Huge congrats to Dr. Mays Salih, the newest doctor from the Carpenter lab!

Susan became the Robert L. Sinsheimer Chair in molecular biology! 

We have a new Dr in the Carpenter lab. Congratulations Dr. Halasz! 

Honored to be made a Full Professor at UCSC. This is only possible with the great work of the members of the Carpenter lab

Way to go Diana on giving a wonderful 3rd year talk!

Great job Christy on passing her quals!

Congratulations to Diana on passing her qualifying exam

Congratulations to Eric on passing his qualifying exam

Mays did an excellent job presenting her work at the annual ICIS conference in Hawaii.

Congratulations to our undergraduate Benny Mosqueira on receiving a special merit for his presentation of his research. Great job Benny!

Congratulations to Dr. Cristina Flores for obtaining a prestigious NIH IRACDA postdoctoral fellowship.

Congratulations to Mays Salih for obtaining a CIRM predoctoral fellowship. 

Elektra Robinson defends her PhD! Congratulations Dr. Robinson. We are all very proud of you. 

Susan covers the science behind the COVID-19 variant, the effect of vaccinations, and how we should continue to protect ourselves, in her presentation "Life with Variants." Check out this amazingly informative video on YouTube!

Susan answers some common questions regarding the COVID vaccine in the article, "COVID variants and vaccines: Facts versus fiction." Check out this interesting read here!

Wishing our CRISPR Core Director Lenaig all the best. We cannot wait to meet her new arrival!

Let's all congradulate Dr. Apple Cortez Vollmers for graduating graduate school with a Doctorate of Philosophy. After 6 years in the Carpenter lab, we all have best wishes on your well-deserved success!

Congradulations to our two undergraduates, Steven (left) and Summer (right), for graduating undergrad! We all wish you the best for your future endeavors.

Our new paper "Inflammation drives alternative first exon usage to regulate immune genes including a novel iron regulated isoform of Aim2" is now available on eLife!

Our new paper "Generation of an isoform-level transcriptome atlas of macrophage activation" is now available on JBC!

Susan was interviewed in the article, "The only way society gets to reopen safely is if we are all vaccinated", where she discussed the importance of herd immunity and of spreading factual information to those who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Susan wrote an article, "Vaccine Safety: The risk versus the reward," about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, the science behind developing the COVID-19 vaccine, and its success in numbers. Check out this interesting read here!

Haley gave her talk, "The use of high-throughput CRISPR/Cas9 screens to identify novel genes that control inflammation" to the UCSC Genomics Institute. 

Susan was interviewed in the article "The shot felt 'round the world", where she discussed her hopes to reach out and educate those who are skeptical of vaccines. Check out her section of the article, "The need for good messaging", here!

Susan was interviewed in a podcast with the Naked Scientist in an episode called "Stories of Self-Experimentation"! She speaks starting at 11 minutes about Apple's project, GAPLINC. Check out the article and the podcast here.

The UCSC Newscenter published a story about our GAPLINC paper! Read the full article here.

Our new paper "A conserved long noncoding RNA, GAPLINC, modulates the immune response during endotoxic shock" is now available in PNAS!

We have another paper on preprint in bioRxiv called, "Isoform-level transcriptome Atlas of Macrophage Activation," in which we generated a deep isoform-level transcriptome resource for human macrophages pre and post TLR-based activation using the R2C2 method and Nanopore sequencing (currently in review).

Our paper "High-Throughput CRISPR Screening Identifies Genes Involved in Macrophage Viability and Inflammatory Pathways" was published in Cell Reports!

Susan presented her talk, "Inflammation Drives Alternative First Exon usage to Regulate Immune Genes" at the RNA collaborative series. Click here to watch her presentation.

Apple gave her talk, "Characterization of the Conserved LncRNA, GAPLINC, and Its Role in Endotoxic Shock" at RNA Club. Watch the whole recording here.

Lenaig Defachelles is joining the lab as our new Director of CRISPR Core! She will be working to provides CRISPR services and expertise to the community. Welcome!

Michele is now a grad student at USC! Best of luck on your future endeavors!

Benny was chosen to speak at SACNAS 2020 conference with his presentation, "Determining The Expression Levels of LincRNA-Cox2 In Resident and Recruited Alveolar Macrophages." He additionally received a travel scholarship that will cover his registration fee. Great work, Benny!

Mays passed her Qualifying Examination and is now a PhD student! 

Congratulations Mays!

Our paper "Inflammation Drives Alternative First Exon usage to Regulate Immune Genes including a Novel Iron Regulated Isoform of Aim2" is in preprint on bioRxiv (currently in review). 

Congratulations to our 2020 graduates, Aaron & Daisy! We look forward to seeing the wonderful things you'll do in the future!

Our paper "Generation and utilization of a HEK-293T murine GM-CSF expressing cell line" is currently in preprint on bioRxiv (currently in review). 

The RNA Society did a spotlight piece on Apple!

“One thing that has made graduate training a much better experience for me has been to surround myself with a great community of people who trust and support one another.” 

Read about Apple's journey here. 

Whoo! Go Apple!

We say goodbye to post-doctorate fellow Sergio who will be continuing CRISPR technology research at Biomarin. 

We'll miss you, Sergio!

Mays and Elektra present their work "Determining a Role for lncRNAs in smoke-induced COPD" to the local Santa Cruz community at "Science on Tap".

Fantastic job you two!

Susan and Apple were co-awarded the HHMI Gilliam. 

With that funding they established Science Support Network (SSN). The first graduate peer-mentorship program at UCSC to help support diversity and inclusion. 

Congratulations on the excellent mentorship program! This is sure to help a lot of graduate students succeed. 

The Carpenter Lab goes to a roller derby bout! 

Are you Team Unicorn or Team Vampire?

Our paper "High throughput CRISPR screening identifies genes involved in macrophage viability and inflammatory pathways" is currently in preprint on bioRxiv (currently in review). 

Our paper "The how and why of lncRNA function: An innate immune perspective" is now available online at BBA. 

Congratulations on the awesome review!

Elektra was one of 14 graduate students to be awarded the ARCS Foundation Scholarship. Featured in the university news here.  

Congratulations, Elektra!

Apple was awarded the prestigious Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Featured in the university news here.  

Congratulations, Apple!

Apple and Daisy were co-mentors to high school students, Brianna and Tran, as part of the Science Internship Program (SIP) this summer. 

Congratulations to Brianna and Tran on your research presentation and Apple and Daisy for mentoring!

Haley Halasz joins the Carpenter Lab! She is a fourth year grad student researching non-coding RNAs that regulate NFkB signaling (or innate immune signaling).

Welcome, Haley!

Susan was quoted in coverage of our research on long noncoding RNAs involved in inflammation. 

Featured in an article by Medical X press here. 

Featured in an article by Technology Networks here. 

Our paper, Genetic Models Reveal cis and trans Immune-Regulatory Activities for lincRNA-Cox2, was published in Cell Reports!

Our research is featured in the university news here. 

Lab Bonding Time at the SC Boardwalk!

We went all out at mini golfing and laser tag. Susan took home the title of Laser Tag Queen!

Mays Mohammed Salih joins the lab! As a second year graduate student, she studies novel modes of regulation of the innate immune system.

Welcome, Mays!

The Carpenter Lab inaugural St. Patricks Day party in Biomed Lobby!

The Carpenter Lab goes to a Santa Cruz Warriors game!

#GoSeaDubs

Congratulations to all the members of the Carpenter Lab for our first publication (CRISPR/Cas9-based screening of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) in macrophages with an NF-kappa B reporter)!!! 

We hope it will be the first of many! Great job everybody. 

The Carpenter Lab goes bowling!

From left to right: Elektra Kantzari Robinson, Harry Noller, & Susan Carpenter attending the Kraw Lecture Series on Science and Technology 2017

Breakthrough Prize Laureate Harry Noller and faculty researchers from the UC Santa Cruz Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA explore the frontiers and impact of RNA science on human health – and the origins of life itself. View the lecture series here!

The Carpenter Lab & Dr. Angela Brooks at the March for Science 2017.

Check out our macrophage t-shirts made by Deb Sklut! 

Apple Cortez Vollmers joins the lab! Her thesis primarily focuses on lncRNA GAPLINC and its role in regulating endotoxic shock. 

Welcome, Apple!

Susan is featured in a video interview for an episode of Arthritis Now explaining our exciting research focusing on long non-coding RNAs and their potential to explain inflammation in autoimmune diseases. 

#CureArthritis!

Elektra Kantzari Robinson joins the lab! She studies how non-coding RNA, both lncRNAs and UTRs, regulate our innate immune system. Her thesis primarily focuses on how lincRNA-Cox2 regulates the acute inflammation both broadly and in a lung-specific manner.

Welcome, Elektra!

Susan is quoted in an article describing how lncRNA genes are involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory arthritis for the Arthritis National Research Foundation.

Susan was an ANRF’s Sontag Research Fellow and received funding to investigate new ideas to cure arthritis and related autoimmune diseases.