Lab News

Lab's First Publication in Science Advances!

We are thrilled to announce our lab's inaugural publication in Science Advances, titled "Programmed ribosomal frameshifting during PLEKHM2 mRNA decoding generates a constitutively active proteoform that supports myocardial function."

We discovered the first human cellular PRF signal that actually allows access to two different overlapping ORFs!

Read the full paper: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ady1742

YAK lab receives NIH High-Risk, High-Reward grant!

The YAK lab has been awarded a major NIH grant to support the study of RNA and how they function with a combined approach of wet-lab and computational methods.

A press release is available here: https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2025/10/stanford-researchers-nih-high-risk-high-reward-grants

Louie Joins the Laboratory!

Louie Pinpin is the YAK lab's first official member!

Louie is a Life Science Research Professional who previously studied Cell Biology and previously worked as a postbaccalaureate scholar at Stanford. Louie will be working to further our understanding of RNA and RNA:protein binding. We are excited to have you Louie!

Laboratory Launch

The YAK laboratory will be officially opening August 21st, 2025 at Stanford University. The YAK lab will study how RNA's fold and function.

We are looking for talented research assistants, graduate students and post-docs. Please contact yousuf@stanford.edu with a CV and one paragraph background of previous research experience.