Together with UC Berkeley we are announcing the laser phase plate - a breakthrough in atomic resolution imaging. This is the brightest continuous wave laser in the world, 100 million times the intensity of the surface of the sun. Phase contrast plays an important role in microscopy, but it was thought close to impossible for electron microscopy, where it would require interfering with an electron beam. Holger Mueller and Robert Glaeser proposed exactly this using a standing wave laser. It has taken over 15 years to make this a reality. Biohub partnered with UC Berkeley and Mueller to support this work and to engineer and build the technology. Contrast has been the critical barrier to achieving atomic resolution imaging of the cell. In cryo-electron tomography, a cellular imaging technology that uses electron microscopy, the low contrast makes it impossible to resolve anything but the largest proteins within their cellular context. The laser phase plate removes that barrier. With advances in AI this breakthrough in contrast will start to open up a new frontier in structural biology, that will allow us to see the molecular machines of the cell, and how they assemble into far more complex and dynamic systems, and understand how they work.

1/8 Do you want medical researchers or political appointees to make decisions about science and medical therapies? I want experts to make these decisions. @BiophysicalSoc

This is exactly right. Aim high!

Mark Zuckerberg wanted to cure, prevent, and manage all diseases by the end of the century. He and Priscilla then had a series of meetings where Nobel Prize-winning scientists laughed at them. Now Zuckerberg says, "I thought that by the end of the century was a stretch. Now I think it's too conservative." Full episode linked in replies.

Can’t say I disagree with this advice. Pretty insightful.

The next #CryoEM Current Practices Webinar speaker will be Mark Herzik from UCSD speaking on "Old tools, new tricks: engineering better cryoEM sample preparation workflows through design and chemistry" 6/25/2026 at 12 PM ET / 9AM PT Register today: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi…

Ready for our Symposium this week! 125 registrants & looking forward to the cross discipline discussion. @UVMLarnerMed @uvmvermont

🧠 💙 Health We are thrilled to announce receipt of our Notice of Award from NIGMS funding Phase 2 of our center. This will support continued development of the Center for another 5 years! Learn more about us at our website: uvm.edu/larnermed/vccbh @uvmvermont @UVMLarnerMed

2 days until UVM Commencement! We’re proud to welcome back UVM alum and 4th-gen Vermonter, Ben Ogden ’22, to speak to the Class of 2026. A mechanical engineering grad and NCAA champion at UVM, Ben went on to win two Olympic silver medals in XC skiing. uvm.edu/uvmnews/news/uvm-ann…

proteins aren’t static structures. they constantly sample rare higher-energy states that shape function, aggregation, and disease. this paper maps those hidden conformational fluctuations across thousands of protein domains at scale, opening the door to predicting protein energy landscapes instead of just native structures. nature.com/articles/s41586-0…

“Science is fun. To be a scientist, this is a fun job,” said medicine laureate Katalin Karikó. She likened it to being a detective or an investigator trying to solve a crime. “But the end of it, you don’t find a perpetrator, you find a solution, and maybe that solution will help somebody,” she said. Karikó’s pioneering research with her lab partner Drew Weissman was the foundation of the mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 and has paved the way for a host of treatments for cancer, HIV, malaria and other life-threatening diseases. They shared the 2023 medicine prize for their work.

“To be successful as a scientist, I think you really need to be curious. You need to be inquisitive. You want to know answers to stuff that you don’t have a good sense on. You have to be stubborn because you’re going to be wrong and you’re going to not get through this. You have to have a long-term perspective. You can go months, years, sometimes making painfully little progress on something – and then something happens and it’s exciting. But if you need immediate gratification, you should not be a scientist. That’s not going to work for you, because there’s very little immediate gratification in this business. You’ve got to be stubborn and you’ve got to have a long-term perspective.” Some career advice from 2025 medicine laureate Fred Ramsdell. He shared the prize with Mary Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguichi for their “discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.”

New findings from the lab of Prof. @_chrisgparker_ show that post-translational modifications (PTMs) can determine whether proteins bind drug-like molecules. Published in @nchembio, the study identified 400 proteins whose druggability depends on modification state—an insight that could reshape how new therapies are developed. More: ow.ly/kxbW50YVeau

Big news for heart & brain health at UVM: A $2M gift from the Argosy Foundation is fueling research, led by @MaryCushmanMD, M.D. ’89., at @UVMHeartBrain @UVMLarnerMed to help prevent stroke and heart attack in people living with AFib. uvm.edu/larnermed/medcommuni…

Amber26 and AmberTools26 have now been released! Full info is at ambermd.org

New online! TONSL emerges as a key barrier to prevent large tandem duplications dlvr.it/TSJNCB

Generative design of sequence specific DNA binding proteins doi.org/10.64898/2026.04.27.…