One cell, one tomogram! Our montage tomography workflow, MOSAIC, is out in Structure, and MontageMaker is on GitHub! MOSAIC: www.cell.com/structure/fu... MontageMaker: github.com/MPI-Dortmund... Big thanks to @maikaboiero.bsky.social, Adriana Prajica, Gavin Rice, and @raunser-lab.bsky.social!

🚀 Can automation solve preferred orientation in your #cryoEM datasets? After automating processing across 21 GPCR datasets in #CryoSPARC, we updated the workflow to be even more robust to preferred orientation, achieving improved map quality over manual processing. Read more 👉 bit.ly/3RyOIGG

CryoSPARC workshop in Toronto! Beyond consensus refinements: Advanced cryo-EM data processing with CryoSPARC Sept 24-25, 2026 (part of the Canadian Cryo-EM Nexus) Register here: cvent.me/dL1wem Please see details in the link or the image Alt text @structurabio.bsky.social @sickkidsto.bsky.social

Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... Huge thanks to my collaborators, mentors @irinadudanova.bsky.social and @takakikomiyama.bsky.social , and funders (DFG, NIH, ERC, Joachim Herz Fndt., CZI, Simons Fndt.) who made this possible. It’s been a long, exciting road and there’s more ahead. Onward!

Restoring cortical disinhibition improves Huntington’s disease phenotypes - Nature

In a mouse model of Huntington’s disease, targeted modulation of neuronal activity restores network function and improves motor deficits.

nature.com

@cmholab.bsky.social @columbiamed.bsky.social solve decades-old mystery of how malaria parasites invade human cells | EurekAlert! www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

Incredibly proud of Messi Haile @mehsehret.bsky.social, a founding member of the Ho Lab, for her beautiful work uncovering the inner workings of a central piece of the malaria parasite invasion machinery: the malarial moving junction, out today in @cellpress.bsky.social! tinyurl.com/4p3md2eb 🦠❄️🔬

Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Galvanin (TMEM154) is an electric-field sensor for directed cell migration

Galvanin is an electric-field sensor that links electrical cues to directed migration in rapidly moving cells.

cell.com

What is the best way to distribute the electron dose across your tilt series in cryo ET? Thanks to Maarten Tuijtel, we finally know --> head over to eLife for the publication! doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Max Planck Institute of Biophysics@mpibp.bsky.social · last mo.

1/3: We are excited to share a new study by Maarten Tuijtel from @becklab.bsky.social, published in eLife. 🔬 🎉 The work addresses a key question in cryo-electron tomography: how to best distribute the limited electron dose across a tilt series while balancing angular sampling and image quality. 💥

the-one-percent.qedscience.com Thanks to #qed for including our preprint entitled "Amyloid-mediated RNA uptake by sperm for embryonic delivery" in the most compelling preprints of 2025! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Now in Nature SMB: how do proteins fold while still being made? We solved all-atom structures of two ribosome-tethered folding intermediates—invisible to cryo-EM, seen only by ¹⁹F NMR. Thank you @julianstreit.bsky.social, John Christodoulou & co-authors! nature.com/articles/s41594-026-01814-7

Structures of protein folding intermediates on the ribosome - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Atomistic structural ensembles of protein folding intermediates on the ribosome are resolved by comprehensive 19F nuclear magnetic resonance analyses integrated with molecular dynamics simulations, pr...

nature.com

Hats off to JC and team, amazing work

Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦@merz.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is jaw-dropping.

Microscopy nerd alert: two scopes in California can now do phase contrast cryoEM - potentially fixing the tech's very low signal/noise ratio. The phase filter they used is a laser. Which is also the brightest thing in the solar system (outside of the inside of the sun). cen.acs.org/analytical-c...

15 years, flawless mirrors, and the brightest laser in the world: How physicists brought phase contrast to cryo-EM

Phase contrast enables structures of smaller proteins, could drive in-cell proteomics

cen.acs.org

Scientists detail a previously unknown pathway by which our bodies fight infections--directly inside infected cells. Read more in Molecular Cell: www.cell.com/molecular-ce... Tyler Rhinesmith, Leo James, & colleagues @cp-molcell.bsky.social

Automation of #CryoEM SPA from raw movies in @cryosparc.bsky.social to the generation of high-resolution density maps Resolution improved in 80% of the targeted #GPCR datasets The pipeline in this paper is available for download and use: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredibly excited and grateful to be joining the Burroughs Wellcome Fund family! Thank you @bwfund.bsky.social and the selection committee members for supporting and believing in our vision and congrats to the other 2026 PATH Investigators!!! 🥳

Burroughs Wellcome Fund@bwfund.bsky.social · 3mo ago

BWF Announces the 2026 Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease www.bwfund.org/news/bwf-ann... #bwfpath

Exciting to see momentum building around our concept of inverse agonist-bound GPCR–G protein complex structures (PMID: 39775170). Great work from the groups of Can Cao & Xiaoguang Lei: a clinically viable MRGPRX4 inverse agonist for chronic itch with therapeutic potential. Congrats to all!

Development of a clinically viable MRGPRX4 inverse agonist for cholestatic itch treatment - Nature Chemical Biology

This study elucidates the structural mechanism of HEP-50768, a novel MRGPRX4 inverse agonist, and demonstrates its potent anti-itch efficacy and favorable safety in preclinical models, positioning it ...

nature.com

Effective laser phase plates should be transformational for cryo-EM and this proof of principle study shows a pulsed system successfully intergrated in a SEM. A powerful step towards functional systems in a cryo-TEM

@fitzpatricklab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Pulsed #lasers integrated with #cryoEM: @fitzpatricklab.bsky.social postdoc Daniel Du aims to boost contrast in #cryoET zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/making-world-s-best-microscopes-biology-better zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/science-life-daniel-du elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/109793v1

Pulsed #lasers integrated with #cryoEM: @fitzpatricklab.bsky.social postdoc Daniel Du aims to boost contrast in #cryoET zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/making-world-s-best-microscopes-biology-better zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/science-life-daniel-du elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/109793v1

Neuroscientists are always looking for new tools that can bring the brain into sharper focus. For postdoc Daniel Du, that means shooting lasers at state-of-the-art microscopes to take better snapshots of the building blocks of the brain: zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/science-life...

How do you make one of the best microscopes in biology even better? Postdoc Daniel Du of the Fitzpatrick lab zapped electrons with a laser. The new research in @elife.bsky.social with Cornell’s Maxson lab promises improved snapshots of the brain: zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/making-world...

🚀 CryoSPARC v5.0 BETA is here! We’re excited to deploy another major #CryoSPARC release to help enable and accelerate #cryoEM data analysis. v5 has a redesigned underlying software system and many new features - highlights in thread! Full changelog: cryosparc.com/updates/v5.0.0

Frozen Bryant Park fountain in snowy NYC!

A combined approach using light microscopy and ion beam milling enhances the precision of cryoET sample preparation, enabling more accurate targeting of small, rare structures within cells. doi.org/hbkb94

Tightening the focus of subcellular snapshots: Combined approach yields better cell slices for cryoET imaging

Taking images of tiny structures within cells is tricky business. One technique, cryogenic electron tomography (cryoET), shoots electrons through a frozen sample.

phys.org

Reversible lipid-mediated pH-gating of connexin-46/50 by cryo-EM pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41526355/ #cryoEM

Amyloid-mediated RNA uptake by sperm for embryonic delivery https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.10.693493v1

Excited to share our latest research, out today in Cell (@cellpress.bsky.social) Using cryo-EM and cell-based studies, we reveal how large nutrient sensing protein complexes form at the lysosomal membrane to turn off mTORC1 and halt anabolic signalling. Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Another member of the Fitzpatrick/Shapiro quad @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social embarks on setting up his lab! If you wish to use #cryoEM #cryoET to study how viruses enter & evade the immune system, & design antibody-based vaccines, check out the Roark lab: isb.med.upenn.edu/research/cryoem-and-cryoet

Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH. And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you. A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n

bioRxivpreprint@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1

Thrilled to see our review article "The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins" highlighted on the cover of Nature Reviews Neuroscience 🤩. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @msarscentre.bsky.social 🧠✨🧬🌊🪼🧽

Pawel Burkhardt@pawelburkhardt.bsky.social · 9mo ago

First neurons didn’t appear overnight. We trace their roots to ancient secretory cells - showing how lifestyle & behavior shaped the evolution of first synapses.🧠🌊 #Evolution #Neuroscience Our latest in @natrevneuro.nature.com Link: rdcu.be/eMX3E @jeffcolgren.bsky.social @msarscentre.bsky.social

A quick tutorial on the DAQ structure validation score for protein models derived from cryo-EM. DAQ evaluates amino acid–level accuracy in your model. Consider including a DAQ validation report in your next publication! www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRAT...

DAQ-Score: Automatic AI-based Cryo-EM Structure Model Validation!

YouTube video by Kihara Bioinformatics Lab

youtube.com