Max Heiman
@heiman.bsky.social
Associate Professor of Genetics
Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
It should be fun, or what's the point?
http://heimanlab.com
Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital
It should be fun, or what's the point?
http://heimanlab.com
Reposted by Max Heiman
One Boston Children’s Hospital researcher said, “This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
They came to Massachusetts to cure disease. Now they’re packing up their labs. - The Boston Globe
In a first-of-its-kind survey, the Globe asked hundreds of scientists about the impact of federal funding cuts.
www.bostonglobe.com
February 11, 2026 at 12:39 PM
One Boston Children’s Hospital researcher said, “This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.” www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/09/m...
Reposted by Max Heiman
A pilot study for whole proteome tagging in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.09.704846v1
February 10, 2026 at 11:31 PM
A pilot study for whole proteome tagging in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.09.704846v1
Reposted by Max Heiman
Cell-specific roles for the conserved Galpha chaperone RIC-8 in cilia biology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704597v1
February 9, 2026 at 1:32 PM
Cell-specific roles for the conserved Galpha chaperone RIC-8 in cilia biology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.07.704597v1
but curly quotes still break SciENcv
SCOOP: Palantir's AI has been deployed at HHS since last March to audit grants, grant applications, & job descriptions for anything related to "DEI" or "gender ideology"
The goal was to ensure compliance with 2 of Trump's executive orders:
www.wired.com/story/hhs-is...
The goal was to ensure compliance with 2 of Trump's executive orders:
www.wired.com/story/hhs-is...
HHS Is Using AI Tools From Palantir to Target ‘DEI’ and ‘Gender Ideology’ in Grants
Since March of 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services has been using tools from Palantir and the startup Credal AI to weed out perceived alignment with “DEI” or “gender ideology.”
www.wired.com
February 2, 2026 at 11:18 PM
but curly quotes still break SciENcv
Reposted by Max Heiman
Our first 2026 paper is out @currentbiology.bsky.social!
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.
Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.
Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Experience-dependent reconfiguration of thermoreceptors regulates neuronal response plasticity
Harris, Dutta, et al. find that experience-dependent plasticity in the activation
threshold of the AFD thermosensory neurons is mediated by modulating warm and cold
thermoreceptor levels at the sensor...
www.cell.com
January 28, 2026 at 5:37 PM
Our first 2026 paper is out @currentbiology.bsky.social!
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.
Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...
👏 to @nathancsharris.bsky.social (now Asst Prof, GA State) and PD Priya Dutta.
Here we show how transcriptional and trafficking pathways coordinate thermoreceptor levels to precisely modulate response plasticity
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Max Heiman
Friends! I am so happy to share our new preprint!
Hydrogen peroxide has been the most common reactive chemical threat to life forms since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.5 billion years ago.
How do animals like C. elegans sense it fast and escape?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 1/
Hydrogen peroxide has been the most common reactive chemical threat to life forms since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.5 billion years ago.
How do animals like C. elegans sense it fast and escape?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 1/
January 28, 2026 at 3:13 PM
Friends! I am so happy to share our new preprint!
Hydrogen peroxide has been the most common reactive chemical threat to life forms since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.5 billion years ago.
How do animals like C. elegans sense it fast and escape?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 1/
Hydrogen peroxide has been the most common reactive chemical threat to life forms since the Great Oxygenation Event 2.5 billion years ago.
How do animals like C. elegans sense it fast and escape?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Thread 1/
and -- correct me if i'm wrong -- all this WITHOUT bothering to get a PhD! just a genuinely curious person who is wired to make connections across fields.
Jane Richardson was born #OTD in 1941
+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012
#WomenInSTEM
+ Developed the Richardson (ribbon) diagram to represent proteins' 3D structure (becoming a standard representation for protein structures)
+ MacArthur Fellow, 1985
+ Elected, Nat'l Academy of Sciences, 1991
+ President, Biophysical Society, 2012
#WomenInSTEM
January 26, 2026 at 1:07 PM
and -- correct me if i'm wrong -- all this WITHOUT bothering to get a PhD! just a genuinely curious person who is wired to make connections across fields.
good day for an electric heated birdbath!
January 26, 2026 at 12:34 PM
good day for an electric heated birdbath!
Reposted by Max Heiman
Lipocalins and Scavenger Receptors affect the luminal matrix that prevents narrow tubes from collapsing - now in press in Development! #aECM #Celegans
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Opposing roles for lipocalins and a CD36 family scavenger receptor in apical extracellular matrix-dependent protection of narrow tube integrity
Summary: Lipocalins and SCARBs are lipid transporters that influence susceptibility to infection and disease. This study shows that lipocalin and SCARB mutations affect the organization of a protectiv...
journals.biologists.com
January 20, 2026 at 10:37 PM
Lipocalins and Scavenger Receptors affect the luminal matrix that prevents narrow tubes from collapsing - now in press in Development! #aECM #Celegans
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...
Reposted by Max Heiman
RNA-binding proteins function through network effects, coordinately binding and weakly regulating many transcripts – or don’t they? Read our new preprint on how LIN28 controls developmental timing through only two targets, one mRNA, one miRNA. doi.org/10.64898/202...
January 15, 2026 at 7:48 AM
RNA-binding proteins function through network effects, coordinately binding and weakly regulating many transcripts – or don’t they? Read our new preprint on how LIN28 controls developmental timing through only two targets, one mRNA, one miRNA. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Endoplasmic reticulum patterns insect cuticle nanostructure. New study from Sachi Inagaki, Shigeo Hayashi @riken-bdr.bsky.social and colleagues: rupress.org/jcb/article/...
🎦 See video summary by Sachi Inagaki 👉 youtu.be/50JRPysrTNU
#Drosophila #ER_literature #Development #Organelles
🎦 See video summary by Sachi Inagaki 👉 youtu.be/50JRPysrTNU
#Drosophila #ER_literature #Development #Organelles
January 13, 2026 at 10:22 PM
good stuff!
Latest paper is now out and features on the cover of Science Advances 👉 tinyurl.com/vea5862x
Very grateful Igor Bonacossa Pereira, Dat Le & Massimo Hilliard @hilliardlab.bsky.social for their creativity & passion.
Read more about it 👉
tinyurl.com/56awjda5
& 👉 tinyurl.com/2vp8p8uk
Very grateful Igor Bonacossa Pereira, Dat Le & Massimo Hilliard @hilliardlab.bsky.social for their creativity & passion.
Read more about it 👉
tinyurl.com/56awjda5
& 👉 tinyurl.com/2vp8p8uk
An epidermal membrane-associated periodic skeleton restricts endocytosis to stabilize neuron-epidermal attachment and preserve axons
An epidermal membrane periodic scaffold protects axons from damage.
tinyurl.com
January 8, 2026 at 12:01 PM
good stuff!
"Before we were born did you already make unfunny jokes, or did you only start when we were born because then they're dad jokes?"
January 7, 2026 at 12:22 AM
"Before we were born did you already make unfunny jokes, or did you only start when we were born because then they're dad jokes?"
Reposted by Max Heiman
How do cells fabricate nanoscale extracellular matrix structures? Inagaki, Hayashi et al. @riken-bdr.bsky.social show that the ER network stimulates complex remodeling of the plasma membrane, thereby patterning nanoscale cuticular pore formation in insect sensilla. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
January 6, 2026 at 7:02 PM
How do cells fabricate nanoscale extracellular matrix structures? Inagaki, Hayashi et al. @riken-bdr.bsky.social show that the ER network stimulates complex remodeling of the plasma membrane, thereby patterning nanoscale cuticular pore formation in insect sensilla. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
Reposted by Max Heiman
In #GENETICS, @inechipurenko.bsky.social and colleagues studied the effects of mutations in the GNAI1, a G protein–coupled receptor gene, identifying their effects on ciliogenesis in human cells and #Celegans. buff.ly/MF1bSVn
December 31, 2025 at 7:03 PM
In #GENETICS, @inechipurenko.bsky.social and colleagues studied the effects of mutations in the GNAI1, a G protein–coupled receptor gene, identifying their effects on ciliogenesis in human cells and #Celegans. buff.ly/MF1bSVn
Reposted by Max Heiman
Modern biology research is biased towards investigating genes that are widely conserved and present in humans. What about genes that ARE widely conserved but NOT present in humans? Can genes missing from humans tell us something about what makes our biology different from that of other animals? 1/8
December 31, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Modern biology research is biased towards investigating genes that are widely conserved and present in humans. What about genes that ARE widely conserved but NOT present in humans? Can genes missing from humans tell us something about what makes our biology different from that of other animals? 1/8
"Snowflakes! What a classic peaceful New England --"
Cardinals: "Fill the feeder you lazy @$#%"
Cardinals: "Fill the feeder you lazy @$#%"
December 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
"Snowflakes! What a classic peaceful New England --"
Cardinals: "Fill the feeder you lazy @$#%"
Cardinals: "Fill the feeder you lazy @$#%"
Vote worm!
by @wormkaiden.bsky.social Kaiden Power in our lab
.. although I've got to say those Malpighian tubules are looking sharp too!
by @wormkaiden.bsky.social Kaiden Power in our lab
.. although I've got to say those Malpighian tubules are looking sharp too!
We’ve highlighted some wonderful images and researchers in our ‘Featured image’ series in 2025. To celebrate, we’re inviting you to vote for your favourite in our image competition!
#FluorescenceFriday
Check them out here: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/12/19/v...
#FluorescenceFriday
Check them out here: focalplane.biologists.com/2025/12/19/v...
Vote for your favourite 'Featured image' from 2025 - FocalPlane
Vote for your favourite 'Featured image' from 2025 - News
focalplane.biologists.com
December 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Vote worm!
by @wormkaiden.bsky.social Kaiden Power in our lab
.. although I've got to say those Malpighian tubules are looking sharp too!
by @wormkaiden.bsky.social Kaiden Power in our lab
.. although I've got to say those Malpighian tubules are looking sharp too!
Reposted by Max Heiman
Hot off the press at EMBO Journal. The culmination of several years of work and hopefully useful to people in the field!
BIG Shout-out to Review Commons, who handled the submission. It's a sensible and efficient model and all the journals I like (Society and NFP) are already participating. 🙏
BIG Shout-out to Review Commons, who handled the submission. It's a sensible and efficient model and all the journals I like (Society and NFP) are already participating. 🙏
Integrating endogenous TurboID and data-independent acquisition mass spectrometry for in vivo proximity labeling - The EMBO Journal
Proximity labeling has emerged as a powerful approach for identifying protein–protein interaction networks within living systems, particularly those involving weak or transient associations. Here, we ...
link.springer.com
December 11, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Hot off the press at EMBO Journal. The culmination of several years of work and hopefully useful to people in the field!
BIG Shout-out to Review Commons, who handled the submission. It's a sensible and efficient model and all the journals I like (Society and NFP) are already participating. 🙏
BIG Shout-out to Review Commons, who handled the submission. It's a sensible and efficient model and all the journals I like (Society and NFP) are already participating. 🙏
Second that!
We are highlighting Jennifer Waters, a @focalplane.bsky.social Scientific Advisory Board member, Director of CITE, Harvard Medical School, and creator of MicroList (now featured in FocalPlane) and Microtutor, as an extraordinary biologist. #100biologists
@jencwaters.bsky.social
@jencwaters.bsky.social
November 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Second that!
The key to getting any task done is having another task that you want to do even less.
November 23, 2025 at 2:06 AM
The key to getting any task done is having another task that you want to do even less.
Reposted by Max Heiman
So proud of my newest lab member!
November 19, 2025 at 4:58 PM
So proud of my newest lab member!
Reposted by Max Heiman
#aECM Cub starts next week Nov 18 with talks on patterning the Drosophila lens, mouse tectorial membrane, and C.elegans cuticle furrows. You can still sign up for access using the link below.
The 2025-2026 #aECM club schedule is now posted on our website, where you can also find the link to sign up for access. I’m looking forward to lots of great talks and discussions! sundaramlab.com/blog/aecm-cl...
aECM Club Seminars
A virtual seminar series to highlight work on apical ECM across different systems Organizers: Meera Sundaram, UPennMax Heiman, Boston Children’s, Harvard U.Nathalie Pujol, U. Aix MarseilleJor…
sundaramlab.com
November 14, 2025 at 11:56 AM
#aECM Cub starts next week Nov 18 with talks on patterning the Drosophila lens, mouse tectorial membrane, and C.elegans cuticle furrows. You can still sign up for access using the link below.
Reposted by Max Heiman
High-efficiency targeted integration of extrachromosomal arrays in C. elegans using PhiC31 integrase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687718v1
November 13, 2025 at 2:32 AM
High-efficiency targeted integration of extrachromosomal arrays in C. elegans using PhiC31 integrase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.11.687718v1
Reposted by Max Heiman
In this Opinion piece, Rachel Turn, Mohammad Ovais Aziz-Zanjani, Anushweta Asthana & Peter Jackson highlight strategies for multiplexing diverse approaches to map transient phosphorylations driving ciliary function & G0 in health versus disease.
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
November 10, 2025 at 3:03 PM
In this Opinion piece, Rachel Turn, Mohammad Ovais Aziz-Zanjani, Anushweta Asthana & Peter Jackson highlight strategies for multiplexing diverse approaches to map transient phosphorylations driving ciliary function & G0 in health versus disease.
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...
#JCSciliaSI
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...