Andrea Caldarola
@andreacaldarola.bsky.social
As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a.. biomolecular engineer.
PhD Candidate @UVA-SILS. Microscopy, Biosensors & Optogenetics enjoyer. Unyielding cat fan.
Opinions were fact checked by real european patriots prior to posting.
PhD Candidate @UVA-SILS. Microscopy, Biosensors & Optogenetics enjoyer. Unyielding cat fan.
Opinions were fact checked by real european patriots prior to posting.
This is what it's all about
December 31, 2025 at 11:00 AM
This is what it's all about
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
He’s purring happily… but his butt is extremely close to my face 😂
December 30, 2025 at 1:23 PM
He’s purring happily… but his butt is extremely close to my face 😂
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Receptor tyrosine kinases bind ligands and (often) dimerize. Yet how long, and how does that change their mobility? Using single-molecule FRET in living cells, we found that MET dimers 'socialize' for ~1 second while lowering lateral diffusion and confinement 👉🏻 doi.org/10.1002/smll...
December 20, 2025 at 11:01 AM
Receptor tyrosine kinases bind ligands and (often) dimerize. Yet how long, and how does that change their mobility? Using single-molecule FRET in living cells, we found that MET dimers 'socialize' for ~1 second while lowering lateral diffusion and confinement 👉🏻 doi.org/10.1002/smll...
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
I don't always get pretty, isolated, AND transfected primary neurons in culture, but when I do I take advantage.... Rat hippocampal neuron overexpressing ThymosinB4-mScarlet and imaged for 16hr on a @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social LSM880 with Airyscan. #FluorescenceFriday #Microscopy
December 19, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I don't always get pretty, isolated, AND transfected primary neurons in culture, but when I do I take advantage.... Rat hippocampal neuron overexpressing ThymosinB4-mScarlet and imaged for 16hr on a @zeiss-microscopy.bsky.social LSM880 with Airyscan. #FluorescenceFriday #Microscopy
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
New paper from @zhixingchen2.bsky.social's lab!
It turns out that, in addition to its very low phototoxicity, PKmito Deep Red (PKMDR) directly reports on mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in live cells through its lifetime!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It turns out that, in addition to its very low phototoxicity, PKmito Deep Red (PKMDR) directly reports on mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in live cells through its lifetime!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
December 16, 2025 at 12:11 PM
New paper from @zhixingchen2.bsky.social's lab!
It turns out that, in addition to its very low phototoxicity, PKmito Deep Red (PKMDR) directly reports on mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in live cells through its lifetime!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It turns out that, in addition to its very low phototoxicity, PKmito Deep Red (PKMDR) directly reports on mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) in live cells through its lifetime!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
PhD-level intelligence
November 6, 2025 at 11:06 AM
PhD-level intelligence
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
I am genuinely impressed by large language models - they can absorb disparate components of text into some consolidated view, they can produce extremely good language and - with the right model - translate pretty well between languages and they are an excellent text based UI for humans to use. But..
October 26, 2025 at 7:48 AM
I am genuinely impressed by large language models - they can absorb disparate components of text into some consolidated view, they can produce extremely good language and - with the right model - translate pretty well between languages and they are an excellent text based UI for humans to use. But..
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Our photoswitchable HaloTag is out in Angewandte Chemie @angewandtechemie.bsky.social ! We now also show that this system can be used to control emitter density in SMLM. Congrats to Franzi, Bego, and our amazing collaborators. Check it out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
A Photoswitchable HaloTag for Spatiotemporal Control of Fluorescence in Living Cells
Photoswitchable fluorophores are critical for advanced bioimaging. Here, we develop a photoswitchable self-labeling HaloTag that can reversibly modulate the emission of a bound fluorogenic dye via a ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 25, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Our photoswitchable HaloTag is out in Angewandte Chemie @angewandtechemie.bsky.social ! We now also show that this system can be used to control emitter density in SMLM. Congrats to Franzi, Bego, and our amazing collaborators. Check it out: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
This #microscopymonday is a cleaning day. Watch how a #microglia cell mops up and phagozytoses debris and junk in a very messy neuronal co-culture. BTW, it was a proper cleaning job → the neurons made it and formed nice networks
Phase contrast imaging started at DIV1. One frame per 20 min.
Phase contrast imaging started at DIV1. One frame per 20 min.
October 12, 2025 at 4:32 PM
This #microscopymonday is a cleaning day. Watch how a #microglia cell mops up and phagozytoses debris and junk in a very messy neuronal co-culture. BTW, it was a proper cleaning job → the neurons made it and formed nice networks
Phase contrast imaging started at DIV1. One frame per 20 min.
Phase contrast imaging started at DIV1. One frame per 20 min.
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Optogenetic control of PLC-γ1 activity polarizes cell motility https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.09.681531v1
October 12, 2025 at 3:30 AM
Optogenetic control of PLC-γ1 activity polarizes cell motility https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.09.681531v1
For #FluorescenceFriday : 3 cells start at the same Ca2+ concentration but undergo 3 different Histamine responses. Imaged using the lifetime-based sensor Tq-Ca-FLITS.
October 10, 2025 at 1:53 PM
For #FluorescenceFriday : 3 cells start at the same Ca2+ concentration but undergo 3 different Histamine responses. Imaged using the lifetime-based sensor Tq-Ca-FLITS.
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Optogenetic construction of de novo integrin-adhesion complexes reveals role for biocondensation in adhesion nucleation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.08.681107v1
October 9, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Optogenetic construction of de novo integrin-adhesion complexes reveals role for biocondensation in adhesion nucleation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.08.681107v1
“We are making sure that people have a stronger bond with our Kingdom and are well integrated and able to fully participate in society before becoming Dutch citizens” : Dutch society is obviously too alien & bizarre for a silly foreigner to integrate within 5 years, we'll take your tax money though!
Cabinet to make 10 years minimum to obtain Dutch citizenship
According to the government, the Dutch cabinet plans to double the minimum residency requirement for naturalization from five to 10 years, extending the time foreigners must live legally and continuou...
nltimes.nl
September 30, 2025 at 6:38 PM
“We are making sure that people have a stronger bond with our Kingdom and are well integrated and able to fully participate in society before becoming Dutch citizens” : Dutch society is obviously too alien & bizarre for a silly foreigner to integrate within 5 years, we'll take your tax money though!
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Paper in Nature 150 years ago. Beats reading any single-cell experiment…
July 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Paper in Nature 150 years ago. Beats reading any single-cell experiment…
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Optogenetic storage and release of protein and mRNA in live cells and animals | Nature Communications share.google/gz8nYXZ3hUVh...
#spatialbiology #imagingtools #fluorescencemicroscopy
#spatialbiology #imagingtools #fluorescencemicroscopy
Optogenetic storage and release of protein and mRNA in live cells and animals - Nature Communications
Spatiotemporal control of biomolecules is a key challenge in cell biology. Here, authors introduce RELISR, an optogenetic condensate system enabling reversible, light-dependent sequestration and relea...
share.google
July 8, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Optogenetic storage and release of protein and mRNA in live cells and animals | Nature Communications share.google/gz8nYXZ3hUVh...
#spatialbiology #imagingtools #fluorescencemicroscopy
#spatialbiology #imagingtools #fluorescencemicroscopy
Also a great supervisor!! In my entirely unbiased opinion
This week, we are featuring Joachim Goedhart, one of the most prolific authors on @the-node.bsky.social, as an extraordinary biologist. #100biologists
@joachimgoedhart.bsky.social
@joachimgoedhart.bsky.social
June 25, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Also a great supervisor!! In my entirely unbiased opinion
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
It is out! Read how you achieve 1.7 mm deep 3-photon imaging in prefrontal cortex with dendritic spine resolution over a week.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Three-photon in vivo imaging of neurons and glia in the medial prefrontal cortex with sub-cellular resolution - Communications Biology
Three-photon in vivo imaging provides access to medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and spinal cord in mice at up to 1.7 mm depth of neurons, dendrites, spines, astrocytes and microglia.
www.nature.com
June 1, 2025 at 9:58 AM
It is out! Read how you achieve 1.7 mm deep 3-photon imaging in prefrontal cortex with dendritic spine resolution over a week.
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
New tools! GreenPy and ApplePy are fluorescent biosensors for pyruvate with huge responses (20–40x in vitro) and a range of affinities (10s of μM to mM). These should be game changers for imaging of metabolism! Great work by Shosei Imai @sikmys.bsky.social and team 👏. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
High-performance genetically-encoded green and red fluorescent biosensors for pyruvate
Pyruvate is the end-product of glycolysis and a central metabolite involved in many biochemical pathways. However, a lack of high-performance (i.e., Δ F / F > 10) single fluorescent protein (FP)-base...
www.biorxiv.org
April 19, 2025 at 6:42 AM
New tools! GreenPy and ApplePy are fluorescent biosensors for pyruvate with huge responses (20–40x in vitro) and a range of affinities (10s of μM to mM). These should be game changers for imaging of metabolism! Great work by Shosei Imai @sikmys.bsky.social and team 👏. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
president tweeted "no hot dog" and i lost $5 trillion dollars but today he tweet "hot dog back" and i got 5 trillion hot dog
April 9, 2025 at 10:02 PM
president tweeted "no hot dog" and i lost $5 trillion dollars but today he tweet "hot dog back" and i got 5 trillion hot dog
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Sound-sheet microscopy - in this study, we introduce nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy (NSSM), a method to image targeted biological functions across cubic centimeters of opaque living tissue.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy: Imaging opaque organs at the capillary and cellular scale
Light-sheet fluorescence microscopy has revolutionized biology by visualizing dynamic cellular processes in three dimensions. However, light scattering in thick tissue and photobleaching of fluorescen...
www.science.org
April 4, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Sound-sheet microscopy - in this study, we introduce nonlinear sound-sheet microscopy (NSSM), a method to image targeted biological functions across cubic centimeters of opaque living tissue.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
We are excited to be launching the next phase of our Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. #fastandfairpeerreview
Read the Editorial by EiC Daniel Gorelick @danielgorelick.bsky.social at: bit.ly/4kYD1mL
Read the Editorial by EiC Daniel Gorelick @danielgorelick.bsky.social at: bit.ly/4kYD1mL
March 25, 2025 at 11:21 AM
We are excited to be launching the next phase of our Fast & Fair peer review initiative: offering high-quality peer review within 7 working days. #fastandfairpeerreview
Read the Editorial by EiC Daniel Gorelick @danielgorelick.bsky.social at: bit.ly/4kYD1mL
Read the Editorial by EiC Daniel Gorelick @danielgorelick.bsky.social at: bit.ly/4kYD1mL
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
So happy I finally made the ILID-SspB Optogenetic system work in 🐸. Though not perfect and need some optimisations, it worked. Got the constructs from @joachimgoedhart.bsky.social and made it into a frog expression system. Here is the Opto-PH-Rho in action. It's real, guys!! #FluorescenceFriday
March 14, 2025 at 3:49 PM
So happy I finally made the ILID-SspB Optogenetic system work in 🐸. Though not perfect and need some optimisations, it worked. Got the constructs from @joachimgoedhart.bsky.social and made it into a frog expression system. Here is the Opto-PH-Rho in action. It's real, guys!! #FluorescenceFriday
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
Dear all, Because of your help shining light on this all 15 were reinstated today. This is a huge win for science - When We Fight We Win!!!
On Valentine’s day, 15 Assistant Professors at NIH who had started their research labs in the last 2 years were fired. Their scientific expertise was built over 10-12 years of training, most if not all of which was supported by NIH. The start up funds for their laboratories were paid by NIH
March 13, 2025 at 1:26 AM
Dear all, Because of your help shining light on this all 15 were reinstated today. This is a huge win for science - When We Fight We Win!!!
magneticScarlet3
How do tiny magnetic fields affect biochemistry? Overflowing with pride over Katherine Xiang's study on a giant magnetic field effect in a red fluorescent protein, www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Mechanism of giant magnetic field effect in fluorescence of mScarlet3, a red fluorescent protein
Several fluorescent proteins, when expressed in E. coli, are sensitive to weak magnetic fields1. We found that mScarlet3 fluorescence in E. coli reversibly decreased by 21% in the presence of a 60 mT ...
www.biorxiv.org
March 1, 2025 at 12:42 PM
magneticScarlet3
Reposted by Andrea Caldarola
📢 #Preprint Alert: For #fluorescentfriday we report minimally-sized photoactivatable PaX dyes with red and far-red emission for #STED, #SMLM, and multiplexed #MINFLUX #SuperResolution #Microscopy! A huge thanks to the Optical #Nanoscopy team at @mpi-mr.bsky.social! 🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 28, 2025 at 5:34 AM
📢 #Preprint Alert: For #fluorescentfriday we report minimally-sized photoactivatable PaX dyes with red and far-red emission for #STED, #SMLM, and multiplexed #MINFLUX #SuperResolution #Microscopy! A huge thanks to the Optical #Nanoscopy team at @mpi-mr.bsky.social! 🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...