptation, and innate immune pathways to safeguard cellular homeostasis.
dlvr.it
January 29, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Online Now: Mitochondria as sources and targets of cellular signaling Online now:
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Online Now: Signaling to make human ribosomes: Connections between the cytoplasm and the nucleolus Online now:
Signaling to make human ribosomes: Connections between the cytoplasm and the nucleolus
Lawrence et al. examine how ribosome production in the eukaryotic nucleolus is coordinated by cytoplasmic processes to maintain appropriate ribosome numbers. The authors highlight regulatory inputs from cytoplasmic signaling, mitosis, and cytoplasmic organelles that converge on nucleolar function, and they discuss how disruption of these pathways contributes to human disease.
dlvr.it
January 28, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Online Now: Signaling to make human ribosomes: Connections between the cytoplasm and the nucleolus Online now:
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Online Now: Why m⁶A? An RNA surveillance model Online now:
Why m⁶A? An RNA surveillance model
Dierks and Schwartz discuss the m6A surveillance model, proposing that m6A flags “undesirable” intron-less RNAs (e.g., transposons) for decay. This provides a mechanism to distinguish “legitimate” spliced mRNAs and potentially suppress harmful RNA.
dlvr.it
January 28, 2026 at 12:32 PM
Online Now: Why m⁶A? An RNA surveillance model Online now:
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Complexity at the ribosomal polypeptide tunnel exit. The major N-terminal acetyltransferase NatA may form different complexes on the ribosome to facilitate protein maturation. By Marius Klein & Klemens Wild in Irmgard Sinning's lab BZH & Nina McTiernan in my lab. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
January 26, 2026 at 11:24 AM
Complexity at the ribosomal polypeptide tunnel exit. The major N-terminal acetyltransferase NatA may form different complexes on the ribosome to facilitate protein maturation. By Marius Klein & Klemens Wild in Irmgard Sinning's lab BZH & Nina McTiernan in my lab. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
METTL3-mediated m6A on nascent RNA coordinates translational and transcriptional programs to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages
METTL3-mediated m6A on nascent RNA coordinates translational and transcriptional programs to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages
Fu et al. show that METTL3 installs m6A on nascent Jak1/Nlrp3/Il1β RNAs to activate the JAK1-STAT3-C/EBPβ axis, thereby driving NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Myeloid Mettl3 deletion or STAT3 inhibition reduces inflammation in LPS sepsis, MSU arthritis, and HFD-induced obesity models.
dlvr.it
January 25, 2026 at 12:23 AM
METTL3-mediated m6A on nascent RNA coordinates translational and transcriptional programs to activate the NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages
Reposted by Michael Murphy
And the 4th paper in this week contribution from our lab tells about ribosome biogenesis in yeast. A follow-up story from our wonderful collaborators in Graz - the Bergler Lab. Structural work was again done by the amazing @lgrundmann.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
A comprehensive view on r-protein binding and rRNA domain structuring during early eukaryotic ribosome formation
Abstract. Formation of the eukaryotic ribosomal subunits follows a strict regime to assemble ribosomal proteins (r-protein) with ribosomal RNAs (rRNA) whil
academic.oup.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:27 PM
And the 4th paper in this week contribution from our lab tells about ribosome biogenesis in yeast. A follow-up story from our wonderful collaborators in Graz - the Bergler Lab. Structural work was again done by the amazing @lgrundmann.bsky.social: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
I am recruiting postdoctoral fellows to develop new research directions in the lab. We study transcriptional regulation through biomolecular condensates in development and disease, with an emphasis on first-principles and mechanistic discovery. Please repost or share with colleagues.
January 23, 2026 at 6:35 PM
I am recruiting postdoctoral fellows to develop new research directions in the lab. We study transcriptional regulation through biomolecular condensates in development and disease, with an emphasis on first-principles and mechanistic discovery. Please repost or share with colleagues.
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Out now in @science.org Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development
Zygotic genome activation (ZGA) failure leads to developmental arrest and poses a clinical challenge to women’s fertility. We observed that human embryos arresting at the eight-cell ZGA stage exhibite...
www.science.org
January 22, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Out now in @science.org Endogenous retroviruses synthesize heterologous chimeric RNAs to reinforce human early embryo development | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
new paper from the Lai lab! Renfu Shang performs careful mechanistic dissection of miRNA cluster assistance and reveals many insights and surprises to this enigmatic regulatory strategy that gives suboptimal miRNAs a boost. if you love Northerns, you'll ♥️ this! 🧬
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
Separable roles for Microprocessor and its cofactors, ERH and SAFB1/2, during microRNA cluster assistance
A biweekly scientific journal publishing high-quality research in molecular biology and genetics, cancer biology, biochemistry, and related fields
genesdev.cshlp.org
January 23, 2026 at 8:21 PM
new paper from the Lai lab! Renfu Shang performs careful mechanistic dissection of miRNA cluster assistance and reveals many insights and surprises to this enigmatic regulatory strategy that gives suboptimal miRNAs a boost. if you love Northerns, you'll ♥️ this! 🧬
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
genesdev.cshlp.org/content/earl...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts
go.nature.com/4qLPpcb
go.nature.com/4qLPpcb
When two years of academic work vanished with a single click
After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. Here’s what happened next.
go.nature.com
January 23, 2026 at 10:40 AM
After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts
go.nature.com/4qLPpcb
go.nature.com/4qLPpcb
Reposted by Michael Murphy
A nice editorial about our recent SCN5A automated patch clamp paper. @chaiannng.bsky.social academic.oup.com/eurheartj/ad...
Reducing the variant of uncertain significance burden in inherited cardiac disorders: from variant to function to action?
This editorial refers to ‘Automated patch clamp data improve variant classification and penetrance stratification for SCN5A–Brugada syndrome’, by M.J. O’Ne
academic.oup.com
January 21, 2026 at 5:56 PM
A nice editorial about our recent SCN5A automated patch clamp paper. @chaiannng.bsky.social academic.oup.com/eurheartj/ad...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
The conference (agreement between House and Senate) appropriations bill that includes HHS and NIH was released this morning.
www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...
1/5
www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...
1/5
Committee Releases Conferenced Defense, Homeland Security, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Bi...
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
www.appropriations.senate.gov
January 20, 2026 at 3:55 PM
The conference (agreement between House and Senate) appropriations bill that includes HHS and NIH was released this morning.
www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...
1/5
www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majorit...
1/5
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Discuss #RNA 3' ends and their regulation at the EMBO Workshop "RNA 3' ends and beyond" in #Oxford, United Kingdom, 7–11 September 2026.
Deadline: 4 May 2026
https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-rna3
#EMBORNA3EndsBeyond #RNAsky #LifeSciences #meeting #EMBOevents 🧪
Deadline: 4 May 2026
https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-rna3
#EMBORNA3EndsBeyond #RNAsky #LifeSciences #meeting #EMBOevents 🧪
January 20, 2026 at 3:30 PM
Discuss #RNA 3' ends and their regulation at the EMBO Workshop "RNA 3' ends and beyond" in #Oxford, United Kingdom, 7–11 September 2026.
Deadline: 4 May 2026
https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-rna3
#EMBORNA3EndsBeyond #RNAsky #LifeSciences #meeting #EMBOevents 🧪
Deadline: 4 May 2026
https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-rna3
#EMBORNA3EndsBeyond #RNAsky #LifeSciences #meeting #EMBOevents 🧪
Reposted by Michael Murphy
"Use it or lose it." This is great advice for exercise, but when cells need to slow down or go dormant, they need to store ribosomes to recover growth in the future. They use hibernation factors to do this. Here is our latest story on how archaea hibernate ribosomes (1/7):
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org
January 20, 2026 at 3:53 PM
"Use it or lose it." This is great advice for exercise, but when cells need to slow down or go dormant, they need to store ribosomes to recover growth in the future. They use hibernation factors to do this. Here is our latest story on how archaea hibernate ribosomes (1/7):
doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Excited to share our new paper! We developed a method to visualize proteasomal degradation at the single–molecule level in live cells, enabling us to dissect distinct modes of substrate engagement, probe co-factor dependence, and study proteasome–ribosome collisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
January 20, 2026 at 12:27 PM
Excited to share our new paper! We developed a method to visualize proteasomal degradation at the single–molecule level in live cells, enabling us to dissect distinct modes of substrate engagement, probe co-factor dependence, and study proteasome–ribosome collisions.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Our latest cotranslational folding story is now published @cp-molcell.bsky.social. Really cool (I think) new ideas about how exactly the ribosome directs folding and assembly to make sure complicated proteins mature efficiently in cells.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
The ribosome synchronizes folding and assembly to promote oligomeric protein biogenesis
Large oligomeric proteins constitute a major fraction of proteomes, but are difficult
to refold in vitro, raising the question of how cells direct their biogenesis. Roeselová
and Shivakumaraswamy et a...
www.cell.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:14 PM
Our latest cotranslational folding story is now published @cp-molcell.bsky.social. Really cool (I think) new ideas about how exactly the ribosome directs folding and assembly to make sure complicated proteins mature efficiently in cells.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
We are looking for a postdoc to work on mechanisms of #RNA decay in cancer using #cryoEM with #nanobodies and #minibinders! Please RT
January 18, 2026 at 2:30 PM
We are looking for a postdoc to work on mechanisms of #RNA decay in cancer using #cryoEM with #nanobodies and #minibinders! Please RT
Reposted by Michael Murphy
CHAMP1 is an essential regulator for human myoblast fusion and muscle development
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
CHAMP1 is an essential regulator for human myoblast fusion and muscle development - Nature Communications
Here, the authors investigate the molecular role of the CHAMP1 gene/protein in preclinical models of human muscle development and disease.
www.nature.com
January 16, 2026 at 6:16 PM
CHAMP1 is an essential regulator for human myoblast fusion and muscle development
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Check our latest collaboration with the Kleaveland Lab (kleavelandlab.org), led by Joanna Stefano and Lara Elcavage: academic.oup.com/nar/article/... (1/2)
January 14, 2026 at 9:11 PM
Check our latest collaboration with the Kleaveland Lab (kleavelandlab.org), led by Joanna Stefano and Lara Elcavage: academic.oup.com/nar/article/... (1/2)
Reposted by Michael Murphy
This ribosome goes to 11
This ribosome goes to 11
In this issue of Molecular Cell, Ishiguro et al.1 describe new RNA modifications near the active site of the E. coli ribosome that appear only under anaerobic conditions. These modifications enhance ribosome activity and increase anaerobic growth rates.
dlvr.it
January 14, 2026 at 8:14 PM
This ribosome goes to 11
Reposted by Michael Murphy
"… what I took from the MBA wasn’t a corporate playbook—it was a mindset. It taught me to view the lab as a dynamic organization whose success depends as much on trust, motivation, and leadership as on technical expertise." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4swOBJz
January 13, 2026 at 9:08 PM
"… what I took from the MBA wasn’t a corporate playbook—it was a mindset. It taught me to view the lab as a dynamic organization whose success depends as much on trust, motivation, and leadership as on technical expertise." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4swOBJz
Reposted by Michael Murphy
Splice-switching ASOs targeting the AURKA 5′ UTR collapse an SRSF1-AURKA-MYC oncogenic circuit in pancreatic cancer
Splice-switching ASOs targeting the AURKA 5′ UTR collapse an SRSF1-AURKA-MYC oncogenic circuit in pancreatic cancer
Kral et al. reveal that SRSF1 promotes inclusion of an Alu-derived exon in the AURKA 5′ UTR, enhancing AURKA expression and sustaining an oncogenic feedback loop with MYC. Splice-switching ASOs that promote skipping of this 5′ UTR exon suppress AURKA and collapse the SRSF1-AURKA-MYC circuit in pancreatic cancer.
dlvr.it
January 12, 2026 at 11:57 PM
Splice-switching ASOs targeting the AURKA 5′ UTR collapse an SRSF1-AURKA-MYC oncogenic circuit in pancreatic cancer