Automatic screening of cryo-EM grids using EPU is fast and efficient, but reviewing the generated data & picking the best areas for data collection can be slow and cumbersome. We made a little tool that makes this process more streamlined and enjoyable: github.com/mvorlander/E... 1/4
Having made the transition from primarily X-ray crystallography to cryoEM, this resource would have been invaluable.
This is a fantastic example of how to begin as a newcomer to #cryoEM. Being proactive in getting advice from experienced scientists and going to any of the great workshops would likely lower the incidences of erroneous structures in the EMDB and PDB (There’s not a lot but there are a few).
Introducing AlphaFast 🚀. AF3 is transformative but too slow for large-scale protein design. My students Ben and Jeonghyeon made it 10-100x faster using GPU-accelerated sequence search.
Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Code: github.com/RomeroLab/al...
Would have been good to have added an apology for the lack of comms so far this year, particularly for those that submitted grants to UKRI applicant-led funding streams in Sept 2025, as these are highly unlikely to be funded (www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...)
We need to be shouting about the effects of this on junior researchers from the roofs, writing to our MPs. We are risking a "missing generation" of researchers.
It was great to play a part in this study, using all of the work on alphaproteobacterial GTAs to help inform and identify key tell-tale patterns of GTAs in the human gut microbiome. I'm sure there will be many great followup studies on these fascinating particles.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We identified a new type of what seems to be a gene transfer agent in the most abundant gut microbe. Long read sequencing was the key here, as it showed suspiciously many 4kb and 8kb reads, which fits the smallest T=3 shrinked and T=3 regular capsids. And indeed, GTAs! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚨Last chance to apply for two PhD projects in my lab, applying structural biology and single molecule biophysics to investigate gene expression in RNA viruses: www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...
Our paper with @robfagan.bsky.social @jasonwils.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier on #phage has been included in this year's LSA special collection.
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...
A cloning strategy as depicted in the OpenCloning website
#OpenCloning is a an Open Source alternative to SnapGene/Benchling that supports automation and integration with other software
✅ Free
🔓 Open Source
🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene
🤖 Can be automated with python
👨🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers!
👉 Check it out at opencloning.org
Thrilled to share the core of my PhD work, now published in NAR!
This project was a true collaborative effort across multiple teams, and it was a joy to bring it to life.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, and especially to @fnobrega.bsky.social for the incredible support and guidance 🙏🏻
🧵1/5
Congrats all! 🎉🎉
Outstanding work that will surely help shed light on 'Viral Dark Matter' - Huge congrats to all authors!
More info + apply: yorkshirebiosciencedtp.ac.uk
Questions about the project → Dr. Jason Wilson, Prof. Per Bullough
🧪 Training includes:
• Cryo-EM + SPA
• Protein purification + interaction assays
• Computational structural biology (AlphaFold, modelling pipelines)
Open to UK applicants and international candidates.
💰 Fully funded (UKRI rate stipend + fees).
📅 Deadline: 7 January 2026
📣 Fully funded PhD opportunity - CryoEM, Phage Biology & Structural Mechanisms
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
Fantastic paper by James Bean and colleagues on phage Bas63 - this has been one of the first phages I ever isolated just for fun as a PhD student (in 2012!). It's #2 on this plate of Rhine river water on an E.coli K-12 lawn....
How it started /// How it's going
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Congrats all authors, very unusual and intriguing enzyme, with many more stories to come
Beautiful CryoEM work by our University of Sheffield colleagues @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
🚨Exciting #Postdoc opportunity in the Fogg & Antson labs: 3-year post based @biologyatyork.bsky.social to explore the #StructuralBiology & mechanism of viral DNA-packaging motors using cutting-edge #Cryo-EM, biophysical and molecular approaches. Apply by 9th Oct at bit.ly/3Iz3bOu #ScienceJobs
Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1
Had a great time talking at @mgeworkshop.bsky.social last week and meeting some great people. Looking forward to cool science and collaborations to come.
Congrats to everyone involved, great insights and visually striking!
#phage
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...
We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!
@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social
You can also read more here on the @sheffielduni.bsky.social webpage
www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...
Lots left to figure out, and very excited to see where @robfagan.bsky.social, @perbullough.bsky.social, and Louis-Charles Fortier take this next, whilst I take on a @ukri.org BBSRC Discovery Fellowship.
Finally, we found that phiCD508 lacks identifiable enzymatic domains in the tail spike, suggesting the #phage breaks through by contractile force alone.
We also found that S-layer penetrating phages tend to have smaller tail spikes, lacking a beta-helical domain.
