Join us for Rohith Rajasekaran's (@born2raisecell.bsky.social) PhD thesis defense on Friday, Nov. 21! Rajasekaran's research was completed in the Coyle Lab (@cellraiser.bsky.social). More info: today.wisc.edu/events/view/...

Thrilled to share our work on the 🔥 single-celled predator Podophrya collini, which rewires its cell morphology to hunt more efficiently. Huge thanks to our amazing team—Amy, Lauren, Omaya, Marine, Mari, and especially Scott—for making this shine! ✨

How do cells adapt morphology to function? In a 🔥 preprint by @zjmaggiexu.bsky.social , with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @amyweeks.bsky.social , we identify a self-organizing single-cell morphology circuit that optimizes the feeding trap structure of the suctorian P. collini. 🧵 tinyurl.com/4k8nv926

Not being a bit weird might be the weirdest thing of all 🐈‍⬛🤍

Barred owls are native to Wisconsin, but invasive out west. New UW–Madison research reveals they’re preying on at-risk species and disrupting entire ecosystems as they spread down the West Coast.

🚨Just in press @asbmb.bsky.social JBC!🚨 Alex & Chioma's paper detailing the interaction of Fe(II) with an intact membrane His kinase for the first time! Binding stoichiometry ✅ Fe(II) structure ✅ Direct observation of selectivity ✅ Signal transmission pathway ✅ Read more here: tinyurl.com/49wdkecu

Happy to share our latest work, led by Sierra Love and in collaboration with Melissa Jurica's lab at UCSC and @danglab.bsky.social at U. Minnesota-Twin Cities. This work was funded by the Edward P. Evans Foundation/EvansMDS. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Hi Everyone for the @asbmb.bsky.social 2026 annual meeting there is now a deferred payment option for federal employees and scientists impacted by the government shutdown. Information below and further details at the link. www.asbmb.org/annual-meeti...

Andrea A. Putnam, a UW School of Medicine and Public Health assistant professor of biomolecular chemistry, has been named a 2025 Packard Foundation Fellow in Science and Engineering. Congratulations, Dr. Putnam!

Hi structural biology friends @nucleosomepolice.bsky.social @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social @sjorsscheres.bsky.social @bjgreber.bsky.social @cijilim.bsky.social @nogaleslab.bsky.social and many others...

Want to acquire #ExM images like this and help us understand the true extent of cytoskeletal diversity across the tree of life? This position might be for you! embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j... With @dudinlab.bsky.social @embl.org @biology-unige.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social

1. Federal funding for research promotes tech, biomedical, and scientific discovery in the US, and provides training for the sci/tech workforce that has brought immeasurable wealth to the US over the past 75 years. Today's executive order includes a provision that will obliterate both functions.

Excited to share our latest: we engineered the reactivity of a bacterial E1-like enzyme for ATP-driven modification of C termini. Our tool mimics the logic of peptide bond formation in biology for precision modification of proteins in vitro. 🧪https://rdcu.be/ewN7C

I wrote a quick-start guide for people to replicate this across the country. It was, in our experience, a very effective way to get real action in a short amount of time. People are willing to talk to scientists! And when you provide everything, they are happy to contact their reps too. Try it!

Congratulations to Rohith Rajasekaran, who was awarded a @uwmadisoncals.bsky.social Distinguished Graduate Fellowship! In the @cellraiser.bsky.social Lab, Rajasekaran focuses on the MinDE reaction-diffusion system. Learn more about his research: biochem.wisc.edu/2025/06/12/r...

Terrifying but also good fodder for undergraduate biochemistry course homework and exams... www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

🧬 New preprint out today, years in the making! Rucker et al. traces ancient nitrogen fixation over 2 billion years through engineering & synthetic evolution. Supports reliability of N-isotope biosignatures on Earth & beyond. Congrats @hollyrucker.bsky.social! 🚀 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Listen to Karolin!

Friendly amendment: May was brutal for the US. Trump sowed mass fear and confusion with a slew of illegal and unconstitutional orders. He faced no consequences other than being asked nicely to please stop, and so of course he continues to do destroy our country with this exact same playbook.

In the latest #Yeast research article of the series #FantasticYeasts, Pei-Jie Han, Feng-Yan Bai & team describe a new yeast species isolated from a Chinese forest: Saccharomycopsis yichangensis, that can prey on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and other yeasts 😲 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

This is absolutely terrible news. With the shifting regulatory climate (i.e., antivax ratfuckery), Moderna has withdrawn their application for their eagerly anticipated COVID-flu combo vaccine. This vaccine offered better protection than getting each shot separately. h/t @merz.bsky.social

I just left a comment. If you are concerned that RFK Jr.'s FDA chief Marty Makary is limiting the Novavax COVID booster to those over 65 or with underlying conditions, and may do the same for Pfizer/Moderna as well, consider leaving a comment as well.

Congratulations Dr. Lauren Ehehalt on a fantastic thesis defense! We're so excited to see all your future work at Eastman Chemical Co.! 🥳🎉🎓

Congratulations to Purdue's ASBMB Student Chapter, led by Orla Hart, on winning the 2025 Outstanding Chapter Award. The group was honored for its work developing STEM outreach initiatives for low-income and minority students in Lafayette, Indiana: ow.ly/pip350VO0mr.

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Let 1000 lawsuits bloom

Eugenics is fake science. But it’s creeping back into public discourse—through political rhetoric, bad policy, & scientific silence. We’re seeing this pseudoscience rebrand itself once again as legitimate. We must call it what it is—& stop it before it spreads further. We’ve seen where this leads.

Pauses, interruptions and rescissions of research funds are slowing work that is vital for developing lifesaving treatments for chronic and infectious diseases. ASBMB is a member of @c4lifesciences.bsky.social, which calls on the administration to restore funding. ➡️Read CLS' letter: bit.ly/4jmyRDL.

If you’re looking to create and/or visualize (interactively or for figures) protein alignments, I added figures & a video to some of my favorites to my blog & my downloadable guides with links. Hope they help! #365DaysOfScience #chemsky #biochemsky bit.ly/proteinalign... youtu.be/BesY9nHribI

The notice and COMMENT PERIOD OPENED TODAY AND CLOSES MAY 23. Anyone who would like to register an objection or comment should go to this page and click on the green “public comment” button at the top: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20... 6/n

📣Science doesn’t stop at discovery — it drives action. Now, more than ever, we need passionate voices to bring evidence, research & reason to public dialogue. ⬇️Apply for ASBMB's advocacy training program by May 5 to use your knowledge to drive change. www.asbmb.org/advocacy/adv... #ASBMBAdvocates

"Climate change is not a future problem. It is a NOW problem [...] When we defund weather, climate, & environmental research, we blindfold ourselves in the middle of a burning house." #EarthDay op-ed from @irinaclimatemom.bsky.social & @michaelemann.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/philadel...

1. I study how science works as a collective endeavor to make sense of the physical world. I also study how misinformation about science spreads and affects society. There are fewer examples more poignant than a Minnesota bill that would criminalize mRNA vaccines as weapons of mass destruction.

So, I have been learning about machine learning - if you want to learn with me, see our recently published article! Many thanks to all the trainees who wrote and edited this mammoth of a book chapter and the reviewers for their effort. Check it out! doi.org/10.1002/cpz1...

Good luck Ye @uwbiochem.bsky.social on your thesis defense on Wednesday!!!

PRESSURE WORKS, DORKS! 💪

If anyone has some leftover Peeps this Easter, might I suggest demonstrating ideal gas laws?  bit.ly/peepsidealga... #365DaysOfScience #chemsky

Finally, big numbers need to be put into context. $60 billion, what the government spends on university research, is just about the same amount Americans spend on video games ($57b), or on pet food and treats ($64b). 5/x americanpetproducts.org/news/u.s.-pe... www.prnewswire.com/news-release...

Can confirm that my NSF grant "How False Beliefs Form & How to Correct Them" was cancelled today because it is "not in alignment with current NSF priorities" Shocking that understanding how people are misled by false information is now a forbidden topic. Our work will continue but at a smaller scale

Old North Church in Boston last night on the 250th anniversary of Paul Revere's ride.

If you think you can't make a political issue out of "people shouldn't be grabbed off the street and put in a foreign gulag forever," maybe consider getting out of politics/punditry. And these aren't technical slogans: they appear in the Declaration of Independence and in the Constitution (twice).

In positive news... www.channel3000.com/news/wiscons...

I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return.

New preprint finding that eliminating US global health funding over the next fifteen years would cause: - 15.2m deaths from AIDS - 2.2m deaths from TB - 7.9 additional child deaths

The American Dream means opportunity for ALL! These illegal Trump cuts take that Dream away from kids like Logan. That's as un-American as it gets, folks. #StandUpForScience #StandUpForLogan #StopDOGE Read more below ⬇️ www.npr.org/2025/04/14/n...

The plan for NIH is in, source with full 64 page proposal for all of HHS is linked. Reported in WaPo. This is catastrophic. Reduction to 8 centers. 40% cut in budget. 15% IDC cap. This will decimate science across America open.substack.com/pub/insideme...

0. Vought, Vance, Rufo, and those attacking academia see scientists as bureaucrats—in the most pejorative sense of the term—who they can "put into trauma" and drive to quit. They don't understand that science is not just a job. It's a vocation, literally, in the original sense of *a calling*.

This post captures the joy of science in a way that elevates my heart and perfectly illustrates the point I was hoping make in this thread: bsky.app/profile/carl...

Thirty-eight of 43 experts cut last month from the boards that review the science and research that happens in laboratories at the National Institutes of Health are female, Black or Hispanic, according to an analysis by the chairs of a dozen of the boards.