New paper out today with @josephguhlin.bsky.social where we did penguin GWAS to better understand disease risk and found that these penguins represent three deep evolutionary lineages www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Population genomics of yellow-eyed penguins uncovers subspecies divergence and candidate genes linked to respiratory distress syndrome - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Whole-genome data from 249 yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) identify three lineages with high geographical and genomic divergence, and candidate gene variants associated with differential susceptibility t...

nature.com

Massive Congrats to @pseudokinase.bsky.social for being named an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of NZ! Been great collaborating and enjoying niche 90s live music over the years. Also well done @peterkdearden.bsky.social and the new NZ-based fellows! www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/latest-...

Latest cohort of Ngā Ahurei Fellows announced

Twenty-one new Ngā Ahurei Fellows have been elected to the Academy of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, including one Honorary Fellow. Fellowship recognises researchers, scholars, and innovators through...

royalsociety.org.nz

Now online! The E3-ome gene-centric compendium reveals the human E3 ligase landscape

The E3-ome gene-centric compendium reveals the human E3 ligase landscape

The E3-ome defines the human repertoire of ubiquitin E3 ligases, creating a unified resource that maps their diversity across the ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like systems. By consolidating fragmented knowledge, this framework provides a foundation for studying ubiquitin signaling and accelerating discovery.

dlvr.it

New post-doctoral research position in my phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory in @otagomicroimmuno.bsky.social at @universityofotago.bsky.social New Zealand. The project is focused on defences against jumbo phages. Please share and if interested apply using the link in the comments.

Our biannual newsletter is out 📬 Insights, updates, and what’s ahead—read the latest edition here: bit.ly/4pY9jzA

We’ve made some new tools to manipulate N-recognins. Check them out in our preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Honour to have our Plenary from Nobel Laureate Sir Richard Roberts at our NZSBMB Conference 2025

We have a fully funded studentship to start your PhD in October 2026! Work with me, Elton Zeqiraj and Joe Cockburn to find new ways to treat diseases with high levels of Hedgehog signalling. Fantastic training in cell and structural biology, genomic screening and biochemistry at the Uni of Leeds!

Stopping GLI transcription factors in their tracks: identifying regulators of proteolysis as therapeutic targets. at University of Leeds on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Stopping GLI transcription factors in their tracks: identifying regulators of proteolysis as therapeutic targets. at University of Leeds, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

Just confirming what we already knew: Otago Biochemist Associate Professor Lynette Brownfield is an awesome postgrad supervisor! This week awarded the Division of Health Sciences Supervisor of the year. Here she is with her group of young scientists enjoying a well-earned break amongst the rhodies.

Ready for a transformative research journey? 🚀 Join the vibrant, interdisciplinary PhD programmes at NTU College of Science in Singapore! We offer fully funded scholarships. Hear from our students and faculty in the video below 👇 youtu.be/JeZHiXu3fgE

NTU College of Science PhD opportunities

YouTube video by College of Science NTU

youtu.be

Is the alphafold database performing really poorly, and Uniprot alphafold links broken for everyone, or just me? I've tried clearing my cache, but any tips @ebi.embl.org?

Open Group Leader Positions at the IMB, UQ. Interested in joining us in sunny Queensland?

Excellent course content for my scientific writing class!

Ellinor Alseth@ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Obsessed with this Journal of Immaterial Science article 🔥

Muyuan Chen has turned structural biology into an immersive experience with his new video game Meowtabolism, now available on Steam. Try the demo here: store.steampowered.com/app/4045010/... Give Muyuan feedback: steamcommunity.com/app/4045010 #ScienceGaming #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #STEMOutreach

Meowtabolism - Examining Feline Behavior within Unicellular Algae on Steam

Explore the interior of an algal cell on your four paws. Built with experimental data and populated with actual protein structures, Meowtabolism offers a glimpse of the vast world inside the basic fun...

store.steampowered.com

Matthew Collins@matthewcollins.bsky.social · 2y ago

This single author paper has to be seen to be believed.... My 'GIF' does it no justice Chen, M. (2023) ‘Rendering protein structures inside cells at the atomic level with Unreal Engine’, bioRxiv. doi.org/10.1101/2023...

I am thrilled to release ProteinDJ: a high-performance and modular protein design pipeline. Our open-source workflow incorporates #RFdiffusion, #ProteinMPNN, #FAMPNN, #AlphaFold2 and #Boltz-2. It is a fast, free, and fun way to design proteins (1/5) doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.24.678028 #proteindesign

We're hiring! Come join us as a Lecture/Senior Lecturer in the fantastic supportive Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago. Dunedin is a super-liveable city, which just happens to have some of the best access to nature (and biking) in Aotearoa...... otago.taleo.net/careersectio...

Peer reviewers are exhausted. It's common to spend *months* inviting reviewers, getting refusals, inviting more, maybe 12 or more, then 2 agree but 1 doesn't complete, so you go again. That's why your paper is in limbo. I'm very sorry, it's awful, but it's also an untenable academic labour issue.

Translational research is digging for gold. Basic research is learning where and what to dig. The more funding is diverted to translation, the more we deplete the research ecosystem, driving the supplies of "gold" - immediately translatable findings and innovations - to unsustainably low levels.

Biochemistry Special Seminar Wed 27 Aug 1pm Rm BIG13 Distinguished Professor Natarajan Kannan, University of Georgia Evolution of regulation in signaling systems: From ancient cores to modern complexity

Vinnie Tagliabracci kicking off the final morning of #iubmbkinases, post conference dinner crowd still strong (with coffee....)

Onward into metabolism. Kicking off the pm session with Grace Gong (LMB) and John Burke (UVic) #iubmbKinases @iubmb.bsky.social We thank @biochemsoc.bsky.social #BiochemJ for their support of this session. The weather couldn’t even lure us away!

Welcoming Grace Gong back to NZ to kick off afternoon number 3, lipid kinases at #iubmbkinases

Day 3 of #iubmbKinases @iubmb.bsky.social and many of us sprung up to take this photo through the conference room window - even during talks. Queenstown turning on a stunner of a day, matched only by some terrific science

Flying start to the #iubmbkinases meeting in beautiful Queenstown, NZ. Jubilee Award from IUBMB to Kevan Shokat yesterday, and a kinase masterclass from Susan Taylor this morning

Robust debate in Parliament yesterday, with questions from Scott Willis to Shane Reti MP about cuts, job losses and whether reprioritisation will yield clarity or any benefits. The answers aren't reassuring but it is good to see this getting attention. youtu.be/Vam6UmnvtyY

RSIT in Parliament – Oral Q5 14 Aug 2025

YouTube video by New Zealand Association of Scientists

youtu.be

This! journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Why would anyone want to be a scientist?

It is difficult to fathom why anyone intelligent enough to be a scientist would actually choose to be one. Doing good science requires the utmost exertion of body, mind and spirit, yet is consistently...

journals.biologists.com

Four weeks left for abstract submission and early-bird registration for the NZ Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology annual meeting!! Adele Williamson and William Kelton are putting together an amazing program including outstanding plenary speakers! www.nzsbmb.org/conference-2025-rotorua

Excited to see this work led by Cameron Reddington and Annabel Walsh out in @febsj.bsky.social — ASXL proteins share a PHD domain that is not a PHD domain, evolved to bind an MBD domain that is not an MBD domain! febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

FEBS Press

A plant homeodomain (PHD) at the C terminus of additional sex combs-like (ASXL) proteins is recurrently truncated in disease. In the current study, the ASXL PHD was shown not to bind histone modifica...

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

For every €1 invested in Horizon Europe programme, Europe is expected to get as much as €11 in GDP return Source: www.innovationnewsnetwork.com/horizon-euro...

Horizon Europe delivers €11 GDP return for every €1 invested

Learn how Horizon Europe is driving innovation and growth across the EU, with up to €11 in GDP returns and sixfold societal benefits by 2045.

innovationnewsnetwork.com