Alana Cowell 🔬
@alanacowell.bsky.social
Postdoc in London. Exploring regulation of the cytoskeleton using Cryo-EM and Cryo-ET ❄️Cat foster 😺 EM addict 🔬 Hobby collector 🎨 Gamer 🖲️
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Our colleagues Vinith Kishore and Valentin Debarnot from the @ivandokmanic.bsky.social lab have come up with an amazing deep learning tool for denoising and filling the missing wedge in #cryoET data. I'm pleased to introduce Icecream🍧
Icecream: High-Fidelity Equivariant Cryo-Electron Tomography
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) visualizes 3D cellular architecture in near-native states. Recent deep-learning methods (CryoCARE, IsoNet, DeepDeWedge, CryoLithe) improve denoising and artifact cor...
www.biorxiv.org
October 23, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Our colleagues Vinith Kishore and Valentin Debarnot from the @ivandokmanic.bsky.social lab have come up with an amazing deep learning tool for denoising and filling the missing wedge in #cryoET data. I'm pleased to introduce Icecream🍧
Fascinating work from @tianyang22.bsky.social and Yan Cao who discovered that SPIN90 dimerises to nucleate bidirectional filaments! #Arp2/3 #cryoEM
And now for something completely different @tianyang22.bsky.social & #YanCao uncover of how SPIN90 dimers activate Arp2/3 to nucleate bidirectional linear actin filaments. Great collaboration with @romet-jegou-lab.bsky.social & @carolynmoores1.bsky.social #Cryo-EM #Arp2/3 rdcu.be/eGoH4
Arp2/3-mediated bidirectional actin assembly by SPIN90 dimers
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Liu et al. show that SPIN90 dimerizes and binds two Arp2/3 complexes to nucleate two bidirectional actin filaments and the dimerization domain is...
rdcu.be
September 16, 2025 at 7:16 AM
Fascinating work from @tianyang22.bsky.social and Yan Cao who discovered that SPIN90 dimerises to nucleate bidirectional filaments! #Arp2/3 #cryoEM
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
The Dunn School PhD programme is live! 🎉
Two projects in our labs:
1) How the motor protein giant dynein-2 works
2) How signalling-essential membrane proteins get into cilia
Cryo-EM/ET, single mol & live-cell fluor microscopy, CRISPR-based genetic tools & more!
www.path.ox.ac.uk/study-with-u...
Two projects in our labs:
1) How the motor protein giant dynein-2 works
2) How signalling-essential membrane proteins get into cilia
Cryo-EM/ET, single mol & live-cell fluor microscopy, CRISPR-based genetic tools & more!
www.path.ox.ac.uk/study-with-u...
How to Apply - Dunn School
Here you can find more information on how to apply for our PhD programme, including deadlines and application requirements.
www.path.ox.ac.uk
September 8, 2025 at 6:40 PM
The Dunn School PhD programme is live! 🎉
Two projects in our labs:
1) How the motor protein giant dynein-2 works
2) How signalling-essential membrane proteins get into cilia
Cryo-EM/ET, single mol & live-cell fluor microscopy, CRISPR-based genetic tools & more!
www.path.ox.ac.uk/study-with-u...
Two projects in our labs:
1) How the motor protein giant dynein-2 works
2) How signalling-essential membrane proteins get into cilia
Cryo-EM/ET, single mol & live-cell fluor microscopy, CRISPR-based genetic tools & more!
www.path.ox.ac.uk/study-with-u...
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
OMG the newest Coot is on Flathub! 🤩
I wish I had known earlier.
https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.pemsley.coot
#CryoEM
I wish I had known earlier.
https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.pemsley.coot
#CryoEM
Install Coot on Linux | Flathub
Macromolecular model builder
flathub.org
September 3, 2025 at 5:44 PM
OMG the newest Coot is on Flathub! 🤩
I wish I had known earlier.
https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.pemsley.coot
#CryoEM
I wish I had known earlier.
https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.pemsley.coot
#CryoEM
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Sub-cellular chemical mapping in bacteria using correlated cryogenic electron and mass spectrometry imaging
Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social
Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social
August 31, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Sub-cellular chemical mapping in bacteria using correlated cryogenic electron and mass spectrometry imaging
Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social
Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social
Relieved that kids go back to school today, the train to work is peaceful again!
September 1, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Relieved that kids go back to school today, the train to work is peaceful again!
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Trouble imaging actin in ExM? Meet HAK-Actin, a probe for U-ExM, cryo-ExM & iU-ExM. Enables post-expansion labeling for max signal. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Soon at @spirochrome.com
Led by O.Mercey and @lreymond.bsky.social, in collab with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @marinelap.bsky.social
Soon at @spirochrome.com
Led by O.Mercey and @lreymond.bsky.social, in collab with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @marinelap.bsky.social
August 28, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Trouble imaging actin in ExM? Meet HAK-Actin, a probe for U-ExM, cryo-ExM & iU-ExM. Enables post-expansion labeling for max signal. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Soon at @spirochrome.com
Led by O.Mercey and @lreymond.bsky.social, in collab with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @marinelap.bsky.social
Soon at @spirochrome.com
Led by O.Mercey and @lreymond.bsky.social, in collab with @dudinlab.bsky.social and @marinelap.bsky.social
Was already using 3 degree increments but very useful benchmarking to determine how the chosen tilts affect the resulting data!
More great cryo-ET benchmarking work from my colleagues Maarten Tuijtel, Tomáš Majtner, Beata Turoňová, & @becklab.bsky.social: Systematic study of how tilt increment choice affects downstream TM & STA. Preprint has the optimally balanced tilt increment. #TeamTomo www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Optimal tilt-increment for cryo-ET
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables high-resolution, three-dimensional imaging of cellular structures in their native, frozen state. However, image quality is limited by a trade-off between ang...
www.biorxiv.org
August 26, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Was already using 3 degree increments but very useful benchmarking to determine how the chosen tilts affect the resulting data!
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Very excited to announce that my first, first author paper, is now on BioRxiv! In this paper we unambiguously show #COPII coated vesicles in unperturbed human cells for the very first time!!
Make my day and check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Cryo-ET #TeamTomo #Cryo-CLEM ❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬
Make my day and check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Cryo-ET #TeamTomo #Cryo-CLEM ❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬
July 30, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Very excited to announce that my first, first author paper, is now on BioRxiv! In this paper we unambiguously show #COPII coated vesicles in unperturbed human cells for the very first time!!
Make my day and check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Cryo-ET #TeamTomo #Cryo-CLEM ❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬
Make my day and check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#Cryo-ET #TeamTomo #Cryo-CLEM ❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬❄️🔬
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Excited to share the latest collaborative work from our lab at @ulethbridge.ca! We show that zyxin directly interacts with nuclear DNA to regulate transcription of mitochondrial pseudogenes—highlighting a novel role for zyxin in mitochondrial function.
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
Zyxin directly binds to chromosomal DNA and is linked with mitochondrial integrity and apoptosis
Human zyxin is a key component of the focal adhesion complex, playing a role in mediating cell-cell adhesion and cytoskeletal dynamics. Moreover, zyxin shuttles between the cytoplasm and the nucleus, ...
cdnsciencepub.com
July 23, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Excited to share the latest collaborative work from our lab at @ulethbridge.ca! We show that zyxin directly interacts with nuclear DNA to regulate transcription of mitochondrial pseudogenes—highlighting a novel role for zyxin in mitochondrial function.
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/...
I made a little doodle this weekend showing how I felt when I saw my first Titan Krios in person. That was quite a few years ago now, amazing how much has changed in the cryoEM field since then.
June 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I made a little doodle this weekend showing how I felt when I saw my first Titan Krios in person. That was quite a few years ago now, amazing how much has changed in the cryoEM field since then.
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Vimentin intermediate filaments coordinate actin stress fibers and podosomes to determine the extracellular matrix degradation by macrophages
www.cell.com/developmenta...
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Vimentin intermediate filaments coordinate actin stress fibers and podosomes to determine the extracellular matrix degradation by macrophages
Huang et al. demonstrate that the intermediate filaments protein vimentin orchestrates
actin stress fibers and podosomes, thereby facilitating efficient extracellular matrix
(ECM) degradation via inte...
www.cell.com
June 24, 2025 at 7:38 AM
Vimentin intermediate filaments coordinate actin stress fibers and podosomes to determine the extracellular matrix degradation by macrophages
www.cell.com/developmenta...
www.cell.com/developmenta...
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Are you looking for a postdoc?
I will be looking for 2-4 people after the summer to join the lab !!
Do not hesitate to reach out and disseminate !!
I will be looking for 2-4 people after the summer to join the lab !!
Do not hesitate to reach out and disseminate !!
June 23, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Are you looking for a postdoc?
I will be looking for 2-4 people after the summer to join the lab !!
Do not hesitate to reach out and disseminate !!
I will be looking for 2-4 people after the summer to join the lab !!
Do not hesitate to reach out and disseminate !!
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Hey #TeamTomo,
Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging?
That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website!
tomoguide.github.io
Follow the thread 1 /🧵
#CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging?
That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website!
tomoguide.github.io
Follow the thread 1 /🧵
#CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
Welcome to TomoGuide
A step-by-step Cryo-ET guide
tomoguide.github.io
May 6, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Hey #TeamTomo,
Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging?
That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website!
tomoguide.github.io
Follow the thread 1 /🧵
#CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging?
That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website!
tomoguide.github.io
Follow the thread 1 /🧵
#CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
Still thinking about the presentations and discussions had at CCP-EM last week, such a fantastic meeting for the cryoEM community.
Managed to get a box of subpar hexAuFoils free, trying to think of something creative to make with dead grids 😅
Managed to get a box of subpar hexAuFoils free, trying to think of something creative to make with dead grids 😅
April 30, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Still thinking about the presentations and discussions had at CCP-EM last week, such a fantastic meeting for the cryoEM community.
Managed to get a box of subpar hexAuFoils free, trying to think of something creative to make with dead grids 😅
Managed to get a box of subpar hexAuFoils free, trying to think of something creative to make with dead grids 😅
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Postdoc position in my lab: investigating how the microtubule motor protein dynein-2 works in cilia.
Here's dynein-2 at work translocating microtubules - how is this activity regulated? How does dynein-2 malfunction in disease?
Find out more and apply:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Here's dynein-2 at work translocating microtubules - how is this activity regulated? How does dynein-2 malfunction in disease?
Find out more and apply:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
April 30, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Postdoc position in my lab: investigating how the microtubule motor protein dynein-2 works in cilia.
Here's dynein-2 at work translocating microtubules - how is this activity regulated? How does dynein-2 malfunction in disease?
Find out more and apply:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Here's dynein-2 at work translocating microtubules - how is this activity regulated? How does dynein-2 malfunction in disease?
Find out more and apply:
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
New Title Alert: Tomotools- a tool that provides scripts for making cryo-electron tomography a bit easier.
Learn more here: buff.ly/Dz1LT1I
#SBGrid #Software #StructuralBiology
Learn more here: buff.ly/Dz1LT1I
#SBGrid #Software #StructuralBiology
GitHub - tomotools/tomotools: Scripts to make cryo-electron tomography a bit easier
Scripts to make cryo-electron tomography a bit easier - tomotools/tomotools
buff.ly
April 25, 2025 at 4:05 PM
New Title Alert: Tomotools- a tool that provides scripts for making cryo-electron tomography a bit easier.
Learn more here: buff.ly/Dz1LT1I
#SBGrid #Software #StructuralBiology
Learn more here: buff.ly/Dz1LT1I
#SBGrid #Software #StructuralBiology
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
The @ccpem.bsky.social Spring Symposium starts today!
Watch the live stream at ukri.zoom.us/j/93883619401
Schedule can be found at tinyurl.com/wx238aya
Open-access Symposium Proceedings going back to 2016 can be found in @actacrystd.iucr.org at journals.iucr.org/d/services/c...
Watch the live stream at ukri.zoom.us/j/93883619401
Schedule can be found at tinyurl.com/wx238aya
Open-access Symposium Proceedings going back to 2016 can be found in @actacrystd.iucr.org at journals.iucr.org/d/services/c...
April 24, 2025 at 8:16 AM
The @ccpem.bsky.social Spring Symposium starts today!
Watch the live stream at ukri.zoom.us/j/93883619401
Schedule can be found at tinyurl.com/wx238aya
Open-access Symposium Proceedings going back to 2016 can be found in @actacrystd.iucr.org at journals.iucr.org/d/services/c...
Watch the live stream at ukri.zoom.us/j/93883619401
Schedule can be found at tinyurl.com/wx238aya
Open-access Symposium Proceedings going back to 2016 can be found in @actacrystd.iucr.org at journals.iucr.org/d/services/c...
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
A colder frontier in cryo-EM 🧪🔬
Chris Russo’s group, inc. Joshua Dickerson, adapted #cryoEM to work at liquid helium temperatures (13 kelvins), where every frame captured contains more information than the equivalent using liquid nitrogen (81 kelvins).
Read more: tinyurl.com/mwwcunkc
#LMBResearch
Chris Russo’s group, inc. Joshua Dickerson, adapted #cryoEM to work at liquid helium temperatures (13 kelvins), where every frame captured contains more information than the equivalent using liquid nitrogen (81 kelvins).
Read more: tinyurl.com/mwwcunkc
#LMBResearch
April 23, 2025 at 8:49 AM
A colder frontier in cryo-EM 🧪🔬
Chris Russo’s group, inc. Joshua Dickerson, adapted #cryoEM to work at liquid helium temperatures (13 kelvins), where every frame captured contains more information than the equivalent using liquid nitrogen (81 kelvins).
Read more: tinyurl.com/mwwcunkc
#LMBResearch
Chris Russo’s group, inc. Joshua Dickerson, adapted #cryoEM to work at liquid helium temperatures (13 kelvins), where every frame captured contains more information than the equivalent using liquid nitrogen (81 kelvins).
Read more: tinyurl.com/mwwcunkc
#LMBResearch
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Thrilled to share these experiments on shaping focused ion beams to explore different ways of milling. Here, we explore using different beam geometries to generate cellular thin sections/lamellae. The video shows elongating the beam on a charging spot burn www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
April 9, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Thrilled to share these experiments on shaping focused ion beams to explore different ways of milling. Here, we explore using different beam geometries to generate cellular thin sections/lamellae. The video shows elongating the beam on a charging spot burn www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
One of the best courses for those wanting to learn about EM! Come join us in London 🚇
We are thrilled to announce the 2025 EMBO practical course in cryo-em image processing, Birkbeck College, London, 9-16 Sept 2025. More info & apply: meetings.embo.org/event/25-cry... Organisers Giulia Zanetti & Helen Saibil. Beautiful image from co-organizer @carolynmoores1.bsky.social lab.
Image processing for cryo-electron microscopy
Cryo electron microscopy (cryo EM) is a major structural biology method for studying macromolecular complexes and cellular structures in their native states. Stable high resolution cryo microscopes, …
meetings.embo.org
March 20, 2025 at 10:14 AM
One of the best courses for those wanting to learn about EM! Come join us in London 🚇
This is the meeting I always look forward to the most each year! Well worth attending if you can.
Looking forward to our annual biological cryoImaging (BCI!) user meeting jointly held with @ccpem.bsky.social
(ccpem.ac.uk/symposium/ ) #cryoEM #XrayImaging #BioImaging #CoolScience @diamondlightsource.bsky.social
(ccpem.ac.uk/symposium/ ) #cryoEM #XrayImaging #BioImaging #CoolScience @diamondlightsource.bsky.social
CCP-EM Spring Symposium – CCP-EM
The CCP-EM Spring Symposium is an annual conference which aims to review and highlight state-of-the-art developments in macromolecular electron cryo-microscopy in an accessible and convivial manner. The conference is held in conjunction with the Diamond Light Source Biological Cryo-Imaging User Meeting for eBIC and B24.
ccpem.ac.uk
March 20, 2025 at 10:06 AM
This is the meeting I always look forward to the most each year! Well worth attending if you can.
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
The ever popular EMBO practical course in cryoEM image processing, to be held at Birkbeck College London from 9th to the 16th September, is now open for registrations meetings.embo.org/event/25-cry...
Image processing for cryo-electron microscopy
Cryo electron microscopy (cryo EM) is a major structural biology method for studying macromolecular complexes and cellular structures in their native states. Stable high resolution cryo microscopes, …
meetings.embo.org
March 19, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The ever popular EMBO practical course in cryoEM image processing, to be held at Birkbeck College London from 9th to the 16th September, is now open for registrations meetings.embo.org/event/25-cry...
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Latest paper from the lab: the Cryo-EM structure of BeeR! (Yes we did name the protein. No it’s not a coincidence)
A family of bacterial actin homologs forms a three-stranded tubular structure | PNAS
The cytoskeleton is crucial for cell organization and movement. In Eukaryotes, it
largely consists of the protein actin, that forms a double-strand...
www.pnas.org
March 13, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Latest paper from the lab: the Cryo-EM structure of BeeR! (Yes we did name the protein. No it’s not a coincidence)
Reposted by Alana Cowell 🔬
Sad news about Karen Davies' passing.
Karen was an inspiration in bioenergetics and cryoET. Her pioneering postdoctoral work on ATP synthase and respiratory supercomplexes marked turning points in the field. I created Scholar profile to acknowledge her contribution
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...
Karen was an inspiration in bioenergetics and cryoET. Her pioneering postdoctoral work on ATP synthase and respiratory supercomplexes marked turning points in the field. I created Scholar profile to acknowledge her contribution
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...
Karen Davies
Formerly of Electron Bio-Imaging Centre, Diamond Light Source, United Kingdom - Cited by 2,887 - cryo-EM - tomography - method development - bioenergetics
scholar.google.com
March 12, 2025 at 8:33 PM
Sad news about Karen Davies' passing.
Karen was an inspiration in bioenergetics and cryoET. Her pioneering postdoctoral work on ATP synthase and respiratory supercomplexes marked turning points in the field. I created Scholar profile to acknowledge her contribution
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...
Karen was an inspiration in bioenergetics and cryoET. Her pioneering postdoctoral work on ATP synthase and respiratory supercomplexes marked turning points in the field. I created Scholar profile to acknowledge her contribution
scholar.google.com/citations?hl...