Shawn Costello
@shawnmcostello.bsky.social
I like my proteins like I like my anxiety level, marginally stable and highly dynamic.
Postdoc in the Fordyce lab @ Stanford
Previously Biophysics in the Marqusee lab @ UC Berkeley
Postdoc in the Fordyce lab @ Stanford
Previously Biophysics in the Marqusee lab @ UC Berkeley
Reposted by Shawn Costello
New preprint! We measured temperature- and pH-induced aggregation for over 18,000 natural and de novo designed protein domains!
November 19, 2025 at 9:16 PM
New preprint! We measured temperature- and pH-induced aggregation for over 18,000 natural and de novo designed protein domains!
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
“The prohibited activities would include joint research, co-authorship on papers, and advising a foreign graduate student or postdoctoral fellow. The language is retroactive, meaning any interactions during the previous 5 years could make a scientist ineligible for future federal funding.”
U.S. Congress considers sweeping ban on Chinese collaborations
Researchers speak out against proposal that would bar funding for U.S. scientists working with Chinese partners or training Chinese students
www.science.org
November 14, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Defunding scientists for the nationality of who they co-author with or who they train.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
One of the most radical attack on freedom of speech in US history. A far right nationalist destruction of US science. Such a shameful time to be an American that this racist stupidity has become mainstream.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Very happy to share our recent work @cultivarium.bsky.social on genetic tools for Ideonella sakaiensis, a (Betaproteo-)bacterium that degrades PET plastic.
We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.
We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Very happy to share our recent work @cultivarium.bsky.social on genetic tools for Ideonella sakaiensis, a (Betaproteo-)bacterium that degrades PET plastic.
We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.
We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
not to dunk on this conclusion, but it's an insidious mindset that has become pervasive. how you spend your time, how you make your money, is one of the most important ethical and political choices you can make.
convincing ourselves otherwise is arguably The Whole Problem in American society today
convincing ourselves otherwise is arguably The Whole Problem in American society today
i honestly do not know what major company in america isnt involved in some ghastly shit at this point? i just would not *do* the ghastly shit yourself.
are we shaming people for having worked for companies that did ghastly shit elsewhere but far away organizationally because I'll be the first to say I ran a poop plant for a company that was/is major defense contractor and I'm pretty sure was involved with NEOM and *am* sure works with the UAE
November 10, 2025 at 8:07 PM
not to dunk on this conclusion, but it's an insidious mindset that has become pervasive. how you spend your time, how you make your money, is one of the most important ethical and political choices you can make.
convincing ourselves otherwise is arguably The Whole Problem in American society today
convincing ourselves otherwise is arguably The Whole Problem in American society today
Reposted by Shawn Costello
(1/10) How do diverse leukemia mutations converge on the same molecular program? In #RibackLab first manuscript @cp-cell.bsky.social, collaboration with @goodell-lab.bsky.social shows that disparate mutations rewire shared protein networks to form nuclear condensates called C-bodies.
November 4, 2025 at 5:58 PM
(1/10) How do diverse leukemia mutations converge on the same molecular program? In #RibackLab first manuscript @cp-cell.bsky.social, collaboration with @goodell-lab.bsky.social shows that disparate mutations rewire shared protein networks to form nuclear condensates called C-bodies.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death.
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written."
Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating.
🧪🧬🧫
James Watson, dead at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers
James Watson, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA who died Thursday at 97, was a scientific legend and a pariah among his peers.
www.statnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:55 AM
pre-writing a devastating obituary for your enemy is god-tier hating of a kind you don’t often see anymore. renaissance haterism. beautiful stuff.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
James Watson in his own words
“Some anti-Semitism is justified” “Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them” “Japan should be bombed for d…
liorpachter.wordpress.com
November 8, 2025 at 4:29 AM
Scientific breakthroughs are rarely unique; someone else would’ve made them soon enough. But when prominent scientists cause harm, that harm isn’t inevitable; the world might simply have been better had the harm not been inflicted.
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
liorpachter.wordpress.com/2018/05/18/j...
Reposted by Shawn Costello
A few days after the presidential election one year ago, we went to Fordham Road in the Bronx.
It was a little different last week.
It was a little different last week.
November 3, 2025 at 10:40 PM
A few days after the presidential election one year ago, we went to Fordham Road in the Bronx.
It was a little different last week.
It was a little different last week.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Reposted by Shawn Costello
As a child I ate government cheese and free school lunches. I then went on to uni thanks largely to Pell grants.
I now (HAPPILY) pay taxes on an income that would not have been possible without that support.
Taking care of your citizens is good actually.
I now (HAPPILY) pay taxes on an income that would not have been possible without that support.
Taking care of your citizens is good actually.
Just thinking: I am a double-boarded physician-scientist at @uclahealth.org, but I grew up in poverty. Gov't provided the welfare & foodstamps that aided my refugee family. Gov't grants subsidized my education.
I am only where I am today bc of the #America that was. And it makes me want to cry.
I am only where I am today bc of the #America that was. And it makes me want to cry.
October 25, 2025 at 1:28 PM
As a child I ate government cheese and free school lunches. I then went on to uni thanks largely to Pell grants.
I now (HAPPILY) pay taxes on an income that would not have been possible without that support.
Taking care of your citizens is good actually.
I now (HAPPILY) pay taxes on an income that would not have been possible without that support.
Taking care of your citizens is good actually.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
October 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
EXCLUSIVE: One Saturday afternoon in October, my phone lit up with a notification.
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
I glanced down at the message.
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan here,” it began.
So began my text exchange with the woman who is prosecuting the president's perceived political enemies.
www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
Reposted by Shawn Costello
A university that signs the “compact” is one that acknowledges its own inability to compete and succeed based talent and merit. It would signal insecurity and mediocrity to current and future students and faculty. Say no. Recruit the best people, protect their freedom and support their hard work.
October 18, 2025 at 12:05 AM
A university that signs the “compact” is one that acknowledges its own inability to compete and succeed based talent and merit. It would signal insecurity and mediocrity to current and future students and faculty. Say no. Recruit the best people, protect their freedom and support their hard work.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Second, I’m slowly getting to be in the camp that proteins don’t have functions but instead have properties. What biology does with those properties is a somewhat different matter. So maybe we need to predict properties (kcat, Kd, etc) as well
October 15, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Second, I’m slowly getting to be in the camp that proteins don’t have functions but instead have properties. What biology does with those properties is a somewhat different matter. So maybe we need to predict properties (kcat, Kd, etc) as well
Reposted by Shawn Costello
This is great. A few additions. I suspect that what we really need is a model of macromolecular thermodynamics. Prediction potential alternative conformations is nice but unless we can assign weights it’s difficult to link to biology. Same for stability etc.
October 15, 2025 at 2:58 PM
This is great. A few additions. I suspect that what we really need is a model of macromolecular thermodynamics. Prediction potential alternative conformations is nice but unless we can assign weights it’s difficult to link to biology. Same for stability etc.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
If y'all don't see me at some conferences this year... it's because this has been YEARS in the making.
Trans people aren't safe here. PLEASE stand up--personally and professionally (lookin' at you, academics)--for the trans people in your life.
Trans people aren't safe here. PLEASE stand up--personally and professionally (lookin' at you, academics)--for the trans people in your life.
The FBI is preparing to label transgender people as “violent extremists” in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder:
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/fbi-readie...
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/fbi-readie...
FBI Readies New War on Trans People
“We’re looking at the entire web”
www.kenklippenstein.com
September 19, 2025 at 4:48 PM
If y'all don't see me at some conferences this year... it's because this has been YEARS in the making.
Trans people aren't safe here. PLEASE stand up--personally and professionally (lookin' at you, academics)--for the trans people in your life.
Trans people aren't safe here. PLEASE stand up--personally and professionally (lookin' at you, academics)--for the trans people in your life.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Please apply to our tenure-track faculty position at
@stanford-chemh.bsky.social! We are searching for a new colleague working at the interface between computation and molecular sciences. See post below and pls forward widely!
chemh.stanford.edu/opportunitie...
@stanford-chemh.bsky.social! We are searching for a new colleague working at the interface between computation and molecular sciences. See post below and pls forward widely!
chemh.stanford.edu/opportunitie...
Faculty Recruitment
chemh.stanford.edu
September 17, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Please apply to our tenure-track faculty position at
@stanford-chemh.bsky.social! We are searching for a new colleague working at the interface between computation and molecular sciences. See post below and pls forward widely!
chemh.stanford.edu/opportunitie...
@stanford-chemh.bsky.social! We are searching for a new colleague working at the interface between computation and molecular sciences. See post below and pls forward widely!
chemh.stanford.edu/opportunitie...
Reposted by Shawn Costello
happy for THE PITT but heartbroken for ANDOR, a TV show the likes of which we will never, ever see again
September 15, 2025 at 3:21 AM
happy for THE PITT but heartbroken for ANDOR, a TV show the likes of which we will never, ever see again
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Over 10% of human transcription factors are oligomeric. Stoichiometry might be dialled to modulate transcription. We show CREB searches in DNA mixtures as a dimer, and suggest this might be common amongst other members of the bZIP family which fold on binding DNA.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
September 8, 2025 at 9:36 AM
Over 10% of human transcription factors are oligomeric. Stoichiometry might be dialled to modulate transcription. We show CREB searches in DNA mixtures as a dimer, and suggest this might be common amongst other members of the bZIP family which fold on binding DNA.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Shawn Costello
- you clean up that banksy?
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
They erased the new Banksy mural in London. But the stain remains.
September 10, 2025 at 1:02 PM
- you clean up that banksy?
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
- sure did, your honour, leaving a perfect, permanent outline, imbuing the work with real fuckin gravitas while making its point better than the artist did himself just like you asked
Reposted by Shawn Costello
🗓️Join us for the 4th Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25!
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
September 5, 2025 at 6:46 PM
🗓️Join us for the 4th Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25!
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Only 2 days to go! Register and join us to hear these amazing talks!
🗓️Join us for the 4th Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25!
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
September 8, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Only 2 days to go! Register and join us to hear these amazing talks!
Reposted by Shawn Costello
Incredibly excited for this year's iteration of the Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25! This is a fantastic opportunity to hear 10 minute talks describing fantastic cutting-edge science from researchers preparing to launch a faculty search. Please register (link below) & forward widely :)
🗓️Join us for the 4th Stanford.Berkeley.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25!
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
We highlight the work of 18 exceptional early-career scientists across biomedical sciences.
Register and more information below:
www.berkeleystanfordnextgensymposium.com/speakersalumni
September 5, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Incredibly excited for this year's iteration of the Next Generation Faculty Symposium on 9/10/25! This is a fantastic opportunity to hear 10 minute talks describing fantastic cutting-edge science from researchers preparing to launch a faculty search. Please register (link below) & forward widely :)
Reposted by Shawn Costello
When reporting on these kinds of claims, the media should ask:
September 7, 2025 at 11:14 AM
When reporting on these kinds of claims, the media should ask:
Reposted by Shawn Costello
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
September 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
Reposted by Shawn Costello
📢 New preprint: Aromatic Ring Flips Reveal Reshaping of Protein Dynamics in Crystals and Complexes.
We addressed a long-standing question that people debated already in the 1970s - but it still remained open:
Do proteins in crystals move as they do in solution? We used ring flips to find out.
1/n
We addressed a long-standing question that people debated already in the 1970s - but it still remained open:
Do proteins in crystals move as they do in solution? We used ring flips to find out.
1/n
August 25, 2025 at 4:38 AM
📢 New preprint: Aromatic Ring Flips Reveal Reshaping of Protein Dynamics in Crystals and Complexes.
We addressed a long-standing question that people debated already in the 1970s - but it still remained open:
Do proteins in crystals move as they do in solution? We used ring flips to find out.
1/n
We addressed a long-standing question that people debated already in the 1970s - but it still remained open:
Do proteins in crystals move as they do in solution? We used ring flips to find out.
1/n