And now it's out! Happy that PNAS selected for the cover this SEM image snapped by @samjlord.bsky.social, one of the most evocative visualizations of Euplotes that I have ever encountered.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Stay tuned for what is shaping up to be some fascinating follow-up in the lab...
Ben Larson
Check out these two interesting ECR talks about the crazy and diverse world marine algae #ProtistsOnSky 🪸🌊🔬🧪
“the best way to work with cryoET data is to engage with it directly, […] build familiarity with what is actually there. As tempting as it sometimes is to lean in to automation entirely, we cannot do visual proteomics by relying blindly on automation.”
mgflast.github.io/easymode/use...
MissAlignment is here to align all our Bananas🍌 and Birds🦅 into beautiful Pineapples🍍 ...Did that make sense? Either way, read Dimitry's thread🧵 for a vivid visual demonstration. This new software cooks! Look how crispy it made the #ChlamyDataset nucleosome👇. #TeamTomo is hitting escape velocity 🚀 🧪
Jon Chen @jonchenjk.bsky.social and Claris Chong's review of recent in situ cryo-ET chromatin studies and our opinion on an important future genomic direction is now published in Current Opinions in Structural Biology.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
What could be more exciting than watching Euplotes scurry around under the microscope? How about adding some raptorial predation by supergiant cannibal cells?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Video by Vittorio Boscaro.
1/n
We're super excited to share MissAlignment: a new ML-based approach to reference-free tilt series alignment, spearheaded by @martenchaillet.bsky.social. We think it's going to make your cryo-ET life a lot better.
Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Code: github.com/warpem/miss-...
🧶 Thread:
Video
Ben Larson
Video
Ben Engel
Ben Engel
Alister Burt
Dimitry Tegunov
Gold Medal🏅 for the dynamic duo of cellular evolution!! Congrats @gautamdey.bsky.social & @dudinlab.bsky.social —you are explorers! It's been such a pleasure interacting with you these years on high-res imaging, environmental sampling @embltrec.bsky.social, and climate. Here's to more adventures! 🧪🌍
Vitrification ❄️🧊 is still a real bottleneck for #TeamTomo. Nice to see this initiative, and I hope some clever new developments are enabled by it 🧪
It's out! 🥳
In situ architecture of #plasmodesmata - plant cytoplasmic bridges - by #cryoET.
📝 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵 Thread: bsky.app/profile/madi...
#teamtomo #proteomics #AlphaFold
Ben Engel
Ben Engel
Such a fun meeting 🧪. Big thanks to @jcellsci.bsky.social and the organizers for bringing together this exciting group of “cell visualizers”. So much amazing #microscopy 🔬across cellular and molecular scales. My eyeballs were glued to every presentation 👀 🤩!!
Congratulations to Gautam Dey (EMBL) and Omaya Dudin (University of Geneva) for being awarded the EMBO Gold Medal 2026 in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the #LifeSciences in Europe! 🧪 https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold-medal-2026-awarded-to-gautam-dey-and-omaya-dudin/
Using cryo-electron tomography, the authors reveal how plasmodesmata (plant cytoplasmic bridges) are gated by cell wall remodelling and how helical protein assemblies scaffold internal membranes, with...
Congrats Daan and Maria!!! It was an absolute pleasure riding along on your PhD journey the past years. Time for the next step 🧪🚀
Ben Engel
Our next DinoSphere seminar will be June 18th at 9 AM PDT / 6 PM CEST hosting Jana Pilátová and @gracezhong.bsky.social
🪱 Grace Zhong: Symbiont mobility in a dinoflagellate–acoel worm symbiosis
🪩 Jana Pilátová: Eyespots as photonic mirrors in Symbiodiniaceae
More details on tinyurl.com/43uckr2w!
Video
Marcel Dickmanns | 🌿❄️🔬
That’s a wrap for #JCSimaging, organised by @franbottanelli.bsky.social, @guijacquemet.bsky.social, @drmichaelway.bsky.social & Giulia Zanetti.
Thanks to everyone who joined us and made the conference such a wonderful community event.
journals.biologists.com/jcs
New preprint: In situ Architecture of #Plasmodesmata.
Using #cryoET, #AlphaFold & proteomics, we uncover the native organization of plant intercellular nanopores.
🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025...
🧪🧵1/n
#teamtomo #PlantScience #Physcomitrium #Arabidopsis #cryoEM
Marcel Dickmanns | 🌿❄️🔬
Journal of Cell Science
First PhD from the lab - huge congratulations to Dr. Daan on a fantastic defense and really beautiful work!
Better vitrification = better cryo-ET.
We've opened an RFA for two-year grants to advance vitrification techniques for biological samples—welcoming applications from researchers in heat transfer, cryogenics, and materials science.
Apply here: bit.ly/4uip6eJ
