We successfully conducted Hoffman Winston protocol today in the Jiang Lab! It took a while for us to get everything needed for the protocol. I’m glad it worked.

I’m excited that the collaborative project between me and Joe Armstrong from Maitreya Dunham’s lab is out on biorxiv!
This is an expected discovery when using URA3 as a reporter gene to assay mutation rates and spectra using large population of cells. We found some mutants that are able to survive on 5-FOA without URA3 mutations which led to the discovery of an interesting category of URA6 mutants that can survive in various conditions where WT and URA3 mutants can’t.

We sent our first PCR sample to plasmidsaurus for sequencing today! Can’t believe they can sequence up to 25kb linear fragments for $15, without cloning. They use the Nanopore long-read sequencing, with 99% accuracy. This is way cheaper than Sanger sequencing and way simpler, with little compromise in accuracy. Can’t wait to get our results back.

Arin accepted the offer to join Jiang Lab starting Fall 2024. He will be the first graduate student in the lab!! With the help of Valeria and Corrine, we set up the first PCR today in the lab, and submitted our IBC lab safety protocol!!

Welcome two new staff members Valeria and Corrine, and four undergraduate research assistants – Pratham, Chetan, Amanda and Shreya to the Jiang Lab! Can’t wait to get the wet-lab up and going and push the research forward as a team!

Welcome Tianyu — the first official member of the lab!

Pengyao’s paper constructed a pure theoretical model that explores the general relationship between robustness and the ability to evolve. This work is done in Pengyao’s Ph.D. with John and Marty which just got accepted at the JEB!

Pengyao signed the offer to officially join Center for Mechanisms of Evolution at Arizona State University as an assitant professor starting in January 2024!