Pranav NM Shah
@proteincapsid.bsky.social
Postdoc at STRUBI. Using cryo-EM to see viruses better.
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Integrase anchors viral RNA to the HIV-1 capsid interior pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41708858/ #cryoem
February 19, 2026 at 1:39 PM
Integrase anchors viral RNA to the HIV-1 capsid interior pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41708858/ #cryoem
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Researchers have uncovered an unexpected second function of one of HIV’s key proteins.
This discovery could pave the way for new types of treatments.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-02...
This discovery could pave the way for new types of treatments.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-02...
Hidden role of HIV protein could unlock new treatments
40 years after the HIV virus was first identified, researchers have uncovered an unexpected second function of one of the virus’s key proteins, a discovery that could pave the way for new types of tre...
www.crick.ac.uk
February 19, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Researchers have uncovered an unexpected second function of one of HIV’s key proteins.
This discovery could pave the way for new types of treatments.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-02...
This discovery could pave the way for new types of treatments.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-02...
priviliged to be witnessing these amazing cellular vistas! makes you wonder about all the unknownwhat biology is being captured here!
February 19, 2026 at 6:55 PM
priviliged to be witnessing these amazing cellular vistas! makes you wonder about all the unknownwhat biology is being captured here!
Do you find yourself looking at 100s of tomograms and keeping an excel sheet description of what is in them? I certainly do! So, I asked Claude to put together this (buggy) little webapp called TomCat, which you can freely download from here (github.com/shahpnmlab/t...)
February 19, 2026 at 3:07 PM
Do you find yourself looking at 100s of tomograms and keeping an excel sheet description of what is in them? I certainly do! So, I asked Claude to put together this (buggy) little webapp called TomCat, which you can freely download from here (github.com/shahpnmlab/t...)
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
I had Claude make this as a mini-game for Relay's disconnect screen (like Chrome's dinosaur), but then pivoted to stand-alone. In this game, you have to find Euler angles matching the target projection, i.e. cosplay RELION. It can be pretty hard. Works on mobile too! warpem.github.io/euler-hunt/
Euler Hunt
Can you find the Euler angles of a cryo-EM projection?
warpem.github.io
February 16, 2026 at 3:13 AM
I had Claude make this as a mini-game for Relay's disconnect screen (like Chrome's dinosaur), but then pivoted to stand-alone. In this game, you have to find Euler angles matching the target projection, i.e. cosplay RELION. It can be pretty hard. Works on mobile too! warpem.github.io/euler-hunt/
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?
Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n
Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n
A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand
The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...
www.science.org
February 13, 2026 at 11:42 AM
How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?
Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n
Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...
February 14, 2026 at 8:10 AM
I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Open Postdoc position in our lab!
#actin #Huntingtin #cryoET #cellbio
If you enjoy working at the interface of cell biology, structural biology, and quantitative imaging, this could be an excellent fit.
ista.ac.at/en/job/postd...
Please share and feel free to reach out if there are questions!
#actin #Huntingtin #cryoET #cellbio
If you enjoy working at the interface of cell biology, structural biology, and quantitative imaging, this could be an excellent fit.
ista.ac.at/en/job/postd...
Please share and feel free to reach out if there are questions!
Postdoc Research Group Schur
The Schur lab at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) has an open postdoc position for a highly motivated candidate to be part of our ERC-funded project ActinID.
Our Group
...
ista.ac.at
February 13, 2026 at 3:50 PM
Open Postdoc position in our lab!
#actin #Huntingtin #cryoET #cellbio
If you enjoy working at the interface of cell biology, structural biology, and quantitative imaging, this could be an excellent fit.
ista.ac.at/en/job/postd...
Please share and feel free to reach out if there are questions!
#actin #Huntingtin #cryoET #cellbio
If you enjoy working at the interface of cell biology, structural biology, and quantitative imaging, this could be an excellent fit.
ista.ac.at/en/job/postd...
Please share and feel free to reach out if there are questions!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti spread viruses that cause major global diseases. We decided to have a closer look at a family of mosquito carbohydrate-binding proteins involved in infecting these vector species. We found some unexpected things 😁
Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
February 13, 2026 at 9:04 AM
Mosquitoes like Aedes aegypti spread viruses that cause major global diseases. We decided to have a closer look at a family of mosquito carbohydrate-binding proteins involved in infecting these vector species. We found some unexpected things 😁
Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Preprint out now 🦟🦟🦟
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Caveolins are conserved (metazoan) proteins essential for forming membrane-derived vesicles called caveolae.
While evolutionarily distant caveolins have similar structures, we found they do not maintain caveolae-generating capabilities (movie).
What determines this? Check out our new preprint!
While evolutionarily distant caveolins have similar structures, we found they do not maintain caveolae-generating capabilities (movie).
What determines this? Check out our new preprint!
February 9, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Caveolins are conserved (metazoan) proteins essential for forming membrane-derived vesicles called caveolae.
While evolutionarily distant caveolins have similar structures, we found they do not maintain caveolae-generating capabilities (movie).
What determines this? Check out our new preprint!
While evolutionarily distant caveolins have similar structures, we found they do not maintain caveolae-generating capabilities (movie).
What determines this? Check out our new preprint!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Check out this cool thread on the latest preprint by Gaurav Kumar, @james-r-barrett.bsky.social, @phaips.vd.st from our lab and colleagues, dissecting the physics of Rubisco condensates!
You're in for some stunning #cryoET of the pyrenoid - in Chlamy, of course 😉
Congrats to all involved!
You're in for some stunning #cryoET of the pyrenoid - in Chlamy, of course 😉
Congrats to all involved!
How does molecular valency shape condensate assembly and function? We used the CO2-fixing organelle in algae—the pyrenoid—to find out… 🧵
Preprint here!:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@cellarchlab.com @phaips.vd.st @biologyatyork.bsky.social
#Rubisco #PhaseSeparation #Condensates #Pyrenoid
Preprint here!:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@cellarchlab.com @phaips.vd.st @biologyatyork.bsky.social
#Rubisco #PhaseSeparation #Condensates #Pyrenoid
January 30, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Check out this cool thread on the latest preprint by Gaurav Kumar, @james-r-barrett.bsky.social, @phaips.vd.st from our lab and colleagues, dissecting the physics of Rubisco condensates!
You're in for some stunning #cryoET of the pyrenoid - in Chlamy, of course 😉
Congrats to all involved!
You're in for some stunning #cryoET of the pyrenoid - in Chlamy, of course 😉
Congrats to all involved!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Cryo-EM structure reveals how influenza A virus NEP binds the viral polymerase at a regulatory hotspot, coordinating RNA synthesis and nuclear export. Fantastic collaboration with @loiccarrique.bsky.social and Jon Grimes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
January 24, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Cryo-EM structure reveals how influenza A virus NEP binds the viral polymerase at a regulatory hotspot, coordinating RNA synthesis and nuclear export. Fantastic collaboration with @loiccarrique.bsky.social and Jon Grimes. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
We are running the cryo-ET image processing workshop again this year! Come learn everything tomo: STA, segmentation, heterogeneity analysis from @baradlab.com @williamnwan.bsky.social and others!
Apply!
Apply!
While everything feels flash-frozen in Michigan, it's a great time to plan for U-M's 2026 #CryoET Data Processing Workshop!
This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to standard image processing packages used to analyze cryo-ET data.
Apply by March 20: myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-wor...
This hands-on workshop will introduce participants to standard image processing packages used to analyze cryo-ET data.
Apply by March 20: myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-wor...
January 20, 2026 at 2:20 PM
We are running the cryo-ET image processing workshop again this year! Come learn everything tomo: STA, segmentation, heterogeneity analysis from @baradlab.com @williamnwan.bsky.social and others!
Apply!
Apply!
Amazing!!
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 9:56 AM
Amazing!!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Recovery of infectious recombinant human norovirus using zebrafish embryos | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
www.pnas.org
December 9, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Recovery of infectious recombinant human norovirus using zebrafish embryos | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1...
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
I’m excited to announce that I will be starting my research group on computational enzyme design at the Generative Biology Institute, Oxford, UK (@eitoxford.bsky.social)! PhD applications are open, deadline is Jan 8th (www.chem.ox.ac.uk/genbio-dtp). Email kiarash.jamali@eit.org with any questions!
GenBio DTP
Optional supporting text
www.chem.ox.ac.uk
December 9, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I’m excited to announce that I will be starting my research group on computational enzyme design at the Generative Biology Institute, Oxford, UK (@eitoxford.bsky.social)! PhD applications are open, deadline is Jan 8th (www.chem.ox.ac.uk/genbio-dtp). Email kiarash.jamali@eit.org with any questions!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
It’s been a while since I put together the Structural Virology starter pack, and I’m sure some new folks have joined Bluesky since then. There’s still plenty of space to fill, so if you’d like to be added to the list just let me know.
#virology #cryoEM
go.bsky.app/Qxv95BL
#virology #cryoEM
go.bsky.app/Qxv95BL
November 25, 2025 at 9:46 AM
It’s been a while since I put together the Structural Virology starter pack, and I’m sure some new folks have joined Bluesky since then. There’s still plenty of space to fill, so if you’d like to be added to the list just let me know.
#virology #cryoEM
go.bsky.app/Qxv95BL
#virology #cryoEM
go.bsky.app/Qxv95BL
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
ProteinCHAOS runs entirely in the browser and lets you choose how to visualize your protein structures.
It supports PDB files from the PDB and AlphaFold servers and offers several visual themes so you can "paint" abstract art with protein traces. I hope it helps you create some interesting images!
It supports PDB files from the PDB and AlphaFold servers and offers several visual themes so you can "paint" abstract art with protein traces. I hope it helps you create some interesting images!
November 23, 2025 at 11:18 PM
ProteinCHAOS runs entirely in the browser and lets you choose how to visualize your protein structures.
It supports PDB files from the PDB and AlphaFold servers and offers several visual themes so you can "paint" abstract art with protein traces. I hope it helps you create some interesting images!
It supports PDB files from the PDB and AlphaFold servers and offers several visual themes so you can "paint" abstract art with protein traces. I hope it helps you create some interesting images!
10 days and 4 Uni’s later, happy to be back in Oxford with a head full of ideas! Thanks once again @danielhurdiss.bsky.social, Panagiotis Kastritis, @schurlab.bsky.social and Pradyumna Paranjape for hosting me! Enjoyed discussing science with you and your colleagues and lab members!
November 24, 2025 at 8:46 AM
10 days and 4 Uni’s later, happy to be back in Oxford with a head full of ideas! Thanks once again @danielhurdiss.bsky.social, Panagiotis Kastritis, @schurlab.bsky.social and Pradyumna Paranjape for hosting me! Enjoyed discussing science with you and your colleagues and lab members!
Spent my childhood in my G’Pa’s chem lab, loved birds then photography and the photography of viruses. Been capturing virus images since 2010 and across 3 continents.
November 23, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Spent my childhood in my G’Pa’s chem lab, loved birds then photography and the photography of viruses. Been capturing virus images since 2010 and across 3 continents.
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Scientific journals: we don’t want you using generative AI because it makes shit up.
Same journal: here is an AI summary or evaluation of this paper. This might be more useful than the actual abstract or paper that the authors freaking wrote
Same journal: AI cover art which makes no sense? Oooh!
Same journal: here is an AI summary or evaluation of this paper. This might be more useful than the actual abstract or paper that the authors freaking wrote
Same journal: AI cover art which makes no sense? Oooh!
November 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Scientific journals: we don’t want you using generative AI because it makes shit up.
Same journal: here is an AI summary or evaluation of this paper. This might be more useful than the actual abstract or paper that the authors freaking wrote
Same journal: AI cover art which makes no sense? Oooh!
Same journal: here is an AI summary or evaluation of this paper. This might be more useful than the actual abstract or paper that the authors freaking wrote
Same journal: AI cover art which makes no sense? Oooh!
Insightful!
Why IDPs Are Poor Candidates for Homotypic LLPS
🧵👇A thread
🧵👇A thread
November 21, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Insightful!
Reposted by Pranav NM Shah
Our lab is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow. The position is intentionally broad, as we are looking for outstanding researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds to advance our understanding of cilia and ciliopathies: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15526
HMS - Postdoctoral Fellow in BCMP, Brown Lab
We invite applicants for a postdoctoral fellow position in the Brown lab at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. The Brown lab uses structural, biophysical, and biochemical approaches to d...
academicpositions.harvard.edu
November 18, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Our lab is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow. The position is intentionally broad, as we are looking for outstanding researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds to advance our understanding of cilia and ciliopathies: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15526
Thank you for hosting me @danielhurdiss.bsky.social at @utrechtvirology.bsky.social! It was wonderful to visit and spend time with the members of the group. Until next time!
Had a great time hosting @proteincapsid.bsky.social over the past few days. Thanks for the exciting lecture and for sharing your tomography expertise. Until next time!
November 15, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Thank you for hosting me @danielhurdiss.bsky.social at @utrechtvirology.bsky.social! It was wonderful to visit and spend time with the members of the group. Until next time!