Harry M. Williams

The EPFL/UNIL sheep appear to be thoroughly enjoying the slow move into autumn.

This is very cool!

The Starbucks people know me by name, I think this counts as settling in a new place, right?

Introducing the first 3DEM Model-Map percentile slider to the wwPDB validation report Introducing the latest wwPDB Percentile slider based on the Q-score model-map validation metric

Today, @rcsbpdb.bsky.social introduces Q-score in EM validation reports. Q-score assesses model-map fit. A new percentile slider will compare an entry’s average Q-score to the full archive and a resolution-matched subset. This would help judge whether the fit is typical for the reported resolution.

Assistant/Associate Professor in Structural Biology, Biophysics or Biological Imaging

www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/open-positio...

#biozentrum #University #Basel #Professor #Structural #Biology #Biophysics #Biological #Imaging

I am excited to share our new preprint on the CAGE complex, a mysterious hollow protein complex that I first saw years ago while surveying Tetrahymena ciliary lysate www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #cilia #protistsonsky 🧬🧪

We have a preprint of a book chapter for you: Structural Analysis of Membrane Proteins in Cell-Derived Microvesicles.

We describe how to image membrane proteins in mid-sized vesicles using cryo-electron tomography

zenodo.org/records/1717...

There's a lot more cool stuff in this paper so naturally I encourage you to have a look! Thanks of course go to the entire team at EPFL, including the wonderful people at the DCI-Lausanne imaging centre who helped us collect something like 2-3 weeks worth of data on a Krios.

For each protein we have not included any detergents or additives, modified the grids themselves (i.e. by producing affinity grids). The samples are in essence native. Thus, the use of ultrasonic excitation here allows us to obtain nice 3D volumes without any chemical modification to the protein.

The conventional sample remains dominated by top/bottom views. The corresponding angular distribution from the ultrasonically excited sample features three additional, symmetry equivalent maxima, revealing that ultrasonic excitation populates side views practically absent in the conventional sample.

Finally, we looked at perhaps the most notorious sample known for preferred orientation: viral hemagglutinin. Even here, we demonstrate that ultrasonic excitation can be used to obtain a high-resolution isotropic 3D reconstruction. Comparing the orientation plots here reveals the key difference...

We also looked at human CRP and similar to the 50S ribosomal subunit, with ultrasonic excitation we observe a broadening of the angular distribution and an improved 3D reconstruction. In this case, the 3D reconstruction derived from our ultrasonically excited sample pushes beyond 4 Å.

For the 50S ribosomal subunit, the use of ultrasonic excitation led to a broadening of the angular distribution (with new maxima appearing) and, ultimately, an improved 3D reconstruction with fewer of the streaky artefacts typically associated with directional anisotropy were reduced.

We tested this approach on several different proteins and protein-complexes including the 50S ribosomal subunit, human C-reactive protein, and viral hemagglutinin. Thus, we looked at proteins of varying sizes (kDa to MDa) and with different symmetries (C1, C3, and C5).

Concept: we prepare samples by jetting while continuously exciting mechanical oscillations of the specimen support with an ultrasonic transducer. The motions induced in the thin liquid film continuously detach particles from the AWI, reshuffling their orientations improving the angular distribution.

❄️ NEW PRE-PRINT ❄️ Happy to see our latest work online. Here we present a super simple solution to the preferred orientation problem in single particle cryo-EM: the use of ultrasonic excitation during vitrification! Details in the 🧵 below... #cryoEM #structuralbiology

🌈 A double rainbow over CSSB on Monday! Thanks to @carobarisch.bsky.social for the amazing photo.

@topf-lab.bsky.social @bosse-lab.bsky.social @jankosinski.bsky.social @landaulabcssb.bsky.social @uni-hamburg.de @leibnizliv.bsky.social

Confidence-guided cryo-EM map optimisation with LocScale-2.0 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.11.674726v1 #cryoEM

Comparing polyprotein processing in four human coronaviruses revealed distinct and common features like delayed cutting between nsp7 and nsp8. AlphaFold3 models (here SARS-CoV-2 nsp7-11) showed that this cleavage site can form a helix. The methyltransferase nsp16 binds nsp10 depending on the virus even prior release from the polyprotein. IMAGE: Kira Schamoni-Kast

CSSB's Uetrecht group has revealed new insights into the mechanisms of human corona viruses. Their findings were published today in @natcomms.nature.com

@uniluebeck.bsky.social @leibnizliv.bsky.social

Find out more: t1p.de/7ij0e

You cannot beat a Saturday afternoon plane spotting at Geneva. The smell of Jet A-1 really clears the mind.

RNAi is a powerful tool for mosquito control, but delivery remains difficult.
Could symbiotic bacteria be the key? Mixed results so far highlight the complexity and the gaps in our understanding of RNAi, bacterial delivery, and host–symbiont interactions.

Read more in our recent review👇

I’m not seeing the problem..

What a nice colour though!

We‘re looking for a (Full time) PostDoc at the Institute for Virology at Marburg University to help us with our project about the development of Ebola Virus antivirals. Please apply especially of you are interested in or experienced with BSL4 work: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/6...

Nice work, Jeremy et al!

A cap-dependent endonuclease inhibitor acts as a potent antiviral agent against La Crosse virus infection | Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy La Crosse virus (LACV), an arthropod-borne virus, is classified under the genus Orthobunyavirus within the family Peribunyaviridae, order Elliovirales, and class Bunyaviricetes (1). LACV was first iso...

Why is it that we refer to bunyaviral endonucleases as being "cap-dependent"? It's an endonuclease, it will degrade all and any RNA with the correct sequence. Metal-dependent? Sure/probably. But cap-dependent? Highly questionable. [https://journals.asm.org/doi/full/10.1128/aac.00186-25]

As far as I can tell, lots of new species and a singular (?!) move: family Tosoviridae is now under the order Hareavirales.

Please make it stop.

Apoferritin of the RNA world? Very cool.

structure prediction is not science if not experimentally validated. period