Alexandria Miller
@alexmsci.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa studying ion channels and other membrane proteins in 🦠 | Previously at HHMI Janelia and MSK Cancer Center | Avid 🥾 and 🎻.
Fall is here in Eastern Iowa :)
November 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Fall is here in Eastern Iowa :)
Whoa, this is big…
Lab’s 1st preprint!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
Menstruation is understudied due to societal taboos + a biological challenge: mice (a key system for research + drug discovery) don’t menstruate.
@cagricevrim.bsky.social made menstruating mice + used them to discover early events in menstruation.
He is on the job market!
I’m thrilled to share my postdoc work and the first paper from the McKinley Lab! 🎉
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
@karalmckinley.bsky.social
We built the first transgenic model of menstruation in mice.
We used it to uncover how the endometrium organizes and sheds during menstruation. 🧪
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵
October 16, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Whoa, this is big…
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
Opinion | America First? Not When It Comes to Your Health.
www.nytimes.com
August 24, 2025 at 1:08 PM
New York Times story with profiles of researchers whose grants were terminated.
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
[Gift Link]
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/o...
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Happy to share we got the NoA for the NIH S10 proposal I submitted for a Glacios #cryoEM 🔬 for #IowaResearch #structuralbiology
May 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Happy to share we got the NoA for the NIH S10 proposal I submitted for a Glacios #cryoEM 🔬 for #IowaResearch #structuralbiology
Scientists are “not opposed to examining how taxpayer funds are used; on the contrary, we welcome efforts to improve efficiency […]. But what’s happening now has nothing to do with efficiency. These actions […] are indiscriminate and risk doing real, long-lasting harm.”
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger | CNN
Dr. Ardem Patapoutian says he watches “with deep sadness as the United States’ remarkable scientific enterprise, which took generations of hard work and national investment to build, faces a concerted...
www.cnn.com
April 11, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Scientists are “not opposed to examining how taxpayer funds are used; on the contrary, we welcome efforts to improve efficiency […]. But what’s happening now has nothing to do with efficiency. These actions […] are indiscriminate and risk doing real, long-lasting harm.”
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
Irrespective of your opinion on the matter, I think this is an important read to understand why some of the mistrust in science exists in our society today.
Opinion | We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our Lives
Five years after the start of Covid, we still don’t know the truth.
www.nytimes.com
March 17, 2025 at 5:40 AM
Irrespective of your opinion on the matter, I think this is an important read to understand why some of the mistrust in science exists in our society today.
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
First measles death in a decade. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
A person dies of measles in West Texas outbreak
At least 124 cases have been reported in Texas, with at least 18 hospitalizations. Most are children.
www.nbcnews.com
February 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
First measles death in a decade. www.nbcnews.com/health/healt...
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
The Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup of the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social is excited to announce the final program for our 2025 Symposium. Please join us on Feb 15 to hear from @willowcoyote.bsky.social @drcontrexin.bsky.social @corrylab.bsky.social and others 👇Thanks to our sponsors!
January 19, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The Channels, Receptors & Transporters Subgroup of the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social is excited to announce the final program for our 2025 Symposium. Please join us on Feb 15 to hear from @willowcoyote.bsky.social @drcontrexin.bsky.social @corrylab.bsky.social and others 👇Thanks to our sponsors!
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Fresh out of the press! ✨Check out our new paper on the violent entry of the HIV capsid into the nuclear pore — and how it cracks the gate! 🤯 💥 Incredible work from @becklab.bsky.social and @hummerlab.bsky.social 🤩 More here: www.biophys.mpg.de/2842024/hivcapsid-cracks-the-npc?c=2011019 🔗 #teamTOMO
January 17, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Fresh out of the press! ✨Check out our new paper on the violent entry of the HIV capsid into the nuclear pore — and how it cracks the gate! 🤯 💥 Incredible work from @becklab.bsky.social and @hummerlab.bsky.social 🤩 More here: www.biophys.mpg.de/2842024/hivcapsid-cracks-the-npc?c=2011019 🔗 #teamTOMO
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Leading Edge is celebrating a milestone: 100 (actually 102!) new assistant professors!!! 🎉🥳🎊
Learn more about them:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows/
Applications are now open for the 2025 Leading Edge cohort! (Deadline Feb 3).
You do NOT need to be ready for the job market to apply.
Learn more about them:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows/
Applications are now open for the 2025 Leading Edge cohort! (Deadline Feb 3).
You do NOT need to be ready for the job market to apply.
January 6, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Leading Edge is celebrating a milestone: 100 (actually 102!) new assistant professors!!! 🎉🥳🎊
Learn more about them:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows/
Applications are now open for the 2025 Leading Edge cohort! (Deadline Feb 3).
You do NOT need to be ready for the job market to apply.
Learn more about them:
www.leadingedgesymposium.org/fellows/
Applications are now open for the 2025 Leading Edge cohort! (Deadline Feb 3).
You do NOT need to be ready for the job market to apply.
I had missed this. Looks to be the more interesting paper on the topic in a while.
Using electric-field-stimulated time-resolved X-ray crystallography to investigate K ion movement across the selectivity filter in the well-studied “NaK2K” channel
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Using electric-field-stimulated time-resolved X-ray crystallography to investigate K ion movement across the selectivity filter in the well-studied “NaK2K” channel
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Direct visualization of electric-field-stimulated ion conduction in a potassium channel
Understanding protein function would be facilitated by direct, real-time observation of chemical kinetics in the atomic structure. The selectivity fil…
www.sciencedirect.com
January 16, 2025 at 2:59 PM
I had missed this. Looks to be the more interesting paper on the topic in a while.
Using electric-field-stimulated time-resolved X-ray crystallography to investigate K ion movement across the selectivity filter in the well-studied “NaK2K” channel
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Using electric-field-stimulated time-resolved X-ray crystallography to investigate K ion movement across the selectivity filter in the well-studied “NaK2K” channel
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
MYO7A, linked to Usher syndrome 1B, is known to localize key bundle proteins - but is this the motor protein responsible for tensioning hair cell tip links? Using a mouse line that enables late, conditional deletion of MYO7A, this work establishes that it is not- shifting focus back to MYO1C.
MYO7A is required for the functional integrity of the mechanoelectrical transduction complex in hair cells of the adult cochlea | PNAS
Myosin-VIIA (MYO7A) is an unconventional myosin responsible for syndromic (Usher 1B)
or nonsyndromic forms of deafness in humans when mutated. In t...
www.pnas.org
January 7, 2025 at 1:57 PM
MYO7A, linked to Usher syndrome 1B, is known to localize key bundle proteins - but is this the motor protein responsible for tensioning hair cell tip links? Using a mouse line that enables late, conditional deletion of MYO7A, this work establishes that it is not- shifting focus back to MYO1C.
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Towards community-driven visual proteomics! Excited to finally share this large-scale curated & annotated dataset of 1829 high-quality #cryoET tomograms of the little green alga that just keeps giving— Chlamydomonas! 🧪🧶🧬🌾🌊🌍
Preprint📜: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread🧵👇
Preprint📜: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread🧵👇
January 6, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Towards community-driven visual proteomics! Excited to finally share this large-scale curated & annotated dataset of 1829 high-quality #cryoET tomograms of the little green alga that just keeps giving— Chlamydomonas! 🧪🧶🧬🌾🌊🌍
Preprint📜: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread🧵👇
Preprint📜: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A short thread🧵👇
January 4, 2025 at 4:22 PM
This is clever 👇
TMC1/2 activation by mechanical forces in cell lines is compelling! The hearing field has struggled with membrane expression of these proteins, but a CRISPR screen offers a clever workaround. Excited to see if another lab can replicate these findings.
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
www.cell.com/neuron/fullt...
Human TMC1 and TMC2 are mechanically gated ion channels
Fu et al. showed that point mutations in MmTMC1/2 are localized in plasma membrane, and knockdown of UROD, RGP1, or ARL1 promotes plasma membrane localization of HsTMC1/2 in heterologous cells. HsTMC1/2 are activated by mechanical stimuli and function as pore-forming ion channels, supporting their roles as mechanotransduction channels in hair cells.
www.cell.com
January 2, 2025 at 1:47 AM
This is clever 👇
My amazing lab went bowling and shared a meal together a couple of weeks ago to celebrate the holidays. And there were soo many treats…Happy holidays to everyone!
December 24, 2024 at 3:53 PM
My amazing lab went bowling and shared a meal together a couple of weeks ago to celebrate the holidays. And there were soo many treats…Happy holidays to everyone!
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
🦠A team led by the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab used a new technique developed at Janelia called high-resolution template matching, or HRTM, to uncover in unprecedented detail the movement of ribosomes – the molecular structures that synthesize proteins inside cells.
🔗 hhmi.news/401LKMq
🔗 hhmi.news/401LKMq
December 19, 2024 at 3:26 PM
🦠A team led by the Lippincott-Schwartz Lab used a new technique developed at Janelia called high-resolution template matching, or HRTM, to uncover in unprecedented detail the movement of ribosomes – the molecular structures that synthesize proteins inside cells.
🔗 hhmi.news/401LKMq
🔗 hhmi.news/401LKMq
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year is lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: scim.ag/3BrCtUn
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: scim.ag/3BrCtUn
December 12, 2024 at 7:02 PM
Science’s 2024 Breakthrough of the Year is lenacapavir, an injectable drug that demonstrated remarkable success at preventing HIV infection with one shot every 6 months.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: scim.ag/3BrCtUn
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: scim.ag/3BrCtUn
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
I wasn’t sure about the new HHMI initiative at first, but learning that just 10 institutions—led by Stanford, Berkeley, and Rockefeller—account for over half of HHMI’s investigators puts things into perspective. Efforts to improve this aren’t a bad idea!
www.statnews.com/2024/12/13/h...
www.statnews.com/2024/12/13/h...
December 13, 2024 at 8:35 PM
I wasn’t sure about the new HHMI initiative at first, but learning that just 10 institutions—led by Stanford, Berkeley, and Rockefeller—account for over half of HHMI’s investigators puts things into perspective. Efforts to improve this aren’t a bad idea!
www.statnews.com/2024/12/13/h...
www.statnews.com/2024/12/13/h...
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
Filing under TIL... the PDBj mirror of EMPIAR automatically compresses compressible movies (MRC stacks) - meaning in this case only 600GB to download rather than 5.5TB! 😱
December 10, 2024 at 10:58 PM
Filing under TIL... the PDBj mirror of EMPIAR automatically compresses compressible movies (MRC stacks) - meaning in this case only 600GB to download rather than 5.5TB! 😱
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
In honor of our annual ChemisTree event @hhmi.bsky.social @hhmijanelia.bsky.social today, here's a repost of a little video I made a few years back to demonstrate how the ornament silver plating works! #chemsky
December 3, 2024 at 3:35 PM
In honor of our annual ChemisTree event @hhmi.bsky.social @hhmijanelia.bsky.social today, here's a repost of a little video I made a few years back to demonstrate how the ornament silver plating works! #chemsky
Reposted by Alexandria Miller
🎉Congratulations to Luke Lavis (@rhodamine110.bsky.social), recipient of the 2025 Gregorio Weber Award for Excellence in Fluorescence Theory and Applications from ISS for his pioneering work on the design & synthesis of small-molecule fluorescent dyes.🧪
December 4, 2024 at 8:15 PM
🎉Congratulations to Luke Lavis (@rhodamine110.bsky.social), recipient of the 2025 Gregorio Weber Award for Excellence in Fluorescence Theory and Applications from ISS for his pioneering work on the design & synthesis of small-molecule fluorescent dyes.🧪