A much awaited research on how SNARE proteins enable highly specific fusion of vesicles with the corresponding compartment is now wrapped up in a beautiful preprint! Can’t wait to have a detailed read and use this information in cell biology applications !
Thanks for sharing it, I didn’t come across it and it looks very interesting! Will give it a read ASAP! Currently, I don’t work in the SNARE/SM field anymore (worked on multisubunit bacterial complexes and nowWnt signalling). But always curious about many proteins, especially the ones I worked with
Such a great thread. A nostalgic read into my PhD research field and our findings corroborate with yours. Also worth having a look at the two latest papers from Fasshaauer lab, mine pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38109275/ and colleagues’ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
An early Christmas present! The ICR’s new Hydra Bio FIB-SEM has been delivered, which will sit at the heart of a consortium between the @icr.ac.uk, Imperial, QMUL and KCL. Currently being stored at Imperial, it’ll be installed in a brand new lab at the ICR next year. Exciting things coming in 2026!🔬
Our Method of the Year 2025 is...drumroll please...EM-based connectomics!!
Our Editorial introduces our choice and highlights six Comments and other related content in this special issue. Please join us in celebrating EM-based connectomics! 🎉🧠🔬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The Burtele foot (left) and the foot embedded in an outline of a gorilla foot. Image credit: Yohannes Haile-Selassie
A paper in Nature shows that a 3.4-million-year-old partial foot found in Ethiopia in 2009 belongs to an ancient human relative named Australopithecus deyiremeda, a more primitive species of Australopithecus than the famous ‘Lucy’ (A. afarensis). go.nature.com/49BkCZY 🏺 🧪
Getting Rosalind Franklin’s story right is crucial, because she has become a role model for women going into science
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
October is #BreastCancerAwarenessMonth
Read how Trastuzumab monoclonal antibodies targeting HER2 receptors are at the forefront of breast cancer treatment
High-resolution #CryoET provides ‘compelling’ evidence for the true 3D architecture of glutamatergic synapses: a complex ‘synaptoplasm’ rather than the textbook postsynaptic density.
buff.ly/hOYKjHH
October issue is now available! journals.iucr.org/d/issues/202...
The cover highlights the article on categorizing prediction modes within low-pLDDT regions of AlphaFold2 structures from the Richardson lab @duke-university.bsky.social : doi.org/10.1107/S205...
Image credit: Chistopher Williams
Many key cell structures are too thick for standard cryo-EM.
Now in Nature Methods: Kavli-trained nanoscientist Yue Yu & colleagues describe a technique that boosts contrast 5x in thick biological samples, sharpening views of proteins, viruses & organelles.
bit.ly/4mJPWJ1
#KavliNano #CryoEM
Apply now for FBM #PhD #Fellowships in #Life #Sciences – join one of the Faculty’s leading laboratories.
🚨 Application deadline for fellowships: October 6, 2025.
➡️ www.unil.ch/news/en/1756...
@unil.bsky.social @dmf-unil.bsky.social @dee-unil.bsky.social @dib-unil.bsky.social #fbm #unil
Had a superb week, full of great insights from cryo-ET experts and hands on workshops full of practical tips and advice! Many thanks to the incredible team of organisers, instructors and the lecturers who shared with us valuable knowledge!
Thank you @diamondlightsource.bsky.social for hosting us!
A comparison of the structures of dArc1 (capsid: 6TAP; pentamer: 6TAR), the retrovirus HIV (capsid: 3J3Q; pentamer: 7URN), and the retrotransposon Ty3 (6R24). Pentamers are shown in orange, and hexamers in yellow in the upper panel. In the lower panel, pentamers are shown with monomers colored in different shades of orange.
How did a brain gene end up behaving like a virus? Research has shown that there is an evolutionary connection between Arc, retroviruses, and virus-like genetic elements called retrotransposons.
More at Molecule of the Month: pdb101.rcsb.org/motm...
This is figure 2. Latent benevolent and malevolent trait means as a function of government type, (A, B) respectively, show citizens benevolent and malevolent latent means vary as a function of Economist Intelligence Unit (A) and Freedom House (B) national government specification. Autocratic latent means set to zero to statistically compare with other governments (A). Not Free governments latent means set to zero for comparison with Partially Free and Free government latent means (B).
A study in Scientific Reports suggests that people living in democratic countries show higher benevolent and lower malevolent traits and higher levels of well-being. go.nature.com/4mmkukU 🧪
