Ed Twomey
@cryoet.bsky.social
Scientist. Structure and function of cell-cell communication with a special interest in neurons & cryo-EM. All opinions are my own.
iGluR excitation - not just in dendrites! "Excitatory synapses onto axonic spines jump-start action potentials and route information flow" rdcu.be/fjy9p #iGluRs #neuroscience
Excitatory synapses onto axonic spines jump-start action potentials and route information flow
Nature Neuroscience - The axon initial segment was known to receive GABAergic synaptic inputs. Yang et al. show that it can be excited directly via specialized ‘axonic spines’. These...
rdcu.be
🚨🧠🔬 Dopamine was discovered over a century ago, and has long been thought to only signal through metabotropic means. In our new preprint, we provide evidence that dopamine can directly signal through the "orphan" GluD ionotropic receptors. More to come! #iGluRs #neuroscience #dopamine #cryoEM
bioRxiv Biophysics@biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 3mo agoGluDs are ionotropic dopamine receptors tuned by G-proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.10.723887v1
Happy to finally share the amazing results of our long-term collaboration with Karin Reinisch’s lab on how bridge lipid-transfer proteins (BLTPs) cooperate with partner proteins to orchestrate lipid delivery. A quick thread (1/7) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What a breakthrough! Such a puzzle for 30 years, this is real progress! I wonder how general this mechanism of repression is for other systems where highly-selective expression is needed. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The transcription of a single olfactory receptor per neuron is enforced by epigenetic silencing of their enhancers
The ability to discriminate thousands of odors in our environment requires each olfactory neuron to express a single olfactory receptor from hundreds of available genes. The biochemical mechanism enfo...
biorxiv.org
The Cordero Vásquez Lab is starting the year on a high wheel (see below) with our latest work on the C. elegans PIEZO channel: “Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade”: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/5
Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade
PIEZO channels are mechanosensitive ion channels conserved from plants to humans, yet structures exist for only a few mammalian orthologs. We define t…
sciencedirect.com
Calcium and magnesium in the pore of NMDA receptors! Lipids play an unexpected role. The hydration shells of Ca2+ and Mg2+ could be the difference between permeation and block. So much physiology in the energetics of H2O. Very stimulating work! Congrats @lab-furukawa.bsky.social #iglurs
bioRxiv Neuroscience@biorxiv-neursci.bsky.social · 9mo agoOn the mechanism of calcium permeability and magnesium block in NMDA receptors - a central molecular paradigm in neuroplasticity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.06.686637v1
Our new Journal of Neuroscience paper "Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome (AS)” is out: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4... 1/6
Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by motor coordination and cognitive deficits. In AS, hippocampal neurons show reduced filamentous (F-)actin, a decrease we also reported...
jneurosci.org
During these uncertain times, I’m very happy to see that my institution, @scripps.edu has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position. Any field in Chemistry or Biology is welcome. I’d especially love to see fellow neuroscientists apply. Please repost! apply.interfolio.com/174756
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My OpEd piece in US News & World Report, about not wanting my life to be book-ended by two fascist regimes and about the state of higher education in this country, www.usnews.com/opinion/arti... has now been republished in German translation by JOSHA: josha-journal.org/en/categorie...
usnews.com
Congrats to the winners! Its notable that Omar Yaghi was a refugee. Refugees and immigrants once again making American science great!
Nature@nature.com · 10mo agoBREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks” Stay tuned for more. #NobelPrize
Great Job - Great Colleagues - Great Science👍 Help us pick the next generation of @hhmi.org Investigators, Freeman Hrabowski Scholars, Hanna Gray Fellows, Gilliam Fellows Relocation to DC is required, perfect for academic PIs looking for their next chapter hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
Senior Director - Scientific Officer
Primary Work Address: 4000 Jones Bridge Road, Chevy Chase, MD, 20815 Current HHMI Employees, click here to apply via your Workday account. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) advances the disco...
hhmi.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com
#TeamTomo ❄️🔬 meets #MassSpec Imaging 🧬🔬. Super cool, and great potential for EM grids with mixes of different cell types. For example -- environmental samples! @embltrec.bsky.social 🌍 🧪
Jakob Meier-Credo@meiercredo.bsky.social · 11mo agoCheck out our new preprint on an integrated pipeline combining in situ #cryo-ET with MALDI #MSImaging for single-cell identification and classification from previously analysed EM-grids. Link: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Our new PNAS paper "Enhanced PIEZO1 function contributes to the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease" is out: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/3
Enhanced PIEZO1 function contributes to the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease | PNAS
Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited blood disorder caused by a mutation in the β-globin gene, is characterized by sickle erythrocytes that are ...
pnas.org
Cryo-EM snapshots of NMDA receptor activation illuminate sequential rearrangements | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cryo-EM snapshots of NMDA receptor activation illuminate sequential rearrangements
Opening of the NMDA receptor involves bending of the helices lining the ion channel gate.
science.org
New preprint alert! The uterus expands ~500-fold in pregnancy, yet we know little about how pressures are sensed. Led by @yunxiao-dr.bsky.social, we show PIEZOs are required for contractions and birth in mice, with dual roles of PIEZO1 in muscle and PIEZO2 in neurons www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
PIEZO channels link mechanical forces to uterine contractions in parturition
Mechanical forces are extensively involved in pregnancy and parturition, but their precise roles and mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we identify mechanically activated ion channels PIEZO1 a...
biorxiv.org
🚨🧠🔬 A major breakthrough in molecular neuroscience: I am excited to share a new story from our lab, published in accelerated format today by @nature.com: "Delta-type glutamate receptors are ligand-gated ion channels" Read more here (free article link): rdcu.be/eGIKz
Post an image from your summer that confers peace. (from the Telluride ion channels workshop)
Andrew Plested@andrewplested.bsky.social · 11mo agoPost an image from your summer that confers peace.
Happy to share a new preprint from the Clarke & Vallese (@fravallese.bsky.social) labs reporting #cryoem structures of two RBC stomatin complexes – with AQP1 & UT-B - continuing the SPFH theme from our recent vault preprint! This was a fun one and has been cooking for a while - read on for more! ⬇️
First pre-print from the Lucas Lab led by Matthew Giammar and @joshdcryoem.bsky.social online today! We develop a new, extensible Python implementation of 2DTM and apply it to build pixel size optimization, constrained search and characterize molecular motions in situ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Leopard-EM: An extensible 2DTM package to accelerate in situ structural biology
The ability to generate high-resolution views of cells with cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can reveal the molecular mechanisms of biological processes in their native cellular context. The re...
biorxiv.org
This is not who we are. We must join together to call this out, to make more people understand what is happening and work to stop it.
Happy to share the my lab's latest preprint, where we investigated sensorimotor circuit formation in the developing spinal cord. We show that proprioceptive axons target motor neurons in neighboring spinal segments to give rise to intersegmental reflex responses. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Activity-driven proprioceptive synaptic refinement in the developing spinal cord by complement signaling mechanisms
Proprioceptive group Ia afferents detect muscle stretch to guide effortless and purposeful movement and make monosynaptic connections with spinal α–motor neurons to mediate reflexes, such as the stret...
biorxiv.org
Kainate receptor modulation by Neto including an open state. Surprising, to me: I would never have imagined that Neto works like a membrane-tethered lectin (ConA). Auxiliary proteins influence dimer-dimer interactions, as we and others also showed in AMPARs. #iGluRs www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Activation of kainate receptor GluK2–Neto2 complex - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Gangwar et al. present cryo-electron microscopy structures of GluK2 kainate receptors with auxiliary subunit Neto2 and reveal the basis of receptor activation.
nature.com
Congratulations 2025 Gilliam Fellows and Advisors! 🎉 The Gilliam Fellows Program launches promising PhD students into impactful scientific research careers while fostering inclusive training environments. Through this program, HHMI supports both graduate students and their faculty thesis advisors.
No matter where you went to school, the Trump admin has targeted YOUR college/university for cuts and obedience. If you've got your alumni association's contact info, let them know where you want your alma mater to stand. www.americanprogress.org/article/mapp...
Mapping Federal Funding Cuts to U.S. Colleges and Universities
American science and innovation should not be subject to the political winds of the day. Find out how the Trump administration’s grant terminations are affecting your school, your community, and your ...
americanprogress.org
Checkout this preprint - they find that fever induces long-term synaptic enhancement through AMPARs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Quite interesting to consider along with our finding that temperature enhances AMPAR activation: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Link here! guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...
Case Study: Pseudosymmetry in TRPV5 and Calmodulin (EMPIAR-10256) | CryoSPARC Guide
Processing EMPIAR-10256 with a focus on handling pseudosymmetry and 3D Classification parameter choices.
guide.cryosparc.com
Structura Biotechnology@structurabio.bsky.social · last yr.Working with symmetric or pseudosymmetric particles in #cryoEM? This TRPV5 and CaM case study includes practical considerations for using symmetry relaxation and 3D classification when analyzing a pseudosymmetric particle in #CryoSPARC!
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Come work at Nature Methods! A dream job. I know from experience 😄
Nature Methods@natmethods.nature.com · last yr.Nature Methods is hiring! We are seeking a new editor with expertise in microscopy, imaging technology, and/or cell biology. The position is available in NYC/Jersey City or Shanghai/Beijing on a hybrid working model. Apply by August 3! springernature.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/SpringerNatu...
