lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
@blenackmon.bsky.social
microscopy, cell surfaces, tiger balm's #1 fan
grad researcher @ fletchlab.berkeley.edu
grad researcher @ fletchlab.berkeley.edu
Dr. Oster designs such nice figures 🥺
January 21, 2025 at 2:18 AM
Dr. Oster designs such nice figures 🥺
fusion groupie reporting for duty ! ✊️
Check out our most recent paper about a previously under-appreciated crowding barrier to cell-cell fusion. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Cell surface crowding is a tunable biophysical barrier to cell-cell fusion
Cell-cell fusion is fundamental to developmental processes such as muscle formation, as well as to viral infections that cause pathological syncytia. An essential step in fusion is close membrane appo...
www.biorxiv.org
January 21, 2025 at 2:15 AM
fusion groupie reporting for duty ! ✊️
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
Feeling tense? Macrophages sense that!
Macrophages prefer to "nibble" (trogocytose) soft targets and "engulf" (phagocytose) stiff ones. Stiffness matters for immune responses! #preprint #FletcherLab
Check out the #preLight written by @fadelvalle.bsky.social
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
Macrophages prefer to "nibble" (trogocytose) soft targets and "engulf" (phagocytose) stiff ones. Stiffness matters for immune responses! #preprint #FletcherLab
Check out the #preLight written by @fadelvalle.bsky.social
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
Target cell tension regulates macrophage trogocytosis - preLights
Feeling tense? Macrophages sense that! Macrophages prefer to "nibble" (trogocytose) soft targets and "engulf" (phagocytose) stiff ones. Stiffness matters for immune responses!
prelights.biologists.com
January 6, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Feeling tense? Macrophages sense that!
Macrophages prefer to "nibble" (trogocytose) soft targets and "engulf" (phagocytose) stiff ones. Stiffness matters for immune responses! #preprint #FletcherLab
Check out the #preLight written by @fadelvalle.bsky.social
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
Macrophages prefer to "nibble" (trogocytose) soft targets and "engulf" (phagocytose) stiff ones. Stiffness matters for immune responses! #preprint #FletcherLab
Check out the #preLight written by @fadelvalle.bsky.social
prelights.biologists.com/highlights/t...
This is so well-explained!
I went down a bit of a rabbit hole looking at Alzheimer's disease (AD) the last few days (because I was curious) and I found out about a really interesting antibody that is in trials and I think the approach used here is super cool so I wanted to share a bit about it🧵
January 12, 2025 at 3:46 AM
This is so well-explained!
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
PSA to my friends in California near the fires: breathing in wildfire smoke is really bad for you (even if it’s not super thick where you are) but if you have face masks (N95, KN95, etc) those can help a lot
January 8, 2025 at 1:41 AM
PSA to my friends in California near the fires: breathing in wildfire smoke is really bad for you (even if it’s not super thick where you are) but if you have face masks (N95, KN95, etc) those can help a lot
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
"Ants solving a geometric problem and it's amazing."
This is a great example of 'emergent phenomenon':
- None of the ants understand the problem they're solving.
- None of them can see the whole shape.
- A series of small decisions or rules add up to something with a new layer of complexity.
This is a great example of 'emergent phenomenon':
- None of the ants understand the problem they're solving.
- None of them can see the whole shape.
- A series of small decisions or rules add up to something with a new layer of complexity.
Son hormigas resolviendo un problema geométrico y es para flipar en colores.
December 25, 2024 at 5:54 PM
"Ants solving a geometric problem and it's amazing."
This is a great example of 'emergent phenomenon':
- None of the ants understand the problem they're solving.
- None of them can see the whole shape.
- A series of small decisions or rules add up to something with a new layer of complexity.
This is a great example of 'emergent phenomenon':
- None of the ants understand the problem they're solving.
- None of them can see the whole shape.
- A series of small decisions or rules add up to something with a new layer of complexity.
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
🎨 In case anyone need…
The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏!
Check it out 👇
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏!
Check it out 👇
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
November 23, 2024 at 3:50 PM
🎨 In case anyone need…
The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏!
Check it out 👇
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
The NIH BioArt Source is an awesome library of *free* professionally drawn illustrations for scientific presentations or figures. Downloadable in HD. Thank you NIH for this invaluable tool 🙏!
Check it out 👇
bioart.niaid.nih.gov
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
"Scientists collaborate — funders must, too"
@dartar.bsky.social & @k8hert.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/sponsor/2024...
@dartar.bsky.social & @k8hert.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/sponsor/2024...
New report highlights the scientific impact of open source software
Two of the scientists who won this year’s Nobel Prize for cracking the code of proteins’ intricate structures relied, in part, on a series of computing
www.statnews.com
December 4, 2024 at 10:21 AM
"Scientists collaborate — funders must, too"
@dartar.bsky.social & @k8hert.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/sponsor/2024...
@dartar.bsky.social & @k8hert.bsky.social
www.statnews.com/sponsor/2024...
I am in love with this technique! And there is more to come! ✨️
Using fluorescence anisotropy and theoretical modeling, we can now quantify how floppy or rigid molecules are when they're attached to surfaces. We tested it on DNA and red blood cell surface molecules! #biophysics #microscopy #DNA #cellbiology #anisotropy
December 20, 2024 at 5:53 PM
I am in love with this technique! And there is more to come! ✨️
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
Excited to share our latest paper: SurFlex microscopy! A new technique to measure the flexibility of surface-tethered biomolecules. Congrats to Aymeric, @sid592.bsky.social and @blenackmon.bsky.social! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 20, 2024 at 2:00 PM
Excited to share our latest paper: SurFlex microscopy! A new technique to measure the flexibility of surface-tethered biomolecules. Congrats to Aymeric, @sid592.bsky.social and @blenackmon.bsky.social! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
NEW preprint!🥳
Orthogroups are a prerequisite for comparative genomics and Tree of Life inquiries
Introducing #OrthoHMM, software that improves the inference of orthogroups (blue in fig)
OrthoHMM may refine our understanding of genome evolution and the Tree of Life
🔗 tinyurl.com/4s9mwxz6
🧵 1/8
Orthogroups are a prerequisite for comparative genomics and Tree of Life inquiries
Introducing #OrthoHMM, software that improves the inference of orthogroups (blue in fig)
OrthoHMM may refine our understanding of genome evolution and the Tree of Life
🔗 tinyurl.com/4s9mwxz6
🧵 1/8
December 17, 2024 at 6:13 PM
NEW preprint!🥳
Orthogroups are a prerequisite for comparative genomics and Tree of Life inquiries
Introducing #OrthoHMM, software that improves the inference of orthogroups (blue in fig)
OrthoHMM may refine our understanding of genome evolution and the Tree of Life
🔗 tinyurl.com/4s9mwxz6
🧵 1/8
Orthogroups are a prerequisite for comparative genomics and Tree of Life inquiries
Introducing #OrthoHMM, software that improves the inference of orthogroups (blue in fig)
OrthoHMM may refine our understanding of genome evolution and the Tree of Life
🔗 tinyurl.com/4s9mwxz6
🧵 1/8
Really interesting work regarding influenza virus motility!
Congrats Siddhansh for your newly published paper titled "Kinetics and Optimality of Influenza A Virus Locomotion."
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...
Kinetics and Optimality of Influenza A Virus Locomotion
Studies of influenza A's unusual propulsion strategy suggest that drugs could target a critical protein.
journals.aps.org
December 13, 2024 at 5:37 AM
Really interesting work regarding influenza virus motility!
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
Excited to share this new paper I helped with where we turned E. coli into tiny microlenses! Thread below. @meyerroc.bsky.social
@urochester.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@urochester.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
December 11, 2024 at 3:38 PM
Excited to share this new paper I helped with where we turned E. coli into tiny microlenses! Thread below. @meyerroc.bsky.social
@urochester.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
@urochester.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Another excellent study led by Dr. Cornell 😎
At the beginning of the video, the macrophage is trogocytosing a giant unilamellar vesicle at low tension (0.27 mN/m). Pipette suction is applied and tension is increased to 3.68 mN/m and the macrophage begins to engulf the GUV. #macrophages #trogocytosis #GUV #biophysics
December 5, 2024 at 9:51 PM
Another excellent study led by Dr. Cornell 😎
Reposted by lena blackmon 🦠🔬💻
Do you find yourself curious about the eating habits of macrophages? Check out our new preprint to discover the biophysical principles that guide macrophage behavior.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 5, 2024 at 9:48 PM
Do you find yourself curious about the eating habits of macrophages? Check out our new preprint to discover the biophysical principles that guide macrophage behavior.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
this is beautiful!
I mostly see the protein sculptures I build in the lighting of my workshop. It’s fairly static and dull lighting. When they are close to being finished, I bring them into the house and enjoy watching how they change under different natural lighting throughout the day. They are so much more dynamic!
November 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM
this is beautiful!
me at a lake somewhere in N. California, modeling propagation of an electric dipole and laughing maniacally
November 22, 2024 at 6:20 PM
me at a lake somewhere in N. California, modeling propagation of an electric dipole and laughing maniacally