@paulschanda.bsky.social
Passionate for integrated structural biology, including NMR and many more. Particularly interested in protein dynamics, and therefore chaperones, enzymes and mitochondrial protein import. Fortunate to lead a great research team at IST Austria.
With projects on AI, astrophysics, bacterial immune systems, quantum matter, and optics, five ISTA researchers have secured €9.2 million in highly selective Starting Grants from the ERC @erc.europa.eu. Read: https://ista.ac.at/en/news/e9-2-million-in-eu-grants-for-ista/
The ICMRBS conference in Davos has been fantastic. Relaxed atmosphere, top science, great opportunities to connect. I'm happy to be part of the #NMR community, a supportive & friendly crowd. Thanks @icmrbs2026.bsky.social for everything! The (short) bike trip back was a nice way to finish the week.
Glad to see it finally rains in the Alps, while cycling to Davos @icmrbs2026.bsky.social. Nature desperately needed water. (On my bike, I was a bit less in desperate need of water, though... ) Beautiful scenery even in clouds.
On my way to @icmrbs2026.bsky.social. From Austria through beautiful Slovenia, and the Dolomites. Looking forward to a nice conference. When I see the terribly dry Alps, I have mixed feelings about these conferences that bring together people from around the world. But clearly, they are useful.
On my way to @icmrbs2026.bsky.social. From Austria through beautiful Slovenia, and the Dolomites. Looking forward to a nice conference. When I see the terribly dry Alps, I have mixed feelings about these conferences that bring together people from around the world. But clearly, they are useful.
Most PDB structures report one set of coordinates. But the experimental data behind them, in both X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, is produced by an ensemble of structures. How to extract this ensemble data at scale has been a quest in structural biology for 40+ years.
Planning my bike ride from Austria to the ICMRBS conference. What an amazing idea to have it in one of the nicest places in the alps, icmrbs2026.bsky.social! AND to make the train ride free for participants.
How do light particles behave when confined to billionths of a meter? How can these phenomena drive discoveries in imaging, communication, & quantum technologies? These are the questions driving Charles Roques‑Carmes, the newest #faculty member at ISTA. More: https://bit.ly/4axfYf9
📢 New publication: using magic-angle spinning NMR to study polysaccharides on the surface of the pathogenic yeast Cryptococcus neoformans. Thanks to Alons Lends and Antoine Loquet for this nice collaboration. pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
On-Cell Detection of Polysaccharide One-Bond 1JCH Couplings by Proton-Detected Solid-State NMR
The one-bond proton-carbon coupling constant (1JCH) is an insightful probe of carbohydrate configuration. Equatorial and axial protons at the C1 position typically exhibit distinct 1JCH values, enabli...
pubs.acs.org
Happy to see our paper out today: Guiding AlphaFold3 with experimental data. We are totally excited about the possibility to leverage the power of AlphaFold3 AND of experiments! www.nature.com/articles/s41... It has been a fantastic collaboration with great colleagues in the Bronstein team at ISTA.
Experiment-guided AlphaFold3 resolves measurement-consistent protein ensembles - Nature Biotechnology
A generative model using AlphaFold3 as prior infers protein conformational ensembles consistent with measured experimental data.
nature.com
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)@istaresearch.bsky.social · 3mo agoFirst author, ISTA PhD student Advaith Maddipatla. Co-leading authors: @alex-bronstein.bsky.social, Ailie Marx, @paulschanda.bsky.social, and @sankethvedula.bsky.social.
Huge congrats to Lewis! From my very first days in #NMR (and until now!), Lewis’ work has been an immense source of inspiration for me — outstanding in scientific rigor, technical elegance, with groundbreaking applications that reveal, for example, "invisible" transient states crucial for function.
Magnetic Resonance News@nmr900.bsky.social · 4mo agoProfessor Lewis E. Kay @lek-lab.bsky.social University of Toronto/SickKids, has been promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest level of the Order of Canada, for his pioneering biomolecular NMR research, and training a new generation of scientists www.gg.ca/en/appointme... #NMRchat 🧲
In our latest paper in @natchem.nature.com, we reported how the crystalline environment alters protein dynamics. If you want to get the big picture quickly, have a look at the News & Views article by Lars Schäfer. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @istaresearch.bsky.social
Molecular neighbours reshape protein dynamics - Nature Chemistry
As proteins are dynamic molecular machines, to fully understand their functions we need to understand how they move. Now, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and molecular dynamics simulations rev...
nature.com
Professor Leonid Sazanov and postdoc Ziyu Zhao just published their latest research in @cp-molcell.bsky.social.
Have a look our recent story about protein dynamics, led by Lea Becker. Her insights into the impact of crystal packing on protein dynamics have implications for #structural-biology, #NMR and #crystallography.
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)@istaresearch.bsky.social · 4mo agoSeveral techniques cannot reveal all protein conformations that may be essential for biological function. In particular, crystallization can lock molecules into a limited set of rigid structures, while the same protein can breathe much more freely in solution. Read more: bit.ly/4fNr579
📢 New publication. We answered an old question in structural biology: (how) does the crystal lattice impact proteins? In particular, how does the crystal restrict the protein's dynamics? We used local probes of dynamics: the rotation of aromatic rings. 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Aromatic ring flips reveal reshaping of protein dynamics in crystals and complexes - Nature Chemistry
The extent to which crystal packing constrains protein dynamics is hard to decipher. Now a combination of NMR, crystallography and molecular dynamics simulations show that intermolecular contacts can ...
nature.com
📢New paper: Dynamic disorder is crucial for mitochondrial protein import onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... Exciting research increasingly points to the key role of dynamics in the machinery that brings proteins into #mitochondria. We review the emerging picture of dynamics in #protein import
New publication: mr.copernicus.org/articles/7/2... Congrats to Lea Becker for this work, which she lead from the experiment design to the manuscript. Amazing to work with PhD students like Lea. We show how to accelerate 19F solid-state #NMR experiments, with application to a 0.5 MDa large protein.
Accelerated 19F biomolecular magic-angle spinning NMR with paramagnetic dopants
Abstract. The advantageous characteristics attributed to the 19F nucleus have made it a popular target for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) once again in recent years. Aside from solution NMR, an incr...
mr.copernicus.org
Returning from an amazing Proteostasis meeting, with lots of new ideas & grateful for great feedback about our mitochondrial-import work. Traveling back from Frankfurt to Vienna by train, I am reminded of the CO2-emissions savings of train vs. plane travel. Also in 2026, I won't take a plane.
I heard many great lectures of yours, and have no doubt that this is highly deserved. Congrats!
Kresten Lindorff-Larsen@lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 7mo agoProud and honoured to receive the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Prize for Natural Science Teachers together with Birthe Kragelund and Karen Skriver Teaching takes a village, and I owe many many thanks to amazing colleagues, students, and collaborators over the years science.ku.dk/english/pres...
Scientists: How long have you waited for journal editors to decide whether the journal sends your manuscript out for review? I’m at 2+ months with a “prestigious” journal — not easy when working in a competitive field. What’s the longest you’ve experienced? #AcademicPublishing #PeerReview
New preprint, a technical paper showing how 19F #NMR of proteins in solids can be accelerated, lead by Lea Becker at @istaresearch.bsky.social. mr.copernicus.org/preprints/mr... Magnetic Resonance has an open interactive public peer reviewing system, where anyone can contribute to the discussion.
Accelerated 19F biomolecular magic-angle spinning NMR with paramagnetic dopants
Abstract. The advantageous characteristics attributed to the 19F nucleus have made it a popular target for NMR once again in recent years. Aside from solution NMR, an increasing number of studies have...
mr.copernicus.org
Very nice preprint that shows that protein crystallographic structures can be used to reveal the entropy of ligand binding. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
A recent podcast by Stephanie Wankowicz and James @fraserlab.com picked up our work (with Alex Bronstein & coworkers) on Guiding AlphaFold3 with experimental data (cryoEM, X-ray, NMR) to generate protein ensembles. (Thanks for the kind words 🙂) 👉 creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/... (from 35:50)
Episode 8: Open Science in a Changing Academic World by The Tortured Proteins Department
Topics:Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher EducationGovernment ShutdownHHMI's new open science policiesShrinking PhD poolsThe Nobel PrizesThe BearTLOS ReactionsPreprint: Experiment-guided AlphaF...
creators.spotify.com
📢 Check out Ben Tatman's talk in the Magnetic Resonance Seminar series online (see details below). He will talk about methods to probe protein dynamics by magic-angle spinning #NMR. Friday, Jan 23, noon CET.
📢 New preprint alert! How do proteins enter mitochondria? We uncovered a surprising mechanism at the mitochondrial entry gate—using #NMR, in vivo single-particle tracking, yeast experiments, and MD simulations to crack the code. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #StructuralBiology #Mitochondria 🧵 1/8
A dynamic displacement mechanism drives protein import into mitochondria
Most mitochondrial proteins are produced in the cytosol and imported through the translocase of the outer mitochondrial membrane (TOM) to reach their final destination. Although this protein entry gat...
biorxiv.org
📢 Join us at the first Austrian #NMR meeting. Organised by a fantastic group of young international NMR researchers, this meeting is great opportunity for postdocs and students to contribute their science with a talk or poster. And to see great invited speakers. austrian-nmr-meeting.pages.ist.ac.at
Next Austrian NMR Meeting 2026
austrian-nmr-meeting.pages.ist.ac.at
The PhD call at @istaresearch.bsky.social is open. Get a glimpse on the work of Jakob, a PhD student in our group www.instagram.com/reel/DSjvCo4... Applications: phd.pages.ista.ac.at/phd-applicat...
ISTAustria on Instagram: "A day in the life of a biochemistry PhD student at ISTA. Meet Jakob from the Schanda group, and see what a typical day of a structural biologist looks like. Interested in c...
30 likes, 0 comments - istaresearch on December 22, 2025: "A day in the life of a biochemistry PhD student at ISTA. Meet Jakob from the Schanda group, and see what a typical day of a structural biolo...
instagram.com
#NMR spectroscopists in and around Austria: join us for this meeting. A few great keynote speakers, and lots of space for contributed talks from students and postdocs. Taking place at ISTA @istaresearch.bsky.social in February 2026
Federico Napoli@iomichiamofede.bsky.social · 11mo agoSo excited to announce the first 🧲 Next Austrian NMR Meeting 🧲, happening @ ISTA, Feb 26–27, 2026! Plus a satellite workshop, 💊 “ #NMR in #DrugDiscovery” 🧭 on Feb 25! 📅 Registration: Dec 1, 2025 🌐 Program, venue: austrian-nmr-meeting.pages.ist.ac.at #NMRchat #Austria 1/4
So excited to announce the first 🧲 Next Austrian NMR Meeting 🧲, happening @ ISTA, Feb 26–27, 2026! Plus a satellite workshop, 💊 “ #NMR in #DrugDiscovery” 🧭 on Feb 25! 📅 Registration: Dec 1, 2025 🌐 Program, venue: austrian-nmr-meeting.pages.ist.ac.at #NMRchat #Austria 1/4
Wichtig für Klosterneuburg. Und auch für alle am @istaresearch.bsky.social Bitte hier unterzeichnen: mein.aufstehn.at/petitions/ra...
Jetzt unterzeichnen: Radwegeausbau in Klosterneuburg!
Klosterneuburg muss das Radwegenetz ausbauen. Nur so steigen mehr Menschen auf das klimafreundliche Verkehrsmittel Rad um — ein wichtiger Schritt zur Bewältigung der Klimakrise.
mein.aufstehn.at