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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 23h

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Thomas Beck @tomfodw.bsky.social · 16h

A. A. Milne is one of the great English poets.

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 17h

Exciting, provocative work from Radu and Claudio. These asymmetric intermediates of the GABA receptor diverge wildly from decades of dreams and wishes about how #ionchannels gate.

The mangled desensitized channel, with lipid invading,
could be a general principle.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

GABAA receptor gating imaged on the millisecond timescale

Type-A γ-aminobutyric receptors (GABAARs) are fast pentameric ligand gated ion channels (pLGICs)[1][1]–[5][2]. Within a millisecond, saturating agonist concentrations trigger activity bursts consistin...

www.biorxiv.org

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

I see a strong Berlin contingent!

Hope you are well, Jan.

Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

Reated:

"Freezer alarm not connected"

Ask me how I know.

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Karen Fisher, PhD @fisherke.bsky.social · 1d

-80 freezer at -20

Marjorie James Keenan @unenthusiast.com · 2d

In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.

rm -rf ~/

hammancheez @hammancheez.bsky.social · 2d

"The chancellor approved it"

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

All variants have a bigger ∆F/F than iGluSnFR3, which turns out to be a bit less performant than expected. Some constructs are on Addgene. Let us know if you are interested in AAV vectors.   

www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

  Check the preprint for calibration etc of the sensors.   

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Addgene: Novel iGluSnFR3 variants with improved kinetics and dynamic range for tracking high frequency firing at glutamatergic synapses

www.addgene.org

Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

Note the bizarre rhythmic ticking that starts at the end of the trace - more in the manuscript. Let me know if you have a clue.

Probably quite a low concentration of glutamate, of course, but can't say how low without using a calibrated ratiometric sensor. Perhaps that is worth making...

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

Perhaps even more incredible are the full field of view synchronised events, measured with our high-affinity sensor iGlu3-Slow2. (No we don't know what they are, thanks for asking). We also see them (less often) with iGluSnFR3, and basically never with iGlu3Fast (once after damage to slice).   

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

These transients have a 10 ms decay! I never thought in my life we would see something like this. It underlines that real synaptic glutamate transients (unlike calcium) are more or less invisible to the naked eye. They are too fast.

The movie is only running at about 40 Hz, 5x downsampled.

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

Katalin made some mutants of iGluSnFR3 that have improved properties. They end up being similar to (although not the same as) the new iGluSnFR4 variants.

 iGlu3Fast is quite incredible in 2-Photon. This is a hippocampal dendrite, spontaneous activity.   A world away from 1 Hz fluctuations!   

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 1d

The latest version of our collaboration with Katalin Torok and her lab is up. We report some new glutamate sensors. Great work from Sara Bertelli in Berlin and the whole team in London (Holly & Oanh particularly).  www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...  

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iGlu3Fast and iGlu3Slow, improved fluorescent reporters for detection of spontaneous glutamate activity in the brain

The genetically-encoded fluorescent glutamate sensor, iGluSnFR3, characterised by a high dynamic range and rapid on-kinetics, is an attractive sensor for glutamate imaging in the central nervous syste...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Annette Dolphin @annieneuro.bsky.social · 5d

2026 SIBPA|IVSLA Intl School of biophysics, Venice 2-6 February 2026. venice.ibf.cnr.it

This should be an interesting school for students to attend.

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 6d

Also, an admirably succinct piece.

Nicole Rust @nicolecrust.bsky.social · 7d

Let this be a motto for all of us, when we peer review:
“Review the manuscript in front of you, not the one you wish existed.”
@earlkmiller.bsky.social

JoCNForum @jocnforum.bsky.social · 7d

New post in @jocnforum.bsky.social by Early Miller @earlkmiller.bsky.social: "Principles for proper peer review"

doi.org/10.21428/8e6...

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Lennart Hilbert @lennarthilbert.bsky.social · 7d

Sharing a recent, deep insight:

The concept of a membrane-less organelle is an interesting one, like calling something a house without walls

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 6d

Nothing new but Handbrake is still amazing.
Defaults take a 100 Mb screen recording and spit out an indistinguishable 10 Mb .mp4

handbrake.fr
#OpenSource

HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder

HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder.

handbrake.fr

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Adrian Bowyer @adrianbowyer.bsky.social · 8d

Meanwhile, in the UK, WHERE WE INVENTED RAILWAYS EXACTLY 200 YEARS AGO, 40% are electrified.

Patrick Reynolds for a greater Auckland @patrickreynolds.bsky.social · 9d

Not nearly enough is made of the incredibly impressive feat Indian Railways has made to electrify almost 100% of its 135,000km of track, while also growing renewable sourcing. Huge:

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/ind...

Indian Railways to achieve net zero targets in 2025 itself - 5 years ahead of 2030 goal - Times of India

India Business News: Indian Railways is set to achieve net-zero targets by year-end, surpassing its 2030 goal through extensive electrification. Aiming for 95% electric tr

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Dan Jagger @auditorynerves.bsky.social · 8d

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 awarded for discoveries that explain how the immune system attacks hostile infections, but not the body's own cells.

The prize is shared by Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi & US researchers Mary Brunkow & Fred Ramsdell. 🧪

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nobel Prize for immune system stops destructive rampage

The prize-winning work explains how the immune system attacks hostile infections, but not the body's own cells.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 7d

The Protein Society has regular free webinars and this Wednesday's will be really cool. I mean hot. Juan Du, @sobolevsky.bsky.social and David Julius.

#Ionchannels #structuralBiology

TRP channels at different temperatures

www.proteinsociety.org/webinars

Webinars

www.proteinsociety.org

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

VisiTech International Ltd. @visitech.bsky.social · 8d

With instant SIM technology, the VT-iSIM delivers super-resolution images in real time, with no reconstruction or post-processing required. You get spatial resolution down to 100 nm, reduced photo-bleaching, and across a wide field of view. Faster. Clearer. Smarter imaging.

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Kevin Terretaz @kwolbachia.bsky.social · 10d

I’m happy to share some plugins I’ve been developping this summer: "Channels and Contrast" and LUTs Manager!
I can’t find new bugs and ideas by now so I need your help to please test them in your machines and report bugs, feedbacks and ideas! forum.image.sc/t/looking-fo...

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 10d

🚂 Barely launched and already cancelled ? Let's save the night trains from Paris to Berlin and Vienna! My family and I took this environmentally-friendly train in the summer and it's an excellent service. How about a coherent pro-climate policy? Sign the petition!
agir.greenvoice.fr/petitions/sa...

🚂 Sauvons les trains de nuit Paris-Berlin et Paris-Vienne

Signez la pétition maintenant !

agir.greenvoice.fr

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Michael Clarke @mtclarke.bsky.social · 12d

Yes, yes, Europe has its benefits. Walkable cities. Cultural heritage. Amazing food. Little gun violence. Healthcare. Governments that are not shut down. But the number of website pop-ups asking one to accept cookies renders the continent pretty much unlivable.

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Andrew Plested @andrewplested.bsky.social · 11d

It’s getting cold in here.
So put on all your clothes.
I am getting so cold,
I’m gonna put my clothes on.

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Reposted by Andrew Plested

Manx Neurobiologist @garyrlewin.bsky.social · 12d

Sam has now started her new group at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research Diseases. Congratulations! I wish her the very best for her independent career. The time Sam spent with us was hugely successful in many respects and we will all be sad to see her go..

Sampurna Chakrabarti @amapruns.bsky.social · 13d

Delighted to be starting a new research group at @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social ! Happy to chat about working together! #pain #infection #electrophysiology
www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/research/...

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