Russell Cox Chem
@russellcoxchem.bsky.social
Natural Products Chemist
November 16, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Teresa Carlomagno showing us what "integrative" really means in "Integrative Structural Biology" - "An Integrative Structural Biology Approach to Understand Functional Mechanisms I nBiological Complexes" - #CBCCPS25 #ChemBioChem #ChemPhysChem #ChemistryEurope
October 23, 2025 at 12:18 PM
Teresa Carlomagno showing us what "integrative" really means in "Integrative Structural Biology" - "An Integrative Structural Biology Approach to Understand Functional Mechanisms I nBiological Complexes" - #CBCCPS25 #ChemBioChem #ChemPhysChem #ChemistryEurope
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
I'm thrilled to be shortlisted for the British Journalism Awards 2025 "Energy and Environment Journalism" category
I'm up against stiff competition from the Times, BBC News, i newspaper and the Indy, among others…
Congrats to all on the shortlist!
pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
I'm up against stiff competition from the Times, BBC News, i newspaper and the Indy, among others…
Congrats to all on the shortlist!
pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
October 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I'm thrilled to be shortlisted for the British Journalism Awards 2025 "Energy and Environment Journalism" category
I'm up against stiff competition from the Times, BBC News, i newspaper and the Indy, among others…
Congrats to all on the shortlist!
pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
I'm up against stiff competition from the Times, BBC News, i newspaper and the Indy, among others…
Congrats to all on the shortlist!
pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazett...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
I'm thrilled, I saw my first ever Ring Ouzel late this afternoon! 😀😍
It's amazing that this beauty turned up at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, as they usually only stop off on migration on high ground, such as The Mendip Hills.🐦
It put on a great show as it feasted on berries! 😍
#birds 🪶
It's amazing that this beauty turned up at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, as they usually only stop off on migration on high ground, such as The Mendip Hills.🐦
It put on a great show as it feasted on berries! 😍
#birds 🪶
October 22, 2025 at 9:35 PM
I'm thrilled, I saw my first ever Ring Ouzel late this afternoon! 😀😍
It's amazing that this beauty turned up at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, as they usually only stop off on migration on high ground, such as The Mendip Hills.🐦
It put on a great show as it feasted on berries! 😍
#birds 🪶
It's amazing that this beauty turned up at RSPB Ham Wall in Somerset, as they usually only stop off on migration on high ground, such as The Mendip Hills.🐦
It put on a great show as it feasted on berries! 😍
#birds 🪶
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
mycokeys.pensoft.net/article/1604...
Finally Yok's last paper from her successful PhD thesis where she worked at #Mae Fah Luang University and with us at #HZI (among others) on Thai Earthballs is also out. It was just published by #Mycokeys. Congrats to all co-authors & thanks for funding from RRI!
Finally Yok's last paper from her successful PhD thesis where she worked at #Mae Fah Luang University and with us at #HZI (among others) on Thai Earthballs is also out. It was just published by #Mycokeys. Congrats to all co-authors & thanks for funding from RRI!
Three new species and one new record of Scleroderma (Sclerodermataceae, Boletales) from northern Thailand
The genus Scleroderma (Sclerodermataceae) contains gasteroid ectomycorrhizal fungi and is distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical regions. Fresh specimens were collected in Thailand and report...
mycokeys.pensoft.net
October 8, 2025 at 6:15 PM
mycokeys.pensoft.net/article/1604...
Finally Yok's last paper from her successful PhD thesis where she worked at #Mae Fah Luang University and with us at #HZI (among others) on Thai Earthballs is also out. It was just published by #Mycokeys. Congrats to all co-authors & thanks for funding from RRI!
Finally Yok's last paper from her successful PhD thesis where she worked at #Mae Fah Luang University and with us at #HZI (among others) on Thai Earthballs is also out. It was just published by #Mycokeys. Congrats to all co-authors & thanks for funding from RRI!
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Is it correct to say an imine is "enolizable" if it has alpha protons? I guess an aza-enolate is a thing, so it seems fine to me to say that.
October 4, 2025 at 12:26 AM
Is it correct to say an imine is "enolizable" if it has alpha protons? I guess an aza-enolate is a thing, so it seems fine to me to say that.
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Aaand it's out! Meet MITE - the natural product tailoring enzyme database, just published in @narjournal.bsky.social! MITE DB captures the substrate- and reaction-specificity of tailoring enzymes, allowing to capture this information in a human- and machine-readable way! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
September 27, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Aaand it's out! Meet MITE - the natural product tailoring enzyme database, just published in @narjournal.bsky.social! MITE DB captures the substrate- and reaction-specificity of tailoring enzymes, allowing to capture this information in a human- and machine-readable way! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Great science matters. These articles in core subjects from analytical to energy chemistry shaped their discipline last year – read our curated collections and gather insights to fuel your own work.
URL ➡️ https://rsc.li/47nqzZt
#ChemSky
URL ➡️ https://rsc.li/47nqzZt
#ChemSky
September 2, 2025 at 4:07 PM
Great science matters. These articles in core subjects from analytical to energy chemistry shaped their discipline last year – read our curated collections and gather insights to fuel your own work.
URL ➡️ https://rsc.li/47nqzZt
#ChemSky
URL ➡️ https://rsc.li/47nqzZt
#ChemSky
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
A new bench at JIC in memory of Helen Kieser. She moved to Norwich with David Hopwood in the 1960s and was instrumental in establishing the Streptomyces group and Molecular Microbiology @johninnescentre.bsky.social. Hard to overstate her importance to the #streptomyces field and community.
August 12, 2025 at 4:41 PM
A new bench at JIC in memory of Helen Kieser. She moved to Norwich with David Hopwood in the 1960s and was instrumental in establishing the Streptomyces group and Molecular Microbiology @johninnescentre.bsky.social. Hard to overstate her importance to the #streptomyces field and community.
How do iterative PKS make EZE trienes using a single DH domain? See the results of our experiments on ChemRxiv at:
Stereochemical Dissection of the Strobilurin PKS Reveals the Complex Biosynthetic Logic of Iterative EZE Triene Construction | ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che...
Stereochemical Dissection of the Strobilurin PKS Reveals the Complex Biosynthetic Logic of Iterative EZE Triene Construction | ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che...
Stereochemical Dissection of the Strobilurin PKS Reveals the Complex Biosynthetic Logic of Iterative EZE Triene Construction
Type I Iterative polyketide synthases (PKS) use a limited set of catalytic extension and -processing domains to create complex polyketides. A remarkable case is that of the strobilurin PKS where a sin...
doi.org
August 28, 2025 at 10:03 AM
How do iterative PKS make EZE trienes using a single DH domain? See the results of our experiments on ChemRxiv at:
Stereochemical Dissection of the Strobilurin PKS Reveals the Complex Biosynthetic Logic of Iterative EZE Triene Construction | ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che...
Stereochemical Dissection of the Strobilurin PKS Reveals the Complex Biosynthetic Logic of Iterative EZE Triene Construction | ChemRxiv - doi.org/10.26434/che...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Into natural product biosynthesis & tailoring enzymes? Frustrated by the lack of a dedicated resource to explore their functions? Tired of endless literature searches for reaction info? Meet the MITE database, freely available at mite.bioinformatics.nl. Preprint: doi.org/10.26434/che... (1/8)
August 21, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Into natural product biosynthesis & tailoring enzymes? Frustrated by the lack of a dedicated resource to explore their functions? Tired of endless literature searches for reaction info? Meet the MITE database, freely available at mite.bioinformatics.nl. Preprint: doi.org/10.26434/che... (1/8)
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Our new review on the secondary metabolites of coprophilous fungi has just been published by Natural Product Reports. Thanks for funding from the @humboldt-foundation.de foundation.de, the @dfg.de & the @daadworldwide.bsky.social Congrats to all coauthors!
Our new review on the secondary metabolites of coprophilous fungi has just been published by Natural Product Reports. Thanks for funding from the @humboldt-foundation.de foundation.de, the @dfg.de & the @daadworldwide.bsky.social Congrats to all coauthors!
Coprophilous fungi in the search for new antimicrobials and other beneficial natural products
Covering: up to 2025Microbial interactions involve complex processes shaped by their ecological contexts. Herbivore animal dung denotes an interesting ecological niche for the study of interorganism c...
pubs.rsc.org
August 9, 2025 at 8:39 AM
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Our new review on the secondary metabolites of coprophilous fungi has just been published by Natural Product Reports. Thanks for funding from the @humboldt-foundation.de foundation.de, the @dfg.de & the @daadworldwide.bsky.social Congrats to all coauthors!
Our new review on the secondary metabolites of coprophilous fungi has just been published by Natural Product Reports. Thanks for funding from the @humboldt-foundation.de foundation.de, the @dfg.de & the @daadworldwide.bsky.social Congrats to all coauthors!
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Is it really appropriate for Nature to display such crude representations of organic molecules in articles?
#chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
July 30, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Is it really appropriate for Nature to display such crude representations of organic molecules in articles?
#chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
#chemsky
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
A new fluorescent amino acid, built into an unprecedented cytochalasan that possesses potent bioactivity…. See our latest work at pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Synthesis of L-β-(6-azulenyl)alanine and the fluorescent actin disruptor (6-azuleno)chalasin H
l-β-(6-Azulenyl)alanine was synthesised for the first time. Supplementation of this compound to Pyricularia grisea ΔpyiA led to the biosynthesis of the unnatural (6-azuleno)chalasin H and its 1′-bromo...
pubs.rsc.org
July 22, 2025 at 6:08 PM
A new fluorescent amino acid, built into an unprecedented cytochalasan that possesses potent bioactivity…. See our latest work at pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
We are delighted to celebrate our RSC Advances Editorial Board member Professor Young-Shin Jun, who was recognised as one of the 2025 distinguished women in chemistry and chemical engineering at the IUPAC meeting 🏆
July 21, 2025 at 12:43 PM
We are delighted to celebrate our RSC Advances Editorial Board member Professor Young-Shin Jun, who was recognised as one of the 2025 distinguished women in chemistry and chemical engineering at the IUPAC meeting 🏆
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Next one out from @oconnorlab.bsky.social department in @natchembio.nature.com. Work led by my office mate Allwin McDonald on the epimerisation of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids in Kratom!
#PlantSci
#NatProd
rdcu.be/ewvtP
#PlantSci
#NatProd
rdcu.be/ewvtP
Enzymatic epimerization of monoterpene indole alkaloids in kratom
Nature Chemical Biology - Monoterpene indole alkaloids are formed via a 3S stereoselective condensation between secologanin and tryptamine. Here the authors uncover the mechanism of epimerization...
rdcu.be
July 16, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Next one out from @oconnorlab.bsky.social department in @natchembio.nature.com. Work led by my office mate Allwin McDonald on the epimerisation of monoterpenoid indole alkaloids in Kratom!
#PlantSci
#NatProd
rdcu.be/ewvtP
#PlantSci
#NatProd
rdcu.be/ewvtP
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
#Fungi related to species that hijack #brains of #insects ...
| #Ophiocordyceps | #infection | #Thailand | Via @sciencex.bsky.social
| #Ophiocordyceps | #infection | #Thailand | Via @sciencex.bsky.social
Four fungi related to species that hijack brains of insects discovered in Thailand
The cordyceps species in "The Last of Us," Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is real and does exactly what the show purports —just not in humans, according to medical experts.
phys.org
July 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
#Fungi related to species that hijack #brains of #insects ...
| #Ophiocordyceps | #infection | #Thailand | Via @sciencex.bsky.social
| #Ophiocordyceps | #infection | #Thailand | Via @sciencex.bsky.social
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Withanolide #biosynthesis from nightshade plants decoded. Withanolide steroids are used as a basis for medications for centuries.
Now published by a team around @frankelab.bsky.social + @puckerlab.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61686-1).
Now published by a team around @frankelab.bsky.social + @puckerlab.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61686-1).
July 14, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Withanolide #biosynthesis from nightshade plants decoded. Withanolide steroids are used as a basis for medications for centuries.
Now published by a team around @frankelab.bsky.social + @puckerlab.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61686-1).
Now published by a team around @frankelab.bsky.social + @puckerlab.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61686-1).
You don‘t have to review or read all of them… but where-ever possible you should select a society publisher!
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published
Widespread mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention
www.theguardian.com
July 13, 2025 at 4:33 PM
You don‘t have to review or read all of them… but where-ever possible you should select a society publisher!
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Extremely happy to see our withanolide biosynthesis paper out in @natcomms.nature.com rdcu.be/evHOF
Fantastic team effort with the Pucker group @bpucker.bsky.social @puckerlab.bsky.social at @unibonn.bsky.social and Heretsch, Herde and Witte groups at @unihannover.bsky.social. Funded by @dfg.de
Fantastic team effort with the Pucker group @bpucker.bsky.social @puckerlab.bsky.social at @unibonn.bsky.social and Heretsch, Herde and Witte groups at @unihannover.bsky.social. Funded by @dfg.de
Phylogenomics and metabolic engineering reveal a conserved gene cluster in Solanaceae plants for withanolide biosynthesis
Nature Communications - Withanolides are plant steroids with potent bioactivities found in many medicinal plants including Withania somnifera, but their biosynthetic pathway is largely unknown....
rdcu.be
July 10, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Also check out my News & Views article for more details on the significance of this work 👇
rdcu.be/eqwOy
rdcu.be/eqwOy
Biochemical breakthrough paves way to reliable supply of anticancer drug | Nature
‘Missing’ genes needed for the biosynthesis of a natural anticancer drug have been discovered by perturbing and analysing individual cells of yew trees. ‘Missing’ genes needed for the biosynthesis of a natural anticancer drug have been discovered by perturbing and analysing individual cells of yew trees.
rdcu.be
June 11, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Also check out my News & Views article for more details on the significance of this work 👇
rdcu.be/eqwOy
rdcu.be/eqwOy
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Fantastic work by the Sattely group on taxol biosynthesis, featuring a highly innovative application of single nuclei sequencing to find elusive biosynthetic genes 👏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Discovery of FoTO1 and Taxol genes enables biosynthesis of baccatin III - Nature
An approach that combines single-nucleus RNA sequencing and multiplexed perturbation identifies genes that enable the biosynthesis of direct precursors of the anti-cancer drug Taxol, whose curren...
www.nature.com
June 11, 2025 at 7:48 PM
Fantastic work by the Sattely group on taxol biosynthesis, featuring a highly innovative application of single nuclei sequencing to find elusive biosynthetic genes 👏
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Russell Cox Chem
Our work on "Synthesis and evaluation of pseudoglucosinolates (psGSLs) releasing isothiocyanates (ITCs) in the presence of azoreductases" found a new homw at ChemBioChem chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #chembio #chemsky @omc-gu.bsky.social @naturvetenskap.bsky.social
Synthesis and evaluation of pseudoglucosinolates (psGSLs) releasing isothiocyanates (ITCs) in the presence of azoreductases
Naturally occurring isothiocyanates (ITCs) display multiple interesting bioactivities, but their medicinal exploitation is very limited as ITCs are non-druglike compounds with problematic pharmacokin...
chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
May 11, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Our work on "Synthesis and evaluation of pseudoglucosinolates (psGSLs) releasing isothiocyanates (ITCs) in the presence of azoreductases" found a new homw at ChemBioChem chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #chembio #chemsky @omc-gu.bsky.social @naturvetenskap.bsky.social
‘Nobody has done this before’: Britain’s beloved steam trains trial pioneering technology
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
‘Nobody has done this before’: Britain’s beloved steam trains trial pioneering technology
In-cab digital signalling was tested last week as part of a project to secure the future of main-line locomotives
www.theguardian.com
April 20, 2025 at 5:46 AM
‘Nobody has done this before’: Britain’s beloved steam trains trial pioneering technology
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...