James Saenz
@jamessaenz.bsky.social
📤 1732
📥 2228
📝 185
Geochemist and biologist, Interested in lipids, RNA, pathogens, & synthesis of life.
pinned post!
How do lipids shape life? I explore this question in my recent talk for the Build-a-Cell 🦠 seminar series. Thanks to
@kateadamala.bsky.social
for hosting! Watch it here:
youtu.be/JnF7hPCiSbI?...
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Build-a-Cell seminar James Saenz: Harnessing minimal cells to understand the living membranes
YouTube video by Build-a-Cell
https://youtu.be/JnF7hPCiSbI?si=hajD96gulK-JgDRB
6 months ago
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Merry Christmas 🎄from Hamburg to Boston! 🛩️
4 days ago
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Last letter in the post before the holidays 🎄📮 2026 is going to be a great year!
6 days ago
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Oded Rechavi
11 days ago
Our🥶COOLNESS paper to date is finally published! Ice cold and lithium dramatically delay forgetting (extend memory) in C. elegans. Why? read all about it! 👇
rdcu.be/eVhn2
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Cold and lithium delay forgetting of olfactory memories in Caenorhabditis elegans
Nature Neuroscience - In this study, we identify an actively regulated process that governs the rate of forgetting in Caenorhabditis elegans, modulated by both temperature and the mood-stabilizing...
https://rdcu.be/eVhn2
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Sahar Melamed
11 days ago
Do viruses use RNA to rewire bacteria? Yes! In our paper in
@cp-molcell.bsky.social
RIL-seq reveals interkingdom RNA interactions during λ infection. Phages don’t just encode proteins, they use small RNAs to hijack bacterial replication and fine-tune infection.
#RNA
#Phage
doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...
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Phage-encoded small RNA hijacks host replication machinery to support the phage lytic cycle
Using RIL-seq, Silverman et al. map the RNA interactome of E. coli during phage lambda infection and uncover a conserved phage-encoded sRNA that activates host replication machinery. Their findings re...
https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765(25)00936-0
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Yamuna Krishnan
13 days ago
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH. And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you. A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
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Tom Ellis
12 days ago
A long standing goal in synthetic biology is ‘PURE makes PURE’ - effectively the start of self-replicating biology in a tube from just adding biochemicals and DNA instructions. This looks like a promising breakthrough from the Maerkl lab. 👀
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🎉 Congratulations to
@anh-nhn.bsky.social
for submitting her PhD thesis, just in time for Christmas!! 🎄🦠
13 days ago
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And as we discussed,
#eierpunch
is a well-balanced sport drink, with just enough ethanol to improve focus...
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14 days ago
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15 days ago
I have lost focus in recent weeks of what is important in
#life
. Silly me. Not anymore. 🤠🚴♀️💕 Thanks James for this
#winter
#ride
punctuated by a power
#eierpunch
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James Saenz
16 days ago
#Mastodon
, the Command Center for Large-Scale Lineage-Tracing Microscopy Datasets, is finally heading for publication (well, let's see). To
#cite
or not to cite shall no longer be the question 🙃, because the
#preprint
. Software is available in every
#Fiji
near you.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Simon Hammann
16 days ago
And let's not forget they're also glow in the dark (thanks
@chemzymes.bsky.social
)
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James Saenz
Freddy Frischknecht
25 days ago
Join us (again) for another fantastic BioMalPar meeting
@embl.org
and also a great pre-meeting
@ciid-heidelberg.bsky.social
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Good company on the 🚂 train back to
#Dresden
with
@paveltomancak.bsky.social
17 days ago
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James Saenz
Alexander Sasse
19 days ago
Had an amazing first year at Center SynGen
@zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de
! Building a computational group in an experimental institute sparked more collaboration than I imagined. If you love comp bio and working with amazing scientists, this role is a huge chance. Curious? Reach out!
t.ly/udiwJ
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Tenure Track Professorship (W1 with Tenure Track to W3) in “Molecular Biology" (f/m/d) - Heidelberg job with Universität Heidelberg | 12850668
The Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH) and the Faculty of Biosciences invite applications for a Tenure Track Professors...
https://t.ly/udiwJ
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Great idea, here’s our December 🦠❄️
#MicrobeContaminationArt
❄️🦠, by
@varvarakramkova.bsky.social
Happy Holidays from the Saenz Lab ☃️
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21 days ago
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James Saenz
Carolyn Bertozzi
22 days ago
Congratulations former postdoc
@jfhevler.bsky.social
(in transit to Roche) and the team on their work using thermal proteome profiling along with glycosylation perturbagens to discover glycan-dependent protein functions at the proteome scale 👏
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Discovering Glycosylation-Dependent Protein Function by Thermal Proteome Profiling
Protein glycosylation regulates essential cellular processes including protein folding, stability, and cell-cell interactions; however, how aberrant glycosylation impacts protein function and interact...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.06.692499v1
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9 hours on the train 🚂 is still way more relaxing/productive than spending 3-5 hours dealing with security lines, crowded gates, and tiny seats.
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22 days ago
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Rita Mateus
about 1 month ago
Super exciting to be part of of this Research Training Group to train the next generation of material biologists :) We are already actively recruiting PhD students! Join our joint project with
@jamessaenz.bsky.social
!!!
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James Saenz
Henrik Strahl
about 1 month ago
Now properly published at
@natcomms.nature.com
with few additional experiments incl. demonstration of Daptomycin's ability to depolarise non-growing cells. See the original preprint-thread for a summary of our findings.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#microsky
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What a beautiful evening sky over Dresden…after a bone chilling ride through the Heide 🥶
about 1 month ago
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James Saenz
derek guy
about 2 months ago
thinking about how i get anxious writing emails because i don't want to sound like a moron while larry summers is apparently typing emails like this: u kno she dint want to talk tomorrow. make me bad pheel.
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Oded Rechavi
about 1 month ago
Looking forward to participating in this conference!
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James Saenz
André Nadler
about 1 month ago
Biology of bridge-like lipid transfer proteins continues to be uncovered at a rather brisk pace. These things are important... Cool paper, congratulations!
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James Saenz
J. Craig Venter Institute
about 2 months ago
@jcv.bsky.social
penned an obituary for Ham Smith in
@nature.com
. Since the early 90s, Ham has been a key figure at the Institute for his invaluable contributions and mentorship. "Ham was the best colleague that one could ever have in science and a great friend."
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
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Hamilton Smith obituary: molecular biologist who co-discovered precise molecular scissors for cutting DNA
Nobel laureate who helped to sequence the first bacterial and human genomes.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03635-y
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James Saenz
Markus Deserno
about 2 months ago
It’s a tradition that I ask my “Physics III” class to create some memes about our class material. It’s *also* a tradition that they’re super good at this. Please enjoy, like and share! 🧪 (I promised my students extra game points if this goes nano-viral!) (Front pic is my own entry.) 1/17
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Michel Cayouette
2 months ago
Our latest paper is out! While the circadian photoentrainment circuit has been extensively studied, the mechanisms regulating its development remain poorly understood. Here we show that retinal Müller glia play a key role in this process. Check it out!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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Retinal glia regulate development of the circadian photoentrainment circuit
Circadian photoentrainment depends on intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs), which convey environmental light information to th…
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124725012355?via%3Dihub
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James Saenz
Jeremy Baskin
2 months ago
#ACSChemBio
and
#Biochemistry
invite submissions to a special issue on Lipids and Lipidation guest edited by
@chembiobryan.bsky.social
and me! Find details in the
#CallforPapers
and submit your exciting findings to one of these journals by May 31, 2026.
axial.acs.org/chemical-bio...
#lipidtime
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Call for Papers: Lipids and Lipidation | ACS Publications Chemistry Blog
This Special Issue in _ACS Chemical Biology_ will highlight the latest advancements and perspectives in the chemical biology of lipids and lipidation. Submit your manuscript by May 31, 2026.
https://axial.acs.org/chemical-biology/call-for-papers-lipids-and-lipidation
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Sean Carroll
2 months ago
Hilariously bad idea. In my subfield author lists are almost always alphabetical!
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Holthuis Lab
2 months ago
Proud to share a preprint of our paper on how bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C senses lysosomal membrane tension in anticipation of membrane lesions to initiate net ER-to-lysosome lipid transfer for efficient lysosomal repair
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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VPS13C/PARK23 initiates lipid transfer and membrane remodeling for efficient lysosomal repair
Perturbations in lysosome integrity are tightly linked to neurological disorders and ageing, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are incompletely understood. Using an unbiased proteomic approach,...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.23.684214v1
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André Nadler
2 months ago
Beautiful piece of work! Congratulations!
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Tae Seok Moon
2 months ago
Prof. Hamilton Smith at J. Craig Venter Institute, a Nobel laureate for discovering type II restriction enzymes, passed away last night.
@jcvi.org
@nobelprize.bsky.social
A huge loss in Science, but his legacy will be remembered.
www.jcvi.org/about/hamilt...
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James Saenz
Tae Seok Moon
2 months ago
An event honoring late Prof. Clyde Hutchison at J. Craig Venter Institute
@jcvi.org
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James Saenz
ASM
2 months ago
Happy birthday to Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the "Father of Microbiology" and first person to observe bacteria with a microscope! 🔬 Learn how microscopes made microbiology possible, leading to innumerable insights for biology, medicine & technology.
asm.org/articles/202...
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Suddenly I See: How Microscopes Made Microbiology Possible | ASM.org
The direct observation of microorganisms in the 17th century was essential for the field of microbiology to flourish, leading to innumerable insights for biology, medicine and technology.
https://asm.org/articles/2022/june/suddenly-i-see-how-microscopes-made-microbiology-p
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The views were pretty spectacular!
#Chur
#Calanda
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2 months ago
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James Saenz
Levental Lab
2 months ago
amazing
#lipidtime
story from Tontonoz lab! Lipid scrambling and cholesterol accessibility IN T-CELLS regulates nutrient uptake in small intestine 🤯🤯 Physiology is so weird!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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T cell cholesterol transport links intestinal immune responses to dietary lipid absorption
The intrinsic pathways that control membrane organization in immune cells and their impact on cellular functions are poorly defined. We found that the nonvesicular cholesterol transporter Aster-A link...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adt4169
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James Saenz
Oded Rechavi
3 months ago
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)
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“Treat questions as threats” 😅😅
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3 months ago
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James Saenz
Alper Akay
3 months ago
New BBSRC funded PhD opportunity in my group with Inspiralis Ltd and
@conradn.bsky.social
. If you are interested in RNA - protein interactions and RNA modifications check the details below for how to apply.
@nrpdtp.bsky.social
@biouea.bsky.social
@earlhaminst.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/bdzvn4dr
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How do RNA molecules shape genome regulation in the nervous system? (AKAY_U26CASE) | Doctoral Training Partnership
This PhD project will investigate how RNA modifications influence the activity of topoisomerase I (TOP1), a crucial enzyme that regulates DNA supercoiling during replication and transcription. Using C...
https://biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/how-do-rna-molecules-shape-genome-regulation-in-the-nervous-system-akay_u26case/
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Ákos T Kovács
3 months ago
Extracellular ATP is an environmental cue in bacteria
@cp-cellreports.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell-reports...
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Extracellular ATP is an environmental cue in bacteria
Extracellular ATP acts as a signal regulating physiology and immunity in eukaryotes and is elevated during intestinal infection or damage. Tronnet et al. show that extracellular ATP reprograms the tra...
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)01127-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124725011271%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
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Lab hike in the
#DresdnerHeide
… lots of mushrooms today! And apparently we’ve recruited a new feline lab member 🐈
3 months ago
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James Saenz
Molecular Microbiology
3 months ago
🫴🏻 Binding of Bacillus subtilis dynamin‐like protein DynA to the bacterial membrane is essential for effective phage defense: Shafqat - The FEBS Journal - Wiley Online Library
febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#subtiwiki
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FEBS Press
The bacterial dynamin-like protein DynA from Bacillus subtilis plays a key role in phage defense. It binds the plasma membrane through a unique paddle domain in its D1 subunit. This membrane associat...
https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/febs.70282
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How awesome to catch up with old Simonslab mates in
#Saarbrücken
at
#CellPhysics2025
🎉 It was a wonderful well-organized and inspiring conference, congratulations to the organizers! Credit to
@biancaschrul.bsky.social
for the lovely photo 🤩
@sciezgin.bsky.social
3 months ago
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Lipids are so hot right now 🔥
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3 months ago
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James Saenz
André Nadler
3 months ago
Lipid imaging on the cover of
@nature.com
! Great times for lipid cell biology indeed. And a fantastic recognition of all the hard work by the team, especially Juan M. Iglesias-Artola and Kristin Böhlig (who made the cover). Link to article:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Always skip breakfast before a talk 😅
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3 months ago
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James Saenz
Ryan Flynn
3 months ago
We’re excited to report work led by postdoc Jennifer Porat in the lab, finding that DNA accumulates on the surface of living cells and that the secreted extracellular protein DNASE1L3 can modulate its levels on B and T cells. With a new twist for ATAC-seq as well
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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DNASE1L3 surveils mitochondrial DNA on the surface of distinct mammalian cells
The extracellular space is a critical environment for discriminating self versus non-self nucleic acids and initiating the appropriate immune responses through signaling cascades to relay information ...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.05.680464v1
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Molecular Microbiology
3 months ago
Humans began travelling into space in 1961 with single orbits of the Earth. Now Bacillus subtilis! 👉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#subtiwiki
Thank you
@joergstuelke.bsky.social
for the reading recommendation!
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Effects of extreme acceleration, microgravity, and deceleration on Bacillus subtilis onboard a suborbital space flight - npj Microgravity
npj Microgravity - Effects of extreme acceleration, microgravity, and deceleration on Bacillus subtilis onboard a suborbital space flight
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41526-025-00526-4
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James Saenz
Dimova Lab
3 months ago
🎉 Congratulations to the winners of the Best Poster Awards at
#BiomembraneDays2025
sponsored by
@lipotype.bsky.social
🏆Manpreet Kaur (with
@fabiololicato.com
&W. Nickel) 🏆Jana Kroll (
@janakroll.bsky.social
@mdc-berlin.bsky.social
) 🏆Ha Ngoc Anh Nguyen (with
@jamessaenz.bsky.social
) 🚀Science rocks!
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James Saenz
Uliana Afonina
3 months ago
Loved listening to all the fantastic talks at
#BiomembraneDays2025
— such a cool atmosphere to learn and get inspired! Also nervous but excited to present my poster and share my work. Huge thanks to the Saenz group and my amazing supervisor James for making it possible ✨ 💅🏻
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Anh Nguyen
3 months ago
I’m truly honored to have received the Poster Award at
#BiomembraneDays
! Huge thanks to the organizers for an excellent conference and to the Saenz Lab for their continuous support!
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