Levental Lab
@leventallab.bsky.social
laboratory on structure and functions of living membranes lab at University of Virginia ; also posts occasional nonsense - views our own, not UVA
www.levental-lab.com
www.levental-lab.com
Reposted by Levental Lab
Reposted by Levental Lab
I just bought this sticker!
January 1, 2026 at 1:39 PM
I just bought this sticker!
Reposted by Levental Lab
Proximity labeling users: check out this study by @zhixingchen2.bsky.social and Peng Zou, which establishes how much contact-dependence vs. diffusion is responsible for biotinylation — tl;dr TurboID has a much smaller effective radius! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/2
Spatial barcoding reveals reaction radii and contact-dependent mechanism of proximity labeling - Nature Chemical Biology
A DNA nanoruler platform enables precise measurement of the labeling radii of TurboID and APEX2, uncovering their contact-dependent mechanisms. These findings redefine the enzymology of proximity labe...
www.nature.com
December 31, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Proximity labeling users: check out this study by @zhixingchen2.bsky.social and Peng Zou, which establishes how much contact-dependence vs. diffusion is responsible for biotinylation — tl;dr TurboID has a much smaller effective radius! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/2
Reposted by Levental Lab
This is great, but did you know that the enzyme carbonic anhydrase 4 functions as the principal CO2 taste sensor! Happy New Year 🍾🍾🍾
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
December 31, 2025 at 11:01 AM
This is great, but did you know that the enzyme carbonic anhydrase 4 functions as the principal CO2 taste sensor! Happy New Year 🍾🍾🍾
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Reposted by Levental Lab
☕Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce #macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high #CorticalTension tend towards #phagocytosis.
bit.ly/3L7xFIO
bit.ly/3L7xFIO
Target cell cortical tension regulates macrophage trogocytosis - Nature Cell Biology
Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high cortical tension tend tow...
bit.ly
December 30, 2025 at 5:23 PM
☕Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce #macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high #CorticalTension tend towards #phagocytosis.
bit.ly/3L7xFIO
bit.ly/3L7xFIO
Reposted by Levental Lab
Beware “fear of the experiment”!
"Do the control you’re scared of. Often, you know the go/no-go experiment you should do, but you put it off because you’re scared of the result. You know what I’m talking about."
Blog post: Just quit
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.
open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...
Quitting projects in science is hard, but we should be doing a lot more of it.
open.substack.com/pub/arjunraj...
December 30, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Beware “fear of the experiment”!
Reposted by Levental Lab
most cutting thing you can say is "who's this clown?" because it implies they're a) a clown & b) not even one of the better-known clowns
April 27, 2023 at 7:19 PM
most cutting thing you can say is "who's this clown?" because it implies they're a) a clown & b) not even one of the better-known clowns
Reposted by Levental Lab
I already wasn't going to ever buy a "smart fridge", you don't have to convince me even more
Samsung Is Putting Google Gemini AI Into Your Refrigerator, Whether You Need It or Not
https://slashdot.org/story/25/12/22/120248/samsung-is-putting-google-gemini-ai-into-your-refrigerator-whether-you-need-it-or-not?utm_source=rss1.0mainlinkanon&utm_medium=feed
Samsung Is Putting Google Gemini AI Into Your Refrigerator, Whether You Need It or Not
BrianFagioli writes: Samsung is bringing Google Gemini directly into the kitchen, starting with a refrigerator that can see what you eat. At CES 2026, the company plans to show off a new Bespoke AI Refrigerator that uses a built in camera system paired with Gemini to automatically recognize food ite...
slashdot.org
December 22, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I already wasn't going to ever buy a "smart fridge", you don't have to convince me even more
Reposted by Levental Lab
Mapping cellular targets of covalent cancer drugs in the entire mammalian body: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Mapping cellular targets of covalent cancer drugs in the entire mammalian body
vCATCH is a volumetric tissue labeling technique enabling cellular-resolution mapping
of covalent drug targets throughout the entire mammalian body.
www.cell.com
December 22, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Mapping cellular targets of covalent cancer drugs in the entire mammalian body: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Levental Lab
Happy to announce the publication of our foray into studying what happens to the transcriptomes of nuclei when cells fuse to form a syncytium. More to follow in the coming few years.
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
Epidermal cell fusion promotes the transition from an embryonic to a larval transcriptome in C. elegans
Highlighted Article:eff-1–mediated cell fusion drives transcriptomic progression from an embryonic to larval state in the C. elegans epidermis, without which developmental progression is delayed.
journals.biologists.com
December 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Happy to announce the publication of our foray into studying what happens to the transcriptomes of nuclei when cells fuse to form a syncytium. More to follow in the coming few years.
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
One really wonderful thing about the Company of Biologists is that's it's free to publish there for my university!
Reposted by Levental Lab
Bob Dylan attempts to explain Willie Nelson in The New Yorker's profile of Willie: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
December 22, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Bob Dylan attempts to explain Willie Nelson in The New Yorker's profile of Willie: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
Reposted by Levental Lab
My lab in the NIH Intramural Program (Bethesda, MD) will be recruiting postdoctoral fellows over the next year with flexible start dates. We work on nanoscale cellular imaging of the plasma membrane and related organelles. Please reach out if you’re interested. www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdp-053...
December 22, 2025 at 2:57 PM
My lab in the NIH Intramural Program (Bethesda, MD) will be recruiting postdoctoral fellows over the next year with flexible start dates. We work on nanoscale cellular imaging of the plasma membrane and related organelles. Please reach out if you’re interested. www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdp-053...
Reposted by Levental Lab
Nominative determinism at its finest.
December 20, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Nominative determinism at its finest.
Reposted by Levental Lab
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!🎄✨
December 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF YOU!🎄✨
Reposted by Levental Lab
This is a very hopeful way to close out the year—give it a read.
Science has named the seemingly unstoppable growth of renewable energy worldwide as the 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx
Learn more about this year's #BOTY and other big advances in science: https://scim.ag/493Tpgx
December 19, 2025 at 3:14 PM
This is a very hopeful way to close out the year—give it a read.
Reposted by Levental Lab
Are you interested in integrative structural biology, but feel a bit lost?
Don't worry, we have you covered with our FEBS Advanced Course, Lost in Integration Vol. 2 — probing biomolecules with AI and experiments
probingbiomolecules2026.febsevents.org
network.febs.org/posts/integr...
Don't worry, we have you covered with our FEBS Advanced Course, Lost in Integration Vol. 2 — probing biomolecules with AI and experiments
probingbiomolecules2026.febsevents.org
network.febs.org/posts/integr...
December 18, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Are you interested in integrative structural biology, but feel a bit lost?
Don't worry, we have you covered with our FEBS Advanced Course, Lost in Integration Vol. 2 — probing biomolecules with AI and experiments
probingbiomolecules2026.febsevents.org
network.febs.org/posts/integr...
Don't worry, we have you covered with our FEBS Advanced Course, Lost in Integration Vol. 2 — probing biomolecules with AI and experiments
probingbiomolecules2026.febsevents.org
network.febs.org/posts/integr...
Reposted by Levental Lab
My lab is hiring a postdoc (ERC funded)! If you're interested, get in touch!
December 18, 2025 at 8:36 AM
My lab is hiring a postdoc (ERC funded)! If you're interested, get in touch!
Reposted by Levental Lab
The Martini globe. The lipids of the globe are coloured by their continent based on the tectonic plates. The Kingdom of Denmark is coloured dark red.
By @fabianschuhmann.bsky.social @cg-martini.bsky.social @weria-lab.bsky.social et al in doi.org/10.1021/acs....
By @fabianschuhmann.bsky.social @cg-martini.bsky.social @weria-lab.bsky.social et al in doi.org/10.1021/acs....
December 17, 2025 at 7:28 AM
The Martini globe. The lipids of the globe are coloured by their continent based on the tectonic plates. The Kingdom of Denmark is coloured dark red.
By @fabianschuhmann.bsky.social @cg-martini.bsky.social @weria-lab.bsky.social et al in doi.org/10.1021/acs....
By @fabianschuhmann.bsky.social @cg-martini.bsky.social @weria-lab.bsky.social et al in doi.org/10.1021/acs....
Reposted by Levental Lab
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Organelles harbour pH gradients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694065v1
December 17, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Reposted by Levental Lab
Talin didn’t evolve for integrins... integrins evolved for talin 🤯
pN force coupling via talin is ancient, conserved from amoebae to humans; signaling came later.
Read this amazing paper here 👇🏽
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
pN force coupling via talin is ancient, conserved from amoebae to humans; signaling came later.
Read this amazing paper here 👇🏽
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Talin force coupling underlies eukaryotic cell-substrate adhesion - Nature Communications
Talin is a well-known regulator of cell adhesion and intracellular force transmission in animals. Here, the authors demonstrate that talin’s mechanical function is evolutionarily conserved and already established in unicellular eukaryotes.
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:23 PM
Talin didn’t evolve for integrins... integrins evolved for talin 🤯
pN force coupling via talin is ancient, conserved from amoebae to humans; signaling came later.
Read this amazing paper here 👇🏽
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
pN force coupling via talin is ancient, conserved from amoebae to humans; signaling came later.
Read this amazing paper here 👇🏽
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Levental Lab
![Comic. [Two people one one side of a pile of seven apples, next to person with long hair next to five apples.] PERSON: Okay, with my seven apples added to your five, we have… let’s se… twelve apples! PERSON 2 [with hands raised]: Incredible! Perfect agreement with the theory! [caption] Experimental Mathematicians](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreifgv5skm72kzcxgexs4hbpex45met5vxhb6kf2aqshmktmo37nl5a@jpeg)
Reposted by Levental Lab
Ups we did it again! Please mark your calender. EMBO Workshop “Lipid Code to Life”, taking place September 7–11, 2026, in Dresden, organized by Maria Fedorova, @lipid.bsky.social, Valerie O'Donnell, @holthuislab.bsky.social and @molcellbiophys-lab.bsky.social 🥳 Retweets = lipidlove
December 15, 2025 at 2:36 PM
Ups we did it again! Please mark your calender. EMBO Workshop “Lipid Code to Life”, taking place September 7–11, 2026, in Dresden, organized by Maria Fedorova, @lipid.bsky.social, Valerie O'Donnell, @holthuislab.bsky.social and @molcellbiophys-lab.bsky.social 🥳 Retweets = lipidlove
Reposted by Levental Lab
Animals with misleading names. I'm seeing this go around as part of a viral tumblr thread so I thought I'd reshare it.
December 15, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Animals with misleading names. I'm seeing this go around as part of a viral tumblr thread so I thought I'd reshare it.
very cool and novel stuff from @fletcherlabucb.bsky.social and brilliant postdoc Caitlin Cornell! She's one to watch (and hire).
How does a macrophage decide to eat or simply nibble? Check out our latest paper! You can also read this nice review. Congrats Caitlin for leading this amazing work!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Target cell cortical tension regulates macrophage trogocytosis - Nature Cell Biology
Cornell et al. show that target cells with low cortical tension induce macrophages to preferentially trogocytose, or engulf in small fragments, whereas target cells with high cortical tension tend tow...
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 1:04 AM
very cool and novel stuff from @fletcherlabucb.bsky.social and brilliant postdoc Caitlin Cornell! She's one to watch (and hire).