THE WALKER LAB
Translational Control of Gene Expression
About Us
The Walker lab is part of the Department of Biological Sciences at the University at Buffalo, SUNY. Our research is focused on understanding how mRNAs are translated by ribosomes, how this process is regulated in response to cellular and environmental conditions, the controls that modulate translation versus repression of mRNAs, and the consequences of dysregulation of translation and mRNA turnover, for both understanding phenotypes and improving human health.
Our lab supports researchers at all stages from the high school to postdoctoral level. We value innovative ideas cultivated by diverse experiences and aim to foster an inclusive and stimulating environment where all lab members can thrive.
NEWS
4/5/2024 - The link to apply to postdoc positions is here. We have two openings for work supported by our NIH and DOD grants. Email Sarah at walker47@buffalo.edu for questions about the work.
4/3/2024 - Congratulations to Rutuja and Ira on advancing to candidacy! Both did an excellent job with their Ph.D. proposals and it will be exciting to see what they both do with their Ph.Ds! Qian also snuck in a talk on eIF4B effects on RNA granules at the Buffalo Protein Science Group among all the candidacy exams.
9/21/2023 - Sarah speaks to an impressive group of students at Hutchinson Technical High School for the WiSE group. We hope to see some of these women back at UB for the WiSE mentoring program and for their future studies
9/14/2023 - Our DOD Breast Cancer Concept Award is recommended for funding. We are excited to continue this collaboration with the Barbi lab and several others at Roswell Park. Thank you to the reviewers that appreciated our work!
9/14/2023 - The lab's new Ultracentrifuge is installed. Thank you to NIGMS for the equipment supplement! We are excited for even more gradients and ribosomes in our future!
9/11/2023 - Sarah gives a talk for the Buffalo RNA Interest Group on eIF4B in breast cancer
9/5/2023 - The lab hosts incoming students from UB Women in Science and Engineering for a demo and lab tour
9/1/2023 - Sarah's promotion to Associate Professor with tenure is effective. Thank you to all of the lab member's past and present, the generous letter writers, Sarah's mentors and tenure committee, and reviewers of papers and grants that helped in the process!
8/26/2023 - Good luck to Nissa in the GGB graduate program!
7/28/2023 - Rutuja gives her first conference talk at the Northeast Regional Yeast meeting in Ithaca. Great job Rutuja!
6/5/2023 - Welcome to Andrew and Songlin, two new undergraduates
05/11/2023 - Congrats to Ansuman on completing his Ph.D. and Nissa on completing her bachelors. Good luck to Ansuman in his Merck postdoctoral fellowship!
02/10/2023 - Welcome back to Rutuja and Ira!
10/14/2022 - Sarah, Ansuman and Qian travel to Cleveland for RRM. Ansuman gave a talk and Qian presented a poster.
9/18/2022 - New preprint from our collaboration with the Barbi lab on eIF4B dysregulation effects in metastatic breast cancer.
9/12/2022 - Welcome to Ira and Rutuja, two Ph.D. students rotating this fall.
9/10/2022 - Qian gives her first conference talk at the CSHL Meeting on Translational Control on growth, RNA-binding, and other changes affected by phosphorylation of eIF4A that occurs on glucose removal in yeast.
8/20/2022 - Sarah gives a talk at YGM in Los Angeles on Ansuman's recently submitted work.
7/29/2022 - Maria gives her poster at the REU symposium. Maria purified 5 eIF4B variants and ribosomes and performed a bunch of anisotropy experiments in <8 weeks in lab. Thanks for all your hard work this summer!
6/6/2022 - Welcome Adaora and Maria!
6/1/2022 - Congratulations to Austin on finishing his M.S. and Ritika and Sam for finishing their bachelors degrees! The lab celebrated with lunch. Good luck to all of you as you move on!
4/11/2022 - Welcome to Nissa, our new undergraduate lab assistant
4/8/2022 - Congratulations to Sam for accepting a spot in the MIT Biology Ph.D. program! Congratulations to Ritika for acce- ptance at University of Toronto Molecular Biology and Genetics, and for being selected to graduate with high honors in Biology! We are so proud of both of your accomplishments at UB and can't wait to see what you do in grad school!