Exciting to see momentum building around our concept of inverse agonist-bound GPCR–G protein complex structures (PMID: 39775170). Great work from the groups of Can Cao & Xiaoguang Lei: a clinically viable MRGPRX4 inverse agonist for chronic itch with therapeutic potential. Congrats to all!
Effective laser phase plates should be transformational for cryo-EM and this proof of principle study shows a pulsed system successfully intergrated in a SEM. A powerful step towards functional systems in a cryo-TEM
Pulsed #lasers integrated with #cryoEM: @fitzpatricklab.bsky.social postdoc Daniel Du aims to boost contrast in #cryoET zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/making-world-s-best-microscopes-biology-better
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/science-life-daniel-du
elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/109793v1
Neuroscientists are always looking for new tools that can bring the brain into sharper focus. For postdoc Daniel Du, that means shooting lasers at state-of-the-art microscopes to take better snapshots of the building blocks of the brain:
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/science-life...
Close-up of a laser that can improve cryo-electron tomography images. (Credit: Fitzpatrick lab).
How do you make one of the best microscopes in biology even better? Postdoc Daniel Du of the Fitzpatrick lab zapped electrons with a laser. The new research in @elife.bsky.social with Cornell’s Maxson lab promises improved snapshots of the brain:
zuckermaninstitute.columbia.edu/making-world...
🚀 CryoSPARC v5.0 BETA is here!
We’re excited to deploy another major #CryoSPARC release to help enable and accelerate #cryoEM data analysis. v5 has a redesigned underlying software system and many new features - highlights in thread!
Full changelog: cryosparc.com/updates/v5.0.0
Don't have skis here but there was snowboarding in central park lol
Frozen Bryant Park fountain in snowy NYC!
A combined approach using light microscopy and ion beam milling enhances the precision of cryoET sample preparation, enabling more accurate targeting of small, rare structures within cells. doi.org/hbkb94
Reversible lipid-mediated pH-gating of connexin-46/50 by cryo-EM pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41526355/ #cryoEM
Amyloid-mediated RNA uptake by sperm for embryonic delivery www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12...
Excited to share our latest research, out today in Cell (@cellpress.bsky.social)
Using cryo-EM and cell-based studies, we reveal how large nutrient sensing protein complexes form at the lysosomal membrane to turn off mTORC1 and halt anabolic signalling.
Read the paper here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
Another member of the Fitzpatrick/Shapiro quad @zuckermanbrain.bsky.social embarks on setting up his lab!
If you wish to use #cryoEM #cryoET to study how viruses enter & evade the immune system, & design antibody-based vaccines, check out the Roark lab:
isb.med.upenn.edu/research/cryoem-and-cryoet
Organelles do NOT have a single uniform pH.
And if you think they must, because “protons diffuse fast,” this paper is for you.
A thread on why that assumption is wrong; and what we found instead. 🧵 1/n
Thrilled to see our review article "The evolutionary origins of synaptic proteins" highlighted on the cover of Nature Reviews Neuroscience 🤩.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
@msarscentre.bsky.social 🧠✨🧬🌊🪼🧽
A quick tutorial on the DAQ structure validation score for protein models derived from cryo-EM. DAQ evaluates amino acid–level accuracy in your model. Consider including a DAQ validation report in your next publication!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRAT...
I’m very happy (and grateful!) to share that I’m featured in a Nature Cancer Viewpoint about starting my lab at CNIO.
In the Lab (www.rcglab.com) we’re combining AI, protein design and structural biology to study protein structures and design novel protein therapeutics for cancer. 🔬
🔬 Just out in @NatureComms!
Using cryo-CLEM and cryo-ET, we reveal the unique ultrastructure of dopaminergic varicosities in the striatum.
Amazing collaboration with @davip-bdx.bsky.social and Etienne Herzog @iins-bordeaux.bsky.social
Congratulations to Paul and Robin for this fantastic work! 🎉
December Update of DAQ-Score DB! Quality evaluations of protein models from cryo-EM. Now includes evaluation of 258,956 protein chains.
Check at daqdb.kiharalab.org
It's very easy to compute DAQ for your protein model. Add the validation result in your publication: em.kiharalab.org/algorithm/da...
Holy cow the Zhou lab at UCLA is cooking with Isonet 2 - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Averaging-free direct visualization of ribosome translational state! #teamtomo #cryoet
Love the caption of Fig. 3 in this impressive preprint:
"A Goodsell-esque 3D orthogonal rendering of an IsoNet2-processed FIB-milled tomogram of C. reinhardtii"
doi.org/10.64898/202...
Since I am no expert, what does the cryoET community think of IsoNet? @cellarchlab.com
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
IsoNet2 determines cellular structures at submolecular resolution without averaging www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.693325v1 #cryoEM
Many thanks to @cellpress.bsky.social for highlighting our #cryoEM research:
cell.com/structure/fu...
cryo-EM map at 1.9 Å resolution...
I wrote a bit about practical considerations for using #cryo-ET labels and some things to work on if we want to find any protein in any cell.
authors.elsevier.com/a/1mA6h,LqAr...
Delighted to have contributed to this paper and amazing resource. In-silico protein-protein interaction screening has huge promise for generating novel hypotheses and building models into low-res #cryo-EM and #teamtomo maps.
Seeing is believing-Plasmodium falciparum translation in action pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41202797/ #cryoEM
Excited to share our latest @nature.com: How does naloxone (Narcan) stop an opioid overdose? We determined the first GDP-bound μ-opioid receptor–G protein structures and found naloxone traps a novel "latent” state, preventing GDP release and G protein activation.💊🧪 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Please RT. Post-doc opportunity alert! 💥 closing 10th December.. Come join our team (www.thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems.
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
