Brett Collins
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brettcollins.bsky.social
Brett Collins
@brettcollins.bsky.social
2.2K followers 2.9K following 170 posts
Structural biologist studying proteins that move things from A to B. University of Queensland, Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Centre for Cell Biology of Chronic Disease.
He/Him.
https://imb.uq.edu.au/research-groups/collins
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Brett Collins
science.org
For solving a 50-year mystery by uncovering the machinery behind BMP, a molecule with protective effects against various disorders, Uche Medoh is the winner of the 2025 Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists.

🎉 Learn more about the work: https://scim.ag/4qVpK1a
Uche Medoh
November 13, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
ernstschmid.bsky.social
Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp
Proteome-wide in silico screening for human protein-protein interactions
Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) drive virtually all biological processes, yet most PPIs have not been identified and even more remain structurally unresolved. We developed a two-step computational...
biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
sydney-crf.bsky.social
Congrats to #USYD's A/Prof Yu Heng Lau for landing a $958,564 ARC Discovery grant to develop tiny protein cages to improve how plants use carbon, water & nutrients + boost crop yields. Sydney Analytical + Sydney Mass Spectrometry look forward to continuing our collaboration.
@yuhenglau.bsky.social
November 12, 2025 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
barrlab.bsky.social
The C. elegans community is amazing. I email a Nobel laureate for a favor. He immediately responds yes and offers additional help!
a woman with a big hairdo is singing and the words simply the best are above her
ALT: a woman with a big hairdo is singing and the words simply the best are above her
media.tenor.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:48 PM
brettcollins.bsky.social
Beautiful new structure of the VPS13C lipid transfer protein from the Reinisch and De Camilli labs. @pdc-lab.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org
November 11, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
rdaslab.bsky.social
#MD blind predictions of water/ions around Tetrahymena ribozyme #RNA matched cryo-EM data better than our baselines! Congrats #CASP16 + @rachael-kretsch.bsky.social + 23 brave groups. Still a ways to go — time for #DeepLearning of water? Community paper: doi.org/10.1002/prot...
R1260 CASP target, water and ions around RNA. Ground truth on left, blind prediction from SoutheRNA MD simulations on right.
November 11, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
twbredy.bsky.social
We have strength across a wide range of neuroscience topics, including ageing and development, brain injury and repair, cognition and behavior, mental health, RNA science, etc.
twbredy.bsky.social Timothy Bredy @twbredy.bsky.social · 2d
To clarify, the QBI Director need not be focused on Dementia, this just happens to be one of the sites where the recruiter has posted….
twbredy.bsky.social Timothy Bredy @twbredy.bsky.social · 2d
Here’s the posting. Please reach out if you have any questions about the QBI or life in Brisbane.

Director: Queensland Brain Institute www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/director...
November 11, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
twbredy.bsky.social
To clarify, the QBI Director need not be focused on Dementia, this just happens to be one of the sites where the recruiter has posted….
November 11, 2025 at 1:36 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
elsevierlsj.bsky.social
Special Issue: Macromolecular Assemblies is now live! Explore advances in cryoEM, cryoET, FIB milling, NMR, & AI for structure prediction. Discover cutting-edge insights into the structure & function of biological complexes. #StructuralBiology #CryoEM
spkl.io/63324AwAho
Read Now
November 10, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
coreyspowell.bsky.social
I find this remarkable:

The Dresden Codex, one of the few surviving Mayan manuscripts, contains tables that give highly accurate timings of solar eclipses over more than 700 years, from 350 CE to the 12 century. 🧪🔭

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Sheets of the Dresden Codex depicting eclipses, multiplication tables, and the flood.
November 11, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
dementiaresearcher.bsky.social
The University of Queensland, Australia. Seeks a Director for the Queensland Brain Institute to lead world-class neuroscience research and global collaboration. Closing date: 8th December

www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/job/director...
Director: Queensland Brain Institute - DEMENTIA RESEARCHER
The University of Queensland, Australia. Seeks a Director for the Queensland Brain Institute to lead world-class neuroscience research and global collaboration.
www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
doroteaartscience.bsky.social
New pre-print out on the stepwise recruitment to membrane of the #autophagy ULK1 complex from the @mito911.bsky.social from @martenslab.bsky.social Ian Ganley @hummerlab.bsky.social @jimhurley.bsky.social labs
with the generous support of @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reconstitution of multistep recruitment of ULK1 to membranes in autophagy
The ULK1 complex (ULK1C) and the class III phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase complex I (PI3KC3-C1) act together to initiate autophagy. Human ULK1C consists of ULK1 itself, FIP200, and the HORMA domain het...
doi.org
November 10, 2025 at 7:06 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
james-s-davies.bsky.social
Check out our new paper:
🔗 www.cell.com/structure/fu...

We explored how sulfate-reducing bacteria import isethionate, a sulfur-containing molecule found in the environment and produced by microbes in the human gut. We captured a structure of the IseQM TRAP transporter in a substrate-bound state.
Structural basis of isethionate transport by a TRAP transporter from a sulfate-reducing bacterium
Newton-Vesty et al. used a megabody fiducial to determine the cryo-EM structure of an isethionate TRAP transporter, revealing the substrate and Na+-binding sites. Transport is dependent on Na+ and the...
www.cell.com
November 9, 2025 at 8:45 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
kmichie.bsky.social
At the time the cultures were so complex it was impossible to tell precisely which organism had the vesicles. The cultures contain many different types of archaea- a real treasure trove, and lots of bacteria with lots of ‘weirdness’.
November 8, 2025 at 12:58 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
kmichie.bsky.social
Yes they are! Might have been an oversight, but these cultures were established at UNSW in 2019 in @brendanburns999.bsky.social ‘s lab and funded by Australian research grants. The first tomograms that revealed the exciting internal structures were carried out by @debnathghosal.bsky.social
November 8, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
buzzbaum.bsky.social
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
thibautbrunet.bsky.social
Beautiful and important work. Congrats @tbharat-lab.bsky.social @buzzbaum.bsky.social and colleagues!
tbharat-lab.bsky.social Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 6d
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 11:35 AM
brettcollins.bsky.social
These are true blue Aussie archaea!
tbharat-lab.bsky.social Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 6d
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
tbharat-lab.bsky.social
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
theonion.com
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
Flying Squirrel Loves It Every Time
November 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
brettcollins.bsky.social
Last week to get your Protein onto the Lorne Conference T-shirt!
lorneproteins.bsky.social Lorne Proteins @lorneproteins.bsky.social · 7d
🕐 One Week Left to Enter the T-Shirt Competition!
Time’s running out to design the next official Lorne Proteins T-shirt 👕
📅 Entries close 10 November 2025
👉 Submit your design: docs.google.com/forms/d/1nPy...
Lat week to submit T-shirt competition entries. Close 10th November
November 5, 2025 at 9:42 PM
brettcollins.bsky.social
Monique Ryan urges Australia to fast-track medical innovation funding as Trump guts research
Kooyong MP urges government to release more of the earnings from the $20bn Medical Research Future Fund
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Brett Collins
cryoempapers.bsky.social
Workflow Using a Cryogenic Coincident Fluorescence, Electron, and Ion Beam Microscope for Targeted Milling of Cells pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41182991/ #cryoem
November 5, 2025 at 12:54 AM
Reposted by Brett Collins
ishier.bsky.social
#MembraneTraffickers! Our next online seminar is this Thursday, Nov 6 at 5 PM CEST!
We’ll hear from @agatawitkowska.bsky.social on mechanical control of neurotransmission and @abdourachidthiam.bsky.social on lipid storage mechanisms in health and disease.
Spread the word and join the discussion!
November 3, 2025 at 7:33 PM