Come work with Ben Berks FRS in Oxford
2 x PDRA posts: Molecular Analysis of Bacterial Outer Membrane Protein Biogenesis
2 complementary projects investigating bacterial outer membrane protein biogenesis. Building on our recent work (Nature (2015) 647: 479-487)
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
A wonderful first for me at the upcoming @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social meeting in SF is having many lab members present! See 6 brilliant graduate students postdocs from the lab present talks and posters on how they are pushing the boundaries of technology and mechanistic membrane protein biology
Our study of the CAT1 amino acid transporter and viral receptor is now online in @natcomms.nature.com!
Spearheaded by the incredibly talented @mingda-ye.bsky.social with colleagues from @cmd.ox.ac.uk, Strubi, CAMS Oxford Institute, @ndm.ox.ac.uk, and supported by the IM2PACT consortium.
Stories from #WomenInScience who changed how we visualize #proteins: Ahead of her 85th birthday, Jane Richardson (Duke Univ, @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social president 2012-13) discussed her life from making a telescope to developing ribbon diagrams for 3D protein structure www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Join @naomilpollock.bsky.social, @alangoddard.bsky.social & @alice-rothnie.bsky.social from 15-17 April to understand the basics of membrane protein purification using cutting edge methods, at the 7th UK Workshop on Membrane #Proteins! Places are limited, save £50 if you register before 15 February!
#WIMMReads 🧪
#MRCWIMM Group Leader Yin Dong is among clinicians and scientists with expertise in congenital #MyasthenicSyndrome suggesting it may be time to update the disease name to reduce misdiagnosis and improve care.
#Neurology #RareDisease
@ndcnoxford.bsky.social @medsci.ox.ac.uk
Celebrating another paper acceptance for the group! @cmd.ox.ac.uk
Congrats to this stellar team!
Time to sign up!
Registration for the joint FEBS/EMBO course on ion channels and transporters in Erice, Italy (May 13-19th 2026) is now open:
meetings.embo.org/event/26-ion...
Please share and repost.
I've reviewed about 150 CVs in the past few days. A few observations: (1) I am sooo impressed by the talent pool out there; (2) do not try to make your CV fit onto one page if it makes things difficult to read - just go multipage, keeping the key messages upfront;
Gave my annual "State of the Group" talk at lab meeting
- 6 Papers published
- 3 Manuscripts in review
- 4 Grants funded
- New research directions and international collaborations
Immensely proud of all our team accomplished in 2025, and excited to share our new results in 2026!
PNAS – Honoring the life of David John “Davo” Mangelsdorf. A life of science, friendship, and joy.
PNAS honors the life of David John “Davo” Mangelsdorf—whose groundbreaking discoveries reshaped nuclear receptor and metabolic biology. Remembered not only for his science, but for his generosity and mentorship. Read more: https://ow.ly/1c8050XUcS8
Our paper on the human carnitine transporter OCTN2 (SLC22A5) is out in @natcomms.nature.com! We solved structures of OCTN2 in multiple states and explored how carnitine transport is Na⁺-dependent, providing a framework for understanding SPCD disease causing variants and drug interactions.
(Top) smFRET enables direct observation of a sodium-coupled transporter executing rapid, stochastic elevator-type motions in lipid bilayers. (Bottom) Thermodynamic modeling shows how highly cooperative co-substrate binding enables tightly coupled transport, without suppressing these motions.
New work out today in PNAS!
Secondary active transporters are everywhere, but direct observation of their structural dynamics is rarely achieved.
Here, we capture the real-time dynamics of a sodium-coupled dicarboxylate transporter using smFRET.
🧵⬇️
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
A deep dive into the conformational dynamics and substrate coupling of VcINDY!
A huge collab of @rubenlgonzalez.bsky.social, Colin D. Kinz-Thompson, @danengw.bsky.social, @chrismulligan.bsky.social, Joe Mindell, David Stokes and many others
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...
The Gonzalez Lab at Columbia University is seeking a scientific leader!
Join us in a Research Scientist position, driving single-molecule, structural, and biochemical studies of translation, translational control, and other RNA-based processes.
Apply: apply.interfolio.com/176949
Christmas 2025 party with (some) of our amazing membrane protein team @cmd.ox.ac.uk
#ScientistSpotlight
This week we’re introducing Anna Li, a postdoctoral researcher in the Yin Dong Lab at the #MRCWIMM.
@ndcnoxford.bsky.social @medsci.ox.ac.uk
#WIMMSpotlight #WIMMCommunity #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #IonChannels #Neuroscience
Photo credit: Susan Maxwell
A fascinating story on the history and complexity of T-cell migration by Susan Schwab! #NYUGrossman #NYULangone
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPHN...
The LysP structure is published! Congrats to Emmanuel Nji and colleagues!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Paper accepted!!!
It’s great to see people thinking about tracking errors in Fourier terms! EM_placement tries to infer effects of orientation bias from half maps, but it would be far better to do this directly in the reconstruction process. No surprise it’s people like ZO and Dominika doing this work!
Anyone know if I can submit a bug report to Toyota? Seems like an easy software fix.
Today I learned:
You can brick a Toyota EV with only the window defroster… if engaged before the traction battery 🤦♂️
🌟 WeINSPIREBio is hosting its first event!
On Dec 4, we’re running a webinar:
Structures of Success: Career Journeys of Women in Structural Biology
If you work in SB, drug discovery, or just like hearing career stories from brilliant people, join us! And please share 🙏🏼
lnkd.in/ewjD5WPt
#cryoEM
Yay! Our findings on the antidepressant drug vilazodone binding to the serotonin transporter (SERT) are out! We used cryo-electron microscopy and other advanced biophysics to provide data suggesting two high affinity binding poses.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Our latest work : Statins are used to lower plasma cholesterol but often come with muscle-related side effects. Using cryo-EM, we show how multiple statin molecules cooperate to bind RyR1, a calcium release channel mainly found in skeletal muscle.
nature.com/articles/s41...
The Swiss: Fluent in German, French, and English. Maybe Italian too.
This USAer: I know ‘Murican, un poco de Spanglish, and… Python 🤷♂️
PSA for people with NIH grant periods starting January 1st (including most NIGMS MIRAs): your RPPR is due Saturday, but they haven’t sent out the usual automated reminders, presumably due to the shutdown
Presenting our latest structural biology work and techniques at #PSDI2025
In this slide, the Gembody technology by @mingda-ye.bsky.social and colleagues!
New in @science.org 🧬
What if an enzyme you thought you knew turned out to control metabolism in a completely new way?
We found that NUDT5 acts as a molecular handbrake on purine synthesis, reshaping how cells make DNA building blocks and respond to cancer drugs.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
