Lars-Anders Carlson

When it works, having a cappucino and a Brezel in the bistro at 300 km/h is not bad. When it works....

Umeå Centre for Electron Microscopy (UCEM) UCEM is a joint resource for research and higher education in electron microscopy techniques.

Hi Fabio, the facility in Umeå does. You can find info including facility contact here (I am a user but I don't work at the facility):
www.umu.se/en/research/...

Culex homini lupus!

"talk to". I cringe every time I find a typo in one of my posts but what can I do...

Visited @pirbrightinst.bsky.social some days ago. What an incredible density of smart and creative virologists! Thanks especially to Helena Maier who arranged my visit, and to everyone I had a chance to talk. Their no-photo-policy makes this post a bit dry, but the place is really outstanding!

Hand holding paper model of HIV capsid

Build a paper model of the HIV capsid using this template from PDB-101 #ASBMB2026 #ASBMB26
pdb101.rcsb.org/lear...

Structural studies have provided new insights into lenacapavir's unique mechanism of action. Using electron cryotomography, researchers found that treatment of intact HIV capsids with lenacapavir causes capsids to rupture, with ruptures occurring first in areas of the capsid with the highest level of curvature. The walls of lenacapavir-treated capsids were observed to flatten during early time points and fragment over the course of the experiment. This process is shown in the animation, created by Rachel Torrez in collaboration with Owen Pornillos (University of Utah). The animation was created using pdb_00009pry and pdb_00009y7j and their corresponding models in the EM Data Bank, EMD-71816 and EMD-72657.

Researchers found that treatment of intact HIV capsids with lenacapavir causes capsids to rupture, with ruptures occurring first in areas of the capsid with the highest level of curvature. #ASBMB2026 #ASBMB26
Watch in 3D at PDB-101: pdb101.rcsb.org/motm...

Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.

What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.

Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

Figure 1. Cryo-EM of abundant protein complexes in native membranes.

Figure 2. Cryo-EM of membrane proteins in vesicles.

Figure 3. 3D reconstruction of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicle membranes.

Figure 4. Generation of membrane vesicles for structure determination of proteins in their native lipid bilayer.

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM:

Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer

Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics:
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

Original (left) and corrected (right) Fig. 4a in the paper https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10305-0 showing the chemical structures of amino acids (only the right one) the left figure is just an embarrassment

I wonder... 🤔🤔🧪 #chemsky

a) what program did the authors use to make the original (left) figure in the paper? Wild guess, ChatGPT

b) how such high school science level of disgrace pass peer review in @nature.com?

Note this was Fig.4.a NOT in SI

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

Then you shortcircuit Deutsche Bahn?

Train booking in Germany!

A scientist is never certain.

Structural remodeling of the mitochondrial protein biogenesis machinery under proteostatic stress Cryo–electron tomography reveals how mitochondria reorganize their translation and folding systems under proteostatic stress.

Check out this beautiful study, spearheaded by Kenny @denkenny.bsky.social, on mitochondrial remodeling. Some of the prettiest organelle segmentations I have seen 😍😍😍

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

World map highlighting countries where polio has been detected in the last 12 months

CDC issued a Global Polio Level 2 Travel Health Notice advising enhanced precautions

Tragic. We had polio almost eradicated, but disruption to vaccination campaigns due to COVID, global instability, defunding & vaccine hesitancy have led us here

#VaccinesWork
🧪

wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notic...

A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, the Institut Pasteur, and EMBL has shown in a Nature paper how the influenza polymerase, a molecular thief, uses the host RNA to replicate.

Check out the MPI press release: www.mpinat.mpg.de/5179649/pr_2...

Students (and scientists) seem to hate saying “I don’t know.” It’s viewed so negatively. But I have long believed that thinking of “I don’t know” as a negative is wrong. It’s an *opportunity*.

Remise d'un doctorat honoris causa à Françoise Barré-Sinoussi

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Prix Nobel de médecine 2008 pour la découverte du VIH, reçoit un doctorat honoris causa de l'Université de Montréal.

Cette scientifique d'exception continue d'inspirer la lutte mondiale contre le #VIH.

@umontreal.ca Crédit image : André Caty

PDB101: Learn: Paper Models: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) The capsid protein of papillomavirus is used in vaccines that prevent cervical cancer.

March 4 is International HPV Awareness Day
Build a paper model of the capsid protein used in vaccines that prevent cervical cancer.

A jumbo cyanophage encodes the most complete ribosomal protein set in the known virosphere www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Extended follow-up of invasive cervical cancer risk after quadrivalent HPV vaccination: nationwide, register based study Objectives To evaluate the long term risk of invasive cervical cancer after receiving the quadrivalent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, how risk varies by time since vaccination, and to assess the ...

The HPV vaccine is durably AMAZING.A massive Swedish registry study w 18 years of follow-up found no waning protection against invasive cervical cancer. If vaccinated before age 17, cancer risk is cut by ~80%. Even those vaccinated later still had substantial protection.
www.bmj.com/content/392/...

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away Stanley Plotkin, the 93-year-old "godfather of vaccines," is watching his field’s achievements slip away.

A titan of vaccine development sees his field’s achievements slip away www.statnews.com/2026/03/02/s... via @statnews.com

PDB101: Molecule of the Month: Lenacapavir A potent and long-acting drug that targets the HIV capsid

The March Molecule of the Month looks at Lenacapavir, a potent and long-acting drug that targets the HIV capsid #ASBMB2026

Cryo-EM structures of prefusion HSV-2 gB in complex with human antibodies.

Our fourth installment on prefusion herpesvirus gB proteins is available as a preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202.... Working with Ivelin Georgiev's group, we isolated and characterized prefusion-specific HSV gB antibodies from humans!

Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin, biochemist & a trailblazer in crystallography, she established the biomolecular structures of insulin, vitamin B12, & penicillin winning the Nobel in Chemistry in 1964 #WomensHistoryMonth #WomenInStem #WomenInScience

A line graph showing NSF grant awards made through 2/27/26 for fiscal year 2026 compared with grant awards for fiscal years 2021-2025.

NSF Update (Awards through 2/27/26)

Directorates to follow

1/10

The deadline for applying to the open postdoc position in our lab is coming up!

Reach out if you have questions about the project, our lab and ISTA!

Glad to hear that.

Next year, two viral teams? :)

Next year, we should perhaps take it to the next level by skiing in costumes. There was plenty of inspiration. The "wrong sport" team had one skier in swimsuit! And the pic below is worth more than a thousand words....