SmithLabUMBC

Huge congratulations to grad student @katherinelegg.bsky.social on her new Science Advances paper, “CH•••S hydrogen bonds drive molecular recognition of ergothioneine by the microbial transporter”! 🎉 A beautiful collaboration of biochemistry, structural biology, NMR, and MD. tinyurl.com/3wxchjhp

Super pleased (and surprised?!) to receive an NOA earlier this week for a supplement supporting a PhD candidate in the lab! A little bit of sunshine in the middle of the storm, I suppose...

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.

Co-translational control of protein stability and quality in plants Abstract. Proteostasis relies on the coordinated control of protein synthesis, folding, modification and degradation, and an increasingly clear picture is

My review “Co-translational control of protein stability and quality in plants” is now online at @jxbotany.bsky.social, in which I describe how co-translational processing and ribosome-associated quality control together establish protein stability and fate early in synthesis. tinyurl.com/5dhhz9h6

X-ray beam effects on metallo-peptides reflect redox events: insights from X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements on metal complexes of truncated amyloid-β peptides X-ray exposure influences the structures of Cu(I), Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides in different ways. While Cu(I) and Zn(II) complexes show no detectable X-ray-induced spectral changes, Cu(II) complexes undergo significant spectral evolution under irradiation. Experiments on the truncated fragments Aβ1–6 and Aβ1–16 show that the extent of relaxation depends on the peptide length, on the binding mode and on the temperature.

Bharath Vinjamuri et al.: X-ray beam effects on metallo-peptides reflect redox events: insights from X-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements on metal complexes of truncated amyloid-β peptides @UGrenobleAlpes...#IUCr https://journals.iucr.org/paper?S2059798326001348

The structure of the full catalytic cycle of Vibrio cholerae NFeoB The acquisition of iron is critical for the survival and the virulence of numerous infectious pathogens, and most bacteria acquire ferrous iron (Fe2+)…

🚨 Just in press @jmolbiol.bsky.social 🚨 Kate, Candice, and Mark's paper on the structure of the V. cholerae NFeoB NTPase catalytic cycle. Serendipity of a P1 spacegroup with 4 mols in the ASU played a role in capturing all the states, and Mg is pivotal! Read the paper here: tinyurl.com/mr3dmmjz

🚨New paper: We found - contrary to expectations - that oxygen is partially excluded from biomolecular condensates.

We find a strong anti-correlation between oxygen and protein concentrations in the condensate showing that accessible volume dominates over polarity.

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

Postdoc: Integrative structural biology and biophysics of dynamic plant hormone transporters - Ledig stilling på Aarhus Universitet Ledig stilling ved Institut for Molekylærbiologi og Genetik - Proteinvidenskab, Aarhus Universitet

🚨Postdoc opening: Integrative structural biology and interactions of disordered regions in plant transporters.

Skills sought: Protein experience (ideally IDPs/MPs), NMR, SAXS, smFRET, biophysics and similar.

Come find me at #BPS26 or reach out to learn more!

mbg.au.dk/aktuelt/ledi...

😬

Science is still correct even if you don’t believe in it…

In vitro reconstitution in membrane environment reveals critical lipid dependence of substrate S-acylation by protein palmitoyltransferase enzymes Protein S-acylation, also known as protein palmitoylation, is a common form of post-translational modification and the most abundant form of lipid modification of proteins with several thousands of su...

New paper from our lab !
Thousands of proteins are targets of a form of post translational lipid attachment known as protein S-acylation, commonly as protein palmitoylation. 23 transmembrane zDHHC enzymes catalyze protein S-acylation in humans.

1/n

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

"Let's align our coordinates" valentine with Oxytocin receptor ("love hormone") aligned with vasopressin receptor

Use RCSB PDB's Pairwise Structure Alignment tool to compare existing PDB structures or Computed Structure Models (or upload a local file) #LoveDataWeek
www.rcsb.org/alignment

@iucr2026.bsky.social Abstract Deadline: February 15

#calgary is calling - submit your work: www.iucr2026.org #Crystallography #structuralscience #StructuralBiology #MaterialsScience #Chemistry #XrayDiffraction #AcademicSky #ScienceSky #SciComm #EarlyCareerResearchers #PhDLife #PostdocLife

Congratulations and welcome to the newest members of the #ACSBIOL Executive Committee!

@freudlab.bsky.social, @doc-jlmeier.bsky.social, @tmweaver.bsky.social, @ebraselmann.bsky.social

😬😂

Protein degradation in Turnip - an adapted Arg/N-degron pathway. Preprint from Brian Mooney et al. Emmanuelle Graciet lab. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Metal of The Day is Manganese

Symbol: Mn

Important for imparting strength and resistance to steel

Salts of Mn have been shown to be excellent oxidants and are effective in melting ice

We all appreciate Mn
#ChemSky #ChemChat

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen | PNAS Microorganisms commonly exist in polymicrobial communities, where they can respond to interspecies secreted molecules by altering behaviors and phy...

A quorum-sensing molecule from Pseudomonas aeruginosa induces defensive multicellularity in a coinfecting pathogen

-in PNAS from @anukharelab.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Nutrient uptake in commensal bacteria: exploring uncharacterised TonB-dependent transporters. at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Nutrient uptake in commensal bacteria: exploring uncharacterised TonB-dependent transporters. at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

Lots of PhD opportunities for UK + international students involving my lab. Topics relate to metals & microbiology.

First up: TonB-dependent receptors in commensal Neisseria in my lab at Durham, with @kjosts.bsky.social and @mattbashton.bsky.social.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Come be our colleague--we're hiring! We have an opening for TT Asst. Prof. in Physical Chemistry in the Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Interests in spectroscopy, optics, or biophysics broadly defined!

I know we're late to the game, but see our add here: apply.interfolio.com/180223

Please RT!

This line graph illustrates the percentage change in agency staff levels from the previous year for nine major U.S. federal scientific and health organizations between the fiscal years 2016 and 2025. The agencies tracked include the CDC, Department of Energy, EPA, FDA, NASA, NIH, NIST, NOAA, and NSF. For the majority of the timeline between 2016 and 2023, the agencies show relatively stable fluctuations, generally staying within a range of +5% to -5% change per year. However, there is a dramatic and uniform plummet starting in the 2024–25 period. Every agency depicted shows a sharp downward trajectory, with staffing losses ranging from approximately -15% to over -25%. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows the most significant decline, dropping to roughly -26%, while the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shows the least severe but still substantial drop at approximately -15%.

This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

Reminder for those applying for #NIH grants using the #ScienCV templates. You can format the text sections using html codes:
<p> paragraph
<br> break line
<b>bold</b>
<i>italics</i>

Dealing with ScienCV formatting Some tips for composing and making your new NIH biosketch not look like garbage

Been hearing some horrifying chatter about dealing with the new #NIH common form and #ScienCV system, so I put together a short video with some tricks for mitigating some of those pain points.

Hope it helps? 🧪

open.substack.com/pub/emptymod...

*I* don't see what *U* mean, Chemjobber! 😂

Flyer for the 2026 Applied Crystallization Workshop at the National Crystallization Center at University at Buffalo. What? A 2 day macromolecular crystallization workshop designed to immerse you in crystal growth methods to jumpstart your structural biology efforts. Who? Open to trainees of all levels and early career researchers Where? On-site at our state-of-the-art crystallization facility in Buffalo, NY Favored applicants will have previously submitted samples to the NCC for crystallization screening and will have a protein sample to bring on-site for workshops.

We are excited to announce the 💎 2026 Applied Crystallization Workshop 💎 at @getacrystal.bsky.social at University at Buffalo!

Dive into Biomolecular Crystallization! We are holding 2 workshops in 2026. Each will be an intensive, hands-on session to learn about crystallizing your ❤️ biomolecule!

Da Bears!!!!! 🐻

It's the best day of the year: lab clean-up day! What will we find this year?! 😁🫠😱

Is your New Year's resolution to unveil structural details for your biological macromolecule?

Reserve a spot in our January protein crystallization run before Friday!

Package Acceptance & Plate Setup:

Tues Jan 12th – Thurs Jan 15th
Tues Jan 20th – Thurs Jan 22nd

Attention NY Area #cryoem #cryoet enthusiasts - The 6th Annual NY Area Cryo-EM meeting is May 27th - Features a workshop/discussion format where new results and techniques will be discussed - We are sponsoring and attending the meeting - zurl.co/WD7l5