Professor Renae Ryan, University of Sydney (left) and Professor Steve Busby, University of Birmingham (right) stood in front of a Biochemical Society banner promoting advanced molecular bioscience, holding an award plaque.

Professor Renae Ryan, University of Sydney holding their award stood beside a presentation slide titled about glutamate transporter and episodic ataxia research.

Visiting from Sydney, we were honoured to present Renae Ryan with the 2025 International Award today! Renae closed out the Membrane Proteins Conference with her fascinating insights into the twisted link between glutamate transporters and Episodic Ataxia.

Professor Doryen Bubeck delivering a session

Professor Doryen Bubeck (left) and Professor Alan Goddard (right)

Congratulations to Doryen Bubeck who was presented with the 2026 GlaxoSmithKline Award at Membrane Proteins Conference today! Doryen's research into the membrane attack complex has opened new lines of investigation into the importance of lipids in immune homeostasis

Thanks for visiting @figlegend.bsky.social. Safe travels back to Singapore.

Last Friday Phill Stansfeld & I played host to Dr Shu Sin Chng from National University of Singapore on his latest research in Gram negative bacterial membrane biogenesis, a core aspect of joint interests relevant to discovery of next generation antibiotics and combating the rise of AMR

Registration is open for the #CCPBioSim Annual Conference, 6-8 July, Bristol, UK!

See: www.ccpbiosim.ac.uk/bristol2026

Delighted to be hosting the conference @bristoluni.bsky.social, with the theme "Biomolecular simulation across scales, for understanding and design"

#compchem
#compbio
#biodesign

SAVE THE DATE!
The next instalment of the long-running Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Division Conference will take place at www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels..., Italy from the 20th to 23rd of April 2027.
Organisers: me, @s-lab.bsky.social, @awehenkel.bsky.social.
More info soon.

#MicroSky

Should be a great meeting - Link here: www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

The Biochemical Society 2025 Awards. International Award, Professor Renae Ryan, University of Sydney. Includes photo of Prof Ryan and Biochemical Society awards logo.

Internationally renowned as one of the leaders in neurotransmitter transport research, don't miss Professor Renae Ryan (@renaeryan.bsky.social) present her #BiochemSoc International Award Lecture at Membrane #Proteins Conference 2026! 🧪

Thanks for the invitation to visit. I was well looked after by Stefano Pagliara and there's some great science going on down at @lsiexeter.bsky.social

Whoop! Congrats Ellie.

Attendees networking for the graphic promoting the Membrane Proteins Conference in Birmingham, April 2026, hosted by the Biochemical Society.

Save £100 if you book your place for Membrane Proteins Conference before 7 January 2026.
Taking place on 7–9 April 2026 in Birmingham, don’t miss the chance to listen to expert researchers discussing membrane proteins in diverse biological processes. 🧪
https://ow.ly/rhHJ50XNBLI

MemPrO: A Predictive Tool for Membrane Protein Orientation Membrane proteins play a vital role in numerous cellular processes, including ion transport, intercellular communication, and antibiotic resistance. Ensuring their accurate orientation within lipid bi...

🌟 New Tool Alert!

We present MemPrO – a toolkit for orienting and building membrane protein systems:

✅ Membrane protein orientation 
✅ Mixed membrane building 
✅ Double membranes & curvature 
✅ Peptidoglycan cell wall support

🔗 github.com/pstansfeld/mempro 
📖 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

🚨My lab is hiring a postdoc!🚨
If you’re interested in working out the mechanism and physiological impact of bacterial lipid transport processes then please apply!

Job advert is here: tinyurl.com/4swddfda

Get in touch by email (c.mulligan@kent.ac.uk) for informal enquiries

Please repost!
Thanks!

A new role for lipoproteins LpqZ and FecB in orchestrating mycobacterial cell envelope biogenesis | mBio Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), remains the world’s deadliest bacterial infection, in part because the bacterium’s unique cell envelope makes it highly resistant to antibioti...

Really cool. The doi was dead for me but link to it here: doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

Structural basis of undecaprenyl phosphate glycosylation leading to polymyxin resistance in Gram-negative bacteria - Nature Communications The study reveals the structure of ArnC, a membrane glycosyltransferase that modifies undecaprenyl phosphate with aminoarabinose (L-Ara4N), leading to polymyxin resistance. The structure of ArnC in tw...

I'm happy to share that our work describing the #cryoEM #structure of the glycosyltransferase ArnC from Salmonella enterica has been published in Nature Communications. #membrane #protein #PetrouLab

The article is open access and available at:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations to the entire team, including lead author Khuram Ashraf and our excellent collaborators @pstansfeld.bsky.social (and team) and Jason Kaelber.

The original preprint thread with additional information is here: bsky.app/profile/vasi...

Structural characterization of the YbbAP-TesA ABC transporter identifies it as a lipid hydrolase complex that extracts hydrophobic compounds from the bacterial inner membrane In E.coli, three of the four Type VII ABC transporter systems have been structurally characterized. This study solves cryo-EM structures of the fourth Type VII ABC system, YbbAP-TesA, and suggests tha...

Type VII ABC transporters underpin many core activities in the bacterial cell envelope - including efflux, cell division and lipoprotein trafficking.

A new paper in PLOS Biology reveals YbbAP-TesA as a novel Type VII system in E. coli.

dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Super collaboration with @raffaeleieva.bsky.social and @fronzeslab.bsky.social on the LptDEMY complex.

Structural basis of lipopolysaccharide assembly by the outer membrane translocon holo-complex Nature Communications - The asymmetric distribution of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the surface of the bacterial outer membrane is essential and crucial for antibiotic resistance. Here, authors...

rdcu.be/eRxNf here our new study on the characterization of the lipopolysaccharide holotranslocon, LptDE and the newly identified subunits LptM and LptY. Great collaboration with @fronzeslab.bsky.social @pstansfeld.bsky.social @JulienMarcoux @YvesQuentin

CCD2MD: A Suite of Packages for Preparing Co-Folded Outputs for Molecular Dynamics Simulations Protein–lipid interactions play a crucial role in the stability and function of membrane proteins. While experimental approaches to characterize these interactions in a native-like membrane environmen...

Kat Blow has developed CCD2MD, a suite of packages for preparing co-folded outputs for MD simulations.

Created for protein–lipid interactions in integral membrane proteins, it also works for peripheral and lipid-anchored proteins too.

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

github.com/keb721/ccd2md

Biochemical Society's Membrane Protein Conference
7–9 April 2026
Birmingham, UK | Leonardo Royal Hotel

- Abstracts welcome for talks & posters
- Bursaries available!
- Register & submit here:
www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...

#MembraneProteins #CallForAbstracts @biochemsoc.bsky.social

Just in time for Becca’s thesis submission, their paper on MreB membrane interactions is published in @biophysj.bsky.social: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful... 🎉

Cool! Congrats.

Simon Foster being badly behaved.

Fantastic WEHeraeus symposium at the Bad Honnef Physikzentrum, perfectly organised by @djanuliene.bsky.social and @arnemoeller.bsky.social. Thank you for the invitation.

Józef Lewandowski and I have a JPIAMR-funded Postdoctoral position available.

We are seeking a candidate to study antibiotic interactions with bacterial membranes using MD Simulations.

The successful applicant will be part of a larger consortium of academic and industrial partners.

bit.ly/3TVs74O

Mechanistic studies of mycobacterial glycolipid biosynthesis by the mannosyltransferase PimE - Nature Communications Here the authors investigate of the structural basis of substrate recognition and the catalytic mechanism of the mannosyltransferase PimE, which is crucial for the biosynthesis of phosphatidyl-myo-ino...

Also a couple of back-to-back @natcomms.nature.com papers with @chelseabrown.bsky.social on Mycobacterial enzymes in collaboration with the Mancia lab et al.: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Conformational dynamics and membrane insertion mechanism of B4GALNT1 in ganglioside synthesis - Nature Communications Gangliosides are bioactive lipids important for neuronal cell function. Here, authors reveal the dynamic structure of the ganglioside synthetic enzyme B4GALNT1 and demonstrate how it inserts into memb...

New Paper with @deanelab.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A porin-like protein used by bacterial predators defines a wider lipid-trapping superfamily Nature Communications - This study reveals that an outer membrane protein from the predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus forms a pentameric assembly that traps a lipid monolayer within. This allows...

New paper out, with a contribution from Dom Gurvic and I; led by Andy Lovering and @lalouxlab.bsky.social:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check out our new paper with Michael Landreh, @pstansfeld.bsky.social and others in @elife.bsky.social : Engineering cardiolipin binding to an artificial membrane protein reveals determinants for lipid-mediated stabilization doi.org/10.7554/eLif...