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Stephanie Wankowicz

@stephanieaw.bsky.social
2.2K followers 442 following 266 posts

Computational Structural Biologist Scientific Program Director, Prism Adjunct Professor, Vanderbilt University (she/her) prismscience.org Past: Vanderbilt, UCSF, Dana-Farber, Broad Institute, UMass Amherst

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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Follow updates on our research! prismscience.org/feed.xml
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
It really is striking how many authoritarian states have ended up in this exact same place, where the leader seizes control of scientific inquiry. Lysenkoism in the Soviet Union, Aryan Physics in the Third Reich, Great Leap Forward (also related to Lysenko) in China.
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Politico @politico.com · 20/09/2026
Trump asked budget chief to draft order bringing health research funding under his control
dlvr.it
Trump asked budget chief to draft order bringing health research funding under his control
The move came after the NIH director refused Trump’s request to cut Harvard grants in an Oval Office meeting.
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bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Optimizing the connectivity of protein conformations to untangle ensemble refinement www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The CAHRA Challenge: A Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Emergency 🚨 TTPD with @fraserlab.com about the launch of @prismscienceorg.bsky.social. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
podcasts.apple.com
Prism: Unlocking Protein Dynamics
Podcast Episode · The Tortured Proteins Department · September 8 · 27m
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We have not yet tapped the full potential of cryoEM. The method revolutionized structural bio with atomic-level detail, but has largely focused on proteins’ common lowest-energy states. With enough samples, cryoEM sees a broader energy landscape: It can capture *rare* states.
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Proteins are always moving. They wiggle. They jiggle. They interact with their surroundings. That movement drives their function. Yet the motion stays mostly invisible. We cannot understand protein function, engineer it, or correct it until we can see the motion and predict it. prismscience.org
prismscience.org
Prism | Revealing the Dynamics of Life
Dynamic structural data, models, and language to become standard across the field. At scale, this is how we predict conformational ensembles across all of biology.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
We need new ways to understand disease & design drugs. Protein motion holds the answer.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Same mission, but an expanded vision for revolutionizing structural biology to better capture protein motion. Launching September 8.
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Methods development is usually sequential: Collect, then process, then model, then encode, then interpret. At the @diffuseproject.bsky.social, we tackled all of these pieces once. That is what it takes to transform the field and unlock protein dynamics. See more: diffuse.science/posts/year-o...
diffuse.science
A Year (plus) of DiffUSE
Science progress over the first year-ish of the DiffUSE Project
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
New TTPD with @fraserlab.com! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...
podcasts.apple.com
State of Decay
Podcast Episode · The Tortured Proteins Department · August 30 · 1h 5m
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
New pub from @diffuseproject.bsky.social! Ordered water molecules mediate protein stability, ligand binding, and catalysis. Predicting them lags far behind protein structure prediction. We developed WaterFlow, a new state-of-the-art method for ordered water placement. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
WaterFlow: Prediction of Ordered Water Molecule Positions on Protein Structures
Ordered water molecules mediate many protein functions, including stability, ligand binding, and catalysis. Predicting their positions with sub-angstrom accuracy would support protein design, binding ...
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bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
WaterFlow: Prediction of Ordered Water Molecule Positions on Protein Structures www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/20…
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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
$3.7 billion spent on APCs in 2025. That's ~1000X more than it costs to run bioRxiv/medRxiv. Worth thinking about as we consider how to fund infrastructure... arxiv.org/pdf/2608.16322
arxiv.org
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Most PDB structures report one set of coordinates. But the experimental data behind them, in both X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, is produced by an ensemble of structures. How to extract this ensemble data at scale has been a quest in structural biology for 40+ years.
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Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Given the clear parallels between the new Vanderbilt "First Principles" and the text of the letter, I would be shocked if Vanderbilt didn't play a large role in the discussions www.vanderbilt.edu/declaration/ Reminder that faculty played no role in drafting or approving the first principles
vanderbilt.edu
Declaration
The University and Its Purpose: A Declaration of First Principles was adopted by the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust in June 2026. The declaration is organized around three core purposes: Pathbre...
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pilarcossio.bsky.social @pilarcossio.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
⚡ Time is running out! ⚡ The deadline for the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social Theory & Computation Awards is Sept 15! 🧬💻 Recognizing outstanding research across: 🎓 Postdocs 🌱 Early Career 🚀 Mid-Career Nominate a student or colleague! 🧪✨ 👇 Details: www.biophysics.org/Awards-Fundi...
biophysics.org
Subgroup Awards - The Biophysical Society
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
In our latest blog, @fraserlab.com graduate student Taylor Womack discusses his roadmap before the results: how he plans to separate lattice vibrations from internal protein motion, which open tools he is using, and which parts are still unresolved. Feedback welcome. diffuse.science/posts/taylor...
xtraj.py
Is it all just the lattice?
Towards a complete forward model of diffuse scattering
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Carolyn Bertozzi @carolynbertozzi.bskyverified.social · 26/07/2026
“If universities oppose the actions of the administration, they need to say so quickly so that their constituents aren’t left wondering whether there’s a plan. The alternative is a community of university scientists adrift and grasping for a lifeline.” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
University science in the US needs a coherent plan
The Trump administration continues to degrade America’s scientific establishment, causing widespread harm to the country’s broader interests and well-being. Last week, the Association of American Univ...
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
TTPD Episode 16: Cruel Kinase Summer with @fraserlab.com! We chat about a revolving door of consortium meetings, follow up on the OMB-proposed rule, two mini-protein kinase preprints, and how to share science, including differences between blogs and scholarly work. diffuse.science/posts/TTPD-16/
diffuse.science
Cruel Kinase Summer, Episode 16
The Tortured Proteins Department Podcast, Cruel Kinase Summer
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Unlocking protein dynamics requires infrastructure we all can access. ICYMI: all of our software packages live on GitHub, updated in the open: github.com/diff-use
github.com
diffUSE
diffUSE has 15 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
What's happening in protein dynamics research right now? Jaime & Stephanie break down NIH policy changes, preprints & the conformational ensembles conference. New episode up: diffuse.science/posts/TTPD-15/ #StructuralBiology
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Modeling the solvent in X-ray structures is HARD, and a key reason for the mismatch between models & experimental data. But being able to test different ways to model bulk solvent and measure its impact on refinement will get us a step closer to figuring out how to account for it.
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Excited to present sampleworks: a modular platform for generating biomolecular conformational ensembles by coupling AI structure predictors to experimental data. Our first publication of @diffuseproject.bsky.social, led by @karsonchrispens.bsky.social + Marcus Collins. thestacks.org/publications...
thestacks.org
sampleworks: A Modular Platform for Experimentally Guided Biomolecular Ensemble Generation
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
TTPD Episode 15 with @fraserlab.com! We chat about our conformational ensembles conference (paired talk FTW!), 4 different preprints, and new NIH disasters. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d... diffuse.science/posts/TTPD-15/
podcasts.apple.com
Daylight
Podcast Episode · The Tortured Proteins Department · June 13 · 55m
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Nature Methods @natmethods.nature.com · 11/06/2026
A Perspective discusses challenges in macromolecular ensemble prediction and the methodological advances that are needed. @stephanieaw.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
From possibility to precision in macromolecular ensemble prediction - Nature Methods
This Perspective discusses current challenges in macromolecular ensemble prediction and the infrastructure and methodological advances needed to overcome these barriers.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
We present sampleworks, an open, modular platform for generating and evaluating biomolecular conformational ensembles from structure predictors guided by experimental data doi.org/10.82153/jkx....
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Closing this chapter means leaving an amazing team. These people took a chance, worked hard, and made the lab a fantastic place to work everyday.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Want to shape the future of structural biology? We are seeking a Project Manager to help lead the DiffUSE Project, guiding ML researchers, computational scientists, national labs, and university partners. Apply: buff.ly/gZlj9AP #StructuralBiology #MachineLearning #Hiring #AcademicSky
jobs.ashbyhq.com
Project Manager - DiffUSE Project
ABOUT DIFFUSE The DiffUSE Project is building open infrastructure to study protein dynamics using experimental data. The project spans wet-lab collaborators, computational scientists, ML researchers,…
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Since World War II, the United States built the world’s preeminent scientific enterprise on a straightforward principle: federal dollars should fund the best science, as determined by independent experts rather than politicians. This proposed rule dismantles all of this.
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
The DiffUSE Project wants examples where structural heterogeneity matters but cannot be encoded in PDBx/mmCIF. X-ray, cryo-EM, time-resolved, multi-map, or fragment screening data welcome. Submit yours: diffuse.science/submit/
diffuse.science
Submit Examples of Heterogeneous Structural Data
The DiffUSE Project
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
From possibility to precision in macromolecular ensemble prediction - Nature Methods
This Perspective discusses current challenges in macromolecular ensemble prediction and the infrastructure and methodological advances needed to overcome these barriers.
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Hannah Wayment-Steele @hkws.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
For any #nmr chemical shift aficionados, today I ported UCBshift(-X) from Teresa Head-Gordon's lab to work in modern Google Colab. Sharing in case its helpful! @nmr900.bsky.social colab.research.google.com/github/HWaym...
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Prism Science @prismscienceorg.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
ICYMI: The latest Tortured Proteins Department episode. @stephanieaw.bsky.social and @fraserlab.com on: NIH strategic plan comments (due 5/26), AI lab guidelines, two new cryo-EM preprints, training scientists for what's next diffuse.science/posts/TTPD-14/
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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
So the Republican Supermajority breaks the law and violates the constitution to strip Memphis of representation — then Speaker Sexton strips Dems of committee assignments for daring to protest. Welcome to Tennessee.
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Ardem Patapoutian @ardemp.bskyverified.social · 08/05/2026
The United States is a constitutional federal representative democracy. Or is it?
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕 www.nytimes.com/2026/05/01/w...
nytimes.com
Federal Appeals Court Temporarily Halts Abortion Pills by Mail
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Torsten Schwede @torstenschwede.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
The CASP experiment is about to start - and is still short on challenging prediction targets. Ligand complexes, RNA, …
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Jeremy Berg @jeremymberg.bsky.social · 19/04/2026
Very good (if tragic) story from the Washington Post [GIft Link] wapo.st/3OONwh6 1/8
wapo.st
For U.S. medical researchers, shrinking labs and bare budgets are the new reality
The Trump administration has slashed the number of grants from the National Institutes of Health, with far fewer focused on women, cancer and mental health.
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Sonya @sonyahanson.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Excited to announce this postdoc position at the intersection of experiment and computation for time-resolved cryo-EM! It's a collaboration between the Enchev group at the Crick and myself and @pilarcossio.bsky.social at the Flatiron Institute! Plz share. crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job...
crick.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
Senior Data Scientist
Salary for this Role: From £53,025 per annum plus benefits, subject to skills and experience Job Title: Senior Data Scientist Reports to: Radoslav Enchev Closing Date: 06/May/2026 23.59 GMT Job Descri...
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Year 3 of Conformational Ensembles Conference! The most compelling questions in structural biology cannot be effectively addressed with a single structure. We have a stellar lineup of people looking at and answering these questions. @fraserlab.com More information: conformationalensembles.github.io
conformationalensembles.github.io
Conformational Ensemble
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Episode 13 Tortured Protein Department Podcast: Long Live with @fraserlab.com! Catch my big news with the @diffuseproject.bsky.social, psycho travel stories, April Fools pranks, and AI grad students. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/l...
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
I'm ecstatic to share that I'm joining the @diffuseproject.bsky.social (diffuse.science) full-time as Scientific Program Director at @asterainstitute.bsky.social .
diffuse.science
The DiffUSE Project
Unlocking Protein Dynamics
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Alisia Fadini @alisiafadini.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
ROCKET 🚀 inference-time optimization of AlphaFold to fit structural data is published! rdcu.be/fa9YH Since our preprint, we’ve pushed it to regimes where other methods break: low resolution, weak signal, real experimental edge cases. Here’s what we learned: 1/15
rdcu.be
AlphaFold as a prior: experimental structure determination conditioned on a pretrained neural network
Nature Methods - ROCKET improves experimental structure elucidation by integrating implicit structural knowledge from OpenFold, a trainable reimplementation of AlphaFold2, with X-ray...
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Joe Greener @jgreener64.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
On this 1st April I'm happy to release a technical report from our startup MirageBio, describing a new protein structure model with state-of-the-art performance. jgreener64.github.io/posts/techni...
jgreener64.github.io
MirageBio technical report
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Matthieu Chavent @matthchavent.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
After three inspiring days filled with excellent science our @cecamevents.bsky.social meeting has come to an end!
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
I am honored to be the inaugural recipient of the George M. Sheldrick Award, which recognizes innovative methods, algorithms, or software. Sheldrick showed that building tools can help transform a field, something I am excited to carry on. See you @iucr2026.bsky.social. aucryst.org/sheldrick-aw...
aucryst.org
Bot Verification
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Stephanie Wankowicz @stephanieaw.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Timezone math is the hardest math
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Colette Delawalla, PhD @cdelawalla.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Breast cancer mortality dropped 58% from 1975 to 2019. Localized, early detected breast cancer has a 99% 5 year survival rate. Modern mammogram tech was developed by NASA for telescopes. Last year, RFK Jr. cancelled 87 research grants on breast cancer. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/u...
nytimes.com
Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House Chief of Staff, Has Breast Cancer
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