Excited to share our @NaturePlants News & Views article highlighting how two independent studies uncover transcription factor mediated recruitment of the key siRNA-producing protein, RNA polymerase IV to specific DNA sequences in plants. Full article: doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-0… 1/3

Overall, these studies show TFs can guide siRNA production in plants in a sequence specific manner highlighting the importance of genetic /DNA sequence for epigenetic regulation. Grateful to @Slotkin_Lab for the opportunity and support!! 3/3

Congrats to @mariannekrame45 and authors for work published @ThePlantCell! A terrific Academic Industry collaboration to identify "aberrant RNAs" that trigger silencing. We used ML, RUBY and a different approach to transcriptomics "All-in-One" RNA-seq: academic.oup.com/plcell/adva…

🌱 Poster abstracts due Sept 18! Early-career scientists, submit your work for Keystone Symposia: Plant Epigenetics & Epigenome Engineering. Showcase your research, get feedback & connect with leaders. 🔗 hubs.ly/Q03FFM170 #KSPlantEpi26 @Doris_Wagner_ @zhonglab

Today I delivered my maiden speech on the floor of the U.S. Senate, a long held tradition for new senators. It’s a love letter to Michigan where we invented the middle class. Protecting the middle class is and always will be my north star.

Spearhead Bio, a Danforth Technology Company startup, has received a grant from @NSF that will allow them to fast-track their breakthrough genome engineering technology to develop corn varieties equipped for ag’s biggest challenges. Read more: loom.ly/zHfitlo

Two new positions open at @DanforthCenter to collaborate with @Spearhead_Bio! danforthcenter.org/careers/

Today, was a busy and productive one in the House Science Committee! We passed two bills that I wrote and introduced, the Post-Quantum Cybersecurity Standards Act and the Small Business Artificial Intelligence Advancement Act. Both bills will safeguard our national security and empower American small businesses to lead in the digital age. This legislation will ensure that the small businesses and manufacturers who are the backbone of Michigan’s economy will be able to safely continue to innovate in the 21st century.

It seems like all these goodies would fit nicely in a backpack

Latest work from the lab led by @yuhunghung in @ThePlantJournal! We engineered a RNA-binding protein to sort and protect a Cas9 transcript for long term expression! Can be applied to any engineered transcript as a UTR: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/…

Congrats @Spearhead_Bio for the new grant!

What is one country also investing heavily in agricultural research? It's China. That's why this Administration's $600M cut to ag research makes no sense. We cannot go backward on investing in the future of agriculture. It impacts our farmers and our national security.

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@Spearhead_Bio Offers Precise Plant Engineering Using CRISPR-Directed Jumping Genes TAHITI couples #CRISPR with transposable elements from plants to edit cash crops such as corn and soybean with reduced off-target effects @DanforthCenter @Slotkin_Lab hubs.li/Q03mLWqx0

I’m about to lead my @sciencedems colleagues on the House floor to stand up for science, fight Trump and Musk’s NSF cuts, and STOP THE CHAOS! Tune in!

I’m happy to share that our collaborative commentary is out! In defense of funding foundational plant science academic.oup.com/plcell/arti…

See us in St. Louis Magazine! @stlmag stlmag.com/business/spearhea…

Introducing the newest startup to spin out of the Danforth Center: Spearhead Bio. Spearhead’s technology enhances the efficiency of genome engineering by harnessing the plant’s own natural DNA. 🌱 Learn more: loom.ly/UVnGrzc

So 🥳excited🎉 to publicly announce what we’ve been working on for over two years, 🔥Spearhead Bio🔥, which comes out of @DanforthCenter and my lab’s love of transposable elements!! danforthcenter.org/news/danf…

New Perspective: "The future of genome editing in plants" rdcu.be/ef8aa Genome editing will mimic the natural evolutionary processes that shape genomes; will be used to reshape genomes in a manner that could have happened naturally, but more precisely and more rapidly.