The #RNAWorld hypothesis gets another boost from synthetic biologists. The Hobartner lab makes a methyltransferase #ribozyme , showing how early RNA enzymes could have expanded their own chemical diversity and perhaps methylated other molecules. nature.com/articles/s4158…

Junior Fellow search! 3-year independent position, salary, research funding, and lab space provided. Great transition to tenure track! Work at MGH Molbio and launch your independent lab. Apply by 5pm on November 15, 2020 at: molbio.mgh.harvard.edu/facultysearch/

I commisioned a song about our research from a baltimore artist. youtu.be/3DaoG58jQt8

Latest in a project started with Noam Prywes what feels like ages ago. I'm now able to build these things with ease; oligos designed to (on paper) use imine bonds for sequence recognition & information transfer similar to H-bonds in nucleobases. J Org Chem/Org Lett pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac…

'You were always a star... The only thing better winning the #NobelPrize yourself is having one of your former students win it!' – Jack Szostak, Jennifer's mentor for her Ph.D. work Harvard University

Congratulations Doudna Lab for the Nobel! Fun fact: Jennifer is the first student in our lab to work on RNA.
The Nobel Prize

Science thrives on diversity. Efforts to increase gender and racial equity in chemistry should be amplified and celebrated. Angewandte Chemie recent editorial is reprehensible and does not reflect the values we must strive to uphold as a community. Jack is resigning from the board.

High-yielding prebiotic synthesis of purine deoxyribonucleosides and pyrimidine ribonucleosides. Further evidence for a common origin of DNA and RNA.
Amazing work from the Sutherland lab MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology nature.com/articles/s4158…

Fully funded PhD studentship in computational chemistry available in my group incl. fees for EU/UK students. Topics: photochemistry of RNA/DNA oligos or prebiotic nonenzymatic RNA/DNA template copying (in collab. with Szostak Lab). E-mail me for more info! Will be advertised soon

Our new PNAS paper is online - a new twist on the old ligase story that started right here about 3 decades ago...
In vitro selection of ribozyme ligases that use prebiotically plausible 2-aminoimidazole–activated substrates pnas.org/content/early/…

A new study offers evidence that the first building blocks on Earth may have evolved in a less orderly way than previously thought hrvd.me/earthevolution…

Our new eLife - the journal paper is now available online!
Congratulations Lijun, great work!
elifesciences.org/articles/51888

Latest from the Szostak Lab in J. Am. Chem. Soc. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja…

Our newest pre-print is out now! Congrats Chris!

biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Szostak lab representing at the MGH mol bio retreat! Yes, Jack’s card reads ‘chick magnet.’ And yes, we’re talking about a very fundamental chicken and egg problem ;)

What a fantastic group of people to work with!!

Origins of Life Consortium member Zoe Todd selected for the cover of Royal Society of Chemistry! Collaborative efforts - key! Szostak Lab
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/art…

Prebiotically Plausible ‘Patching’ of RNA Backbone Cleavage Through a 3′-5′ Pyrophosphate Linkage biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Inosine, but none of the 8-oxo-purines, is a plausible component of a primordial version of RNA (Szostak)
pnas.org/content/early/…

Nobel prize winner Dr. Jack Szostak and collaborators present techniques for the preparation, purification, and use of fatty acid-containing liposomes. Szostak Lab MassGeneral News ow.ly/EUcd30inHpW

Congratulations Jennifer Doudna Doudna Lab for receiving the 2018 NAS Award in Chemical Sciences! nasonline.org/programs/award…

One of Jennifer's PhD Szostak Lab papers was in Biochemistry pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/bi…!