Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lewis MacKenzie

@lemackz.bsky.social

2.9K followers 2.4K following 450 posts

Upconversion nanoparticles, optical biosensors, chiral spectroscopy, scicomm, blood oxygen | bass player | uranium glass collector Group website: www.mackenzie-lab.org he/him | Glasgow | Expect typos

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · Aug 19

Very excited to announce that I will be a Royal Society University Research Fellow (URF)! This will enable me to expand my team and purchase the specialist equipment required to make upconversion nanoparticles easier to synthesize and to develop them as biomedical research tools. #ChemSky

10 2 26

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 1d

There's still time to apply for our Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships. This scheme offers a first step into an independent research career for outstanding early career scientists who require flexible working circumstances.

#RSGrants

https://bit.ly/4h1hzf3

1 4 3

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 1d

haha! I think we got most of those because my students wrote that! I meant my blue-sky tweets (blurts?)

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 1d

Just excuse all my spelling mistakes - I hadn't had my coffee!

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Fer @gomobel.bsky.social · 2d

The connection between Nobel-prize winning MOFs and Mudéjar maybe goes beyond beautiful geometric structures – @davidfairen.bsky.social believes the first ever metal-organic framework could be a compound discovered in my hometown, Zaragoza, in 1973. www.chemistryworld.com/opinion/my-a...

My arcane and curious connection to metal-organic frameworks

Fernando Gomollón-Bel uncovers a link between his hometown and the 2025 Nobel prize in chemistry

www.chemistryworld.com

2 2 5

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 2d

@ryanvance.bsky.social check out the thumbnail - thought you would appreciate it :)

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 2d

If anyone wants some numbers on this: a study I led found that ~70% of chemistry YouTube channels are geared towards revision/learning, and that the creators largely do not clearly state their own professional background/qualifications.
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

1 2

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 2d

On train listening to obviously smart teenage boys discussing homework on “how is conflict presented in Romeo and Juliet” and one boy says to another “I’ll send you two good videos on this” and I am not sure teachers are fully aware of how young people revise etc these days.

2 10

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 2d

Even circa 2010 my peers studying physics at uni were using YouTube style lectures to prop up cracks in teaching. Got a poor lecturer? No worries... learn from the Harvard/MIT online course. It won't map 1:1 to the learning objectives, but it'll be close enough to help you get through the course.

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 2d

If you want some quantitative data on this, I lead analysis of over 1600 Chemistry YouTube channels, and ~70% are revision/theory based.

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

2 1

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 2d

@alicefraser.bsky.social scunnered to hear about the extremely crap way you've been treated by your publisher, but I'm so excited about the 'A Passion for Passion' audiobook! I can't wait to buy and listen to it! 🤩🎧

1 9

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Chris Rowan @allochthonous.bsky.social · 10d

🧪⚒️ “the complex organic molecules Cassini detected…are not just a product of long exposure to space, but are readily available in Enceladus’s ocean.”

As ever - these observations show some intriguing chemistry is going on, but that isn’t necessarily life.

Cassini proves complex chemistry in Enceladus ocean

Scientists digging through data collected by the Cassini spacecraft have found new complex organic molecules spewing from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. This is a clear sign that complex chemical reactions ...

www.esa.int

2 7 39

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Tim Smith @chemsmith.bsky.social · 10d

Benzyl chloroformate is not trivial to come by. Been waiting on an order from Acros. Does anyone know 1. where to get it from fairly quickly and/or 2. alternatives to benzyl chloroformate for making Cbz-protected amines. (Yes it needs to be Cbz protected.) #chemsky 🧪

Page from a supplier stating benzyl chloroformate "not web orderable."

3 2 3

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 12d

Another beautiful #uraniumglass trinket set 🤩

2 19

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14d

I was minding my own business, walking to a wedding in Glasgow whilst wearing a kilt, and a CNN camera crew stopped me outside a fish and chip shop, and asked if they could film my knee 😂

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14d

It's really incredible that random effects could appear to be a GW chirp! It seems so unlikely, but then again, GW detectors are the most sensitive instruments ever built! 🤓

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14d

Finally found the back of my knee on Anthony Boudain's Parts Unknown S5 E1

1 1

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 14d

I'd love to know more about the false alarm rate. How it's calculated, and how is a candidate eventually deemed to be a false alarm or not?

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Daniel Pomarède @pomarede.bsky.social · 14d

#Mars

A swarm of spherical rovers, blown by the wind like tumbleweeds, could enable large-scale and low-cost exploration of the Martian surface.

www.europlanet.org/epsc-dps2025... 🧪 #PlanetSci

Video: field tests with the Tumbleweed Science Testbed. Credit: Team Tumbleweed/Sas Schilten.

6 25 93

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 15d

Does anyone on Bluesky research proteins that are stable at high temperatures? 👀 #science #biosky #chemsky

6 4

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 16d

Does anywhere sell sound-proof enclosures for sonic baths?

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 17d

Really important new paper on how AI can be used to fake nanoparticle images #chemsky #science #nanotech

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The rising danger of AI-generated images in nanomaterials science and what we can do about it - Nature Nanotechnology

Generative AI has made it trivial to generate fake microscopy images that are indistinguishable from real images, even for experts. As researchers in nanoscience, it is time for us to face this reality and discuss strategies to conserve the integrity of our discipline.

www.nature.com

1 6

Lewis MacKenzie @lemackz.bsky.social · 17d

#Nanotechnology never ceases to amaze: stealing plant gubbins and cell membranes, and then combining them with upconversion nanoparticles to repair mitochondira in kidney injury! Controlled by trans-tissue near infrared light #science #nanotech #chemsky #biosky

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Mathieu Preußner @mathpreu.bsky.social · 24d

1🧵
Excited to share my first PhD paper, published in @dev-journal.bsky.social
What if fish gills —often overlook —hold secrets about development, patterning, and function?
We uncovered how early patterning shapes adult gill architecture.
journals.biologists.com/dev/article/...

#DevBio #Zebrafish

4 26 53

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Emily Hunt @emily.space · 19d

How much is too much to ask when refereeing a paper?

I don't feel like the authors quite did what I asked them to in the first report, but they've done *some* stuff. Also, some of the new plots show some potential new issues with the paper.

But, I also don't want to be too mean...

11 1 26

Reposted by Lewis MacKenzie

Deborah Marsh @djmarsh24.bsky.social · 20d

Celebrating 1st authorships in the group. Congratulations again to 2nd yr PhD student Tali Skipper on her paper out in Cellular Oncology - "Revealing genetic drivers of ovarian cancer and chemoresistance: insights from whole-genome CRISPR-knockout library screens". doi: 10.1007/s13402-025-01102-4 🎉🧪

2 3 10