David Kuster

I agree, this seems to be a somewhat unrealistic mechanism you seem to propose for solving the protein folding problem... it's unlikely to be two cats. I think the length scales just don't match & you end up with an infinite regress problem. I.e.

Who folded the cat proteins? Even smaller cats?

Happy birthday to Charles Darwin,
patron saint of tired scientists, grumpy fieldworkers, and hating your own manuscript.

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself.

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

To celebrate #DarwinDay on Feb. 12, I'm going to begin rereading the 1st vol. of Janet's Browne's excellent biography, Voyaging, then the 2nd vol., The Power of Place, in anticipation of her releasing an updated, condensed single volume in June.

#histsci #HPS @princetonupress.bsky.social

Very happy to say that our work on how axonemes are generated is now available on bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... - if you’ve ever wondered how the incredibly beautiful, complex structures within motile #cilia are constructed then this is for you!

We are hiring!
Come work with us as a Laboratory Technician at IBEC in sunny Barcelona! We offer a one-year contract, with the possibility of extension for up to two additional years.
Please help spread the word! Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
ibecbarcelona.eu/laboratory-t...

My student Aoi Otsuka ’s PhD work is now officially published @csf-jscb.bsky.social! 🔬 Single-nucleosome imaging uncovers biphasic local chromatin dynamics in an oncogene-inducible human carcinogenesis model (1–3 d: same, 5–7 d: ↑, back by week 4). Congrats! www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/csf/...

Stages of biomolecular condensate formation in pro-β-carboxysome assembly - Nature Plants Carboxysomes are cyanobacterial CO2-concentrating compartments with a proteinaceous shell. The elucidation of the role of the shell adaptor protein ApN in stepwise β-carboxysome assembly will aid the ...

Stages of biomolecular condensate formation in pro-β-carboxysome assembly

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

#PhDPosition open — #RibosomeBiology & #Translation QC
📍 JGU Mainz, Germany
🗓️ Apply by 10 Mar 2026 (or until filled)
🔗 Full details + project options:
👉 ak-winz.pharmazie.uni-mainz.de/jobs/

Join the #EMBL conference "Cellular mechanisms driven by phase separation" 🗓️ May 19-22! Register now for in-person at @embl.org Heidelberg or Virtual 👉 www.embl.org/about/info/c...

#EESPhaseSeparation
@events.embl.org

🧪🧬New preprint We present cryo-EM structures of reconstituted CTCF–nucleosome complexes, showing CTCF dimerization drives nucleosome oligomerization into defined higher-order assemblies. Disrupting CTCF–CTCF interfaces in mESCs reduces looping and impairs differentiation. tinyurl.com/CTCF-nucleos...

A Grey Heron stands perfectly still, its long neck stretched tall and beak pointed forward, eyes wide and unblinking. Its sleek grey feathers and sharp stare give off an air of quiet determination...or perhaps silent desperation? With an expression that screams, "If I don’t move, maybe no one will ask me to do anything," it perfectly captures that classic Monday mood.

Monday mood: This Heron standing very still, hoping no one asks it to do anything today.

#MondayMotivation

Two Tundra Bean Geese at Boulmer

After failing to find any Bean Geese around Whittle Dene this morning, delighted to catch up with two Tundra Beans on patch at Boulmer before dusk #NEbirding

I am excited to share a new review @cp-molcell.bsky.social written in collaboration with @tanjamittag.bsky.social , Mikayla Eppert, and Ambuja Navalkar where we review the current evidence for and against the role of density transitions in regulating transcription www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

RBPscan: A quantitative in vivo tool for profiling RNA-binding protein interactions Kretov et al. introduce RBPscan, an RNA-editing-based platform that measures how RNA-binding proteins engage their targets in living cells. This approach quantifies the binding strength of protein-RNA...

I am thrilled to share our paper introducing RBPscan, a novel approach to profile RNA–protein interactions in living cells. Free access link at the end ⬇️ 🧵 1/
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

We've got two exciting chromatin talks coming up on Wednesday next week:

@epijenatics.bsky.social from @jbuenrostro.bsky.social's lab and @ambystoma22.bsky.social!

register and join us: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Seminar announcement for Max Planck Seminar Freiburg titled 'Super-resolution imaging of chromatin in health and disease' with date, time, location, and speaker Melike Lakadamyali from University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia USA

This Friday (today), we’re pleased to welcome Melike Lakadamyali (@melikel.bsky.social) from @upenn.edu.

If you are interested in Super resolution microscopy, cytoplasmic and nuclear organization with a focus on biophysics, then do not miss Prof. Lakadamyali talk in our lecture hall at 13:00. 🤗

Tau phosphorylation impedes functionality of protective tau envelopes - Nature Chemical Biology Tau phosphorylation was found to hinder the formation and protective functionality of tau envelopes against microtubule-severing enzymes, providing a potential explanation for microtubule destabilizat...

Tau phosphorylation impedes functionality of protective tau envelopes against microtubule-severing enzymes, providing a potential explanation for microtubule destabilization observed in neuropathology

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

Poster showing program for IDPSeminars on Feb 5th. Talks are: Lucia Strader: IDR sequence features of activation domains Heather Meyer: IDPs as environmental sensors and actuators in plants

IDPSeminas is back again TOMORROW!

Talks from Lucia Strader (@luciastrader.bsky.social) and Heather Meyer! Sign up at idpseminars.com.

Talks start at 1 pm EST / 7 PM CET!! Come learn about transcriptional adaptation and IDRs as environmental sensors and accuators!

Ad for a postdoc position in centromere biology with colorful chromosomes and centromeres made out of FIMO.

🧪 My lab has an opening for a postdoc position soon! Please share/get in touch!

YouTube video by Jesse Damiani What Hannah Arendt Can Teach Us Today - Roger Berkowitz | #63

Out now! @jessedamiani.bsky.social interviews @rogerberkowitz.bsky.social at the Arendt Center for @urgentfutures.bsky.social

Watch now at youtu.be/dP4BxIjP2JY?...

Put simply: high concentrations facilitate reactions because you get more molecular collisions. However, molecules don't move well (or collide) when they are stuck together:
journals.aps.org/pre/abstract...

portrait of Nagaraja Chappidi

We welcome new research group leader Nagaraja Chappidi! He joins the @mpi-cbg.de to explore how cells regulate DNA replication and repair. www.mpi-cbg.de/news-outreac...

PDB101: Molecule of the Month: Histones Across the Tree of Life Uncovering the evolutionary diversity of histones

pdb101.rcsb.org/motm/314 histones outside of the eukaryotic domain are the 'molecule of the month'! nice!

🚀 Just published: New1 shields mRNAs from no-go decay — by preventing ribosome crashes at specific codons.
What’s new?
New1 (eEF3 homolog) stops ribosomes from stalling at C-terminal AAA/AGG/CGU codons. No New1 = collisions + Hel2 recruitment + Cue2-mediated no-go decay.

Biomolecular condensates amplify mRNA decapping by biasing enzyme conformation - Nature Chemical Biology Alterations in the interactions driving phase separation of the mRNA decapping complex led to conformational rearrangements in its active site, providing a mechanism to control whether substrate mRNA ...

This is my favorite biochemical counter-example by the John Gross lab, where rates are enhanced in the condensed phase - but critically due to an altered enzyme conformation:

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

That's likely what has happened in many cases - that retardation/inhibition was interpreted as 'negative, unpublishable result', which is a bit unfortunate since it could just as well have been biologically meaningful.

Also fits well with the cumulative intuition, or experience, from biochemical experiments and the 'publication gap' (with few notable exceptions, i.e. altered enzyme conformation in the condensed phase) for rate-enhancing condensates in the literature.

Graphical abstract of pre-print

Does targeting enzymes and substrates in a condensate lead to rate enhancement? No. Here, we investigate how the condensate environment can inhibit an enzyme reaction.

Spoiler: Mass-transport limitations. We find a strong correlation between diffusion and reaction rates.

doi.org/10.64898/202...

Pathological TDP-43 filaments accumulate at synapses and cause synaptic dysfunction