Millions of beating cilia keep airways clean. At the base of each is the transition zone (TZ), a gate that controls which proteins enter and leave. In our paper out today in Science, we used cryo-FIB-ET to image the TZ inside human airway cells www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In situ structure of the human ciliary transition zone links linker defects to primary ciliary dyskinesia

The ciliary transition zone (TZ) regulates ciliary proteome composition, yet its molecular architecture, protein content, and contribution to motile ciliopathies remain poorly defined. We applied in situ cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging ...

science.org

I'm incredibly proud of Sven as he leaves the lab to start his own independent research program at Weill Cornell Medicine. He'll be a fantastic #newPI, mentor, and colleague.

Sven Lange@sven-m-lange.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Some personal news: This September, I’ll be starting the Lange Lab at Weill Cornell Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics! We’ll investigate how ubiquitin signals are decoded to control intracellular transport. sven-lange.xyz

📣 Abstract submission and early registration are now OPEN for the 7th European Cilia Conference—an official EMBO workshop! 📅 8–12 March 2027 📍 Stresa, Italy Submit and register: meetings.embo.org/event/27-cilia www.eurocilia.eu #EMBOCilia #Cilia2027

One, perhaps two, of our postdocs are moving on to faculty positions this year (more news soon!). While they're truly irreplaceable, it does mean that we have openings for new members to join our team studying #cilia. If interested, please apply: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15526

Our lab is seeking a Postdoctoral Fellow. The position is intentionally broad, as we are looking for outstanding researchers from diverse scientific backgrounds to advance our understanding of cilia and ciliopathies: academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/15526

Delighted to have contributed to this paper and amazing resource. In-silico protein-protein interaction screening has huge promise for generating novel hypotheses and building models into low-res #cryo-EM and #teamtomo maps.

Ernst Schmid@ernstschmid.bsky.social · last yr.

Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp

Our latest collaborative effort - with Eva Gluenz and @zephyris-science.bsky.social - to understand how the various proteins and complexes of the axoneme contribute to ciliary motility:

Matt Doran@matthdoran.bsky.social · last yr.

In an eight-person rowing boat, each rower contributes to movement but also has a unique role: balancing, powering, or setting the rhythm and pace. In our latest collaborative work we asked – do the eight dynein “rowers” in #cilia and #flagella operate in the same way?

Very excited to share this one! Our comprehensive structure, genetics and biophysics dissection of which flagellar dyneins and other proteins are needed for flagella to beat and drive cells swimming behaviours: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Watching Sven elucidate this mechanism from an unbiased screen onwards has been one of my favorite experiences as a PI. In these challenging times for science at Harvard, it reminds me of the sheer joy of doing science and making discoveries.

Sven Lange@sven-m-lange.bsky.social · 2y ago

How do cells keep their cilia “clean” and functional? Our new study uncovers a conserved mechanism for retrieving polyubiquitinated proteins from #cilia – a process essential for cellular signaling and health. #cellbiology #ciliopathy #ubiquitin #IFT 🧵👇 1/n

Mark your calendars! The CSHA Cilia & Centrosomes meeting returns this November 2025, can’t wait for what’s sure to be an exceptional gathering of the community.

*Deadline extended* Applications for this year's #CryoEM Data Processing Workshop are due March 27! Don't miss this chance to learn about various approaches to deal with conformational/compositional heterogeneity. myumi.ch/lsi-cryo-2025 @jbquerido.bsky.social @shyamalm.bsky.social

The insides of microtubules of motile cilia and flagella are coated in proteins - but are they all important for motility? Our latest collaborative study addresses this question using trypanosomatids as model organisms. Matt explains more below:

Matt Doran@matthdoran.bsky.social · 2y ago

I am super excited to share our latest work on the structures of doublet microtubules from trypanosomatid parasites, the causative agents of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and African sleeping sickness. tinyurl.com/48sh3xn5

A reminder that the Brown lab has an opening for a postdoc fellow: brown.hms.harvard.edu/jobs/242. This might suit someone from the #cilia community interested in learning structural biology. Deadline extended to the 10th Jan.

This was a great collaboration and culmination of a huge amount of work including our first attempt to join #teamtomo. @ruizhangmt.bsky.social expertly summarizes the highlights below:

Rui Zhang@ruizhangmt.bsky.social · 2y ago

Best way to start 2025! Thrilled to share our Nature paper about the structures of axonemal components from sperm flagella and from epithelial cilia of the oviduct and brain ventricles. Great collaboration with Tzviya Zeev-Ben-Mordehai and @alanbrownhms.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Deadline alert: "Biophysics of Motile Cilia": Apply before Dec 1st for consideration for contributed talks! Topics: #axoneme mechanics, #synchronization, #navigation, #ciliopathies, ... Meet us in Bad Honnef, Germany, 30.03.-02.04.2025 we-heraeus-stiftung.de/veranstaltun... Please re-sky!