Biochemistry, University of Toronto

Rubinstein Lab publishes paper in eLife

7 October 2015|

The Rubinstein laboratory, along with collaborators at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Janelia Research Campus in Ashburn, Virginia, and Medical Research Council Mitochondrial Biology Unit in Cambridge, England, have just produced the highest-resolution structure available for the mitochondrial ATP synthase. Mitochondria are the ‘powerhouses’ of cells, and ATP synthase is the macromolecular machine that makes the cells supply of ATP, the currency of biochemical energy. Using new cryo-EM […]

trimer diversity simple phylogenetic shadow

PNAS article on HIV-1 clade C trimers that increase the arsenal of Env immunogens

8 September 2015|

Jean-Philippe Julien at the SickKids Research Institute and collaborators at Scripps report in PNAS two HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins (Env) of clade C sequences that are faithful antigenic and structural mimic of the native trimer in its pre-fusion conformation: the DU422 and ZM197M trimers. A cryo-EM reconstruction of the ZM197M trimer at sub-nanometer resolution revealed important conformational variability in loops that harbor high sequence diversity between HIV-1 clades. HIV-1 clade […]

The periplasmic binding protein AfuA binds glucose-6-phosphate

Brandon Sit and the Moraes Lab publish article in PLoS Pathogens

25 August 2015|

In this PLoS Pathogens article (Sit et al.), undergraduate student Brandon Sit together with other members of the Moraes Lab used X-ray crystallography and additional biochemical and functional approaches to illustrate that AfuABC binds and transports sugar-phosphates such as glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) across the Gram negative bacterial membrane. In collaboration with the Vallance lab (at UBC) they went on to show that AfuABC is required by enteric pathogens to effectively transmit […]

Crystal structure of the outer membrane protein ZnuD

Charles Calmettes and other members of the Moraes, Pomès, and Gray-Owen labs publish paper in Nature Communications

25 August 2015|

The conserved outer-membrane zinc transporter ZnuD is utilized by bacteria to overcome nutritional restriction imposed by the host organism during infection. In this Nature Communications paper (Calmettes et al.), Post doctoral fellow Dr. Charles Calmettes and other members of the Moraes Lab, Pomès Lab and Gray-Owen lab demonstrate that ZnuD is required for efficient systemic infections by the causative agent of bacterial meningitis, Neisseria meningitidis. They combined X-ray crystallography […]

Aleixo Muise and Sick Kids researchers find defect in blood vessels the cause of new intestinal disease

6 August 2015|

In a study published in Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aleixo Muise, Clinician-Scientist and Co-Director of the IBD Centre, and a team of Sick Kids researchers reveal that a genetic defect causes a mutation of the PLVAP gene. The mutation leads to the loss of the protein filter in blood vessels in the bowel. Further research into this new disease may lead to new treatments and a […]

News & Views "Structural biology: Arresting developments in receptor signalling” by Jeffrey Benovic.

Ernst lab contributes DEER spectroscopy to Nature paper on rhodopsin-arrestin complex structure

6 August 2015|

The GPCR-arrestin complex crystal structure was solved using data collected at the Stanford LCLS X-ray free electron laser. Ned van Eps and Lydia Caro from the Ernst lab used pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to validate the rhodopsin–arrestin complex assembly. The study published online 22 July 2015 in Nature has been downloaded more than 22,000 times in the first week after publication.

Photo of Xiaoyun Bai and Reinhart Reithmeier

Reinhart Reithmeier and post-doc Xiaoyun Bai publish article in Cell

31 July 2015|

A Perspective article entitled “A Call for Systematic Research on Solute Carriers” was published today (July 30th) in Cell with Reinhart Reithmeier and his post-doc Xiaoyun Bai as co-authors.

This human family of over 400 genes plays an essential role in ion and pH homeostasis, nutrient uptake and waste removal. Mutations in these genes are linked to a plethora of human diseases and SLCs are potential drug targets. Yet, SLCs […]

SLx4 complexes from EMBO Journal article

PhD student Attila Balint discovers signaling role for Slx4

9 July 2015|

Slx4 is a nuclease scaffold protein that is mutated in Fanconi Anemia patients. In his study, published in the EMBO Journal, Attila and colleagues in Grant Brown’s lab defined the pathway that assembles Slx4 protein complexes onto chromatin when DNA replication is blocked by DNA damaging drugs. Surprisingly, Slx4 complexes promote checkpoint signaling to allow cells to resist and repair DNA damage. Attila’s study, funded by […]

Warren Lee interviewed by CTV on flu treatment findings

12 June 2015|

Dr. Warren Lee, critical care physician and cell biologist with St. Michael’s Hospital, teamed up with drug researchers at Sunnybrook Hospital to test Vasculotide, a new drug treatment that prevents lung blood vessels from leaking when attacked by the flu virus. Previous flu drugs attempt to defeat the virus while Vasculotide successfully treats the host.

The research findings are published in Scientific Reports and announced in […]

Recent Graduates, Ruth Milkereit and Avinash Persaud, publish paper in Nature Communications

2 June 2015|

Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (mTORC1) is a master regulator of energy metabolism, protein synthesis, cell and animal growth, and it is implicated in numerous diseases, including cancer. Influx of essential amino acids such as Leu into cells is mediated by the LAT1-4F2hc (SLC7A5-SLC3A2) transporter in exchange for Gln, and results in the recruitment of the mTORC1 complex to the lysosomal membrane. Intracellular Leu then enters the lysosome to […]

Rubinstein Lab captures V-ATPase images, paper published in Nature

19 May 2015|

V-ATPases are proton pumps that control the pH in many compartments within cells. V-ATPase activity is critical for the immune system (where acidic compartments in cells are used to destroy invading bacteria), cell growth (where compartments with different pHs are needed for molecules to be built and destroyed), the transmission of signals in the brain (where V-ATPases are needed to load packets of neurotransmitters that are deposited between neurons), […]

Stagljar lab uses MYTH technology to identify interactors of Sho1p

10 March 2015|

The high osmolarity glycerol (HOG) mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) stress response pathway in Saccharomyces cerevisiae enables cells to adapt and remain viable under conditions of high osmotic stress; in pathogenic fungi, the HOG pathway has been implicated in virulence. HOG also serves as a model for other MAPK pathways, including those found in mammals, which are known to play a role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

In work recently published in […]

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