Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸

Single-molecule biophysics and nanotechnology laboratory

[Director Michael Kratsios @mkratsios47]

Today, we released the National Policy for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening to protect American biotechnology innovation while reducing the risk of misuse.

This policy establishes a new, government-wide screening requirements for synthetic DNA and the equipment used to make it. It will ensure companies selling nucleic acid sequences and synthesis equipment know their customers and prevent the malicious use of these materials and tools.

This policy strengthens our Nation’s biosecurity posture by establishing rigorous U.S. government-wide procurement screening and physical security standards for synthetic biology. It replaces outdated “self-attestation” systems with robust, independent verification. It creates a dynamic, SI-powered screening layer that assesses the biological risk from nucleic acid sequences, allowing the U.S. to anticipate and prevent malicious use and help stop dangerous gain-of-function research.

@NIST will issue rigorous new screening standards and @HHSGov and @USDA will certify synthetic biology providers. Together, these measures will strengthen American biosecurity, safeguard responsible innovation, and establish a global standard for safe and transparent synthetic biology tools and research.

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

@silvirouskin Congrats!

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

@cees_dekker Oh no! RIP 💔

[Cees Dekker @cees_dekker]

Be there!

Superb nanopore conference

in Thailand

https://t.co/Rg2L1pEXCq

Abstract submission deadline is June 30, 2026

[Sholto David @addictedtoigno1]

Earlier this week I posted an example of a fake western blot provided by ThermoFisher to demonstrate the validity of a p53 antibody. I considered it an amusing curiosity. In fact ThermoFisher has systematically manipulated antibody validation data. Short Thread... 🧵

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

The generated code can be used offline in future analysis. Want to plot, compare, visualize? Try NanoCortex! https://t.co/E8TwzCPzBo

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

Introducing NanoCortex, a chat-based nanopore agent for processing nanopore data. We hope it will be useful for people in the nanopore field with little to no coding skills. Disclaimer: use of the agent required API tokens (there is an associated cost). However...

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

😩

[Sholto David @addictedtoigno1]

Surprised to discover that Thermo Fisher appears to show a fake western blot for the validation of one of their p53 antibodies. I've added a diagram to show the very similar bands. This does not appear to be one of the "published figures", but their own internal data.

[Sara Rouhanifard @SRouhanifard]

What does pseudouridine (ψ) actually do to protein production? It’s been studied for years — but its impact on translation has remained surprisingly unclear.

We were excited to tackle this directly in our latest NAR paper: https://t.co/wyHTH4Y9ps

[Frances Arnold @francesarnold]

This is why international scientific exchange is so important. We must protect and encourage collaboration and mobility.

[JM Rothberg @JMRothberg]

Help build a sub $500 DNA sequencer 🧬
Seeking an intern experienced in 4-dye SBS chemistry + surface DNA amplification.
Real system, real chemistry, open source.
~200M bases/run, <$50 per run.
Location: yacht in the Mediterranean & Aegean.
Must be hands-on and able to build + troubleshoot. DM @GangstaQuack

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

@slavov_n How many grams of iron would one need to uptake?

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

This was a fruitful collaboration between our group and the @ShemaEfrat lab at @WeizmannScience and Sean O'Leary at @UCRiverside.

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

Pleased to share our latest manuscript that introduces NucSeq, a SMRT-sequencing based single-molecule approach to interrogate histone PTMs and sequence the wrapped nucleosomes around these histones. https://t.co/YTYVeb7wKJ

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

Incubating primed NucBells with polymerase and immobilizing them on the @PacBio RSII platform (I know, outdated, but versatile!) allows histone marks to be detected using fluorescent immunoaffinity reagents. Then, following a wash step, the DNA is sequenced.

[Niko McCarty. @NikoMcCarty]

I recently learned that RNase A enzymes can survive autoclaving, or high-pressure heating, at 121°C. This is strange.

But then I learned there are entire organisms that not only survive autoclaving, but actually grow and divide at 121°C???

There was a 2003 paper, for example, where these two scientists took a submarine down to a hydrothermal vent in the Pacific ocean, scooped up some dirt, and kept everything in an airtight tube.

This tube had an organism in it. The organism had features "typical of Archaea." They put this organism into an autoclave (held at 121°C) for a full 24 hours. When they took it out of the autoclave, the cell population had doubled. Thus, the organism was called "Strain 121."

The 2003 paper ends with an enticing statement:

"The factors that permit strain 121 to grow at such high temperatures are unknown. It is generally assumed that the upper temperature limit for life is related to the instability of key molecules essential for life, but which molecules are most important in defining the upper temperature limit have not been defined. However, strain 121 offers the possibility to do this work."

I read this and got excited. I began searching for follow-up studies on Strain 121. But I was quickly disappointed.

This organism has its own Wikipedia page, but every single reference is from 2003 or 2004. Its name was later changed to Geogemma barossii, so I searched for that, too. But all I could find were random news stories about this "heat-loving microbe," all of which linked back to the original 2003 paper.

I'm extremely confused by this. Why is nobody studying this microbe? It doesn't even have a published genome sequence. Where is the intellectual center for hyperthermophile research?

[Wanunu Lab 🇺🇸 @WanunuLab]

Excited to take part in this effort to bring protein sequencing to reality! https://t.co/mawhRtyurG

@NortheasternCOS @NUBioE1 @Northeastern

[Stephen Turner @strnr]

DARPA Biological Technologies Office: Protean (Feb 20) https://t.co/g7X8cpCo5Z

[Adam Cohen @AdamEzraCohen]

I started a company! Luminos.

We made a complete neuro-electronic interface: stimulate and record from any set of neurons in any pattern of space and time, over a 6 mm field of view.
Also useful for optical pooled screens and target discovery.

https://t.co/WgbOzXkqJI