Sign in

Ben Engel

@cellarchlab.com
6K followers 2.7K following 1K posts

cellarchlab.com Univ. of Basel Biozentrum🇨🇭. Exploring molecular architecture inside cells with #CryoEM #TeamTomo. Plants and algae in a changing climate. ❄🔬 OF 🌿 4THE 🌍!

PostsRepliesMedia
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 24/09/2026
Insane in the #MemBrain 🤖🧠 #TeamTomo 🧪
0197
Reposted by Ben Engel
Fanny Le Blanc @fannyleblanc.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thank you for organizing! It was great to meet the swiss cryo-ET community and hear about all the exciting science happening here :)
0101
Reposted by Ben Engel
Florent Waltz @florentwaltz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Great success for the 2nd edition of the Young Swiss Tomo Meeting in Bern 🔬, co-organized with the DCI, and @leonieanton.bsky.social, Elsa Bauda, @zanettakechagia.bsky.social and Agnes Moe who's joining the team for the next edition. Thanks to @dectris.bsky.social and @thermofishersci.bsky.social ..
Kuppelraum at Bern university. 70 people attending the conferenceThe organizers
Florent Waltz, Leonie Anton, Elda Bauda, Zanetta Kechagia and Agnes MoeThe view from Uni BernThe organizers plus the workshop teachers, Philippe van der Stappen, Sofie van Dorst and Imre Gonda
2305
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 18/09/2026
The future of cilia biology his here!! 🤣. Yeah very scary— this Nikon contest hoax was easy to spot, but someday soon (ok probably already), it will be very difficult to determine what scientific data has been hallucinated 🤖🧪
2180
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 10/09/2026
Really wonderful! Lab retreats are so important for building a supportive and creative scientific culture 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬. I hope the bean counters in university finance offices don’t forget this. Such events pay for themselves 100 times over in sparking inspiration💡 and collaboration 🤗
1110
Reposted by Ben Engel
Caitie McCafferty @computingcaitie.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
I am looking for a lab manager for my group that I will be starting at the @fmiscience.bsky.social in February! We will use in situ structural biology to investigate dynamic ciliary processes. More info here —> bsky.app/profile/comp... #cilia #teamtomo #proteomics #protistsky
34443
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 08/09/2026
#MemBrain v2 🧪 @lorenzlamm.bsky.social 🦾
1121
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 08/09/2026
MemBrain v2 is on @natmethods.nature.com now? I never had a @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social with 164 citations before😅 ...Which is also to say: Thank you to the amazing #TeamTomo community, many of whom not only beta tested, but also contributed diverse training data. This one belongs to all of us! 🤗🔬🧪
BioRxiv FTW
011027
Reposted by Ben Engel
Florent Waltz @florentwaltz.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Yoooo it's out 🥳 MemBrain v3 when ?
1151
Reposted by Ben Engel
Juan Carlos De la Concepcion @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The beauty of posting in @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. This amazing tool was available for the community long before it showed up on a journal. I even forgot this publication was not "peer-reviewed", but it was definitively "community-reviewed". Kudos to @lorenzlamm.bsky.social and all the authors!
1206
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 04/09/2026
This is a beautiful and important study with mechanistic structural insights into ESCRT function. Congrats Mareike!! 🧪
1183
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 31/08/2026
This has been a fun and interesting exploration of new frontiers, thanks to the @biozentrum.unibas.ch PhD Fellowship for enabling @daniil-litvinov.bsky.social to create a novel project between labs 🧪🤗 Now that we can predict complexes… Next up is Visual Proteomics 🔬. Daniil can do it, no sweat! 💪😅
0133
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 31/08/2026
LAST WEEK TO APPLY!!! 🧪 @biozentrum.unibas.ch seeks a new group👩‍🔬 exploring molecular questions relevant to climate 🌍, including biogeochemical cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen) ♻️, bioenergetic energy conversion (e.g., photosynthesis, chemosynthesis) ☀️⚗️, and the adaptation to environmental change 🌊🌡️🦠🌾
01211
Reposted by Ben Engel
Martina Preiner @preinerin.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
New preprint out! We cycle flavins from reduced to oxidized and back under hydrothermal conditions and investigate if the structure of flavins can influence their prebiotic function... Congrats to first authors Delfina and Oskari!
062
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 13/08/2026
John is a visionary in our field. I always like hearing his new ideas, many of which end up proving to be rather prophetic. #PlantScience 🌾🧪
1319
Reposted by Ben Engel
Plant Science Spotlight @plant-sci.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
🧬🌱 Algal chloroplast ribosomes have a unique arm domain, revealed by cryo-ET and cryo-EM. It may stabilize mRNA and organize polysomes. Chloroplast translation is more structurally diverse than expected. #plantscience @natplants.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Chloroplast-encoded small subunit extensions reshape the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome - Nature Plants
Using in situ cryo-electron tomography, researchers found a unique ‘arm’ domain on the small subunit of Chlamydomonas chlororibosomes. This discovery suggests that chlororibosome structure is more evo...
01710
Reposted by Ben Engel
Florent Waltz @florentwaltz.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
We've been seeing a lot of "in situ" lately in titles from fancy journals (not pointing any fingers 👀). I’ve delayed posting this, but as more and more come out, I'm afraid "in situ" is becoming an empty buzzword, much like "near-atomic" was for SPA 🔬 1/n #cryo-ET #cryo-EM #cryoET #cryoEM 🧪
85616
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 07/08/2026
One month left to apply!! 🧪 @biozentrum.unibas.ch seeks a group👩‍🔬 exploring molecular questions relevant to climate 🌍, including biogeochemical cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen) ♻️, bioenergetic energy conversion (e.g., photosynthesis, chemosynthesis) ☀️⚗️, and the adaptation to environmental change 🌊🌡️🦠🌾
01714
Reposted by Ben Engel
Juan Carlos De la Concepcion @delaconcepcionjc.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
PLEASE SHARE! New job openings in my lab @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We have a broad interest into the mechanistic basis of how molecular complexes are rewired during cellular development in plants and during invasion by pathogens. 🌱🍄🔬 See details below 👇 #PlantSciJobs
274105
Reposted by Ben Engel
sofie.rec @sofie-dot-rec.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
The artist formerly known as #thatmitoriboguy has now become #thatchlororiboguy Check out some cool tomo from @florentwaltz.bsky.social @phaips.vd.st
23010
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 28/07/2026
The final version of @florentwaltz.bsky.social's Chlamy chlororibosome "hat" is now online at @natplants.nature.com 🌾 📜 nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02361-1 🧪🔬 #TeamTomo The charge complementarity in the arm domain is striking. Blue & red proteins wrapped around each other, like a barber pole💈
0566
Reposted by Ben Engel
Florent Waltz @florentwaltz.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This story is now published in @natplants.nature.com ! 🎉🎩 Check out the final article here: nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02361-1 Very similar to the original bioRxiv preprint, with the addition of some cool polysome analysis (in the supplementals)! Thanks and congrats to everyone involved! 🙏
nature.com
Chloroplast-encoded small subunit extensions reshape the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome - Nature Plants
Using in situ cryo-electron tomography, researchers found a unique ‘arm’ domain on the small subunit of Chlamydomonas chlororibosomes. This discovery suggests that chlororibosome structure is more evo...
29836
Reposted by Ben Engel
James Barrett @james-r-barrett.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Check it out! Deeper insights into the pyrenoid of Chlorella. More evidence Rubisco has convergently evolved as an organising hub, cool membrane architectures and evidence that most of the rest of the CCM is conserved with other green pyrenoids! 💚 Preprint here 🔗: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🔗
0215
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 22/07/2026
It’s a pyrenoid party! 🪩🌍 Awesome collab🤝 of @phaips.vd.st & @manondemulder.bsky.social with Mihris and the @mackinderlab.bsky.social crew to reveal the molecular architecture🏗️ of the Chorella pyrenoid. Algae have so many convergently evolved compartments to supercharge #CO2 capture. #TeamTomo 🔬🌾🌊🧪
0479
Reposted by Ben Engel
David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
I don't think people fully appreciate how apocalyptic things are for US science. I haven't had any new funding since 2024, but I'm still ok since typical grants are for three years. This means next year I will be completely out of funding and will have to fire everyone in the lab. It's not great.
4153292362
Reposted by Ben Engel
James Barrett @james-r-barrett.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This was a super fun Ghent-York collaboration with the amazing @jonasblomme.bsky.social, who has tagged an insane amount of genes in Ulva! Together we found another new linker protein (SUPA1!), and a bunch of interesting similarities and differences with other pyrenoid ccms. Come and check it out!
1163
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 17/07/2026
Fantastic new study charting the molecular atlas of #CO2 fixing compartments in seaweed! Yet another convergently evolved pyrenoid, with its own distinct Rubisco linker and binding site. There really is a "molecular kaleidoscope of pyrenoid diversity (™️Oliver M-C)" 🙌 @james-r-barrett.bsky.social 🌊🌾🧪
04111
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 10/07/2026
A portal 🚪⬛⬛⬛🚪 between cyanobacteria cells. Open sesame! Great integrative #TeamTomo story from Iris Maldener & @weiss-lab.bsky.social 🧪
0281
Reposted by Ben Engel
Schuller Jan @schullerjm.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I like the anaeronauts - Thanks for the credit and praise. That paper is published but not much more - so here is a latest summary of our journey - in preprints. Without preprints I find it hard to get results out lately. So we do this to an extreme level now. bsky.app/profile/schu...
121
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 07/07/2026
Jan and the anaeronauts keep zooming warp speed through the universe of globally-relevant anaerobic metabolism. Hang on! It’s a wild ride! 🌍🚀🦠🧪
2377
Reposted by Ben Engel
Ben Long @botbml.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
RBMP2 shapes specialized membranes for CO₂ delivery in the pyrenoid condensate @mjonikas.bsky.social & @cellarchlab.com labs www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
RBMP2 shapes specialized membranes for CO₂ delivery in the pyrenoid condensate
Approximately one-third of global CO₂ fixation occurs in the algal pyrenoid, a condensate of the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco traversed by membranes that supply it with CO₂. In the model alga Chlamydomon...
061
Reposted by Ben Engel
Alex Schier @schierlab.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Come join us at the @biozentrum.unibas.ch as Professor in Climate Biophysics. Blue-sky research, inspiring colleagues, and generous support.
1157
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 05/07/2026
Happy to help out a bit on this cool study about a membrane-remodeling protein that enables CO2 delivery to Rubisco at the center of the Chlamy pyrenoid, powering efficient carbon fixation 🌍. Great #CryoET work by Hao and Martin — Welcome to #TeamTomo!! ❄️🔬 🧪
1348
Reposted by Ben Engel
Martin Jonikas @mjonikas.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
The algal pyrenoid fixes ~1/3 of global carbon, relying on a unique membrane-within-condensate architecture. How is this architecture built? We discovered that the protein MITH1 draws membranes into the pyrenoid condensate by promoting wetting! 🌿💧 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
14616
Reposted by Ben Engel
Paula Navarro @navarropaula.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇
doi.org
The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology
A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.
39333
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 03/07/2026
Super excited to launch this search for a new endowed professor at the @biozentrum.unibas.ch! Join us to build a research cluster in Climate Biophysics! 🌍🌊🌾🔬🧪 This is a unique opportunity to create a community in Basel🇨🇭working together on this timely topic! ⏳🌡️ Questions? Please reach out! 👩‍🔬👨‍🔬
14947
Reposted by Ben Engel
Nitish Dua @nitishdua.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Really hyped to share our pre-print on mtDNA replication-fission ! @nanigrotjahn.bsky.social (doi: doi.org/10.64898/202...) 🧵with details below ⤵️
doi.org
ATAD3A structurally links mtDNA replication and mitochondrial fission
Mitochondrial function depends on the maintenance of its genome, and disruptions in copy number and distribution are hallmarks of mitochondrial disorders. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) replication is spat...
25622
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 24/06/2026
The Chlamy chloroplast RNA polymerase paper is here!🤩 It's a beautiful and interesting structure, which raises some interesting questions about evolution. Congrats to @sramundo.bsky.social, @schullerjm.bsky.social, and all your rad peeps for getting this done 💪 #plantscience #cryoEM 🌾🔬🧪
0174
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 24/06/2026
Beautiful chromatin confetti 🧬🎊 from gently lysed archaea cells. Definitive proof for the in vivo relevance of hypernucleosomes, with more compacted chromatin during stationary phase. This is big for chromatin evolution! Go Sveta & gang! You are trailblazers!! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 👩‍🔬🧪
1163
Reposted by Ben Engel
FMI science @fmiscience.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
We’re delighted to welcome @computingcaitie.bsky.social to the FMI next year! Her work will bring an interdisciplinary perspective spanning structural biology, quantitative imaging and computational analysis to our institute, opening exciting new ways to study ciliary structure and dynamics.
0146
Reposted by Ben Engel
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
2219
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 22/06/2026
YAY CAITIE!! So many feels right now🥲🤗🥳. I feel so lucky you joined us, so grateful for your generous collaboration and mentorship, so proud of your accomplishments, and so excited to gain an awesome new #TeamTomo colleague here in Basel. Honestly just so in awe— you rock! Here’s to the future! 🧪👩‍🔬 🚀
0241
Reposted by Ben Engel
Biohub @biohub.org · 16/06/2026
Cryo-ET gives unparalleled views of cellular structures, but targeted sample preparation by cryo-FIB milling has been a constraint. No longer! A new workflow yields close to 100% targeting success for centrioles & other small structures. Read the preprint ⤵️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Diagram of FIB-SEM with integrated fluorescence microscope alongside cryo lamella micrograph and 3D segmentation highlighting targeted centrioles
04617
Reposted by Ben Engel
Danielle Grotjahn @nanigrotjahn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Cryo-ET is often framed as a tool for in situ protein structure. But what if the real revolution is contextualization? I explore how #teamtomo is redefining what "local" means in organelle biology, revealing membrane states rather than just protein structures. tinyurl.com/localmembrane
sciencedirect.com
Think globally, act locally: Redefining organellar membrane environments through cryo-electron tomography
Early enthusiasm for the “cellular revolution” in cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) was largely driven by the promise of resolving protein structures…
26323
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 16/06/2026
Beautiful expansion microscopy of the Chlamy pyrenoid by our friends in the Jonikas lab. Check out that ultrastructural detail on the tubule membranes! 🔬🧪
1193
Reposted by Ben Engel
Mitosis Lab @mitosislab.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
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...
Gallery of recent cryotomograms of chromatin inside eukaryotic cells.
0236
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 09/06/2026
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! 🧪🌍
2398
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 06/06/2026
Vitrification ❄️🧊 is still a real bottleneck for #TeamTomo. Nice to see this initiative, and I hope some clever new developments are enabled by it 🧪
0216
Reposted by Ben Engel
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...
3536
Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 28/05/2026
Check out these two interesting ECR talks about the crazy and diverse world marine algae #ProtistsOnSky 🪸🌊🔬🧪
0112