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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 14d

HHMI adopts Plan U journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social · 14d

Yifan Cheng to Receive 2026 Anatrace Membrane Protein Award buff.ly/ooI1UDy

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Oli Clarke @olibclarke.bsky.social · 26d

This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!

We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.

Read on for details... 1/x

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Oli Clarke @olibclarke.bsky.social · Aug 30

Happy to share a new preprint from the Clarke & Vallese (@fravallese.bsky.social) labs reporting #cryoem structures of two RBC stomatin complexes – with AQP1 & UT-B - continuing the SPFH theme from our recent vault preprint! This was a fun one and has been cooking for a while - read on for more! ⬇️

Upper - cryo-EM reconstruction of stomatin AQP1 complex. Lower - reconstruction of stomatin-UT-B complex.

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Alex Holehouse @alexholehouse.bsky.social · May 23

Now published! Big congrats to first author @gginell.bsky.social

We are actively working improving/updating various aspects of FINCHES; don't hesitate to reach out if you run into issues, have questions.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · May 20

The fantastically successful NIGMS MIRA R35 "expired" on May 17, after the most recent deadline--these removals are the most aggressive attack on American science in the current series of devastating actions 🧪

Gabi Serrato Marks @gserratomarks.bsky.social · May 20

NIH moved up the expiration date for some funding opportunities, effectively *canceling* the next application date without removing it from the standard table. I can't even imagine how many people are still prepping these grants.

👀 List of impacted opportunities:
grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Screenshot of NIMH BRAINS funding opportunity. The expiration date is now before the next application due date.

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · May 19

"to run a contest that you end up not funding as a private organization at this time is… both extremely wasteful of these people’s time, and just devastating in terms of morale."

I spoke with @aniloza.bsky.social at STAT today about HHMI's decision not to fund this round of Hanna Gray applicants.

Private funder HHMI pauses postdoc fellowship

As HHMI pauses Hanna Gray fellowship applications, opportunities for young scientists shrink further, making them look overseas.

www.statnews.com

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Tim Stearns @stearnslab.bsky.social · Mar 28

Alex Long, the last postdoc from my lab at Stanford, is starting her own lab, continuing her beautiful work on evolutionary cell biology using chytrid fungi as a model. Check it out! alonglab.org

Long Research Group

Long Research Group - Univ. Kentucky

alonglab.org

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Alexey Amunts @amunts.bsky.social · Mar 15

Conference alert: Machines acting on DNA and RNA
Madrid, May 28-30
Abstract deadline: April 24
Organised by @cniostopcancer.bsky.social. Come to share your research with experts in the molecular mechanisms of DNA & RNA machines. See the list of speakers below.
Please repost.

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Dylan Burnette @mag2art.bsky.social · Mar 15

Introducing blebbisomes! Cover art by @ento-sanchez.bsky.social! #CellBiology
Article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Mar 13

More than 2 decades ago the PINK1 protein was found to be linked to Parkinson's disease, but its structure and how it was activated was not known. Until @science.org today. A triumph for cryo-EM and structural biology, introducing new targets for drug intervention.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Rui Zhang @ruizhangmt.bsky.social · Mar 14

In this paper we also presented massive functional data of ALL the MIPs from Richard Wheeler and Eva Gluenz labs.

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Rui Zhang @ruizhangmt.bsky.social · Mar 13

In the same issue also see the back-to-back paper of doublet structure of Trypanosoma brucei from Z. Hong Zhou and Kent Hill labs.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Trypanosome doublet microtubule structures reveal flagellum assembly and motility mechanisms

The flagellum of Trypanosoma brucei drives the parasite’s characteristic screw-like motion and is essential for its replication, transmission, and pathogenesis. However, the molecular details of this ...

www.science.org

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Rui Zhang @ruizhangmt.bsky.social · Mar 13

Another wonderful collaboration with @alanbrownhms.bsky.social lab 👇
Zhang lab (co-first author @qingweiniu.bsky.social) contribute the doublet structure from Crithidia fasciculata, a model organism that infects mosquitoes.

Matt Doran @matthdoran.bsky.social · Mar 13

I am super excited to share our latest work on the structures of doublet microtubules from trypanosomatid parasites, the causative agents of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness. tinyurl.com/48sh3xn5

Evolutionary adaptations of doublet microtubules in trypanosomatid parasites

The movement and pathogenicity of trypanosomatid species, the causative agents of trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis, are dependent on a flagellum that contains an axoneme of dynein-bound doublet micro...

tinyurl.com

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Rui Zhang @ruizhangmt.bsky.social · Mar 12

😳😱 R.I.P. Karen

Alexey Amunts @amunts.bsky.social · Mar 12

Sad news about Karen Davies' passing.
Karen was an inspiration in bioenergetics and cryoET. Her pioneering postdoctoral work on ATP synthase and respiratory supercomplexes marked turning points in the field. I created Scholar profile to acknowledge her contribution
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...

Karen Davies

‪Formerly of Electron Bio-Imaging Centre, Diamond Light Source, United Kingdom‬ - ‪‪Cited by 2,887‬‬ - ‪cryo-EM‬ - ‪tomography‬ - ‪method development‬ - ‪bioenergetics‬

scholar.google.com

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Stephan Gruber @gruberlab.bsky.social · Mar 11

Happy to share the beautiful structure of a Wadjet SMC complex by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social, with support from the DCI and @drhonsworth.bsky.social ! This is a type II Wadjet with unique characteristics including a tandem KITE subunit, distinct coiled coil architecture and a deviant hinge.

Side view of the structure of a monomer of type II Wadjet.

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Mill_lab @cilialab.bsky.social · Mar 7

Thrilled- the @bsdb.bsky.social medal in Wolpert's name marks 'vastly important contributions to research in our field, but also to the communication of its problems to a broader audience'. Communicating the importance of our research has never been more important when science is under such threat!

British Society for Developmental Biology @bsdb.bsky.social · Mar 6

We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025 Wolpert medal is Pleasantine Mill!
bsdb.org/2025/03/05/2...

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Mar 7

The @jcellsci.bsky.social has an upcoming special issue - Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease – guest edited by Pleasantine Mill (University of Edinburgh) and Lotte Pedersen (University of Copenhagen) . The submission deadline is 31 March.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/ci...

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Denis Wirtz @deniswirtz.bsky.social · Mar 3

Some good news: The Federal Register has just posted NIH study sections, which are to meet in late March.

NIH announces some key grant-review meetings will restart in late March | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

NIH announces some key grant-review meetings will restart in late March

Trump policy blocking required notices has frozen reviews of thousands of grants

www.science.org

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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · Mar 1

If you've been calling Congress, keep calling & if not, start-we're getting their attention. We had a good visit to a Congressional office yesterday to discuss science funding & the staffer told us how busy they've been-usually the Senate shwitchboard gets 64 calls/minute-now they're getting 1600 🧪

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

The EMBO Journal @embojournal.org · Feb 24

Cryo-electron tomography of Tetrahymena #cilia by Sam Li, David Agard, Mark Winey provides insights into the intricate spatial organization of basal body inner junctions, compromised by loss of Poc1
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

John Wallingford @jbwallingford.bsky.social · Feb 12

People need to know that NIH grants are the backbone of American biology and thus of our biotech industry. I took a moment away from doing science to talk about how science gets done with @oaldridge.bsky.social with @kutnews.bsky.social, this time about recent IDC cuts.

www.kut.org/science/2025...

Federal funding cap on medical research fuels more uncertainty for UT Austin scientists

A new policy for how the National Institutes of Health will reimburse overhead costs associated with research grants could result in the loss of significant funding at institutions like UT Austin.

www.kut.org

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Rui Zhang @ruizhangmt.bsky.social · Feb 11

Please see a Perspective we wrote on our recent findings:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

TRiC Is a Structural Component of Mammalian Sperm Axonemes

The TRiC chaperonin is responsible for folding ~5%–10% of the proteome in eukaryotic cells. Our recent cryo-electron microscopy studies of axonemes from diverse mammalian cell types led to the surpri...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Rui Zhang

Di Jiang @dijiang319.bsky.social · Feb 8

🧬🧪Protein codes promote selective subcellular compartmentalization | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Henry Kilgore @itamarchinn.bsky.social @pgmikhael.bsky.social Ilan Mitnikov, et al. @aihealthmit.bsky.social @whiteheadinstitute.bsky.social @mitofficial.bsky.social

Protein codes promote selective subcellular compartmentalization

Cells have evolved mechanisms to distribute ~10 billion protein molecules to subcellular compartments where diverse proteins involved in shared functions must assemble. Here, we demonstrate that prote...

www.science.org

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jeanjuchung.bsky.social @jeanjuchung.bsky.social · Feb 3

Starting first posting in Bluesky! In this study, we delineate CatSper’s assembly order and molecularly define a binding surface for activity modulation, offering CatSper canopies as potential targets for fertility control. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

CATSPERϵ extracellular domains are essential for sperm calcium channel assembly and activity modulation

The sperm flagellar-specific CatSper Ca2+ channel is a multiprotein complex critical for successful fertilization. The four ancillary subunits, CATSPERβ, γ, δ, and ε, form a unique canopy structure ov...

www.biorxiv.org

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