iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Alex Dickson

Ashley D'Souza @ashleydsouza.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In my latest story for the Smithsonian, I was lucky enough to get to know the American paddlefish – a threatened fish that predates the dinosaurs and has incredible sensory capabilities thanks to its long snoot. s.si.edu/4y7NGS7

s.si.edu

Meet the Spatula-Nosed Fish Whose Anatomy Has Hardly Changed Since the Cretaceous

The National Museum of Natural History’s new exhibition “From These Lands” features an American paddlefish, the last surviving species of an ancient lineage of fishes that predates dinosaurs

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Well-tarred Flask 🇮🇹🇺🇦🇨🇦 @chemprofcramer.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Now that #ACSFall2026 is over, I thought I'd share my talk on the history of the Computers in Chemistry Division (presented in a HIST/PRES symposium earlier this week). Maybe some nuggets of interest for #CompChem, #ChemSky, and #SciSky... 🧪 1/14

Cover title slide reading: Past, Present, and Phenomenal Future of the Computers in Chemistry Division with my name and meeting/session details

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Johannes Schusterbauer @joh-schb.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Diffusion models treat every part of an image equally. → Same number of steps. Same compute. But images aren’t uniform. 🤔 Some regions are easy, others are hard. So why force the model to treat them the same? 🧵

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

corrylab.bsky.social @corrylab.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Excited to share this paper from @yiechanglin.bsky.social showing how lipids can move between bacterial membranes along the bridge like protein TamB. Also happy to be able to post the cool movie. 🎥🌟 #MDsimulations #StructuralBiology doi.org/10.1016/j.bp...

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

"life is but a dream" is some really complex sentiment to tack willy-nilly onto a kid's song about boats

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Ceren Kilinc @cerenkilinc.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

Our (@dicksonlab.bsky.social) latest work uses weighted ensemble simulations to reveal the molecular determinants behind the ~430-fold longer residence time of an engineered CGRP variant (ssCGRP) at the CLR:RAMP1 receptor. Read the full paper: authors.elsevier.com/c/1moLg1SPTF...

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Current conditions at ATL airport: everyone got here 4hrs early, zero people in line (pre check and normal TSA), and they hired a jazz guitarist to maintain the vibe during the 4 min wait 🎶 😎

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 16/03/2026

Writing out a conversation I’ve been having a lot at this conference: Things in US science are far, far worse than people know. Far worse than even other scientists know. 1/

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

So sad to hear about Karl! He was tremendously impactful for me as well. I remember he would make these really subtle, dry jokes while lecturing, and then turn from the blackboard in slow motion with a huge grin on his face ❤️

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Sam Foley @samuelfoley.com · 06/03/2026

I have found that many people don't know about configurational temperature, so I wrote a short note about it on my website. www.samuelfoley.com/misc/

"What is temperature at the microscopic level?"
A person answers, "Molecular kinetic energy!"
His irate, glowing-eyed boss then throws him out the window of a tall building.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

(clearly not replica swaps on closer inspection)

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

What is this sorcery? 🪄 Are atomic types changing or is that replica swaps?

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

"Shake what your mama gave you!" "My mitochondrial DNA?" "..." "..."

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Roland Dunbrack 🏳️‍🌈 @rolanddunbrack.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Particularly of interest to people who want to do protein design in an academic environment w/ many colleagues in basic science (cancer biology, cell signaling, immunology, virology) & clinicians who can drive the discovery of new targets for hard-to-treat diseases & bring therapeutics to patients.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Really happy about how this paper turned out! Congrats on the great work Samik! 🎉

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Wow this piece is amazing! It would be even more entertaining if the future of the NIH wasn't hanging in the balance..

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/10/2025

Holy shit. Game 7 between the Jays and the Mariners just ran an pro-free trade ad, targeted to American workers, decrying tariffs. The twist being that, if you don't catch it beforehand, Ronald Reagan is revealed as the speaker in the closing seconds. What PAC is this? The Province of Ontario.

fastcompany.com

Ronald Reagan narrates a new anti-tariff ad from Canada

The new commercial is part of a $75 million ad campaign by Ontario aimed at Republican voters.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

At only 29, his mark on the world was only just beginning. My thoughts are with his family, friends and those who knew him best. Through the modern magic of our screens, and the hundreds (thousands?) of hours Danya spent coaching, educating and inspiring, that feels like all of us.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Danya was a chess grandmaster, playing at the highest levels of the game, while also devoting countless hours to creating educational content on YouTube and Twitch. He reached millions with his videos and commentary and was truly an inspiration to me.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

A while ago a colleague led us through an exercise where we brainstormed a network of mentors. These could be anyone in the world who influenced the way we teach, communicate, do research or service. I wrote Daniel Naroditsky in all caps. I was floored yesterday to learn of his passing.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 02/10/2025

Today I asked someone "what shape is your loss?" and I think that could really be a question for everybody

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

BatchNorm is evil. Pure Satan spawn sent to destroy us and our projects 👿

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

I was so proud that I found it 💔. Get it together nyt!

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

acscomp.bsky.social @acscomp.bsky.social · 17/08/2025

🚨 PLEASE RT 🚨 Are you a comp chem trainee attending Fall ACS in Washington DC? Would you like to expand your network with mentors in industry & academia at the COMP Mentor Lunch? Fill out this form if you are interested in attending! forms.gle/dkozpTx3RyK8...

forms.gle

ACS Fall 2025 COMP Mentor Lunch

Please fill out this form if you are a student that would like to come to the COMP Mentor Lunch on Tuesday August 19th at 12:30pm. You will hear back from us with confirmation of your attendance by en...

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Heidi Klem @drklemistry.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

The Klem Lab at LSU is hiring a postdoctoral researcher in computational biochemistry! Application info: klem-research-group.github.io/join/ ♻️ Please share with anyone who might be interested! #chemjobs #postdoc #compchem #biochemistry #enzymes

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Christoph Dellago @chhdellago.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Lyapunov instability of a system of WCA disks. Initially, the two systems (blue and red) differ only by 10^-12 in the x-velocities of two particles. The exponential divergence of the trajectories, probed by the configuration space distance, is shown on the right.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

Our Flexible topology pocket explorer paper is up on ChemRxiv! doi.org/10.26434/che... We run simulations in the B2AR receptor and show that the Flexible Topology particles capture aspects of known B2AR ligands. We also show how FT frames can be used for screening to find new hits!

Flexible topology molecular dynamics uses a set of particles with dynamic charges and sizes to model many ligands in a binding pocket over the course of an MD simulation. This helps consistently model ligand-induced conformational changes in the binding pocket during screening. Individual frames from these simulations can be used as queries to perform virtual screening on databases such as ZINC or HMDB.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Lead is sweeter in the short term but you might regret it later..

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

I asked my kids to sing the Canadian national anthem, and they started off to the tune of "O Christmas Tree" 😬

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Ceren Kilinc @cerenkilinc.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

The latest work from Dickson Lab (@dicksonlab.bsky.social) in collaboration with Pioszak Lab is out! Check it out for novel insights into the characterization of the two-domain binding mechanism of CGRP and a high-affinity variant ssCGRP to the CGRP receptor: doi.org/10.1021/acs.... #compchem

doi.org

Characterization of the Two-Domain Peptide Binding Mechanism of the Human CGRP Receptor for CGRP and the Ultrahigh Affinity ssCGRP Variant

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a 37-amino acid neuropeptide that functions in pain signaling and neuroimmune communication. The CGRP receptor, CGRPR, is a class B GPCR that is a drug target...

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Flexing some old vector geometry muscles 😅

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

⬆️ ⬆️ Still looking for people who want to work at the intersection of MD and cryo-EM! The position also happens to be privately funded by an alumni donor and guaranteed for 4 years, which sadly, seems important to mention these days. Apply by March 28! (and please share!)

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

When you find the perfect photo..

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I have confirmation from several sources now that all T32s, many F30s and F31s, and most or all Center awards (P30, P50) have been terminated at Columbia. This is quite damaging to research and to individuals. This is pure terrorism and cannot be legal. But litigation will take time...

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 11/03/2025

I finally did it! 10k unread emails! Wow. What can I say?.. I couldn't have done this alone. It's been a long road. There's so many people I'd like to thank...

A partial screenshot showing exactly 10,000 unread emails on the Mail app. A dramatic failure of communication in the modern era.

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Just came across this thread and appreciate all the recs! Already found some great stuff. Thanks!

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

If you're looking for a socially responsible (and stable!) investment, check out $BGRN. It is a green bond ETF that funds environmental sustainability projects around the globe. Yields 4% per year which isn't bad!

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Reposted by Alex Dickson

David De Sancho @daviddesancho.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Now available as a Reviewed Preprint in @elife.bsky.social, our work on aromatic "stickers" in biomolecular phase separation @dipcehu.bsky.social doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

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Alex Dickson @dicksonlab.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

This joint-postdoc position is internally funded for up to 4 years, more details attached!

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