Nikolas Alansson
@nikalansson.bsky.social
PhD Candidate at IBS Grenoble
Avid sailor #HobieWayofLife, freetime stargazer
Icelandic, German, American. He/Him
Avid sailor #HobieWayofLife, freetime stargazer
Icelandic, German, American. He/Him
New paper!
This project has been fascinating through each step and I'm happy to share this.
TLDR: with only a few mutations, we engineered a PTP that is stable >130 °C with unforeseen conformational dynamics.
Thank you @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for overseeing this baby.
This project has been fascinating through each step and I'm happy to share this.
TLDR: with only a few mutations, we engineered a PTP that is stable >130 °C with unforeseen conformational dynamics.
Thank you @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for overseeing this baby.
We played with some sequences and got a wild archaeal protein. Check it out here:
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
(Paper is long because the protein is epic)
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
(Paper is long because the protein is epic)
Conformational Dynamics and Catalytic Backups in a Hyper-thermostable Engineered Archaeal Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase
Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are a family of enzymes that play important roles in regulating cellular signaling pathways. The activity of these enzymes is regulated by the motion of a catalyti...
pubs.acs.org
December 11, 2025 at 12:19 PM
New paper!
This project has been fascinating through each step and I'm happy to share this.
TLDR: with only a few mutations, we engineered a PTP that is stable >130 °C with unforeseen conformational dynamics.
Thank you @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for overseeing this baby.
This project has been fascinating through each step and I'm happy to share this.
TLDR: with only a few mutations, we engineered a PTP that is stable >130 °C with unforeseen conformational dynamics.
Thank you @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for overseeing this baby.
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
I will likely be recruiting a new postdoc early next year, working on protein allostery (can be either method development or applications). Please reach out to my GT email address if interested.
September 8, 2025 at 12:57 PM
I will likely be recruiting a new postdoc early next year, working on protein allostery (can be either method development or applications). Please reach out to my GT email address if interested.
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
“Open Source is one person | Open Source Security”
https://opensourcesecurity.io/2025/08-oss-one-person/
> Here’s the thing. Almost all open source is literally one person.
https://opensourcesecurity.io/2025/08-oss-one-person/
> Here’s the thing. Almost all open source is literally one person.
August 28, 2025 at 9:21 AM
“Open Source is one person | Open Source Security”
https://opensourcesecurity.io/2025/08-oss-one-person/
> Here’s the thing. Almost all open source is literally one person.
https://opensourcesecurity.io/2025/08-oss-one-person/
> Here’s the thing. Almost all open source is literally one person.
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
I worried that this might be offensive for a German audience, but I wanted to get my point across. From my interview in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
August 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
I worried that this might be offensive for a German audience, but I wanted to get my point across. From my interview in today's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung:
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Exclusive: An international scientific competition widely credited with spurring the development of artificial intelligence for biology appears to be on its deathbed. scim.ag/44ukS90
Exclusive: Famed protein structure competition nears end as NIH grant money runs out
Agency silent on funding renewal for contest that inspired creation of AIs that predicted how proteins would fold
scim.ag
July 2, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Exclusive: An international scientific competition widely credited with spurring the development of artificial intelligence for biology appears to be on its deathbed. scim.ag/44ukS90
I'm thrilled and honored to share that I was awarded the poster prize at this year's FrenchBIC meeting in Amboise! My poster focused on my research investigating the biotin synthase mechanism. Thank you to my advisors Yvain Nicolet and Sandrine Ollagnier for their incredible support!
May 29, 2025 at 8:47 AM
I'm thrilled and honored to share that I was awarded the poster prize at this year's FrenchBIC meeting in Amboise! My poster focused on my research investigating the biotin synthase mechanism. Thank you to my advisors Yvain Nicolet and Sandrine Ollagnier for their incredible support!
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Our latest work, funded by an NSF Collaborative Grant with Alvan Hengge and Sean Johnson, uses amino acid shuffling on extant thermophilic archaeal protein tyrosine phosphatases, to generate a chimeric PTP that is mechanistically promiscuous, easily oxidized, 1/2
Conformational Dynamics and Catalytic Backups in a Hyper-Thermostable Engineered Archaeal Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase
Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are a family of enzymes that play important roles in regulating cellular signaling pathways. The activity of these enzymes is regulated by the motion of a catalyti...
www.biorxiv.org
March 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Our latest work, funded by an NSF Collaborative Grant with Alvan Hengge and Sean Johnson, uses amino acid shuffling on extant thermophilic archaeal protein tyrosine phosphatases, to generate a chimeric PTP that is mechanistically promiscuous, easily oxidized, 1/2
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
...and has a thermostability (>130C) that is >8C higher than the highest recorded growth temperature of any archaeal strain to date. Read all about it on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 2/2
Conformational Dynamics and Catalytic Backups in a Hyper-Thermostable Engineered Archaeal Protein Tyrosine Phosphatase
Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) are a family of enzymes that play important roles in regulating cellular signaling pathways. The activity of these enzymes is regulated by the motion of a catalyti...
www.biorxiv.org
March 27, 2025 at 3:10 PM
...and has a thermostability (>130C) that is >8C higher than the highest recorded growth temperature of any archaeal strain to date. Read all about it on bioRxiv! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 2/2
I am honored to receive the 2025 GT Sigma Xi Best M.S. Thesis Award. My sincere thanks to @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for her tremendous support—this would not have been possible without her guidance!
Many congratulations to our former M.S. student Nikolas Alansson @nikalansson.bsky.social on being awarded the 2025 GT Sigma Xi Best M.S. Thesis Award! 👏
March 12, 2025 at 9:18 AM
I am honored to receive the 2025 GT Sigma Xi Best M.S. Thesis Award. My sincere thanks to @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social for her tremendous support—this would not have been possible without her guidance!
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
That awkward moment when someone publishes a paper saying that they can’t find any evidence that your compounds bind to what your own series of papers say that they bind to. . .
Do They Even Bind?
www.science.org
December 3, 2024 at 7:02 PM
That awkward moment when someone publishes a paper saying that they can’t find any evidence that your compounds bind to what your own series of papers say that they bind to. . .
Happy to share my first co-authorship, where we investigated the pH -dependencies of a regulatory protein. Grateful for the collaboration and support from my co-authors and especially my excellent mentor @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social
Combining theory and experiment to understand the pH-dependence of wild-type and variant forms of SHP-1 (and implications for PTPs more broadly). SHP-1 plays important roles in both immune regulation and cancer signaling. Just out in JACS Au ! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
SHP-1 Variants Broaden the Understanding of pH-Dependent Activities in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases
The protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) SHP-1 plays an important role in both immune regulation and oncogenesis. This enzyme is part of a broader family of PTPs that all play important regulatory roles...
pubs.acs.org
July 18, 2024 at 8:42 AM
Happy to share my first co-authorship, where we investigated the pH -dependencies of a regulatory protein. Grateful for the collaboration and support from my co-authors and especially my excellent mentor @lynnkamerlin.bsky.social
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Combining theory and experiment to understand the pH-dependence of wild-type and variant forms of SHP-1 (and implications for PTPs more broadly). SHP-1 plays important roles in both immune regulation and cancer signaling. Just out in JACS Au ! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
SHP-1 Variants Broaden the Understanding of pH-Dependent Activities in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases
The protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) SHP-1 plays an important role in both immune regulation and oncogenesis. This enzyme is part of a broader family of PTPs that all play important regulatory roles...
pubs.acs.org
July 17, 2024 at 4:55 PM
Combining theory and experiment to understand the pH-dependence of wild-type and variant forms of SHP-1 (and implications for PTPs more broadly). SHP-1 plays important roles in both immune regulation and cancer signaling. Just out in JACS Au ! pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Happens to anybody who plays Kerbal Space Program.
July 1, 2024 at 12:59 PM
Happens to anybody who plays Kerbal Space Program.
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
This snippet made my morning. Nature is weird and fascinating.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Beetle grows ‘termite’ on back to steal food
Puppet helps insect trick real termites into feeding it
www.science.org
June 26, 2024 at 6:52 AM
This snippet made my morning. Nature is weird and fascinating.
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Protein language models are biased by unequal sequence sampling across the tree of life https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.07.584001v1
Protein language models are biased by unequal sequence sampling across the tree of life https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.07.584001v1
Protein language models (pLMs) trained on large protein sequence databases have been used to underst
www.biorxiv.org
March 12, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Protein language models are biased by unequal sequence sampling across the tree of life https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.07.584001v1
27 mio atoms. Mind boggling. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The structure and physical properties of a packaged bacteriophage particle - Nature
Multiresolution computational simulations generate all-atom models of a complete packaged virus particle.
www.nature.com
March 8, 2024 at 11:33 AM
27 mio atoms. Mind boggling. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Now I have a valid reason to ask my PI for high-end gaming hardware.
🧪 The coolest - video game engine used to render cryoEM generated macro molecular structures - fly along a MT
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
March 1, 2024 at 1:42 AM
Now I have a valid reason to ask my PI for high-end gaming hardware.
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Join Bluesky Today (Bye, Invites!) - Bluesky
Sign up for Bluesky! No invite code required.
bsky.social
February 6, 2024 at 2:09 PM
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Testy, pissed-off thoughts on the Dana-Farber paper retraction scandal:
www.science.org/content/blog...
www.science.org/content/blog...
January 24, 2024 at 4:19 PM
Testy, pissed-off thoughts on the Dana-Farber paper retraction scandal:
www.science.org/content/blog...
www.science.org/content/blog...
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Interesting
Guardian gets this
but the US media is completely blinkered
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/20/conservative-attack-higher-education-claudine-gay-harvard
Guardian gets this
but the US media is completely blinkered
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/20/conservative-attack-higher-education-claudine-gay-harvard
‘Code words and dog whistling’: why the conservative attack on higher education is so efficient
The Claudine Gay and Harvard University case was just a glimpse into the plan to advance rightwing agendas
www.theguardian.com
January 21, 2024 at 12:05 AM
Interesting
Guardian gets this
but the US media is completely blinkered
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/20/conservative-attack-higher-education-claudine-gay-harvard
Guardian gets this
but the US media is completely blinkered
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/20/conservative-attack-higher-education-claudine-gay-harvard
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Today in marine invertebrates. Staying on topic link.springer.com/article/10.1...
A nudibranch removes rival sperm with a disposable spiny penis - Journal of Ethology
Simultaneous hermaphroditism is, at least initially, favoured by selection under low density — and therefore it can be assumed that sperm competition has little importance in this sexual system. How...
link.springer.com
January 19, 2024 at 4:00 AM
Today in marine invertebrates. Staying on topic link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
@drbecky.bsky.social talks a good bit about the false color images of Uranus and Neptune. Faskinating!
🔭
🔭
Neptune is not as blue as we all thought! - Reprocessed Voyager 2 images
Go to https://ground.news/drbecky to stay fully informed. Subscribe through my link to get 30% off the Vantage plan for unlimited access this month only. In ...
youtu.be
January 18, 2024 at 8:20 PM
@drbecky.bsky.social talks a good bit about the false color images of Uranus and Neptune. Faskinating!
🔭
🔭
Reposted by Nikolas Alansson
Our latest work on understanding pH-dependent activities in protein tyrosine phosphatases (this time exploring SHP1, which is involved in a wide range of human cancers), is now out on @ChemRxiv ! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
SHP-1 Variants Broaden the Understanding of pH-Dependent Activities in Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases
The protein tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) SHP-1 plays an important role in both immune regulation and oncogenesis. This enzyme is part of a broader family of PTPs that all play important regulatory roles...
chemrxiv.org
January 18, 2024 at 7:41 PM
Our latest work on understanding pH-dependent activities in protein tyrosine phosphatases (this time exploring SHP1, which is involved in a wide range of human cancers), is now out on @ChemRxiv ! chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...
New fissure has opened near Grindavík, Iceland. This one is much closer to the city. Workers are still actively working on protecting the city.
www.icelandreview.com/news/january...
www.icelandreview.com/news/january...
January 2024 Reykjanes Eruption: Lava Reaches Grindavík
The second fissure which opened just outside of town has reached its first house. Government ministers will meet later this afternoon.
www.icelandreview.com
January 14, 2024 at 3:10 PM
New fissure has opened near Grindavík, Iceland. This one is much closer to the city. Workers are still actively working on protecting the city.
www.icelandreview.com/news/january...
www.icelandreview.com/news/january...