John Steele

Opportunity in structural biology at Concept Life Sciences (Edinburgh UK) closing: 30-Sep-2026 #StructBiol #chemsky 🧪 conceptlifesciences.peoplehr.net/Pages/JobBoa...

New paper from our lab, led by @jfcsteele.bsky.social and @biowacko.bsky.social! Here we screen natural enzyme variants with genetic and process optimizations to produce an efficient system to convert lignin-derived waste (guaiacol) into nylon precursor, adipic acid. pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

It's hard to describe how valuable CASP is to the structural biology & structure prediction field. The ever increasing number of prediction algorithms means independent assessment of their accuracy is vital. Please contribute interesting/tricky structural data if you can!

Great news that @ukri.org is substantially supporting @daphnejacksontr.bsky.social - an impactful scheme to re-start careers and access the skills of those who have taken career breaks.

Why were people obsessed with Nikola Tesla’s (lack of) sex life? What happened when work took me to a country where being gay can mean life imprisonment? Why did a queer astronaut take that secret to her grave? Some of the many Qs I covered in my #LGBTHistoryMonth talk to @aktcharity.bsky.social

Synthetically-primed evolution enables emergence of Pseudomonas putida strains able to grow on explosive residue 2,4 DNT as sole C/N source. A case of *molecular negotiation* between the implanted pathway & the host’s regulatory & physiological network 🤔 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Please spread the word: the Structural Studies Division @mrclmb.bsky.social is looking for a new tenure-track, independent group leader with an exciting plan in any area of Structural (Molecular & Cell) biology, in discovery biology and/or methods development. 🥳 mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

There's a lot of discussion whether economic growth & carbon emissions can be decoupled. Some critics say countries (e.g UK) reduce emissions while growing by offshoring pollution (i.e. to China). This is a fantastic rebuttal- China continues to grow economically with reduced CO2 emissions.

Big career update:  I’m honored and humbled to serve as Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Looking forward to what we’ll build together! @ohsummi.bsky.social @ohsunews.bsky.social

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

We got the cover of @cp-trendsbiotech.bsky.social ! www.cell.com/issue/S0167-...

Applications now open for Summer Studentships 2026! Successful applicants will be: 🌿In receipt of £504.38 per week for a studentship period of up to 6 weeks 🌿Invited to write a blog for the BiPS website 🌿Invited to attend and present at the next BiPS Conference Apply here: bit.ly/4qf2ZDG

The very first Dr from the group! Congratulations Laura @transitionalform.bsky.social @instmolplantsci.bsky.social for passing your viva yesterday!! 🎉🎉 Thanks so much @seanhmcmahon.bsky.social and Paul Kenrick for acting as examiners

@kurzgesagt.org have some fantastic videos. This could be a great opportunity and comes at a time when having accurate and trustworthy information is more vital than ever!

JOB ALERT! 📢 For the scientists who love science communication: we’re hiring at @kurzgesagt.org !🌍 Come join our team, the vibes are impeccable. ✍️ Scriptwriter (Remote) kurzgesagt.org/careers/scri... 🔍 Fact-Checker & Researcher (Munich/Berlin/Remote) kurzgesagt.org/careers/seni...

Interested in parasitology? Looking to do a PhD? Cone join me and @geordieparasit.bsky.social in Edinburgh as we try and work out how human parasites get their vitamins.

🪧 Upcoming Opportunities! We recently updated our website with some exciting opportunities. From scholarships specifically for Black students to PhD programmes across the country there are an incredible number of options. Head to our website for more details: buff.ly/uVvFtBk

Are you looking for female speakers in CryoEM for seminars and conferences? Are you a woman in CryoEM and not yet on the ‚woman in CryoEM‘ list? Find your speakers and add/update name and affiliation! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Pleased to see this collaboration with a great PhD student Pei Cing Ng, from Prof. Luning Liu's lab at Liverpool University published. Structure of the H. neapolitanus carbonic anhydrase and localisation in a mini-carboxysome: www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10....

Are you looking for a PhD in Plant Science? Check our our project on barley canopy architecture. Combine genetics and physics to understand how awns influence barley grain development. Find out more here: lnkd.in/eWhWammJ Apply by 14th December. #PhDPosition #PlantSci @instmolplantsci.bsky.social

The Wallace Lab is expanding in 2026, with five new Postdoctoral Research Associate positions now open. If you're passionate about engineering biology for sustainability, we'd love to hear from you! 🧬 ♻️ Deadline: 12th November 2025, details below ⬇️

Very excited to announce that our collaborative manifesto for 🌱 #PlantScience #Education has now been published! Educators from >10 countries and 30 institutions have contributed to it and we are incredibly proud of the final output. Here is a short thread 🧵1/4 doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...

Do you enjoy teaching biochemistry? The University of Virginia Department of Chemistry is hiring a teaching-track assistant professor to teach lecture and/or laboratory biochemistry courses. #chemjobs #facultychemjobs More details in the link below: apply.interfolio.com/175929

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026. Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years. Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

Fully-funded #PhDposition in my lab @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social Apply before 🗓️ 2nd Dec 2025 👉 biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/mak... Making Drugs Out of Sunlight and "Thin Air" ☀️🌿🧬⚗️ with secondary supervision from Prof. Anne Osbourn @johninnescentre.bsky.social 🥼 #SynBio #OrgChem #PhD

Obsessed with this Journal of Immaterial Science article 🔥

If you can't see sidechains, can you really call the resolution 3.3 Å..? 👀 And if you can't see sidechains, how do you know the helical symmetry is right..?

The proliferation of tools to generate predictive protein structures just underscores how important CASP is. There is no better way to allow unbiased & fair comparisons between tools! predictioncenter.org/index.cgi Such a shame NIH didn't renew funding

Apple is entering the protein folding arena. SimpleFold: Folding Proteins is Simpler than You Think arxiv.org/abs/2509.18480 🧬🖥️🧪 github.com/apple/ml-sim...

Ever wondered where your paracetamol comes from? Spoiler: crude oil. In this study – led by Nick Johnson from our lab in collaboration with @astra-zeneca.bsky.social – we show how biology and chemistry can work together to create a more sustainable alternative. (1/n) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Plant Shape Lab is hiring! Are you interested in supporting cutting edge cereal research? We are looking for an enthusiastic and dedicated technician to join us for 2 years, setting up and running cereal transformation. Find out more, and apply here: elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

📢Deadlines fast approaching for the BiPS Conference 2025! Join us for a day of connection and celebration where we'll be hearing from the renowned academics Nicola Patron and Kevin Cox. With workshops on a variety of topics and a chance for you to build your community. Register: buff.ly/J9PM0Wj

I supervise an excellent postdoc who's looking for a postdoc or associate position in < 1 yr. Highly skilled in chem biol and biochem (peptide synthesis, native chem ligation, bacterial expression, purification, intein-based splicing, crystallography, interaction assays). Contact me if interested.

SULSA is running an Industry Academia conference on 28th & 29th October. Looks fantastic for researchers working in Scotland- particularly good for students interested in learning more about industry & working on skill development! sulsa.ac.uk/indac/

Food for thought here for anyone not working at TRUE atomic resolution…

I had no idea about this! Amazon owns AbeBooks!

If this is true, it’s abysmally shortsighted for #NIH. The new tools nurtured by the long series of #CASP challenges probably contribute far more in one year to the scientific and industrial economies than the entire funds that have supported it.

Just learned that Frank Stahl (of the Meselson and Stahl DNA replication experiment ("the most beautiful experiment in biology") died at the beginning of April, to no fanfare. Here's a lovely video of them reminiscing: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-tn...

Interested in trying out life as a scientific #editor? Based in the UK? Background in #PlantScience? The @plosbiology.org crew is expanding (again!), so a place in our lovely team might be for you...

🧬 New toolkit for engineering Chlamydomonas plastomes! MoCloro brings Golden Gate modular cloning to algal chloroplasts — enabling fast, multigene integration & homoplasmy in 2 months 🌿 🔗 https://bit.ly/4jMNhfU #SyntheticBiology #Chlamydomonas #Microalgae #Plantscience

This is wild! Engineering E. coli bacteria to turn plastic waste into paracetamol (Tylenol) www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Always exciting when research from the lab is disseminated for the public! @theguardian.com have reported on @swallacelab.bsky.social paper turning plastic into paracetamol using engineered bacteria tinyurl.com/32hxnwsd (original publication rdcu.be/esYfF)

Would you like to write for New Scientist? We always work with freelancers, but occasionally I put out a call like this for new writers. I'm looking for 300-700 word news stories about new discoveries. Don't pitch us press releases or the big journals, we have those covered. Pay starts at 51p/word