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Alex Bisson

@archaeon-alex.bsky.social

πŸ‡§πŸ‡·πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈEvolutionary Cell Mechanobiology of Archaea. Assistant Professor at Brandeis University. Standing tall on the shoulders of tiny (salty) bugs. bissonlab.com

2,042 Followers  |  2,470 Following  |  147 Posts  |  Joined: 29.08.2023  |  2.6247

Latest posts by archaeon-alex.bsky.social on Bluesky

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"Electroboy" is my memoir about my battle with bipolar disorder and which is being made into a feature film with Timothee Chalamet.

The book is out of print - I have h/c and p/b copies which I inscribe to you and ship overnight to you.

The cost is $30 for a h/c and $20 for a p/c - send me a DM!

02.07.2025 21:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1001    πŸ” 253    πŸ’¬ 72    πŸ“Œ 31

It is exciting to see how biophysics, cell biology, and systems biology are co-evolving as a field. Tech allows fast orthogonal data collection across conditions, moving away from "genetic pathway <-> function" and phenotypes alone can connect genes/proteins to mechanism (4/4)

24.08.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Changed the biochemistry (pH, salt, substrate...)? Mechanics (osmolarity, electrical/magnetic field...)? Developmental program? Yeah, you are likely changing all the other outputs and shifting "bottlenecks". That's part of the "noisy" natural selection process (3/4)

24.08.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Cell wall synthesis? Turgor fluctuations (periplasm and cytoplasm)? Membrane tension? Assembly of the cytokinetic ring? FtsZ treadmilling itself? The answer is: it does not matter because these are moving pieces, and physiological conditions are coupled with cell mechanics (2/4)

24.08.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

This is one of my fav bac cell div papers. It's remarkable how much we've learned about cytokinesis in the past decade, and how much we still don't know. This paper harmonizes many of the disagreements in the field, like what limits construction rates (1/4)

24.08.2025 12:48 β€” πŸ‘ 18    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

It bears repeating that nearly the entire US enterprise in science and technology has been irreversibly gutted. This is shocking.

All this loss has occurred without any real benefit to the average US citizen. Except we now have the biggest, best funded secret police force perhaps ever.

Yay for us!

23.08.2025 16:25 β€” πŸ‘ 332    πŸ” 119    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 7
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Collective cell motion has many forms, but rotation is the coolest of them all.

I'm @onenimesa.bsky.social , and in this short🧡, I'll highlight some instances of global tissue rotation like this one from @BauschLab

23.08.2025 07:00 β€” πŸ‘ 89    πŸ” 26    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 3
officialjackwhite
"Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career," wrote Cheung. "It's apparent he's been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of The People's House."--White House Communications Director Steven Cheung

Listen, I'm an artist and not a politician so I'm in no need to give my answer or opinion on
anything if I'm not inspired or compelled, but how funny that it wasn't me calling out trump's
blatant fascist manipulation of government, his gestapo ICE tactics, his racist remarks about
Latinos, Native Americans, etc. his ridiculous "wall" construction, his attacks on the disabled
his attempted coup and mob insurrection and destruction of the sacred halls of congress,
his disparaging sexist and pedophilic remarks about women, his obvious attempts at
distraction about being a close personal friend of Jeffrey Epstein and his inclusion in the
Epstein files, his ignorance of the dying children in Sudan, Gaza, and the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, his lack of empathy for military veterans and those struggling with
poverty, his attempts to dismantle healthcare, his obvious wimpy and pathetic kowtowing
to the dictators Putin and Kim Jong Un, his nazi like rallies, his attempts to sell merchandise
and products like Goya beans through the office of the President, his fake "gunshot to the ear"
that he showed no medical records or photographs of his constant, constant lying to the American people, etc. etc. No, it wasn't me calling out any of that, it was the fucking DECOR OF THE OVAL OFFICE remarks I made that got them to respond with insults.
How petty and pathetic and thin skinned could this administration get? Masquerading as a
real artist? Thank you for giving me my tombstone engraving! Well here's my opinion,
trump is masquerading as a human being.

officialjackwhite "Jack White is a washed up, has-been loser posting drivel on social media because he clearly has ample time on his hands due to his stalled career," wrote Cheung. "It's apparent he's been masquerading as a real artist, because he fails to appreciate, and quite frankly disrespects, the splendor and significance of the Oval Office inside of The People's House."--White House Communications Director Steven Cheung Listen, I'm an artist and not a politician so I'm in no need to give my answer or opinion on anything if I'm not inspired or compelled, but how funny that it wasn't me calling out trump's blatant fascist manipulation of government, his gestapo ICE tactics, his racist remarks about Latinos, Native Americans, etc. his ridiculous "wall" construction, his attacks on the disabled his attempted coup and mob insurrection and destruction of the sacred halls of congress, his disparaging sexist and pedophilic remarks about women, his obvious attempts at distraction about being a close personal friend of Jeffrey Epstein and his inclusion in the Epstein files, his ignorance of the dying children in Sudan, Gaza, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, his lack of empathy for military veterans and those struggling with poverty, his attempts to dismantle healthcare, his obvious wimpy and pathetic kowtowing to the dictators Putin and Kim Jong Un, his nazi like rallies, his attempts to sell merchandise and products like Goya beans through the office of the President, his fake "gunshot to the ear" that he showed no medical records or photographs of his constant, constant lying to the American people, etc. etc. No, it wasn't me calling out any of that, it was the fucking DECOR OF THE OVAL OFFICE remarks I made that got them to respond with insults. How petty and pathetic and thin skinned could this administration get? Masquerading as a real artist? Thank you for giving me my tombstone engraving! Well here's my opinion, trump is masquerading as a human being.

officialjackwhite
He's masquerading as a christian, as a leader, as a person with actual empathy.
He's been masquerading as a businessman for decades as nothing he's involved in
has prospered except by using other people's money to find loophole after loophole and grift after grift. His staff of professional liar toadies like Steven Cheung
and Karoline Leavitt have been covering up and masking his fascism as patriotism and
"ample time on
at golf than
helping ANYONE in the country. Improve. Anything. There
progress with him, only
smoke and mirrors and tax breaks for the ultra wealthy. So maga folk, enjoy your
concrete paving over of the rose garden, your 200 million dollar ballroom in the White House, and your gaudy ass gold spray painted trinkets from Home Depot, cause he ain't spending any
money agenda. on helping YOU unless you fit into his white supremascist country club rich idiot.
No intelligent person can defend this
low life fascist. This bankrupter of casinos. This failed seller of trump steaks, trump vodka,
trump water, etc. This man and his goon squad have failed upwards for decades and have
fleeced the American people over and over. This professional golf cheat, this grifter who
has hundreds of thousands of deaths from his inaction of the pandemic on his hands,
this man that the majority of the country somehow were fooled into supporting and
voting into office (through the flawed electoral college) and their love of reality
television stars. Being insulted by the actual White House that this particular conman
leads is a badge of honor to me, because anyone who trump supports and likes is a villain
who gives nothing to their fellow man, only takes what can benefit themselves.
And no I'm not a Democrat either, I'm a human being raised in Detroit, I'm an artist who's
owned his own businesses like his own upholstery shop and recording label since he
was 21 years old who has enough street sense to know when a 3 card monte dealer is a
cheap grifter and a thief.

officialjackwhite He's masquerading as a christian, as a leader, as a person with actual empathy. He's been masquerading as a businessman for decades as nothing he's involved in has prospered except by using other people's money to find loophole after loophole and grift after grift. His staff of professional liar toadies like Steven Cheung and Karoline Leavitt have been covering up and masking his fascism as patriotism and "ample time on at golf than helping ANYONE in the country. Improve. Anything. There progress with him, only smoke and mirrors and tax breaks for the ultra wealthy. So maga folk, enjoy your concrete paving over of the rose garden, your 200 million dollar ballroom in the White House, and your gaudy ass gold spray painted trinkets from Home Depot, cause he ain't spending any money agenda. on helping YOU unless you fit into his white supremascist country club rich idiot. No intelligent person can defend this low life fascist. This bankrupter of casinos. This failed seller of trump steaks, trump vodka, trump water, etc. This man and his goon squad have failed upwards for decades and have fleeced the American people over and over. This professional golf cheat, this grifter who has hundreds of thousands of deaths from his inaction of the pandemic on his hands, this man that the majority of the country somehow were fooled into supporting and voting into office (through the flawed electoral college) and their love of reality television stars. Being insulted by the actual White House that this particular conman leads is a badge of honor to me, because anyone who trump supports and likes is a villain who gives nothing to their fellow man, only takes what can benefit themselves. And no I'm not a Democrat either, I'm a human being raised in Detroit, I'm an artist who's owned his own businesses like his own upholstery shop and recording label since he was 21 years old who has enough street sense to know when a 3 card monte dealer is a cheap grifter and a thief.

Trump doesn't seem to see that some people are still immune to his threats.

Jack White criticized Trump's Oval Office decor. The White House then called White a "washed-up, has-been loser... masquerading as a real artist." And White, undeterred, posted an absolutely blistering takedown in response.

22.08.2025 17:56 β€” πŸ‘ 9421    πŸ” 2755    πŸ’¬ 235    πŸ“Œ 421

We all need both government and each other to survive in society. Let's contribite to support those who need.

22.08.2025 19:39 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Pintura vista desde detrΓ‘s de un muro adoquinado, en un atardecer rojo y anaranjado con un bosque que no tapa el sol de cΓ­rculo perfecto y rojizo, este queda delante de los Γ‘rboles, como si estuviΓ©ramos mucho mΓ‘s cerca de Γ©l que lejos. 

#Art #Painting

Pintura vista desde detrΓ‘s de un muro adoquinado, en un atardecer rojo y anaranjado con un bosque que no tapa el sol de cΓ­rculo perfecto y rojizo, este queda delante de los Γ‘rboles, como si estuviΓ©ramos mucho mΓ‘s cerca de Γ©l que lejos. #Art #Painting

🎨 © René Magritte

18.08.2025 10:51 β€” πŸ‘ 86    πŸ” 16    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 4
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πŸ€πŸ”¬

CSLD5-mediated cell wall remodelling regulates tissue mechanics and shoot meristem growth @natcomms.nature.com

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

Movies: Cell division orientation in wild-type (attached) and csld5 (comment) shoot apical meristem.

09.08.2025 18:35 β€” πŸ‘ 24    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Caliditerrarchaeota, a new sister to Nanohaloarchaeota, provides insights into the evolution of DPANN halophily The Nanohaloarchaeota are a clade of halophilic symbionts with small cells and genomes. Originally placed within the Euryarchaeota, they are now widely thought to belong to the DPANN archaea. However,...

New preprint up now!

Interested in the evolution of halophily within DPANN archaea we decided to investigate the sister phylum to the Nanohaloarchaeota, GTDB phylum EX4484-52, for which we propose the name Caliditerrarchaeota
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

08.08.2025 06:49 β€” πŸ‘ 27    πŸ” 17    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Check out this awesome study from my phenomenally talented colleague @accorsi-alice.bsky.social ! Apple snails can regrow their eyes! How do they do this? πŸ‘€ Read below ⬇️ to find out more! #regeneration

07.08.2025 17:32 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 7    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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I'm tired of people "liking" my #Epstein and #Trump posts.

The point, folks, is to "repost" them.

Spread the word about these two disgusting #pedophiles and #rapists

02.08.2025 03:35 β€” πŸ‘ 384    πŸ” 582    πŸ’¬ 58    πŸ“Œ 29
Stephen Fry meets Electroboy
YouTube video by JoeMoonblue Stephen Fry meets Electroboy

With my memoir, "Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania," a chronicle of my battle with bipolar disorder about to be made into a feature film, I'm sharing this interview with Stephen Fry the English actor, comedian, writer, director, narrator, and broadcaster.

Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUpt...

02.07.2025 09:55 β€” πŸ‘ 296    πŸ” 100    πŸ’¬ 32    πŸ“Œ 12
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Great opportunity! The Uni Vienna has launched a call (APART) for 4-funding for outstanding postdocs from a US institution. The host lab has to nominate by 1 August a candidate for further selection. Anyone interested in our work please contact me by email with CV/motivation letter. Hurry up!

26.07.2025 14:30 β€” πŸ‘ 25    πŸ” 36    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Upcoming breaking changes in TrackMate v8 Hello TrackMate developers, This post is only important if you are developing TrackMate extensions yourself, in particular TrackMate spot detectors and segmentation modules. If not you can skip it en...

Are you developing with TrackMate?

If yes let's get in touch: I plan to make API breaking changes in the future version (v8, soonish) that will break existing detector and segmentation algorithms integration.

Details on the forum: forum.image.sc/t/upcoming-b...

14.07.2025 20:56 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 6    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

(cont 2c) hope I didn't give the impression that I am against experts. I prefer not to be an expert myself, and it isn't the only way to stimulate reproducible science (maybe there is no model in these terms). That doesn't mean I don't value them. :)

[6/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

(cont 2b) We have to adopt not only research topics, but also philosophical approaches to scientific training. We do need experts, but a research community made up of experts will result in a building made of 500-year-old technology.

[5/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

(cont 2a) Does that mean that's the way we should focus academic research? I strongly disagree. And I disagree that it makes science more reproducible (based on my previous arguments). I argue the opposite: institutions should avoid standardization of research training.

[4/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

2) There are many ways of doing good science and training outstanding scientists. I love experts and their passion for their topic. I learn tons from them, and they make it possible for people like me (mainly cross-disciplinary problem solvers) to have a job

[3/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

(cont 1) We have so many papers today, and information travels faster, so it's become easier to spot them. It's like saying Western Blots are prone to data falsification. It's just easier to find them because so many papers use them. So we need to be careful with spurious correlations.

[2/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

I'm sorry for not getting back to you sooner! I agree with much of what you said. But there are 2 different confounding points there:

1) These arguments do not touch reproducibility. Old papers are no more reproducible than new ones, and academia was way more "specialized" back then.

[1/6]

14.07.2025 13:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Above all, congrats on the paper!!! Pretty cool how much time you spent in this question and the careful analysis. It's an important discussion - no matter who's right or if it's going to be reproducible in future datasets or under new experimental designs :)

10.07.2025 12:34 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Academia should not be a production where efficiency = many flawless but low penetrance pdfs. People become avoidant of taking risks and become burocrats. It's fine to be wrong. Reproducibility problems is related to ethics, not being right all the time.

10.07.2025 12:30 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

All in all, fields need to welcome new players and make sure a certain critical mass of the leadership turns over every ~10-15 years. Some who are attached to topics will stay behind (as it's important to keep the memory) and many talented scientists will leave to contribute in other fields.

10.07.2025 12:20 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

science does not work better when people "geek out" in one topic forever. What happens is that a confirmation bias is set and the field stagnates, not advancing but still dragging out a lot of resources. And runny enough, things change when someone new enters and challenge the status quo.

10.07.2025 12:18 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

this claim will not be reproducible when you discard the iron rule effect from the equation. Labs that stay 50 years working on the same topic create a generation of PIs who will (at least in articles) endorse or avoid challenge the findings of their former mentors

10.07.2025 12:16 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Wow!

@acharlesorszag.bsky.social
@buzzbaum.bsky.social
@archaellum.bsky.social
@mullinslab.bsky.social

27.06.2025 01:46 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

And this is also important for eukaryogenesis, eukaryotes and the origins of meiosis since it marks the branching of Rad proteins!

Looking forward to seeing your next work on it!

23.06.2025 01:33 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

@archaeon-alex is following 20 prominent accounts