Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are polymodal molecular sensors involved in numerous physiological processes and implicated in various human diseases. Among the melastatin subfamily of TRP channels, TRPM7 stands out as a master regulator of the organismal balance of divalent...
Immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chain classes, including IgA and IgM in mammals, birds and reptiles, and IgM and IgT in teleost fish, can be assembled into polymeric antibodies of varying composition, size and shape. While it has long been clear that...
Specimen preparation remains a bottleneck for cryo-EM, despite recent advancements that are addressing the challenges. Traditional plunge-freeze methods often result in complications like aggregation or preferred orientations at the air/water interface. Alternative methods lack a universal solution, requiring multiple techniques...
Neisseria gonorrhoeae (Ngo) and Neisseria meningitidis (Nme) are obligate human pathogens that cause gonorrhea and meningitis, respectively. Although vaccines are available for Nme, they are not universally effective; there are no vaccines against Ngo. To make matters worse, the rapid...
Proteins represent the most versatile building blocks available to living organisms or the laboratory scientist for constructing multi-component machines and functional materials. Our lab has been interested both in understanding the functioning of such macromolecular protein machines generated through natural...
Tips & tricks of note: Sample preparation: Using NMR analysis of point-mutants to choose an ideal cryoEM sample. Ideas for overcoming preferred orientation. Data processing: Understanding substrate specificity by solving multiple structures. Alternative methods: Site-directed mutagenesis, NMR as a...
DNA polymerase ζ (Polζ) belongs to the same B-family as high-fidelity replicative polymerases, yet is specialized for the extension reaction in translesion DNA synthesis (TLS). Despite its importance in TLS, the structure of Polζ was unknown. We resolved structures of...
The sense of hearing and balance begins with the mechanosensory transduction (MT) channel, which converts mechanical stimuli into electrochemical signals, and which is typically localized within hair cells of the mammalian inner ear. Despite decades of effort focused on discovering...
