Vasileios Petrou
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vasileiospetrou.bsky.social
Vasileios Petrou
@vasileiospetrou.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Structural biology of membrane enzymes, antibiotic resistance, ion channels. Newark, NJ. He/him.
Pinned
Our new preprint is out! We report the #cryoEM #structure of the glycosyltransferase ArnC from Salmonella enterica and identify key structural elements that enable the glycosylation of bacterial lipid undecaprenyl phosphate. #membrane #protein #PetrouLab 🧵1/n

https://buff.ly/3EvRyFy
Structural basis of undecaprenyl phosphate glycosylation leading to polymyxin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria
In Gram-negative bacteria, the enzymatic modification of Lipid A with aminoarabinose (L-Ara4N) leads to resistance against polymyxin antibiotics and cationic antimicrobial peptides. ArnC, an integral…
buff.ly
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
“NIH will not issue noncompeting continuation awards for existing projects until the SBIR/STTR program is reauthorized. “
November 19, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
**Job Alert** Exciting postdoc position available: theoretical and experimental cryo-EM studies of flexible biomolecules. Competitive salary, collaborative environment at NYSBC and Flatiron Institute. Please share!! and contact: pcossio@flatironinstitute.org
October 22, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
🚨🧠🔬 A major breakthrough in molecular neuroscience:

I am excited to share a new story from our lab, published in accelerated format today by @nature.com:

"Delta-type glutamate receptors are ligand-gated ion channels"

Read more here (free article link): rdcu.be/eGIKz
September 16, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
For non-scientists: the funding rate is somewhere between 7% to ~25% (rare) for NIH or NSF grants, depending on where you are applying. Grants are reviewed by a panel of peers who read the grants, score them, then debate the ratings for 1-2 days to rank them. It is INCREDIBLY competitive already.
Republican Senator Katie Britt: We need to create a system "where the beat idea wins... This is our opportunity to make a dollar go further and to make it have a greater impact."

(NIH already generates $2.56 for every $1 spent it spends on research.)
June 10, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
Read preprints. Cite preprints. Email people and tell them you loved their preprint. Email people you hated their preprint. Embrace preprints, preprints are good.
April 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
That specifically right there is the sound of science in the US dying
F mechanisms (New and Competitive renewals)

Oof!

3/n
March 29, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
🚨 Amazing Opportunity 🚨
U Alberta is looking for a director for their new #cryoEM facility
Support excellent researchers (who are really nice people) using state-of-the-art infrastructure.
+ reasonable cost of living
+ near some of most beautiful places in world
+ 🇨🇦
apps.ualberta.ca/careers/post...
February 22, 2025 at 2:47 AM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
Registration is now open for the 4th Structural Biology Symposium.
Poster abstract submission is due on 4/15/2025. isb.med.upenn.edu/4th-structur...
🧬@Structuralbiology
March 17, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
You want people to "stand up for science" as Trump destroys it? Then we better stop shying away from politics and the necessarily political foundations of both science and public health. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
March 12, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
Wondering if your PO, SRO, or other NIH official is still at NIH? Tara pointed out this useful search tool. Unfortunately my MIRA PO, who just took over this portfolio in December, is no longer listed. 💔
March 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
openRxiv has arrived!

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of openRxiv as an independent, researcher-led nonprofit to oversee bioRxiv and medRxiv, the world’s leading preprint servers for life and health sciences.
openrxiv.org/introducing-...

#openRxiv #OpenScience #Preprints #bioRxiv #medRxiv
March 11, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
🎉 bioRxiv & medRxiv are now managed by openRxiv, a new independent nonprofit. This transition allows for more flexibility and innovation. Our mission remains being a free service to authors ensuring rapid sharing of scientific information before peer review.
ℹ️ openrxiv.org/introducing-...
Introducing openRxiv: a new independent home for preprint sharing in the life sciences - openRxiv
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of openRxiv as an independent nonprofit to oversee bioRxiv and medRxiv, the world’s leading preprint servers for life and health sciences. openRxiv ensures that r...
openrxiv.org
March 11, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
I keep receiving these emails full of enthusiasm about the 50 alleged NIH study sections that will be (but really are not yet) on the federal register. Folks, council meetings are on an INDEFINITE hold. There is no grant happening. Let's focus on the issue at hand.
Extending my grant update this morning. Here are data limited to new and competitive renewal applications.

The Pause is dead, Long live the Pause...
March 1, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
There are many reasons for anti-intellectualism, but in the current moment, much of it is political. We’re in a rightwing, segregationist backlash & colleges are viewed as bastions of progressiveness and integration AND sources of an alternative form of authority, making them dangerous to fascists.
March 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Our new preprint is out! We report the #cryoEM #structure of the glycosyltransferase ArnC from Salmonella enterica and identify key structural elements that enable the glycosylation of bacterial lipid undecaprenyl phosphate. #membrane #protein #PetrouLab 🧵1/n

https://buff.ly/3EvRyFy
Structural basis of undecaprenyl phosphate glycosylation leading to polymyxin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria
In Gram-negative bacteria, the enzymatic modification of Lipid A with aminoarabinose (L-Ara4N) leads to resistance against polymyxin antibiotics and cationic antimicrobial peptides. ArnC, an integral…
buff.ly
February 3, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Vasileios Petrou
1/ Thrilled to announce Dr. Elizabeth Wright as the inaugural winner of the June Almeida Award for #cryoem! 🎉Elizabeth’s pioneering work in both cryo-ET methods and structural virology made her a perfect fit for this award. Congrats, Elizabeth!
December 17, 2024 at 7:27 PM
Hello everyone! I joined Bluesky some months back but I finally decided to become more active here. I am a structural biologist studying membrane enzymes and ion channels. I am a newish PI, having started my lab in 2019. In Newark we operate a Tundra cryo-TEM. Here is a recent picture of our team:
November 16, 2024 at 7:12 PM