Brett Collins

Finally out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com: Prediction of eukaryotic cellular complexity in Asgard archaea using structural modelling. Great work by @stephkoe.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social @jvhooff.bsky.social

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

Alzheimer’s Society Funding Call Information Webinar - DEMENTIA RESEARCHER Planning to apply for Alzheimer’s Society funding? This webinar explains the outline proposal stage, what reviewers expect, and tips to strengthen applications.

Thinking of applying for Alzheimer’s Society research funding? @alzsocresearch.bsky.social

Watch this webinar on the outline proposal stage, what reviewers look for, and how to strengthen your application.

www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/alzheimers-s...

Congratulations. It's great to see this in print.

🌀 We solved the structure for T. denticola periplasmic flagella!

I'm very happy to finally showcase this work. A huge collaborative effort between myself, @bindusmitapaul.bsky.social, @debnathghosal.bsky.social, Jack Kim, @banfieldlab.bsky.social, Eric Reynolds and the Chris Fenno lab.

🦠 Enjoy!

Mapping the yeast atructural interactome with AlphaFold3: an open call for collaboration We are excited to announce the early-stage release of our S. cerevisiae  structural interactome mapping project. Using AlphaFold3 (AF3), w...

We have started a project trying to predic the interactions/structures of all yeast protein pairs using an AlphaFold pooling approach. We are making the current dataset open and we welcome collaborations.
www.evocellnet.com/2026/03/mapp...

Galileo’s handwritten notes found in ancient astronomy text Discovery sheds new light on how famed astronomer came to lead a scientific revolution

I love everything about this! The conviction that a major figure was not struck by a bolt of lightning but worked to understand the system he would ultimately critique and help dismantle. The scholarly sleuthing rare books — all of it. 😎🤓
www.science.org/content/arti...

The results are finally in! 🏆💻🧬

I'm thrilled to announce that the manuscript for the Bits to Binders protein design competition is out on bioRxiv! Here's a summary of our findings, including some simple criteria that nearly *double* success rates when applied as a filter 🧵

a white orb covered in black speckles and spots rests on a dark sofa cushion. the left side is a dalmatian’s face, tucked in toward her haunches with her thin tail wrapped up to hug her face. she is looking at the camera with one sleepy brown eye.

This is Koyuki. Please do not disturb her. She's in ice cream scoop mode right now. Needs to focus. 12/10 (IG: fuji_bull)

a dalmatian with small brown spots all over sits up and smiles up at you with a goofy open-mouthed grin and sparkling light brown eyes. he is wearing a white plush unicorn horn, and he’s balancing beautifully on one front paw. both his ears are inside-out, but he doesn’t have a care in the world.

This is Timmy. He's here to wish you a happy Tripawd Awareness Day, celebrated of course on 3/3. It’s his lucky number. 14/10 (IG: jackson_the_dalmatian)

‘Complete joke’: Efforts to reduce funding wait times ends with longer blowout A long campaign to improve Australia’s sclerotic research bureaucracy has culminated in an extraordinary blowout to grant approval times, leaving scientists despondent.

“A complete joke”

After the starting gun fires, Australian researchers have to wait 2–3 years before even starting the race.

Really clear article explaining the impossibly long new time-frames for Australian Research Council grants.

By @liammannix.bsky.social

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

Lazy morning building a synaptic vesicle from scratch. Super WIP and not correct. Much to do.

But it has the coolest guys imho:
- Amber: Vesicular glutamate transporter (VGluT)
- Red: V-ATPase

No membrane. Need VAMP complex, etc.

#screenshotsunday

A man standing up in a crowded room of people sitting. He is dressed in workman's clothes and has his head raised as if speaking up when not necessarily belonging there.

We are a rich enough country to be funding 37% of all basic research proposals, not just considering "the best" 37% and then maybe only funding 12% in the end.

Dziurdzik, Sridhar, Conibear et al. identify a conserved adaptor that recruits BLTP2-like proteins to ER–plasma membrane contacts by binding helical projections on their lipid transfer channel to maintain #lipid homeostasis. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#MembraneContactSites #ER_literature

It’s FREE to publish in Journal of Cell Science – there are no page charges, colour charges or hidden fees. And if your institution has a Read & Publish agreement, you can publish immediate OA free of charge.

Find out more: journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/re...

#forscientists
#notforprofit

Great journal, great philosophy ❤️❤️❤️

How China’s universities joined the global elite Investment by Beijing has transformed the country’s institutions despite lingering questions about research quality and intellectual freedom

“Chinese universities’ climbing in global rankings is real. It’s not a ‘mystery bounce’ but the result of 3 decades of sustained, targeted investment,”

Sustained, targeted investment .. an innovative intervention!

An approach for the U.K. to consider?!

giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya on His Mission to Rebuild Public Trust in the NIH and CDC He discusses "DEI" research, campus funding freezes, ACIP, and the path forward for the nation's public health infrastructure

OK. Buckle up. Here goes...

Here is the video and the transcript.

substack.com/home/post/p-...

1/n

CLCC1 governs ER bilayer equilibration to maintain lipid homeostasis - Nature Phospholipid scrambling at the endoplasmic reticulum is essential for establishing a dynamic equilibrium to maintain cellular homeostasis.

Excited to share what we uncovered using in-tissue cryo-ET in mouse liver: a structural snapshot of lipid droplet biogenesis in situ. Timely reading—particularly after a lipid-rich Chinese New Year😂 The lipid homeostasis story governed by CLCC1 with more details here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

My team project was in the top 10% of the losers 👐
I will never like this system. Bring back the old system.
Let me submit 10 pages to discipline experts.

I am so grateful to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and the New York Academy of Sciences for this honor. Can’t wait to be back to the lab and celebrate with lab members on this special recognition of their hard work.

This is happening tomorrow! Looking forward to seeing all the #membranes enthusiasts on zoom!

CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly - Nature CRISPR–Cas9 screening identifies CLCC1 as a factor that increases neutral lipid flux to prevent hepatic steatosis and promotes nuclear pore complex assembly by promoting membrane bending and fusi...

Sooo happy to share our new paper in @nature.com “CLCC1 promotes hepatic neutral lipid flux and nuclear pore complex assembly.” A terrific collaboration with @arrudalab.bsky.social, led by co–first authors Alyssa Mathiowetz and Emily Maymand.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Kelly Nguyen announced as Laureate in Life Sciences at the 2026 Blavatnik Awards in the UK.

Congratulations to @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social, Group Leader in the LMB’s Structural Studies Division, who has been named the Life Sciences Laureate at the 2026 Blavatnik Awards in the UK 🎉

Read the full news story here: mrclmb.ac.uk/news-events/...

#LMBNews #Blavatnik2026

In any other sector this would be front page news along with government funding announcements.

The UK just seems to not value higher education.

Screenshot of LinkedIn post from ARC saying that DP27 EOI outcomes will be released on RMS on the 26th Feb 2026.

The ARC have said (on LinkedIn) they will release outcomes for Discovery Projects Expressions of Interest (2027) tomorrow👇

📣 Excited to co-organize this @embo.org Lecture Course - #AI driven approaches in structural biology 📅 26 April - 2 May 2026 in Bengalore (India). More info and registration below @pasteur.fr @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social meetings.embo.org/event/26-ai-...

Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences in South San Francisco, California, United States of America | Research & Development at Genentech Apply for Senior Scientist, Protein Sciences job with Genentech in South San Francisco, California, United States of America. Research & Development at Genentech

Our department at Genentech is hiring. We're looking for a freshly-minted PhD (0-3 years) protein biochemist / structural biologist to join as a Sr Scientist. A rare opportunity to join our group leader job family at a more junior level than we usually hire.

Grant timeline delays ‘inevitable’ given security rules, ARC says - Research Professional News Australian Research Council tells Senate of foreign interference issues and restructuring plans

"Unfortunate but inevitable" 😜

More on the completely unworkable grant time-frames ARC recently introduced (up to 16 months!) & the 'oh well, maybe it'll improve?' responses provided by ARC reps in Senate Estimates.

By @jsresearchpro.bsky.social for @resprofnews.bsky.social. No paywall.

One week left to apply for the protein crystallography focused 2.5 year postdoc position in my group @otagobiochemist.bsky.social :
otago.taleo.net/careersectio...