Chris Caffalette
Postdoc at The Rockefeller University
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteCUNY and SUNY colleagues: ICYMI Please sign and share this letter to the NY Congressional Delegation asking them to protect NIH and NSF funding! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteMIT News reports on focused research organizations (FROs), non-profit startups, developed by some of our group members and alumni. FROs can work on problems that are a poor fit for academia or the for-profit startup world. news.mit.edu/2025/former-...
- Reposted by Chris Caffalette[This post could not be retrieved]
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThe amazing Sofia Lövestam initiated the below project, when she became interested in the vault particles that we sometimes observe in #cryoEM images of brain-derived #amyloid filaments. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThis isn’t just numbers on a table–it’s my lab and the labs of my colleagues. Terminated grants mean shuttered projects, lost talent, and stalled progress against deadly pathogens. The damage to science–and to public health–is real and immediate. Thanks @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social for speaking out.
- Devastating NIH cuts to infectious disease research, eviscerating our nation’s capacity to fight emerging infections and pandemic threats. From @sanders.senate.gov report out yesterday www.sanders.senate.gov/wp-content/u...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteBack to @mblscience.bsky.social Woods Hole - teaching on the Pair Up Microscopy Course. Great experience and awesome participants. Wild - last time here I was a student (Physical Biology of the Cell Course in 2018). Now introducing my lab. Thanks Abhishek Kumar for organising and the invitation.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteIf people of means are interested in establishing a 2025 “Institute for Advanced Study” for displaced/defunded biomedical scientists, I know many people who will help, including myself. @mcuban.bsky.social @arcadiascience.com @arcinstitute.org
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteJust found out my two related NSF grants (on discovery of phages that target antibiotic resistance vectors and building synthetic systems to understand the biology of those vectors) were also caught in Harvard’s mass grant termination
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteHere’s another spectacle of New York spring entomology: Eastern tent caterpillars (Malacosoma americanum) are among the most social lepidopterans. In May, you can find their silken tents, in which they aggregate (and defecate).
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThey have three daily feeding bouts, during which they exit the nest and move together to distant feeding sites. They mark their route with silk and trail pheromone. Successful “scouts” can even recruit the colony to new food sources. They’re kind of the ants among the butterflies. Woodstock, NY.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteMy lab at NYU is hiring a postdoc interested in RNA biology and local translation in neurons following axonal injury/neurodegenerative diseases!! Apply here: apply.interfolio.com/165681
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteTomorrow at the Systems Virology Journal Club, @tamanash.bsky.social will present his beautiful work with @harmitmalik.bsky.social on optimizing temperature-dependent trade-off between protein production and processing in alphaviruses through stop codon selectivity pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40249804/
- @wmschneider.bsky.social and I are thrilled to invite you to the 7th series of the International *Systems Virology Journal Club*! 🎉 🥂🌟 We are hosting a stellar line-up of speakers working at the intersection of virology and systems biology. Registration (free): forms.gle/edTyLwR8jWkh...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteGroundbreaking study in Cell from @leventallab.bsky.social: phospholipid asymmetry is a defining feature of the plasma membrane and cholesterol fills the holes — major implications for how this membrane works. A #lipidtime must-read! www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteRachael, thank you for this. We can all benefit from the example of your courage and wisdom in speaking out.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteStructural insights into the coupling between VCP, an essential unfoldase, and a deubiquitinase. New study from Lauren Vostal, Tarun Kapoor and colleagues @rockefelleruniv.bsky.social: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #StructuralBiology #Biochemistry #ProteinHomeostasis #CryoEM
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteWE GOT THE COVER!!!
- In a new Science study, cryo–electron tomography captures the in-cell architecture of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, illuminating how the coordinated action of molecular machines drives life’s fundamental energy conversion. Learn more in this week's issue: scim.ag/3FA3Ygq
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThe final version of our work on the in-cell architecture of the mitochondrial respiratory chain is now online in @science.org 🎉 You can find the full story here www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @verenaresch.bsky.social did a wonderful job on the cover and animation, she really brought it to life 👩🎨
- In a new Science study, cryo–electron tomography captures the in-cell architecture of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, illuminating how the coordinated action of molecular machines drives life’s fundamental energy conversion. Learn more in this week's issue: scim.ag/3FA3Ygq
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteCongratulations to first authors @rufeili.bsky.social and @tshindmarsh.bsky.social !!!!
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteHere is the paper, worth a read for those interested in behavior, neuroscience, and mating competition: www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteProud that one of my photographs has made the cover of Cell. (first 'official' photograph publication) Very happy to contribute the pic and highlight the latest publication of the Ruta lab.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteIn preparation for the lecture tomorrow, I opened "The Cell in Development and Heredity" by E.B. Wilson (Columbia Univ), and realized that this 3rd edition was published in 100 years ago. So many things happened since then, including the fact that I, a Japanese Prof in NY, own and read the book.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteFantastic #TeamTomo story on retrotransposon particles by @svenklumpe.bsky.social and friends. Take a look! 🧪🧶🧬
- Happy to share our manuscript on the in situ visualization of the copia retrotransposon in its final form today published in @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... What’s new?
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteRetrotransposon-derived capsids in the Dros. ovary revealed by CryoET! Amazing PhD work by @svenklumpe.bsky.social (still MPI Biochemistry) in collab with @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social lab - congrats to all authors! Really looking forward to exciting times with Sven @viennabiocenter.bsky.social!
- Happy to share our manuscript on the in situ visualization of the copia retrotransposon in its final form today published in @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... What’s new?
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThis has to be one of the coolest papers of the year: retrotransposon VLPs, visualized inside cells! #TeamTomo #CryoET
- Happy to share our manuscript on the in situ visualization of the copia retrotransposon in its final form today published in @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... What’s new?
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteCongrats to our postdoc Jan-Hannes Schaefer @jhschaef.bsky.social on being awarded a fellowship from the Walter Benjamin Program! Jan is collaborating with the Kelly lab here at Scripps Research @scripps.edu to understand how transthyretin forms amyloids that lead to heart disease.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteGood luck with your defense! We’re all worried about the near-term, but the long-term will favor those like yourself who want to do excellent science on important problems. You are the future of science, and we have to do everything we can to ensure that there are great opportunities for you.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteHey #chemsky and beyond, with all that is going on, I am curious what expensive, high margin molecules we could provide to the community for free. What things do you use all the time, cost way too much, and would make a difference? Alexa Fluor 488 NHS? Other dyes? Other molecule?
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteBeautiful story on HIV-1 Matrix maturation and seeing it out in complete story by my postdoc colleagues James and Dominik from the Briggs group @briggsgroup.bsky.social Congratulations to all!
- Mature #HIV-1 contains >2000 copies of “spacer peptide 2”, but we didn’t know why. We now see that SP2 binds the matrix protein and triggers the change into its mature arrangement. Summary video from @margotriggi.bsky.social
- Reposted by Chris Caffalettewe recently found some really neat RNA-guided DNA-cutting systems in phages. Despite remarkable similarities to CRISPR systems, including encoding guide RNAs in arrays, they appear entirely evolutionarily distinct (but definitely related to snoRNAs 🤓) We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteI created a brief spreadsheet of reductions I've heard of so far. Any additions you know of (especially if you have the links/receipts) would be great: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteBluetorial: The path to a new pain medication with little potential for addiction Perhaps a good story to share with folks who want to learn about how biomedical research works and where advances come from.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThanks to everyone for coming out in solidarity today in New Haven despite the chilly temperatures. Props to the speakers for sharing their stories and experiences. Onward! @valeriejhorsley.bsky.social @aaup.bsky.social #labor4highered
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThe 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 Chris CaffaletteWe had a great @aaup.bsky.social HANDS OFF rally today in New Haven CT! Thx to coorganizer @luskinglab.bsky.social and all of our speakers! When we fight, we win!
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThanks. You folks are the primary things that keeps me motivated to fight as hard as I effing can. This system greatly enriched my life and my ability to contribute, and others deserve the same opportunities.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteGood news! The website for the Yale Chapter of @aaup.bsky.social just dropped: aaupyale.org Just in time to help make a difference. ❤️🩹
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteCultural revolution in the US. Elevation of ignorance and empowerment of the ignoramus. Large scale, capricious upheaval of core government functions. This is likely to lead to illness, hunger and poverty for many.
- What these nihilistic vandals are doing to dismantle science & medicine—generations of expertise & public service & life improving benefits—is cultural revolution level national self harm. No foreign foe could inflict such brutal damage & senseless suffering on US so fast & effectively & unresisted.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteMy heart goes out to all my NIH people. Unbelievable.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteExcited see the final portion of my PhD work with Vanessa Ruta out today in @cellpress.bsky.social, in the midst of everything. In time for valentines day, @rufeili.bsky.social and I describe how competition between males sculpt mating decisions in 🪰🫶. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- So exciting! It makes me so happy to see a round of private funding toward preserving the magical place that MBL is!
- Exciting news! MBL has received a $2.6M gift from an anonymous donor! This generous support fuels our mission of discovery, education, and innovation. Private philanthropy drives groundbreaking research and shapes the future of science. 🌎🔬 #ScienceStartsHere #Philanthropy
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteI'm thrilled to be opening my own lab this Fall at the @maxplanck.de MPI for Brain Research in Frankfurt. The lab is going to investigate the neuronal and genetic underpinnings of behavioral evolution. We are hiring on all levels. Don't hesitate to share widely and reach out if interested.
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteThanks for highlighting the depositions @uermel.bsky.social! The CZ #CryoET data portal and EMPIAR are incredibly important community resources for sharing tomo data, helping accelerate method development and biological discovery🧪🧶🧬
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteFirst public reveal of Piezo tattoo! Thanks @leslievosshall.bsky.social for documenting this and for the appreciation after the talk. And welcome back to Blue Sky!
- If you really love your protein of interest commit to a tattoo @ardemp.bsky.social
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteNice shots showing open and close PIEZO ion channels both on slide and on arm!
- Fantastic Harvey lecture at Rockefeller Uni by @ardemp.bsky.social, with both great science + artistic performance
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteI think @ardemp.bsky.social needs to start wearing this piezo hat to lab meetings 👀
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteFantastic Harvey lecture at Rockefeller Uni by @ardemp.bsky.social, with both great science + artistic performance
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteStarter packs are great for a maximally twitter-like experience, but I've been really into feeds, which let me sort by content rather than by specific people. Here's one for #teamtomo bsky.app/profile/did:...
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteSince Bluesky has been blowing up lately I’ll introduce myself: Hi! I’m Thomas and I operate the National Cryo-EM Facility for the NCI in the USA. We offer free cryo-EM imaging to cancer researchers at academic and non-profit institutions in the USA www.cancer.gov/research/resources/cryoem/access
- Reposted by Chris Caffalette
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteI have re-posted this several times recently, but it's a great way to find new people interested in #cryoEM, #cryoET, #teamtomo. For those new: the "Follow all" button at the top is convenient to quickly fill your timeline. Follow as many people as you can and don't be shy to post yourself.
- Here is a starter pack for CryoEM/ET enthousiasts To be completed go.bsky.app/JmQksCat://did:plc:pkzh2psjildyroejswbveobs/app.bsky.graph.starterpack/3lahqziu6gr2l
- Reposted by Chris CaffaletteYes i've been trying with CTF-corrected tomograms from RELION using the --ctf flag as Additional argument. It works, but it's just a simple phase-flipping. For ribosomes anything works (👀) but i'm pretty sure NovaCTF/3DCtf corrected tomos would produce better results.
