Logan Thrasher Collins
banner
logantcollins.bsky.social
Logan Thrasher Collins
@logantcollins.bsky.social
150 followers 310 following 290 posts
Synthetic biologist, futurist, author. Biomedical engineering PhD candidate at WashU. Budding serial biotech entrepreneur. You can learn more about me on my website: https://logancollinsblog.com/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Pinned
In my recent bioRxiv preprint (www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...) I show an entirely novel way of shielding AAVs from the neutralizing antibodies found in 30-60% of patients - encapsulating the virus inside of an immunologically invisible hollow protein compartment called vault.
As a significant aside, these synthetic capsids can also transport nucleic acids (e.g. mRNAs) through lipid membranes, so they have great promise for gene therapy too (in my view)!
I've greatly expanded my 'Notes on Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation' to include detailed discussion of transducers, transducer arrays, and ultrasound pulse parameters in practice. Enjoy!
Substack version: substack.com/home/post/p-...
My Website version: logancollinsblog.com/2025/05/16/n...
Notes on Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation
Note: this content is also available on my website at https://logancollinsblog.com/2025/05/16/notes-on-ultrasound-physics/
substack.com
Fascinating paper wherein the authors collect multiomics data (genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome, and microbiome) from a 116-year-old woman who lived to 117, uncovering insights about the biology of her exceptional longevity. A great read!

www.cell.com/cell-reports...
The multiomics blueprint of the individual with the most extreme lifespan
In brief, Santos-Pujol and colleagues characterize the multiomics landscape of the human with the most extreme longevity. The study enables the association of advantageous genetic variants, an engaged...
www.cell.com
Beyond mouse data, the study is supported by experiments on human biopsy samples as well as by human population data. All very impressive and has strong clinical potential. #alzheimersdisease #biochemistry
A highly publicized paper providing solid evidence for the idea that lithium deficiency contributes centrally to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. Aron et al. also show in mice that lithium orotate supplementation might mitigate AD and brain aging. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease - Nature
Lithium has an essential role in the brain and is deficient early in Alzheimer’s disease, which can be recapitulated in mice and treated with a novel lithium salt that restores the physiological level.
www.nature.com
Humans often underestimate cognitive abilities in animals. My guess is that we will find more complexity in their languages than we expect. Would be amazing if we could talk to them - lots of benefits in how it could change our society's attitudes. Link: www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI is helping to decode animals’ speech. Will it also let us talk with them?
The complexity of vocal communication in some primates, whales and birds might approach that of human language.
www.nature.com
Acetylcholine-linked LNPs crossed the mouse BBB 3.6x more efficiently than untargeted LNPs. Additionally, the results were compared to an AI model’s predictions, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the computational approach.
Highly informative paper! Various small molecules were linked to lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), improving the amounts of LNPs that crossed the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) in mice and in cell culture models of the BBB. Link: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Interesting paper where microintravascular electrodes were inserted into cortical veins of pigs to record somatosensory and visual activity and to selectively stimulate motor areas. Compared to electrocorticography, this is a less invasive approach with similar capabilities. doi.org/10.1002/aisy...
Microendovascular Neural Recording from Cortical and Deep Vessels with High Precision and Minimal Invasiveness
Intravascular electroencephalography (ivEEG) using micro-intravascular electrodes was developed. Cortical-vein ivEEG showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio and finer spatial resolution of somatosensor....
doi.org
Climate change is driving an increase of deadly fungal diseases in humans and crops, yet solutions remain underdeveloped. PSA: if you're seeking problems to solve, you should keep this one in mind. #fungi
issues.org/growing-thre...
Foiling the Growing Threat of Fungal Pathogens
Climate change, changing migration patterns, and our agriculture system have created a perfect environment for fungal pathogens to thrive.
issues.org
I too have suspected natural selection may play a fundamental physical role which extends beyond biology. The space-time manifold may possess some form of inevitable directional structure as a result. Extremely speculative, but interesting to think about.
www.quantamagazine.org/why-everythi...
Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex | Quanta Magazine
A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.
www.quantamagazine.org
Liu et al. present a remarkably simple yet clever method of mitigating the effects of head-mounted microscopes on mouse behavior: they tethered a helium balloon to the microscope device to counter its weight! A fun and useful engineering solution!

Link to article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Somewhat older paper demonstrating utility of squaraine-rotaxane fluorophores for two-photon microscopy in vivo. These fluorophores approach the brightness of quantum dots while having much smaller size and better compatibility with cellular environments. Very cool research

doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Ultra-Bright and -Stable Red and Near-Infrared Squaraine Fluorophores for In Vivo Two-Photon Imaging
Fluorescent dyes that are bright, stable, small, and biocompatible are needed for high-sensitivity two-photon imaging, but the combination of these traits has been elusive. We identified a class of sq...
doi.org
An interesting organic chemistry investigation into how different substituent groups affect the energy barriers to rotational motion of a fancy-looking compound known as a bispidine. This research has implications for pharmaceuticals, molecular motors, and organocatalysts.
Rotational Motion in Bispidines: A Conformational Study
A detailed conformational analysis of N-substituted bispidines has been performed to determine the factors governing the restricted rotational motion induced by the substituents. This investigation co...
pubs.acs.org
Interestingly, ~20 transferrins per nanoparticle resulted in the best BBB traversal, likely because these nanoparticles could bind a sufficient number of transferrin receptors while also having the ability to unbind the same receptors upon reaching the brain parenchyma.