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Brett Collins

@brettcollins.bsky.social
2.4K followers 3K following 248 posts

Structural biologist studying proteins that move things from A to B. University of Queensland, Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Centre for Cell Biology of Chronic Disease. He/Him. imb.uq.edu.au/research-groups/colli…

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Reposted by Brett Collins
Biochemical Society @biochemsoc.bsky.social · 18h
Membrane Contact Sites in Cellular Homeostasis 2026 has officially wrapped. Thank you to our programme coordinators and delegates for the insightful discussions, new connections and outstanding science throughout the meeting.
Group photo at event
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Sjors Scheres @sjorsscheres.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Our adventures into #proteinfolding: GuideFlip designs flexible molecular interactions by discrete flow matching to design sequence & structure together! Grateful for funding by Love Tito's (@titosvodka.bsky.social) and the @ukri.org. 🥳
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Melanie D. White @melaniedwhite.bsky.social · 5h
I spoke with @nature.com about the Nikon Small World controversy. As AI becomes part of scientific imaging, we need greater transparency about what was measured, inferred or generated. It's not about excluding AI. It’s about preserving trust in scientific evidence. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
This award-winning microscopy image used AI — igniting controversy in a prestigious competition
Researchers say that using artificial-intelligence tools to visualize scientific images can become problematic when models misrepresent the underlying data.
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LadyBusiness @ladybusiness.bsky.social · 12h
On my way to a job interview, smartly leaving the iced coffee at home
Tom Ford spring 2027 runway look
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 29/09/2026
Well-deserved. The guy is a hero and an inspiration
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Melanie D. White @melaniedwhite.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
The Nikon Small World AI controversy has me worried. AI is transforming science, but what happens once it can generate “raw data” indistinguishable from real data? How do we embrace AI without losing confidence in the data underpinning scientific discovery? www.the-scientist.com/allegations-...
the-scientist.com
Allegations of AI Use in Nikon Competition Spark Controversy | The Scientist
Microscopists raise concerns about inappropriate AI usage in Nikon's microscopy contest-winning video. Nikon stands their ground, citing no policy breach.
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
After a long day at the aquarium, the otters help tidy their toys away. Payment is made promptly and entirely in ice cubes.
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A/Prof Sam Stehbens PhD (She/Her) @samstehbens.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
#Nikon will address our concerns by next week. Hopefully the pre-processed movie & raw data will be part of that. #NikonSmallWorld
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Rasmus Jensen @rasmusjensen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🎉 Out today in Cell: the paper I've been looking forward to sharing for a long time 🎉 We used cryo-ET to find a molecular machine nobody knew existed on the surface of a minimal bacterium, and worked out what it does. 🧵(1/7) #TeamTomo #cryoET
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Anh Hoang Le, PhD 🏳️‍🌈🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇻🇳 @anhhle2702.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Happy #FluorescenceFriday. The first time I imaged a 🐸 embryo, I didn't realise they had these ciliated cells on the outer surface. So you can imagine how surprised and curious I was! These cilia are similar to those found in the human airway. And yes, this is just a good old confocal + 🔥LUT!
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SlenderSherbet @slendersherbet.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
"I don't fucking think so"
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Scott Barolo @sbarolo.bsky.social · 19/10/2023
MR DARCY: Please disregard my last email. At the time I believed myself perfectly calm and cool, but I am since convinced that it was written in a dreadful bitterness of spirit, during faculty meeting
Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) from Pride and Prejudice 1995 BBC, writing a letter
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
ARC has provided key dates for the next (supposedly final) Discovery Projects round (DP28) ▶️ www.arc.gov.au/funding-rese... Opens 1 Feb, closes 10 May 27. Outcomes not until Apr–May 28😔 (this is embarrassing) Look out for Guidelines in “late Oct” – remember, no rejoinder! So it’ll be…interesting 🧐
arc.gov.au
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Vasilii Mikirtumov @vasiliimikirtumov.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
thrilled to share that my main phd project is finally out in @natcomms.nature.com we present high-resolution structures of RyR1 in native membranes across multiple functional states by both cryo-ET/StA #TeamTomo and SPA! paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... and a thread below⬇️⬇️⬇️
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Maksim Kalutskii @maksimkalutskii.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Excited to share our new preprint! 📜 Here, we used CALVADOS and ultra-CG models to show how the kinetochore establishes a robust attachment to the dynamic microtubule end. Spoiler: IDRs 🧵 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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What a week, huh? all Wednesdays @whataweekhuh.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Captain Haddock looking very frazzled, saying, “What a week, huh?”
Tintin leans into the frame and says, “Captain, it’s Wednesday.”
Snowy aka Milou is very excited about the drink he has found.

Viñeta de Tintin
El capitán Haddock, sentado a una mesa y con aspecto de estar agotado, dice: "¡Menuda semana, ¿eh?".
Tintín, a su derecha, le dice: "Capitán, es miércoles".
A la izquierda, Milú mira muy contento la bebida que está en la mesa.
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Yuan He @yuanhejhu.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A big week for the lab! Two new papers on how cells repair DNA double-strand breaks: one on getting NHEJ started in chromatin, one on processing the ends before ligation. Years of work by a fantastic team.
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Martin Pacesa @martinpacesa.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
ʙɪɴᴅᴄʀᴀꜰᴛ2 is out, and we're not waiting for the paper. The full code drops today, free for academic and industry use. We're releasing it early so you can start designing right now, and bring its full power to the current Adaptyv competition. github.com/PacesaLab/Bi...
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Joe Bak-Coleman @jbakcoleman.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
We can simulate fish schools or ants in ways that solve complex problems (gradient detection, bridge building, nest selection) but no one would create this weird soul/no-soul dichotomy to argue they these that multi-agent swarms of extremely simple rules are “thinking”.
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Development @dev-journal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Pathway to Independence – an interview with Yamini Ravichandran In this interview, Yamini discusses her work focusing on understanding tissue-scale processes, regeneration and morphogenesis. doi.org/10.1242/dev....
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Stella Sacco @antlervel.vet · 18/09/2026
Share if you agree
Fat little chihuahua puppy (maybe?) looking extremely round and smiling lying on a tan fleece blanket
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Merja Joensuu @joensuulab.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Bringing the good energy! Thank you Garton T. Dodd and colleagues for highlighting our work and the emerging evidence on lipase DDHD2 and mechanisms enabling fatty acid mobilisation and oxidation in neurons. Read the beautifully written piece here: www.nature.com/articles/s44...
nature.com
Neurons run on fat - npj Metabolic Health and Disease
Neurons were long thought to depend primarily on glucose metabolism for ATP production. However, recent findings from three laboratories show neurons metabolise long-chain fatty acids as alternative f...
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Milot Mirdita @milot.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
ColabFold 1.6.3 is out! 2.5x faster, pip-installable, ipSAE+pDockQ2 scores. Thanks Choonghwan Lee, Marielle Russo, Gyuri Kim 🐍pip install colabfold[alphafold] CF2 Sneak Peak with AF3/Boltz/Protenix/ESMFold2… 🐍pip install "colabfold[alphafold3]@git+https://github.com/sokrypton/ColabFold@af3-preview"
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Sergey Ovchinnikov @sokrypton.org · 14/09/2026
Finally a more intuitaive way to learn pLDDT/pAE? 😎 sokrypton.github.io/protein_figh... (Character idea from @hannes-stark.bsky.social & Alex Waldherr)
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Luca @lucagalletti.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Short film about hope www.reddit.com/r/funny/s/CG...
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In Otter News @in-otter-news.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Important otter tummy content:
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World Bollard Association™️ @worldbollardassoc.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
The Marge Simpson bollard. #WorldBollardAssociation
A concrete bollard painted to look like Marge Simpson.
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Hauke Hillen @haukehillen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Happy to share our new preprint on the structure of the human mitochondrial RNA degradosome, a central player in organellar RNA metabolism! Work led by graduate student @paulafprado.bsky.social in our group. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵 1/9
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Melanie D. White @melaniedwhite.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Happy #FluorescenceFriday! ✨ It's the glue that holds us together, but it looks like a pair of angel wings to me. 👼 This beautiful meshwork of extracellular matrix surrounds the developing tissues of a quail embryo, helping guide cells as they build the body. 📷 @wangjianxiong.bsky.social 🔬
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Kranzusch Lab @kranzuschlab.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Stunning cryo-ET analysis from the Harrison Lab capturing every stage of how non-membrane viruses infect animal cells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Jason Rasgon @vectorgen.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
The text I just sent to my spouse...
Me bitching about committee work
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Guillaume Thibault @gthibault.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Singapore Bioscience Symposium 2026 reminder. Abstract submission and early bird registration both close 30 September. The lineup includes 9 keynotes, 18 invited speakers, 12 countries. Details 🧵👇
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Roland Pierik @roleo.eurosky.social · 08/09/2026
The number of cases of cervical cancer reported in Scotland among women given the HPV vaccine at 12-13 years of age is now zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. Zero. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
No cervical cancer cases in fully HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland
A study published by Public Health Scotland finds that the HPV vaccine is "highly effective".
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Janet Iwasa @jiwasa.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Interested in molecular animation? Give ProteinBlender a try! It's free and open source. animation-lab.github.io/ProteinBlend... The latest tools include a DNA builder (shown in the tutorial video below). We'd love to hear what you think! We have short tutorials that cover all the features!
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Ishier Raote @ishier.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Membrane Trafficking Seminar Series 2026 fall season is here! An exciting programme: membrane traffic, organelle biogenesis, lipid transport, endomembrane evolution, we have it all! Save the dates and join us for fun science and discussions. Details at felixcampelo.wixsite.com/membranetraf...
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
To the many unsuccessful Future Fellowship applicants who got great scores (& feedback) from their peer ("Detailed") reviewers, but much poorer scores from their ARC College ("General") assessors, here's an old thread explaining why this happens👇 And, by the way, I'm sorry – the system ain't great.
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Aleksandra Filipovska @filipovskalab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We’re hiring! 🧬 Exciting opportunities in mitochondrial genome engineering and therapies for mitochondrial disease with @FilipovskaLab in sunny Western Australia ☀️ and at our new biotech CodeBreakers Apply: au.seek.com/job/94426759 #Mitochondria #GenomeEngineering #Postdoc #Biotech
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In Preparation @inprep.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
inpreparation.substack.com
40% Of PhD Now Spent Selecting ‘All Squares Containing Bicycles’
BALTIMORE, MD—A study published Tuesday in PLOS ONE found that approximately 40% of doctoral training is now spent confirming the researcher is not a robot, primarily through the selection of squares…
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ARC Tracker @arc-tracker.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
ARC says they'll announce outcomes of Future Fellowships (FT26) tomorrow (Tue 8 Sep). In recent times, these announcements have been around 11am Canberra time, though certainly with some variation. My bot will automatically post within a minute after the announcement.
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Magnus Bauer @kinasekid.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
AlphaFold Server’s ligand menu just got a lot bigger and I almost missed it! You can now add any ligand from the wwPDB Chemical Component Dictionary. Just enter its CCD code 🥳
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Jonathan Edward Durham @thisone0verhere.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I’m beginning to think waking up and immediately reading the most insane things anyone has ever read is not exactly great for me
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Jake Wright @bcnjake.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Hey, students. If you did something cool and you have a faculty member who helped you do it, like write a letter of rec, tell us about it! We want to be proud and excited for you! I had a student come in yesterday to tell me they got into grad school, and it absolutely made my week.
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SlenderSherbet @slendersherbet.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
When they call your name in a work meeting and you weren't listening.
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Lorne Proteins @lorneproteins.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Abstract submissions are now open for Lorne Proteins 2027! Applications for eligible awards 🏆 and bursaries 💸 are via the same portal: ➡️ www.lorneproteins.org/submissions Register today to join researchers from all over the world, converging on a small seaside town in Victoria, Australia!
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
with every word this headline got worse and worse
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CCeMMP Outreach @ccemmp-outreach.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
🥳The #CCeMMP is hosting a free in-person 2026 Research Symposium to showcase exciting research in #cryoEM and #membrane proteins. We invite the scientific community to participate😊 2-3 Dec in Melbourne, Australia. More info: ccemmp.org/events/arc-c...
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Iva Vukušić @vukusiciva.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
It's the 1st of September and the new academic year is starting! #Academia #Teaching #University #Research
A meme with a cat and a factory in the back. The cat is wearing a tie and says "hope i don't have a lot of meetings" and in the back, over the factory, it says "lots of meetings factory".
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Madhu Pai, MD, PhD @madhupai.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
👏🏽👏🏽 Thanks to vaccines, Australia is on track to become the first country to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035 news.uq.edu.au/2026-08-20-y...
news.uq.edu.au
20 years. Millions of lives saved. One revolutionary vaccine
Gardasil 20-year anniversary story.
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Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦 @martinsteinegger.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Foldseek-Interface enables fast search/clustering of the protein interface universe! We clustered 3.1M PDB dimers into 77,167 groups and found new interfaces keep appearing even as fold discovery plateaus. 🧵 📄 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🔎 search.foldseek.com/interface 🌐 interface.foldseek.com
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Mary Munson @marymunson4.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Structural biology postdoctoral position open in my lab--apply now! For more information about the lab, see www.umassmed.edu/munsonlab/. Interested candidates should apply through the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School jobs portal (www.ummsjobs.com/job/11668/).
umassmed.edu
Munson Lab | Home | BMB | UMass Chan Medical School
The Munson Lab researches the mechanistic basis for the regulation of spatial and temporal specificity in membrane trafficking in the Biochemistry & Molecular Biotechnology Department at UMass Chan Me...
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