Stephen Royle
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steveroyle.bsky.social
Stephen Royle
@steveroyle.bsky.social
I'm into chord changes and cell biology.

Professor - University of Warwick. Director - The Company of Biologists. Views are my own and not those of any organisation I am associated with.

Mastodon: @[email protected]
Lab: https://roylelab.org
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Mitosis lovers, get ready for Dubrovnik! 🔬🎉
I’m super excited to be organizing the 4th Mitotic Spindle Conference with Nenad Pavin, and we can’t wait to see you there!
Want your abstract to be selected for a talk? Submit by Feb 8!
www.phy.pmf.unizg.hr/~mitosis/
#SpindleCroatia2026
February 2, 2026 at 8:22 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Quick science policy thread 1

Changes in the governance of UK science since the mid 1980s make it extremely hard to be strategic (that was the point), in terms of both process (dropped) and capability (hollowed out).
February 1, 2026 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
How do librarians decide which peer-reviewed biomedical journals are worth subscribing to?

Genuine question from a journal editor who’s realizing this is a huge blind spot.
February 2, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Structure of the adaptor protein 4 (AP-4) complex revealed! AP-4 exists in a dynamic equilibrium between closed and open conformations in solution. ARF1 does not shift this equilibrium but is required—together with cargo—for membrane recruitment. rdcu.be/e1ozM
January 29, 2026 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
The reforms to UKRI under Ian Chapman are only just starting, but there are already worries about what they mean for the bread and butter, applicant-led funding calls at research councils

While UKRI insists comparisons with previous years are impossible, figures from December suggest...
January 28, 2026 at 8:56 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Do you want to know more about how Retromer regulates Rab7 activity in yeast? Of course you do. Check out the new collaboration with Andreas Mayer with work led by Catarina Alves and Kevin Chen.
The GTPase activating protein Gyp6 binds Retromer and inactivates Rab7/Ypt7 to coordinate the formation of endosomal carriers
The Retromer coat is conserved in all eukaryotes and is crucial for the correct intracellular sorting of many transmembrane receptors and lysosomal hydrolases. Retromer is an effector of the late endosomal small GTPase RAB7 and is also implicated in its inactivation required for proper endosomal maturation. Here, we explore the role of controlled GTP hydrolysis by the RAB7 ortholog Ypt7 in the formation of Retromer-coated membrane carriers in yeast. Proximity labelling and genetic ablation identify the GTPase Activating Protein (GAP) Gyp6 as a critical regulator of Ypt7 activity in the context or Retromer. Structural studies show that Retromer recruits Gyp6 through its Vps29 subunit, which recognises a specific PL motif and a secondary binding site in the C-terminal domain of Gyp6. This interaction does not occur with other yeast GAPs. Ablation of the Gyp6-Retromer interface or the catalytic activity of Gyp6 leads to the accumulation of tubular structures on endo-lysosomal compartments and to increased association of Ypt7 with Retromer and its cargo Vps10. These results support a model in which Gyp6 controls the switch from Ypt7-dependent Retromer coat assembly and cargo collection to the departure of the carrier through membrane fission and uncoating. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Health and Medical Research Council, https://ror.org/011kf5r70, APP2016410 Swiss National Science Foundation, https://ror.org/00yjd3n13, 31003A_179306, 310030_204713, 10.006.083
www.biorxiv.org
January 28, 2026 at 1:25 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Excited to announce that our #PUFFFIN plasmids are finally available on @addgene.bsky.social to make PUFFFIN neighbour labelling even more accessible. You can find the plasmids here www.addgene.org/Sally_Lowell/ and our paper here link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Big thanks @cellysally.bsky.social!
Addgene: Sally Lowell Lab Materials
www.addgene.org
January 26, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Join us this Thursday (Jan 29) at 5pm CET for the first #MembraneTrafficking seminars of 2026, featuring two outstanding scientists, Giovanni D'Angelo (EPFL) and Sean Munro (@cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social), and the shared topic of protein trafficking, retention & sorting at the #Golgi 🥞
January 27, 2026 at 7:51 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Huge congrats to @manuelthery.bsky.social and all the Cytomorpho lab. The "Living Architectures" performance at @museeorsay.bsky.social was breathtakingly beautiful
January 25, 2026 at 9:22 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Using micropatterning & thousands of hours on the microscope
@manuelthery.bsky.social and the #CytoMorphoLab reimagined the Musée D’Orsay. Accompanied by an orchestra and poet, their images transported us into the cellular universe. I remembered why I am a cell biologist. All of this is in us. Wow!
January 25, 2026 at 11:03 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
#Addendum to 1970 paper, “CYTOPLASMIC FILAMENTS OF AMOEBA PROTEUS: I. The Role of Filaments in Consistency Changes and Movement,” includes eight video sequences originally recorded on 16-mm films. No technology was available at the time to include this data. 🎞️ rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Actin
January 22, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Excited to share our work engineering caveolin-derived nanoparticles “caveospheres”. We show their use for targeted transfection in cultured cells and effective targeted delivery and tumor killing in vivo.
pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....
A Modular Encapsulation System for Precision Delivery of Proteins, Nucleic Acids, and Small Molecules
Targeted nanoparticles have the potential to revolutionize therapeutics for medical applications. Here, we demonstrate the utility of a flexible precision nanovesicle delivery system for functional de...
pubs.acs.org
January 22, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Early bird registration including on campus conference accommodation for our #motors and #filaments meeting will close 29th January 2026. You can still register after that, but need to find your own accommodation. Grateful to @embo.org
and @biologists.bsky.social for sponsoring this event!
January 20, 2026 at 8:02 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
UKRI pauses several funding calls amid priorities shake-up

The applicant-led MRC funding calls on pause include research grants, partnership grants and new investigator research grants made available through the council’s research boards.

www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...
Research Professional Sign-in
www.researchprofessional.com
January 19, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Amazing to hold @lottepedersen.bsky.social & my @jcellsci.bsky.social Special Issue on #Cilia and #Flagella in all its glossy glory & muscle-engaging brain-boosting weight! So much fabulous content from the community! Fab cover @centriolelab.bsky.social 🥰🥰 journals.biologists.com/jcs/pages/ci...
January 16, 2026 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Two weeks left to apply to be the BSCB Postdoc rep
January 19, 2026 at 10:54 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Thank you @ucdlibrary.bsky.social for sourcing this fantastice read by @steveroyle.bsky.social for me. Highly recommended for anyone interested in learning more about #cellbiology #biologicalimaging #imageanalysis #datavis also more people should read the #quantixed blog.
January 18, 2026 at 6:24 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Seriously, preprinting means your science is accessible to everyone, virtually immediately. No paywalls. Sunlight is also a disinfectant and the number of sloppy preprints I've encountered is tiny.
Affiliate @jwoodgett.bsky.social loves bioRxiv’s value for early career investigators who can cite their preprint in grants while the work is still under peer review. Thanks to Affiliates like Jim, preprints are posted ~48 hours after submission.
#openRxiv #OpenScience #preprints #CommunityVoices
January 15, 2026 at 6:59 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Preprints of pandemic potential - new historical piece from me on the history of bioRxiv/medRxiv, their role in the pandemic, and the way forward. 1/n journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
January 12, 2026 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
BSCB NextGen kicks off tomorrow at 14.00 BST. Don't forget to register your place!
Happy New Year from the BSCB! We're very excited to announce 'BSCB NextGen', a new monthly online seminar series aimed at ECRs in Cell Biology.

The series kicks off on 13th January

For full details and how to register see:
bscb.org/announcing-b...
January 12, 2026 at 11:36 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Saddened to learn of the death of Richard Hynes. A giant of cell biology, Richard made a massive contribution to extracellular matrix and cancer biology - in particular early work on fibronectin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard...
Richard Hynes - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 10, 2026 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Anyone curious about a typical academic workload might be interested (short thread). I crossed 17 items off my to-do list this past week. The list now stands at 59 items (this includes 15 items that were freshly added last week - a lower-than-average spawning number as we're just after holidays).
January 10, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
Cool new paper from the Munro lab!
The small #GTPase Rab1 is a master regulator of #Golgi traffic and #autophagy. van Vliet, Munro et al. @mrclmb.bsky.social performed a proteomic screen to identify novel Rab1 effectors, including a #dynein motor adaptor and cargo receptors for autophagy. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#Trafficking
January 9, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
I think you can only really complain about a slow review process if, when reviewing, you submit your own reviews on time
January 9, 2026 at 5:40 PM
Reposted by Stephen Royle
We’re hiring!
@jcellsci.bsky.social is looking for a Reviews Editor to join the team. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who loves #cellbiology and wants to stay connected with the field. A great chance to work for an organisation that believes in helping the community!

Details below👇
Journal of Cell Science @jcellsci.bsky.social is recruiting an enthusiastic and motivated Reviews Editor. An exciting opportunity for a talented scientific editor to make a contribution to an important journal in the field of #cellbiology. Deadline 2 Feb.
More at: www.biologists.com/about-us/wor...
Work for us
Working for us We’re always looking for talented and motivated people to work as part of our close-knit team. Roles range from editorial to production, marketing to event co-ordination, HR to accounts...
www.biologists.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:13 AM