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Alister Burt

@alisterburt.bsky.social
603 followers 582 following 372 posts

Computational Cryo-EM/ET at Genentech Love people, the outdoors and building stuff Complexity is the enemy All opinions my own

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Reposted by Alister Burt
Peter Gibbs @petergibbs.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Evacuation of the sixth biggest population centre in France under active consideration and some will still say "it's just Summer"
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Caitie McCafferty @computingcaitie.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
I will be hiring at all levels so if you are interested and want to learn more, please get in touch! 📻 ❄️ 🔬 🦠 🧬 #cilia #cryoet #proteomics #exm #protistsonsky
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Jamie Blaza @jnb-lab.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
Honestly the best summary of cryoET I have seen
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Maria Popova @mariapopova.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
An elemental #birddivination from the elemental swan. As always, find it as a solo print and part of the deck of 100, along with the story and process behind them, at almanacofbirds.org
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
“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...
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joe dobbs @joedobbs.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Super cool cryo-ET work from my colleague Xiaohan resolving a ton of ribosome assembly intermediates in the nuclei of human cells!
Figure 4 from the preprint
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Guenter Resch @nexperion.net · 04/06/2026
The feedback from participants at the #SerialEM Community Meeting 2026 in April — and the future of this format — have been central topics in our recent discussions. (Photo by Daniel Bollschweiler)
David Mastronarde and Guenter Resch at the stage of the 2026 SerialEM Community Meeting.
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
@mgflast.bsky.social showing us how to do cellular structural biology on easymode thanks to his collection of pretrained nets 😎 Particularly cool: he demonstrates custom tomo picking workflows e.g. yTuRC at the minus end of MTs, restricting picks to specific cellular compartments Check it out!
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Saw this right after being super impressed by something @przemekdut.bsky.social vibe coded 😂😂😂
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Great read! I loved: “Curiosity is a stance you choose every morning. When a colleague pitches an idea, our default is “interesting — tell me more,” not “won’t work because.” Ideas don’t survive on their own; they survive because a few people gave them oxygen at the moment they were most fragile.”
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
Elite algorithm pull, fell in love instantly youtu.be/ZrmNnzYM9fc?...
youtu.be
Aviram - Drag Me Down (official video)
YouTube video by Aviram Music
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
tl;dr: MissAlignment learns to score misalignment then wiggles your alignments around to reduce that misalignment -> no more misalignment = high res STA 🌟 Watching @martenchaillet.bsky.social chip away at this was a real privilege! I’m excited to see this out and what you all will do with it 🙃
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Wyoming Wormboy @wyomingwormboy.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Please repost! This comes from the good people at ChimeraX, who produce powerful up-to-date software to study protein (etc) structures, which are FREE to the community. 🙏 To stay viable and serve us, they need an experienced structural biologist to assume the leadership role on a funded project.
aprecruit.ucsf.edu
Faculty Position – In-Residence
University of California, San Francisco is hiring. Apply now!
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Gregor Weiss @weiss-lab.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
New preprint 🚀 ❄️ We developed Autogrid-compatible HPF planchettes that enable direct freezing of clipped EM grids and streamline integration with cryo-FIB workflows ✔️ improved grid stability ✔️ reduced handling ✔️ robust vitrification (🦠 🧫 🧠) A step toward routine HPF for complex samples #teamtomo
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Katharina Geißler @kgeissler.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Out now in Nature Communications! We show that Dictyostelium vaults associate with ER and NE membranes in situ and encapsulate ribosomes with defined orientations, shining new light on their cellular function! #TeamTomo #TeamMassSpec #ProtistsOnSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Damian Dalle Nogare @damiandn.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
🚨🚨🚨JOB ALERT🚨🚨🚨 The Image Analysis Unit at Human Technopole in Milan is recruiting for two positions to join our growing team: 1) Bioimage Analyst 2) Research Software Engineer (RSE) Read on to learn why one of these two people should be you!
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
new neighbourhood is a vibe
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
I can’t imagine too many people I’d love to work with more than Florian, this is your chance!!
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Excited about what’s going on at Mirage, great work!!
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Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦 @merz.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I've been thinking about this for a few days, since I watched it. Candide Thovex might be the greatest skier of his generation. This is an *incredibly* political video, in the best and most noble sense.
youtube.com
Candide Thovex - Les Tufs
YouTube video by Candide Thovex
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Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 28/03/2026
I think the clocks in UK go back tonight. Or forward. Not sure. Is it forward
1 [Nurse talking to camera]
This is usually our busiest time of year at the centre 

2 [Show a sign outside a medical institution reading:]

Centre for Adults Who Still Can’t Get Their Heads Round Daylight Savings

3 
NURSE:
We have a spike in admissions when BST starts

4 
CONFUSED PATIENT BEING LAID DOWN BY NURSES:
Is it forward or back?

NURSE:
Lie down love

5 
We often see the same patients ever year

PATIENT:
So it’s like… time travel?

DOCTOR:
No

6 Every year we try to explain BST to them in a fun and memorable way

[The patients are sat around a fun show, with people dressed in bunny suits jumping around a giant clock] 

BUNNY: And now I *spring forward*...

7
[Bunny springs forward one hour on clock]

8 
PATIENT WATCHING SHOW:
I don’t get it

9 
The hardest patients are the Summer Time refusers

10 PATIENT [sat strapped to a chair as a doctor talks to him through a screen, through a tannoy]

PATIENT: But why is it better?

DOCTOR [talking through microphone]: 

Because it complicates things.

11 
PATIENT: 
How is that good?

DOCTOR: 
It makes you more tired.

12 

DOCTOR [to assistant]:
Fetch the cattle prod

[Ends]
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Remember this from two months ago? Well, with herculean effort, we helped get those two gay men off the deportation flight to Iran, but they still remain locked in detention. Read more about what's happening now in their cases, and with other Iranians facing deportation. time.com/article/2026...
time.com
The Iranians Stuck Between ICE Detention and Deportation to War-Torn Homeland
An Iranian gay couple seeking asylum in the U.S. now faces deportation back to Iran as immigration policies tighten and deportation flights resume despite fears of persecution and death.
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Elise Cutts @elisecutts.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Call me a luddite I guess but I do in fact kind of die inside any time anyone tells me "ask Claude" when I ask them for advice about how to do something. As if teaching one another was just about passing 1 packet of knowledge from one brain to the next 😵‍💫
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napari @napari.org · 10/03/2026
napari needs your help! Has napari helped you make cool and groundbreaking discoveries? We'd love to highlight that in our docs. Please tell us about it! You can fill in this survey: napari.typeform.com/to/vTCKeTKv and/or, as ever, drop by our chat room or meetings: napari.org/dev/community/ 🙏
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
“think about whether some of the proprietary license money you’re currently spending could be spent instead on open solutions that would be yours forever, endlessly adaptable, and benefit the entire world. And please get in touch by emailing info@image.coop” 👏 👏 👏 Can’t wait to see where this goes
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
One of my father's favorite places in the world was the Exploratorium, a science museum in San Francisco. When he passed away in 1990, my brother and I donated funds to pay for the construction of an exhibit in his memory (on Fourier series). This is me with my two sons at the exhibit in 1990. 1/2
A man with his 7 year-old son and a 1 year old baby in his lap seated next to a complicated-looking museum exhibit.
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Basil Greber @bjgreber.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
👀
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TJ McCorvie @allostericstate.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
When you still haven't solved the orientation bias of your protein sample #CryoEM
Low resolution cryo-EM map that looks like Cuban's skull
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Wonderful (and fun!) read from @mastroianni.bsky.social which finishes with a clear answer on how to solve the collective action problem of dismantling scientific publishing
open.substack.com
The one science reform we can all agree on, but we're too cowardly to do
OR: the long overdue forest fire
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
Go Lucien!! Love to see it
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
I’ve been going through a rough patch and have taken solace in music. This book by William Mathieu is wonderful and illuminating, it builds up harmonic theory from physical principles in a satisfying way - worth spending some time with if intervalic reasoning has always felt a bit opaque/arbitrary
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
“Putting a party leader on trial for talking about his experiences with substances many decades ago is not an accidental, innocent gaffe. It is a message from a judiciary that closes its eyes to those in power and goes after whoever refuses to bend the knee.” novaramedia.com/2026/02/27/g...
novaramedia.com
Greece’s Varoufakis Indicted Over Ecstasy Use 36 Years Ago
Greece’s former finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has been indicted after admitting on a podcast that he took an ecstasy pill at a rave in Australia in his twenties.
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Jaap Burger @jaapburger.eu · 27/02/2026
What a great report by the Norwegian Consumer Council on how digital products and services are getting worse (enshittification)! Lots of good explanations and examples, but also very actionable with policy recommendations.
forbrukerradet.no
Digital products and services are getting worse – but the trend can be reversed
A new report from the Norwegian Consumer Council shows how enshittification affects both consumers and society at large. Luckily, it‘s possible to turn the tide.
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Jesspooka Kant 🎃 @jessdkant.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
As of tonight, licenses of trans people across Kansas are being invalidated en masse, enabling the overnight criminalization of an entire group of people for going about our lives. It’s often said you never know when you’re living through history, so let me assure you: that’s what’s happening now.
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
truly delightful review youtu.be/GfaP9y5eOxU?...
youtu.be
The Lego Movie: Communist Propaganda
YouTube video by maxmunich
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Thorsten Wagner @thorstenwagner.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
1/6 Living with ALS also means this: learning to count your privileges. A thread.
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
signed a lease on a new place at the top of a big hill 21% max grade: will I become quadzilla or will I buy an e-bike? youtu.be/VgZw-TfYDqs?...
youtu.be
Wheel Talk - Red Bull Bay Climb 2019
YouTube video by Matt Reyes
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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Interesting thread on PI attitudes toward LLM-assisted grant writing. Comments on uniformity of style reminds me of why electronic music composers rapidly felt the need to "humanize" the output of machines physicstoday.aip.org/quick-study/...
physicstoday.aip.org
Musical rhythms: The science of being slightly off
With a statistical understanding of our natural rhythmic imperfections, one can make computer-generated music sound more human.
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Hanjin Liu @liu-hanjin.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Since last year, I've been making a RELION GUI that supports viewing, navigating and running jobs in a way completely compatible with the original RELION pipeline. Now it's working nicely for both SPA and tomography! Please try it out - github.com/hanjinliu/hi...
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
friend shared this with me, long but a very fun read Agency, but to what end? harpers.org/archive/2026...
harpers.org
Child’s Play, by Sam Kriss
Tech’s new generation and the end of thinking
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
After you die, the priests preparing your body for burial usually find that your brain has almost entirely rotted away, except for the parts associated with reflexive action croissanthology.com/earring
croissanthology.com
The Whispering Earring (Scott Alexander)
Cleaner, easier-to-reference repo of Scott Alexander’s The Whispering Earring (that’s the Schelling title, real title below). Original from livejournal is ba...
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Christopher D Bingham Photography @cbinghamphoto.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Oaks at Sunrise, Sonoma County , CA Golden hour light on the hills, Alexander Valley 2000’ below still in the shadows. #photography #blackandwhite #sonomacounty #landscape #bluesky #monochrome #landscapephotography #naturephotography #blueskyartshow #two
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
beautiful film about a bikepacking trip in Marin Our local loops here are truly world class, hugely thankful 🙏 youtu.be/Rnbe4KZMZjY?...
youtu.be
Bikepacking Marin County, California | A Quiet Reset
YouTube video by Leigh Foster
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dan sinker @dansinker.com · 21/02/2026
Doing things the "right" way, burning out and then realizing there is another option, coming back and winning it all with no fucks given? Yes please tell me that story forever.
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Thorsten Wagner @thorstenwagner.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
In September 2024, I was diagnosed with ALS. Today, I can no longer speak, I am confined to a wheelchair, and I can no longer move my arms. It's really shitty. I will write here soon about how I am coping with this and how I am trying to stay cheerful. #ALS
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Alister Burt @alisterburt.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
very long but lots of interesting views about copyright expressed here www.questioncopyright.org/promise/
questioncopyright.org
The Surprising History of Copyright and The Promise of a Post-Copyright World – Question Copyright
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Talley Lambert @talley.codes · 16/02/2026
Rewrote my Python bioformats wrapper (from aicsimageio/bioio) as a standalone package: - fully bootstrapped Java setup (just pip install) - lazy, repeatably-indexable Array object - fully spec-compliant OME-Zarr group obj. - xarray/dask exports github.com/imaging-form... v0.0.rc1 on PyPI
github.com
GitHub - imaging-formats/bffile: Modern Bio-Formats wrapper with clean lazy Python API
Modern Bio-Formats wrapper with clean lazy Python API - imaging-formats/bffile
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Peter Tennant @pwgtennant.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Every time you speak up - and every time you don't - there are people watching and learning about you and the world you help create.
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Mark Doyle @markdoyle.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Not enough chatter on my timeline about the upcoming centenary of the 1926 UK General Strike. This'll fix that. youtu.be/jcrQvxteO08?...
youtu.be
General Strike Number 1 (1926)
YouTube video by British Pathé
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Ricardo D. Righetto @lifeonthewedge.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
This is fascinating:
nature.com
Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
People with aphantasia are offering a window into consciousness.
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