Tim Stearns

New preprint! "A stereotyped glial attachment determines the morphology and function of neuronal cilia" doi.org/10.64898/202... We find that C. elegans neuronal cilia attach to glia, we identify a protein required for cilia-glia attachment, and we show that glial attachments alter cilia signaling.

It’s done!! Molecular architecture of the ciliary base in mammalian multiciliated cells! A study 13 years in the making 👴, thanks to collab with @stearnslab.bsky.social + @centriolelab.bsky.social & visionary work by @computingcaitie.bsky.social, who integrated native #cryoET with #XLMS & #UExM 🧪🧶🧬🔬

Beautiful work from @computingcaitie.bsky.social and colleagues, showing the power of combining multiple approaches to studying complex in situ cell biology!

Very sad to hear of the passing today of our UCSF colleague Mike Bishop at the age of 90. A legendary and inspiring figure. He also led UCSF as Chancellor. Have a listen to his Nobel lecture. youtube.com/watch?v=CDv7...

David Botstein was one of the giants of genetics and genomics, and my mentor, colleague and friend for more than 40 years. I’m sad that he is gone, but his larger-than-life persona comes through here. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/s...

You asked, we listened. Millions of AI-predicted protein complex structures are now available in the #AlphaFold Database. This spans homodimers from 20 of the most studied species, including humans, as well as the World Health Organization’s priority pathogens list. www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...

NYC 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...

Can 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.

Our 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 🧪🌏

Great 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

Are 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!

Hot 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/...

My 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....

Beautiful drawing of ciliogenesis in airway cells from Sorokin, 1968: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/.... Just shown on stage by @mahjoublab.bsky.social at #GEF25

Interested 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...

A 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 https://bit.ly/4pwPFLY

www.npr.org/2025/07/09/n...

RIP 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...

Thank 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!

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...

🚨 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...

Woo! 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 🧪🧶🧬🔬

I 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...

New 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.

A 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.

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

As 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/

This 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...

Barbara 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.

'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-...

New(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

Our 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 🧪

On 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...

Dear 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