Will be at SfN for the first time since 2011 this year (bad neuroscientist 😬). Hopefully see some of you there irl.

Finally got to go through this carefully. An interesting paper and a tremendous amount of work. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Gonna need somebody to explain daylight savings to my dogs

I think about this tweet on a near-daily basis

This is what made America great

The cat is officially out of the bag! The LMB is home to a unique community of outstanding connectomics scientists — I'm so excited about adding my own molecular and expansion microscopy expertise to the mix! This is going to be the most exciting journey of my scientific career — more soon! 🌈🧠

Heart rate data or RC voltage step?

Saw someone designing a cloning strategy using chatgpt and for some reason that's kinda my breaking point in this particular discussion. How much thinking really needs to be outsourced for the sake of efficiency and who does that really serve in the end?

I have lots of opinions—but for your sake, I’ve limited them to segmentation in cryo-ET for this article 😉 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #teamtomo

"The money the government sends to Harvard is, in effect, not a subsidy to advance the university’s mission. It’s a payment for the role Harvard plays in advancing the research mission of the United States." www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Boston is the best city to run in. This is a take I'm willing to fight over.

Having come up through US academia the rug pull of the last few months has been pretty extreme. Wondering how much longer I (& everyone else) get to do science sucks but with some dead-man's logic it also makes me really appreciate the years that I got to spend asking questions for their own sake.

Proud to share our latest paper. doi.org/10.1016/j.cr... Through the dedication of @glynnca.bsky.social and @cryingem.bsky.social we report a thorough method to image molecular organisation within hippocampus tissue. Structural biology in tissue is well and truly here! @rosfrankinst.bsky.social

A call to stand up and show support for the Bethesda Declaration, the NIH, and for federally funded science in general.

A formidable opponent in the fight against productivity.

New method toward modeling cells and viruses! HMFF enables integrative membrane modeling and simulation guided by electron microscopy data. Created by Valentin Maurer and Marc Siggel @embl.org ‪‪@cssbhamburg.bsky.social‬, in collaboration with @WPezeshkian lab (1/n) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

Ok microtubule people, what is going on here? Cross section projection images, two different areas and surrounded by intact microtubules:

My colleagues @phaips.vd.st and @florentwaltz.bsky.social have put together this wonderful website with step-by-step tutorials for in situ subtomogram averaging using different software packages 🤩 Check it out, especially if you are a newcomer to the field! #CryoET #TeamTomo #ChlamyDataset

We have updated our #MemBrain v2 preprint with a lot more details about the MemBrain-pick and MemBrain-stats modules, as well as some application examples! Stay tuned for the upcoming thread by lead author @lorenzlamm.bsky.social! 🧠🧵 #CryoET #TeamTomo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thrilled to share these experiments on shaping focused ion beams to explore different ways of milling. Here, we explore using different beam geometries to generate cellular thin sections/lamellae. The video shows elongating the beam on a charging spot burn www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Exploring shaped focused ion beams for lamella preparation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.01.646235v1

Could run this article for every flight he takes

Maybe Jeffrey Goldberg is in all of our signal chats and we just have to step back from our lives for a bit to really notice him there.

Here's our newest study: we reveal the molecular principles of neuronal excitation by glutamate, and how physiological temperatures influence this process. www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/d41... Led by @anish-mondal07.bsky.social, published in @natureportfolio.nature.com

There are days in life that shake you. I’m shattered 💔 to share that I just found out that the US Government terminated my 2024 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award (~$2 million), threatening my long-promised assistant professor job at Columbia University & academic career... 1/🧵

Setting up exciting new crosses like

Soapbox: acknowledging that the establishment of pax americana is often a morally complicated legacy does not require you to say there is no "wrong side of history." Nuance =/= nihilism and whataboutism is designed to paralyze you into believing you can never act in a principled manner.

As flying in the US gets increasingly dicey, we will have to fall back on our rail system in order to travel safely. *whispered sidebar* oh I see...

#NIHFundedDiscovery How do cells avoid the "kiss of death"? Gap junctions share life-saving signals—but under stress, they shut down to prevent spreading cytotoxic damage. #CryoEM reveals the molecular switches behind this process! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Somewhere between this Derek Lowe quote and the Kendrick halftime show, you will find my current vibe

Over on LinkedIn, the head of the Executive Secretariat of the NIH -- a central part of NIH leadership 🧪🩺-- resigned with a lettter worth reading www.linkedin.com/posts/nathan...

Window shopping for Scientifica rigs like pressing my nose against a Ferrari dealership

Going to patch for the first time since 2018 (🤯). How long do we think it takes to get a decent trace? Like riding a bike, I'm sure 😬

Federal employees (even probationary) have rights and should immediately appeal if they are fired. www.mspb.gov

My small selfish bit of rage – insignificant compared to the existential threats to US science – is that the work of almost half my life is going really well and taking off into new directions and I would love to be happy and optimistic about that.

Life is offering up an abundance of lemons, therefore:

Excited to share our new preprint "Dynamic nanoscale architecture of synaptic vesicle fusion in mouse hippocampal neurons" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... We combine optogenetic stimulation of neurons with in situ cryo-ET to characterize membrane dynamics during synaptic vesicle fusion ❄️🔬⏱️

No tariff could be conceived to damage a Canadian more

This is the end of science as we know it if it stands—15% IDCs for all NIH Grants. grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Getting ready to fly back to the states after a great conference:

Hey #teamtomo, if you often find yourself using the excellent membrain-seg from @lorenzlamm.bsky.social et al., you might find my napari plugin "napari-segselect" useful. Let's say your tomogram contains the edges of two bacterial cells, each with a membrane and cell wall:

So nobody wants to fly to Frankfurt on a Monday in February, I guess...

Does anyone have a good entry point into the literature on RNA aptamers? Sifting through lots of papers at the moment trying to work my way back.

We have an exciting opportunity for a new independent group leader with an interest in structural/molecular biology and machine learning to join our Division of Structural Studies at the @mrclmb.bsky.social! 🥳 Re-posts appreciated. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Thinking a lot about "what ifs" inspired mostly by current chaos. Unearthed my biggest alternative life:

Attempting the ultimate leap of faith: connecting through Chicago in January.

Our newest paper is out! Congratulations to lead author @elisafrankel.bsky.social! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #Neuroscience #WormFeed #NeuroPapers #Celegans