We already do this and companies who want them are happy to pay for PhD student interns. Why do precious and limited NSF funds need to be deployed for this? Most PhD student pursue industry jobs anyways - that has always been true. Use NSF funds to support basic science that industry wont support!

Jonathan Wosen@jonathanwosen.bsky.social · 7d ago

With academic jobs few and far between, the NSF is testing a new approach to graduate education: Giving Ph.D. students industry experience — and dollars — as part of their training. For more, see my latest for @statnews.com. www.statnews.com/2026/07/29/h...

In before this turns to a whole scam? usually soliciting media attention of your work before letting your peers see it is not a good sign. Anyone remember cold fusion?

Elias Spiliotis@septinlab.bsky.social · last mo.

"...rejected by Cell after one reviewer said SpudCells were not real biology... then sent the 190-page manuscript to journalists, under embargo, even before uploaded it to bioRxiv... She says her group will submit it to a new journal soon." www.science.org/content/arti...

Jeremy Hollis’ detective story on centromeric histone chaperones (HJURP/Cal1) is now published after peer review with a few extra goodies. @jeremyahollis.bsky.social @nlehrbach.bsky.social @cbmoens.bsky.social @irinakitop.bsky.social @basicsci.fredhutch.org www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Remote homology and functional genetics unmask deeply preserved Scm3/HJURP orthologs in metazoans

Animals encode a rapidly evolving, essential cell cycle gene previously thought to be absent.

science.org

Jeremy Hollis@jeremyahollis.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We have some genetic sleuth work to share with you! What started as a rotation project turned into nothing short of an amazing collaboration between 4 labs in the zoo that is @basicsci.fredhutch.org. We found an essential histone chaperone long thought to be missing in most animals 🕵️‍♂️ bit.ly/4uf8sxz

I wanted to dig into this institutional concentration a bit deeper, as I think its important to consider what the qed black box is actually learning. I think we should be very skeptical of a for-profit company claiming they have a neutral ranking to uncover exceptional preprints. 1/n

Ran Blekhman@blekhman.bsky.social · last mo.

I wanted to like QED's new 1% preprint ranking. I really did. But the more I looked at the data, the more uncomfortable it made me. Here is my full peer review. open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...

there is nothing new under the sun

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Phage-encoded single-guide RNAs subvert CRISPR-Cas9 immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.01.729453v1

This is a very poor essay, or the authors are trying to prove a point, that AI cannot write convincing rhetoric www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Progression without progress

Progress in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to advance scientific discovery has made it increasingly realistic to envision automated “end-to-end science” (ETES) systems: integrated pipelines t...

science.org

Out today - structure of the human HIRA histone chaperone complex bound to nucleosomes. Ever wondered how nucleosomes are assembled in the wake of transcription? It takes a 'hulk of a protein complex'. Work by the amazing Wei Tian weetian558.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵

This image is from 2015 and is acquired by the EPIC system on the DSCOVR satellite. Why it is posted with no information I do not know. Many people seem to think this was taken by the Artemis ii crew... www.nasa.gov/solar-system...

From a Million Miles Away, NASA Camera Shows Moon Crossing Face of Earth - NASA

A NASA camera aboard the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite captured a unique view of the moon as it moved in front of the sunlit side of Earth

nasa.gov

Alex Steffen@alexsteffen.bsky.social · 4mo ago

I hadn't seen this before. This is pretty remarkable. Earth and Moon in one NASA photo. ht @astrokatie.com

Very nice preprint from the Biggins lab highlighting the importance of the Cbf1 transcription factor in kinetochore assembly and centromere function: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Still left wondering how Cbf1 and Cbf3 interact, as suggested by the old literature on this matter...

Really nice to see @marstonlab.bsky.social's News & Views piece cover the evolution of budding yeast centromeres in @nature.com. Check it out for a clear and concise breakdown of @maxhaase.bsky.social’s new paper and ours! 🧬

Adele Marston@marstonlab.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I had fun writing this N&Vs on two fascinating new papers on centromere evolution in yeast. If you’re interested in how centromeres adapt yet stay functional, here’s my take. rdcu.be/e6DD0 @nature.com @gautamdey.bsky.social @gsherloc.bsky.social @helsenjana.bsky.social @maxhaase.bsky.social

What a fantastic News & Views piece in @nature.com from @marstonlab.bsky.social highlighting recent insights into yeast centromere evolution, including the recent paper from @helsenjana.bsky.social and our own.

Adele Marston@marstonlab.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I had fun writing this N&Vs on two fascinating new papers on centromere evolution in yeast. If you’re interested in how centromeres adapt yet stay functional, here’s my take. rdcu.be/e6DD0 @nature.com @gautamdey.bsky.social @gsherloc.bsky.social @helsenjana.bsky.social @maxhaase.bsky.social

Congratulations to @maxhaase.bsky.social on his recent publication from his time in the Boeke Lab at NYU, where he used methods from the Y1000+ consortium! 🥳 We are very proud to have had him as an undergraduate student in our lab. med.nyu.edu/research/boe...

Boeke Lab Team | NYU Langone Health

NYU Langone’s Boeke Lab comprises faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and research staff who synthesize an engineered yeast genome.

med.nyu.edu

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

"Nobody will care about your work about sugar metabolism and transporters in Neurospora crassa" Nobody can predict what can happen with your work. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Fungal-derived cellobiose metabolic pathway fuels T cells to bypass intratumoral glucose competition

Solid tumors harbor immunosuppressive microenvironments that inhibit tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) through the voracious consumption of glucos…

sciencedirect.com

Nature research paper: Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres go.nature.com/4c3kP9A

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature

Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with retrotransposon-rich centromeres and that long-terminal-repeat retrotransposons are the genetic substrate.

go.nature.com

Happy to share our latest paper. Our findings uncover a unique chromatin architecture and spatial chromosome arrangement in gonadal germ cells and document that alongside global DNA demethylation, the germline epigenetic reprogramming involves reorganisation of the 3D genome.

Global reorganization of genome architecture at the transition to gametogenesis - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Huang, Rigau and colleagues observe major changes in how DNA is organized in early germ cells before they start developing into sperm or eggs. These results show that germline removes structural ‘memo...

nature.com

So excited to share this manuscript led by the inimitable Cara Brand, who discovered that Topoisomerase II evolution causes hybrid female lethality in Drosophila. Congrats to Cara, @nickbr0wn.bsky.social, Anirban, and @buszczaklab.bsky.social! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Great thread on budding yeast centromere evolution! (Bonus points for avoiding “it’s not x; it’s y” sentence structure) 😊

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Perpetually in awe of the astonishing creative capacity of retrotransposons in eukaryotic cell biology — makes you wonder what remarkable, still-hidden origin stories centromeres across the tree of life carry.

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

"Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres" #yeastevolution

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature

Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...

nature.com

The first centromeres to be cloned (by chromosome walking) by Clarke and Carbon (should have won them a Nobel) were mysterious in their origin. Max et al have solved the mystery.

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

"In this model, two linked innovations—the single Cse4CENP-A nucleosome and the CBF3 complex—emerged before the canonical CDEI, CDEII, CDEIII structure, marking an early phase of sequence-dependent centromere evolution."

Max Haase@maxhaase.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Our paper is now out in Nature: “Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres” www.nature.com/articles/s41... A short thread on how retrotransposons helped give rise to yeast point centromeres. 1/14

Ancient co-option of LTR retrotransposons as yeast centromeres - Nature

Evolutionarily related ‘proto-point’ centromeres providing resolution to the evolutionary origins of point centromeres are identified in yeast, and comparison shows they evolved in an ancestor with re...

nature.com

I don't envy people who start their PhDs now. What they should be trying to do - I think - is to first become confident experts in certain things, and this might involve using as little AI as possible not to become dependent or have their view distorted.

I appreciate the comments by Max Raas, Eelco Tromer and others on my paper published last year "Hypothesis that ancestral eukaryotes sexually proliferated without kinetochores or mitosis". However, I do not think their critiques can reject my hypothesis. For details, please read the paper. 1/n

Max Raas@maxraas.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Recently, a Hypothesis was posed in @jcellsci.bsky.social in which the root of eukaryotes was placed between kinetoplastids and all other eukaryotes. From this, it was implied that LECA did not have a kinetochore. We argue this is highly unlikely. A 🧵(1/12) Read our reply here: tinyurl.com/n87myhpr

Love a good disagreement, means the field is alive and well! One wonders wether lost genes are truly lost in highly divergent lineages or they are just hiding in plain sight?

Max Raas@maxraas.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Recently, a Hypothesis was posed in @jcellsci.bsky.social in which the root of eukaryotes was placed between kinetoplastids and all other eukaryotes. From this, it was implied that LECA did not have a kinetochore. We argue this is highly unlikely. A 🧵(1/12) Read our reply here: tinyurl.com/n87myhpr

someone should tell the physicists that biologists found dark matter sitting right in our genomes!

The Conversation U.S.@us.theconversation.com · 6mo ago

Researchers are launching a Human RNome Project to map every bit of RNA and its chemical modifications, and this work could transform how we treat cancer, neurological disorders and more buff.ly/KCr3yRR 🧪🩺

No, DeepMind has not solved the protein folding problem. #Alphafold predictions are valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace experimental structure determination.

reality check 🤔😕😢@realitycheck.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Human chemists spent their entire careers trying to solve the protein folding problem. DeepMind's AlphaFold solved it in a couple of years, creating an enormously valuable data set for other scientists to use. The scientists who made it their life's work to solve protein folding? Moving on.

It’s out! 🥳 Excited to share our new paper (with Kai Walstein, @andrea-musacchio.bsky.social and all others) on the role of M18BP1 in CENP-A loading! “M18BP1 valency and a distributed interaction footprint determine epigenetic centromere specification in humans” link.springer.com/article/10.1...

M18BP1 valency and a distributed interaction footprint determine epigenetic centromere specification in humans - The EMBO Journal

The histone H3 variant CENP-A is considered an epigenetic landmark of centromeres. Its deposition reflects cell-cycle-regulated assembly of M18BP1, HJURP, and PLK1 on a divalent MIS18α/β scaffold. The...

link.springer.com

Two new papers from the lab published in The EMBO Journal! link.springer.com/article/10.1... By Kai Walstein, @louisa-hill.bsky.social and others – On role of M18BP1 in CENP-A loading link.springer.com/article/10.1... By Arianna Esposito Verza and others – On mechanism of activation of PLK1