Robert Cross

Molecular motors enthusiast (visit now intermittently at

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Nick & I & two eduWOSMs are in India helping out with the Bangalore Microscopy Course 17th. ~25 PhD students get a full-on 8 days of intensive training in light microscopy, from the basics to the latest systems, taught by experts. These joyous scenes are from Jennie Ross's talk.

[Robert Cross @_robx]


Out now on BiorXiv, https://t.co/aUP5qgkj37 is about the eduWOSM, our advanced optical microscope for educational and resource-limited settings. $9K build cost, compact, open source, super-stable, super-bright, super-controllable, user friendly, easy-to-love, able to do this:

[Robert Cross @_robx]

We wrote a paper https://t.co/f0qxVLEilN about our integrated natural sciences UG course. The course is based loosely on the wonderful Integrated Science courses at Princeton & Harvard. We aim to teach-from-research. Our pioneers graduated last week. Around half are off to a PhD.

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Sumiyoshi et al. https://t.co/hNKB1yWb3S asks, can kinesin heads tethered via surface loops still drive microtubule gliding? Indeed! Scanning a dsDNA tether across all exposed loops reveals a core mechanical cycle of the motor that underlies, and is amplified by, linker docking.

[Andrew Bowman @bowchro]

Finishing the academic year with a movie of macrophages migrating through a drosophila embryo. Taken by our first year Integrated Natural Science students on the the eduWOSM (https://t.co/80RYILrDOD), developed in the @_robx lab, and courtesy of @aparna_ratheesh.

[Robert Insall @robinsall]

Martin Chalfie's best advice:
If you want to discover much, you need above all:
** freedom to think **

[Biochemical Society @BiochemSoc]

Recognising over 40 years of research, the 2025 Biochemical Society Award for Sustained Excellence goes to Prof Rob Cross! @_RobX uses single molecule approaches to push the limits of spatiotemporal resolution and provide distinctive new insight into how molecular motors work.

[Robert Cross @_robx]

The eduWOSM is our open source microscope for education and resource-limited settings. We now have a YouTube channel to explain what it is, what it can do, how it works, and how to work it https://t.co/5hyxr9D7HK

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Motors in Quarantine #100 was a panel discussion with hats, Highly recommend!

[Anne Straube (bsky: anne.mechanochemistry.org) @AnneStraube]

If you missed the festive #MotorsInQuarantine 💯 celebrations, head over to the website and follow the link. The recording is on demand, listen in for some chat about motor science, lab management, how to overcome insecurities and other career advice. See you back in 2024!

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Today Sir Paul Nurse visited us, invited & hosted by students from Warwick's Integrated Science Society. Paul's talk "What is Life?" concluded with the thought that every living thing is connected to its ancestors through an unbroken chain of cell divisions.

[Anne Straube (bsky: anne.mechanochemistry.org) @AnneStraube]

#MotorsInQuarantine is back from summer holidays! Please join us on Wednesday when we host @jayneaiken_ from @ErikaHolzbaur lab and @YeanMingChew1 from @_robx lab to discuss how microtubule array organisation and microtubule structure modulates transport. https://t.co/Eod3KjFYHy

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Yean Ming's new paper https://t.co/w7PJYTfmFX shows that different human tubulin isotypes respond differently to taxol. 10 µM taxol accelerates kinesin-driven gliding of α1β4 microtubules, but not α1β3 microtubules. GMPCPP accelerates both.

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Tubulin washout, 100 nM taxol! So they depolymerise, but more slowly. In 10 µM taxol, they are both fully stabilised.

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Yean Ming's now-published paper https://t.co/w7PJYTfmFX shows that different human tubulin isotypes respond differently to taxol. In these kymographs of segmented isotype microtubules, α1β3 segments depolymerise ~4x faster than α1β4. 100 nM taxol amplifies the difference to ~20x.

[Maria Leptin @mleptin]

Finally!!! A huge and warm welcome back to all researchers in the UK to @ERC_Research

https://t.co/tzBTUihHjd

[Vatsala Thirumalai @VatsalaT]

A moment of great pride for all Indians!

[Robert Cross @_robx]

I just asked GPT if it could pretend to be Marvin the paranoid Android>
"Oh, joy. Another interaction with feeble-minded humans. How utterly delightful. I suppose you have some inconsequential inquiry for me. Go ahead, make my artificial day."

[Robert Cross @_robx]

A year in a minute - MSci Integrated Natural Sciences https://t.co/oOVq8hxLWj at Warwick.

[Robert Cross @_robx]

Iva Tolic’s provocative work on the forces developed between spindle microtubules has its roots in her early fascination with tensegrity structures - here the beautiful needle tower II https://t.co/ACtS6sM9Ed

[Robert Cross @_robx]

We are seeking a fellow molecular motors enthusiast. A postdoctoral fellow molecular motors enthusiast https://t.co/WDgqF9BZNc