Happy birthday, Cat! (and Charles Darwin too)

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science (11th February). A moment to recognize those who were once told they had no place in science. www.un.org/en/observanc...

Not only did Mendeleev organise what we knew at the time, he also left space for what we didn’t yet know (but he predicted to exist).

Today is World NTD Day www.who.int/news/item/27...

As a Fellow of Newnham College (2010-12) and proud alumna, this video resonated deeply with Cat. Newnham’s founding commitment (to enable women’s education when it was denied) still matters profoundly today.

Join Sir Michael Ferguson FRS for the Leeuwenhoek Prize Lecture on 26 January 2026, as he explores how science can provide opportunities to make better, safer medicines and diagnostics for neglected infectious diseases. Register now: https://bit.ly/4j9U58P

We’re excited to share our review: "Next-generation genetic screens in kinetoplastids", now published in NAR! It covers a range of perturbation methods—from RNAi to prime editing—as well as emerging assay technologies like scRNA-seq and image-activated cell sorting. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Check out our latest study on the PfRIPR protein, essential for the malaria parasite to get inside our blood cells. We show how antibodies block the function of PfRIPR by preventing its flexible hinges from bending, or by stopping it from compacting as part of its mechanism.

If you assume GPI insertion signals = surface destination, trypanosomes disagree. Tom’s work shows GPI-anchored protein sorting occurs independently of GPI insertion signals, hinting at alternative sorting logic at the parasite surface. tinyurl.com/gpi-anchor #MembraneBiology #CellSurface

🧬 Fancy a fully funded PhD at the cutting edge of parasitology? 🦠✨ We’re recruiting outstanding students to join an exciting 4-year, fully funded PhD programme in Molecular & Cellular Parasitology – home & international students welcome 🌍

UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme

🦠 Grad students & postdocs in parasitology: Apply now for the Biology of Parasitism (BoP): Modern Approaches course at @MBLScience. Hands-on labs, expert lectures, and cutting-edge tools. 📅 Summer 2026 | ⏰ Deadline Feb 5 🔗 mbl.edu/courses

Brazil, Australia and Italy have the highest satisfaction scores in Nature’s global 2025 PhD survey. A Nature Careers article examines what makes earning a doctorate in these countries different. #Academicsky 🧪

The Leeuwenhoek Medal and Lecture 2025 is awarded to Professor Sir Mike Ferguson CBE FMedSci FRS for major contributions in discovery science and application to the treatment of neglected infectious diseases. #RSMedals https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/leeuwenhoek-lecture/

The United Kingdom as seen from the International Space Station. -Credits: NASA

Great opportunity for a Research Assistant to join us on a project involving genomics and big-data analysis in molecular & cellular parasitology. Apply by 10 July: jobrxiv.org/job/universi... Interviews: 18 July #ScienceJobs #CellBiology #MolecularBiology

Good news all round: Cat is promoted to principal investigator. The Cell Surface has its first IF released=6.2! And we are recruiting another research assistant to join the team and work on DRiF-Seq projects. Apply [here] (jobs.nottingham.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...) until 10 July; interviews 18 July.

Really stimulating week in the South of France, working with colleagues at the forefront of host-pathogen cell biology research: @sergemostowylab.bsky.social , Sandrine Bourdoulous, Jean-Christophe Paillart, Matteo Bonazzi, Pierre Diamante, Patricia Bassereau and Nathalie Chazal.

We really enjoyed the Royal Society team’s visit to the lab this morning, to mark Majeed’s first year in his Career Development fellowship. The scheme is running for the second time, and hopefully a third round will open in September 2025. #STEM #science #postdocs #fellowships @royalsociety.org

Mark Carrington’s symposium: the combination of intellectual stimulation from the scientific content and the joy of reconnecting with colleagues and friends made the day a memorable and enjoyable one for all participants, and specially for Mark! #parasites @cambridgeuni.bsky.social

It is a great honour to invite you to a symposium to celebrate the career of Mark Carrington. An exciting set of talks, particularly if you are fascinated by trypanosomes.

Being cartographers of parasite surfaces, at the molecular, functional and fitness levels, we’ve enjoyed reading this series of papers on data collection to atlas integration and beyond. Check it out: ‪@humancellatlas.bsky.social‬ @natureportfolio.bsky.social www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Majeed and Cat are enjoying the Career Development Fellowship welcome event at the Royal Society – 3 days of science talks, networking workshop, library tours, video interviews and delicious vegetarian meals. A fantastic start for a 4-year postdoctoral fellowship.

Congratulations to Majeed! Last October, he was awarded a Royal Society Career Development Fellowship to decode the mechanism of antigenic variation in Trypanosoma vivax in the lab. Expect great developments soon! royalsociety.org/news/2024/09...

Last year we celebrated our 10th lab anniversary! 10 years of experiments, socials, zillions of eppendorfs and tissue culture flasks, and lots of tea, coffee and cake. Looking forward to the next decade!

Hello BlueSky, I'm Cat, a cell biologist interested in the molecular interactions that take place at the surface membrane of single-celled parasitic organisms.