Self-assembly can help cells make decisions: see Sam's awesome work!
Driving membrane fission is not quite as hard as it seems (at least to me!). Very happy to contribute to this work from Wade Zeno’s lab!
Can sensing of membrane receptors be switched on at tunable threshold densities, without active processing? Proud to share this preprint led by the awesome Dr Foley, please check it out!
How much do dimer binding affinities change for proteins on the 2D membrane vs in solution? We go beyond rigid-body entropy estimates to show conformational variations can strongly select for 2D association. Very proud of Dr Adip Jhaveri and team's comprehensive work! doi.org/10.1063/5.02...
Open science tools like Simularium help bring science to life.
@mejohnson81.bsky.social shares how it has helped her stoke curiosity in @jhuartssciences.bsky.social students and work with colleagues across timezones.
#OpenScienceWeek
Does protein dimerization always help targeting and dwell time on DNA? Not for a population! Dwell time is especially sensitive to spacing between DNA targets. Nonspecific binding and facilitated (1D) diffusion also play a key role. Super proud of Mankun Sang’s work!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
The Natural Philosophy Symposium is underway! I had some idea of live-skeeting, but the real-time event is too absorbing.
www.naturalphilosophyhopkins.org/natural-phil...
Anyway, we've had:
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For any of my friends at the #APS Global Physics Summit, come to the Macromolecular Assembly in Cells II session today at 3pm to hear from me about how clathrin self-assembly is tuned to sense cargo receptors!
📣 To celebrate Biophysics Week, the Membrane Structure and Function Subgroup (MSAF) of @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social will host a webinar on March 24 at 11am EDT. Our speakers are @mejohnson81.bsky.social, @ibudin.bsky.social, and Cecília Leal (not on 🦋). 🧪
👀 More info in the alt text! Please share! 🔄
Margaret Johnson
Margaret Johnson
Margaret Johnson
Margaret Johnson
allen institute
Margaret Johnson
🧪⚛️
Our paper is finally published in Phys Rev Research!
doi.org/10.1103/cnfz...
Can cells make decisions using equilibrium physical principles, without resorting to irreversible, energy-consuming signaling cascades? We say yes, with the help of self-assembling membrane proteins!
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