Congratulations Alex! 🥳

The ER membrane protein complex acts as a chaperone to promote the biogenesis of multi-bundle membrane proteins www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

similar problems and require chaperone protection in the membrane. Amazing teamwork @Stanford Congratulations to all authors with and without bluesky accounts @meghaag.bsky.social @caseygifford.bsky.social @algao.bsky.social @bhartisingal.bsky.social

We found that EMC engages the Ca2+ channel co-translationally as part of a large ribosome-multipass-translocon-EMC supercomplex, likely to protect vulnerable channel folding intermediates from misrecognition by ER quality control. We anticipate that other multi-bundle channels/transporters face

We solved the cryo-EM structure of an inhibitory Nb bound to the EMC showing a steric clash with Ca2+ channel binding. When introduced into cardiomyocytes that endogenously express both EMC and Ca2+ channel, this Nb strongly blocked contraction (no beating or calcium waves)

it remained unclear if EMC's well-studied insertase activity or a potentially novel chaperone function is required. We established function-separating mutations and selective nanobody inhibitors to demonstrate that Ca2+ channels are degraded when EMC's chaperone function is specifically perturbed.

Dual function of the EMC in membrane protein biogenesis. The EMC is known to insert membrane proteins into the lipid bilayer and was suggested to act as a chaperone to help assemble voltage-gated calc

Voltage-gated calcium channels are the key drivers of heart muscle contraction (see green oscillating calcium waves in the video above). They are first inserted into the lipid bilayer, folded and assembled at the ER membrane by ER biogenesis factors. The EMC was speculated to be involved but ...

We made nanobodies that make your heart🫀 stop 🛑beating. Keep reading to learn how this taught us about how large membrane proteins like ion channels are folded and assembled in human cells. Beyond excited to share my lab's first preprint: Please 🔄 bit.ly/49A0PtD

2025 Basic Award winner Dirk Görlich @mpsgoettingen.bsky.social advises scientists to overcome "headwinds against new ways of thinking" by putting ideas to the "strictest possible test" and finding satisfaction in the journey, not just the destination. #LaskerAwards

✨Excited that the main project of my PhD is now available as a pre-print on #bioRxiv

Here, we used #CryoET to visualise mitochondrial proteostatic stress and together with SPA #CryoEM shed light into the functional cycle of the Hsp60:10 chaperone system. #TeamTomo

🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My lab @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social is recruiting! We are looking for a postdoc at the interface of quantitative proteomics and G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) biology:
postdocs.stanford.edu/prospective/...
#TeamMassSpec #Proteomics #GPCR #Postdoc

TRIP12 structures reveal HECT E3 formation of K29 linkages and branched ubiquitin chains - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Using biochemistry, chemical biology, and cryo-EM, Maiwald et al. elucidate how TRIP12 forms K29 linkages and K29/K48-linked branched ubiquitin chains, revealing a mechanism for polyubiquitylation sha...

Excited to share our latest study on how K29/K48-branched #ubiquitin chains are forged by the #E3 ligase TRIP12, and how this suggests a consensus mechanism for chain formation by HECT E3s!

@natsmb.nature.com

1/7

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

ER needs ATP for processes like protein quality control, but can't make its own. Here, how ATP is imported into the ER lumen and exchanged for ADP.

Breakthrough Prize-Winning Biochemist on the Deadly Cost of Funding Cuts | Amanpour and Company YouTube video by Amanpour and Company

David Liu @harvard.edu beautifully articulates the criticality of basic science funding for developing revolutionary therapeutics like life-saving base editors 👏

youtu.be/8YhJM6zxYDw?...

Leucine aminopeptidase LyLAP enables lysosomal degradation of membrane proteins Breakdown of every transmembrane protein trafficked to lysosomes requires proteolysis of their hydrophobic helical transmembrane domains. Combining lysosomal proteomics with functional genomic dataset...

Amazing story from #MolecularTherapeutics faculty @robzonculab.bsky.social with lead author @aakritijain.bsky.social describing membrane protein degradation in the lysosome. Congratulations!!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In situ architecture of the human prohibitin complex - Nature Cell Biology Lange, Ratz, et al. investigate the number and distribution of human prohibitin complexes in the mitochondrial inner membrane, uncovering their bell-shaped structure and assembly of alternating PHB1 a...

Excited to share our paper with Jakobs Lab @mpi-nat.bsky.social on the in situ structure of the prohibitin complex in human mitochondria! Although mitochondria contain >1000 proteins, it seems a single, 2-subunit complex occupies 1-3% of the crista membrane area 🤯

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Prohormone cleavage prediction uncovers a non-incretin anti-obesity peptide - Nature Computational drug discovery is used to identify a 12-mer peptide derived from BRINP2 with potent anti-obesity effects that are independent of leptin, glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor and melanocortin...

Exciting discovery by Svensson lab and collaborators @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social, computational discovery of 2500 new bioactive peptides, including 12-mer named BRP that reduces food intake leading to weight loss w/o nausea in mice!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thrilled to share the structure of dimerised human PINK1 docked to an endogenous translocase array on the mitochondrial surface, composed of two TOM complexes, bridged by a VDAC2 dimer! Published today in Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@wehi-research.bsky.social @komanderlab.bsky.social

Pamela J. Bjorkman Wolf Prize Laureate in Medicine 2025

The 2025 Wolf Prize Laureate in Medicine, Professor Pamela J. Bjorkman “For pioneering innovative strategies to overcome viral defenses through novel antibody-focused approaches” @caltech.edu wolffund.org.il/pamela-j-bjo... @bjorkman-lab.bsky.social

C-terminal amides mark proteins for degradation via SCF–FBXO31 - Nature SCF–FBXO31 scans proteins for C-terminal amidation and marks them for subsequent proteasomal degradation.

scary but fascinating - cells have a degradation pathway that hunts down C-terminal scars (amides!) on damaged proteins. just wow. chemical biology plus CRISPR at its best. big congrats to all authors!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nice highlighting of @taylor-mighell.bsky.social's GPCR pharmacochaperone preprint by @dereklowe.bsky.social @science.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

In a great collaboration with @hummerlab.bsky.social and the Kräusslich lab: HIV capsid doesn't break at the NPC; instead, it cracks open the NPC itself! Details in Cell: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S... @mpibp.bsky.social @uniheidelberg.bsky.social A thread below:

iAPEX: Improved APEX-based proximity labeling for subcellular proteomics using an enzymatic reaction cascade Ascorbate peroxidase (APEX) is a versatile labeling enzyme used for live-cell proteomics at high spatial and temporal resolution. However, toxicity of its substrate hydrogen peroxide and background la...

Proud to share our work spear-headed by PhD student Tommy Sroka with major contributions by #xenopus expert Kerstin Feistel.

Our iAPEX #ProximityLabeling method for #MassSpec based subcellular #proteomics works by locally generating H2O2 using a D-amino acid oxidase that activates APEX2 in situ.

Protein quality control is a tug-of-war between degradation machinery and chaperones that promote folding. Thrilled to see our latest manuscript is now published!
👇 Follow 🧵 for quick summary
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...

I am excited to report the preprint of my postdoc work in the @olzmannlab.bsky.social! We have discovered the first lipid droplet quality control pathway with broad implications for lipid physiology and diseases associated with LD accumulation and oxidative stress! #lipidtime

shorturl.at/2HqFd

Check out our work, where we discover how receptor GPCR senses pH! We solved a longstanding question by developing foundational GPCR DMS tech dev + structural bio! Led by brilliant PhD student @matthewkhoward.bsky.social and Nick Hoppe w/ @amanglik.bsky.social!

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Interested in #organelle biogenesis, subcellular #membrane #protein targeting or #LipidMetabolism? We are hiring! #PhD student or #postdoc.
We combine #Biochemistry & #CellBiology with Computational Modeling & Experimental Physics / Physical Chemistry approaches.
#research #academicsky #AcademicJob

I’ll have more to say about this later, but please have a look, and I hope the #TeamTomo community finds good uses for those 1829 Chlamy tomograms 🧪🧶🧬🌾🔬

Mitochondria consist of networks of cylindrical tubes, right? Not necessarily! - in our new preprint, @gavsturm.bsky.social investigates how mitochondria transiently adopt a beads-on-a-string morphology

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

My lab @Stanford studies membrane protein insertion, assembly and quality control at the human ER membrane. We develop tiny genetically encodable antibodies from alpacas, called nanobodies, as tools to acutely manipulate intracellular biology. Join us as a postdoc! Apply here: bit.ly/_Postdocs