Michael Webster

🌱Our new preprint in @biorxiv-plants.bsky.social uncovers a novel role for Toc90 in regulating chloroplast senescence and photosynthetic protein abundance in Arabidopsis. 📄:https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.29.755046v1

VACANCY - We’re looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the @Barrie Wilkinson Group, in collab with the @Matt Hutchings lab, on a project: Global activation of silent and cryptic biosynthetic pathways in Streptomyces species. Deadline - 26 October 2026 Contract - 36 months, full-time

Transcription and Chromatin UK brings together the rich transcription and epigenetics community in the UK and leading experts from abroad. Most talks will be selected from abstracts and interspersed with invited speaker presentations, submit your abstract before 18 Sept! 🧪 bit.ly/4eWyTmc

Transcription and Chromatin UK is back! Join us in York 18–20 November for three days of exciting science and networking. We look forward to seeing you there. www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

Our new preprint is out! Using AI-guided design (RFdiffusion + ProteinMPNN), we engineered a plant immune receptor to recognise non-cognate pathogen effectors. Huge thanks to our amazing co-authors for making this possible! doi.org/10.64898/202...

1/7 New preprint: we found that Chlamydomonas carries a giant and unexpectedly elaborate chloroplast RNA polymerase with 12 previously unknown subunits, overturning the idea that the complexity of this organellar enzyme emerged during plant terrestrialization! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Structural basis for multi-subunit DNA-dependent RNA polymerase catalytic activity

Check out our latest work! AlphaFold 3 revealed a transient immune receptor complex that eluded biochemical studies for almost a decade 🤯 We describe a conserved structural logic underlying sensor–helper communication in an NLR immune receptor network 🧵👇

An exciting opportunity to join Dr Schreier's new group as a postdoctoral researcher is open for applications until 15 June 2026: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po...

NEWS - New group leader to shed light on supercharged photosynthesis We are pleased to announce that Dr Tina Schreier will join the John Innes Centre as a tenure-track Group Leader in July 2026: www.jic.ac.uk/news/new-gro...

So great to see our structure of chlorophyll synthase on bioRxiv! Thanks to amazing collaboration with Anna Wysocka, Felix Morey-Burrows, Andy Hitchcock and Roman Sobotka, and everyone else involved! @UniOsnabrueck @AlgatechTrebon @sheffielduni #cryoEM #photosynthesis #cyano

We're super excited to share MissAlignment: a new ML-based approach to reference-free tilt series alignment, spearheaded by @martenchaillet.bsky.social. We think it's going to make your cryo-ET life a lot better. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Code: github.com/warpem/miss-... 🧶 Thread:

I just published: Leave the red shirt out: Scientists, stop complicating the story Scientists are brilliant at finding details. We are less brilliant at knowing which details to shut up about. medium.com/p/leave-the-...

I am so excited to share our new findings with you! We provide the structural evidence for a direct protein-to-DNA information pathway, showing how a bacterial enzyme 'reads' its own structure to 'write' DNA. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I love this concept -- plasmid to Cryo structure in a day! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🌱🚨 Funded PhD for UK students 🇬🇧🌿 Take a look at this Plant BioDesign Doctoral Training Program. Come work with me and @michaelwebster.bsky.social to study plant rubiscos. High throughput biochem at Cambridge and Cryo-EM techniques at the John Innes Centre. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

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The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social 🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬 annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)

25 years on from publishing the structure of the bacterial 30S ribosomal subunit, alumni, collaborators & friends of Venki Ramakrishnan’s group joined us for a symposium celebrating the legacy of this work. Read about the event and find photos here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/25-years-of-... #LMBNews

Applications are now OPEN for the JIF Rotation PhD Programme This prestigious 4-year #PhD programme trains graduate students in Plant and Microbial Sciences at the JIC, @thesainsburylab.bsky.social and @earlhaminst.bsky.social. 🗓️ Closing date - 13 November 2025 www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

Chris Russo and Anastasiia Gusach have developed a new method to prepare #cryoEM samples that avoids protein damage during freezing Read more: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/a-new-method... #LMBResearch

Start independent research at the JIC with us 👇. Really interested in finding those with an interest in structural biology and biochemistry of plants and microbes. Please do get in touch by email if you'd like to know more 👍

@UniBasel is setting up a new endowed professorship at the Biozentrum to make fundamental discoveries at the interface between biophysics and climate-relevant environmental biology www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/news/detail/...

Brilliant insight on something that takes a lot of patience to discover, thanks for sharing Oli.

NEWS - Talented early-career researcher receives major @wellcometrust.bsky.social funding The innovative research project of JIC early-career plant scientist, Dr @miguelmontez.bsky.social, has attracted a prestigious funding award from a global health charity. www.jic.ac.uk/news/talente...

Happy to share a new preprint from the Clarke & Vallese (@fravallese.bsky.social) labs reporting #cryoem structures of two RBC stomatin complexes – with AQP1 & UT-B - continuing the SPFH theme from our recent vault preprint! This was a fun one and has been cooking for a while - read on for more! ⬇️

👉 my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru... Join us and be part of shaping the future of #plantscience at Oxford as we move to the new Life and Mind Building lifeandmind.web.ox.ac.uk/home (recognised for its potential to change the World edition.cnn.com/2025/01/01/s...) @biology.ox.ac.uk www.biology.ox.ac.uk

VACANCY - We’re currently hiring into two new senior roles: Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences: okt.to/tqoasR 🗓️ Closing date: 25 August 2025 ·An Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions: okt.to/fDV0ha 🗓️ Closing date: 5 September 2025

VACANCY - We're looking for a Research Software Engineer to join the Informatics Platform, to solve novel challenges and provide support in bioinformatics and scientific computing. okt.to/gZ487w Closing date - 8 September 2025 Salary - £37,500 to £45,350 Contract - Full-time until 30 March 2027

VACANCY - We’re recruiting for a visionary group leader to lead fundamental research on Discovery Plant Science as part of our vibrant research community Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

PRESS RELEASE - Major funding boost to bring world leading researchers to the John Innes Centre We have been awarded an equal share of the new £54 million Global Talent Fund, to attract and support leading researchers and their teams to relocate to the UK: www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas...

VACANCY - We’re seeking an Optical Microscopy Support Specialist to join our Bioimaging Platform, to help train users on light microscopes, collaborate on imaging projects and provide technical support. www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/op... Closing date - 11 August 2025 Contract - Full time, indefinite

We’re pleased to announce two new vacancies for senior roles at our institute: Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr... 🗓️ Closes 25 August Independent Fellowship in Plant-Associated Microbial Interactions: www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/in... 🗓️ Closes 5 September

🚨 New @biorxivpreprint alert! 🚨 We are thrilled to share our latest findings—building on our earlier work on suppressors of helper NLRs of the NRC family—a Phytophthora infestans L-shaped effector captures resistosome assembly intermediates of tomato NRC3! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 1/10

GROUP LEADER VACANCY JIC is recruiting a Group Leader in Discovery Plant Sciences. If you think your research would synergise and thrive at JIC, please apply. www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

Norwich has a great structural biology community, join us :)

New work from Matti Turtola showing that mRNA poly(A) tail length is controlled by a kinetic ruler. A real pleasure to work with him! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

That's a fancy video. I was certainly surprised to see the Very Important Protein in Plants discovered in a tropical jungle🌴😅. It's pure marketing ofc (The Krios: Now in Black), but I do like the messaging about discovering the molecular world all around us-- including plants and cyanobacteria🧪🧶🧬🔬🌾🌊

New cryo-EM/ET story - a brilliant collaboration with Sergey Melnikov's lab in Newcastle @sergeymelnikov.bsky.social and Stefan Pfeffer's lab in Heidelberg @pfeffercryolab.bsky.social. Great work in particular by Karla Helena-Bueno and @sophiekopetschke.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The 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 👩‍🎨

Been thinking about creating a collection of good protein structure figures, as inspiration for my own work. #1 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#2 doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... Nice comparison of structures within the context of a larger complex

PRESS RELEASE - Professor Uauy appointed as Director of the John Innes Centre Following an international search, we are delighted to announce that Professor @cristobaluauy.bsky.social has been appointed as the next Director of the John Innes Centre. www.jic.ac.uk/press-releas... @ukri.org

Amazing!

Introducing JIC 👋 We are an independent, international centre of excellence in plant science, genetics and microbiology. Our institute aims to translate innovative and pioneering research into environmental and societal benefits 🌾🌍 Look out for new content soon and tag us in your posts!

Our latest work is out in Nature today! Using smFRET, we directly visualized recruitment of the eIF4F complex to the 5' cap of eukaryotic mRNAs and formation of an activated mRNA. Our findings reveal new and surprising roles for each eIF4F component. 1/3 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

CryoEM turns protein complexes into comic strips. 😍 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

High-resolution template matching of the human ribosome in situ by Lippincott-Schwartz Lab @hhmijanelia.bsky.social @hhmi.bsky.social. >40 conformations within together reveal molecular dynamics of the elongation cycle with previously unknown bending and “spring-like” motion.