DNA topoisomerase I acts as supercoiling sensor for bacterial transcription elongation pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41326756/ #cryoEM

Screen shot of supplementary fig 2 from the bioRxiv preprint https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.26.690380v1.abstract. It shows cryo-EM derived volumes using cryoSPARC NU refinement vs using Relion Blush regularisation and subsequent 3D classification using cryoDRGN to overcome orientation bias issues see in CS refinement.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Example of Relion Blush regularisation combined with CryoDRGN to overcome orientation bias issues from Teder et al #CryoEM

We are pleased to announce Doppio version 1.4! Available here www.ccpem.ac.uk/software/dow...

Image of the Sun.

Taken at night.

Not looking up at sky but down through 8000 miles of rock to the other side of the Earth.

Not with light but neutrinos.

#hiring #researchassociate #structuralbiology #proteinsciences #cryoem #biochemistry #biophysics #dnarepair #drugdiscovery | Stanislau Yatskevich We’re hiring a 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 (Contractor) to join our 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 team in 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬 focused on the molecular mechanisms of DNA repair. 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 You’ll help purify and ...

my friend and wonderful colleague Stan is hiring at Genentech in South San Francisco! 🧬 🌉

Biochemist/structural biologist looking for your first position in industry? I can’t recommend working with Stan enough ☺️ please repost for visibility

www.linkedin.com/posts/stanis...

EMBL scientists have new detailed info about Asgard archaea DNA structures offering important clues to more complex cell evolution.

With #cryoEM, scientists found both open and closed chomatin structures with a possible role in regulating chromatin.

doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...

We are looking for a computational postdoc to work with us on new optimisation algorithms to make #RELION even better. Join our bubbly team at the @mrclmb.bsky.social in Cambridge, UK. 🤗 RTs appreciated.

mrc.tal.net/vx/appcentre...

Image of the mechanical ladder outside the Louvre Text below says WENN'S MAL WIEDER SCHNELL GEHEN MUSS (When you need to move fast) Underneath is more German text which translates as "The Böcker Agilo transports your treasures weighing up to 400kg at 42m/min - quiet as a whisper."

The German company that makes the mechanical ladder used in the Louvre heist has used the image to advertise, with the text 'When you need to move fast'

10/10 response, no notes

Finally, just about 2 years after finishing the postdoc the last part of my work is finally online! We determined the structure of HSV-1 Origin Binding Protein, the viral initiator of DNA replication, by cryo-EM 🧪🧬🧶🧵 #cryoEM #structuralbiology

OBP dimer

Using cryo-EM, we determined OBP structures at up to 2.8 Å resolution in multiple states:
1. bound to HSV-1 origin of replication (OriS) DNA

2. with a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog

3. as monomer, dimer, and higher-order assemblies

The herpes simplex origin-binding protein: mechanisms for sequence-specific DNA binding and dimerization revealed by Cryo-EM Abstract. Herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1,2) present growing treatment challenges due to increasing resistance to antivirals targeting viral DNA poly

New cryo-EM structures of HSV-1 origin-binding protein reveal how herpesvirus initiates DNA replication, offering new antiviral targets beyond DNA polymerase. Study published in
@narjournal.bsky.social 🧪
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

I love AlphaFold—but please include PAE (Predicted Aligned Error) plots for every “interaction.” Pretty PDBs ≠ proof. If the PAE doesn’t show an interface, it ain’t one. Show the plots. Structural biology's reputation is on the line.

The herpes simplex origin-binding protein: mechanisms for sequence-specific DNA binding and dimerization revealed by Cryo-EM Abstract. Herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1,2) present growing treatment challenges due to increasing resistance to antivirals targeting viral DNA poly

📜 The Herpes simplex Origin Binding Protein: Mechanisms for sequence specific DNA binding and dimerization revealed by Cryo-EM

🧑‍🔬 @emilgustavsson.bsky.social , Kay Grünewald, Per Elias, @bmhallberg.bsky.social

📔 Nucleic Acids Research @narjournal.bsky.social

🔗 doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

Very excited that my final postdoctoral work is now online in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Using 16 (!) cryo-EM structures, we uncovered how the three proteins coronin, cofilin and AIP1 work together to rapidly disassemble actin filaments.

Locating the missing chlorophylls f in far-red photosystem I pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41066538/ #cryoEM

How do SMC complexes load onto DNA to get ready for loop extrusion?

@roisnehamelinf.bsky.social & co discovered that Wadjet, an SMC complex involved in bacterial DNA immunity, performs some impressive molecular gymnastics 🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️🤸‍♂️.

Check out the new paper: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Initial attempt at replicating in relion (parameters in next post). This is for Aca2-RNA, using a 100k subset of the 2D-classified particles (no prior 3D cleanup).

A 1-class ab initio in relion, then local refinement in relion (1.8deg searches+blush) gives a nominally 3.3Å map; 3.5 Å w/out blush.

These results are truly impressive! But I do worry that #cryoEM is moving into a phase where progress is made by optimizing parameter settings for black box programs. The devil is often in the details, and I am not sure how this could be implemented in #relion, as stated, without more info.

Overcoming Preferred Orientation in Cryo-EM With Ultrasonic Excitation During Vitrification https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.14.676144v1

This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!

We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.

Read on for details... 1/x

For something different, tried this approach on something on the other end of the spectrum - in situ ribosomes from low SNR 2DTM data.

Used the U2OS-grid 9 dataset from EMPIAR-12459 (699 movies; doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...).

Blob pick & 2D after denoising gave 12k particles. 2-class HR-HAIR --> 3.3 Å

#RNA25 @rna25.bsky.social