Max Fürst
@maxfus.bsky.social
Asst. Prof. Uni Groningen 🇳🇱
Comp & Exp Biochemist, Protein Engineer, 'Would-be designer' (F. Arnold) | SynBio | HT Screens & Selections | Nucleic Acid Enzymes | Biocatalysis | Rstats & Datavis
https://www.fuerstlab.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7720-9
Comp & Exp Biochemist, Protein Engineer, 'Would-be designer' (F. Arnold) | SynBio | HT Screens & Selections | Nucleic Acid Enzymes | Biocatalysis | Rstats & Datavis
https://www.fuerstlab.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7720-9
Pinned
Max Fürst
@maxfus.bsky.social
· May 20
🚨 preprint 2️⃣ this month: our (purely experimental🧪) venture into #ChemBio
We prouldy present: ADD-tagging of proteins (or "ADDing") —a super convenient enzymatic technique to install click chemistry handles on proteins.
Led by superstar @wahyuwidodo.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A 🧵👇🏽
We prouldy present: ADD-tagging of proteins (or "ADDing") —a super convenient enzymatic technique to install click chemistry handles on proteins.
Led by superstar @wahyuwidodo.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A 🧵👇🏽
We've reached the bizarre state of things where poorly written emails in broken English are the ones that are the most relevant
Students applying for grad school, or reaching out to professors. I have an important piece of advice for you: STOP DOING THIS 👇 (a thread) #STEM #PhD #gradschool #academictips
November 25, 2025 at 7:40 PM
We've reached the bizarre state of things where poorly written emails in broken English are the ones that are the most relevant
Comp. Bio. preAI:
spend days finding (=missing many), understanding (=skimming paper), installing (=missing libs -> bang head), running (=curse hpc queue), & interpreting(=🧐🤔🫣😵💫) output of scientific software
postAI:
spend days trying to talk an AI agent into doing the darn thing for you
spend days finding (=missing many), understanding (=skimming paper), installing (=missing libs -> bang head), running (=curse hpc queue), & interpreting(=🧐🤔🫣😵💫) output of scientific software
postAI:
spend days trying to talk an AI agent into doing the darn thing for you
I know I'm probably using this function all wrong but Gaia/Seqhub really made me cackle today. For your own viewing pleasure, a story in screengrabs 🤣🫣🤖
November 21, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Comp. Bio. preAI:
spend days finding (=missing many), understanding (=skimming paper), installing (=missing libs -> bang head), running (=curse hpc queue), & interpreting(=🧐🤔🫣😵💫) output of scientific software
postAI:
spend days trying to talk an AI agent into doing the darn thing for you
spend days finding (=missing many), understanding (=skimming paper), installing (=missing libs -> bang head), running (=curse hpc queue), & interpreting(=🧐🤔🫣😵💫) output of scientific software
postAI:
spend days trying to talk an AI agent into doing the darn thing for you
Reposted by Max Fürst
#1 lesson I give to protein designers for wet lab purposes : Please design with a Trp and/or multiple Tyr. Please do not design with 10 cysteines.
November 18, 2025 at 1:48 PM
#1 lesson I give to protein designers for wet lab purposes : Please design with a Trp and/or multiple Tyr. Please do not design with 10 cysteines.
Remember when we were on social media because heck how else would we find cool stuff like this
I am so excited to share our project with you! We find prokaryotic proteases activate toxic enzymes and pores as a modular strategy in phage defense. We studied four fascinating protease-toxin pairs that are abundant across bacterial genomes:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Proteolytic activation of diverse antiviral defense modules in prokaryotes
Linked protease–effector modules are widespread in prokaryotic antiviral defense, yet the mechanisms of most remain poorly understood. Here we show that four of the most prevalent modules—metallo-β-la...
www.biorxiv.org
November 16, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Remember when we were on social media because heck how else would we find cool stuff like this
Reposted by Max Fürst
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Attention Authors: Updated Practice for Review Articles and Position Papers in arXiv CS Category – arXiv blog
blog.arxiv.org
November 1, 2025 at 5:28 PM
arXiv will no longer accept review articles and position papers unless they have been accepted at a journal or a conference and complete successful peer review.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
This is due to being overwhelmed by a hundreds of AI generated papers a month.
Yet another open submission process killed by LLMs.
Re recent AFDB update, in case you wondered:
- most of AFDB is still same original predictions
-new/changed entries were modeled with AF2
- the MSAs are the originals, so should not contain sequences from last few years
- most of AFDB is still same original predictions
-new/changed entries were modeled with AF2
- the MSAs are the originals, so should not contain sequences from last few years
Yes, only AF2, not AF3. Unchanged models would be the same as 2021, since the settings used here are identical to every release we've had before, and MSAs cached from previous runs for unchanged sequences. Also the sequence databases also remain the same. So the entire db is consistent throughout.
October 23, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Re recent AFDB update, in case you wondered:
- most of AFDB is still same original predictions
-new/changed entries were modeled with AF2
- the MSAs are the originals, so should not contain sequences from last few years
- most of AFDB is still same original predictions
-new/changed entries were modeled with AF2
- the MSAs are the originals, so should not contain sequences from last few years
Reposted by Max Fürst
October 15, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Max Fürst
I wrote a blog post about the future of structural bioinformatics.
Where to go after AlphaFold? How do we avoid the field becoming a load of half-baked LLMs?
Let me know what you think.
jgreener64.github.io/posts/struct...
Where to go after AlphaFold? How do we avoid the field becoming a load of half-baked LLMs?
Let me know what you think.
jgreener64.github.io/posts/struct...
Where next for structural bioinformatics?
jgreener64.github.io
October 15, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I wrote a blog post about the future of structural bioinformatics.
Where to go after AlphaFold? How do we avoid the field becoming a load of half-baked LLMs?
Let me know what you think.
jgreener64.github.io/posts/struct...
Where to go after AlphaFold? How do we avoid the field becoming a load of half-baked LLMs?
Let me know what you think.
jgreener64.github.io/posts/struct...
Reposted by Max Fürst
It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch.
A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]
A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]
Original post on mastodon.social
mastodon.social
October 9, 2025 at 5:19 PM
It's becoming increasingly clear to me that Reflect Orbital's fucking stupid giant mirror satellite, with absolutely NOTHING useful to offer, which will cause countless safety issues, ecological disasters, and destroy the night sky, is going to launch.
A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]
A bunch of astronomers and I have sent out […]
Reposted by Max Fürst
Groen licht voor grote AI-fabriek in Groningen. Europa investeert 71 miljoen euro
Groen licht voor grote AI-fabriek in Groningen. Europa investeert 71 miljoen euro
De kogel is door de oude tabaksfabriek: Groningen krijgt een grote AI-fabriek. De Europese Commissie gaat 71 miljoen euro investeren. Het benodigde bedrag van 200 miljoen is daardoor bij elkaar.
dlvr.it
October 10, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Groen licht voor grote AI-fabriek in Groningen. Europa investeert 71 miljoen euro
Reposted by Max Fürst
Woohoo! Go Foldit!
Andreas C. Petrides et al.: Reconstructing biological molecules with help from video gamers ##Foldit##PDBREDO##CitizenScience@umassd...##IUCrhttps://journals.iucr.org/paper?S2059798325008149
Reconstructing biological molecules with help from video gamers
The results of the Foldit citizen science puzzles for crystallographic models and their integration into the PDB-REDO databank are discussed.
journals.iucr.org
October 9, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Woohoo! Go Foldit!
Reposted by Max Fürst
We’re renewing our collaboration with Google DeepMind!
We'll keep developing the AlphaFold Database to support protein science worldwide 🎉
To mark the moment we’ve synchronised the database with UniProtKB release 2025_03.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
🖥️🧬 #AlphaFold
@pdbeurope.bsky.social
We'll keep developing the AlphaFold Database to support protein science worldwide 🎉
To mark the moment we’ve synchronised the database with UniProtKB release 2025_03.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
🖥️🧬 #AlphaFold
@pdbeurope.bsky.social
October 7, 2025 at 2:03 PM
We’re renewing our collaboration with Google DeepMind!
We'll keep developing the AlphaFold Database to support protein science worldwide 🎉
To mark the moment we’ve synchronised the database with UniProtKB release 2025_03.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
🖥️🧬 #AlphaFold
@pdbeurope.bsky.social
We'll keep developing the AlphaFold Database to support protein science worldwide 🎉
To mark the moment we’ve synchronised the database with UniProtKB release 2025_03.
www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
🖥️🧬 #AlphaFold
@pdbeurope.bsky.social
Reposted by Max Fürst
Mapping the evolution of computationally designed protein binders [new]
Evolve comp. mini-protein binders *in vivo*. Maps seq-affinity.
Evolve comp. mini-protein binders *in vivo*. Maps seq-affinity.
October 6, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Mapping the evolution of computationally designed protein binders [new]
Evolve comp. mini-protein binders *in vivo*. Maps seq-affinity.
Evolve comp. mini-protein binders *in vivo*. Maps seq-affinity.
Un-frigging-believable. I have waited for something like this for so long!
October 5, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Un-frigging-believable. I have waited for something like this for so long!
Wait but that's inconveniently more complex and (😱) mathy, my 1st years will not be happy
@science.org ⤵️challenges prevailing notion—repressor and activator act by distinct mechanisms: repressors block via steric hindrance/activators enable Pol II binding to promoter🧬
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
October 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Wait but that's inconveniently more complex and (😱) mathy, my 1st years will not be happy
Reposted by Max Fürst
@science.org ⤵️challenges prevailing notion—repressor and activator act by distinct mechanisms: repressors block via steric hindrance/activators enable Pol II binding to promoter🧬
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
September 12, 2025 at 4:55 PM
@science.org ⤵️challenges prevailing notion—repressor and activator act by distinct mechanisms: repressors block via steric hindrance/activators enable Pol II binding to promoter🧬
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
E. coli transcription factors regulate promoter activity by a universal, homeostatic mechanism | Science bit.ly/adv2064
Reposted by Max Fürst
The AlphaFold Database Ages [updated]
AlphaFold DB:
...needs updating as entries conflict with newer UniProt releases, showing bioinformatics databases' rapid obsolescence.
AlphaFold DB:
...needs updating as entries conflict with newer UniProt releases, showing bioinformatics databases' rapid obsolescence.
September 28, 2025 at 3:57 AM
The AlphaFold Database Ages [updated]
AlphaFold DB:
...needs updating as entries conflict with newer UniProt releases, showing bioinformatics databases' rapid obsolescence.
AlphaFold DB:
...needs updating as entries conflict with newer UniProt releases, showing bioinformatics databases' rapid obsolescence.
Reposted by Max Fürst
We are hiring a PhD student 🎓
Work with me and Matthias Rüdt in our department on an exciting industry collaboration with Lonza combining high-throughput experiments and molecular modelling using AlphaFold and MolecularDynamics
📍 Sion, Valais, Switzerland
More info: www.jobup.ch/fr/emplois/d...
Work with me and Matthias Rüdt in our department on an exciting industry collaboration with Lonza combining high-throughput experiments and molecular modelling using AlphaFold and MolecularDynamics
📍 Sion, Valais, Switzerland
More info: www.jobup.ch/fr/emplois/d...
September 25, 2025 at 11:19 AM
We are hiring a PhD student 🎓
Work with me and Matthias Rüdt in our department on an exciting industry collaboration with Lonza combining high-throughput experiments and molecular modelling using AlphaFold and MolecularDynamics
📍 Sion, Valais, Switzerland
More info: www.jobup.ch/fr/emplois/d...
Work with me and Matthias Rüdt in our department on an exciting industry collaboration with Lonza combining high-throughput experiments and molecular modelling using AlphaFold and MolecularDynamics
📍 Sion, Valais, Switzerland
More info: www.jobup.ch/fr/emplois/d...
Reposted by Max Fürst
Against my better instincts, I have written some notes on how human probability judgements work and what you should expect from surveys that ask people to guess what proportion of the population is transgender. I hope never to speak of this matter again
Some notes on probability judgement – Notes from a data witch
For the love of fuck, literally nobody thinks that 20% of the population is transgender. Please stop sharing that ridiculous YouGov statistic
blog.djnavarro.net
September 21, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Against my better instincts, I have written some notes on how human probability judgements work and what you should expect from surveys that ask people to guess what proportion of the population is transgender. I hope never to speak of this matter again
Must be fun for the editors currently juggling the Rfdiffusion2 peer review. "Uh, authors have you seen there is a very similar, supposedly better model out there? Oh wait, it's the same authors"
Seriously, what's the point of reviewing papers anymore if we're now at <6 months update cycles 🧐
Seriously, what's the point of reviewing papers anymore if we're now at <6 months update cycles 🧐
De novo design of All-atom biomolecular interactions with RFdiffusion3 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
De novo Design of All-atom Biomolecular Interactions with RFdiffusion3
Deep learning has accelerated protein design, but most existing methods are restricted to generating protein backbone coordinates and often neglect interactions with other biomolecules. We present RFd...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Must be fun for the editors currently juggling the Rfdiffusion2 peer review. "Uh, authors have you seen there is a very similar, supposedly better model out there? Oh wait, it's the same authors"
Seriously, what's the point of reviewing papers anymore if we're now at <6 months update cycles 🧐
Seriously, what's the point of reviewing papers anymore if we're now at <6 months update cycles 🧐
Reposted by Max Fürst
In the first seven days since I launched this new game, almost ten thousand people from 82 countries have played it. (Top cities so far: New York City, Zurich, Toronto, Chicago, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm)
What topics would you like me to add next?
dataguessr.com
What topics would you like me to add next?
dataguessr.com
Dataguessr
Update your knowledge of the world. One quiz at a time.
dataguessr.com
September 19, 2025 at 3:17 PM
In the first seven days since I launched this new game, almost ten thousand people from 82 countries have played it. (Top cities so far: New York City, Zurich, Toronto, Chicago, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm)
What topics would you like me to add next?
dataguessr.com
What topics would you like me to add next?
dataguessr.com
Reposted by Max Fürst
Premium newsletter: A 8500 word analysis of how everybody is losing money on gen AI, with some startups spending 100%+ of their revenue on compute. Even GPU providers are struggling, with years-long time horizons to break even, if profit is even possible.
www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybod...
www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybod...
Why Everybody Is Losing Money On AI
Hello and welcome to another premium newsletter. Thanks as ever for subscribing, and please email me at [email protected] to say hello.
As I've written again and again, the costs of running genera...
www.wheresyoured.at
September 5, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Premium newsletter: A 8500 word analysis of how everybody is losing money on gen AI, with some startups spending 100%+ of their revenue on compute. Even GPU providers are struggling, with years-long time horizons to break even, if profit is even possible.
www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybod...
www.wheresyoured.at/why-everybod...
I often wonder whether all the folks flocking to (lured into?) longevity research are thinking about who and what this tech will actually benefit
Putin: “With biotech, organs can be replaced endlessly… people could even reach immortality.”
Xi: “Some predict people might live to 150 this century.”
Please, anyone but these 3.😱
Xi: “Some predict people might live to 150 this century.”
Please, anyone but these 3.😱
September 3, 2025 at 5:40 PM
I often wonder whether all the folks flocking to (lured into?) longevity research are thinking about who and what this tech will actually benefit
Reposted by Max Fürst
Good to see @bsky.app has emerged as the social media platform of choice for science stuff
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
Bluesky now platform of choice for science community
It’s not just you. Survey says: “Twitter sucks now and all the cool kids are moving to Bluesky”…
arstechnica.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Good to see @bsky.app has emerged as the social media platform of choice for science stuff
arstechnica.com/science/2025...
arstechnica.com/science/2025...