In The News

29 September 2026
Rapidly Evolving Aphid Proteins Share a Common Structural Blueprint
From Technology Networks: The Stern Lab reveals a shared structural blueprint among thousands of rapidly evolving aphid proteins.
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Podcast
KCUR 89.3, the local NPR affiliate in Kansas City, recently hosted Stowers Investigator Kausik Si, PhD, on the morning news program “Up to Date.”

Stowers Investigator Kausik Si, PhD
KCUR 89.3, the local NPR affiliate in Kansas City, recently hosted Stowers Investigator Kausik Si, PhD, on the morning news program “Up to Date.”

Kausik discussed his research which centers around how memories are made and how they withstand time. He discussed how his findings go against the grain, and could offer new perspective and opportunity regarding how scientists work to investigate Alzheimer’s disease.
Below is an excerpt from the article from KCUR.
A Stowers Institute researcher intent on learning how our brains work found that proteins can have more than one effect on what we remember.
Kausik Si, who has a doctorate in molecular biology, oversees a lab at the Stowers Institute that works to understand how some experiences can change behavior while others do not.
Si's team took a deep dive into how memory works and made a surprising discovery about the role of proteins in our brains.
Amyloid proteins are the source of plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease. Si's lab has found that proteins can also create structures that help form and stabilize long-term memories.
If you’d like to listen to Kausik’s full appearance on “Up to Date” click here.
In The News

29 September 2026
From Technology Networks: The Stern Lab reveals a shared structural blueprint among thousands of rapidly evolving aphid proteins.
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In The News

24 September 2026
From Phys.org: The Stern Lab reveals how evolution helped AI predict the structures of thousands of rapidly evolving aphid proteins.
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Press Release
22 September 2026
In an evolutionary arms race with plants, aphids deploy thousands of rapidly evolving proteins. A team led by Stowers Institute and HHMI Investigator David Stern, Ph.D., discovered a shared architecture beneath them and revealed how evolution can help AI predict similar protein structures across biology.
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News

15 September 2026
New single-cell atlas of the acorn worm shows that most tissues undergo a genome-wide transcriptional overhaul as larva becomes adult, providing new insights into how some organisms remake their bodies in ways humans can’t.
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