Anderson Oliveira

Sequencing day at Rockefeller University, with an East River skyline break in between runs.

Lovely wintry day in NYC ❄️

Glowing millipedes in hand ✨🪱
New Motyxia in the lab #FluorescenceFriday

High-throughput microplate luminometry of Pyrocystis lunula bioluminescence for metal toxicity assessment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.22.682404v1

Illuminating calcium and potassium dynamics with red fluorescent sensors Despite recent advances in green genetically encoded ion indicators, developments in red-shifted indicators have been slower. This Primer explores two recent studies in PLOS Biology that engineer red ...

Great commentary by
@yulonglilab
on our two recent papers introducing red genetically encoded biosensors for calcium and potassium imaging!
🔴 FRCaMPi - Enhanced red calcium sensor 🔴 RGEPOs - First-ever red potassium sensors
📖 doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Autonomous Bioluminescence Systems: From Molecular Mechanisms to Emerging Applications Autonomous bioluminescence systems─genetically encoded platforms that integrate luciferase enzymes with complete substrate biosynthetic pathways─have emerged as transformative tools for real-time, noninvasive imaging in living systems. Unlike conventional substrate-dependent bioluminescence, these systems provide continuous light emission without external substrates, enabling long-term monitoring with minimal phototoxicity compared to the use of fluorescence. Here, we present a critical perspective on recent advances in the two best-characterized autonomous systems: bacterial and fungal bioluminescence systems. We assess their molecular mechanisms, protein engineering strategies, and emerging applications in single-cell imaging, multicolor biosensing, and whole-organism monitoring. By comparing their strengths and limitations, we highlight persistent challenges, such as low quantum yield in bacterial bioluminescence and substrate availability constraints in fungal bioluminescence, and discuss strategies to address them─including AI-guided mutagenesis, de novo protein design, and metabolic pathway optimization. We conclude by outlining application-driven design targets for the next generation of autonomous bioluminescent systems in biomedical research, environmental monitoring, and synthetic biology.

Autonomous Bioluminescence Systems: From Molecular Mechanisms to Emerging Applications: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

q.e.d Science Critical Thinking AI for constructive criticism and science evaluation

Here's the link to the system, try it! qedscience.com
@qedscience.bsky.social

Kinetic mechanism of Renilla luciferase guides induced-fit engineering for improved bioluminescence Renilla luciferase (RLuc) remains one of the most popular bioluminescence reporters, but its molecular principle has yet to be fully understood. Here, we reveal a detailed kinetic mechanism of the RLu...

Preprint: Mechanistic study of RLuc uncovers limiting steps and a true kcat of 22 s⁻¹. Loop engineering produced AncFT-L14, a glow-type, stable light variant.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Have you tried using luciferases or even photoproteins, depending on what you need to track?

Scraping glowing dinos from the plate 🌊💡 They flash when disturbed, and we use their light-emitting compounds in some of our bioluminescence assays.

#Bioluminescence #LabLife

Here’s a peek at our latest work: 🔬 Photoproteins lighting up in real time when calcium is added!

#Bioluminescence #Photoproteins #PostdocJobs

🗽 Hiring a postdoc in NYC: deep-sea bioluminescence and calcium-responsive photoproteins. Apply now! ✨

Thanks for sharing this!

A fluorescent-protein spin qubit Nature - An optically addressable fluorescent-protein spin qubit is realized using enhanced yellow fluorescent protein; the qubit can be coherently controlled at liquid-nitrogen temperatures and...

A fluorescent-protein spin qubit!

rdcu.be/eF5eB

🚨The Oliveira Lab (Yeshiva University, NYC) seeks a creative scientist to decode the molecular mechanisms of deep-sea bioluminescence.

More info & apply: careers.pageuppeople.com/876/cw/en-us...

Please share with your network!
#PostdocJobs #Bioluminescence

Glowing millipedes in the bag, off to the lab. #FluorescenceFriday

Our science photo book The Radiant Sea is out Sept 2nd!!
30 years of research, 10 years of "we should", and a year of collating pix and writing.
Sönke and I show (mostly for the first time) images of how organisms produce, use, and interact with light in the sea. #bioluminescence #fluorescence 🦑🧪🌊

Wow, nice!

Millipedes aren't just nocturnal wanderers, they glow! Under UV light, Motyxia sequoiae exoskeletons reveal a striking blue-green fluorescence. 🔬✨
#FluorescenceFriday #Millipedes

Our lab’s millipedes glow twice: green bioluminescence in the dark and blue fluorescence under UV. 💚💙 #FluorescenceFriday

Meet our newest glow‑in‑the‑dark recruits! 🐛

Insights into the bioluminescence systems of three sea pens (Cnidaria: Anthozoa): from de novo transcriptome analyses to biochemical assays | Open Biology Bioluminescence is the production of visible light by living organisms. It occurs through the oxidation of luciferin substrates catalysed by luciferase enzymes. Auxiliary proteins, such as fluorescent...

Check out our Open Biology publication on the bioluminescence systems of three sea-pen species | @royalsocietypublishing.org

#Bioluminescence #MarineScience

Our paper describing a new green-light-emitting photoprotein from the ctenophore Velamen parallelum is now out in The FEBS Journal!

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

#bioluminescence #photoproteins

Exploring the beauty and function of new bioluminescent proteins in my recent talk. #Bioluminescence #Luciferase #Photoprotein

With the help of @ostratodd.bsky.social and @emilylau.bsky.social we have put together a Bioluminescence (etc) starter pack.

Please let us know if you would like to be added, especially as more people migrate here.
go.bsky.app/9wFuWB9