Justin Taraska
@taraska.bsky.social
Structural cell biology, biophysics, fluorescence, electron microscopy, art, nature. All opinions are my own.
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...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Layered helical order reveals assembly states in podosome actin networks
The heart has a mysterious and complex nervous system of its own. Scientists are starting to reveal its secrets go.nature.com/4wl3z70
The heart has a ‘little brain’ — and it protects against stress
A subset of cardiac neurons keep the heart from malfunctioning in stressed mice.
go.nature.com
Here's a classic for Sci-Fi Cutaway Saturday: A 1970s cutaway view of a Toroidal Colony, by NASA artist Rick Guidice
De novo design of orthogonal far-red, orange, and green fluorophore-binding proteins for multiplexed imaging | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
De novo design of orthogonal far-red, orange, and green fluorophore-binding proteins for multiplexed imaging
Fluorescent proteins and small-molecule dyes offer complementary advantages for biological imaging: proteins are amenable to genetic tagging, whereas dyes provide superior brightness and photostabilit...
science.org
Looking for poetry in graphic novel form? We suggest the graphic novel adaptation of The Odyssey by @garethhinds.bsky.social. #AskALibrarian
The Odyssey — Multnomah County Library
The Odyssey — Hinds, Gareth, 1971- — Retells, in graphic novel format, Homer's epic tale of Odysseus, the ancient Greek hero who encounters witches and other obstacles on his journey home after fighti...
multcolib.bibliocommons.com
Excited to share our new paper, now published in Nature Cell Biology! 🎉 We asked a fundamental question in cell biology: How do cells maintain polarity while migrating? Especially how do cancer cells navigate confined spaces? www.nature.com/articles/s41556-026-01981-1
CD44 restricts EGFR mobility to polarize cytoskeletal signalling modules driving bleb-based migration - Nature Cell Biology
Jha et al. show that the transmembrane protein CD44 restricts EGFR mobility to maintain an EGFR–PI3K–Rac gradient during bleb-based cell migration.
nature.com
I had a ton of fun the other day talking with @nonresidentdesi.bsky.social and @scifri.bsky.social 's Flora Lichtman and Rasha Aridi about murderous microbes and the things that we are trying to learn from them. Happy for the opportunity to bring some new awareness to the world of protists!
Science Friday@scifri.bsky.social · last mo.Researchers like Ben Larson and Glen D’Souza are piecing together the world of killer microbes, including why they turn on each other and if their tiny weapons could be harnessed to fight disease. Listen to the podcast now: www.sciencefriday.com/segments/kil...
Researchers like Ben Larson and Glen D’Souza are piecing together the world of killer microbes, including why they turn on each other and if their tiny weapons could be harnessed to fight disease. Listen to the podcast now: www.sciencefriday.com/segments/kil...
Swords, cannibalism, poison: inside the world of killer microbes
Some microbe species have evolved to stab, bomb, cannibalize, or poison each other. Can we harness their weapons for good?
sciencefriday.com
How does a cell remodel the ER membrane into a lipid droplet? Excited to share our new bioRxiv preprint, where we find that regulated opening of the seipin ring defines a functional ER–lipid droplet interface — and identify SMLR1 as a regulator of this transition. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Looking for your next step after a BS/BA or MS in biology, cell biology, biochemistry, or a related field? My NIH lab in Bethesda, MD is looking for a Lab Manager/Technical Specialist. Interested in basic research? Please email me directly or learn about our lab here: irp.nih.gov/pi/justin-ta...
Justin Taraska, Ph.D. | Principal Investigators | NIH Intramural Research Program
irp.nih.gov
ICYMI: New Online! Caveolae mechanics in cellular functions and disease
Caveolae mechanics in cellular functions and disease
Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 02 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41580-026-00964-2Caveolae are membrane invaginations that facilitate cell signalling and act as membrane reservoirs. This Review discusses recent insights into caveolae assembly and disassembly, their roles in mechanotransduction and how impaired caveolae mechanics contribute to human disease.
dlvr.it
🔬🚀 It's out! Run 100s of imaging experiments before touching a microscope. #VLab4Mic reproduces them in silico from PDB/AlphaFold to help you image right first time. From rockstars Damián Martínez & Bruno Saraiva, inaugural preprint of @mariodelr.bsky.social new lab www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Mario Del Rosario@mariodelr.bsky.social · 2mo agoCongratulations to Damián Martinez, Bruno Saraiva, @taylashakespeare.bsky.social, @wmarkbates.bsky.social, Dylan Owen, @christlet.bsky.social and @henriqueslab.bsky.social We hope VLab4Mic helps researchers design better experiments and ask better biological questions 💻 vlab4mic.henriqueslab.org
Huge thank you to the labs of @christlet.bsky.social, Dylan Owen and @wmarkbates.bsky.social, and to Tayla Shakespeare, who helped us make it happen. #VLab4Mic also heavily uses data from @rcsbpdb.bsky.social, @jonasries.bsky.social and @taraska.bsky.social
Better vitrification = better cryo-ET. We've opened an RFA for two-year grants to advance vitrification techniques for biological samples—welcoming applications from researchers in heat transfer, cryogenics, and materials science. Apply here: bit.ly/4uip6eJ
And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...
Ben Larson@blarson.bsky.social · 11mo agoWhat could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Video by Vittorio Boscaro. 1/n
A new paper in #ScienceSignaling visualizes the delicate ebb and flow of receptors within neurons via the unusual process of transcytosis—helping answer how these cells maintain their function and connectivity in vivo despite their spindly, elongated nature. https://scim.ag/4dlUGl8
Transcytosis-mediated anterograde transport of the receptor TrkA mediates the formation of presynaptic sites in sympathetic neurons
Sympathetic innervation requires transport of TrkA from the soma surface to the axon.
scim.ag
It was an honor to hear Prof. Sarah Veatch, PhD, deliver yesterday’s Inoué Lecture, discussing how spatiotemporal pair-correlation analysis can recover nanoscale membrane organization in live-cell single-molecule localization #microscopy despite diffusion and molecular motion. #MBL 🌊 #AQLM 🧫
OK, here we go. This is the good stuff. An awesome and technically innovatie new paper by good friends of mine including @profsharona.bsky.social, Bill Zagotta, and my next-door science neighbors Professor Suzanne Hoppins and grad student Sophie Hurwitz. 1/
Time-resolved tmFRET reveals GTP-coupled conformational changes in Mfn1
Hurwitz et al. leverage a novel FRET-based approach to quantify conformational dynamics of Mfn1, a member of the dynamin superfamily that mediates mitochon
rupress.org
Hydrozoa from Eel Pond @mblwoodshole imaged in dark field on an @evidentmicroscopy upright #microscope (cool to be able to tile and stitched on the go with a manual stage). These cuties are related to jellyfish, sea anemones and corals. 📸 Photo and caption credit: Nat Prunet @microscopic_farmer
#ScopeTheScope at AQLM Day 1 : Ray optics with Prof. Alexa Mattheyses, PhD. Up next: Building a microscope in the very first lab 👀 @mattheyseslab.bsky.social #MBL 🌊 #AQLM 🧫 #Microscopy 🔬 #BioImaging 🧬 #Fluorescence🪼#WoodsHole 🦞 #Optics 💡 #LightMicroscopy 🧪 #STEMCommunity 🫂 #ScientistLife 🧑🔬
Throwing the switch for our electron microscope installation. With these fabulously complex instruments, something always goes wrong at first light. Roseann Rosanna Danna’s (Gilda Radner) expression, “It just goes to show you, it’s always somethin’” is powerfully accurate.
Excited to share that my 2025 collection of science-inspired drawings is now live on the Protein Data Bank (PDB) website. Thank you @rcsbpdb.bsky.social! It is free to explore and download. I’d love to hear what you think! pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/bezs...
PDB101: Irina Bezsonova Gallery
PDB-101: Training, Outreach, and Education portal of RCSB PDB
pdb101.rcsb.org
