Gabby Budziszewski

an electron density map rendered in coot that looks like a histidine sitting on top of a mushroom

interpreting electron density or foraging for mushrooms -- you decide.
#structuralbiology #crystallography #mycology

A thread of protein-themed card, board, and video games 🧵

luckily he can read and is a very polite dog

I'm excited to share that my story is featured in this week's edition of Science Magazine! Being able to do my research with my Tribe and in my homelands has been so impactful and meaningful personally and for my career. And it's important for other young Indigenous researches to know it's possible!

👀

A man stands in a cave filled with white crystals, many of them much taller and larger than he is. The scale is hard to even understand. CREDIT: Javier Trueba From the C&EN article I'm citing below: "For millennia, conditions within the Cave of Crystals (290 m underground) were perfect for the growth of gypsum crystals, allowing them to grow to their massive size. Credit: Javier Trueba/MSF/Science Source"

Take a minute to really absorb the scale of what you're seeing.

This is 'Cueva de los Cristales', the Cave of the Crystals, near the city of Naica in the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

The crystals are selenite, a type of gypsum.

They formed over the last 1 million years.

(📷: Javier Trueba, MSF)

Ultraslow growth rates of giant gypsum crystals | PNAS Mineralogical processes taking place close to equilibrium, or with very slow kinetics, are difficult to quantify precisely. The determination of ul...

There's also a primary paper on dating of the crystals that goes into some of the chemical processes involved and how they can be modeled here:

I doubt that there is a single family in America that hasn’t benefitted directly from the NIH.

ACA2025 attendees wearing cowboy hats in front of a billboard that says "See you in Calgary!"

ACA2025 attendee wearing cowboy hat in front of a billboard that says "See you in Calgary!"

ACA2025 attendees wearing cowboy hats in front of a billboard that says "See you in Calgary!"

ACA2025 attendee wearing cowboy hat in front of a billboard that says "See you in Calgary!"

Giddy up to Calgary! Stop by our #IUCr2026 booth at #ACA2025 to gear up for the 2026 Conference to get some Calgary Stampede merch, plan your trip, meet other attendees and more!

Cal the stampede horse inside a 3D printed model of the VIPP1 thylakoid membrane structural protein assembly

Cal the stampede horse next to a liquid handling robot and cocktail mixer

Cal the stampede horse next to some unipucks

Cal the stampede horse at the IUCr2026 booth along with some other great IUCr2026 merch

Cal the Calgary Stampede horse is having a blast visiting the exhibitors at #ACA2025! Come visit the #IUCr2026 booth at #ACA2025 to find Cal and gear up for Calgary!

YouTube video by International Union of Crystallography Preparing for successful protein crystallization experiments

As the community gets ready for #ACA2025, we're proud to present this interview with @gabbygrowsxtals.bsky.social Vivian Stojanoff and @xtalmaker.bsky.social on how to prepare for successful protein crystallisation experiments! 🥳🥳 youtu.be/m34RI500OFU?...

A decayed stick is held up in a hand and covered with dozens of tiny collared parachute mushrooms. Their white caps rise up on wiry black stems in a green forest. All photo by me

Here are some nice mushrooms

Excited that our article made the cover of the July issue of @actacrystf.iucr.org!

Congrats to my coauthors @gabbygrowsxtals.bsky.social & Vivian Stojanoff!

Grateful for #NIH NIGMS R24 National Resource grant that enables workshops like the 2023 SAMPREP workshop @ @acastructuralsci.bsky.social

CXI beamline at LCLS - the sample on an SOS chip is behind the window in the chamber

Our protein nanocrystals look like stars

Scientist showing the sheet on sheet chip after loading protein nanocrystals

Nanocrystal diffraction at the CXI beamline!

Last week @gabbygrowsxtals.bsky.social and I had an amazing time running experiments at CXI at LCLS at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory on nanocrystal protein samples! Our protein nanocrystals looked like little stars 🌟 💎

LCLS far experimental hall

Scientist using a humidity-controlled box to set up experiments

Nanocrystal shower

having some fun with nanocrystals at LCLS CXI beamline! safe to say I’m a little excited for my first shift on an XFEL🎇

To be clear for folks outside the US - when you see us tweeting jokes in the aftermath of unprovoked acts of war, it’s because we’ve lost all control of our federal government and are desperate for mechanisms to address the horrors we as civilians are indirectly responsible for. We are so, so sorry.

Does crossing the pond affect crystal quality?
No!

FPLC system with a size exclusion column showing a red band

I'm used to purifying colorless proteins, so it's a treat to have a metal-binding protein I can see IN my resin!
#metalloprotein #biochemistry

Scientist presenting about protein crystal growth

Two scientists with a presentation about structural biology

Scientist presenting about structural biology

Scientists before presenting at the structural biology workshop

@getacrystal.bsky.social & SSRL are out in force teaching at the New Opportunities for Structural Biology Research Workshop in TN this week!

Thanks Jamaine Davis for making the workshop happen & the invite!

Nice work @gabbygrowsxtals.bsky.social, Tiffany, Darya & Crissy!

@ubuffalo.bsky.social

Painting of stylised pink poppies and seedheads on stems

Colleen Parker, contemporary artist and illustrator #womensart

If you don't know @xtalmaker.bsky.social and their amazing facility at UBuffalo to help you achieve your crystallization goals, you should!

Picture of twelve wells of protein crystallization - arranged in a rainbow pattern. With scale bars.

Just in time for Pride month!

Celebrating our recent publication in @actacrystf.iucr.org by highlighting our rainbow of protein crystals! 🏳️‍🌈💎

Great to work with @gabbygrowsxtals.bsky.social & Vivian Stojanof on this paper!

doi.org/10.1107/S205...

#crystallization #crystals #structuralbiology

Scientist from Stanford Chrissy Tarver presenting on protein preparation

Dr. Chrissy Tarver telling us about sample preparation for protein crystallization!

Scientist from National Crystallization Center discussing crystallization and crystal growth

SSRL beamline scientist Darya Marchany-Rivera presenting an overview of structural biology techniques

kicking off the New Opportunities for Structural Biology Research at the SSRL Synchrotron workshop at Belmont University! Big thanks to Jamaine Davis for making this workshop happen and inviting us!

#structuralbiology #crystallography

@blackinbiophys.bsky.social

The Visual Language of Crystals Chemistry becomes art in Thomas Blanchard’s timelapse video

"Art can be a gateway to science," says artist Thomas Blanchard in an interview with Nautilus. Watch the formation of striking landscapes of potassium phosphate crystals: nautil.us/the-visual...

spiky, white calcite crystals

Carpeted in white, spiky calcite crystals, festooned with cave pearls, the captivating Raspberry Rising cave system in Canada's Glacier National Park is a site of ongoing geological and microbial research. canadiangeographic.c...

Most Americans use federal science information on a weekly basis, a new poll finds Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

Most Americans frequently use federal science information. But few are concerned that cuts to federal science spending could affect their access to such information, a new poll finds.

HEY SCIENTISTS!!!

Looking for a way to get involved in advocating for science on a local level? ⬇️

We're asking scientists to publish an op-ed in their local newspaper on June 16th, the birthday of Nobel-prize winning scientist Barbara McClintock ☀️ See the link below for more details!

“Six percent of White males who serve on boards were fired, compared with half of Black and Hispanic females and a quarter of all females… The chairs’ analysis calculated the likelihood that this would have happened by chance as 1 in 300.”