Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · 14d

There is an opening for a faculty position in biophysics at Carnegie Mellon... and the accompanying, VERY Markus Deserno thread full of delight in nature and physics succinctly demonstrates what an awesome colleague you will have!

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 14d

I am super excited to announce that we have a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics open in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon! 🧪

Interfolio link: apply.interfolio.com/174360

PLEASE, share widely across the blue skies!

Let me briefly explain what we're looking for:

1/10

Tenure-track Position in Biophysics at Carnegie Mellon University, Department of Physics

Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Open Date: Sep 19, 2025

Description
The Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in biophysics. The appointment is intended to be at the Assistant Professor level, but exceptional candidates at a higher level may also be considered. We seek outstanding candidates with a strong record in cellular and subcellular biophysics. Topics of particular interest include, but are not limited to, uncovering how key characteristics of living systems arise from the interplay between supramolecular cellular structures, how the emergent cellular circuitry defines goals and enables robust decision making, and how metabolic resources are allocated. This encompasses understanding of how information is learned, stored, transduced, and processed across subcellular structures. Applicants with theoretical, data science, or experimental backgrounds within biological physics are encouraged to apply. The ideal candidate will strengthen and extend research programs of current biophysics faculty in the Department of Physics and collaborate with broader life science activities across many departments at CMU and the wider Pittsburgh area.

More details on Interfolio: https://apply.interfolio.com/174360

1 3

Reposted by Aurelia

@KayTrue (Sarah L. Keller) @kaytrue.bsky.social · 15d

Thank you, @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social! This announcement makes me proud to be a member

Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social · 15d

BPS co-leads effort to push back on White House Executive Order on Grantmaking Oversight to keep politization out of science funding

More Than 50 Scientific Societies Issue Letter to Congress Expressing Concerns Regarding Executive Order on Federal Grantmaking

A coalition of more than 50 scientific societies issued a letter to the United States Congress today, expressing concerns over provisions in the 7 August 2025 Executive Order (EO) titled “Improving…

buff.ly

1 4

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · 15d

Wooooo! Yay for SARAH!

Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social · 16d

Sarah Veatch to Receive 2026 Agnes Pockels Award in Lipids and Membrane Biophysics buff.ly/AdSMhCT

5

Reposted by Aurelia

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · 17d

Major cool membrane conference coming up next week! The Biomembrane Days 2025, organized by an amazing team from the MPI for Colloids and Interface Science @mpici.bsky.social: Rumy Dimova (@dimovalab.bsky.social), Helge Ewers, and Thomas Weikl. I'm so very much looking forward to attending! 🤩 🧪

Biomembrane Days 2025

Membranes form the intricately shaped compartments of life. The Biomembrane Days are a triannual workshop that highlights recent advances in understanding the morphology and molecular organization of ...

events.mpikg.mpg.de

5 12 39

Reposted by Aurelia

Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social · Aug 6

We have a postdoc opening for a protistologist with biophysics inclinations to join our @hfspo.bsky.social project! (focus will be on characterising the morphology, ultrastructure and behaviour of excavates) #protistsonsky

Apply by Sept 17th (RTs appreciated!)
jobs.exeter.ac.uk/hrpr_webrecr...

1 49 47

Reposted by Aurelia

Doctora Malka Older @older.bsky.social · Sep 9

The protests in Nepal, and the governments violent repression of them, are an increasingly important story right now. @globalvoices.org has reporting from Nepal on the "Nepo Kid" movement, including what the "international media" are getting wrong

Gen Z stands up to expose corruption in Nepal

Youth-led demonstrations against corruption erupted throughout Nepal on Monday September 8, 2025, resulting in at least 19 deaths and over 350 injuries.

globalvoices.org

2 66 90

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Sep 4

Good news!

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · Sep 4

Fantastic news. “CVS Pharmacy will ensure COVID-19 vaccinations are available as soon as possible at our locations throughout Pennsylvania… Appointments can be scheduled online … or patients can walk into our pharmacies and clinics.” @jackiantonovich.bsky.social @meghgrace.bsky.social

Pennsylvania pharmacies can now broadly offer new COVID-19 vaccines

Pennsylvania pharmacies can now refer to major medical organizations for COVID-19 vaccine recommendations in the absence of CDC guidance.

whyy.org

2

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

DOWNSTREAM

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

In addition to fluorescence microscopy, they observed dowstream drift of T-cadherin molecules on Xenopus cells using single-molecule tracking! Flow-mediated protein redistribution might explain how cells respond to a wide variety of biological flows.

Grayscale image showing a single cell, and a graph of the intensity in the cell. At the top, there is no flow and the cell is evenly bright. Below, flow is turned on and cell intensity is larger on the right.

1 1

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

But flow transport on living cells is not limited to lipid-anchored proteins! Prof. Sawako Yamashiro’s group at Kyoto University found that multiple transmembrane proteins are quickly and reversibly redistributed under flow.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Shear Stress Induces Concentration Gradient Distributions of Membrane Proteins in Live Cells

Cells sense and respond to fluid shear stress. Cell surfaces are exposed to flow, yet the influence of shear stress on the behavior of plasma membrane proteins remains unclear. Here we show that extra...

www.biorxiv.org

1

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

Dr. Larissa Socrier started this project, designing the glypican-1-GFP construct with Linda Lowe-Krentz in Lehigh Biological Sciences. Leah Knepper and Samuel Pash in Damien Thévenin’s group in Chemistry did experiments. Undergrad superstar Lili analyzed movies. The work was funded by the NIH.

1

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

For details of measured forces, comparisons with model systems, actin monitoring, and speculation about glycocalyx dimensions please have a look at our preprint!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Flow transports extracellular lipid-anchored proteins across the surface of living COS-7 cells

The rapid diffusion of membrane lipids and membrane proteins in living cell plasma membranes demonstrates that the membrane is fluid. However, motion of membrane molecules is inhibited on one side by ...

www.biorxiv.org

1 1 3

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

A smaller protein, GPI-GFP, doesn’t move much under 2 Pascale of shear stress. But we can convert it from immobile to mobile under 2 Pa by allowing a GFP antibody to bind, increasing its size and the hydrodynamic force applied to it (Sreeja measured the force).

1 2

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

The movie above shows that an extracellular side GPI-anchored protein, glypican-1-GFP, moves downstream when we apply shear stress typical of cardiovascular flow (1-2 Pascale). However, a membrane marker on the cytoplasm side (M-SNAP) does not move under flow.

1 2

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

Cells detect and respond to very small forces applied by blood flow. How can they do it? Typical cardiovascular shear stress is too small to change protein configurations, but it is large enough to move proteins laterally across a cell.

1

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

I am so excited for everyone to see this! Dr. Sreeja Sasidharan, legendary postdoc, recently showed that flow moves proteins sideways through a glass-supported lipid bilayer. We wanted to see if this could happen on the surface of living cells! AND IT CAN

1 1 8

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Aug 30

A Friday night bioRxiv surprise! I need to get some movies ready

@KayTrue (Sarah L. Keller) @kaytrue.bsky.social · Aug 29

Look at what just popped up on my feed from the bioRxiv! It is an other paper by @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social on how flow across a cell pushes proteins around on the surface of the cell. Congratulations, Aurelia (and also to Sreeja, Leah, Larissa, Liliane, Samuel, Linda, and Damien)!

bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · Aug 29

Flow transports extracellular lipid-anchored proteins across the surface of living COS-7 cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.27.672542v1

Reposted by Aurelia

@KayTrue (Sarah L. Keller) @kaytrue.bsky.social · Aug 29

The Biochemistry Dept at the University of Washington has 2 open positions at the Asst/Assoc Prof level! Please apply and come be my colleague in Seattle! Great science, great students, great collaborations, and a lovely city

Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · Aug 28

1. Assistant or Associate Professor:

"A successful candidate will use creative approaches to address major challenges in life science, with an emphasis on molecular mechanisms or structure."

apply.interfolio.com/172570

4 5

Reposted by Aurelia

Kathleen Bachynski @bachynski.bsky.social · Aug 29

Muhlenberg College is looking to hire two people in the registrar's office. Please share with anyone who may be interested! muhlenberg.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/MuhlenbergCa...

Career Portal

muhlenberg.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

4 7

Reposted by Aurelia

Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · Aug 28

I am delighted to announce that the UW Department of Biochemistry has opened searches for TWO tenure-track positions.

Descriptions and links in the following two posts.

2 120 160

Reposted by Aurelia

Ben Stottrup @benstottrup.bsky.social · Jul 13

Just sharing some of the cool stuff happening in the School of Natural Sciences at Augsburg University. We have a corpse flower about to bloom. Check out the update over on Instagram: www.instagram.com/reel/DL-ak0W...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

1 1

Aurelia @vesiclesmasher.bsky.social · Jul 2

🎉🎉🎉

1

Reposted by Aurelia

Markus Deserno @markusdeserno.bsky.social · Jun 20

I estimate that with he money incinerated in this oopsie we could have funded at least 300 typical NSF awards, or about 1000 years worth of good science.

Astronomy 🔭 @astronomy.bsky.social · Jun 19

Jun 19: SpaceX Starship 36 explodes into massive fireball during static test last night

1 2 13

Reposted by Aurelia

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · Jun 9

I wanted to show support for these brave public servants and to allow others, including the scientific community, to join me. In partnership with @standupforscience.bsky.social‬, we have a way for you to do that... www.standupforscience.net/bethesda-dec...

Bethesda Declaration — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

Support NIH Staff Now!

www.standupforscience.net

3 97 150

Reposted by Aurelia

Zheng Shi @zs-biophys.bsky.social · May 29

We are looking for a postdoc to study biomolecular condensates and/or mechanosensitive membrane proteins. Please help spread the news 🙏
sites.rutgers.edu/shi-lab/look...

Looking for a postdoc - Shi Lab

The Shi lab at Rutgers-New Brunswick is seeking a postdoctoral researcher to study biomolecular condensates and/or mechanosensitive membrane proteins. To see more information and apply, please go to t...

sites.rutgers.edu

2 19 24