Yura Stefanov
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stefych.bsky.social
Yura Stefanov
@stefych.bsky.social
Biomedical animator, scriptwriter, and director. Former molecular biologist, CSO at Visual Science, and a home cook. Based in Stockholm.

https://visual-science.com/
Oh, I miss Philly.
There is beauty everywhere but especially in autumn in Philadelphia! 😻
November 25, 2025 at 6:40 PM
As a person who participated in the protests that failed I have to say that these people better be ready to show up when this will really matter in 3,5 years from now. Show up, stand, and not go away.
This is what democracy looks like. #NoKings
October 19, 2025 at 3:45 PM
As a biomedical illustrator, I don't like Tregs because you never know how to color-code them. Like, are they good? Are they bad? Are they immunity, or part of TME? Always complex color-coding decisions that end up in brown-ish green in 90% of cases.
October 7, 2025 at 7:51 AM
This is so cool. Sperm whales are probably the most amaizing animals on Earth.
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
September 25, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Have to admit, even brilliant Western actors are not very good in expressing what is called a "resting slavic face".
September 1, 2025 at 11:40 AM
It’s great when you get the chance to model a complete, functioning eukaryotic replication fork while working on a commercial project.
August 29, 2025 at 12:33 PM
What a great reference for 3D modeling.
I might be a bit obsessed with blood vessels in the brain 🤓! Aren't they pretty? And check the red blood cells inside the small ones!
Is it okay if I keep advertising our call for papers using more images of blood vessels in the brain? 😜🔬
#dementia #WomenInStem
With @natureportfolio.nature.com
June 26, 2025 at 6:57 AM
While I agree that the pups aren't true dire wolves, I still find this to be exciting and interesting news. I enjoyed working with the Colossal team on the short animations, which they featured on their website and in the video about the project.
April 8, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Reposted by Yura Stefanov
Pluto is about to eclipse Sun, submerging most of Charon in darkness with only source of light being stars and glowing ring of Pluto's blue atmosphere.
#pluto #astronomy #space #art
November 17, 2024 at 11:54 PM
I cried when I first listened to Khlyvnyuk singing this song. A man of amazing talent and courage. I was a fan of his band Boombox some 15 years ago. The Kiffness is ok, but I wouldn’t put it as the song released by him. He just rode the wave of the moment. The tragic and horrible moment.
March 7, 2025 at 8:23 AM
Today I learned that a newly discovered snake species was named after my friend and former university classmate, Nick Poyarkov. Welcome, Lycodon poyarkovi sp. nov.

novataxa.blogspot.com/2025/01/lyco...
[Herpetology • 2025] <i>Lycodon poyarkovi</i> • A New Species of <i>Lycodon</i><small><small> Fitzinger, 1826</small> (Serpentes: Colubridae)</small> from the Northern part of the Truong Son Mountains...
Lycodon poyarkovi   Nguyen &  Vogel,  2025  Poyarkov’s Big-tooth Snake |  DOI:  doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5570.3.3   Rắn khuyết Trường sơn ...
novataxa.blogspot.com
January 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Amazing!
In a great collaboration with @hummerlab.bsky.social and the Kräusslich lab: HIV capsid doesn't break at the NPC; instead, it cracks open the NPC itself! Details in Cell: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... @mpibp.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social A thread below:
January 18, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Reposted by Yura Stefanov
Somebody could defuse this whole Greenland obsession by explaining the Mercator projection to Trump.
January 9, 2025 at 7:30 AM
Same in Stockholm.
Climate change is bad for Minneapolis’ public ice rinks.

The ducks got a new temporary pond, though.
December 29, 2024 at 2:17 PM
I enjoy #FluorescenceFriday but don't have much to share because we aren’t microscopists. However, we tried to imitate fluorescence images in a couple of projects.
December 20, 2024 at 10:23 AM
I wrote 15 different scripts in about a couple of weeks mostly on hematology, oncology, and NGS. That’s on top of managing several projects that are already in production. I’m exhausted and very much looking forward to holidays already.
December 17, 2024 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Yura Stefanov
OpenOrganelle is a repo of #CellBiology data, segmented from electron #microscopy at #HHMIJanelia by Aubrey Weigel and the CellMap team, the Saalfeld lab ( @herrsaalffeld.sky.social) and the Hess lab. Here's a macrophage cell, rendered with #Blender driven by neuVid (helpful for more than neurons).
December 9, 2024 at 10:06 AM
Heja Sverige!
Sweden's remarkably clean power grid. In November, this was its electricity generation mix:

Hydro 38%
Wind 31%
Nuclear 28%
Bioenergy 4%

Zero coal or gas.

- Ember data
December 5, 2024 at 9:44 PM
New stuff from WEHI team!
December 4, 2024 at 10:04 PM
This beautiful PDB Molecule of the Month image reminds me of the book Molecular Aesthetics, where I came across a thought about the beauty of symmetrical molecular structures compared to disordered ones.
December 2, 2024 at 11:46 AM
Oh wow.
Our new study shows that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein accumulates & persists in the body for years after infection, especially in the skull-meninges-brain axis, potentially driving long COVID. mRNA vaccines help but cannot stop it🔬🧠🦠🧵Your weekend read👇
@cellpress.bsky.social
cell.com/cell-host-mi...
November 29, 2024 at 7:26 PM
Hmmm, I think now I also celebrate (technically, not THAT Holliday junction, but close):

vimeo.com/923512124?sh...
November 29, 2024 at 8:28 AM
Recently, my Twitter feed stopped providing me with relevant and important information. Bluesky is different—it's nice to see posts like this, especially when every other of our animation projects involves showing TME and immune cell activation.
November 28, 2024 at 9:21 AM
One of my favorite artists, Arkhip Kuindzhi, paints trees in a way that reminds me of protein complexes on the surface of a cell or a virus.
November 26, 2024 at 6:32 AM
Reposted by Yura Stefanov
For #FluorescenceFriday, a found an old video of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dense collagen matrix dividing, acquired on a lattice lightsheet microscope at the @aicjanelia.bsky.social. Mitotic chromosomes are fun to watch! This was just a quick test video, hence the limited but still impressive quality.
November 22, 2024 at 11:36 PM