Hassan Zafar et al.: Breaking barriers: transitioning from X-ray crystallography to cryo-EM for structural studies ##CryoElectronMicroscopyCryoEM##StructuralBiology##SingleParticleAnalysis@uvmvermont...##IUCrhttps://journals.iucr.org/paper?S205979832600080X

Applications for the 2026 #CryoET Data Processing Workshop are due one month from today! Learn more about this hands-on workshop and apply by March 20: myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-workshop-2026

Join us this summer for U-M's 2026 #CryoET Data Processing Workshop! This four-day workshop will introduce participants to standard image processing packages and all aspects of cryo-ET data processing. Apply by March 20: myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-workshop-2026 @jbquerido.bsky.social @shyamalm.bsky.social

Check out our synthesis of enantioenriched atropisomers in Nature! rdcu.be/e2Kc0

In a new "Look to Leadership" column, LSI Director Roger Cone discusses the importance of using programs such as the Aspirnaut Summer Research Internship to provide life-changing opportunities for future scientists. myumi.ch/Nrqrk

While everything feels flash-frozen in Michigan, it's a great time to plan for U-M's 2026 #CryoET Data Processing Workshop! This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to standard image processing packages used to analyze cryo-ET data. Apply by March 20: myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-wor...

#Postdoc job opportunity: The Pereira lab at the LSI is seeking a postdoctoral researcher help develop cutting-edge experimental and computational approaches to accelerate #NaturalProduct discovery. Learn more and apply: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

Researchers in the Li and Wang labs have developed a new tool for real-time control of cell surface receptor activity in specific cells, enabling scientists to investigate how activating precise neuronal signals can drive brain function and behaviors. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @ummni.bsky.social

Research from the Sherman and Pereira labs at the LSI was selected for @commschem.nature.com 2025 Editors' Highlights. "This work ... highlights how chemical biology can access new structural and pharmacological space from complex microbial metabolites.” Read more: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Why does a fruit fly’s brain development matter? Cell biologist @byneuron.bsky.social describes how model organisms like fruit flies can help us untangle the complexities of neural networks, and the hidden impacts of this research on human health: youtu.be/I6kRYWCdD7k?...

As 2025 draws to a close, LSI Director Roger Cone reflects on the accomplishments of the past year, the uniqueness of the LSI, and what makes leading the institute "one of the best jobs in science." www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiOi...

How can woodrats weighing less than half a pound survive rattlesnake bites that would hospitalize, or even kill, a full-grown human? LSI researchers have uncovered a genetic clue that points to the source of the tiny rodents' potent immunity. www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-12...

Do you know any outstanding high school or undergraduate scientists who would like the chance to immerse themselves in the role of a full-time researcher? We are accepting applications for our 2026 Perrigo and Aspirnaut summer research programs.

Thrilled to share my recent work from the Pereira and Sherman Labs at @umlifesciences.bsky.social, out now in Communications Chemistry! We applied metabolic engineering, semi-synthesis, and biocatalysis to expand access to the antimalarial natural product premarineosin A. I suggest you check it out!

Rivero-Ríos, Sutton, Weisman and colleagues show that PI(3)P coordinates SNX17- and SNX27-dependent protein recycling for long-term synaptic plasticity. rupress.org/jcb/article/... 📕 From The Year In Cell Biology: rupress.org/jcb/collecti... #CellBio2025

Research from the Weisman and Sutton labs has been selected as one of @jcb.org most impactful papers of 2025. You can read more about the study here: www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-09...

This #GivingTuesday, you can directly impact our ability to conduct groundbreaking research for the advancement of human health and well-being. Join us in catalyzing new discoveries and propelling scientific progress across the life sciences! maizeraise.umich.edu/schools/Univ...

Happy Thanksgiving from the LSI! We are extra thankful for our collaborative scientists, staff and students who make discovery possible every day (and for the PPE that keeps us safe, and even festive, in the process)! 🦃

Researchers from the @narayanlab.bsky.social have unlocked a novel mechanism for transforming molecules. Their findings, described in a new @nature.com study, open new ways to develop important molecules with fewer wasteful byproducts. nature.com/articles/s41...

From MBoC... Lois Weisman ( @umichnews.bsky.social ) reveals how one protein’s teamwork — or lack of it — could hold clues to treating childhood neurodegenerative disease. 🔗 www.molbiolcell.org/doi/full/10....

Why does it matter what a protein looks like? @umich.edu structural biologist Janet Smith explains why her lab aims to uncover protein structures and describes the hidden impacts of structural biology on drug discovery and human health: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVG...

Pediatric oncologist @johnprensner.bsky.social has teamed up with the LSI's Natural Products Discovery Core to explore thousands of #NaturalProducts in search of new treatment paths for #DIPG, a deadly childhood brain cancer. Learn more about the project: research.umich.edu/research-sto...

✨ Save the Date! ✨ LSI SciComm Speaker Series welcomes Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author of The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science. 📅 Thursday, Oct. 9 ⏰ 10:00 a.m. 📍 Rackham Amphitheatre 📖 Book-signing after the talk! @umlifesciences.bsky.social

Prof. Alison Narayan (@alisonnarayan.bsky.social) discusses the motivation behind CATNIP, a data-driven platform that makes biocatalysis more accessible to chemists. The tool, developed by Narayan's lab and collaborators at @cmu.edu is described in a new @nature.com study: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A team from @umich.edu and @cmu.edu has developed CATNIP for chemists — a data-driven open-access platform that removes a major barrier to wider adoption of #biocatalysis, making greener chemistry more accessible. Read more: myumi.ch/dgp2Z @narayanlab.bsky.social @alisonnarayan.bsky.social

A new @natcomms.nature.com study from Dan Klionsky’s lab, conducted in yeast, reveals how mutations that were thought to shut down one essential cellular process can actually help some types of cancer cells grow, while making them more resistant to stress. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Studying venom resistance in opossums, scientists have discovered that differences between human and opossum versions of a blood-born protein enable the animals to combat the blood-clotting effects of snake venom. Their findings could have relevance for human coagulopathies. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

In a new @jcb.org study, a team of @umich.edu researchers reveal new details in a complex cellular mechanism that is central to the brain’s ability to learn and form memories. www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-09...

We've had a great week celebrating our dedicated, innovative postdocs as part of National Postdoc Appreciation Week. And while #NPAW2025 is coming to an end, our gratitude is not! Thank you, LSI postdocs, for your scientific expertise, mentorship, and all you contribute to the LSI community!

Join us October 9 for the LSI #SciComm Series lecture featuring Kate Zernike, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author of "The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins and the Fight for Women in Science." Details: events.umich.edu/event/137203 Cosponsored by @umisr.bsky.social and the U-M Wallace House

Congratulations to LSI Research Associate Professor Wenjing Wang, who has been named a MBioFar Award recipient. This award from the U-M Biosciences Initiative recognizes faculty for their "research achievements, academic excellence, and potential to drive scientific breakthroughs." myumi.ch/4mN4n

A @umich.edu research team, including Shawn Xu's lab at the LSI, has uncovered the neural circuit that allows skin to sense cool temperatures and send that info to the brain. In addition to deepening our understanding of fundamental biology, the findings have medical implications: myumi.ch/796gx

LSI Director Roger Cone discusses his lab's research into the melanocortin system, and how that work has led to new drug-development programs targeting both anorexia and obesity: Protein targets can act as a switch for obesity and anorexia | www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/p...

LSI faculty members @byneuron.bsky.social and Peng Li teamed up with colleagues in the U-M School of Dentistry (including LSI alum @elizabithian.bsky.social) to uncover how neurons inside teeth do more than just sense pain: news.umich.edu/ouch-tooth-n...

#PostdocOpportunity: The Fung lab is seeking a postdoctoral fellow to explore human structural cell biology using #cryoEM and #cryoET, with a focus on chromatin and nuclear structures during development. Learn more and apply: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

Scientists have developed a new method for rapid discovery of RNA-protein interactions. Combining the multiplexed method with #cryoEM, @jbquerido.bsky.social & colleagues identified novel interactions between RNA & the LARP1 protein impacting translation initiation. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

“When everyone’s interests align, there’s almost no science we cannot do here at Michigan.” Learn how the the LSI's comprehensive suite of research cores support drug-discovery and basic science research for @umich.edu researchers, while also advancing novel research:

In the 2 decades that they've worked together at the LSI, faculty members David Sherman & Janet Smith have published over 40 studies together. They recently discussed how this long-standing cross-discipline collaboration has helped each of their research programs: www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...

In the most recent LSI Magazine, @umich.edu alum @aefraley.bsky.social describes how she has charted a unique career path to from the LSI to her own lab at @ethz.ch, where she is focused on "caring for the planet and caring for human health at the same time." www.lsi.umich.edu/news/lsi-mag...

One month left to apply! The Michigan Pioneer Fellows program is accepting applications for its 2025 cohort. Spanning the @umich.edu Medical School, LSA, School of Dentistry, & LSI, this postdoc program is designed to launch innovative scientists into groundbreaking careers. pioneerfellows.umich.edu

LSI Prof. David Ginsburg, one of the nation’s leading scholars in the molecular genetics of bleeding and clotting disorders, has been selected as U-M’s 2025 Henry Russel Lecturer! myumi.ch/w9dm2

I’m excited to share the first publication from my lab on the unexpected strategy that MCPyV, a cancer-causing virus, uses to enter cells. This was truly a team effort and I am so grateful for each of the brilliant women who contributed to this research project. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

LSI researchers have uncovered new details of the process that HIV uses to hijack cells’ transportation systems and cause infection. Their findings overturn a decades-old theory and offer a new system for studying viral trafficking and infection. @science.org www.lsi.umich.edu/news/2025-06...

"Education like this is an opportunity, but it's what we do with that opportunity that matters." —Joslyn Johnson, Assistant Dean of Student Development & Career Initiatives, welcoming the 2025 Perrigo & Aspirnaut students, who will spend their summers immersed in hands-on research at the LSI.

Last week, U-M Program in Chemical Biology students, alumni & faculty celebrated the program's 20th anniversary! Alumni came in from across U.S. to present talks about their journey and what they've been able to achieve as graduates of the program. @alisonnarayan.bsky.social @annamapp.bsky.social

By combining experiments in baker’s yeast and human cell lines with a generative AI tool, @umich.edu researchers have determined how specific genetic mutations found in children with neurodegenerative diseases disrupt an essential cellular process. Read the full story: myumi.ch/QwVrA

Thank you to all the presenters and scientists from around the country who attended the LSI's 2025 #CryoEM Workshop and made the event such a successful hands-on learning experience! Thanks also to our event sponsors, SubAngstrom, @globusorg.bsky.social, @mitegen.com and @structurabio.bsky.social

Congratulations to Natural Products Discovery Core Director Ashu Tripathi, Ph.D., who has been recognized by U-M for his research leadership and significant contributions to the field of natural products chemistry. myumi.ch/8qJnj @umichpharmacy.bsky.social

The 2025 Saltiel Life Sciences Symposium is this Thursday (5/29)! @brangwynnelab.bsky.social will start us off with the Mary Sue and Kenneth Coleman Lecture at 9:00 AM, followed by talks from @jamesknunez.bsky.social at 9:55 and @leonardomorsut.bsky.social at 10:25. myumi.ch/lsi-symposiu...

Cargo adaptors use a handhold mechanism to engage with #myosin V for #organelle transport, say Hye Jee Hahn, Natalya Pashkova, Michael Cianfrocco, & Lois Weisman @umlifesciences.bsky.social rupress.org/jcb/article/... #Microbiology #Organelles #Trafficking