Tim Stearns
Professor and Dean of The Rockefeller University. Cell biologist in NYC. Believer in the power of science education.
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNYC Postdocs! Interesting in using comedy in the creative scientific process? NYC Postdoc Night Science will have its first 2026 meeting on Feb. 11 at @nyumedpostdocs.bsky.social. I'll lead this with the amazing stand-up comedian Sarah Adelman! Free registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/11Sz...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsCan we design mutations that bias proteins towards desired conformational states? Today in @science.org, we introduce Conformational Biasing (CB), a simple and scalable computational method that uses contrastive scoring by inverse folding models to identify conformation-biasing mutations.
- Reposted by Tim StearnsOur attempt to give multinucleate cells the spotlight they deserve (seriously, they’re everywhere), led by the fearless @mrosjac.bsky.social and with @Markus Ganter doi.org/10.32942/X2M... We’d love your feedback while this goes through the peer review process! #MicroEvoSky #ProtistsonSky 🧪🌏
- Reposted by Tim StearnsGreat talk (and work 🧪 ) by @computingcaitie.bsky.social from @biozentrum.unibas.ch about exploring multiciliated cells with a complementary trio of structural techniques! Looking forward to sharing the preprint. Thanks for the fab collab @centriolelab.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social #TeamTomo
- Next up @computingcaitie.bsky.social from @cellarchlab.com marvels us with in situ structural biology of mammalian motile cilia base- power of #cryoET with #XL-MS & #UExM! Stunning cataloguing of MIPs in different axial positions & cilia types, filamentous actin in action. #UKCilia2025 /3
- Reposted by Tim StearnsAre you a postdoc in NYC? Come hang out with us at Postdoc Night Science! We are hosting the event at Columbia on Dec 3 at 5PM. Meet other NYC postdocs as well as @itaiyanai.bsky.social & @stearnslab.bsky.social to talk science & creativity! 🧬🧪 Make sure to use the QR code on the poster to sign up!
- Reposted by Tim StearnsHot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsMy dept. is hiring a microbiologist (broadly defined)! We are a deeply curious and friendly dept. with lots of enthusiasm for unusual systems and strengths in regeneration & dev bio, ecology & evolution, and circadian rhythms. I highly encourage anyone to apply: ukjobs.uky.edu/postings/600....
- Reposted by Tim StearnsBeautiful drawing of ciliogenesis in airway cells from Sorokin, 1968: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/.... Just shown on stage by @mahjoublab.bsky.social at #GEF25
- Reposted by Tim StearnsInterested in learning how to be a good speaker and give effective talks? Season 2 of the NYC Postdoc Night Science Club begins October 15th. Join us NYC Postdocs for a 2hr workshop and maybe also a drink at a bar! Free registration (usually ~100 come): docs.google.com/forms/d/1dII...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsA new study in ants from @danielkronauer.bsky.social reveals a previously unknown mechanism that ensures that each olfactory neuron expresses only one odorant receptor, with broad implications for the study of gene regulation. #RockefellerScience bit.ly/4pwPFLY
- Frank Stahl was a visiting scientist in the lab next to where I was a grad student at MIT in the 1980's. He loved nothing more than doing experiments with phage lambda, staring at the plaques through a pair of magnifying goggles, thinking about recombination. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/s...
- I was young, and Stahl already seemed to me an old man who had done something famous long ago. Really, he was only in his mid-50’s and Meselson-Stahl was 30 years before. I regret not asking him more about it then, and the famous necessary artifact that allowed them to get the right answer.
- Reposted by Tim StearnsRIP Franklin W. Stahl (1929–2025) here is Frank explaining semiconservative replication of DNA in the marvelous interview from 2020 together with Matt Meselson (youtu.be/7-tnuAqEp9g)
- UCSF Asilomar retreat t-shirt, 1990
- Good to see acknowledgment from industry about the importance of fundamental research funding. We need more industry leaders to step up to make this point to Congress. www.statnews.com/2025/06/27/b...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsThank you, Tim! The Last Class film about Robert Reich is playing in NYC throughout this week at the wonderful Quad Cinema Greenwich Village through Thursday, July 3. Tickets available now here: quadcinema.com/film/the-las...
- Saw the new film by @elliotkirschner.bsky.social about Robert Reich’s last class taught at UC Berkeley. It’s a film about @rbreich.bsky.social’s remarkable life, but also about the power of teaching and the classroom. Check it out!
- Saw the new film by @elliotkirschner.bsky.social about Robert Reich’s last class taught at UC Berkeley. It’s a film about @rbreich.bsky.social’s remarkable life, but also about the power of teaching and the classroom. Check it out!
- About the art of writing, but applies to doing science, too.
- Court invalidates NSF 15% indirect cost cap. Strong ruling. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
- An amazing group of Freeman Hrabowski Scholars from @hhmi.org ! Great to see Steve Bonilla, who is off to an outstanding start at @rockefelleruniv.bsky.social www.hhmi.org/programs/fre...
- Reposted by Tim Stearns🚨 New preprint! Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsWoo! Very excited to share our collaborative work on the centriole's Luminal Distal Ring ⭕. This project started 13 years ago with @hugovdhoek.bsky.social & @stearnslab.bsky.social, and then beautifully came together with @computingcaitie.bsky.social & @centriolelab.bsky.social. #TeamTomo #UExM 🧪🧶🧬🔬
- 🚨 New preprint! Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI heard this morning that my informatics colleague Dr. Atul Butte passed after a battle with cancer. He was a giant in the field & inspired many of us over his distinguished career. He was a passionate champion of the power of big data & his impact on our field is immeasurable. RIP Atul & thanks.
- Fifth Avenue, NYC.
- RIP Dick Garwin, who I had the pleasure of working alongside every summer for more than 20 years. A brilliant thinker and compassionate person, Dick is the perfect example of how high-level science advice has been critical to the success of the U.S. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/14/s...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNew lab preprint! Unveiling the Molecular Architecture of T Cells and Immune Synapses with Cryo-Expansion Microscopy (Cryo-ExM). A fantastic collaboration with Dr. Benita Wolf. Congratulations to all authors, especially Florent Lemaitre, for leading this amazing work! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Itai and I, along with Kelsey, have been doing these sessions with postdocs across NYC. Great fun and much science buddy interaction! Join us at the New York Genome Center on June 2 for the final meeting before we take a summer hiatus.
- NYC Postdocs! Join us for Night Science at the New York Genome Center on June 2nd for a discussion on the creative process of finding novel questions. This time we hit the bar after! Register: docs.google.com/forms/d/1s9W... @stearnslab.bsky.social @kelseymonson.bsky.social @rmassonix.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tim StearnsA new preprint from the lab in collaboration with Feng Jiang. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... This is a thread for you if you're interested in secretion systems, phages, and evolution. The extracellular contractile injection system (eCIS) is a mysterious microbial toxin delivery system.
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNYC Postdocs! Join us for Night Science at the New York Genome Center on June 2nd for a discussion on the creative process of finding novel questions. This time we hit the bar after! Register: docs.google.com/forms/d/1s9W... @stearnslab.bsky.social @kelseymonson.bsky.social @rmassonix.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tim StearnsAs the incoming Chair of Biochemistry and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, I am looking for a Director of Research. Exciting opportunity for a PhD scientist to shape the future of this new Department! Apply here: jobs.weill.cornell.edu/NY/job/New-Y...
- The Clearwater sloop docking at Cold Spring on a beautiful day on the Hudson. Clearwater has been the symbol of the very successful effort to clean up the Hudson River for almost sixty years and is a great example of how bringing information to people can effect change. www.clearwater.org/about/
- Reposted by Tim StearnsThis desperate attempt to sort diffusing motors is a fight against entropy and disorder. Life shall win. Numerical simulation by Floran Lavrilleux.
- The EU recognizes the critical moment for science. The US must, too. “We are choosing to be the continent where universities are pillars of our societies and our way of life…where innovation serves humanity, where global talent is welcomed.” ec.europa.eu/commission/p...
- ASCB and other science orgs file an amicus brief in support of the NIH MOSAIC grant program that has been terminated. www.ascb.org/society-news...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsCongratulations to Susan Dutcher, a luminary in the cilia field! @dutcherlab.bsky.social www.nasonline.org/news/2025-na...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsBarbara McClintock proposed – over 40 years ago – that transposable element activity could be a response to stress, and I think that we are still only beginning to understand how right she was.
- Reposted by Tim Stearns'Centrosomes and cancer: balancing tumor-promoting and inhibitory roles' - It was so much fun writing this review with Renata Basto! Thanks for bringing me on board 🙏 Perfect timing to reflect on the field's most recent advances and open questions 👇 www.cell.com/trends/cell-...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI'm thrilled to share that our story is now out in Science Advances! 🎉 We use quantitative imaging to map the mito central dogma, define translation hubs in the mitochondrial matrix, and show that they're replaced by Mitochondrial Stress Bodies (MSB) when mtRNA processing is perturbed 1/4
- Spatial analysis of mitochondrial gene expression reveals dynamic translation hubs and remodeling in stress | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNew(ish) preprint! 📰What whole-cell patterns emerge from the arrangement, morphologies, and interactions of organelles in the 3D space of the cell? What would we see if we could gather ALL the whole-cell reconstruction data that's out there in one place? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 1/11
- Reposted by Tim StearnsOur field has lost an amazing scientist, mentor, and old friend. Benny, along with Mike Hoffman, had a brilliant idea in the early 1980s. The first oncogenes were being cloned and they realized if we wanted to understand their roles in cancer, we needed to understand their normal function 1/n 🧪
- Reposted by Tim StearnsOn Per Theodor Cleve (1840-1905) the amazing part-time protistologist: ejournals.eu/en/journal/a... #protistsonsky
- Harvard president Alan Garber: "The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority..." www.harvard.edu/president/ne...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsDear cilia researchers, join us in the heart of the beautiful Vosges mountains to share your latest findings! This year, partnership with @for5547.bsky.social and keynote lectures by @micromotility.bsky.social and @mick-lab.bsky.social Registration is now open www.cfc2025.conferences-pasteur.org
- Join us at Columbia on April 22 for the latest round of Postdoc Night Science NYC!
- New York City postdocs: What do you do when hitting a contradiction? Night science loves this first glimpse of a new concept! Our next 'Postdoc Night Science NYC’ session is April 22 @ Columbia. docs.google.com/forms/d/1v_b... @stearnslab.bsky.social @kelseymonson.bsky.social @sophiekorn.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNew York City postdocs: What do you do when hitting a contradiction? Night science loves this first glimpse of a new concept! Our next 'Postdoc Night Science NYC’ session is April 22 @ Columbia. docs.google.com/forms/d/1v_b... @stearnslab.bsky.social @kelseymonson.bsky.social @sophiekorn.bsky.social
- Reposted by Tim StearnsPublished an op-ed for @cnn.com: “Nobel laureate: I owe America my success. Today, its scientific future is in danger.” A personal reflection on what’s at stake as science funding gets slashed. I’d be grateful if you could amplify both in and beyond the science world. www.cnn.com/2025/04/09/h...
- Hang in there, Cek and other NSF honorable mentions! Less than half of the usual number of NSF graduate fellowships were awarded this year. Time to write to your representatives in Congress to remind them of the importance of this funding for the careers of the next generation of scientists.
- Some good news from NIH - they have restarted the intramural training programs for postbacs and postdocs. www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsCongrats to #RockefellerAlum Sichen Yang on being named one of the 2025 @schmidtfellows.bsky.social! Yang aims to explore the role of the immune system in maintaining healthy internal tissue in addition to its role in defending against external pathogens.
- On a beautiful spring day here in NYC I visited the registration hall of Ellis Island, where my grandparents arrived from Italy 125 years ago. The Statue of Liberty is visible through the door window, the symbol of why they were coming to the US.
- Up close, the Statue of Liberty is still a powerful reminder of what French citizens of the 1870s, coming out of two decades of imperial rule, saw as hope in the American promise of liberty and representative government, itself recently threatened by a civil war.
- Alex Long, the last postdoc from my lab at Stanford, is starting her own lab, continuing her beautiful work on evolutionary cell biology using chytrid fungi as a model. Check it out! alonglab.org
- Some good science news in the New York area! The Weill Cancer Hub East will bring together scientists at Rockefeller, Weill Cornell, Princeton and the Ludwig Institute to better harness the immune system to target cancer. www.rockefeller.edu/news/37526-w...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI'm so happy to report that our preprint on light-induced collective cell migration has now been published in Cell Systems! This project was a lot of fun and will be the basis for a lot of our ongoing & future work.
- Very useful information from UC about your rights re: search and seizure of your electronic devices at the US border. TL;DR: the “border search exception” to the 4th Amendment gives the CBP broad discretion, but there are some limits. security.ucop.edu/resources/tr...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsAsgard archaea have actin - but what about microtubules? Where do they come from? 🧐 Our new paper www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... by @xujwet.bsky.social & @florianwollweber.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Schleper & Wieczorek labs, describes tiny Asgard microtubules! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 1/6
- Reposted by Tim Stearns1/46 Hey folks, we have a new paper out on the MuLTEE. Strap in and I’ll tell you the story of how this “little paper on polyploidy” turned into the most data rich paper our lab has produced, largely thanks to the leadership and work ethic of @kaitong25.bsky.social. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- The cell cycle and immunology cross paths in beautiful new work from the Victora lab! @victora.bsky.social
- Cool germinal center acrobatics from Juhee Pae et al, check it out! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsSign up here if you want to receive an email about our next session (April 22nd in the Columbia med school) docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... @davidlabmsk.bsky.social @kelseymonson.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social
- NIGMS administrative supplements are back! These are given at the discretion of program officers and are not reviewed by study sections. Renewing obsolete equipment is a priority. loop.nigms.nih.gov/2025/03/nigm...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI am super excited to share our latest work on the structures of doublet microtubules from trypanosomatid parasites, the causative agents of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness. tinyurl.com/48sh3xn5
- Reposted by Tim StearnsExcited to share my first postdoc paper - a tool to engineer mtDNA deletions in human cells and study their pathogenic impact ✂️🧬🧫
- Combining bacterial end joining with programmable nucleases, we induced mtDNA deletions in human cells at varying heteroplasmy and examined their metabolic and cellular effects. Simple tool to apply across any cell type and engineer pathogenic mtDNA deletions. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsWow. "NIH" canceled my co-mentored (with Dave Sulzer) PhD student's F31 funding. His work is on understanding the genetics and neuroscience of language learning disorders. F31 provides no indirect $ to Columbia, just pays his salary. Not that it should matter, but he's an American citizen. W.T.F.
- Many of these grants are fellowships and training grants supporting smart young people interested in bettering the world through their research. It is sad to see NIH funding used as an indiscriminate tool of retribution.
- Reposted by Tim StearnsBig news: we are setting up a new non-profit organization to run bioRxiv and medRxiv. It's called openRxiv [no it's not a new preprint server; it's dedicated organization to oversee the servers] openrxiv.org 1/n
- Reposted by Tim StearnsThe MIT McGovern Institute’s story celebrating the 10th birthday of expansion microscopy (ExM). One highlight: ExM is not only easy to do, it’s easy to modify - so lots of people are altering and applying ExM for custom purposes, leading to unexpected innovations: mcgovern.mit.edu/2025/03/03/t...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsThrilled- the @bsdb.bsky.social medal in Wolpert's name marks 'vastly important contributions to research in our field, but also to the communication of its problems to a broader audience'. Communicating the importance of our research has never been more important when science is under such threat!
- We are delighted to announce that the winner of the 2025 Wolpert medal is Pleasantine Mill! bsdb.org/2025/03/05/2...
- NYC❤️Science
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI am thrilled to present the Mosquito Cell Atlas! We analyzed 367K nuclei from 19 tissues in male & female mosquitoes, creating a comprehensive resource for vector biology & infectious disease research. Plus we made some surprising discoveries! 🦟🧵 biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/n
- Reposted by Tim StearnsKavli NSI @rockefelleruniv.bsky.social member & former Director Leslie Vosshall has been awarded the 2025 Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience for her groundbreaking work on the neural mechanisms of mosquito behavior. 🦟🔬 Congrats, Dr. Vosshall! 🎉 #Neuroscience #KavliNeuro mcgovern.mit.edu/2025/03/03/l...
- Thank you to Senator Tammy Baldwin @baldwin.senate.gov for raising the concern that "the administration's actions are putting early-stage researchers at risk" in today's confirmation hearing for Jay Bhattacharya as NIH director. Such an important point! www.youtube.com/live/H7zWUKF...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsPeople often ask about this and worth reiterating: there are individual PI's labs that cost more than bioRxiv, which serves the whole world. We are working towards a long-term, stable, distributed funding strategy. It's trival $$. Reminder: Research $10^5 journal paper $10^3, preprint $10^1.
- The first NIH posting to the Federal Register since the inauguration appeared today. It lists several study section meetings. Great news! www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
- Francis Collins is leaving NIH www.npr.org/sections/sho...
- From the cemetery of Trinity Church, which survived 9/11, to the new World Trade Center on a beautiful day in NYC
- Reposted by Tim Stearns@thejohnnyyu.bsky.social, @therealnima.bsky.social, and I, are excited to tell you about Tahoe-100M! The largest publicly available single-cell dataset that measures the effect of 1200 genes on 50 cell line models. The Vevo team has outdone itself. #Tahoe100M www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Tim StearnsNight Science with @kelseymonson.bsky.social, @itaiyanai.bsky.social and @stearnslab.bsky.social at Mount Sinai! The perfect place to learn how the words you use to describe your science influences your ability to think beyond the scope. This is your chance to meet Postdocs from all over NYC!
- Reposted by Tim StearnsI am excited to finally be able to share with you our work reporting the first Extracellular Vesicle with a personality! This video does not show a cell, it is a Blebbisome! #CellBiology www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- It's orchid time at the New York Botanical Garden! Darwin published "Fertilisation of Orchids" in 1862, presenting evidence for coevolution of insects and flowers, in support of the theory of natural selection he proposed three years earlier in "Origin of Species." @nybg.bsky.social
- Our scientific societies are important partners in making the case for science. From the Genetics Society of America: genestogenomes.org/a-call-to-ac...
- This looks interesting, from Google Research. AI co-scientist is a “virtual scientific collaborator to help scientists generate novel hypotheses and research proposals.” Is anyone on here a Trusted Tester with access to try it out? research.google/blog/acceler...
- The Democratic staff of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology is surveying the impact of the mass firings of federal employees from science agencies. democrats-science.house.gov/sciencefirings
- Reposted by Tim StearnsIn @justinditrani.bsky.social final postdoc paper (with contributions from many others) we show that forming/purifying vesicles (here from M. smegmatis) allows structure det'n of *endogenous* membrane proteins in their *native lipid bilayer* 🧵 on methods & TB biology... www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
