Journal Club: Probes show lipids are far more selective for proteins than once thought. In PNAS Front Matter: https://ow.ly/aeRW50ZBWL8

Turns out the way DNA is packed inside the nucleus can tune the mechanics of the entire cell! Super excited that our first paper is out in Nature Communications! www.nature.com/articles/s41... !

Chromatin decompaction within the nucleus increases plasma membrane tension promoting NETosis execution, independently of transcription - Nature Communications

Chromatin organizes nuclear DNA, but whether it actively regulates whole-cell mechanics remains unknown. Here, we used NETosis to show that chromatin decompaction within the nucleus increases plasma membrane tension and cell volume, establishing chromatin as a regulator of cell mechanics.

nature.com

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

ER cholesteryl ester phase separation underlies switch-like cholesterol sensing

Cellular lipid homeostasis requires mechanisms that detect subtle changes in lipid abundance and trigger rapid, coordinated responses. The INSIG/SCAP/SREBP2 pathway provides a central feedback system ...

biorxiv.org

Thrilled to share our new work, co-developed w/Adrian Salic's lab: bioorthogonal probes for labeling PE, a multifunctional membrane lipid and source of important protein modifications. Congrats to Yuan-Ting Cho, Brittany White-Mathieu, Jade Xia, & Cindy Jao! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Bioorthogonal Tools for Ethanolamine Lipids and Protein Conjugates

An alkyne-tagged ethanolamine analog (AlkEA) enables bioorthogonal, metabolic labeling of endogenous phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and its protein modifications. AlkEA is incorporated into PE via the...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

This one is really important. Great work! Some papers don't go on the reading list, you open them right away. 🤓 I can't help but wonder whether there's another level of regulation via acyl chain identity... the PS threshold should highly depend on saturation degree.

Abdou Rachid Thiam@abdourachidthiam.bsky.social · 2mo ago

A long-standing mystery in cholesterol biology: why is ER cholesterol sensing so switch-like rather than gradual? Our answer: cholesteryl ester phase separation in the ER membrane, which converts small lipid changes into a cooperative transcriptional response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A long-standing mystery in cholesterol biology: why is ER cholesterol sensing so switch-like rather than gradual? Our answer: cholesteryl ester phase separation in the ER membrane, which converts small lipid changes into a cooperative transcriptional response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

ER cholesteryl ester phase separation underlies switch-like cholesterol sensing

Cellular lipid homeostasis requires mechanisms that detect subtle changes in lipid abundance and trigger rapid, coordinated responses. The INSIG/SCAP/SREBP2 pathway provides a central feedback system ...

biorxiv.org

To understand what a lipid does, we need to know its partners. Which proteins bind lipids and how can we capture those interactions? Our new Nature Protocols paper provides a practical, step-by-step guide to identifying lipid-binding proteins. 🧵

Lipids build the membranes of all cells, but identifying their precise functions is extremely challenging. Here’s our attempt to change that: How to find and understand lipid-protein interactions, by Katelyn Cook & company. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How does gravity affect mitochondrial biology - and what are the implications for space travel? go.nature.com/4vDMeoK

Why do astronauts' bodies waste away? Space Station study points to mitochondria

Nature - Human cells cultured in microgravity produced fewer mitochondrial proteins.

go.nature.com

Excited to see this study, in collaboration with the De Camilli group @pdc-lab.bsky.social, published in its final format! We resolved the structure of VPS13C and found that it adopts a lipid-transfer-incompetent conformation. We also show that CaM binds VPS13s and may help regulate their function.

Cryo-EM structure of soluble VPS13C suggests its regulation by a conformational switch and by calmodulin

VPS13C, whose dysfunction causes Parkinson’s disease, adopts a lipid-transfer-inactive conformation in the cytoplasm and relies on calmodulin for proper folding and localization to membrane surfaces.

cell.com

A bit delayed, but proud to present our latest publication in @jcb.org extending the sphere of influence of the lipid kinase PIKfyve beyond the endo-lysosomal system and into the endoplasmic reticulum doi.org/10.1083/jcb....

PIKfyve influences inter-organelle contacts with lysosomes to modulate the endoplasmic reticulum

Long associated with the regulation of the endolysosomal pathway, the authors show that the PIKfyve lipid kinase extends its sphere of influence to modulat

doi.org

📯 Our paper “VPS13C/PARK23 initiates lipid transfer and membrane remodeling for efficient lysosomal repair” out now in Nature Communications rdcu.be/frKmN

VPS13C/PARK23 initiates lipid transfer and membrane remodeling for efficient lysosomal repair

Nature Communications - Not all components of the lysosome damage response pathway have been defined. Here, the authors discover that the bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C senses lysosomal...

rdcu.be

🏅Thrilled to see @yehumoran.bsky.social elected to the membership of @embo.org! Yehu was instrumental in forming an #ecology & #evolution advisory board for our journals while serving as Academic Editor, where he now continues as an advisor. #EMBOMembers2026 www.embo.org/press-releas...

Seventy-one leading scientists elected to the EMBO Membership – Press releases – EMBO

The new EMBO Members and Associate Members are recognized for their outstanding achievements in the life sciences

embo.org

How does a cell remodel the ER membrane into a lipid droplet? Excited to share our new bioRxiv preprint, where we find that regulated opening of the seipin ring defines a functional ER–lipid droplet interface — and identify SMLR1 as a regulator of this transition. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This amazing work by @danialv.bsky.social and Bodan Hu is now out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-cell.bsky.social with a lot of new simulations! Check it out if interested in lipid transport!

Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland@labvanni.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Happy to finally share the amazing results of our long-term collaboration with Karin Reinisch’s lab on how bridge lipid-transfer proteins (BLTPs) cooperate with partner proteins to orchestrate lipid delivery. A quick thread (1/7) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Seipin: a central lipid rheostat. New review from Abdou Rachid Thiam (@abdourachidthiam.bsky.social) and Maxime Carpentier @cnrs.fr @sorbonne-universite.fr: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #LipidDroplets #LipidMetabolism #Metabolism #CellMetabolism

The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)

Happy to share our review of seipin as a lipid rheostat, not just a #lipiddroplet biogenesis factor. Its flexible structure, with cofactors and ligands, integrates metabolic cues at organelle contacts, coordinating lipid storage, membrane synthesis, and signaling. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

Seipin: A central lipid rheostat

Thiam and Carpentier review seipin as a conformationally dynamic lipid rheostat that steers lipid fate and preserves cellular metabolic balance.

rupress.org

@abdourachidthiam.bsky.social and Carpentier review seipin's role in directing lipid fate, proposing it as a multinode rheostat that manages PA, ceramide, and Ca²⁺ flux at organelle contact sites to control metabolic branchpoints. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #LipidDroplets #LipidMetabolism

In @jcb.org, @abdourachidthiam.bsky.social and Carpentier review seipin's role in directing lipid fate, proposing it as a multinode rheostat that manages PA, ceramide, and Ca²⁺ flux at organelle contact sites to control metabolic branchpoints. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #LipidDroplets

Summer is approaching & so is the 2026 Lipid Droplets: From Mechanisms to Disease FASEB SRC (July 26-30 in Scottsdale, AZ)! Interested in lipids? Join this amazing summer research conference! Abstracts due May 31, Early registration June 14 events.faseb.org/event/Lipid-...

Ready for #CellLaVie2026? Program & registration are live! Join us Oct 21–23, 2026 at Institut Pasteur, Paris, for multidisciplinary cell biology, imaging, talks, posters & outreach, w/ Manuel Théry's behind-the-scenes look at the Musée d’Orsay video-mapping project. www.atoutcom.com/cell-la-vie/

#membrane seminars are back this week with @javierespadas.bsky.social from the @rouxlab.bsky.social and Chris Burd from @yalecellbiology.bsky.social! Looking forward to seeing everyone online!

🚨🚨Last day to register for the next annual meeting of Club Exocytose-Endocytose !!!🚨🚨 Invited speakers: M. Stroeber, G. D'Angelo and @christlet.bsky.social 📍 Centre Paul-Langevin, Aussois, France 📅 May 27–29, 2026 Get ready for exciting science!! Registration here exoendo.org/evenement/28...

28ème congrès du Club Exo Endo - Aussois (Savoie)

Speakers invités: Giovanni D’Angelo (EPFL, Lausanne, Suisse) Christophe Leterrier (INP, Marseille, France) Miriam Stoeber (University of Geneva, Genève, Suisse)

exoendo.org

Special issue call for papers: Foundations of Membrane Biophysics: Dedicated to Wolfgang Helfrich.

🚨📜Our new paper out in @AdvSciNews: ER shape matters for neuronal health - disrupting ER continuity halts neuro-firing as it slows Ca2+ store refill, explaining selective neuronal vulnerability to ER problems in neurodegeneration 🧠 a thread to follow advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Endoplasmic Reticulum Geometry Dictates Neuronal Bursting via Calcium Store Refill Rates and Exposes Selective Neuronal Vulnerability

The ER's continuous tubular network is maintained by ER-shaping proteins whose mutation or dysregulation contributes to neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we show that ER morphology sets the speed of ...

advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

I've been leading a big project at Methods in Enzymology over the past year or so: editing three back-to-back-to-back volumes of articles describing the latest advances in methods for studying lipids and membranes — thank you to the 50 #lipidtime luminaries who contributed the 51 chapters! Details 👇

📣 To celebrate Biophysics Week, the Membrane Structure and Function Subgroup (MSAF) of @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social will host a webinar on March 24 at 11am EDT. Our speakers are @mejohnson81.bsky.social, @ibudin.bsky.social, and Cecília Leal (not on 🦋). 🧪 👀 More info in the alt text! Please share! 🔄

Curve Appeal: The Architecture and Engineering of Membrane Bending -Membrane Structure & Function Subgroup- March 24, 11AM-12PM Learn how lipid composition, protein assemblies &membrane mechanics work together to generate & regulate membrane curvature in cells.

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1/3 Thrilled to see our paper led by Kirandeep Deol is out in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology! CRISPR screens to uncover a role for vitamin B2 metabolism in stabilizing FSP1 via FAD, revealing a new way vitamins regulate ferroptosis. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Vitamin B2 metabolism promotes FSP1 stability to prevent ferroptosis - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

Here, Deol et al. use genetic screens in gene-edited reporter cell lines to identify regulators of ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) expression and stability. They show that vitamin B2 metabolis...

nature.com