Maxence Nachury

“Asked how the cuts have affected science, one [researcher] said, ‘This is like asking, how do you think dropping an atomic bomb on New York City will affect the future of Broadway musicals? This is a generational loss of innovation, technology, and economic power.’” 🔗 archive.ph/2026.02.12-1...

Ever wanted to hold a cilium in your hand? 🧬✨

Here is a look at how I’m using CiliaBuilder in @UCSFChimeraX to generate accurate 3D prints of centrioles and cilia. Perfect for teaching or lab displays!

Watch the process: youtu.be/IKnnp3ovptQ #CryoEM #CellBio #ChimeraX

The EMBO Workshop "#Centrosomes: From fundamentals to diseases" in #Lausanne, Switzerland, 1–4 September 2026 will highlight the advances in the field of centrosome #research. Register now!

Deadline: 1 June

https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-centrosomes
#EMBOCentrosomes #EMBOevents #conference 🧪

Thanks for the great questions!

An NIH memo from August 15th entitled "Achieving NIH's Mission: Leveraging Funding Policies"

In August, NIH institute and center directors received this document entitled "Achieving NIH Mission: Leveraging Funding Policies".

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For this who are unaware, the reason NIH now posts these data habitually on the data book site is… Jeremy Berg. He pioneered this openness as NIGMS Director.

In situ Proteomics Unveils Specialized Domains for Extrasynaptic Signaling on Neuronal Cilia Neuronal cilia have emerged as crucial signaling hubs, yet their molecular composition and integration with synaptic communication remain poorly understood. Using a newly developed Arl13b-TurboID mous...

Whoa - neuronal ciliary proteome! Tons to dig into here - different from kidney cilia proteome (perhaps unsurprising) and enriched for many postsynaptic proteins, strengthening previous suggestions of cilia as postsynaptic signaling structures.
@nachury.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Congrats @dutcherlab.bsky.social! Richly deserved. We need more cilia peeps in high places.

A conserved mechanism for the retrieval of polyubiquitinated proteins from cilia The temporospatial distribution of proteins within cilia is regulated by intraflagellar transport (IFT), wherein molecular trains shuttle between the cell body and cilium. Defects in this process impair various signal-transduction pathways and cause ciliopathies. Although K63-linked ubiquitination appears to trigger protein export from cilia, the mechanisms coupling polyubiquitinated proteins to IFT remain unclear. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we demonstrate that a complex of CFAP36, a conserved ciliary protein of previously unknown function, and ARL3, a GTPase involved in ciliary import, binds polyubiquitinated proteins and links them to retrograde IFT trains. CFAP36 uses a coincidence detection mechanism to simultaneously bind two IFT subunits accessible only in retrograde trains. Depleting CFAP36 accumulates K63-linked ubiquitin in cilia and disrupts Hedgehog signaling, a pathway reliant on the retrieval of ubiquitinated receptors. These findings advance our understanding of ubiquitin-mediated protein transport and ciliary homeostasis, and demonstrate how structural changes in IFT trains achieve cargo selectivity. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Sara Elizabeth O'Brien Trust Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded through the Charles A. King Trust Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program, , 8460873-01 Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation, https://ror.org/05j95n956, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), , R01GM141109, R01GM143183

How do cells keep their cilia “clean” and functional? Our new study uncovers a conserved mechanism for retrieving polyubiquitinated proteins from #cilia – a process essential for cellular signaling and health. #cellbiology #ciliopathy #ubiquitin #IFT 🧵👇 1/n

We're hiring! The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB) seeks Scientific Editor or Senior Scientific Editor, dependent on experience. Join our team in New York City! More info 👉 careers.rockefeller.edu/jobs?keyword...

#STEMjobs #LifeScienceJobs #PublishingJobs #ScienceJobs

Have you ever wondered how GPCRs co-occupying the primary cilium might engage in cross talk? @stjuderesearch.bsky.social Graduate Student Christina Wang 👩‍🔬 wrote a BioEssay hypothesizing 5 testable models for ciliary receptor cross talk ✅ it out 🧪

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

the word alert is in a purple circle ALT: the word alert is in a purple circle

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM

Implementation of Schedule F

This is what a lot of us have been worried about.

This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs.

BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD...

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Stellar presentation. Can't wait to see the preprint/paper. Kudos to @alanbrownhms.bsky.social and @sven-m-lange.bsky.social for taking an unbiased biuochemcial approach to interogate ubiquitin reading by the ciliary transport machienry.

We close: a fan fave PTM #ubiquitin- roles in ciliary cargo retrieval by #IFT machinery as it remodels at the #cilia/ #flagellar tip, open questions re dynamics across time & space- preprint to drop soon... Amazing @sven-m-lange.bsky.social (@alanbrownhms.bsky.social lab, Harvard) #UKCilia2025 5/7

A hollow TFG condensate spatially compartmentalizes the early secretory pathway - Nature Communications The authors show that protein TFG self-organizes to form a hollow sphere that helps to guide and spatially organize bidirectional transport at a critical junction between the ER and Golgi in the early...

A hollow TFG condensate spatially compartmentalizes the early secretory pathway
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

a cartoon of a chicken with its mouth open and a drop of blood coming out of it ALT: a cartoon of a chicken with its mouth open and a drop of blood coming out of it

Second (takes deep breath)

It appears that PAYMENTS FOR ALL GRANTS THROUGH THE PAYMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ARE BEING FROZEN.

If this is correct, then no funds will be transferred to any grantee institution, at least at this time.

a man with curly hair and glasses is making a funny face and saying huh . ALT: a man with curly hair and glasses is making a funny face and saying huh .

Another moment of WTF...

The evolution of the www.covid.gov site...

Warning: May be jarring!

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Unlike eggs & mitotic cells, in adherent interphasic cells the centrosome is NOT positioned by a balance of forces along #microtubules, but by cell shape organization around the #centrosome: rupress.org/jcb/article/...
@lblanchoin.bsky.social
@manuelthery.bsky.social
@gelinmatthieu.bsky.social

Congrats! Well deserved

Review: Ripoll, von Zastrow and @emilyblythe.bsky.social discuss the evolving understanding of cellular #GPCR signaling, highlighting recent advances and noting caveats and open questions. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#CellSignaling #Physiology

Special Issue Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease Guest Editors: Pleasantine Mill and Lotte Pedersen Extended submission deadline: 1 March 2025 Journal of Cell Science logo Call for papers

We are accepting submissions for our upcoming special issue - Cilia and Flagella: from Basic Biology to Disease. This issue will be coordinated by two Guest Editors: Pleasantine Mill @cilialab.bsky.social and Lotte Pedersen @lottepedersen.bsky.social.

journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/ci...

If Trump and Musk were actively trying to kill the American scientific golden goose and chase all the talent and the next Intel and Google into free Europe, this would be a good way to do it.

Integrating cell and planetary scales to address climate resilience The climate crisis is a multiscale problem that requires transdisciplinary expertise for understanding and engineering climate resilience. Cells are the first responders of the biosphere and yet cell…

📣Please RT. Last call! You can still register for our @embo.org meeting! Wonderful scientists and several organisations discussing the importance of cell biology towards understanding adaptation & potential mitigation mechanisms, towards climate resilience.
meetings.embo.org/event/25-cli...

Tonic ubiquitination of the central body weight regulator melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4R) promotes its constitutive exit from cilia The melanocortin receptor 4 (MC4R) regulates body weight homeostasis at the cilium of hypothalamic neurons, but its levels are very low under unrestricted feeding conditions. Here, the authors find th...

and doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Subcellular localization of MC4R with ADCY3 at neuronal primary cilia underlies a common pathway for genetic predisposition to obesity - Nature Genetics MC4R colocalizes with ADCY3 at primary cilia in hypothalamic neurons, and MC4R mutations associated with human obesity impair this localization. Inhibition of adenylyl cyclase signaling at primary cil...

and doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Rab35 controls cilium length, function and membrane composition | EMBO reports image image Rab35 at the mammalian and zebrafish cilium regulates cilium length and left‐right asymmetry, and controls the ciliary levels of PI(4,5)P2 and regulators of the Sonic hedgehog pathway. Rab35 GTPase localizes to the ciliary ...

Very cool paper! It would have been even cooler if they had looked at the role of Dennd1b in regulating Rab35 activity and MC4R trafficking in cilia! See
doi.org/10.15252/emb...

Compounding the issue is that this sloppiness does not get caught during peer review.

It is important for scientists to be as self-critical as possible.

I always try to say "This is a really exciting result. Why is it wrong?".

It's hard but pays off in the long run, both for me and for science.

But, you are right that postdocs and others on the job market are in a tough spot.

My personal view is that the biggest issues are investigators fooling themselves, not misconduct or intentional fraud and publication bias (e.g. an experiment "works" once and gets published but fails other times and these results are explained away.

con'ted

Thank you @nytimes.com for helping me crystallize my thoughts on the current administration. Yep, most definitely UNCONVENTIONAL