Robert Arkowitz

The NIH Policy Holding Researchers “Hostage” An effort to make NIH-funded research immediately accessible to the public has led to disruption and financial strain for scientists already navigating a precarious funding environment. It also spotli...

🚨 The NIH open access policy requiring immediate open access for all NIH funded papers is derailing all kinds of research programs because of the high $$$ associated with journal open access fees. Thanks to @docsirianni.bsky.social for your continued advocacy
www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti...

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

Lipid transfer by ORP3 is required for the regulation of PI4P and PI(4,5)P2 at the plasma membrane in mitosis Lipid transfer proteins are an evolutionary-conserved families of proteins that transfer lipids at sites of contacts between the membrane of distinct organelles and contribute to the regulation of org...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Light sensing in fungi In this primer, Luis M. Corrochano and colleagues describe the factors and mechanisms involved in light sensing in fungi and discuss the origin of fungal photoreception and future research directions ...

www.cell.com/current-biol...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

What Scientists Found When a Deep Sea Mining Company Invited Them In

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/c...
Micro organisms rule!

« La science transforme l’incurable en traitable, mais à la condition d’investir » TRIBUNE. Alors que les négociations budgétaires touchent à leur fin au Parlement, un collectif d’acteurs majeurs de la recherche scientifique et médicale française s’alarme, dans une tribune au « Mond...

www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

Protein pattern morphology and dynamics emerging from effective interfacial tension - Nature Physics Protein patterns enable cellular processes. A general theory now identifies a non-equilibrium mechanism that generates an effective interfacial tension, shaping the geometry and intrinsic length scale...

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

Extensive horizontal transfer of transposable elements shapes fungal mobilomes Romeijn et al. reveal that horizontal transposon transfer is widespread in fungi, contributing up to 70% of transposon content in some taxa. The authors uncover thousands of events across diverse line...

Extensive horizontal transfer of transposable elements shapes fungal mobilomes

@currentbiology.bsky.social by @jromeijn.bsky.social et al from @mfseidl.bsky.social

www.cell.com/current-biol...

GTPBP1 is a GTPase implicated in neurodevelopment. Our cryo-EM maps show GTPBP1 delivering tRNA to ribosome.

Due to delayed GTPase dissociation, mRNA decoding is more stringent than with bona fide delivery factor eEF1A.

Congrats to Denis Susorov and collab with Pestova lab! tinyurl.com/3smdvt3v

Membrane potential mediates the cellular response to mechanical pressure Cells in tissues need to know when to start growing and when to stop growing to quickly heal wounds but prevent tumorous overgrowth. Membrane potential allows cells to sense physical forces, including...

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Cell wall patterning regulates plant stem cell dynamics The plant cell wall regulates development through spatiotemporal modulation of its chemical and mechanical properties. Pectin methylesterification is recognized as a rheological switch controlling wal...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Structural basis for the recruitment and selective phosphorylation of Akt by mTORC2 The mTOR protein kinase forms two multiprotein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, that function in distinct signaling pathways. mTORC1 is regulated by nutrients, and mTORC2 is a central node in phosphoinos...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Common Infection Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Drugs, Scientists Warn Thrush is one of the most common infections in the world.

Common Infection Is Rapidly Becoming Resistant to Drugs, Scientists Warn : ScienceAlert share.google/zqPGnNCYaZ14...

Made possible by the following organizations:
@cnrs.fr, @univcotedazur.bsky.social, @inserm.fr, @erc.europa.eu, MSCA actions, FRM, UmassChan, @hhmi-science.bsky.social, Charité Berlin and University of Tel Aviv. (3/3)

@cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @cnrscotedazur.bsky.social

This work is a wonderful collaboration between several labs and carried out by:
Emily Plumb, @antonioserrano.bsky.social, Louis Chevalier, Johannes Elferich, @lrsinn.bsky.social, Niko Grigorieff, Markus Ralser, @judithberman11.bsky.social and Martine Bassilana. (2/3)

Tolerance to the antifungal drug fluconazole is mediated by tuning cytoplasmic fluidity Treatment failure rates for fungal infections cannot be explained simply by increased rates of drug resistance. Antifungal drug tolerance, the ability of a susceptible isolate to grow in the presence ...

Excited to share our new study on antifungal drug tolerance in the human fungal pathogen Candida albicans.
This work highlights a link between between drug tolerance and cytoplasmic fluidity.
👇(1/3)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#Science #Microbiology #CellBiology #Fungi

MIT chemists synthesize a fungal compound that holds promise for treating brain cancer MIT chemists synthesized a fungal compound that holds promise for treating brain cancer. Early studies find derivatives of the compound, verticillin A, can kill certain glioma cells.

MIT chemists synthesize a fungal compound that holds promise for treating brain cancer news.mit.edu/2025/mit-che...
Preliminary studies find derivatives of the compound, known as verticillin A, can kill some types of glioma cells.

An 8-nm precise map in live cells, which revealed #actin aster formation by #myosin V-driven transport of #formin.

Happy to see this work now out! 😃

In collaboration with @kaksonen.bsky.social lab

#yeast #pombe #cell_fusion

@biology-unige.bsky.social

A highly photostable monomeric red fluorescent protein for dual-color 3D STED and time-lapse 3D SIM imaging - Nature Methods mScarlet3-S2 is a red fluorescent protein that is highly photostable and sufficiently bright. It is especially useful for applications such as stimulated emission depletion or structured illumination ...

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

Antifungal resistance is making thrush hard to treat – here’s why Infections are becoming harder to treat because the fungi are adapting to survive antifungal drugs – but this isn’t happening by chance.

#Antifungal resistance is making #thrush hard to treat ...

| #fungi | #infection | #Candida | #yeast | #drugs | Via @theconversation.com

Actin cage for the synaptic vesicle liquid phase Brodin and Shupliakov demonstrate that synaptic activity triggers the formation of an actin cage that encapsulates the synaptic vesicle cluster. Disruption of this cage leads to the detachment of the ...

www.cell.com/callback?red...

Dynamic Organellar Mapping in yeast reveals extensive protein localization changes during ER stress - Nature Communications Platzek and colleagues demonstrate the power of spatial proteomics to study yeast cell biology. They show that, during ER stress, hundreds of proteins undergo subcellular localization changes and unco...

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

A MAP kinase cascade modulates expression of late G1 phase cyclins in budding yeast Expression of late G1 phase cyclins is the critical molecular event that marks commitment to enter the cell cycle. In budding yeast, late G1 phase cyclins initiate and sustain growth of a new daughter...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Today, our animation synthesizing decades of research on actin-mediated endocytosis in budding yeast was published:
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

The result of a fantastic Iwasa-Drubin lab collaboration.

@margotriggi.bsky.social @jiwasa.bsky.social
movie.biologists.com/video/10.124...

Time-lapse of various species of mushrooms growing

The U.S. Is Funding Fewer Grants in Every Area of Science and Medicine A quiet policy change means the government is making fewer bets on long-term science.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Chernobyl Fungus Appears to Have Evolved an Incredible Ability The Chernobyl exclusion zone may be off-limits to humans, but ever since the Unit Four reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded nearly 40 years ago, other forms of life have not only move...

Very cool radioactive fungus news

From @chelleraiser.bsky.social

www.sciencealert.com/chernobyl-fu...

‘Nature’s original engineers’: scientists explore the amazing potential of fungi Unique properties of fungi have led to groundbreaking innovations in recent years, from nappies to electronics

The future is fungal

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...