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March 2026

  • Writer: cjcomerci
    cjcomerci
  • Apr 2
  • 1 min read

Papers:

Küppers M and Moerner W.E. 2026. Light: Science & Applications 15: 129.

A fantastic work from my graduate lab combining iSCAT and ISM! I remember being intrigued by ISM while I was in grad school, but never quite having the opportunity to apply it, so it's nice to see an elegant application. I am interested to see how much iSCAT can be pushed for label-free imaging in the future. How reliable is it? How much can you differentiate in messy biological samples? What to very different things look like (like bacteria)?


Comerci C.J. et al. 2026. iScience 29: 114967.

A bit of a selfless plug for my own work ...


Books:

Finishing up "Project Hail Mary" By Andy Weir


Podcasts:

Behind the Microscope - Working my way through their catalogue and largely enjoying it. It's a bit focused on MD/PhD, but still a lot of great advice for academics.

February 2026

  • Writer: cjcomerci
    cjcomerci
  • Feb 27
  • 1 min read

Papers:

Kapanidis A.N. et al. 2026. Science 391: 458-65.

As a graduate student, I remember critiquing a single-molecule paper and a peer mentioning the low N. The professor (a SM expert) immediately pointed out how much time it probably took to get that many N. With SM experience of my own, I deeply appreciate now the work that goes into SM experiments. It's great to have a review highlighting how we can multiplex some of these experiments and garner even more information.


Alberts, B. 1998. Cell 92: 291-294.

I have always been fascinated with how cells manage to coordinate the seeming randomness of molecular biology to achieve specific functions. This extends beyond the protein machines so elegantly described in this overview to include using noise to their advantage and complex genetic and biochemical circuits to provide precise outcomes dictated by signaling inputs. As a biophysicist, I of course love to see biology students encouraged to take chemistry and physics, since they open up so many of the cell's mysteries.


Books:

"Project Hail Mary" By Andy Weir


Podcasts:

"Are we turning the tide on superbugs?" from Behind the Science

I'm looking forward to hearing more from the Fleming Initiative in the future. Also, it's great to hear the argument being made for more people to get involved in this VERY impactful field!

January 2026

  • Writer: cjcomerci
    cjcomerci
  • Jan 30
  • 1 min read

Papers:

Ruan Y. et al. 2026. Science 391: 184-189.

This fascinating look at how plants and the rhizobiome interact to ensure colonization by the correct species highlights how lock-and-key mechanisms allow for the transfer of very specific signals! Admittedly, I'm not super knowledgable on the rhizobiome, but it would be really interesting to know how much this ensures the plants are only colonized by certain bacterial families and how much interactions like these versus nutrient use or other factors play in findings in other ecology studies showing that large bacterial communities are organized at the familial level, not the species level.

Shapiro J.A. 2009. Natural Genetic Engineering and Natural Genome Editing 1178: 6-28.

An interesting perspective on how the central dogma has limited our understanding in biology. I was struck by two things:

  1. When does simplification allow versus obscure understanding? I always understood the information flow through the central dogma as a mechanism to allow a broad view of how information flows through the cell, while there are definitely things that it obscures. How much does this view help versus hurt?

  2. What is the interaction between mechanical processes in the cell and information processes? Perhaps it is my viewpoint/interests, but it seems that BOTH of these are needed to understand what is happening.


Books:

"BoyMom" By Ruth Whippman

Back to working my way through this one.


Podcasts:

Creating a Satisfying Academic Career with Jo Van Every - They just released a series of new episodes

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