Sign in

Harry M. Williams

@harrywilliams.bsky.social
2K followers 1K following 180 posts

Structural biologist currently working on microsecond time-resolved cryo-EM | Currently based in Lausanne at EPFL 🇨🇭

PostsRepliesMedia
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
One paper accepted, another in revision, and another just submitted. Not the worst start to October!
010
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Biochemical Society @biochemsoc.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Are you an ECR and interested in transitioning from academic to industry? Join us in Birmingham on 9 Nov 2026 for our 'Industry Transition Toolkit' event. Attendance is FREE for members. www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/fron…
Three women engaged in a lively conversation during a networking event, one smiling warmly while holding a coffee cup.
042
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
RCSB Protein Data Bank @rcsbpdb.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Structural Biology and Nobel Prizes: Visit PDB-101 to explore connections between Nobel Prizes and more than 50 years of open access to the PDB archive
pdb101.rcsb.org
PDB101: Browse: Nobel Prizes and PDB structures
PDB-101: Training, Outreach, and Education portal of RCSB PDB
052
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
I love bsky says this message can be translated
000
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Hope you get back alright!
000
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Oh boy, we backtracked and took a diversion around west of Uelzen… I suspect you were just in front of me. Hopefully you aren’t stranded for long! I’m only 1.5 hrs delayed now…
100
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Managed to get half way, we’re now going backwards and have a 45 min delay. Boy do I miss this.
210
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Alright DB, the last time I made the journey to Hamburg from Switzerland we arrived many hours late. Let’s do better this time..
240
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Sergey Ovchinnikov @sokrypton.org · 15/08/2026
getting close to recreating Jane Richardson's style 😎
412315
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
The UK @biochemsoc.bsky.social is organising an early career symposium (9 November, 2026 in Birmingham, UK) on the skills needed for success beyond academia. The event is free for Society members (although a small deposit is required). Do take a look and register if interested...
eventsforce.net
000
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Kreylab @kreylab.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
✨ WE ARE HIRING! ✨ Are you a Crystallographer and interested in viruses? 💎 The Kreylab is looking for a motivated Postdoc to join our mission in fighting the Hepatitis E Virus! 🦠 Help us design the next generation of antiviral inhibitors using structural biology. 🚀 www.b-ite.com/recruitingma...
b-ite.com
Research Associate / Postdoc (m/f/d)
042
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Arjen Jakobi @cryotud.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
The LocScale 2.0 and SURFER papers are now both published in final form. LocScale 2.0: www.nature.com/articles/s41... SURFER: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/iucr/doi/10.... Led by @alok-bharadwaj.bsky.social with contributions of former MSc/Bsc students Reinier de Bruin and Lotte Veerbeek.
03811
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Oli Clarke @olibclarke.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
@emdatabank.bsky.social EMPIAR entry for stomatin complex from @fravallese.bsky.social and myself released - I hope it will be useful for folks studying #cryoem compositional heterogeneity in pseudo/mixed symmetry systems, as classifying out AQP1 and UT-B was quite a challenge for us at least!
ebi.ac.uk
EMPIAR-13732 Stomatin encapsulates aquaporin-1 and urea transporter-B in the erythrocyte membrane
EMPIAR, the Electron Microscopy Public Image Archive centered at EMBL-EBI, is a public resource for raw electron microscopy images related to EMDB, contains micrographs, particle sets and tilt-ser...
1216
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
There’s something delightfully playful that, at every general election, whoever happens to be Prime Minister has to stand on stage with Count Binface to hear if they’ve been reelected. What a leveler.
010
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
A good idea, working on it 😉
000
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Dear #cryoem community, does anyone if its possible disable atlas categorization in EPU? And if so, how?
102
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Hi Oli, thanks! Haven't looked at this yet... in the case of Tg, much would presumably depend on how quickly it degrades at the AWI w/o detergent. Would need to have a proper think and do some reading!
020
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Hi Guillaume, good question! We tried the steps outlined in the CryoSPARC tutorial that you linked. In our hands, these processing tricks (e.g. re-picking using an elliptical blob, skipping 2D classification, and so on) were not successful for the dataset that we obtained from a conventional sample.
010
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
And, snapshots show ultrasonic excitation doesn't appear to compromise jet-vitrified sample quality, which is of course very important when particle concentration is low and every grid square counts!
000
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Cryo-ET further characterises the effect: in conventional samples, 50S ribosomal subunit particles appear to cluster at the bottom interface. But, under ultrasonic excitation, both interfaces are populated more evenly, with more particles free from either interface.
130
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
New proof-of-principle experiments show ultrasonic excitation during conventional plunge vitrification yields better angular distribution for viral hemagglutinin, significantly improving our reconstruction resolution from 2.7 Å (in our jetting experiments) to 2.0 Å.
3134
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
We are pleased to release an update to this pre-print! Includes (1) proof-of-principle experiments on ultrasonic excitation during plunge vitrification, (2) cryo-ET characterisation of the effect, (3) and insights into grid/ice quality following ultrasonic excitation during vitrification.
biorxiv.org
1286
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Bosse lab at CSSB Hamburg @bosse-lab.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Want to do a PhD combining cryo-EM, AI-driven binder design, and deep virology in a cutting-edge environment and in an international team? We're hiring @CSSB_Hamburg 🔬 You: curious, rigorous, MSc in biochem, biophysics, virology, related Interested? DM me. Please RT 🙏 #PhDposition #cryoEM #virology
01516
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Yeah, two grids and a C-clip!
110
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 11/05/2026
Two grids and a C clip!
010
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Biochemical Society @biochemsoc.bsky.social · 10/05/2026
We're recruiting for three Independent Trustees to join our Council of Trustees. Working closely with the wider Council to set strategy and maintain oversight, you'll gain valuable experience whilst helping to make a difference in the community. Apply by 22 May 2026: ow.ly/AtpV50YWxIj
Top-down view of five people collaborating around a table with laptops and papers, promoting trustee opportunities at Biochemical Society.
We're looking for Independent Trustees to join our Council of Trustees. Open for applications. Visit our website to apply
021
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Friday quiz: What is going on in this image (taken on a Titan, atlas mag)? 👀
200
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
📢 We are now recruiting a PhD student in Structural and Molecular Virology in Sweden 🇸🇪 Work on RNA viruses using cryo-EM and in situ cryo-ET, with access to world-class microscopy infrastructure Perfect for candidates with backgrounds in biochem, structural bio, and virology More info ⬇️
12829
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Well done!
020
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 09/04/2026
Can confirm, while I do like the cold, I am not stored in the fridge.
030
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Thanks! Excellent chairing!
100
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
Always a fun time presenting at the @gesvirologie.bsky.social annual meeting, this time in Heidelberg. An exciting time for structural virology ahead!
280
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
A wee bit bumpier than Hamburg too. 😉
110
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
What a privilege to have this 5 minutes away from the office. Has spring sprung?
180
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Looks great!
010
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
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...
410136
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
If you're interested in how proteins of the innate immune response recognise and bind to pathogens (and/or how some microbes might avoid detection...), I invite you to read the paper now in press at the Journal of Biological Chemistry... www.jbc.org/article/S002... #crystallography
jbc.org
Phosphorylation of inner core heptose is a major determinant of bacterial surface lipopolysaccharide recognition by the innate immune protein hSP-D
The innate immune protein human surfactant protein D (SP-D) recognises pathogens in the lungs via binding to carbohydrate surface structures. SP-D targets gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide vi...
0124
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
Paper accepted! 🎉 More Thursday’s like this, please.
090
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
We absolutely love Krios days. Screening grids, collecting data will get old.
040
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
And now out in Nature Comms (congrats Wyatt et al.): www.nature.com/articles/s41....
nature.com
Ultrathin liquid cells for microsecond time-resolved cryo-EM - Nature Communications
Laser flash melting experiments have rendered cryo-EM fast enough to observe the microsecond motions of proteins. The authors extend the observation window of this emerging technique tenfold, to hundr...
0123
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Ervin Fodor @efodor.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Cryo-EM structure reveals how influenza A virus NEP binds the viral polymerase at a regulatory hotspot, coordinating RNA synthesis and nuclear export. Fantastic collaboration with @loiccarrique.bsky.social and Jon Grimes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
15427
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Yamuna Krishnan @krishnanyamuna.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH. And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you. A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
29547230
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
Kresten Lindorff-Larsen @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Experimental structures provide valuable hypotheses and accelerate but do not replace evolutionary and statistical analyses of protein sequences
1379
Reposted by Harry M. Williams
cryoEM papers @cryoempapers.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
An integrated workflow for structural virology with a 100 keV electron microscope www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.08.693081v1 #cryoEM
067
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Congrats Dan!
010
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
As usual, there's a lot more cool stuff in this paper so naturally I encourage you to have a look! Thanks of course go to the entire team at EPFL, including the wonderful people at the DCI-Lausanne imaging centre who helped us collect something a lot of data.
010
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
At 13.3 ms, we observe ErNaR in the O2 state. The chromophore has switched back to the all-trans configuration. We find the sidechain environment in the active center is starting to re-form. There also appears to be conformational dynamics taking place downstream along the proposed ion path.
100
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
At 107 µs after photoactivation, we observe the K2 state. As we show, the chromophore has switched from the all-trans configuration present in the dark state to the 13-cis configuration. A switch that is accompanied by sidechain movements around the chromophore in the ErNaR active center.
100
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Samples of ErNaR were activated with a nanosecond laser pulse and subsequently jet vitrified at 107 µs and 13.3 ms, to probe the K2 and O2 states of the photo-cycle, respectively. We also collected a dark state, which was not photo-activated, to serve as a control in our experiments.
100
Harry M. Williams @harrywilliams.bsky.social · 22/11/2025
Next, to demonstrate that we could conduct time-resolved cryo-EM experiments, we turned to the bacterial rhodopsin ErNaR. Normally, ErNaR pumps sodium ions from the cytoplasm across the bacterial membrane to the ouside. Using our setup, we wanted to probe some of the earlier photocycle states.
110