Research Highlights

Cellular Signalling in Virtual Reality

4 December 2017|

Aidin Balo in the Ernst laboratory delivers seminars about the structural details of rhodopsin signalling entirely in virtual reality for large audiences at international conferences using technology developed at Autodesk Life Sciences. A paper describing the novel aspects of the tool, the Autodesk Molecule Viewer, has been published in this month’s issue of Nature Methods (publicly accessible link: http://rdcu.be/z0HH)  A story about […]

Houry Lab uncovers over 1000 novel interactions of chaperones in yeast

4 December 2017|

Kamran Rizzolo, in the laboratory of Professor Walid Houry, spoke with Faculty of Medicine’s writer Jim Oldfield about his lab’s recent  Cell Reports paper on the chaperone network in yeast.

Click here to read the full story.

Crystallographers celebrate 1,000th protein structure

4 December 2017|

Scientists have solved 1,000 protein structures using data collected at the Canadian Light Source CMCF beamlines. The Canadian Light Source (CLS) is a national research facility, producing the brightest light in Canada. The Canada Foundation for Innovation, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, National Research Council of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Government of Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan fund the CLS operations, which allows hundreds […]

Mapping the molecular chaperone network

4 October 2017|

Rizzolo et al. from the Houry group provided a comprehensive view of molecular chaperone function in the cell through the use of a systematic global integrative network approach based on physical (protein-protein) and genetic (gene-gene or epistatic) interaction mapping. The analysis revealed the presence of a large chaperone functional supercomplex, which was named the NAJ chaperone complex, encompassing Hsp40, Hsp70, Hsp90, CCT and small Hsps. Many chaperones were found […]

SickKids scientists obtain blueprint of molecular target for blood cancer and autoimmune therapies

4 October 2017|

Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) have been exploring the molecular structure of immune cell components, and how gaining an understanding of their anatomical organization can help develop future targeted therapies for blood cancers and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Jean-Philippe Julien and co-authors, Dr. June Ereño-Orbea and Taylor Sicard provide the details of their study, “Molecular basis of human CD22 function and therapeutic targeting”, published October 2 in […]

The second annual Biochemistry Departmental Retreat at the Kempenfelt Centre

31 August 2017|

The second annual Biochemistry Departmental Retreat was held at the Kempenfelt Centre on August 30-31st, 2017. The retreat not only allowed the Department to celebrate our newest scientific discoveries, but also to allow everyone to see old friend and meet new colleagues. It also allowed incoming graduate rotation students to sample all of the exciting science that is happening throughout the Department. This year, the retreat focused on grad students […]

How GPCRs use phosphorylation codes for arrestin recruitment

23 August 2017|

DEER spectroscopy by Ned van Eps in the Ernst lab was used to validate the crystal structure of the phosphorylated G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) rhodopsin in complex with arrestin. EPR measurements confirmed the location of the C-terminal tail of rhodopsin on a arrestin binding surface in a non-crystallographic environment. GPCRs are among the most important cell surface receptors controlling nearly all of our physiology. Termination of G-protein-mediated signalling by an […]

Bear Lab shows that a new Cystic Fibrosis treatment improves function from a rare CFTR mutation in patient tissue

14 July 2017|

The laboratory of Christine Bear, together with the group of Régis Pomès and collaborators at The Hospital for Sick Children and Proteostasis Therapeutics, used in silico, in vitro and ex vivo techniques to comprehensively understand the consequences of a rare Cystic Fibrosis (CF) disease-causing mutation in the CFTR gene: c.3700 A>G (ΔI1234_R1239), and subsequently develop a novel mechanism-based therapeutic strategy.

Steven Molinski, first author of the study and recent […]

Howell lab deduces the mechanism of type IV pilus motors

5 May 2017|

Howell lab

The type IV pilus is a long and sturdy grappling hook that bacteria use to attach to a surface and then pull themselves closer to the surface. They are important for virulence in many pathogens, including those that cause cholera, gonorrhoea, food-borne diseases, and multi-drug resistant hospital acquired infections. The molecular mechanism of the motors involved in throwing out and pulling […]

New genetic disease discovered by Drs. Aleixo Muise and Walter Kahr

7 April 2017|

Two of Biochemistry’s professors, Drs. Aleixo Muise and Walter Kahr have discovered a brand new genetic disease through their research at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Their research article is published on Nature Communications.

Their story was also highlighted on the Hospital for Sick Children, CBC The National and CBC News Network, and the Globe and Mail websites:

http://www.sickkids.ca/AboutSickKids/Newsroom/Past-News/2017/SickKids-team-identifies-new-disease-solves-medical-mystery.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/thenational/new-disease-discovered-1.4054061

[…]

Stagljar lab reveals new interactions among GPCRs

16 March 2017|

Using the modified membrane yeast two‐hybrid (MYTH) technology, researchers from the Stagljar lab mapped membrane protein interactions for clinically important G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).

Read the full story on Faculty of Medicine website.

Read their paper on Molecular Systems Biology.

 

Researchers revisit the role of conformational dynamics and the protein ensemble in catalysis

21 February 2017|