Daniel Asarnow
@dabiophysicist.bsky.social
Postdoctoral scholar in Veesler Lab @ UWa.
Former UCSF & SFSU & UCSC student & Exploratorium Explainer. He/him.
I take tiny pictures, in 2 & 3 dimensions.
https://github.com/asarnow
Former UCSF & SFSU & UCSC student & Exploratorium Explainer. He/him.
I take tiny pictures, in 2 & 3 dimensions.
https://github.com/asarnow
Pinned
The trainees when you're at the GRC:
NO PI OK
January 18, 2026 at 2:05 AM
The trainees when you're at the GRC:
Great video (and voice over)! Missing sound effects though 😉
Our new movie is online, highlighting the assembly, secretion and mechanism of action of bacterial Tc toxins. We hope you enjoy it and use it for teaching purposes or just for fun. Nature is fascinating!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfEf...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfEf...
How bacterial Tc toxins work: secretion, pore formation and host cell disruption.
YouTube video by Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology
www.youtube.com
January 16, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Great video (and voice over)! Missing sound effects though 😉
Quote with a movie that's 10/10?
Mitsuo Yanagimachi's "Who's Camus anyway?" (Kamyu nante shiranai)
doesn't even have a Wiki entry, but is as close to filmically perfect as anything
Mitsuo Yanagimachi's "Who's Camus anyway?" (Kamyu nante shiranai)
doesn't even have a Wiki entry, but is as close to filmically perfect as anything
January 16, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Quote with a movie that's 10/10?
Mitsuo Yanagimachi's "Who's Camus anyway?" (Kamyu nante shiranai)
doesn't even have a Wiki entry, but is as close to filmically perfect as anything
Mitsuo Yanagimachi's "Who's Camus anyway?" (Kamyu nante shiranai)
doesn't even have a Wiki entry, but is as close to filmically perfect as anything
Very much so, but for every kind of lysate!
Also start with most highly cited Abs (check citeab.com), more likely to work but if they don't at least you'll know which papers are affected...
Also start with most highly cited Abs (check citeab.com), more likely to work but if they don't at least you'll know which papers are affected...
Throwing this out there for those doing westerns on mouse embryo lysates: ALWAYS do a secondary only blot. No matter how "clean" your primary is, your secondary can (and will) cause problems - and Murphy's law ensures the crossreactivity will be the same size as your protein of interest 1/3 🧪 🤬
January 15, 2026 at 4:58 PM
Very much so, but for every kind of lysate!
Also start with most highly cited Abs (check citeab.com), more likely to work but if they don't at least you'll know which papers are affected...
Also start with most highly cited Abs (check citeab.com), more likely to work but if they don't at least you'll know which papers are affected...
The return of "water memory," ironically at one time a (partial) motivator of serious science...
"liquid water essentially loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure within 50 fs."
"liquid water essentially loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure within 50 fs."
January 11, 2026 at 8:51 PM
The return of "water memory," ironically at one time a (partial) motivator of serious science...
"liquid water essentially loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure within 50 fs."
"liquid water essentially loses the memory of persistent correlations in its structure within 50 fs."
Reposted by Daniel Asarnow
NEW article by me!
We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before.
We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.
We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before.
We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.
The golden age of vaccine development - Works in Progress Magazine
The first vaccine was a lucky accident. Now we can design new vaccines in weeks, atom by atom.
worksinprogress.co
January 7, 2026 at 3:20 PM
NEW article by me!
We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before.
We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.
We can now visualize pathogens down to atoms; design vaccines in weeks; manufacture them in microbial factories; engineer them more precise than ever before.
We're living through a golden age of vaccine development, but only if we continue to invest in them.
My old Sherpa/Free Radical had been sitting around for a few years until my 2nd oldest friend and I tracked down possibly the last surviving kid-carrier hardware (thanks @xtracycle.bsky.social!) and now he's *safely* taking his kids everywhere with it 🤩
(1st oldest is his wife btw)
(1st oldest is his wife btw)
December 30, 2025 at 6:08 AM
My old Sherpa/Free Radical had been sitting around for a few years until my 2nd oldest friend and I tracked down possibly the last surviving kid-carrier hardware (thanks @xtracycle.bsky.social!) and now he's *safely* taking his kids everywhere with it 🤩
(1st oldest is his wife btw)
(1st oldest is his wife btw)
Reposted by Daniel Asarnow
I'm really excited to break up the holiday relaxation time with a new preprint that benchmarks AlphaFold3 (AF3)/“co-folding” methods with 2 new stringent performance tests.
Thread below - but first some links:
A longer take:
fraserlab.com/2025/12/29/k...
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread below - but first some links:
A longer take:
fraserlab.com/2025/12/29/k...
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Know when to co-fold'em
This is the official web page for the James Fraser Lab at UCSF.
fraserlab.com
December 29, 2025 at 10:25 PM
I'm really excited to break up the holiday relaxation time with a new preprint that benchmarks AlphaFold3 (AF3)/“co-folding” methods with 2 new stringent performance tests.
Thread below - but first some links:
A longer take:
fraserlab.com/2025/12/29/k...
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread below - but first some links:
A longer take:
fraserlab.com/2025/12/29/k...
Preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Sprained an ankle and broke my glasses, separate shows at 924 ❤️😈
December 28, 2025 at 3:26 AM
Sprained an ankle and broke my glasses, separate shows at 924 ❤️😈
Wildcat soap dispenser ("environmental powder") 🤔
December 19, 2025 at 4:26 AM
Wildcat soap dispenser ("environmental powder") 🤔
Reposted by Daniel Asarnow
Can't sleep, thinking about molecular puppetry again
December 11, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Can't sleep, thinking about molecular puppetry again
I could actually hear the sound garden today!
December 7, 2025 at 5:59 AM
I could actually hear the sound garden today!
Dans la plaine
naît un bruit.
C'est l'haleine
de la nuit.
Elle brame
comme une âme
qu'une flamme
toujours suit!
naît un bruit.
C'est l'haleine
de la nuit.
Elle brame
comme une âme
qu'une flamme
toujours suit!
Which lines of poetry live rent-free in your head?
December 7, 2025 at 5:41 AM
Dans la plaine
naît un bruit.
C'est l'haleine
de la nuit.
Elle brame
comme une âme
qu'une flamme
toujours suit!
naît un bruit.
C'est l'haleine
de la nuit.
Elle brame
comme une âme
qu'une flamme
toujours suit!
"so far as anything is wrong" 💀
November 30, 2025 at 6:59 AM
"so far as anything is wrong" 💀
What have we here?
November 28, 2025 at 6:53 AM
What have we here?
Posts about Cherry Blossoms have me wondering what folks think about Aplets & Cotlets, Washington state's own controversial candy.
November 27, 2025 at 5:14 AM
Posts about Cherry Blossoms have me wondering what folks think about Aplets & Cotlets, Washington state's own controversial candy.
Sad to hear...his F'05 Physics 5A (kinematics) was one of my first classes at UCSC. The cold dark matter co-discoverer was an engaged & engaging lecturer & his course was a warm welcome before the difficulty ramped up later in the series (David Dorfan taught 5B that year)
Joel Primack was an extraordinary human being along so many axes. I treasured our interactions on so many topics, and can’t believe he’s gone. My thoughts are with Nancy, Samara, and their family. May his memory be a blessing. 🔭
November 14, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Sad to hear...his F'05 Physics 5A (kinematics) was one of my first classes at UCSC. The cold dark matter co-discoverer was an engaged & engaging lecturer & his course was a warm welcome before the difficulty ramped up later in the series (David Dorfan taught 5B that year)
Makes a quiet thunderclap in my brain
Here is the X5.1 flare in straight EUV light. We are looking at the 193 Å "gold" filter here. The flare is the bright flash, and immediately, you can see a giant blast wave racing through the Sun's corona, lifting tons of plasma into space as an Earth-directed CME.
November 11, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Makes a quiet thunderclap in my brain
King County ballot tracker
November 11, 2025 at 1:17 AM
King County ballot tracker
Reposted by Daniel Asarnow
I am seeing a lot of posts about Rosalind Franklin that themselves ignore her publication record on DNA!
In fact Franklin and Gosling's paper, including the famous Photograph #51, was published, along with Wilkins's paper, back-to-back with the Watson and Crick paper in Nature in 1953.
In fact Franklin and Gosling's paper, including the famous Photograph #51, was published, along with Wilkins's paper, back-to-back with the Watson and Crick paper in Nature in 1953.
November 9, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I am seeing a lot of posts about Rosalind Franklin that themselves ignore her publication record on DNA!
In fact Franklin and Gosling's paper, including the famous Photograph #51, was published, along with Wilkins's paper, back-to-back with the Watson and Crick paper in Nature in 1953.
In fact Franklin and Gosling's paper, including the famous Photograph #51, was published, along with Wilkins's paper, back-to-back with the Watson and Crick paper in Nature in 1953.
An obituary any scientist would be proud of imo
![An obituary for Rosalind Franklin, written by J.D. Bernal.
Excerpt:
Dr. Rosalind E. Franklin
THE news of the death of Rosalind Franklin on April 16 [1958] came as a shock to many workers in the field of biochemistry and virus studies. It is a special tragedy when a brilliant research worker is cut off at the height of her powers and when exciting new discoveries are expected from her.
...
As a scientist Miss Franklin was distinguished by extreme clarity and perfection in everything she undertook. Her photographs are among the most beautiful X-ray photographs of any substance ever taken. Their excellence was the fruit of extreme care in preparation and mounting of the specimens as well as in the taking of the photographs. She did nearly all this work with her own hands. At the same time, she proved to be an admirable director of a research team and inspired those who worked with her to reach the same high standard. Her devotion to research showed itself at its finest in the last months of her life. Although stricken with an illness which she knew would be fatal, she continued to work right up to the end. Her early death is a great loss to science.
J. D. BERNAL](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:lw3xw6b4qbkfbfw6as65kgbb/bafkreibs5lr7ot7qqbkz2bs6pim4drl3eic5hz35lq4c5otmnimxd2hy4u@jpeg)
November 9, 2025 at 3:27 AM
An obituary any scientist would be proud of imo
The Seattle Times paywalling their editorial argument against the measure that hikes their own taxes is very funny. The art of persuasion indeed
@theneedling.com
@theneedling.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:17 AM
The Seattle Times paywalling their editorial argument against the measure that hikes their own taxes is very funny. The art of persuasion indeed
@theneedling.com
@theneedling.com
People are confused about the title. It's only the first entry of a 10-part, 36-hour immortalization of Frank's journey
October 31, 2025 at 5:58 AM
People are confused about the title. It's only the first entry of a 10-part, 36-hour immortalization of Frank's journey
Reposted by Daniel Asarnow
To any editor having trouble finding reviewers - try asking postdocs! We are available, we take it seriously, we know exactly what we're asking from the authors
October 28, 2025 at 7:43 PM
To any editor having trouble finding reviewers - try asking postdocs! We are available, we take it seriously, we know exactly what we're asking from the authors