Jamie Blaza
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jnb-lab.bsky.social
Jamie Blaza
@jnb-lab.bsky.social
2K followers 1.7K following 160 posts
PI of York Bioenergetics Lab in YSBL/ Department of Chemistry, University of York. Interested in biophysical methods to explore bioenergetics and microbiology, especially in tuberculosis

lab website : bioenergetics.site
ORCID: 0000-0001-5420-2116
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jnb-lab.bsky.social
Jamie Blaza @jnb-lab.bsky.social · Mar 20
Our work putting bioenergetics back into the earliest stages of spore germination is now on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. Read below for @poojag96.bsky.social excellent thread and link
poojag96.bsky.social Pooja Gupta @poojag96.bsky.social · Mar 18
The preprint is out now - we describe how Bacillus spores restart energy metabolism as they exit dormancy! Dormant spores are dehydrated, very robust for long periods, but when they sense nutrient availability, they can germinate rapidly to make the most of the favourable environmental conditions 1/
biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social bioRxiv Biophysics @biorxiv-biophys.bsky.social · Mar 16
Bioenergetic metabolism restarts alongside germinant sensing and hydration in bacterial spore germination https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.13.642030v1
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
johntngo.bsky.social
Computrs usd a rstrictd alphabt to dsign protins that fold & “mak sns.”
kevinkaichuang.bsky.social Kevin K. Yang 楊凱筌 @kevinkaichuang.bsky.social · 10d
Design stable, folded proteins using only the 10 "ancient" amino acids.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 10, 2025 at 11:08 PM
jnb-lab.bsky.social
Great work on a tricky target!
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
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 Jamie Blaza
the-gold-lab.bsky.social
SWBio PhD studentships available- join my lab to investigate phage structure with @btemperton.bsky.social tinyurl.com/ytdft9bj
tinyurl.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
josebengoechea.bsky.social
For anyone interested in doing a PhD at the interface of microbiology and immunology focusing on how AMR pathogens subvert host defenses...you may consider applying to our MRC LID DTP project in which we will explore how Klebsiella hijacks the immune checkpoint PD-L1 mrc-lid.lshtm.ac.uk/apply/
How to Apply - MRC London Intercollegiate Doctoral Training Partnership Studentships
MRC LID is open for application for 2026-27 PRE-APPLICATION STEPS 1. Find out more about...
mrc-lid.lshtm.ac.uk
November 10, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
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
jnb-lab.bsky.social
A brilliant day- lots of positive energy from the Newcastle, Durham, and Northumbria teams to put their Tundra to good use!
nusbf.bsky.social Newcastle University Structural Biology Facility @nusbf.bsky.social · 6d
Next up @jnb-lab.bsky.social talking about his work on the mycobacterial cell envelope
November 5, 2025 at 10:10 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Last talk of the day from Dr Ting-Yu Lin from telling us about ‘how enzymes write RNA’
November 5, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Starting the next session : CryoEM in the North East, Dr Paul James from
Northumbria University
November 5, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Dr Emma Hesketh @heskethemma.bsky.social tells us about what we can do with the Midlands Regional CryoEM facility
November 5, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Next up @jnb-lab.bsky.social talking about his work on the mycobacterial cell envelope
November 5, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Next up in out ‘Enabling Technology’ - Prof Vicky Gold from the University of Exeter telling us about Structural Cell Biology in the South West
November 5, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Next up : Matt Iadanza from CCP-EM with an overview of the available software and training
November 5, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Atieh Aminian from @thermofishersci.bsky.social tells us more about the capabilities of our new Tundra microscope
November 5, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Keynote lecture from @stemuench.bsky.social giving us a historical perspective of EM and the exciting challenges left to explore
November 5, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
pssalgado.bsky.social
A great overview of #cryoEM in Newcastle from @jmarlesw.bsky.social at #NorthernEye opening @nusbf.bsky.social
November 5, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
nusbf.bsky.social
Woo. The big day is finally here. @jmarlesw.bsky.social kicking off the Northern Eye Opening Symposium
November 5, 2025 at 10:28 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
kshbeckham.bsky.social
Want to find ways to combat TB? Check out this PhD position 👇
November 2, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
maxewilkinson.bsky.social
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social

🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬

annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
Wilkinson Lab
We discover and study reverse transcriptases
wilkinsonlab.bio
October 31, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
danybeste.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Read it if you dare. Happy Halloween
VadK, a Non-Canonical Kinase that Regulates the Methylcitrate Cycle and is Essential for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Virulence
The evolution of new enzymatic functions is constrained and guided by the architecture of an organisms metabolic and regulatory networks as well as by environmental constraints. Here, we identify a pr...
www.biorxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
johnrubinstein.bsky.social
New lab preprint!
@zestytoast.bsky.social tagged a scarce mycobacterial protein in M. smegmatis with TwinStep but got… something? @kjamali.bsky.social's ModelAngelo built models & @martinsteinegger.bsky.social's FoldSeek IDed them as the biotin-containing MCC & LCC complexes
🧵
tinyurl.com/ukny4ptz
Cryo-EM maps and atomic models of the biotin-containing 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (MCC) complex and long-chain acyl-CoA carboxylase (LCC) complex
October 30, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
sjorsscheres.bsky.social
We are looking for a computational postdoc to work with us on new optimisation algorithms to make #RELION even better. Join our bubbly team at the @mrclmb.bsky.social in Cambridge, UK. 🤗 RTs appreciated.

mrc.tal.net/vx/appcentre...
Quick Check Needed
mrc.tal.net
October 29, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
moalquraishi.bsky.social
OpenFold3-preview (OF3p) is out: a sneak peek of our AF3-based structure prediction model. Our aim for OF3 is full AF3-parity for every modality. We now believe we have a clear path towards this goal and are releasing OF3p to enable building in the OF3 ecosystem. More👇
October 28, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
allostericstate.bsky.social
At the moment the contaminating insect cell HSP60 particles are going nicer than my actual target... 🌼 ❄️🔬 #cryoEM
2D classes of insect cell (HSP60) HSP60 from approximately 7,000 particles C7 symmetry applied map of insect cell (Sf9) HSP60 from approximately 7,000 particles with one docked chain model of human HSP60.
October 26, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Jamie Blaza
m-correa-m.bsky.social
Hot off the press! Our paper, “Global comparative structural analysis of responses to protein phosphorylation”, is now out in Nature Communications!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Global comparative structural analysis of responses to protein phosphorylation - Nature Communications
Phosphorylation is central to protein regulation, yet its structural mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, the authors conduct a global, systematic analysis of phosphorylated versus non-phosphory...
www.nature.com
October 27, 2025 at 10:29 AM