IDPSeminars is back for a final seminar of spring 2026! This week, we welcome Wenwei Zheng and Sigrid Milles! The seminar is at 10 AM PST / 1 pm EST / 7 PM European time on Thursday. Sign up via our website at idpseminars.com!

This is unacceptable. Read below

Of all the harm this administration has done to US science, today's proposed changes to the way federal grants are awarded and administered is the most damaging yet. The text of the federal register document is impenetrably tedious by design, so here's an excellent summary of what it says.

🧪 That sourdough starter on your counter? It's a microbial community that's been evolving the whole time you've fed it. @oliverio.bsky.social's lab just won a $2.1M NIH grant to use starters as a model system for studying how microbiomes evolve.

Phosphorylation tunes p62 condensates to drive autophagic degradation of ubiquitinated proteins Masaaki Komatsu and collaborators link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#preprint by postdoc Billy Haws reveals the determinants of how UBQLN2 forms puncta under heat stress conditions - using both in vitro and in cell experiments, turns out the substrate-binding / chaperone-binding STI1-I and STI1-II domains are the driving forces! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy #BiophysicsWeek! This week is full of free events sponsored by BPS, Subgroups, and Affiliate Event organizers. And don't miss the many biophysics resources created by BPS committees! buff.ly/Yz26hiG

🧬 #Yeast Dsk2 uses its STI1 domain to interact with transient helices, driving phase separation and proteasome condensate formation under stress. This reveals new details about how cells organize protein degradation machinery 🧪 #YeastResearch #SGD #ProteinQuality www.yeastgenome.org/reference/S1...

Postdocs Nirbhik Acharya and @jessniblo.bsky.social worked awesomely together to show how disordered regions regulate folded domain interactions that affect UBQLN structure, dynamics, and binding. Illustrating the power of experimental (NMR, SAXS) and computational collabs on full-length proteins!!!

Yeast ubiquilin Dsk2 scaffolds proteasome-containing condensates under stress via multivalent interactions – @castanedalab.bsky.social et al show how dynamic interactions among its STI1 domain & transient helices in its disordered region promote its phase-separation link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Postdocs studying IDPs (disordered proteins) and heading to BPS, apply by Dec 15!

We just wrapped up the 7th Molecular & Cellular Pharmacology Retreat in the Florida Keys, and the energy was incredible. Under the theme “Colab in the Cays,” scientists from 15+ labs shared 53 talks across two days, with every single participant presenting their work.

We're back for our final seminar of 2025 with talks from @alexholehouse.bsky.social and Birthe Kragelund! 1 pm EST or 7 pm European time. If you're not already signed up, head on over to idpseminars.com to register!

As the Executive Editor of BBA Reviews on Cancer, I am pleased to announce Call for Nominations: *BBA Rising Stars in Biochemistry & Biophysics 2026*!Nominate outstanding scientists within 10 years of their PhD for this prestigious award. Deadline: Dec 1, 2025. lnkd.in/dRzrNbJZ

I just made an account and voted for this biology laboratory made of LEGO to "promote biological research and inspire more people into the world of biology". They need 10K votes. Reposting and/or voting below would be helpful. 🤗 beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...

Come work with us at MCW! This position is in the Translational Metabolomics-Preclinical Imaging Shared Resource. This position involves imaging mice, rats and other small animal models with multimodal imaging. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

So thrilled for you! Congratulations, @luciastrader.bsky.social !

"What does this curved line mean?" Like palm reading for your phase boundary. Plus, when is your condensate actually an oligomer (or vice versa)? A new preprint from the Schmit Group, in collaboration with Jonathon Ditlev, Les Loew, and @ani-chattaraj.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If you are a researcher whose lab uses FlyBase, consider a tax-deductible personal contribution. A lot of $100 contributions would help bridge the gap until we can set up a user fee system, and even $10 donations send the folks there the message we're behind them. Please share

New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated. [Gift Link] www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...

Update on NIH funding through July (August 1 budget start dates) Non-competitive renewal awards by month for fiscal year 2025 1/7

Happy RNA Day to those who celebrate! 🧪 It’s AUG 1: the day we Met 🤓

BIG NEWS: “Senate appropriators on Thursday approved an FY26 Labor-HHS bill that included a slight bump in funding for the NIH, with a strong 26–3 bipartisan vote.” Thank you to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on both sides of the aisle! www.axios.com/pro/health-c...

“With these considerations, we expect to fund through the 4th percentile.” There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.

New paper on transcription factor phase separation published from my colleague Aseem Ansari's and my lab: Reconciling competing models on the roles of condensates and soluble complexes in transcription factor function authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

As someone who has greatly benefited from the NSF MRI program, I'm sad to see that the 2025 submission window was canceled. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

@jeremymberg.bsky.social to share to others - this is a forecasted NIGMS MIRA funding opportunity for established/new investigators as I know people have been asking (FOR-GM-27-002) - due date appears to be late Jan 2026: grants.gov/search-resul...

This morning, courageous NIH workers shared a document they are calling the “Bethesda Declaration” with Dr. Bhattacharya, urging him to reverse some of the actions that are badly misaligned with progress toward the NIH mission. 1/3

It is beyond disturbing when the NIH and HHS Directors do not understand that animal models are essential in research www.statnews.com/2025/05/19/a...

To learn more about the story behind the paper, we caught up with first authors Yan Wu and Yiling Lan, and the corresponding author Heidi Hehnly @lovelessradio.bsky.social‬, an Associate Professor and Associate Director of the BioInspired Institute at @syracuseu.bsky.social

Thanks to @npr.org and the Shortwave podcast for covering circadian research! It was very cool to be on the podcast and on All Things Considered. And Kudos to Chris Hall for the exciting work. www.npr.org/2025/05/29/n... www.npr.org/2025/05/30/1...

Fascinating new paper explaining why nucleoli have heterochromatin stacked around them.

Biomolecular condensates are critical for organizing cellular contents, but most studies focus on phase separation driven by salt, pH, or temperature. But what if intracellular movement also matters? Here, we explore motility-induced condensation in the cell. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The power of collaborations! With @shaharsu.bsky.social, his PD @jessniblo.bsky.social and CALVADOS3 (thanks to @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social ) we show how STI1 (red) may engage with sequences that match transient helices within IDRs of Ub-binding shuttle protein Dsk2 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Behind every cure, every breakthrough, every treatment — is someone who needed it. If NIH funding helped you, your research, or someone you love, your story can help protect it. Share your “why” and help defend the future of NIH & science. Fill out the form here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

🚨We have an opening for a postdoc to use protein design techniques to developing and characterizing binders against intrinsically disordered proteins involved in neuroscience. Experience in protein biochemistry and/or molecular neuroscience preferred. Share: 🙏 mbg.au.dk/aktuelt/ledi...

Step up!

Federal research cuts impact local economies, and stall progress. Publish an opinion piece in your hometown paper on June 16th to SPREAD THE WORD about how scientific research contributes to the everyday health and wealth of the general public. #McClintockLetters blogs.cornell.edu/asap/events-...

Richard Youle is my PhD mentor🤯🤬😭. 40 yrs at NIH, award winning scientist should not end this way.

The horror show continues at NIH I am hearing (reliably) that RIFs have started with entire institute Communication branches being terminated since their jobs not longer exist (reduction in force). But that is not all...

UMich Biophysics has an open search for a new faculty member. Application materials are due 5/15. Search is open rank (despite the title in the link). Would love to bring more structural biology colleagues to Biophysics. #NMR careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...

Happening TOMORROW! Get psyched!

Looking for a faculty position? Biological Sciences at RPI is hiring! Excited for our newest member to join us! careers.rpi.edu/mob/en-us/jo...

We're on the cover of @science.org this week. Awesome work by @florentwaltz.bsky.social. #CryoET is reaching crazy resolutions inside cells, and this is just the beginning. Fantastic interpretation of the proton motive force by @verenaresch.bsky.social. Always a pleasure making #SciArt with you!🧪🧶🧬🌾

ATTENTION: ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETINGS Nothing posted yet in the Federal Register I had heard that at least some institutes and centers had tentatively scheduled "make-up" meetings in April but are no longer planning these. 1/2

#preprint Postdoc Nirbhik Acharya used NMR to find three transient helices within intrinsically-disordered regions of shuttle protein Dsk2 -- these interact with STI1. The STI1 is important for phase separation and proteasome condensates in yeast. Comments welcome! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

NIGMS administrative supplements are back! These are given at the discretion of program officers and are not reviewed by study sections. Renewing obsolete equipment is a priority. loop.nigms.nih.gov/2025/03/nigm...

WHERE WILL YOU BE TOMORROW?

I am not going to call this a Bluetorial, because I do not want to sully that term (which, at least I, find joyful). Let’s call it a Orwellial.