Mike Lacy
I work @addgene.bsky.social curating DNA and web content.
#OpenScience supporter, previously at ASCB, science publishing/preprints.
Yale Biophysics PhD. Opinions my own. He/him
- I remade an old render with a more exact version. The most efficient packing possible of 17 squares into a larger square. I use it as an inspiring example: just because something looks stupid doesn't mean it's not the best that you can do.
- One of my neighbors has been putting up these fish facts posters. All kinds of different fish, marine, freshwater, deep, shallow, all kinds. This is a good one. “Stg this real fish” took me out. Good work, neighbor.
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- In @elife.bsky.social: A high-resolution, easy-to-build light-sheet microscope for subcellular imaging doi.org/10.7554/eLif...
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- Why I’m running for Congress: www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2026...
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- Been on multiple search committees For me (personally so YMMV)…I basically dismiss everything that’s labeled *submitted* unless there’s a preprint I can read
- You can read more about that experience here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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- Exciting preprint from the @merz.bsky.social lab proposing how fidelity of membrane fusion is achieved #membranes #trafficking
- Sequential restriction of SNARE-mediated fusion by the COPII inner coat and SNARE chaperones www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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- Busy #cellfie 🧪
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- An intracellular meteor shower. EB3 comets tracking growing microtubule plus-ends in a cultured cell.
- ⚡👩🔬Electrical signals are key for promoting organ regenerative growth, a new study! Out now in Science Advances, from the Mateus group @ritamateus.bsky.social at PoL and @mpi-cbg.de along with the lab of Frank Jülicher @mpipks.bsky.social Read the news here: tud.link/7jzptz Video:©️ Mateus group
- I love reading about how anti-phage systems work. This paper from the Laub lab shows RAZR system that forms a RING around phage proteins that form rings. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- “Dear Toad, I am glad that you are my best friend. Your best friend, Frog.”
- Using ampicillin as a selectable marker? You can skip the post-transformation outgrowth! Why? Because Amp targets cell wall synthesis, not protein synthesis, so the bacteria isn’t impeded from making the protein it needs to combat it! youtu.be/XZn8QG6dzgc
- Researchers are exploring new ways to harness the versatility of nanobodies, which are smaller camelid antibodies. @vivienm.bsky.social asked scientists about some of their current and future nanobody work. www.nature.com/articles/s41... and rdcu.be/e1yTd
- Happy to announce that our latest paper is now out! Have you ever wondered how neural tissues control their size? In this paper, we show that cell division orientation is critical in both the cortex and retina. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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- Thx for @mollyherring.bsky.social for featuring our recent work with @centriolelab.bsky.social and our quest with @gautamdey.bsky.social & the support of the @moorefound.bsky.social to look for the beauty in every #eukaryote out there using #Expansion #Microscopy #UExM
- Even with the largest zoom on a classic compound optical system, scientists struggle to make sense of finer details. Microbiologists are turning to an unexpected source to clear things up: a moisture-absorbing material found in diapers. www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...
- "The microtubule GTP-tubulin cap size is modulated during cell division" is now available on @biorxivpreprint! This video by Anna Cassidy shows the tips of growing microtubules (EB1) and DNA (histone 2B) during metaphase. #Cellbiology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
- Interesting news: The Marine Biological Labs at Woods Hole (MBL) is once again becoming an independent institution. University of Chicago will remain a partner, but only one of many. MBL is an amazing place for science and science training and I hope it will thrive in this new status.
- Thank you @mollyherring.bsky.social for the stunning showcase 😍 Like what you see? Come ExM with us! Let’s flood the internet with microbial marvels 🦠 #ProtistsOnSky #MicroEvoSky 🧪🔬🌍 @dudinlab.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social @moorefound.bsky.social @embl.org @erc.europa.eu @embo.org
- Even with the largest zoom on a classic compound optical system, scientists struggle to make sense of finer details. Microbiologists are turning to an unexpected source to clear things up: a moisture-absorbing material found in diapers. www.quantamagazine.org/expansion-mi...
- So many developers have sent me that Anthropic skills/mastery case study that I realized I should ungate what I *already wrote* about this: beginning principles to design workflows that work *with* your mind, not against it, & protect your problem-solving www.fightforthehuman.com/cognitive-he...
- Finally we got to see live AISs in our hands! 2-photon imaging of AnkG-GFP 💥 Absolute banger tool for the AIS field developed by @pjenkinslab.bsky.social et al!
- New paper out! Here's a puzzle: phototrophy, the ability to use light for energy, is one of life's great innovations. It evolved early and transformed the biosphere. But it evolved 2x. Why not just once, why not more? Our work suggests the answer is priority effects. www.nature.com/articles/s44...
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- Unleashing live-cell imaging for the masses! Adapting the OpenFlexure Microscope for Affordable Live-Cell Imaging www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Fits into existing incubators for time-lapse experiments & feeds into existing bioimaging analysis pipelines. Thanks @wellcometrust.bsky.social funding
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- Unquestionably the result of combined effort from all current and former lab members, support from colleagues @CSU and @CU, and support from @hhmi-science.bsky.social and NIH over decades. A heartfelt 🙏 to my nominators and of course @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social. vilcek.org/prizes/prize...
- I started offering career advice to two junior colleagues today in separate meetings, and both times I caught myself thinking that, if I'm honest, I don't have very good advice on navigating the current funding and job climate. I think it's important to say that no one does.
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- 🧬📄 Preprint update (v2): We added new biochemical experiments that clarify how IWS1 associates with the transcription elongation complex and further define competition between IWS1 and RECQL5. 🧪⚙️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Structural model is already available in the PDB (9MLC).
- Despite the nation being destroyed around us, science is still remarkable & we have exceptional young folks coming up in all of our communities. I just had the pleasure of chairing a committee for a thesis award in my field. We evaluated 26 candidates & read the full thesis of the 5 finalists 1/n 🧪
- 🏆 Image of the Year 2025 226 votes, 12 Images of the Month, and a race decided by just one vote 😮 With 58 votes, @tdhellemmes.bsky.social wins for his cleared brain image acquired using light-sheet microscopy and will proudly carry the colors of the BIC 🎉🔬✨
- #ImageOfTheMonth February 2026 ✨ Fluorescent fibers (hundreds of µm) of a Platinium complex visualized in Fiji using orientation-based pseudocolors 🎨. Image acquired during the BIC hands-on microscopy training 🔬 Credits: F. R. Lauro, A. Virepinte (ISM), J. Teillon (BIC)
- Here is the official announcement. Now more than ever, acknowledging the contributions of immigrants is so important. Thank you @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social, and congrats to my fellow awardees. Can't wait to meet you all.
- Join us in congratulating the winners of our 2026 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Biomedical Science, Fashion & Culture, Fashion & Design, and Art History! This year, we awarded $850,000 to 14 immigrants and cultural leaders. vilcek.co/4aemyr2
- This just in. So honored and grateful...
- We're proud to join the Vilcek Foundation in recognizing HHMI Investigator Karolin Luger, whose dedication & groundbreaking nucleosome research has led to the development of innovative new drug treatments, including cancer medicines. hhmi.news/49VciEd @vilcekfoundation.bsky.social
- New lab logo from former postdoc Dewran
