Our discovery of an epidermal membrane-associated periodic scaffold that protects axons from damage is out now in Science Advances and featured on the cover!

Congratulations to Sean, Igor and Dat for their wonderful and inspiring work! @coakleylab.bsky.social

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

An epidermal membrane-associated periodic skeleton restricts endocytosis to stabilize neuron-epidermal attachment and preserve axons An epidermal membrane periodic scaffold protects axons from damage.

Latest paper is now out and features on the cover of Science Advances 👉 tinyurl.com/vea5862x

Very grateful Igor Bonacossa Pereira, Dat Le & Massimo Hilliard @hilliardlab.bsky.social for their creativity & passion.

Read more about it 👉
tinyurl.com/56awjda5
& 👉 tinyurl.com/2vp8p8uk

Come & join us: Within @phar.cam.ac.uk, we have a a PhD studentship available for an October 2026 start in collaboration with @MaxionTx as part of the BioSCaPe programme www.babraham.ac.uk/work-and-stu.... Project details 👉 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Read this inspiring perspectives coauthored by the Worm Resource directors and worm Nobel Laureates! 4 Nobel Prizes and how they were enabled by major NIH-supported research resources (the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, WormBase, and WormAtlas) www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

I’m excited to share my PhD work on localized mRNAs and protein synthesis in cortical layer 1 on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Disability rights activist and author Alice Wong dies at 51 The MacArthur "Genius" Award-winner was best known as the founder of the Disability Visibility Project, which highlights disabled people and disability culture through storytelling projects, social me...

www.npr.org/2025/11/15/n...

📢 Applications for the 2026 Cambridge Amgen Scholars Programme are now open!

• Open to undergraduate students – UK & Europe
• Fully paid 8-week lab-based placements
• All scholars housed in college accommodation

Eligibility & how to apply: amgenscholars.bio.cam.ac.uk

#Cambridge #AmgenScholars

A molecular atlas of the hippocampus: Scientist at the MPIs for Brain Research and Biophysics map RNAs and proteins at synaptic resolution 🔬 🔗 brain.mpg.de/molecular-at... @evakaulich.bsky.social @erin-schuman.bsky.social

All data are openly available:
– Explore at syndive.org

– RNA-seq at NCBI SRA PRJNA1142450 + PRJNA1142761

– Proteomics at PRIDE PXD054879

We hope this atlas will be a lasting community resource for studies of hippocampal biology, plasticity, and disease.

We combined RNAseq & proteomics with synapse-level resolution to map the hippocampus. We find thousands of molecules with spatial enrichment, reveal how protein half-life and local translation shape compartment identity and show that distal dendrites rely more strongly on local protein synthesis.

A Molecular Atlas of the Hippocampus: Mapping RNAs and Proteins at Synaptic Resolution New integrative study uncovers the spatial organization of transcripts and proteins in the mouse hippocampus, offering insights into brain function and plasticity.

Excited to share our new paper in @natcomms.nature.com : An integrated transcriptomic and proteomic map of the mouse hippocampus at synaptic resolution.

Press release: brain.mpg.de/molecular-at...
Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s414...

cc @mpibrain.bsky.social

We hope this multi-omics atlas serves as a valuable resource for the neuroscience and multiomics community. Explore the data here: RNA-seq: PRJNA1142450 & PRJNA1142761 (NCBI SRA) and Proteomics: PRIDE PXD054879 @pride-ebi.bsky.social

Overall, this multi-omic study provides a comprehensive molecular map of hippocampus, revealing spatial gradients of transcripts and proteins, insights into mechanisms underlying synaptic diversity. The dataset is available for interactive exploration at syndive.org

5/Our FASS-based synaptic profiling revealed distinct transcriptomic and proteomic signatures across hippocampal subregions and strata. Synapse diversity is shaped by both input origin and local molecular composition, defining layer-specific plasticity and organization.

mRNA and protein enrichment across sites, candidate genes with overlapping enrichment, and mRNA translation preference in somata or neuropil.

4/ Local translation versus trafficking emerged as a key mechanism shaping protein distribution, particularly in distal dendrites within the SLM, which might indicate a hotspot for locally synthesized proteins.

3/By integrating mRNA and protein data, we found that some proteins are tightly linked to local mRNA availability, while others are decoupled due to differences in protein half-lives.

2/ We dissected 3 subregions (CA1, CA3, DG) and 4 CA1 strata (SO, SP, SR, SLM) to profile >17,000 transcripts and ~10,000 proteins, capturing thousands of locally enriched molecules across receptors, channels, metabolism & adhesion families.

Experimental pipeline schematic: Crossing mouse lines, microdissections, FASS, transcriptomics and proteomics

1/ Understanding brain molecular diversity requires mapping both mRNAs & proteins across regions & compartments. We combined microdissection, FASS-based synaptosome sorting, RNA-seq, and LC-MS/MS to do just that.

Excited to share our latest collaborative work from Erin Schuman's lab @mpibrain.bsky.social : An integrated transcriptomic and proteomic map of the mouse hippocampus at synaptic resolution, now published in @natcomms.nature.com. Here’s a thread summary 🧵
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Absolutely, the omics world really is an exciting space to be in!

Thank you so much! Excited for all of us to keep exploring multiomics research🧠

An integrated transcriptomic and proteomic map of the mouse hippocampus at synaptic resolution - Nature Communications Understanding the brain’s diversity requires spatially resolved maps of transcripts and proteins. Here, the authors construct an integrated molecular atlas of the mouse hippocampus revealing loca...

“An integrated transcriptomic and proteomic map of the mouse hippocampus at synaptic resolution” 🧪🧠🧬

Great study (+resource) by @evakaulich.bsky.social Erin Schuman and colleagues
@natcomms.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Foliar mRNA spray induces protein synthesis in monocot crop and dicot model plant species https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.07.668951v1

Ribosomes On the Road: Neurons Assemble Protein Factories Far from the Nucleus New study shows ribosome biogenesis can occur within neuronal branches, challenging traditional textbook biology.

🚛 Ribosomes on the road! New research from the Schuman Lab @mpibrain.bsky.social shows neurons can locally assemble ribosomes - far from the nucleus and close to synapses. A big shift from textbook biology! 📚🧬🔗 bit.ly/3GUJKPv #Neuroscience #CellBiology #Ribosomes

Novel dopaminergic neurotransmission in the Octopus visual system Coleoid cephalopods such as the common octopus have a complex visual system, with a camera-type eye and a large optic lobe, that evolved independently from its counterpart in vertebrates. However, the...

Very excited and proud to finally share this story! 🐙

We discovered surprising roles for dopamine and acetylcholine in the Octopus visual system…
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Today we report the directed evolution of HUH into rHUH, a sequence-specific covalent protein tag for RNA labeling. rHUH was hard to engineer: the initial HUH template had no RNA activity, so we started with RNA-DNA hybrids. 30 rounds of selection on the yeast surface were required, and 7 cycles of

Erin M. Schuman Wins 2026 Nakasone Award

🎉 Huge congratulations to @MpiBrain director Erin Schuman @erin-schuman.bsky.social on receiving the 2026 Nakasone Award for her groundbreaking work on the function and plasticity of neuronal synapses! 🧠 @hfspo.bsky.social ‬#neuroscience #HFSP #NakasoneAward 👉 bit.ly/4m6g40P

Optogenetic storage and release of protein and mRNA in live cells and animals - Nature Communications Spatiotemporal control of biomolecules is a key challenge in cell biology. Here, authors introduce RELISR, an optogenetic condensate system enabling reversible, light-dependent sequestration and relea...

Optogenetic storage and release of protein and mRNA in live cells and animals | Nature Communications share.google/gz8nYXZ3hUVh...

#spatialbiology #imagingtools #fluorescencemicroscopy

🚀 We’re thrilled to welcome 14 talented and enthusiastic high-school students to the 2025 Max Planck Junior Scholars Program, kicking off today with a Science Boot Camp Week @mpibrain.bsky.social ! 🔬🧬 @maxplanck.de