Publications related to Intra-endosomal membrane traffic

S-acylation and lipid exchange at the ER-Golgi membrane contact sites regulate pathogen entry in human cells

Cells have evolved endocytic pathways to internalize different molecules, to regulate intra-cellular communication and their interaction with external environment. Pathogens have co-evolved with cells to exploit these processes for infections. In particula ...

EPFL2024

Advancements in Nanomechanical Characterization and Biomolecular Imaging with Atomic force Microscopy

Veronika Cencen

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a widely used imaging tool for obtaining a variety of information for a range of samples. Although it was initially intended to serve as a method of observing very flat solid surfaces, its use expanded into several other fi ...

EPFL2024

Membrane specificity of the human cholesterol transfer protein STARD4

Charlotte Julie Caroline Gehin

STARD4 regulates cholesterol homeostasis by transferring cholesterol between the plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum. The STARD4 structure features a helix-grip fold surrounding a large hydrophobic cavity holding the sterol. Its access is controlled ...

Academic Press Ltd- Elsevier Science Ltd2024

Computational drug development for membrane protein targets

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg, Pierre Vogel, Shuguang Yuan, Dongchun Ni, Babatunde Edukpe Ekundayo

The application of computational biology in drug development for membrane protein targets has experienced a boost from recent developments in deep learning-driven structure prediction, increased speed and resolution of structure elucidation, machine learni ...

2024

From Surfactants to 3D Printing: How Ion-Chelator Pair Interactions Affect the Mechanical Properties of Bioinspired Materials

Gaia De Angelis

The remarkable adaptability observed in marine ecosystems has often inspired researchers when developing new soft materials. The research undertaken in this thesis explores how ion chelator pair interactions influence the mechanical properties of bioinspir ...

EPFL2024

Rescue of secretion of rare-disease-associated misfolded mutant glycoproteins in UGGT1 knock-out mammalian cells

Maurizio Molinari

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) retention of misfolded glycoproteins is mediated by the ER-localized eukaryotic glycoprotein secretion checkpoint, UDP-glucose glycoprotein glucosyl-transferase (UGGT). The enzyme recognizes a misfolded glycoprotein and flags it ...

Wiley2024

Advancing Cell-Free Synthetic Biology: From sustained PURE protein synthesis to an isothermal one-pot DNA replication system

Laura Sophie Grasemann

One of the goals of synthetic biology is the development of an artificial cell. Building an artificial cell from scratch will provide a deeper understanding of fundamental mechanisms and models in biology and promises to contribute towards building novel p ...

EPFL2024

High throughput wide field second harmonic imaging of giant unilamellar vesicles

Sylvie Roke, Pierre-Marc Jean Marie Dansette, Maksim Eremchev, David Roesel

Cell-sized giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are an ideal tool for understanding lipid membrane structure and properties. Label-free spatiotemporal images of their membrane potential and structure would greatly aid the quantitative understanding of membran ...

AIP Publishing2023

Simultaneous membrane and RNA binding by Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus capsid protein

Sarah Victoria Barrass

Tick-borne encephalitis virus is an enveloped, pathogenic, RNA virus in the family Flaviviridae, genus Flavivirus. Viral particles are formed when the nucleocapsid, consisting of an RNA genome and multiple copies of the capsid protein, buds through the end ...

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE2023

Effects of thermal, mechanical, and electrostatic perturbations on lipid membrane hydration investigated by second harmonic imaging

Seonwoo Lee

Hydrated lipid bilayer membranes are crucial components of cells and organelles, serving as the outer boundary that separates the cellular components from the extracellular environment. Lipid membranes regulate their structures and functions by dynamically ...

EPFL2023

Structure of a membrane-bound menaquinol:organohalide oxidoreductase

Henning Paul-Julius Stahlberg, Christof Holliger, Julien Maillard, Lorenzo Cimmino, Dongchun Ni, Babatunde Edukpe Ekundayo

Organohalide-respiring bacteria are key organisms for the bioremediation of soils and aquifers contaminated with halogenated organic compounds. The major players in this process are respiratory reductive dehalogenases, corrinoid enzymes that use organohali ...

Nature Research2023

Time-Resolved Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy and Single-Molecule Spectroscopy

Samuel Mendes Leitão

The evolution of the 3D morphology is at the center of many relevant biological processes ranging from cellular differentiation to cancer invasion and metastasis. Microscopy techniques, such as electron microscopy (EM), super-resolution (SR) optical micros ...

EPFL2023

Cholesterol-Containing Liposomes Decorated With Au Nanoparticles as Minimal Tunable Fusion Machinery

Francesco Stellacci, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Ester Canepa, Giulia Rossi

Membrane fusion is essential for the basal functionality of eukaryotic cells. In physiological conditions, fusion events are regulated by a wide range of specialized proteins, operating with finely tuned local lipid composition and ionic environment. Fusog ...

WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH2023

Homogenization theory captures macroscopic flow discontinuities across Janus membranes

François Gallaire, Pier Giuseppe Ledda, Giuseppe Antonio Zampogna, Kevin Wittkowski

Janus membranes, thin permeable structures with chemical and geometrical asymmetric properties, show great potential in industrial separation processes. Yet the link between the micro- and macro-scale behaviours of these membranes needs to be established r ...

Cambridge University Press2023

Structural diversity of photoswitchable sphingolipids for optodynamic control of lipid microdomains

Samuel Mendes Leitão

Sphingolipids are a structurally diverse class of lipids predominantly found in the plasma membrane of eukaryotic cells. These lipids can laterally segregate with other rigid lipids and cholesterol into liquid-ordered domains that act as organizing centers ...

2023

Simultaneous Electrophysiology and Imaging Reveal Changes in Lipid Membrane Thickness and Tension upon Uptake of Amphiphilic Gold Nanoparticles

Francesco Stellacci, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Camilla Servidio, Xufeng Xu

Amphiphilic gold core nanoparticles (AmNPs) striped with hydrophilic 11-mercapto-1-undecanesulfonate (MUS) and hydrophobic 1-octanethiol (OT) ligands are promising candidates for drug carriers that passively and nondisruptively enter cells. Yet, how they i ...

Amer Chemical Soc2023

Dynamics of CLIMP-63 S-acylation control ER morphology

Kathryn Hess Bellwald, Béatrice Kunz, Graham Knott, Françoise Gisou van der Goot Grunberg, Laurence Gouzi Abrami, Vassily Hatzimanikatis, Patrick Alain Sandoz, Robin Alexander Denhardt-Eriksson, Sylvia Ho, Luciano Andres Abriata, Catherine Maclachlan, Gard Spreemann

A key player in the formation of endoplasmic reticulum sheets is CLIMP-63, but mechanistic details remained elusive. Here authors combined cellular experiments and mathematical modelling to show that S-acylation of CLIMP-63 regulates its function by mediat ...

Nature Portfolio2023

Multivalent Virucidal Antivirals: Synthesis, Mechanisms of Action, and Immune-stimulating Effects

Yong Zhu

Viruses initiate invasion by binding to cell surface glycoproteins. Materials mimicking the carbohydrate motifs of these glycoproteins, such as heparan sulfate (HS) and sialic acid (SA) can block viral attachment and inhibit the infection. Multivalent disp ...

EPFL2023

Second harmonic scattering of water in a biological context

Tereza Schönfeldová

Water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe. It forms a hydrogen bond network with unique structure and dynamics. Hydrogen bonding is highly relevant to many biological processes including membrane formation, protein folding, adsorption, an ...

EPFL2022

Water as a contrast agent for imaging interfacial structure and ion transport in giant vesicles

David Roesel

Hydrated lipid bilayer membranes and their asymmetry play a fundamental role in living cells by maintaining and regulating concentration gradients between cells, their environment, and their compartments. They achieve this not only through various channels ...

EPFL2022