New lab preprint! @zestytoast.bsky.social tagged a scarce mycobacterial protein in M. smegmatis with TwinStep but got… something? @kjamali.bsky.social's ModelAngelo built models & @martinsteinegger.bsky.social's FoldSeek IDed them as the biotin-containing MCC & LCC complexes 🧵 tinyurl.com/ukny4ptz

New lab preprint! @zestytoast.bsky.social tagged a scarce mycobacterial protein in M. smegmatis with TwinStep but got… something? @kjamali.bsky.social's ModelAngelo built models & @martinsteinegger.bsky.social's FoldSeek IDed them as the biotin-containing MCC & LCC complexes 🧵 tinyurl.com/ukny4ptz

I was a PhD student at LMB at the time and remember it well. Ribosome breakthroughs every few months. New students and postdocs with Venki would join his lab and have their structures published on the cover of Nature or Science within the year. It was really freakin' annoying! 🥰

Fantastic opportunity at The Hospital for Sick Children. Please repost. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Learn how our hunt for the native structure of top antimalarial target PfATP4🧂led to the discovery of PfABP, an unknown essential binding partner, out now! @natcomms.nature.com 👉 rdcu.be/eLRlH 🦠🔬❄️ A team effort led by @mehsehret.bsky.social & Anurag Shukla @akhilvaidya.bsky.social! #cryoEM #malaria

🚀 Introducing fully automated data processing for repeat-target #cryoEM. Using new tools in #CryoSPARC, it is now possible to obtain resolutions & map quality equal to or better than manual processing, with zero user intervention. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

End-to-end automation of repeat-target cryo-EM structure determination in CryoSPARC https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.17.682689v1

Nominations for the June Almeida award for Mid/Senior-Career Women in Cryo-EM are now open! Submit your nomination via this link www.biophysics.org/awards-fundi... by November 14th to recognize an exceptional woman in our community.

Now out in Science! Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are key regulators of the cell cycle. In @vcushing.bsky.social's magnum opus, we use #cryoEM to figure out how the CDK-activating kinase recognises CDKs to fully activate them - a key step in cell cycle control. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

9 days to go: * 2 x open positions! * Exceptional environment, competitive start-up package * University of Toronto appointments * Toronto has great (and peaceful) quality of life!

Come join us at @westernu.ca: Chair, Department of Medical Biophysics: www.uwo.ca/facultyrelat...

I'm excited to report that a species has been named after my son Ze Frank, "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science communication, which have inspired curiosity, wonder, and deeper public engagement with the natural world"

Our cryo-EM structure of the intermediate state of the KCNQ1 potassium channel is out. Collaborative effort with the David Fedida and Luca Maragliano labs. Cryo-EM work spearheaded by Efthimios Kyriakis, PhD www.nature.com/articles/s41...

EXCITING NEWS!! We're searching for a new professor colleague at the Biozentrum🇨🇭. Ideal candidates are exploring novel biological questions with structure, biophysics, or high-resolution imaging. 🧪 🧶🧬 🔬 The call closes Nov 3. Please get in touch if you would like more information. Come join us! 👩‍🔬🤓

We have an open post-doc position in my group to study mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation using biochemical reconstitution and cryoEM. Please get in touch if you are interested in joining this amazing team! 🔬🧬🤩 #RNA #cryoEM

🚨🧠🔬 A major breakthrough in molecular neuroscience: I am excited to share a new story from our lab, published in accelerated format today by @nature.com: "Delta-type glutamate receptors are ligand-gated ion channels" Read more here (free article link): rdcu.be/eGIKz

Three Associate Professor (or Professor) positions available at Oxford Biology. Come be my colleague! www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/we-a...

Proud to be a scientist at SickKids. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti... @sickkidsto.bsky.social

First pre-print from the Lucas Lab led by Matthew Giammar and @joshdcryoem.bsky.social online today! We develop a new, extensible Python implementation of 2DTM and apply it to build pixel size optimization, constrained search and characterize molecular motions in situ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto. www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please repost!

I mentioned to a couple of people that I had a surprise waiting to be shared when Moderna got approval for its updated COVID-19 vaccine. It’s approved, and the big news??? Completely produced domestically!!!!! 🥳🤩 Approved as usual for all aged 6mo+!

Montréal keeps getting better and better!

Our #CryoET story on how a top antimalarial drug candidate perturbs the native malarial translation machinery is out @natsmb.nature.com🥳 rdcu.be/eBbrH A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo

I can save Carney heaps—start with NFRF, CERC & the global innovation clusters. DON’T touch tricouncil funding. This would be the worst ROI & catastrophic for 🇨🇦’s research, innovation, training & economic development & growth. @liberalca.bsky.social @mark-carney.bsky.social

Whoever designed the new landscaping around King's College Circle at @utoronto.ca has done a brilliant job! All summer I've been getting off the subway early to walk down Philosopher's Walk and the new walkways on the St. George campus - a great half hour start to each day.

🚨🇨🇦 Job Alert 🇨🇦🚨 Assistant Professor in Aging, at a great university in one of the world's great cities!

1/3 Electricity from air! In the top journal Nano Energy today, we report the first fuel cell that makes power from air alone. We achieved this by using the enzyme Huc to oxidize ambient hydrogen. This results in a continuous low-level power from air and higher outputs with industrial waste gases.

Discovery: mRNA vaccine candidate blocks malaria from reproducing inside mosquitoes, cuts transmission by up to 99.7%. Built on cryo-EM insights into parasite’s fertilisation machinery. A key step towards elimination. In @science.org 🔗 www.wehi.edu.au/news/reveale...

The rest of the world, fortunately, will not ignore the huge potential of RNA vaccines. The result will be loss of leadership in the US and delay of benefits to Americans. The promise of personalized anti-cancer vaccines alone is incredible. #OwnGoal

Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

Excited to share our latest work with @simonbullock11.bsky.social! We looked at how diverse mRNAs get selected for subcellular localization and it turns out that a single protein can recognize different RNA elements using shared features that weren’t apparent before. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

This is very cool!

Check out our new preprint on the discovery of a molecular switch in NAC that mediates nascent chain sorting on the ribosome and prevents mitochondrial protein mistargeting by SRP. A great collaboration with the Shan Lab @Caltech and the Qi Lab @UVA: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congratulations @kev-in-situ-et.bsky.social and the whole team on in situ cryo-ET images of OA-induced mitochondria damage and Parkin-dependent mitophagy out now tinyurl.com/25b82cp4. We couldn't have done it without in situ guru @wilflinglab.bsky.social and mito guru @samlewis.bsky.social .‬

Now out in Structure: Paper on high-resolution #cryoEM using the 100 kV Tundra cryo-TEM by Dimple Karia, Adrian Koh, @abhaykot.bsky.social, @lingboyu.bsky.social, @landerlab.bsky.social and many others. Happy to have contributed to this effort. Check it out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This has a neat mechanism of inhibition: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NEW The White House is blocking the NIH from awarding new research grants for the rest of the fiscal year Chokes off billions in research funding Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol... with @nidhisubs.bsky.social

Political Science at Western University, Canada is searching for three tenure track assistant professors. There are two ads, one in International Politics (IR or comparative) and one in Comparative or Canadian. Ads are here: www.uwo.ca/facultyrelat...

"In TAG’s view, the suspended TB studies do not pose a substantial risk to the American public in comparison with the clear and present danger of TB, which is the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent." www.treatmentactiongroup.org/statement/tr...

My last living musical hero is still my hero but unfortunately no longer living. RIP to the great, great Mr. Tom Lehrer.

On this day in 1921, Dr. Frederick Banting and Charles Best successfully isolated the hormone insulin. They accomplished this at the University of Toronto. On Jan 11, 1922, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an insulin injection for diabetes.

And Stockholm is a great city! 🇸🇪

🇨🇦🚨Job alert🚨🇨🇦 We're looking for a senior scientist (program head) in the developmental, stem cell, and cancer biology program at the Hospital for Sick Children

We are hiring 📣 Join our mighty team! See posting below 👇 www.sickkids.ca/en/research/...

Tenure-track faculty search of the UCSF Biochemistry & Biophysics Department is open for applications! We are looking for creative, innovative scientists asking fundamental questions in any area of biology. Join our vibrant, collaborative, and supportive community! aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05702

Wow, that brings back old memories from my PhD!

When particles have orientation bias, the resulting maps are often streaked along the missing directions. In this case study, we cover why orientation bias produces anisotropic #cryoEM maps and how you may be able to recover from it! guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Very honored to receive this year's Byers Award in Basic Science! Huge thanks to my lab and our funders for enabling our research on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. www.ucsf.edu/news/2025/07...

A unique honor to become a Foreign Member of the @royalsociety.org, together with my @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social colleague Stuart Russell and old friends like John Briggs, Asia Akhtar, Patrick Cramer or Ruth Lehmann. Learning about great science and science history was a real treat.