Sign in

Melina A. Agosto

@agostolab.bsky.social
380 followers 336 following 48 posts

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

PostsRepliesMedia
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Congratulations!
020
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.
1133
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My office earlier this week:
100
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
16598
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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...
3222232
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Added to my "read-soon" list!
110
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
021
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Congratulations!
010
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
040
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
If you don't pick up enough protease inhibitor tablets along the way, you could find the road ending abruptly in front of you...
030
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Thank you!
010
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
171
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?
120
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
0407
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
I like the view of the ballpark! Almost like being there.
010
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
12913
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
215177
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
04012
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
63243
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
Also recommend "Elementary" and "Astrid et Raphaelle" in the same genre.
010
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
Andy Moore @aaandmoore.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
An intracellular meteor shower. EB3 comets tracking growing microtubule plus-ends in a cultured cell.
551687245
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
Hopefully not at Dal!?
100
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Thanks for this! Very useful, and also fun.
110
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.
394
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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...
42332
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
8634821016
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
179
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Those still exist here! (Halifax Canada) I just checked and there is a dial tone.
251
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
11311
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
37012
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
@nclnoel.bsky.social studies aging retina in killifish and zebrafish
120
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
But nice views of the wastewater treatment plant on approach!
010
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 :)
040
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
1135104
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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...
12719
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
04248
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.
3166
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).
0122
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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...
165
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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...
1278277
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
0110161
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
49064
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
2224105
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.'"
011
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
69218
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).
0204
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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.
14912
Melina A. Agosto @agostolab.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
Lab lunch 😀
Eating lunch with some of my students
020
Reposted by Melina A. Agosto
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
03136