Sean Beckwith

Assistant Professor @HopeCollege
transposons • yeast • he/him
Postdoc @UniversityofGA • PhD @Stanford • BA @CarletonCollege

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Our work probing the molecular determinants of Ty1 retrotransposon restriction specificity in yeast is out in PLOS Genetics! 🧵

@DJayGarfinkel

https://t.co/mQfuW2N960

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Great experience publishing our first micropublication (@Micropub7n)! Perfect journal venue for a phenotype we observed that may have otherwise languished in a lab notebook, but instead is now available and citable ✅

https://t.co/u5g449xfLN

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Great time sharing our science at WMRUGS this past weekend! Posters from student researchers Alexa, Mackenzie, and Awesome and a strong contingent from Hope College!

[Hope College Biology @HopeBio]

Congratulations to Dr. Beckwith on his newly published article! 🎉

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

So, do similar capsid-capsid interactions exist in other transposons, viruses, or exapted capsid genes?

And could this framework be used to engineer highly specific inhibitors against transposons or viruses?

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Our work probing the molecular determinants of Ty1 retrotransposon restriction specificity in yeast is out in PLOS Genetics! 🧵

@DJayGarfinkel

https://t.co/mQfuW2N960

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

And despite the different evolutionary trajectories in Ty1c and Ty1', both restriction mechanisms target the same binding interface. Just 3 amino acid differences in this interface is enough to direct the inhibitory protein to its respective transposon.

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Job alert! My department at Hope College is hiring a tenure-track molecular biologist! Come join us at a small liberal arts college with strong faculty research in beautiful West Michigan! Job ad: https://t.co/V82x6YoNBJ

[Hope College Biology @HopeBio]

Students are working with budding yeast in the Advanced Cell Biology lab and practicing Petri dish art while learning to work with yeast cells for their semester-long course research projects

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Postdoc opening in David Garfinkel's lab at University of Georgia researching the yeast Ty1 retrotransposon! Fantastic training environment (I would know! 😃)
https://t.co/GcHs3h4zSv

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Lab fun during summer 2025! Kayaking with the biology program, sampling all the ice cream/froyo/frozen custard shops in Holland, and hosting President Scogin and Provost Griffin in the lab.

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

We had a great time participating in the Schaap Chemistry Symposium! Here, Beckwith Lab students Justin, Awesome, and Alexa present their summer research projects!

[Mobile DNA @MobDNAjournal]

🧬Happy Transposon Day!

🎉Each year on the 16th of June we commemorate the birthdate of the founder of transposable element research, Barbara McClintock (1902-1992).

Check out quotes from editors and popular content on our #TransposonDay2025 page

👉https://t.co/Z6BVlGq00J

[Sean Beckwith @SeanLBeckwith]

Job alert! My department at Hope College is hiring a tenure-track microbiologist! Come join us at a small liberal arts college with strong faculty research in beautiful West Michigan! Job ad: https://t.co/c68iYWVJdz