Logan Thrasher Collins

An Introduction to Ebolavirus Biology PDF version: An Introduction to Ebolavirus Biology – Logan Thrasher Collins  I wrote this educational primer as a fun exploration of a topic not related to my current research. While such kno…

It is also available on my website: logancollinsblog.com/2025/11/04/a...

An Introduction to Ebolavirus Biology Note: this content is also available on my website at https://logancollinsblog.com/2025/11/04/an-introduction-to-ebolavirus-biology/

I wrote this educational primer as a fun exploration of a topic not related to my current research. While such knowledge may be useful in the event of a future ebolavirus epidemic, it is mostly an exercise in curiosity and intellectual enrichment. loganthrashercollins.substack.com/p/an-introdu...

Roundup of Interesting Research Papers #6 My sixth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community.

My sixth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community. loganthrashercollins.substack.com/p/roundup-of...

The blood–brain barrier Here, Audrey Chagnot and Axel Montagne discuss the structural and functional features of the blood–brain barrier and the association of its disruption with various pathologies.

A nice primer article discussing the biology, structure, and dysfunction of the blood-brain-barrier. Quite useful for learning. #neurophysiology #biomedicine www.cell.com/current-biol...

Bioreducible Gene Delivery Platform that Promotes Intracellular Payload Release and Widespread Brain Dispersion We here introduce a novel bioreducible polymer-based gene delivery platform enabling widespread transgene expression in multiple brain regions with therapeutic relevance following intracranial convection-enhanced delivery. Our bioreducible nanoparticles provide markedly enhanced gene delivery efficacy in vitro and in vivo compared to nonbiodegradable nanoparticles primarily due to the ability to release gene payloads preferentially inside cells. Remarkably, our platform exhibits competitive gene delivery efficacy in a neuron-rich brain region compared to a viral vector under previous and current clinical investigations with demonstrated positive outcomes. Thus, our platform may serve as an attractive alternative for the intracranial gene therapy of neurological disorders.

Jung Soo Suk’s lab has developed nanoparticles consisting of DNA complexed with branched PEI and coated by PEG. Here, they show these nanoparticles diffuse widely into the mouse brain after intracranial injection as well as transduce neurons efficiently. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

As a significant aside, these synthetic capsids can also transport nucleic acids (e.g. mRNAs) through lipid membranes, so they have great promise for gene therapy too (in my view)!

Antimicrobial peptide capsids of de novo design - Nature Communications With the growing threat of antibiotic resistance, unconventional approaches to antimicrobial discovery are needed. Here, the authors present a peptide topology that mimics virus architecture and assembles into antimicrobial capsids that disrupt bacterial membranes upon contact.

Remarkable paper where the authors design an antimicrobial peptide (AMP) triskelion which assembles into a capsid-like structure. On binding bacterial surfaces, the capsids fall apart, AMPs insert into the membrane, and pores form which kill the bacteria.

Notes on Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation Note: this content is also available on my website at https://logancollinsblog.com/2025/05/16/notes-on-ultrasound-physics/

I've greatly expanded my 'Notes on Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation' to include detailed discussion of transducers, transducer arrays, and ultrasound pulse parameters in practice. Enjoy!
Substack version: substack.com/home/post/p-...
My Website version: logancollinsblog.com/2025/05/16/n...

The multiomics blueprint of the individual with the most extreme lifespan In brief, Santos-Pujol and colleagues characterize the multiomics landscape of the human with the most extreme longevity. The study enables the association of advantageous genetic variants, an engaged...

Fascinating paper wherein the authors collect multiomics data (genome, epigenome, transcriptome, metabolome, proteome, and microbiome) from a 116-year-old woman who lived to 117, uncovering insights about the biology of her exceptional longevity. A great read!

www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Roundup of Interesting Research Papers #5 My fifth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community.

My fifth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community.
substack.com/home/post/p-...

Brain Nucleic Acid Delivery and Genome Editing via Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Blood–Brain Barrier Opening and Long-Circulating Nanoparticles We introduce a two-pronged strategy comprising focused ultrasound (FUS)-mediated blood–brain barrier (BBB) opening and long-circulating biodegradable nanoparticles (NPs) for systemic delivery of nucle...

Cool paper wherein Kwak et al. inject into mice nanoparticles consisting of polymer-condensed plasmid DNA or mRNA coated in PEG and then leverage ultrasound-induced blood-brain-barrier opening to deliver the nucleic acids to desired brain regions.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Beyond mouse data, the study is supported by experiments on human biopsy samples as well as by human population data. All very impressive and has strong clinical potential. #alzheimersdisease #biochemistry

Lithium deficiency and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease - Nature Lithium has an essential role in the brain and is deficient early in Alzheimer’s disease, which can be recapitulated in mice and treated with a novel lithium salt that restores the physiological level.

A highly publicized paper providing solid evidence for the idea that lithium deficiency contributes centrally to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis. Aron et al. also show in mice that lithium orotate supplementation might mitigate AD and brain aging. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

AI is helping to decode animals’ speech. Will it also let us talk with them? The complexity of vocal communication in some primates, whales and birds might approach that of human language.

Humans often underestimate cognitive abilities in animals. My guess is that we will find more complexity in their languages than we expect. Would be amazing if we could talk to them - lots of benefits in how it could change our society's attitudes. Link: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Acetylcholine-linked LNPs crossed the mouse BBB 3.6x more efficiently than untargeted LNPs. Additionally, the results were compared to an AI model’s predictions, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the computational approach.

Highly informative paper! Various small molecules were linked to lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), improving the amounts of LNPs that crossed the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) in mice and in cell culture models of the BBB. Link: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Microendovascular Neural Recording from Cortical and Deep Vessels with High Precision and Minimal Invasiveness Intravascular electroencephalography (ivEEG) using micro-intravascular electrodes was developed. Cortical-vein ivEEG showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio and finer spatial resolution of somatosensor....

Interesting paper where microintravascular electrodes were inserted into cortical veins of pigs to record somatosensory and visual activity and to selectively stimulate motor areas. Compared to electrocorticography, this is a less invasive approach with similar capabilities. doi.org/10.1002/aisy...

Ångström-resolution imaging of cell-surface glycans - Nature Nanotechnology By combining bioorthogonal metabolic labelling and resolution enhancement through sequential imaging of DNA barcodes, the molecular organization of individual sugars in the native glycocalyx has been ...

An impressive achievement: Masullo et al. combine metabolic labeling and DNA-PAINT to image individual monosaccharide sugars in cell surface glycans at a resolution of 9 Å! That’s a resolution equivalent to 9 sulfur atoms in width! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Meet Europe’s first exascale supercomputer — can it compete in the global AI race? JUPITER, the European Union’s new exascale supercomputer, is 100% powered by renewable energy. What will researchers use it for?

Europe now has an exascale supercomputer which runs entirely on renewable energy. Of particular interest: one of the 30 inaugural projects for the machine focuses on realistic simulations of biological neurons (see www.fz-juelich.de/en/news/effz...)
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Foiling the Growing Threat of Fungal Pathogens Climate change, changing migration patterns, and our agriculture system have created a perfect environment for fungal pathogens to thrive.

Climate change is driving an increase of deadly fungal diseases in humans and crops, yet solutions remain underdeveloped. PSA: if you're seeking problems to solve, you should keep this one in mind. #fungi
issues.org/growing-thre...

Why Everything in the Universe Turns More Complex | Quanta Magazine A new suggestion that complexity increases over time, not just in living organisms but in the nonliving world, promises to rewrite notions of time and evolution.

I too have suspected natural selection may play a fundamental physical role which extends beyond biology. The space-time manifold may possess some form of inevitable directional structure as a result. Extremely speculative, but interesting to think about.
www.quantamagazine.org/why-everythi...

Roundup of Interesting Research Papers #4 My fourth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community.

My fourth installment of interesting research papers that I have read over the past few weeks and would like to share with my community.

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

Liu et al. present a remarkably simple yet clever method of mitigating the effects of head-mounted microscopes on mouse behavior: they tethered a helium balloon to the microscope device to counter its weight! A fun and useful engineering solution!

Link to article: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ultra-Bright and -Stable Red and Near-Infrared Squaraine Fluorophores for In Vivo Two-Photon Imaging Fluorescent dyes that are bright, stable, small, and biocompatible are needed for high-sensitivity two-photon imaging, but the combination of these traits has been elusive. We identified a class of sq...

Somewhat older paper demonstrating utility of squaraine-rotaxane fluorophores for two-photon microscopy in vivo. These fluorophores approach the brightness of quantum dots while having much smaller size and better compatibility with cellular environments. Very cool research

doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Rotational Motion in Bispidines: A Conformational Study A detailed conformational analysis of N-substituted bispidines has been performed to determine the factors governing the restricted rotational motion induced by the substituents. This investigation co...

An interesting organic chemistry investigation into how different substituent groups affect the energy barriers to rotational motion of a fancy-looking compound known as a bispidine. This research has implications for pharmaceuticals, molecular motors, and organocatalysts.

Interestingly, ~20 transferrins per nanoparticle resulted in the best BBB traversal, likely because these nanoparticles could bind a sufficient number of transferrin receptors while also having the ability to unbind the same receptors upon reaching the brain parenchyma.

Transcytosis and brain uptake of transferrin-containing nanoparticles by tuning avidity to transferrin receptor | PNAS Receptor-mediated transcytosis across the blood–brain barrier (BBB) may be a useful way to transport therapeutics into the brain. Here we report th...

Informative paper examining how efficiently gold nanoparticles cross the blood-brain-barrier (BBB) when linked to varying numbers of transferrin proteins. Transferrin is known to cross the BBB via receptor-mediated transcytosis. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Additionally, the virus was modified so that it can only be made inside cells infected by the bacteria, improving the overall safety of the system.

Engineered bacteria launch and control an oncolytic virus - Nature Biomedical Engineering CAPPSID relies on an engineered S. typhimurium to act as a synthetic ‘capsid’ to transcribe and deliver viral RNA inside cancer cells, launching a virus that can directly lyse surrounding cells.

Highly innovative study where engineered salmonella bacteria invade cells, persist within intracellular vacuoles, and then manufacture an oncolytic virus which kills the tumor cells and attracts the immune system. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Transferrin receptor–targeted anti-amyloid antibody enhances brain delivery and mitigates ARIA Amyloid-related imaging abnormalities (ARIA), side effects of anti-amyloid drugs seen in magnetic resonance imaging of the brain, are a major safety concern in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. We de...

A promising Alzheimer's immunotherapy: engineered asymmetric anti-amyloid-β antibody with a transferrin receptor binding domain for crossing the blood-brain-barrier and a mutation which mitigates harmful side effects seen in past versions of this type of treatment. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...