That’s my brilliant friend @EBHarrington on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart!!!🤯🥰🥰🥰

Could one envision a synthetic receptor technology that is fully programmable, able to detect diverse extracellular antigens – both soluble and cell-attached – and convert that recognition into a wide range of intracellular responses, from transgene expression and real-time fluorescence to modulation of innate cell behavior (excitation or inhibition of neurons, induction of cell migration, etc.)? Today we report in Nature a new technology platform that provides a step in that direction: PAGERs, for Programmable Antigen-gated G protein-coupled Engineered Receptors, convert recognition of extracellular soluble or cell-attached antigens into diverse user-selected responses. PAGERs are based on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which themselves are not structurally modular, but we were able to build in modular antigen gating by fusing an antagonist peptide to the extracellular N-terminal end, and then gating the antagonist with a fused antigen-binding nanobody.  When antigen binds, it sterically interferes with the antagonist, leading to relief of receptor inhibition. Drug or agonist can then turn on PAGER.

I've never received so many prayers from atheists.

So excited to open my lab at @ColumbiaPsych! Watch this space for job ads to come. A huge thanks to my mentors @myrnaweissman, @Ardesheer, @JayGingrichMD, @SilveiraPP, @aa_fenton, collaborators @Claudia_I_Lugo @Der_Scientist @GiuliaZanni and many others, and students!