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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin
@meowmuir.bsky.social
450 followers 460 following 94 posts
Logician-scientist: membrane protein cryo-EM, proteolipid code, category theory, philosophy of science proteolipid.org
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 22d
I have just posted a matters arising critique of

S.A. Shelby et al. Nature Chemical Biology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

on Zenodo:

Kervin, T. A. (2025). No phases? No phase separation. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Shelby and Veatch's data do not support their model.
#lipidtime
Membrane phase separation drives responsive assembly of receptor signaling domains - Nature Chemical Biology
Super-resolution imaging detects plasma membrane domains that emerge when receptors are clustered in live B cells. Domain structures arise due to the membrane phase transition and can tune local membrane organization and receptor activation.
www.nature.com
Reposted by Troy Kervin
leventallab.bsky.social
Levental Lab @leventallab.bsky.social · 15h
amazing #lipidtime story from Tontonoz lab! Lipid scrambling and cholesterol accessibility IN T-CELLS regulates nutrient uptake in small intestine 🤯🤯

Physiology is so weird!
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
T cell cholesterol transport links intestinal immune responses to dietary lipid absorption
The intrinsic pathways that control membrane organization in immune cells and their impact on cellular functions are poorly defined. We found that the nonvesicular cholesterol transporter Aster-A link...
www.science.org
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 2d
These are opinion articles. If they were research articles I could post them on arxiv or biorxiv. In any case thanks
Reposted by Troy Kervin
elife.bsky.social
eLife @elife.bsky.social · 2d
New ‘landmark’ research on the #herpes simplex virus-1 uses innovative microscopy and x-ray tomography techniques to examine the roles of 9 proteins in viral formation.
buff.ly/guzAjYH
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 2d
Despite this, it gains visibility there. In any case, what are your recommended alternatives?
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 2d
I posted them on researchgate, which is indexed by google scholar. I can use the doi assigned by Zenodo so that when I post on different sites they all go to the same place
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 2d
Do you have any recommendations for increasing the visibility of my preprints?

Kervin, T.A. No phases? No phase separation. Zenodo (2025). doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Kervin, T.A. A unifying membrane model. Zenodo (2025). doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Kervin, T.A. Zenodo (2025). doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 5d
Delighted to have worked on this paper with Madhur Mangalam. Cognitive neuroscience needs disciplined pluralism rather than trivial, ab initio frameworks: www.researchgate.net/publication/...
(PDF) Disciplined pluralism in cognitive neuroscience
PDF | The promise of simple, universal explanations exerts a powerful pull in cognitive neuroscience—but that allure can constrain discovery. By forcing... | Find, read and cite all the research you n...
www.researchgate.net
1
Reposted by Troy Kervin
nadlerlab.bsky.social
André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · 8d
#lipidtime alert!
This preprint by Kenji Maeda (cannot find him here) & colleagues is mandatory reading by everybody with even a cursory interest in lipid biology:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Lipid Landscape of human cells
Eukaryotic cells synthesise thousands of lipid species, yet the principles that organise them across compartments remain unclear. Here we introduce PAP-SL, parallel (immuno)affinity purification coupl...
www.biorxiv.org
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
I might write a (very) short article on this... Do you think I could acknowledge you for discussions? I want to demonstrate that a membrane theorist can make accurate, falsifiable predictions based on the proteolipid code (proteolipid.org)
Proteolipid code – Bigger than the genetic code
proteolipid.org
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
I might as well agree with you there, but the question is: can it be generalized to membranes in live cells?
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
What are these considerations exactly? What makes the oil and vinegar (or isolated vesicle) case sufficiently broad for contextualizing phase separation in live cell membranes?
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
I meant to ask whether V-ATPase is still present in the system, regardless of whether it is functional. I am suggesting that it could be the V-ATPase itself, not V-ATPase activity.
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
Indeed, so both equilibrium and phase separation may simply be poor frameworks for interpreting what goes on in membranes, with the canonical definition of the latter hinged on the former.
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
Have you tried knocking out the ATPase to see whether that pattern persists?
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
That attempt to define phase separation in a non-equilibrium context is questionable. There are many systems that can reversibly switch between organizational states without involving phases.
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
Yes, I can see the nice pattern. However, are you really comfortable calling it phase separation? How do you define phase separation in a non-equilibrium system?
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 8d
Dear #lipidtime
When you write "phase separation" in a non-equilibrium context, what do you mean? If you have one, please direct me to the definition you are using.
meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 9d
Have you determined that this occurs in the absence of the fluorescent proteins?
2
Reposted by Troy Kervin
nature.com
Nature @nature.com · 10d
BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi “for the development of metal-organic frameworks”

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize
A Nobel medal
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meowmuir.bsky.social
Troy Kervin @meowmuir.bsky.social · 10d
Nice. If I could be so bold as to suggest an extension of this thoroughness, I'm sure everyone would benefit if you could write some notes on the meaning of phase separation in non-equilibrium systems.
Reposted by Troy Kervin
alexis-verger.cpesr.fr
Alexis Verger 🧬🧫🧪 @alexis-verger.cpesr.fr · 10d
😊 #womeninSTEM #womeninscience

Women in Electron Microscopy conference

er-c.org/index.php/co...
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Reposted by Troy Kervin
nature.com
Nature @nature.com · 10d
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis have been awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for demonstrating quantum physics on the macroscopic scale

go.nature.com/3WnEUhE
Groundbreaking quantum-tunnelling experiments win physics Nobel
John Clarke, Michel Devoret and John Martinis discovered quantum physics on a macroscopic scale, paving the way for quantum computing.
go.nature.com
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Reposted by Troy Kervin
mrclmb.bsky.social
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology @mrclmb.bsky.social · 12d
Providing order amongst constant traffic: #LMBResearch from Sean Munro (@cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social) with John Briggs (@mpibiochem.bsky.social) reveals how GOLPH3 allows COPI vesicles to distinguish between Golgi residents & ER-bound proteins.
Read more: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/protein-sort...
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Reposted by Troy Kervin
rogerwagnermdphd.bsky.social
RogerWagnerMDPhD @rogerwagnermdphd.bsky.social · 12d
Who says science isn’t whimsical? 😁

www.cell.com/action/showP...
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Reposted by Troy Kervin
nature.com
Nature @nature.com · 12d
BREAKING: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance"

Stay tuned for more.
#NobelPrize
A photo of a Nobel medal
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