Conor McClune
@conor_mcclune
@DamonRunyon Postdoc @Stanford with @Sattely_lab & @fordycelab Plant chemistry, synthetic biology, and everything in between. Formerly Voigt & Laub labs @MIT
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a…
I am thrilled to announce that I am launching my lab at the Salk Institute in September! The Blum lab will study the physiological effects of plant-derived molecules, with a particular focus on the mammalian immune system.
It makes sense that skin microbes would have an intimate relationship with our immune cells. But engineering these bugs into topical vaccines still feels like sci-fi. Congrats @DjenetBousbaine!
It’s truly an honor to receive this year’s @ScienceMagazine Noster Microbiome prize. Here’s my essay on how we can engineer skin microbes to build vaccines:
Pithy coverage of our recent work elucidating and reconstituting how yew trees synthesize Taxol #synbio
Plant Science Research Weekly -- Elucidation and recreation of the biosynthetic pathway for taxol (Nature) @conor_mcclune (Summary by Mary Williams) plantae.org/elucidation-an… #PlantaePSRW
Plant Science Research Weekly -- Elucidation and recreation of the biosynthetic pathway for taxol (Nature) @conor_mcclune (Summary by Mary Williams) plantae.org/elucidation-an… #PlantaePSRW
What to agument your favourite protein with new functionalities? We've got a #biodesign workflow to help with that! In work led by Georgie Hau Sørensen we present SIMPLIFE that blends biophyscial and #ML models to extend biology in useful ways. #synbio doi.org/10.1101/2025.0…
This week in academia, a not so short🧵... 1. Staff reductions and other cost cutting measures coming to Brown University highereddive.com/news/brown-uni…
My NIDA grant renewal is almost 2 months late and I’m going to have to start firing my students and staff. Not a lot of transformation to be had in my lab.
Wise words from my friend John Fowler. Gutting funding basic research is a profoundly bad idea. Shocking that this has been flying under the radar and that it well might happen.
John Fowler’s guest column in the Clayton Tribune- his hometown newspaper- to provide ideas that folks could connect with, relating how federal investment in scientific research provides benefits to all Americans, including those from a small town in northeast GA. @jefowlerjr
Now that they've ported the biosynthetic pathway for taxol into tobacco plants you can finally get cancer and treat cancer at the same time nature.com/articles/s4158…
Great article in today’s Stanford Report on our recent work deciphering how yew trees produce Taxol @Sattely_lab @ctliu629 news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/0…
Baccatin III is a key precursor for the chemotherapy drug Taxol, and scientists have now figured out how it’s made in yew trees. cen.acs.org/biological-che…
A nice overview in @cenmag of our paper identifying how yew trees synthesize the cancer drug Taxol: cen.acs.org/biological-che…
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a…
‘Missing’ genes needed for the biosynthesis of a natural anticancer drug have been discovered by perturbing and analysing individual cells of yew trees go.nature.com/3HHzPN3
Nature research paper: Discovery of FoTO1 and Taxol genes enables biosynthesis of baccatin III go.nature.com/4mYkCXZ
A nice overview of our new paper in @ScienceMagazine news
"Paclitaxel is one of the most important drugs in the fight against #cancer." It is derived from yew trees, but newly discovered plant genes could lead to cheaper synthesis of Taxol precursor in yeast cells. #Science #Genomics #Biology #Biochemistry ⏯️science.org/content/articl……
Thank you to @Franke_Lab for his eloquent overview in @NatureNV News & Views on our Taxol @nature paper. He deftly articulates the history of this valuable drug, the longstanding biochemistry challenge we tackled, and how we broke it down. rdcu.be/eqwOy
Today in @Nature we report a systematic strategy to activate & identify gene sets in plants. We identify 8 new genes from the yew tree's Taxol biosynthetic pathway, enabling us to engineer tobacco with 17- & 20-gene pathways to Taxol precursors baccatin III and dBz-deoxy-Taxol. a…