John Rubinstein

Congratulations, Jason!

The certificate by Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance, issued in Voncina, 2025, spells out that a newly described species of chiton has been formally named Craspedochiton zefranki. This is in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science communication, which have inspired curiosity, wonder, and deeper public engagement with the natural world.

I'm excited to report that a species has been named after my son Ze Frank, "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to science communication, which have inspired curiosity, wonder, and deeper public engagement with the natural world"

Our cryo-EM structure of the intermediate state of the KCNQ1 potassium channel is out. Collaborative effort with the David Fedida and Luca Maragliano labs. Cryo-EM work spearheaded by Efthimios Kyriakis, PhD

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

EXCITING NEWS!! We're searching for a new professor colleague at the Biozentrum🇨🇭. Ideal candidates are exploring novel biological questions with structure, biophysics, or high-resolution imaging. 🧪 🧶🧬 🔬

The call closes Nov 3. Please get in touch if you would like more information. Come join us! 👩‍🔬🤓

We have an open post-doc position in my group to study mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation using biochemical reconstitution and cryoEM.

Please get in touch if you are interested in joining this amazing team! 🔬🧬🤩
#RNA #cryoEM

Is that the F20??

Nice! Congratulations!

🚨🧠🔬 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

We are hiring! Oxford biology has three associate professorships available as we move to new state-of-the-art facilities

Three Associate Professor (or Professor) positions available at Oxford Biology. Come be my colleague! www.biology.ox.ac.uk/article/we-a...

SickKids named world’s best pediatric hospital in new ranking The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto has topped a new list ranking the world’s top pediatric hospitals.

Proud to be a scientist at SickKids. www.ctvnews.ca/toronto/arti... @sickkidsto.bsky.social

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...

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...

Image of Toronto

JOB ALERT 🚨 We are hiring TWO principal investigators in cell, molecular, systems, or chemical biology in Toronto, Canada at @sinaihealth.bsky.social. We provide a generous startup, fully funded salary and academic appointment at U of Toronto.

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Please repost!

Moderna just received Health Canada authorization for its updated LP.8.1 variant COVID-19 vaccine. The exciting part? It will be manufactured domestically! Their authorization allows parts of the vaccine to be produced at Moderna’s new facility in Quebec, while the fill-finish will be handled by Novocol Pharma in Ontario. The domestically produced vaccine will be ready for this year’s fall vaccination campaign.

I mentioned to a couple of people that I had a surprise waiting to be shared when Moderna got approval for its updated COVID-19 vaccine. It’s approved, and the big news??? Completely produced domestically!!!!! 🥳🤩

Approved as usual for all aged 6mo+!

Montréal keeps getting better and better!

Integrated structural biology of the native malarial translation machinery and its inhibition by an antimalarial drug Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Integrated structural biology approach leveraging in situ cryo-electron tomography reveals molecular details of the native malarial translation...

Our #CryoET story on how a top antimalarial drug candidate perturbs the native malarial translation machinery is out @natsmb.nature.com🥳 rdcu.be/eBbrH

A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo

Canada plans a 15% budget cut. Scientists are alarmed Cuts could erase promised boost, researchers fear

I can save Carney heaps—start with NFRF, CERC & the global innovation clusters.

DON’T touch tricouncil funding.
This would be the worst ROI & catastrophic for 🇨🇦’s research, innovation, training & economic development & growth.

@liberalca.bsky.social
@mark-carney.bsky.social

U of T's Philosopher's Walk, with the Royal Ontario Museum on the left and the Royal Conservatory of Music's Koerner Hall on the right.

U of T St. George Campus, around Kings College Cirlce. A view of Hart House's Soldiers' Tower (centre) with part of University College (left)

A view of U of T University College from King's College Circle.

Benches on King's College Circle, U of T.

Whoever designed the new landscaping around King's College Circle at @utoronto.ca has done a brilliant job!
All summer I've been getting off the subway early to walk down Philosopher's Walk and the new walkways on the St. George campus - a great half hour start to each day.

🚨🇨🇦 Job Alert 🇨🇦🚨
Assistant Professor in Aging, at a great university in one of the world's great cities!

Nanoengineered bioanode with oxygen-insensitive hydrogenase for sustainable energy harvesting from atmospheric hydrogen and waste gases Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs) utilizing hydrogenases to oxidize hydrogen offer a sustainable approach to energy conservation. However, the oxygen se…

1/3 Electricity from air! In the top journal Nano Energy today, we report the first fuel cell that makes power from air alone. We achieved this by using the enzyme Huc to oxidize ambient hydrogen. This results in a continuous low-level power from air and higher outputs with industrial waste gases.

Discovery: mRNA vaccine candidate blocks malaria from reproducing inside mosquitoes, cuts transmission by up to 99.7%. Built on cryo-EM insights into parasite’s fertilisation machinery. A key step towards elimination. In @science.org

🔗 www.wehi.edu.au/news/reveale...

The rest of the world, fortunately, will not ignore the huge potential of RNA vaccines. The result will be loss of leadership in the US and delay of benefits to Americans. The promise of personalized anti-cancer vaccines alone is incredible. #OwnGoal

Health secretary RFK Jr. shuts door on U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research Vaccine experts and people steeped in pandemic preparedness expressed horror at the news that RFK Jr. has shut the door in U.S. investment in mRNA vaccine research.

Pandemic preparedness in the US has been leveled a crippling blow with the cancellation of multiple #BARDA contracts to help develop mRNA vaccines. No other vaccine platform produces vaccine so quickly; without mRNA, Americans will have a long wait for pandemic vax. www.statnews.com/2025/08/05/m...

Excited to share our latest work with @simonbullock11.bsky.social! We looked at how diverse mRNAs get selected for subcellular localization and it turns out that a single protein can recognize different RNA elements using shared features that weren’t apparent before.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very nice work! Congratulations!

This is very cool!

Check out our new preprint on the discovery of a molecular switch in NAC that mediates nascent chain sorting on the ribosome and prevents mitochondrial protein mistargeting by SRP. A great collaboration with the Shan Lab @Caltech and the Qi Lab @UVA: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congratulations @kev-in-situ-et.bsky.social and the whole team on in situ cryo-ET images of OA-induced mitochondria damage and Parkin-dependent mitophagy out now tinyurl.com/25b82cp4. We couldn't have done it without in situ guru @wilflinglab.bsky.social and mito guru @samlewis.bsky.social .‬

Sub-3 Å resolution protein structure determination by single-particle cryo-EM at 100 keV Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) has transformed structural biology by providing high-resolution insights into biological macromolecules. We report s…

Now out in Structure: Paper on high-resolution #cryoEM using the 100 kV Tundra cryo-TEM by Dimple Karia, Adrian Koh, @abhaykot.bsky.social, @lingboyu.bsky.social, @landerlab.bsky.social and many others. Happy to have contributed to this effort. Check it out:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

SuFEx-based antitubercular compound irreversibly inhibits Pks13 - Nature A preclinical covalent compound, CMX410, contains a aryl fluorosulfate warhead that targets the acyltransferase domain of Mtb Pks13, an essential enzyme in cell-wall biosynthesis, making it a pro...

This has a neat mechanism of inhibition:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...