Mackinder Lab

Apply now for the Molly Spooner Studentship, a paid summer research opportunity for undergraduate students interested in hands-on marine biology. Apply by Thursday 15th January 2027 👉 https://mymba.mba.ac.uk/member-homepage/discounts-and-bursaries/molly-spooner-studentship.html

90% of doing science is being open to new ideas.

I’m very excited to share the first big project from my PhD (my first proper-first, yay!) where we use cryoET and a fun new flavour of CLEM to study the re-organisation of photosynthetic machinery of cyanobacteria growing beyond the red limit of light. doi.org/10.64898/202...

Season 3 of the Tiny Living Beings podcast is out with new episodes every 2-4 weeks! Here are the interviews I’ve done so far so you can catch up! I’ll continue to post updates here. The show is now supported by @asm.org and available everywhere you get podcasts. Subscribe so you don’t miss new eps!

Intrigued how #biomolecularcondensates evolve? Want to work with a condensate system that has a global impact? We’re recruiting a 4-year PDRA to explore the evolution of CO2-fixing pyrenoids: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DTE394/r... Please repost. #pyrenoids #photosynthesis

The route to establishing research independence is a complex part of a scientist’s career. Our new blog series share the experiences of contributors from across the sciences, to provide insight and advice to early career researchers. Read the first two blogs now: royalsociety.org/independent-...

Cool and helpful website for those in academia who have just arrived in the UK or think about moving. Worth reading. ukyoungacademy.org/activities/a...

In their Cell Science at a Glance article and associated poster, @phaips.vd.st, Benjamin Engel @cellarchlab.com & @manondemulder.bsky.social highlight the current insights and future directions of pyrenoid and CO2-concentrating mechanism research. journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Very nice #TeamTomo learning resource! Thank you for making it all publically available. Well done! 🧪🙌

Structural insights into the coupling mechanism of vectorial CO2 uptake by DAB1 From the amazing @savagecatsonly.bsky.social ! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Intrigued how #biomolecularcondensates evolve? Want to work with a condensate system that has a global impact? We’re recruiting a 4-year PDRA to explore the evolution of CO2-fixing pyrenoids: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DTE394/r... Please repost. #pyrenoids #photosynthesis

Huge congratulations to all three Nobel Laureates, and especially Peter Hegemann! 👏 His seminal work on the green alga Chlamydomonas 🦠 laid the foundation for optogenetics. Thank you for putting Chlamy in the spotlight! ✨ Proof that groundbreaking discoveries don't always come from animal models! 🔬

Fantastic to see the Nobel Prize awarded for the discovery of channelrhodopsin which arose from Peter Hegemann's studies of algal motility. Here is a Chlamydomonas cell celebrating with some flagella calcium signals!

Our preprint is now published!

Permanent academic position as a Lecturer in cryo-ET open at York. We are looking for someone to lead a research program making the most of the stunning advances occurring in cryo-ET. It's a research and teaching post but with a focus on research in the early years. jobs.york.ac.uk/vacancy/lect...

This story is now published in @natplants.nature.com ! 🎉🎩 Check out the final article here: nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02361-1 Very similar to the original bioRxiv preprint, with the addition of some cool polysome analysis (in the supplementals)! Thanks and congrats to everyone involved! 🙏

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...

It’s a pyrenoid party! 🪩🌍 Awesome collab🤝 of @phaips.vd.st & @manondemulder.bsky.social with Mihris and the @mackinderlab.bsky.social crew to reveal the molecular architecture🏗️ of the Chorella pyrenoid. Algae have so many convergently evolved compartments to supercharge #CO2 capture. #TeamTomo 🔬🌾🌊🧪

Another day, another cool paper from @mackinderlab.bsky.social @james-r-barrett.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

(1/16) Nearly two-thirds of ocean carbon fixation flows through a diverse organelle: the pyrenoid. Our new paper maps its 3D architecture in the alga Chlorella and identifies new proteins — expanding the toolkit to engineer this CO2-concentrating machine into crops🧵 #Pyrenoid #CCM #Photosynthesis

Another pyrenoid, another example of convergent evolution to condense Rubisco and turbocharge photosynthesis. This time in a multicellular organism. So much fun exploring a seaweed pyrenoid with @jonasblomme.bsky.social, @mjplevin.bsky.social, @jnb-lab.bsky.social, @james-r-barrett.bsky.social.

Check out this cool thread on the latest preprint by Gaurav Kumar, @james-r-barrett.bsky.social, @phaips.vd.st from our lab and colleagues, dissecting the physics of Rubisco condensates! You're in for some stunning #cryoET of the pyrenoid - in Chlamy, of course 😉 Congrats to all involved!

Check this new study on carbon concentration mechanisms! See how the pyrenoid changes by modifying Rubisco linkers in our favorite alga, Chlamy 💚! My desk mate @phaips.vd.st spent a lot of time collecting & carefully analyzing these beautiful tomograms 🔬. Congrats to all the authors!

That is a really beautiful poster!🤩 🧪 Inside the Pyrenoid: How Multivalency Shapes Rubisco Organization and CO2 Fixation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

You like #LLPS? #TeamTomo? #Rubisco? Check out our latest preprint! What a great collaboration this has been!

How does molecular valency shape condensate assembly and function? We used the CO2-fixing organelle in algae—the pyrenoid—to find out… 🧵 Preprint here!: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @cellarchlab.com @phaips.vd.st @biologyatyork.bsky.social #Rubisco #PhaseSeparation #Condensates #Pyrenoid