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Max Renner

@maxrenner.bsky.social
732 followers 1K following 154 posts

PI at Umeå University and UCMR | Northern Sweden | Alum: @ox.ac.uk | Structural Virology | renner-lab.com | 🇸🇪 🦠🔬 🌱

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Reposted by Max Renner
Lars-Anders Carlson @lacarlson.bsky.social · 2h
Well done, Sweden!
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Chenxin Li, PhD @chenxinli2.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Requiring scientists to be political neutral is to require scientists to shut up when the facts are inconvenient.
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 20h
United States President Donald Trump issues executive order instructing federal government agencies to "use the terms 'Super Intelligence' and 'SI' in place of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' and will not acknowledge the usage of 'Artificial Intelligence' and 'AI' in any applicable setting."
whitehouse.gov
Inaugurating The Era Of Super Intelligence
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Every child deserves a safe and nurturing home where they ...
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Basil Greber @bjgreber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This further highlights the risks of using tools that were created by companies who were, well, "not very selective" with how they sourced the information required to develop their models. It is becoming increasingly unlikely that users of these tools are being treated any differently.
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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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Christophe 🔬 Leterrier @christlet.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I think I'm going to lose it being lectured on microscopy image presentation integrity by the winner of the Small Artificial World in Motion competition
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Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 24/09/2026
Insane in the #MemBrain 🤖🧠 #TeamTomo 🧪
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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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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Maybe those antibody vendors should have just said their validation western blots were AI-enhanced. Then it would all be fine 😌
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Ben Engel @cellarchlab.com · 23/09/2026
Perhaps someone can write a community-signed letter (without using gen AI 🤪) to raise these issues more formally? I would sign it, but don’t have time to write it. I agree we shouldn’t let this pass. Whoever is interested — Please feel free to use some of these points: bsky.app/profile/cell...
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Lars-Anders Carlson @lacarlson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Last week, our PhD student Joanne and I attended HCV-Flavi in Copenhagen ...and so did the lab of our alumna Selma Dahmane! Photo of Carlson+Dahmane attendees on the last evening, at Tivoli Gardens. Great time!
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Karen Fisher, PhD @fisherke.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Hey @healthcare.nikon.com Care to comment? Quite a few of us have questions
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Everything the pro-Trump billionaire Ellison family will now own: Paramount+ CBS CNN Showtime HBO Warner Bros TNT TBS MTV DC Studios Nickelodeon Comedy Central And more... With this comes the power to decide which stories get told, but more importantly, which stories DON'T get told. Shameful.
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Clearly, the only solution is to quickly build more data centers so AI can solve climate change 🚀🚀🚀
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Ed Hutchinson @socialinfluenza.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
🚨New paper!🚨 Delighted to have played a small part in this study from Jason Botten's lab (and unusually for us, not on a respiratory virus) on a global map of the Zika virus phosphoproteome
journals.plos.org
A global map of the Zika virus phosphoproteome reveals host-driven regulation of viral particle release and cytopathogenicity
Author summary Zika virus can cause neurological complications and birth defects in humans. The proteins made by viruses are the tools used to hijack human cells to repurpose them into virus productio...
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Daniel Hurdiss @danielhurdiss.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Excited to share that our norovirus NS3 study is now online in Nature Communications! 🎉 These enzymes, found across an entire order of RNA viruses, have long been molecular motors in search of a function. We think we’ve uncovered their role. (🧵) www.nature.com/articles/s41... #virology #cryoEM
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Personally, the idea that I am going to use substantial chunks of my limited time on this planet to review LLM output fills me with dread.
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Lars-Anders Carlson @lacarlson.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Probably good to consider the MSCA application and evaluation process in the light of LLM-generated applications. At a minimum, simplify and shorten the written application. Why should reviewers read so much LLM-generated text? Could interviews be practically organised for such a huge programme?
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Séamus Holden 🔬🦠🧫 @seamusholden.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Really impressing MINFLUX tracking of molecular motors www.nature.com/articles/s41... #bioimaging
nature.com
Characterizing dynamics of productive dynein stepping by MINFLUX - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Slivka et al. track dynein’s microtubule-binding domain with minimal fluorescence photon flux, revealing transient backward ‘dips’ before steps. These dips represent microtubule release upon ATP bindi...
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Marie Walde 🌊🦠🔬 @mariescopy.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The #microscopy community has serious concerns about this year’s winning #NikonSmallWorld in Motion video. @healthcare.nikon.com, could you please comment on the raw data and acquisition process to clarify whether AI was used? Transparency would help maintain confidence in the competition.
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Aris Katzourakis @ariskatzourakis.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Interested in a PhD on viral metagenomics from clinical samples? Check out this collaborative project between my group at @biology.ox.ac.uk and @eit.org eit.org/project/viro...
eit.org
Virome metagenomics from clinical samples
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Mark Peifer (He, him) @peiferlabunc.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This could be a game changer for folks working on arthropods other than Drosophila
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simon-alkema.bsky.social @simon-alkema.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Releasing TOMATO, the TOMogram Annotation TOol! A lightweight Python GUI for going through hundreds of cryo-ET tomograms. Flag what's in each one, grade its quality, and end up with a table you can filter and act on. github.com/alkemasimon/...
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Abraham lab at Harvard Medical School @abrahamlabhms.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Excited to share our newest publication revealing the structural and biophysical basis for monkeypox virus replisome activation! @hhmi-science.bsky.social @harvardmicro.bsky.social @hc2em.bsky.social @harvardmed.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Structure and operating principles of a monkeypox virus replisome - Nature
During replisome assembly of monkeypox virus, the hexameric helicase–primase E5 undergoes large-scale conformational changes that allow two of its primase domains to interact with the polymerase F8 th...
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Alan Brown @alanbrownhms.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Millions of beating cilia keep airways clean. At the base of each is the transition zone (TZ), a gate that controls which proteins enter and leave. In our paper out today in Science, we used cryo-FIB-ET to image the TZ inside human airway cells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
In situ structure of the human ciliary transition zone links linker defects to primary ciliary dyskinesia
The ciliary transition zone (TZ) regulates ciliary proteome composition, yet its molecular architecture, protein content, and contribution to motile ciliopathies remain poorly defined. We applied in situ cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging ...
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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
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Thelonevirologist @thelonevirologist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Bunsen burners’ reputation for sterilizing workplaces flames out www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Bunsen burners’ reputation for sterilizing workplaces flames out
Study shows that the venerable device does not waft bacteria away from workbenches, as is often assumed.
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Andrew Bissette @andrewbissette.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Can't wait for 400 "academic freedom" champions to sign an open letter about this. (Won't hold my breath waiting, I'd just suffocate)
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Mart Krupovic @mkrupovic.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Check out our paper on ESCRTs in large DNA viruses. Most enveloped viruses use the host #ESCRT for envelopment, but only mirusviruses and nucleocytoviricots encode it! Congrats @sonaida.bsky.social, @tomdelmont.bsky.social, Ulysse Guyet & Eugene Koonin. @pasteur.fr www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Large eukaryotic DNA viruses encode ESCRT machinery for membrane remodelling - Nature Microbiology
A genomic screen reveals homologues of ESCRT components in mirusviruses that infect unicellular aquatic eukaryotes.
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Lars-Anders Carlson @lacarlson.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Two if my favourite topics in one paper: ESCRTs and viruses!
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
This is huge 🤩🤩🤩
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Andrew Bissette @andrewbissette.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Guys, Sweden is so nice. Have you heard about this?
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Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Molecular architecture of colossal surface layers from hyperthermophilic archaea Led by @idocaspy.bsky.social (Ido) In collaboration with @mkrupovic.bsky.social and @vikramalva.bsky.social labs doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Onisillos @onisillos.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Given the overwhelming demand (🤥), here are the editorials I've written on covid origins: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... and www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
SARS-CoV-2 is a natural virus that found its way into humans through mundane contact with infected wildlife that went on to cause the most consequential pandemic for over a century. While it is scholarly to entertain alternative hypotheses, particularly when evidence is scarce, these alternative hypotheses have been implausible for a long time and have only become more-so with increasing scrutiny. Those who eagerly peddle suggestions of laboratory involvement have consistently failed to present credible arguments to support their positions.
Take the time to reflect on the paragraph above and how many words were expended to make the simple point that COVID-19 had a natural origin. This is because there are many people, most notably in the USA, with disproportionate influence who are poised to seize on less explicit statements to undermine a simple, and pretty straightforward, truth. These are the same people who are willing to malign individuals—a topical example being former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci—who dedicated themselves to understanding and lessening the impact of the pandemic.
The sheer hubris needed to underpin alternative hypotheses was an early signal of their tenuousness, when we are intensely aware that the natural processes needed to bring about this sort of pandemic are constantly churning and testing the boundaries between animal and human populations. The most remarkable thing about the whole COVID-19 origin saga is the confected controversy over something that should not be controversial at all. The thing that should be controversial is how little of the energy expended over this discussion has been directed towards actual beneficial outcomes.
To be frank, the fanciful ideas put forward by self-described free thinkers are more in keeping with popular movies than the realities of working with pathogens. It is admirable to pursue curiosity wherever it might lead and to reject the constraints of…A year ago, August 2024, we addressed the state of discussions about COVID-19 origins in our Editorial COVID-19 origins: plain speaking is overdue. We did not lay out the evidence because the space we had available was not sufficient to address the points in detail. And the evidence was presented in a comprehensive and digestible fashion by the authors of the relevant research. Our focus was laying out the situation in a clear and uncluttered way, to counter the many commentators in the press who were giving their assessments based on what they wanted to believe (or what would make a more entertaining story) rather than what they could back up with evidence. Given the potential consequences, to pandemic prevention and public health in general, they were being irresponsible.
On June 27, 2025, WHO’s Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) published their report Independent Assessment of the Origins of SARS-CoV-2. This report provides an update in the context of information that has emerged since their 2022 report. The report outlines the most prominent hypotheses and reflects on the supporting evidence for each of them. They stress that they did not have access to raw data when preparing this report, and SAGO and WHO have requested further information from governments, including those that have made assertions about the origins of SARS-CoV-2: China, Germany, and the USA. At the time of writing the report this information had not been provided. Meaning that this report is based on published literature, not so-called intelligence touted by some governments.
The report outlines four hypotheses but essentially two are based on zoonotic spillover and two are based on a laboratory accident. The assessment in the report from the outset discounts one hypothesis from each of these broad categories due to a lack of evidence, although SAGO remains open to reconsideration if more evidence is forthcoming. Despite giving one of the laboratory accident…
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Great to see our paper on mosquito carb-binding proteins out now 🦟🦟🦟 We solved structures of lectins from the yellow fever mosquito, revealing a shared conserved dimer architecture, with AF predictions suggesting hundreds of potential heterodimers too. febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....
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Mateus lab @mateuslab.com · 08/08/2026
Bolor's paper is now out! Read the final story here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... See below 👇 for the main highlights
nature.com
Systematic profiling of growth interactions in human gut microbiome species - Nature Communications
Here, Buyanbadrakh et al. systematically map growth interactions among gut bacteria, revealing predominantly inhibitory effects, and identifying extracellular vesicles and pH modulation as mechanisms ...
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Why is Anthropic destroying books? | Kathryn James
The AI company apparently found destructively scanning ‘all the books in the world’ easier than dealing with copyright in its quest for training data
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Nogales Lab @nogaleslab.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Thrilled to share our latest work, led by @aryantaheri.bsky.social and Julia Peukes! Using cryo-EM and cryo-ET, we reveal how KIF21B’s distal tail engages multiple tubulin dimers along a protofilament, enabling persistent microtubule attachment and crosslinking. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Abraham lab at Harvard Medical School @abrahamlabhms.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
We are excited to share two preprints reporting a mosquito-specific receptor for chikungunya virus and other alphaviruses! 🤩 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvardvirology.bsky.social @hhmi-science.bsky.social
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Daniel Hurdiss @danielhurdiss.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
One month left to apply (deadline August 31st)! 👇 #Virology #AcademicJobs #FacultyJobs #FacultyPosition #TenureTrack #GroupLeader
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Miguel Hernandez Gonzalez @miguel-virus-cells.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Great to see this finally published! We describe channels at the poxvirus core wall involved in nucleic acid release. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
In situ structure of the poxvirus portal complex - Nature
Cryo-electron tomography uncovers the structure of a conserved hexameric ‘portal complex’ that spans the core wall in vaccinia virus, and shows how it is associated with viral functions such as a...
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
The function of government is the transfer of public wealth to AI billionaires
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Da-Neng Wang @danengw.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Congratulations to Chris Russo, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, for receiving the 2026 K.H. Kuo Award for Distinguished Scientist in Biological Electron Microscopy www.bsc.org.cn/KuoSymposium...
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T. Ryan Gregory 🇨🇦 @tryangregory.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Billionaire logic is that it makes more sense to terraform Mars rather than to stop venusifying Earth, and that it is a better strategy to build underground bunkers than to make the whole planet a better place to live for everyone.
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Marco Chitti @chittimarco.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Polanyi calls knowledge that isn't written down in texts or drawings but that exist within people and groups of people as "implicit/tacit knowledge". The loss of this unwritten, often unspoken, knowledge is often considered to be one of the reasons why institutions lose the capacity of doing stuff.
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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 21/07/2026
1. We—@eduede.bsky.social, @mjcrockett.bsky.social, Kevin Gross, and I—have a new preprint on the arXiv today, based on ideas that emerged during an @sfiscience.bsky.social workshop in November 2024: The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science.
arxiv.org
The unintended consequences of large language models as a labor-augmenting technology in science
As a labor-augmenting technology, large language models (LLMs) have the potential to accelerate scientific activity across the research pipeline. But even if LLMs perform on par with human experts at ...
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James Greenwood-Reeves @jgreenwoodreeves.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
As an academic, I have decided to pre-empt AI taking my job, so I am going to take ITS job! I am going to start hallucinating, lying to my students, and drinking 700,000 litres of water
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Twonks @twonks.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Great job 👏
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Max Renner @maxrenner.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
There is a special place in hell reserved for the people that removed all customer service emails and replaced them with AI chatbots
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