Biochemistry, University of Toronto

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Alex Palazzo and Ryan Gregory interviewed for the New York Times

5 March 2015|

Alex Palazzo and his collaborator, Ryan Gregory from the University of Guelph, were interviewed by New York Times science writer Carl Zimmer. The article, Is Most of Our DNA Garbage? revealed the realities and misconceptions surrounding junk DNA and the ENCODE project.

Grad students Scott McAuley and Leo Mui featured in U of T Magazine article

5 March 2015|

Scott McAuley, a grad student in the Nodwell lab, and business partner Leo Mui, were featured in the recent issue of U of T Magazine. The two U of T grad students formed the company Lunanos and are developing a reusable disinfectant indicator sticker for use on rolling hospital equipment as a tool for infection control. Prototypes will shortly be tested in hospitals in Toronto and the Philippines.

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