Mini-reunion #2! Former Agosto lab MSc student (and my first graduate!) Andrew Rideout stopped by to visit.
Melina A. Agosto
@agostolab.bsky.social
Associate professor at Dalhousie University; retina cell biology and biochemistry, synapses, signaling, and trafficking; opinions are my own.
Agosto lab mini-reunion! Current student Robyn McGowan and former student Jaeeun Lee @jaeeunlee.bsky.social at the RRSV/VSRN Restauration de la Vision summer school:
Finally found some time to make a website of sorts. Better (five years) late than never!
Welcome to the Agosto lab
Agosto Lab site
agostolab.github.io
This is very blatant, but is it really surprising? Haven't we always known that antibody "validation" images on company websites are not trustworthy?
The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)
Smell receptor cells in the nose have long been thought of as a chaotic bunch, lacking the spatial organization seen in other sensory systems. But the first comprehensive map of a mouse’s roughly 1100 olfactory receptors overturns that notion. scim.ag/3PzTzqj
Unprecedented map of smell receptors finds order in a mouse’s nose
Detailed genomic studies reveal olfactory cells have precise spatial organization
scim.ag
From photoreceptors to visual processing — #Webvision is your open-access deep dive into how we see. Now hosted at our Department, continuing its mission to make vision science accessible to all. Start exploring → www.webvision.pitt.edu #Ophthalmology #Neuroscience
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T, U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth. http://dlvr.it/TRWtVp ☄️
A complete set of canonical nucleobases in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu - Nature Astronomy
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T and U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth.
dlvr.it
What do you get when #NationalProteinDay and #NationalPokémonDay meet? Pikachurin. ⚡ A 2023 #ScienceSignaling study solved the structure of this extracellular protein that plays an essential role in vision. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4s82e0N
Structure of the photoreceptor synaptic assembly of the extracellular matrix protein pikachurin with the orphan receptor GPR179
The structure of the orphan GPCR GPR179 bound to the extracellular matrix component pikachurin is solved.
scim.ag
New and competitive renewal awards. The number of awards is 569 compared with more than 2200 through the same date in earlier fiscal years. All ICs have now made awards except for NIAAA, NCCIH, NLM, FIC, and OD. NEI (Eye Institute) made its first award during the new period. 3/4
An intracellular meteor shower. EB3 comets tracking growing microtubule plus-ends in a cultured cell.
Our latest paper is out! It's led by my first MSc graduate, Andrew Rideout, who did a terrific job with this project. We report some fun and confusing results about mGluR6 trafficking. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
As 2025 comes to a close, my university (Dalhousie U in Halifax, Canada) is recruiting faculty, including outstanding early career researchers, and Canada Research Chairs. Applications are due January 19 2026 (was just notified today!). Please repost.
Dalhousie University is recruiting up to 30 tenure and tenure-track faculty positions
Backed by the Government of Canada’s $1.7 billion Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative, Dalhousie University is undertaking one of the most ambitious research-leader recruitment efforts in its hi...
dal.ca
Every machine in a Hospital that diagnoses your body without cutting you open is based on a principle of Physics, discovered by a Physicist who had no interest in Medicine. If you think the world doesn’t need Basic Science, or that somehow Science has failed you, think again. #sciencematters
Application review launches on December 1, 2025. We want to read *your* application outlining a vision for a research program deciphering how membrane proteins collaborate to enable cell function, their biosynthesis, and the biophysics and structure of how membrane proteins change shape.
Molecular & Cellular Physiology (MCP) Monday We are recruiting a tenure-track assistant professor to join the Dept of Molecular & Cellular Physiology at Stanford. Apply to be our colleague. Please repost. 1/n facultypositions.stanford.edu/en-us/job/49...
Dear #Neuroscience researchers, I am Guest Editing an issue in @devdynamics.bsky.social on NEURAL MIGRATION. Due date: March 31, 2026. Great opportunity to showcase your findings on neural migration. #DevBio Please reskeet 🙏 anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1097...
Developmental Dynamics
<em>Developmental Dynamics</em> is a developmental biology journal publishing novel discoveries that advance our understanding in development, morphology, evolution, and disease.
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Ending my #FluorescenceFriday with this beautiful avian retina image depicting the beautiful stratification in the avian eyes. This is where complexity meets art. #retina #avian #bird #plexiformlayer
We replaced the gaskets on the gel pouring rigs with foam weatherstrip a few months ago. No leaks yet!
My department at Emory is a hiring a tenure-track neuroscientist! Anyone who's talked to me in the last 4 years knows I cannot say enough good things about my dept and the neuroscience community here. My colleagues are so wonderfully supportive. Postdocs, please apply! apply.interfolio.com/174371
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
WE ARE... hiring! Penn State Biology & the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is recruiting a tenure track or tenured neurobiologist (Assistant or Associate Professor rank), and the committee is open to a broad scope of scientific questions. psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
Be our new colleague! 🎉 The Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Geneva is hiring an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor. 👉 More details here: lnkd.in/e8Z9eAm4 👉 Our department: mocel.unige.ch Please feel free to share this opportunity with your network.
New paper! Kudos to first author Jaeeun Lee, who is a fantastic and hard working student. We showed that at photoreceptor presynapses, ELFN1 enrichment depends on postsynaptic mGluR6. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
The mysterious non-PSD localization of PSD95 🟣 in the retina outer plexiform layer... co-stained for postsynaptic TRPM1 🟢 #FluorescenceFriday
Dalhousie University invites applications for the position of Dean, Faculty of Medicine. This is a pivotal leadership opportunity to shape the future of medical education, research, and healthcare across the Maritime provinces in Canada. 5 yr renewable appointment dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/19319
Dean of Medicine
Dalhousie University invites applications for the position of Dean, Faculty of Medicine. This is a pivotal leadership opportunity to shape the future of medical education, research, and healthcare acr...
dal.peopleadmin.ca
Karolinska is looking for 20 (!!) assistant professors and offering 6 year appointments with ~1M USD startup packages. ki.se/en/about-ki/...
Call for 20 Assistant Professor positions
Karolinska Institutet is a world-leading medical university with a long and proud history of ground-breaking research. We are now recruiting outstanding early-career researchers with particularly exce...
ki.se
New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...
DMF: Tenure Track Assistant Professor towards Associate Professor in Molecular Microbiology - Site des postulations FBM
wwwfbm.unil.ch
I updated my funding curves last night. Here are the results for new and competitive renewal grants. The rate of investment has dropped substantially. This is apparently due to a requirement for DOGE review. I am calling this effect the "Downward DOGE" 1/2
Funding freeze at Northwestern from Emma Mairson at grant-watch.us. Data from USAspending. Normally, ~$70 M per month. Now, bupkis. Northwestern is keeping research moving and must be spending ~$40 M per month. Clearly not sustainable for too long.
Wonder doesn’t flinch. It’s our compass pulling us toward curiosity, creativity It reminds us: #science & #discovery are good. Here’s a moment that stirred mine: a new PI(3,4)P₂ probe illuminating the cell membrane & endosomes. Marvel with me. Captured on #FluorescenceFriday for #MicroscopyMonday
An elegant ON bipolar cell expressing ER marker mEmerald-Sec61 🟦 and co-stained with mGluR6 antibody 🟥. #FluorescenceFriday More info in this old paper: www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/...