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. 🧵
@tafesselab.bsky.social
Excited to share our latest paper where we report an MR1-specific nanobody that blocks MR1-mediated T-cell activation. Congrats to Tim Bates, Corinna from David Lewinsohn’s lab, and thanks to @jburkevic.bsky.social for HDX-MS support! @ohsunews.bsky.social academic.oup.com/jimmunol/art...
An MR1-specific nanobody capable of blocking MR1T cell activation
Abstract. MR1 is a non-polymorphic, ubiquitously expressed, MHC class I-like antigen-presenting molecule that presents small-molecule metabolites to T cell
academic.oup.com
Our evil ORFeome paper is out! In collaboration with @alex-stark.bsky.social, we screened ~4,000 viral proteins and secreted effectors from bacteria and parasites, covering hundreds of diverse pathogens, for phenotypes in human cells.
Job alert! We’re hiring a Postdoctoral Fellow to develop nanobody-based spatial biology approaches to study TB granulomas. Please help spread the word! @microbiologysociety.org @aai.org @ascbiology.bsky.social @ohsunews.bsky.social @embo.org
We’re hiring! Our department is recruiting for a tenure-track faculty position. We seek outstanding candidates working broadly in molecular microbiology, immunology, and host–pathogen interactions. Please share widely! @jnpruneda.bsky.social @rauchlab.bsky.social www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Faculty Position in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology - Portland, Oregon job with Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) - Molecular Microbiology and Immunology | 12858852
The Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at OHSU invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor position.
nature.com
Wan’t to be faculty at a collegial host-pathogen focused department in a beautiful bikable city with amazing food? This link is for you: facultycareers-ohsu.icims.com/jobs/39006/a...
🚨Preprint alert ! Alexis Gibson, a @hhmi-science.bsky.social Hannah Grey fellow, reports on our fun collaboration with PNNL. We used standard label-free MS to analyze caspase cleavage products in primary intestinal epithelial cells post inflammasome activation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/2
biorxiv.org
It’s incredibly hard to study lipids in biological membranes on the nanoscale. You need near-perfect information on both membrane ultrastructure and lipid density. Lipid-CLEM, now out in @natcellbio.nature.com brought to you by @mathilda95.bsky.social changes that: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
PacTB is back in Portland on April 8–9, 2026! West Coast TB folks (Bay Area, WA, Vancouver)—especially grad students & postdocs—please join us! Great chance to present + network. Abstract deadline: TODAY Registration deadline: Apr 1 www.eventbrite.com/e/pactb-2026...
PacTB 2026
TB research talks, posters & networking on the West Coast. Meet peers, discover cutting-edge projects, and advance TB research together.
eventbrite.com
Glad to see this news story highlighting our recent lipid interactome database, a resource we hope will help the broader scientific community. @ohsummi.bsky.social @ohsunews.bsky.social news.ohsu.edu/2026/02/25/n...
New database may unlock potential of lipids in treating, preventing disease
OHSU scientists lead development of so-called ‘Google maps’ for how lipids interact with proteins inside cells.
news.ohsu.edu
Our paper on The Lipid Interactome is now published, and the database is open: lipidinteractome.org @ohsummi.bsky.social @ohsunews.bsky.social @nadlerlab.bsky.social @jeremybaskin.bsky.social Please RT to spread the word. doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
The Lipid Interactome: an interactive and open access platform for exploring cellular lipid–protein interactions
AbstractSummary. Lipid–protein interactions play essential roles in cellular signaling and membrane dynamics, yet their systematic characterization has lon
doi.org
Big career update: I’m honored and humbled to serve as Chair of the Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU). Looking forward to what we’ll build together! @ohsummi.bsky.social @ohsunews.bsky.social
How do lipids shape life? I explore this question in my recent talk for the Build-a-Cell 🦠 seminar series. Thanks to @kateadamala.bsky.social for hosting! Watch it here: youtu.be/JnF7hPCiSbI?...
Build-a-Cell seminar James Saenz: Harnessing minimal cells to understand the living membranes
YouTube video by Build-a-Cell
youtu.be
It was fun writing this book chapter on methods to trace #lipid metabolism. Congrats to Alec and Helene for their effort. Thanks to @jeremybaskin.bsky.social for the invitation to contribute this chapter. @ohsunews.bsky.social @ohsummi.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/chap...
Can GLP-1 drugs reduce the incidence of cancer, independent of weight loss? Results from cohort studies are encouraging for many types (Figure) and clinical trials are ongoing nature.com/articles/s43...
Excited to share our first collaborative paper of the year- a review on the emerging roles of lipids in flavivirus infection, now published in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social. Congrats to Judah (postdoc) for spearheading the work! @ohsunews.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
@tafesselab.bsky.social Ronald Schnaar Julie Saba Ashley Cowart @gioelelamanno.bsky.social @nadlerlab.bsky.social Jurgen Seibel Markus Wenk
Join us for the 2026 Glycolipid & Sphingolipid Biology Gordon Research Conference (GRC). 📍 Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco (Italy) 🗓️ March 22 - 27, 2026 Theme: "Molecular Codes of Cell Identity and Recognition" #LipidResearch #Sphingolipids #GRC2026 #ScienceConference #Lipidtime
Had a blast at the OHSU Chemical Biology & Physiology meeting this week! Amazing talks, great to see lab alum Brittany White-Mathieu’s developing program at UNH, reconnect with friends and collaborators, meet some of the next generation of #chembio, and explore Portland!
And the saga continues! Our collaborative work with outstanding Justin Korfhage & Thomas Melia’s lab in PNAS shows that ATG2A transfers triglycerides and does so bidirectionally! An exciting twist in our understanding of lipid transport. Definitely worth a deep read: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
ATG2 is a triglyceride transfer protein | PNAS
Bridge-like lipid transfer proteins (BLTPs) are established to function in phospholipid transport between bilayers at organelle–organelle contact s...
pnas.org
Thrilled to share our latest work showing that the bridge lipid transport protein ATG2A transfers diacylglycerol (DAG), and some TAG/PA, from the ER to LDs, thereby recruiting DGAT2 to drive local TAG synthesis, promoting LD expansion while protecting ER membranes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Beautiful work! Congrats @abdourachidthiam.bsky.social and the team!
Thrilled to share our latest work showing that the bridge lipid transport protein ATG2A transfers diacylglycerol (DAG), and some TAG/PA, from the ER to LDs, thereby recruiting DGAT2 to drive local TAG synthesis, promoting LD expansion while protecting ER membranes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cool new paper (www.jbc.org/article/S002... from my lab spearheaded by graduate students Sushant @sushantsuresh.bsky.social and Alex @alexlouiseshaw.bsky.social . This was a very cool collaboration with the Scott Hansen, Jennifer Cobb, Tamas Balla labs
jbc.org
Excited to share our study out in @natcellbio.nature.com! Led by @mikelangelipid.bsky.social, we identify the first #LipidDroplet lipid quality control pathway: LD-localized FSP1 protects stored lipids from oxidative damage and prevents LD-initiated #ferroptosis. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
FSP1-mediated lipid droplet quality control prevents neutral lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis - Nature Cell Biology
Lange et al. identify a lipid droplet quality control pathway in which FSP1 safeguards stored neutral lipids from lipid peroxidation, thereby preventing the induction of ferroptosis.
nature.com
#ACSChemBio and #Biochemistry invite submissions to a special issue on Lipids and Lipidation guest edited by @chembiobryan.bsky.social and me! Find details in the #CallforPapers and submit your exciting findings to one of these journals by May 31, 2026. axial.acs.org/chemical-bio... #lipidtime
Call for Papers: Lipids and Lipidation | ACS Publications Chemistry Blog
This Special Issue in _ACS Chemical Biology_ will highlight the latest advancements and perspectives in the chemical biology of lipids and lipidation. Submit your manuscript by May 31, 2026.
axial.acs.org
Proud to share a preprint of our paper on how bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C senses lysosomal membrane tension in anticipation of membrane lesions to initiate net ER-to-lysosome lipid transfer for efficient lysosomal repair www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
VPS13C/PARK23 initiates lipid transfer and membrane remodeling for efficient lysosomal repair
Perturbations in lysosome integrity are tightly linked to neurological disorders and ageing, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are incompletely understood. Using an unbiased proteomic approach,...
biorxiv.org
🧠 The Lipid #Brain Atlas is out now! If you think #lipids are boring and membranes are all the same, prepare to be surprised. Led by @lucafusarbassini.bsky.social with Giovanni D'Angelo's lab, we mapped membrane lipids in the mouse brain at high resolution. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
Have you published lipid-protein interactome data? Please let us know, we’d love to include it in the repository. The goal is to build a centralized hub for the scientific community. Huge thanks to Gaelen Guzman, a graduate student/postdoc in the lab who built it from scratch.
We are proud to be a founding contributor to lipidinteractome.org, a repository developed by @tafesselab.bsky.social & Schultz lab to increase accessibility to proteomics data from multi-functionalized lipid analogs! Check out the website & preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2507.23101 #lipidtime
We're hiring! Check out our ad and please re-post or forward to interested #Microbiology parties: apply.interfolio.com/174783
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🌶️ Lipids bring the heat 🔥 Lipids don’t just shape membranes, they influence cellular metabolism. We show that tuning lipidome composition strongly alters metabolic heat flow in the minimal cell JCVI-Syn3B 🦠 Fantastic collaboration with Karim Fahmy’s lab (HZDR) 🎉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Metabolic heat flow from the minimal cell JCVI-Syn3B reveals the lipidome-dependence of growth and metabolism
The cell membrane facilitates interactions with the environment and serves as an organizational platform for coordinating cellular processes, with lipids playing a central role in determining membrane...
biorxiv.org