Tamas Nagy
@tamasnagy.com
Cellular biophysicist. Microscopist. Urbanist.
Working on cell fate decisions in collectives.
Postdoc @UCLA with Tom Rando. Prev: PhD @UCSF with Orion Weiner.
Working on cell fate decisions in collectives.
Postdoc @UCLA with Tom Rando. Prev: PhD @UCSF with Orion Weiner.
I had a great time presenting at the LLHF Annual Meeting. Lots of good feedback and lots to do!
October 22, 2025 at 10:22 PM
I had a great time presenting at the LLHF Annual Meeting. Lots of good feedback and lots to do!
mStayRed is right around the corner, amazing to see that an unnatural amino acid can bring the benefits of mStayGold to the red channel. Someone needs to engineer a way around the UAA and it’s game time.
mStayRose is published in JBC 🥳🎉
Congratulations @wsctt.bsky.social @sporemohan.bsky.social and team for the monumental effort to make a non-natural amino acid incorporating fluorescent protein accessible. It's based on mStayGold, bright, and photostable:
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Congratulations @wsctt.bsky.social @sporemohan.bsky.social and team for the monumental effort to make a non-natural amino acid incorporating fluorescent protein accessible. It's based on mStayGold, bright, and photostable:
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
StayRose: a photostable StayGold derivative red-shifted by genetic code expansion
Photobleaching of fluorescent proteins often limits the acquisition of high-quality
images in microscopy. StayGold, a novel dimeric green fluorescent protein recently
monomerised through sequence engi...
www.jbc.org
October 22, 2025 at 10:13 PM
mStayRed is right around the corner, amazing to see that an unnatural amino acid can bring the benefits of mStayGold to the red channel. Someone needs to engineer a way around the UAA and it’s game time.
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Thrilled to announce the launch of my lab
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
We're growing! Our newest Investigator @henrydebelly.bsky.social will join the CRI Tissue #Regeneration Program in January 2026. Learn more about Henry ➡️ cri.utsw.edu/faculty/henr... and 📌apply to research in his lab cri.utsw.edu/careers
October 16, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Thrilled to announce the launch of my lab
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
@cri-utsw.bsky.social at UTSW this January!
We will explore how cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, focusing on membrane mechanics to reveal how tension and signaling work together to shape cell behavior.
Move over mScarlets, Crimson 🌶️ is the winner!
It's the first red FP that I've found that properly trafficks to the membrane in primary myoblasts.
It's the first red FP that I've found that properly trafficks to the membrane in primary myoblasts.
October 15, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Move over mScarlets, Crimson 🌶️ is the winner!
It's the first red FP that I've found that properly trafficks to the membrane in primary myoblasts.
It's the first red FP that I've found that properly trafficks to the membrane in primary myoblasts.
With some new sorbothane feet from @thorlabs.bsky.social, the Rando lab’s @cephlainc.bsky.social Squid+ is rapidly approaching its final form.
We wrapped a cheap 3D printer enclosure off of Amazon with some matte black vinyl and it’s working great as a darkbox.
We wrapped a cheap 3D printer enclosure off of Amazon with some matte black vinyl and it’s working great as a darkbox.
September 4, 2025 at 7:36 PM
With some new sorbothane feet from @thorlabs.bsky.social, the Rando lab’s @cephlainc.bsky.social Squid+ is rapidly approaching its final form.
We wrapped a cheap 3D printer enclosure off of Amazon with some matte black vinyl and it’s working great as a darkbox.
We wrapped a cheap 3D printer enclosure off of Amazon with some matte black vinyl and it’s working great as a darkbox.
Hey #microscopy 🧪 folks. Have you all noticed similar dark current patterns with cameras where you have a nonlinear response to exposure time?
100ms and 1s exposures are extremely quiet but once I do a 60s exposure, certain pixels just get super bright.
100ms and 1s exposures are extremely quiet but once I do a 60s exposure, certain pixels just get super bright.
August 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Hey #microscopy 🧪 folks. Have you all noticed similar dark current patterns with cameras where you have a nonlinear response to exposure time?
100ms and 1s exposures are extremely quiet but once I do a 60s exposure, certain pixels just get super bright.
100ms and 1s exposures are extremely quiet but once I do a 60s exposure, certain pixels just get super bright.
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Here's a six-month time-lapse of me building the single objective light sheet fluorescence microscope at the UCSF Center for Advanced Light Microscopy!
Also pictured is @nicostuurman.bsky.social and @kahsage.bsky.social.
#snouty
Also pictured is @nicostuurman.bsky.social and @kahsage.bsky.social.
#snouty
August 20, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Here's a six-month time-lapse of me building the single objective light sheet fluorescence microscope at the UCSF Center for Advanced Light Microscopy!
Also pictured is @nicostuurman.bsky.social and @kahsage.bsky.social.
#snouty
Also pictured is @nicostuurman.bsky.social and @kahsage.bsky.social.
#snouty
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
My PhD paper is in press @cellpress.bsky.social and now online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
Contents: weird #NPCs in yeast and flies, #CLEM, in situ #cryoET and more!
Made possible by the amazing @becklab.bsky.social team at @mpibp.bsky.social and collaborators! #TeamTomo
Contents: weird #NPCs in yeast and flies, #CLEM, in situ #cryoET and more!
Made possible by the amazing @becklab.bsky.social team at @mpibp.bsky.social and collaborators! #TeamTomo
The small GTPase Ran defines nuclear pore complex asymmetry
Nuclear pore complexes (NPCs) bridge across the nuclear envelope and mediate nucleocytoplasmic exchange. They consist of hundreds of nucleoporin build…
www.sciencedirect.com
August 18, 2025 at 4:26 PM
My PhD paper is in press @cellpress.bsky.social and now online: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...!
Contents: weird #NPCs in yeast and flies, #CLEM, in situ #cryoET and more!
Made possible by the amazing @becklab.bsky.social team at @mpibp.bsky.social and collaborators! #TeamTomo
Contents: weird #NPCs in yeast and flies, #CLEM, in situ #cryoET and more!
Made possible by the amazing @becklab.bsky.social team at @mpibp.bsky.social and collaborators! #TeamTomo
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Super excited to share our new #preprint on #BioRxiv ✨
We reveal the structural basis of a partnership between the ER membrane complex (EMC) and the P5A-ATPase Spf1 — an insertase–dislocase duo that coordinates membrane protein biogenesis and quality control.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We reveal the structural basis of a partnership between the ER membrane complex (EMC) and the P5A-ATPase Spf1 — an insertase–dislocase duo that coordinates membrane protein biogenesis and quality control.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Structural basis of an EMC:Spf1 insertase-dislocase complex in the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum
Most eukaryotic membrane proteins are inserted into the membrane at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). This essential but error-prone process relies on molecular quality control machineries to prevent mi...
www.biorxiv.org
August 11, 2025 at 12:35 PM
Super excited to share our new #preprint on #BioRxiv ✨
We reveal the structural basis of a partnership between the ER membrane complex (EMC) and the P5A-ATPase Spf1 — an insertase–dislocase duo that coordinates membrane protein biogenesis and quality control.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We reveal the structural basis of a partnership between the ER membrane complex (EMC) and the P5A-ATPase Spf1 — an insertase–dislocase duo that coordinates membrane protein biogenesis and quality control.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Hmm. I think there are separate--but perhaps a little overlapping--things going on here that are being somewhat conflated...
“If these trends are not stopped, science is going to be destroyed." Here's my story on the accelerating growth of systemic research fraud--aka paper mills. Gift link: nyti.ms/45rDirw
Fraudulent Scientific Papers Are Rapidly Increasing, Study Finds
A statistical analysis found that the number of fake journal articles being churned out by “paper mills” is doubling every year and a half.
nyti.ms
August 5, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Hmm. I think there are separate--but perhaps a little overlapping--things going on here that are being somewhat conflated...
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Terence Tao, youngest ever participant of the Math Olympiad, Field Medal Winner 2006, author of over 300 papers, and considered the greatest living mathematician, lost his NSF funding: mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1149568... 😞
Terence Tao (@tao@mathstodon.xyz)
The current administration in the US has, through various funding agencies such as the NSF and NIH, has recently suspended virtually all federal grants to my home university, UCLA (including my own p...
mathstodon.xyz
August 4, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Terence Tao, youngest ever participant of the Math Olympiad, Field Medal Winner 2006, author of over 300 papers, and considered the greatest living mathematician, lost his NSF funding: mathstodon.xyz/@tao/1149568... 😞
Dug up an old movie of neutrophils solving a maze…it’s still so satisfying!
July 30, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Dug up an old movie of neutrophils solving a maze…it’s still so satisfying!
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
A recent paper reveals a surprising insight. The length of the cell cycle in a particular tissue determines the oncogenic transformation capacity of particular oncogenes, with tissues with shorter cell cycles most susceptible 3/n
July 26, 2025 at 2:14 PM
A recent paper reveals a surprising insight. The length of the cell cycle in a particular tissue determines the oncogenic transformation capacity of particular oncogenes, with tissues with shorter cell cycles most susceptible 3/n
The latest on the 🌊 complex from my PhD lab. Super cool experiments to unravel mechanistically how the WAVE complex templates lamellipodia in migrating cells. Congrats Muziyue!
In new @jcb.org study from Muziyue Wu et al. @oweinerlab.bsky.social, in vivo biochemistry sheds new light on how the WAVE complex templates the characteristic shape of lamellipodial protrusions. rupress.org/jcb/article/...
#Cytoskeleton #Actin #Migration #Motility #Biophysics
#Cytoskeleton #Actin #Migration #Motility #Biophysics
July 23, 2025 at 9:20 PM
The latest on the 🌊 complex from my PhD lab. Super cool experiments to unravel mechanistically how the WAVE complex templates lamellipodia in migrating cells. Congrats Muziyue!
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
If this all sounds like a calculated plan to reduce the size of the federally funding biomedical research enterprise, I believe that is exactly what is it.
The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.
/fin
The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.
/fin
July 22, 2025 at 11:54 PM
If this all sounds like a calculated plan to reduce the size of the federally funding biomedical research enterprise, I believe that is exactly what is it.
The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.
/fin
The notion that this "facilitates efficient management" of grants and the appropriation is, to use an official NIH term, horseshit.
/fin
Brb cancelling all my nondisruptive science….we’re so back 🥳
Is disruption in science decreasing? Maybe not...
"Due to a factual plotting mistake, database entries with zero references were omitted in the CD index distributions, hiding a large number of outliers with a maximum CD index of one, while keeping them in the analysis"
the classic Seaborn bug 🫣
"Due to a factual plotting mistake, database entries with zero references were omitted in the CD index distributions, hiding a large number of outliers with a maximum CD index of one, while keeping them in the analysis"
the classic Seaborn bug 🫣
Dataset Artefacts are the Hidden Drivers of the Declining Disruptiveness in Science
Park et al. [1] reported a decline in the disruptiveness of scientific and technological knowledge over time. Their main finding is based on the computation of CD indices, a measure of disruption in c...
arxiv.org
July 18, 2025 at 3:55 AM
Brb cancelling all my nondisruptive science….we’re so back 🥳
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Beautiful work on the development of protein kinase reporters. Congrats all! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Molecular recording of cellular protein kinase activity with chemical labeling - Nature Chemical Biology
Molecular recorders based on kinase activity-dependent protein labeling track specific kinase activities to understand their link to cellular phenotypes in heterogeneous cell populations and in vivo.
www.nature.com
July 13, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Beautiful work on the development of protein kinase reporters. Congrats all! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
I was feeling a bit down this Fourth of July but was reminded: “Remember, it’s the birthday of our country and its ideals, not the government or any party.” Happy Independence Day! Cheers to working together for better times ahead 🥂
July 4, 2025 at 3:53 PM
I was feeling a bit down this Fourth of July but was reminded: “Remember, it’s the birthday of our country and its ideals, not the government or any party.” Happy Independence Day! Cheers to working together for better times ahead 🥂
The hype is real. The Quest series are crazy sensitive🔬✨
July 2, 2025 at 12:57 AM
The hype is real. The Quest series are crazy sensitive🔬✨
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Hey optical tech dev folks: how do you do alignment? Can you outline your alignment procedures for positioning optics and verifying their correct positioning?
June 3, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Hey optical tech dev folks: how do you do alignment? Can you outline your alignment procedures for positioning optics and verifying their correct positioning?
Super cool combination of mRNA vaccine tech with biological circuit design to kill cancer cells. The future is here folks.
Can we move past small molecules?
Can we move past small molecules?
Synthetic biology could enable new types of programmable therapeutics. Our new preprint introduces synthetic protein circuits that selectively trigger cell death in Ras-mutant cancer cells, with interesting advantages compared to existing approaches.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
June 3, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Super cool combination of mRNA vaccine tech with biological circuit design to kill cancer cells. The future is here folks.
Can we move past small molecules?
Can we move past small molecules?
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
From over 300k to less than 100k. A picture of smaller, reduced science.
May 30, 2025 at 8:30 PM
From over 300k to less than 100k. A picture of smaller, reduced science.
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
Here's the NIH's proposed budget - from $48 billion to $27 billion. NIAID, current ~$7 billion cut to ~$4.2 billion.
The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.
Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.
www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...
The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.
Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.
www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...
May 30, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Here's the NIH's proposed budget - from $48 billion to $27 billion. NIAID, current ~$7 billion cut to ~$4.2 billion.
The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.
Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.
www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...
The proposed 15% cap on indirect costs remains.
Again, these budgets are passed, and our leadership in science, technology, and innovation is gone.
www.hhs.gov/sites/defaul...
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
The unintended consequence of….. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...
Opinion | The U.S. Deported This Chinese Scientist, in a Decision That Changed World History
www.nytimes.com
May 30, 2025 at 12:30 PM
The unintended consequence of….. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/o...
Reposted by Tamas Nagy
I’m excited to announce that my paper describing non-canonical mitotic mechanisms in the early mouse embryo is out in @science.org ! (link at end of 🧵)
May 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I’m excited to announce that my paper describing non-canonical mitotic mechanisms in the early mouse embryo is out in @science.org ! (link at end of 🧵)