News
2024
March
Our SARS-CoV-2 paper "An orally bioavailable SARS-CoV-2 main protease inhibitor exhibits improved affinity and reduced sensitivity to mutations" is out in Science Translational Medicine! Congratulations to Michael Westberg, Yichi Su, Yan Wu, Xinzhi Zou, Chenzhou Hao, and our collaborators! Link
2023
July
Our paper "A positively tuned voltage indicator for extended electrical recordings in the brain" is out in Nature Methods! Here we show that we can invert the response of ASAP-family voltage indicators to the positive direction, while increasing responsivity to >200% per 100 mV, several times larger than other voltage indicators. The resulting ASAP4b and ASAP4e shows greater photostability and excellent signal-to-noise ratio at low powers in both 1- and 2-photon illumination modes. We image more than 50 hippocampal neurons to characterize place cells by voltage and calcium at the same time, and demonstrate the higher temporal precision of voltage imaging. Congrats to graduate students Stephen Evans, Mariya Chavarha, and Donqing Shi (shared first authors) for generating and characterizing ASAP4, and collaborators in the labs of Peyman Golshani, Na Ji, Lisa Giocomo, and Chris Makinson for the amazing in vivo results. Link
March
Our paper "Kinase-modulated bioluminescent indicators enable noninvasive imaging of drug activity in the brain" was published in ACS Central Science! We developed a new generalizable design for kinase-modulated bioluminescent indicators (KiMBIs) that emit more light when a specific kinase is inhibited, including the first bioluminescent indicator of any type for the ERK pathway. We demonstrate that KiMBI can report whether drugs are inhibiting the ERK pathway in cancer cells in vivo in real time. Using KiMBI we identify an ERK inhibitor capable of efficiently crossing into the brain, suggesting it should be tested as a treatment for brain cancers. Congrats to graduate student Yan Wu (first author) and postdoc Yichi Su (last and shared corresponding author), and to our collaborators in Thomas Kirkland's group at Promega! Link
February
Our paper "An optimized bioluminescent substrate for non-invasive imaging in the brain", is now out at Nature Chemical Biology. This study reports cephalofurimazine (CFz), a new NanoLuc substrate optimized for non-invasive brain imaging. We obtained >20x more light from the brain with Antares+CFz than FLuc+luciferin, and performed through-skull calcium imaging with CaMBI+CFz. Congrats to postdoc Yichi Su (Lin Lab) and Joel Walker (Promega, Inc.) who shared primary authorships. This was a great collaboration with Stanford colleagues Xiang Wu, Kerriann Casey, and Guosong Hong, and Thomas Kirkland's Advanced Technologies Group at Promega. Link
2022
July
Our paper "Optical regulation of endogenous RhoA reveals selection of cellular responses by signal amplitude", a collaboration with former postdoc Jihye Seong at KIST, is now out at Cell Reports. This paper uses our lab's photodissociable pdDronpa for optogenetic rheostatic control of endogenous RhoA, allowing us to determine amplitude encoding of focal adhesion responses and suggesting a "constructionist" approach to deciphering cell signaling. Congrats to all the authors! Link
June
Our paper describing "A bright, nontoxic, and non-aggregating red fluorescent protein for long-term labeling of fine structures in neurons", is online at Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. This work introduces Crimson as a bright RFP that labels membrane structures without aggregation in neurons. Congratulations to Lin, Yang, Jun and his new lab members, and our collaborators in the Deisseroth lab! Link
May
A Stanford consortium led by Dr. Jeffrey Glenn and including the Lin Lab was selected for a NIH AViDD (antiviral drug discovery) program grant. We're grateful to NIH for supporting our antiviral drug discovery efforts. Link
Yan Wu received a Bio-X Bowes Graduate Student Fellowship. Congrats, Yan!
April
Michael Lin was named a 2022 Harrington Scholar-Innovator. We're grateful to the Harrington Discovery Institute for their support of our SARSCoV2 protease inhibitor efforts! Link
Daesun Song received a HFSP Long-Term Postdoctoral Fellowship. Congrats, Daesun!
March
Benjamin Kim's article "A red fluorescent protein with improved monomericity enables ratiometric voltage imaging with ASAP3" is now available online. This work describes mCyRFP3 as a cyan-excitable RFP that does not interfere with membrane localization of ASAP voltage indicators, unlike other RFPs that do fine in other fusion proteins. Congrats, Ben! Link
2021
December
Our paper reporting positively tuned highly photostable ASAP4 voltage indicators is available in preprint. Link. Congratulations to Stephen, Mariya, Dongqing, Guofeng, Sungmoo, Dongyun, and others on the joint effort, and thanks to our collaborators in the Ding, Golshani, Giocomo, Ji, and Clandinin labs.
November
Congrats to Stephen Evans for a successful PhD defense on “Developing upward-going voltage indicators for general usage amongst common imaging setups in neuroscience"!
Daesun Song joins the lab as a Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar from Yongwon Jung's lab at KAIST. Welcome, Daesun!
October
Yan Wu received a 2021-2022 Bioengineering Agilent Fellowship. Congrats, Yan!
2020
September
Our paper reporting rational design of a new class of protease inhibitors for the potential treatment of coronavirus diseases is now in preprint. Link. Congratulations to Michael, Yichi, Xinzhi, Lin and Michael on the team effort which was remarkable efficient despite having to work with lockdown restrictions.
July
We were quite busy this summer publishing several papers. Congratulations to all the authors!
Su Y, Walker JR, Park Y, Smith TP, Liu LX, Hall MP, Labanieh L, Hurst R, Wang DC, Encell LP, Kim N, Zhang F, Kay MA, Casey KM, Majzner RG, Cochran JR, Mackall CL, Kirkland TA, Lin MZ. Novel NanoLuc substrates enable bright two-population bioluminescence imaging in animals. Nat Methods. 2020 Aug; 17(8):852-860. doi: 10.1038/s41592-020-0889-6. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32661427. Link
Chung HK, Lin MZ. On the cutting edge: protease-based methods for sensing and controlling cell biology. Nat Methods. 2020 Sep; 17(9):885-896. doi: 10.1038/s41592-020-0891-z. Epub 2020 Jul 13. PMID: 32661424. Link
Li B, Chavarha M, Kobayashi Y, Yoshinaga S, Nakajima K, Lin MZ, Inoue T. Two-photon voltage imaging of spontaneous activity from multiple neurons reveals network activity in brain tissue. iScience. 2020 Aug 21; 23(8):101363. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101363. Epub 2020 Jul 12. PMID: 32717641. Link
June
Yan Wu joins the lab as a PhD student in Bioengineering. Welcome, Yan!
May
Alex Hao received a Bio-X Bowes Graduate Student Fellowship. Congrats, Alex!
January
We've moved! As of January 15, 2020, our office and lab are located in the brand new ChemH-Neuroscience Complex at 290 Jane Stanford Way. This new research complex serves as the home base for two interdisciplinary life sciences institutes at Stanford University: Stanford ChEM-H and the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. We are excited to be a part of this innovative work space!
2019
December
Our paper describing Ultrafast Two-Photon Imaging of a High-Gain Voltage Indicator in Awake Behaving Mice is out in Cell: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1aDRcL7PXYX1-. This work describes a bright and fast voltage indicator ASAP3, as well as a faster two-photon scanning method to image ASAP3 at multiple neurons fast enough to detect spikes in living mice, as well as a novel high-throughput approach to mutate and express proteins directly from PCR products. Congratulations to Mariya, Benjamin, Dongqing and Stephen for their excellent work.
Julisia Chau joined the lab as a PhD student, and Yufeng Zhao as a post-doc. Welcome Julisia and Yufeng!
November
Congratulations to Benjamin Kim on his successful thesis defense!
September
Alex (Yukun) Hao joined the lab as a graduate student. Welcome Alex!
June
Our study on abnormalities in activity-induced synaptic protein expression in a Fragile X model is out in PNAS: https://www.pnas.org/content/116/24/12007. We found that new copies of PSD95 fail to be induced by local neurotrophin stimulation in neurons lacking the Fragile X mental retardation protein, but the effect can be rescued with kinase inhibitors. Congrats to Ying, Yang, Lin, and Dongyun, whose dedication, creativity, and teamwork made these discoveries possible.
May
Our paper describing Rewiring of Aberrant Signaling to Effector Release (RASER), a synthetic pathway for specifically detecting and ablating cancer cells, is out in Science: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6439/eaat6982. Congrats to Kay, Xinzhi, Bryce, Veronica, and Yunwen!
April
Our paper reporting a bioluminescent indicator for non-invasive calcium imaging in mice is out in Nature Chemical Biology: https://rdcu.be/bue7I. Congrats to Younghee!
2018
November
Michael Westberg from University of Aarhus has joined the lab as a Novo Nordisk Chem-H postdoctoral fellow. Welcome, Michael!
October
Guofeng Zhang from Zhongshan School of Medicine of Sun Yat‐sen Unive has joined the lab as a visiting scholar. Welcome, Guofeng!
September
Yichi Su from UC Berkeley has joined the lab as a postdoc. Welcome, Yichi!
July
Our paper reporting a method to preserve protein function using antiviral drugs is out in Nature Methods:https://rdcu.be/2j6N. Congrats to Conor!
Dongyun Jiang from Penn State Unviersity has joined the lab as a postdoc. Welcome, Dongyun!
June
Kay (Hokyung) Chung, Conor Jacobs, and Mariya Chavarha are receiving their PhD diplomas. Congratulations, Mariya and Kay.
Our paper "Excitation wavelength optimization improves photostability of ASAP-family GEVIs", a collaboration with Guoqiang Bi’s lab, has been published in Molecular Cell:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29866136/
March
We welcome Xinzhi Zou (BioE) to the Lin lab as our newest graduate student.
January
We welcome Connor Ludwig (BioE) to the lab as rotation student and Melat Birbo as undergraduate student.
2017
November
Congratulations to Kay on her successful thesis defense!
September
We welcome Mengli to the lab as joint PhD student, Xinzhi Zou (BioE) and Chung-ha Oh Davis (neuroscience) to the lab as rotation students.
Our paper on photoswitchable single-chain Cas9 proteins is published https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28938067 Congratulations to Xin, Xinzhi and Kay!
Our collaborative work on improving CRY2 for optobiochemical control is published in Nature Communications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28916751 Congratulations to Namdoo and Michael!
August
Congratulations to Conor on his successful thesis defense!
Kay receives a Hans Neurath Outstanding Promise Travel Award from the 2017 Protein Society Annual Meeting in Montreal, Canada and presents posters at the symposium.
June
Julianne Kim, Muziyue Wu, Tyler Dao, and Scott Meyer join the lab as summer students. Welcome, Julianne, Muziyue, Tyler, and Soctt!
Ryan graduates from Stanford and accepts the school of medicine admission from UCSF! Congratulations, Ryan!
May
Vandon Duong joins the lab as a research assistant. Welcome, Vandon!
April
Xin is giving a talk in the Brain Rejuvenation Project Mini-Symposium
March
Dongqing, David and Cory join the Lin lab. Welcome, Dongqing, David and Cory!
Febuary
Xin gives a talk at Winter Q-Bio
Congrats to Xin on the publication of her Science paper "Optical control of cell signaling by single-chain photoswitchable kinases"
2016
December
Congrats to Xin on her successful thesis defense and for accepting a position in the Wells lab at UCSF
November
Mariya gives a talk at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience in San Diego, California.
October
Congrats to Bryce on the publication of his Nature Methods paper "Fluorescent indicators for simultaneous reporting of all four cell cycle phases"
Congrats to Ben on the publication of his Nature Methods paper "Simultaneous dual-color fluorescence lifetime imaging with novel red-shifted fluorophores”
September
Stephen and Yunhee join the Lin lab. Welcome, Stephen and Yunhee!
August
Ying has been awarded The NARSAD Young Investigator Grant to study protein synthesis deficits in Fragile X syndrome.
Michael published a review in Nature Neuroscience on "Genetically encoded indicators of neuronal activity."
Michael published a review in Current Opinion in Structural Biology on "Structure-guided wavelength tuning in far-red fluorescenct proteins.”
June
Our collaboration work with Clandinin lab on ASAP2f is published in Cell! Congrats,Francois! Link
Xinzhi and Hokyung join the Lin lab for the summer. Welcome, Xinzhi and Hokyung!
May
Jun, Younghee and Ben's paper on cyOFP is now online at Nature Biotechnology! Congrats, everyone! Link
April
Deze and Stephan join the lab for the spring quarter rotation. Wecome!
March
Our high school student Julia receives and accepts the addmission from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)! Congratulations, Julia!
January
Lin joins our lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Welcome, Lin!
Yang joins the Interdisciplinary Research Center on Biology and Chemistry in Shanghai, China. Congrats on the new position, Yang!
Patrick, Heejo and James join the lab for the winter quarter rotation. Welcome everyone!
2015
December
Xin gives a talk at the 2015 New Advances in Optical Imaging of Live cells and Organisms at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Suzhou, China.
November
Baby girl Audrey Lijie Lin was born on Nov 8! Congratulations, Michael and Sherry!
October
Conor, Ying, Yang present posters at the 2015 Society for Neuroscience (SFN) at Chicago, IL.
Xin presents poster at the 2015 Engineering the Brain Conference at Chicago, IL.
September
First-year Bioengineering graduate student Hannah Kempton joins lab for a fall-quarter rotation. Welcome, Hannah!
Our former lab member Yunwen re-joins the lab as our lab manager. Wecome back, Yunwen!
LP joins the lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Welcome, LP!
Our paper on SMASh: Small-molecule assisted protein shut-off is published https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26214256 Congratulations to Kay, Conor and Yunwen!
July
Lin lab members had a great time at Barcelona for the 29th annual symposium of the Protein Society! Francois gave a talk, and Kay, Xin, Conor, Francois presented posters at the symposium. Xin's poster won a poster award! Congrats, Xin!
June
Francois receives the job offer from Baylor college of medicine and Rice University! He will become a joint faculty member at Baylor and Rice! Big congrats, Francois!
May
Michael gives a talk at the CLEO conference in San Jose.
April
Amy formally graduates from her PhD study! Congratulations, Amy!
Michael gives a talk at OSA Optics in Life Sciences held in Vancouver.
March
Jun will become a faculty member at Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology in China! Congratulations, Jun!
Michael gives a talk at the Keystone Optogenetics conference in Denver.
February
Michael gives a talk at SPIE in San Francisco.
January
Michael gives a talk at the international symposium on multi-dimensional fluorescence live imaging of cellular functions and molecular activities in Kyoto.
2014
December
Our first graduate student, Amy Lam,passes her PhD thesis defense on December 2! Excellent job, Amy!
October
Stanford News reports our new grant on developing tools for recording brain activity! Link
September
Michael gives talks at Labeling and Nanoscopy Conference in Heidelberg and Fluorescent Protein and Biological Sensors Conference at Janelia Farm.
Xin presents a poster at Fluorescent Protein and Biological Sensors Conference at Janelia Farm.
August
Kay presents a poster at the EMBL chemical biology conference in Heidelberg, Germany.
June
Michael gives talks at the Canadian Society of Chemistry Annual Meeting in Vancouver and the iCEMS International Symposium on Light Control in Cell Biology in Kyoto.
May
Michael gives a talk at the MIT McGovern Institute Symposium on Disruptive Innovations in Neuroscience in Cambridge, MA.
April
Francois and Ying's Nature Neuroscience paper "High-fidelity optical reporting of neuronal electrical activity with an ultrafast fluorescent voltage sensor" is published online. Congrats, Francois and Ying!
Michael gives a talk at the Gordon Research Conference on Photosensory Receptors and Signal Transduction in Barga, Italy.
March
Jun's Nature Methods paper "Non-invasive intravital imaging of cellular differentiation with a bright red-excitable fluorescent protein" is published online! Congrats, Jun!
February
Linlin, Jun, and Francois present posters in the 2014 Biophysical Society conference in San Francisco.
Michael gives talks at ION on 2/6 and KIST on 2/11.
2013
October
Michael is selected as one of 12 recipients of this year's NIH Pioneer Award, a $2.5 million award for high-risk high-impact research. Thanks, NIH!
September
Maya Nagawa and Shireen Rudina join the lab as new BioE PhD rotation students. Welcome, Maya and Shireen!
Michael presents at the Campus Alberta Neuroscience Symposium on Optogenetics.
August
Michael gives a talk and Jun got a poster award at the 2013 Cold Spring Harbor (CSH) Asia Conference in Suzhou, China! Congrats, Jun!
Benjamin Kim joins the lab as a new BioE master's student. Welcome, Ben!
July
Chao Liu joins the lab as a summer rotation student! Welcome, Chao!
Xiaozhe Ding joins the lab as a 2013 summer undergraduate visiting scholar! Welcome, Xiaozhe!
June
Xin is awarded the Howard Hughes Medical Institute International Student Fellowship! Congrats, Xin!
Aditya Nandy joins the lab as a high school student participating in the Stanford Institutes of Medical Research (SIMR) Program! Welcome, Aditya!
Mariya joins the lab for a summer-quarter rotation. Welcome, Mariya!
Jessica rejoins the lab for the summer! Welcome back, Jessica!
Michael gives talks at Peking University, Tsinghua University, the Beijing Institute of Biophysics, Seoul National University, and and Korean Institute of Advanced Studies.
May
Amy, Kay and Xin receive the Protein Science Young Investigator Travel Award for the 2013 Annual Meeting!
Jihye Seong joins the lab as a postdoctoral fellow. Welcome, Jihye!
April
Welcome Ying's baby Anthony Ouyang to the family!! Tony was born on 04/24/2013.
Emily wins the 2013 Amgen Bay Area BioGENEius Challenge! Congrats, Emily!
Amanda Miguel joins the lab for a spring-quarter rotation. Welcome, Amanda!
Welcome Hyokeun's second baby to the family!
February
Michael is selected to give a talk in the NEW and NOTABLE session at the 2013 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting!
Xin receives a travel award from the 2013 Biophysical Society Annual Meeting!
January
Michael receives a Rising Star award at the Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society's Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering Subgroup. Thanks, BMES!
The lab has received a Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Grant to fund research in creating cancer-detecting switches for biological therapies. Thanks, Damon Runyon Foundation!
2012
September
Xin, Kay, and Amy's paper ,"Optical control of protein activity by fluorescent protein domains" , has been accepted to Science. Congrats, Xin, Kay, and Amy!
Margaret and Yang's paper, "Fluorescent and photo-oxidizing TimeSTAMP tags track protein fates in light and electron microscopy", done in collaboration with Roger Tsien's lab, has been accepted to Nature Neuroscience. Congrats, Margaret and Yang!
Margaret Butko has joined the lab as a postdoctoral fellow, and Emily Wang has joined as a high school intern. Welcome, Margaret and Emily!
August
Amy and Francois' paper on "Improving FRET dynamic range with bright green and red fluorescent proteins" has been accepted to Nature Methods. Congrats, Amy and Francois!
June
Linlin Fan joins the lab as a undergraduate visiting researcher from Peking University.
Jacqueline Tao joins the lab (and William Chen rejoins) as Bioengineering REU students.
Justin Zhang joins the lab as a high school intern. Welcome, Justin!
March
The Lin Lab has moved into a larger space in CCSR 2100!
Bioengineering undergraduate William Chen joins the lab.
February
Amy Lam presents a poster on improving FRET dynamic range at the Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Symposium.
Lin Lab alum Nikhil Desai has been named an Intel Talent Search Finalist. Congrats, Nikhil!
January
The Lin and Schnitzer labs have been awarded a Stanford Bio-X NeuroVentures Grant to develop new methods for imaging brain activity. Thanks, Bio-X!
Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Younghee Oh joins the lab.
2011
December
Michael Lin gives a talk at the Molecular and Cellular Cognition Society meeting in Washington DC on new TimeSTAMP tags for visualizing newly synthesized proteins in neurons.
September
The Lin Lab welcomes three new members to the lab: Hokyung Chung, visiting student researcher; Dr. Ying Yang, postdoctoral scholar; and Xin Zhou, returning now as a graduate student!
NIH/NINDS has awarded the lab a R01 grant to study the regulation of protein synthesis during synaptic plasticity. Thank you, NINDS!
NIH/NIGMS has awarded the lab a EUREKA R01 grant to develop methods for drug control of protein synthesis. Thank you, NIGMS!
The Lin Lab has been awarded a NSF grant to develop genetically encoded voltage sensors. Thank you, NSF!
August
The Lin Lab goes on their second annual Hill Hike at Portola Redwoods State Park, followed by dinner at the Alpine Inn. Everybody survives both.
July
The Lin Lab welcomes Chi Zhang as an undergraduate visiting researcher and Nikhil Desai as a Stanford Institutes of Medicine high school summer student.
Michael Lin has been named a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar. The Rita Allen Foundation awards $500,000 to young scientists in the fields of neuroscience, oncology, and immunology, with the mission of investigating in transformative ideas in their earliest stages to promote breakthrough solutions to significant problems. Thank you, Rita Allen Foundation!
June
The Lin Lab has been awarded a grant from the DoD to investigate mental retardation mechanisms.
April
Postdoctoral scholar Dr. Francois St-Pierre joins the lab.
The Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy has awarded Michael Lin a young investigator award to develop protein-based switches for improving safety and specificity of genetically engineered cancer treatments. Thank you, ACGT!
March
The Lin Lab has been awarded a Stanford Bio-X Interdisciplinary Initiatives Award to improve voltage sensors, in collaboration with the Schnitzer lab. Thanks, Bio-X!
Michael Lin gave a talk on "Expanding the range of genetically encoded FRET with new green and red fluorescent proteins" at the meeting "Forster Resonance Energy Transfer in Life Sciences" at the Max-Planck Institute in Gottingen, Germany.
January
Yang Geng receives a Spectrum Child Health Pediatric Research Fund Award to study regulation of protein synthesis in neurons. Congrats, Yang!
Graduate student Conor Jacobs joins the lab.
2010
October
Michael Lin gives a talk at the "next generation of optogenetic tools" minisymposium at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego.
September
Dr. Jun Chu joins the lab as a postdoctoral scholar.
Veronica Rangel-Alarcon leaves the lab to start graduate school in environmental engineering. Good luck, Veronica!
August
The Lin Lab goes on their first annual Hill Hike at Castle Rock State Park, then crowds into Little Hunan Restaurant for dinner.
July
Xin Zhou joins the lab as an undergraduate visiting researcher.
June
Alec Perez joins the lab as a Amgen Student Summer Research Program participant.
The Lin Lab has been awarded a CBIS seed grant to develop far-red fluorescent proteins for animal imaging. Thank you, CBIS!
January
Graduate student Amy Lam joins the lab.
2009
September
Dr. Yang Geng joins the lab as a postdoctoral scholar.
June
The Lin Lab starts up with Dr. Yunwen Huo and Veronica Rangel-Alarcon, research associates.