Brett Collins
@brettcollins.bsky.social
Structural biologist studying proteins that move things from A to B. University of Queensland, Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Centre for Cell Biology of Chronic Disease. He/Him. https://imb.uq.edu.au/research-groups/collins
ARC started their webinars about changes to their grants schemes today. Clarification on some points below, in no particular order, as people report them: 🔹DP28 apps due “early” 2027 (reminder: no EOI) 🔹No new rounds of existing schemes to be announced; FT27 & DP28 unequivocally called “final”.
Take a look at our new paper on the structure of the EHD2 that, upon oligomerization, forms rings that remodel the plasma membrane and form caveolae. Beautiful work by Elena, Vasya @vasiliimikirtumov.bsky.social, Jeff & Oliver Dumke's team; take a look: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The E of E. coli fame. I did not know this story - fascinating! #IDSky #Microsky
c0nc0rdance@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 4d agoThe headlines are still covering the cyclosporiasis outbreak from lettuce, but let's talk about a different summer, long ago. The headlines in Bavaria would have called it "summer diarrhea" & it was killing babies. Enter our hero, Professor Theodor Escherich of the Julius Hospital, Würzburg.
In celebration of #YorkshireDay, please enjoy this Sean Bean bastard collection. Sound up, bastards.
Google DeepMind dismantles Nobel-winning AlphaFold team in strategy shift Et bah comme quoi, les boîtes veulent juste des chatbots cons, pas de la recherche scientifique et des applications qui peuvent servir. www.ft.com/content/61b2...
Google DeepMind dismantles Nobel-winning AlphaFold team in strategy shift
Landmark project that solved protein folding gives way to a wider race to build AI systems for scientific discovery
ft.com
This is Hunter. He came very close to having an entire thought. Ended up being a false alarm. 13/10 (IG: itshunterthelab)
Thrilled to share our latest work, led by @aryantaheri.bsky.social and Julia Peukes! Using cryo-EM and cryo-ET, we reveal how KIF21B’s distal tail engages multiple tubulin dimers along a protofilament, enabling persistent microtubule attachment and crosslinking. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
🎉 We are honoured and excited to share that our team has been named a finalist in the the Australian Research Data Commons Eureka Prize for Excellence in #DataPlatforms! 🎉 Check out our video at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nzt... @ardc.edu.au @eurekaprizes.bsky.social #EurekaPrizes
Genome Taxonomy Database – Finalist, 2026 Eureka Prize for Excellence in Data Platforms
YouTube video by Australian Museum
youtube.com
More on the PDB: bit.ly/thepdb & bit.ly/pdbstructures & youtu.be/klB4T0X-sVU
The PDB (Protein Data Bank)
Happy 50th birthday to the PDB! 50 years since its founding, The Protein Data Bank continues to be, *the* place to go if you want to protein-see! When it was launched in 1971, it only had 7 structures...
bit.ly
In situ #CryoEM structures of rice photosystem supercomplexes #photosynthesis #plants #StructuralBiology @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In situ structures of plant photosystem supercomplexes - Nature
The cryo‑EM structure of the Oryza sativa photosystem II–light harvesting complex II supercomplex in its native membrane reveals the intact plant photosystem architecture, retaining physiologically re...
nature.com
Excited to hear @rolanddunbrack.bsky.social talk today ( 1 pm Sydney time) on “Structural bioinformatics and AlphaFold modeling of the human kinome and its interactions” at the Australian Structural Biology Computing community meeting. Details to join the talk:
MEETING: Australian Structural Biology Computing Community — Australian BioCommons
Join the quarterly meeting of the Australian Structural Biology Computing community. More information
biocommons.org.au
Get your abstract submissions in for Crystal36-AXAA 2026 www.crystal36axaa2026.org - the abstract deadline is tomorrow! Weds 29th July. ⏰ Present your research to the great and the good of crystallography 💎. Featuring protein dynamics and biophysics from Keynote Speaker Prof Megan O'Mara, UQ!
British actor, comedian and broadcaster Bill Oddie, best known to Australian audiences as a member of the 1970s comedy trio The Goodies, has died aged 85.
Bill Oddie, member of The Goodies comedy series, dead at 85
British actor, comedian and broadcaster Bill Oddie, best known to Australian audiences as a member of the 1970s comedy trio The Goodies, has died aged 85.
abc.net.au
Yay, after eight years, it's here! 🧬🦠 Our new Nat comms paper explores how lipid droplets remodel during viral infection to support antiviral defence Proud to be co-first alongside the wonderful Jay Laws and @timetogoz.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... @helbiglab.bsky.social
Am I misunderstanding these new schemes -- it seems mid and senior career stage people will no longer be able to apply for their own salary costs? Surely this will have fairly big (negative) consequences, especially for research contingent people?
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2w agoThe ARC's new grant scheme table, in case you don't want to read through the details (which are here: www.arc.gov.au/system/files...)
This is Rooster. He has his hammock, a giant fan, and no responsibilities. 12/10 living the dream (TT: clousehouse)
The ARC's new grant scheme table, in case you don't want to read through the details (which are here: www.arc.gov.au/system/files...)
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2w agoThe ARC has released their new set of grant schemes ▶️ www.arc.gov.au/news-and-pub... Before implementing them, they’re now going to “consult with the sector”. Hopefully genuinely, not just with a few disengaged DVCRs. In the meantime, there’ll be another round of Discovery Projects (DP28).
13. Hence our dismal conclusion: rather than finding that LLMs free us to do a better job of what we were doing before they came along, they shift scientific incentives (and the playing field of academic competition) in ways that compel us to do more and more, faster and faster, less and less well.
See this? This = implanting mouse embryo. Usually this happens inside its mother and is invisible to us, but we can actually watch implantation ex vivo with the hope of understanding why implantation goes awry in embryos of older women. A 🧵...
New preprint from the lab, led by the ever-talented grad student Tessa Lochetto @tlochetto.bsky.social! We find that loss of our favorite phosphatase Pptc7 decreases lean mass, induces skeletal muscle dysfunction, and causes metabolic derangements in adult mice: doi.org/10.64898/202... /1
Sustained loss of Pptc7 triggers variable skeletal muscle dysfunction and diminished body mass through dysregulation of BNIP3
The mitochondrial phosphatase PPTC7 is required to sustain mammalian metabolism, as its global knockout (KO) triggers hypoketotic hypoglycemia and perinatal lethality in mice. However, the extent to w...
doi.org
Cryo-EM reveals Wnt3a/Fzd8/LRP6 complexes in a 2:4:2 ratio, highlighting a Wnt3a-Wnt3a homodimer crucial for activating β-catenin signaling. Exciting insights into Wnt's recognition mechanisms! PMID:42202788, Cell 2026, @Cell https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00523-4 #Medsky #RNA 🧪
https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00523-4
No description available
cell.com
How does an embryo generate the right cells in the right place? Delighted to share our latest findings on how neural crest cells acquire vagal or trunk identities Spoiler alert: The timing & combination of CDXs preconfigures cell identity & distinct HOX states www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Temporally distinct CDX programmes preconfigure vagal and trunk neural crest
Neural crest cells (NCCs) are progenitor cells vital in establishing the head, heart, gut and peripheral nervous system of vertebrate embryos. Disruptions to NCC development underlie neurocristopathie...
biorxiv.org