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Melina A. Agosto

@agostolab.bsky.social
377 followers 335 following 48 posts

Associate professor at Dalhousie University; retina cell biology and biochemistry, synapses, signaling, and trafficking; opinions are my own.

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Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
You can rarely predict what will be a groundbreaking discovery. Most big advancements (and Nobel Prizes) are awarded for basic science, exploratory research. Not translational research. In fact, not even hypothesis driven research in many cases. What works is sustained investment in science.
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callista yee @csybio.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
hiiii everyone! my department @zoology.ubc.ca is hiring an assistant professor in cell and developmental biology! deadline is october 1! academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/32408 // please share!!!!!
academicjobsonline.org
University of British Columbia, Department of Zoology
Job #AJO32408, Assistant Professor in Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CA
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Ran Blekhman @blekhman.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Huge faculty recruitment effort at the University of Chicago -- a division-wide, open-rank search looking to hire about 20 faculty across 5 research areas in biology. Come be our colleague! Full announcement: uchicago.app.box.com/s/ckih9zv3rj...
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Mini-reunion #2! Former Agosto lab MSc student (and my first graduate!) Andrew Rideout stopped by to visit.
Group photo with some current and former students
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Agosto lab mini-reunion! Current student Robyn McGowan and former student Jaeeun Lee @jaeeunlee.bsky.social at the RRSV/VSRN Restauration de la Vision summer school:
Photo of Jaeeun and Robyn at the Restauration de la Vision (Vision Restoration) summer school
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Finally found some time to make a website of sorts. Better (five years) late than never!
agostolab.github.io
Welcome to the Agosto lab
Agosto Lab site
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
This is very blatant, but is it really surprising? Haven't we always known that antibody "validation" images on company websites are not trustworthy?
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Science Magazine @science.org · 20/05/2026
Smell receptor cells in the nose have long been thought of as a chaotic bunch, lacking the spatial organization seen in other sensory systems. But the first comprehensive map of a mouse’s roughly 1100 olfactory receptors overturns that notion. scim.ag/3PzTzqj
scim.ag
Unprecedented map of smell receptors finds order in a mouse’s nose
Detailed genomic studies reveal olfactory cells have precise spatial organization
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University of Pittsburgh Ophthalmology Department @pittophthalmology.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
From photoreceptors to visual processing — #Webvision is your open-access deep dive into how we see. Now hosted at our Department, continuing its mission to make vision science accessible to all. Start exploring → www.webvision.pitt.edu #Ophthalmology #Neuroscience
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Nature Astronomy @natastron.nature.com · 16/03/2026
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T, U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth. dlvr.it/TRWtVp ☄️
dlvr.it
A complete set of canonical nucleobases in the carbonaceous asteroid (162173) Ryugu - Nature Astronomy
Samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu contain all five canonical nucleobases (A, G, C, T and U). Their presence in Ryugu and Bennu supports the hypothesis that carbonaceous asteroids contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of early Earth.
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Science Magazine @science.org · 27/02/2026
What do you get when #NationalProteinDay and #NationalPokémonDay meet? Pikachurin. ⚡ A 2023 #ScienceSignaling study solved the structure of this extracellular protein that plays an essential role in vision.⁠ ⁠ Learn more: scim.ag/4s82e0N
scim.ag
Structure of the photoreceptor synaptic assembly of the extracellular matrix protein pikachurin with the orphan receptor GPR179
The structure of the orphan GPCR GPR179 bound to the extracellular matrix component pikachurin is solved.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
New and competitive renewal awards. The number of awards is 569 compared with more than 2200 through the same date in earlier fiscal years. All ICs have now made awards except for NIAAA, NCCIH, NLM, FIC, and OD. NEI (Eye Institute) made its first award during the new period. 3/4
A line graph shown the number of NIH new and competitive awards funded for fiscal year 2026 (through 2/13/26) compared with fiscal years 2021-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is lagging well behind with only 569 awards made through 2/13/26 compared to >2000 for previous fiscal years.
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Andy Moore @aaandmoore.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
An intracellular meteor shower. EB3 comets tracking growing microtubule plus-ends in a cultured cell.
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 31/12/2025
Our latest paper is out! It's led by my first MSc graduate, Andrew Rideout, who did a terrific job with this project. We report some fun and confusing results about mGluR6 trafficking. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Western blots showing mGluR6 deletion mutants in cell lysates treated with Endo H or PNGase F.
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Angelo Iulianella @aineurolab.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
As 2025 comes to a close, my university (Dalhousie U in Halifax, Canada) is recruiting faculty, including outstanding early career researchers, and Canada Research Chairs. Applications are due January 19 2026 (was just notified today!). Please repost.
dal.ca
Dalhousie University is recruiting up to 30 tenure and tenure-track faculty positions
Backed by the Government of Canada’s $1.7 billion Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative, Dalhousie University is undertaking one of the most ambitious research-leader recruitment efforts in its hi...
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Neil deGrasse Tyson @neildegrassetyson.com · 25/11/2025
Every machine in a Hospital that diagnoses your body without cutting you open is based on a principle of Physics, discovered by a Physicist who had no interest in Medicine. If you think the world doesn’t need Basic Science, or that somehow Science has failed you, think again. #sciencematters
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Miriam B. Goodman, PhD @wormsense.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Application review launches on December 1, 2025. We want to read *your* application outlining a vision for a research program deciphering how membrane proteins collaborate to enable cell function, their biosynthesis, and the biophysics and structure of how membrane proteins change shape.
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Angelo Iulianella @aineurolab.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Dear #Neuroscience researchers, I am Guest Editing an issue in @devdynamics.bsky.social on NEURAL MIGRATION. Due date: March 31, 2026. Great opportunity to showcase your findings on neural migration. #DevBio Please reskeet 🙏 anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1097...
anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Developmental Dynamics
<em>Developmental Dynamics</em> is a developmental biology journal publishing novel discoveries that advance our understanding in development, morphology, evolution, and disease.
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Pranav Seth @thebuddhabird93.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Ending my #FluorescenceFriday with this beautiful avian retina image depicting the beautiful stratification in the avian eyes. This is where complexity meets art. #retina #avian #bird #plexiformlayer
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
We replaced the gaskets on the gel pouring rigs with foam weatherstrip a few months ago. No leaks yet!
Photo of gaskets for gel pouring rig (left) and roll of foam weatherstrip (right)Gel pouring rig with new gaskets :)
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Anita Devineni @anitadevineni.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
My department at Emory is a hiring a tenure-track neuroscientist! Anyone who's talked to me in the last 4 years knows I cannot say enough good things about my dept and the neuroscience community here. My colleagues are so wonderfully supportive. Postdocs, please apply! apply.interfolio.com/174371
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Dr. Nikki Crowley @nicoleacrowley.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
WE ARE... hiring! Penn State Biology & the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences is recruiting a tenure track or tenured neurobiologist (Assistant or Associate Professor rank), and the committee is open to a broad scope of scientific questions. psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Academic...
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Paul & Virginie - Centriole Lab @centriolelab.bsky.social · 15/09/2025
Be our new colleague! 🎉 The Dept of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Geneva is hiring an Assistant Professor or Associate Professor. 👉 More details here: lnkd.in/e8Z9eAm4 👉 Our department: mocel.unige.ch Please feel free to share this opportunity with your network.
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
New paper! Kudos to first author Jaeeun Lee, who is a fantastic and hard working student. We showed that at photoreceptor presynapses, ELFN1 enrichment depends on postsynaptic mGluR6. www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
Confocal microscope images of the outer plexiform layer of WT or nob3 (mGluR6 null) mouse retina labeled with antibodies for ELFN1 (cyan) and PSD95 (magenta). In nob3 retina, ELFN1 is still localized to rod spherules, but synaptic enrichment is compromised.
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
The mysterious non-PSD localization of PSD95 🟣 in the retina outer plexiform layer... co-stained for postsynaptic TRPM1 🟢 #FluorescenceFriday
Confocal microscope image of mouse retina section labeled with antibodies for PSD95 (magenta) and TRPM1 (green).
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Graham Dellaire @docdellaire.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Dalhousie University invites applications for the position of Dean, Faculty of Medicine. This is a pivotal leadership opportunity to shape the future of medical education, research, and healthcare across the Maritime provinces in Canada. 5 yr renewable appointment dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/19319
dal.peopleadmin.ca
Dean of Medicine
Dalhousie University invites applications for the position of Dean, Faculty of Medicine. This is a pivotal leadership opportunity to shape the future of medical education, research, and healthcare acr...
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Mathew Kiang @mathewkiang.com · 25/06/2025
Karolinska is looking for 20 (!!) assistant professors and offering 6 year appointments with ~1M USD startup packages. ki.se/en/about-ki/...
ki.se
Call for 20 Assistant Professor positions
Karolinska Institutet is a world-leading medical university with a long and proud history of ground-breaking research. We are now recruiting outstanding early-career researchers with particularly exce...
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Jan-Willem Veening @veeninglab.com · 10/06/2025
New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...
wwwfbm.unil.ch
DMF: Tenure Track Assistant Professor towards Associate Professor in Molecular Microbiology - Site des postulations FBM
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
I updated my funding curves last night. Here are the results for new and competitive renewal grants. The rate of investment has dropped substantially. This is apparently due to a requirement for DOGE review. I am calling this effect the "Downward DOGE" 1/2
A graph showing NIH funding for new and competitive renewal grants for FY2024 and FY2025 showing a much lower rate of investment for FY2025.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Funding freeze at Northwestern from Emma Mairson at grant-watch.us. Data from USAspending. Normally, ~$70 M per month. Now, bupkis. Northwestern is keeping research moving and must be spending ~$40 M per month. Clearly not sustainable for too long.
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
Posted by @mit.edu on another platform
Quote from MIT President Sally Kornbluth's commencement address: "We believe in the beauty and power of fundamental scientific discovery - that incredibly intricate, maddening, heroic, intoxicating process of exploration and testing that somehow got stuck with the bland label 'basic research.'"
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David Solecki @so-lets-kilab70.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Wonder doesn’t flinch. It’s our compass pulling us toward curiosity, creativity It reminds us: #science & #discovery are good. Here’s a moment that stirred mine: a new PI(3,4)P₂ probe illuminating the cell membrane & endosomes. Marvel with me. Captured on #FluorescenceFriday for #MicroscopyMonday
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
An elegant ON bipolar cell expressing ER marker mEmerald-Sec61 🟦 and co-stained with mGluR6 antibody 🟥. #FluorescenceFriday More info in this old paper: www.eneuro.org/content/5/3/...
Retinal ON-bipolar cell expressing mEmerald-Sec61 (blue), and labeled with mGluR6 antibody (red).
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Analytical and Quantitative Light Microscopy Course @aqlm.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Have you ever seen the black box that is the inside of a microscope objective? Today Dr. Stephen Ross of Nikon gave a fascinating lecture on what goes into the design and manufacturing of an objective.
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Lab lunch 😀
Eating lunch with some of my students
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Jim Johnson 🇨🇦 @jimjohnsonsci.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
www.nature.com/naturecareer... UBC LSI Job!!
nature.com
Assistant Professor (tenure track) – Chromatin, Epigenetics - Vancouver, British Columbia (CA) job with The University of British Columbia (UBC) | 12837841
Assistant Professor (tenure track) - Chromatin Regulation, Genetic Regulatory Mechanisms, Epigenetics, Epigenomics
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Peri Kurshan @pkurshan.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
FACULTY JOB ALERT! The Albert Einstein Dept of Neuroscience is hiring a new assistant professor in any area of neuroscience! We have funds specifically earmarked for this search. #Neuroscience #AcademicJobs #NeuroSky Job just posted: faculty-einstein.icims.com/jobs/17175/f... Please share widely!!
faculty-einstein.icims.com
Albert Einstein College of Medicine | Medical Education | Biomedical Research
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Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽 @needhibhalla.bsky.social · 15/03/2025
as I tell my Genetics class every year, this breakthrough is based on 70 years of NIH-funded, basic research, commercialized by biotech bsky.app/profile/need...
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Dr. David Miller 🏳️‍🌈 @davidimiller.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
🧪🚨 NSF's Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) has halted making nearly all new awards since inauguration day. Among *many* other things, EDU runs the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP). We need to protect the education & training of the next gen of scientists #StandUpForScience Thread👇🧵
Graph between 1/20 and 2/28 of fiscal year 2024 and 2025 new awards in the EDU directorate.
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Dr. Brittany J. Carr @drbjcarr.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
An excellent opportunity! And I'm not just saying that because I'll be teaching an imaging and comparative retinal anatomy workshop during this course 😁 👀 Financial aid is available!
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Submitted a new CIHR grant today. I don't suppose it will be funded, but I'm grateful to at least have a functional federal agency to submit it to. Also - sunset in the retina lab kitchen:
Photo of a sunset from the kitchen window in the retina lab at Dalhousie.
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Extending my grant update this morning. Here are data limited to new and competitive renewal applications. The Pause is dead, Long live the Pause...
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Some good-ish news from NIH “Federal Register notices for study sections run by CSR (but not those by ICs) will start being permitted again” As far as I know, the timing for this is not clear, but I will be checking the Federal Register.
media.tenor.com
a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it
ALT: a man in a red suit and tie is holding a piece of paper that says breaking news on it
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
Guardian article on NIH www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Critics say Trump’s executive orders to reshape the NIH ‘will kill’ Americans
Executive orders’ impact on premier medical research agency has resulted in delayed projects and frozen funding
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Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
Study sections scheduled for this past week that were canceled:
List of canceled meetings last week:
Neurotechnology and Vision H
Lung Immunology and Infection 
Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award A
Therapeutic Development and Preclinical Studies
Neurobiology of Pain and Itch 
Molecular and Cellular Neuropharmacology
Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation Sciences
Topics in Health Services Research: Big Data, Health Information Technology, and Clinical Informatics D 
Advancing Therapeutics K
Bacterial Virulence 
Kidney Endocrine and Digestive Disorders 
Basic Mechanisms of Cancer Health Disparities
Learning, Memory and Decision Neuroscience 
Molecular Neurogenetics 
Skeletal Biology Development and Disease 
Clinical Neurodegeneration Translational Neuroscience 
Nutrition and Metabolism in Health and Disease 
Collaborative Applications: Clinical Studies of Mental Illness S 
Aging Systems and Geriatrics
Biodata Management and Analysis 
Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disorders 
Clinical Data Management and Analysis 
Clinical Neuroplasticity and Neurotransmitters 
Chemical Synthesis and Biosynthesis 
Emerging Imaging Technologies and Applications
Hemostasis, Thrombosis, Blood Cells and Transfusion 
Molecular Cancer Diagnosis and Classification
Mechanisms of Cancer Therapeutics B
Prokaryotic Cell and Molecular Biology
Pulmonary Vascular Disease and Physiology
Reproductive, Perinatal and Pediatric Health
Therapeutic Immune Regulation
Immune Mechanisms of Hypersensitivity and Allergy (IMHA) B 
Adult Lifespan Psychopathology
Advancing Therapeutics - B
Clinical Integrative Cardiovascular and Hematological Sciences 
Interventions to Prevent and Treat Addictions
Psychosocial Risk and Interpersonal Processes of Health L 
Addiction Risks and Mechanisms
Chemical Biology and Probes 
Tumor Evolution, Heterogeneity and Metastasis 
Societal and Ethical Issues
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BWJones @bwjones.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
We all owe @jeremymberg.bsky.social a debt of gratitude for his work in clarifying, connecting, and advocating for science in this chaotic time. 🙏🏼
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Jonathan Lambert @jonlambert.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
NEW: NSF confirmed that they fired 168 employees today, out of their staff of ~1,500 feds. This includes some people who'd finished their 1-year probationary periods, which were extended to 2-years last month without explanation. More to come.
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Science Magazine @science.org · 14/02/2025
President Donald Trump’s administration today moved to fire 5200 workers at the Department of Health and Human Services, using supervisors across the vast agency to warn probationary employees that they would soon receive termination notices. scim.ag/4jYmcYA
scim.ag
‘Wrecking ball’: RFK Jr. moves to fire thousands of health agency employees
Supervisors deliver bad news across NIH, CDC
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
The damage today (actually yesterday) to the intramural program appears to especially bad. It also appears (although I need more confirmation) that most or all of the tenure track investigators in their first 2 years in several, and perhaps all, institutes were terminated. 7/n
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