If you’re in the Houston area, the Astros are hosting a donation drive TODAY until 7 pm to support those affected by the devastating earthquake in Venezuela 🇻🇪 Items include first aid and medical supplies, Diapers, Baby food Please consider stopping by the stadium www.instagram.com/reel/DaQrQeE...
omarvizquel13 on Instagram: "Tomorrow! HELP Venezuela at Daikin Park Union StationView all 52 comments"
Tomorrow! HELP Venezuela at Daikin Park Union Station
instagram.com
Excited to share a new preprint, led by @yasmeen-hamed.bsky.social! It describes a mechanism and potential therapeutic avenue for treating the aging bladder! Thanks to the amazing collab from the Beyder lab, as well as @valeriavasquez.bsky.social, Lichtarge labs! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Looking for a cell line that natively expresses PIEZO2 - we’d say avoid MCC13. Unlike Merkel cells the native mechanically-evoked currents in this line are largely carried by PIEZO1. And like many other cell lines that we’ve tested the slow components come from MDFIC/MDFI tinyurl.com/3mmnwhpp
Understanding the molecular components of mechanically evoked currents in the Merkel cell line MCC13
Merkel cells are epithelial cells involved in the discrimination of light touch. Situated in the skin, these specialised cells decode mechanical cues through the mechanosensitive ion channel PIEZO2. M...
tinyurl.com
Not the greatest ride for this one but happy with the end result - a sensory neuron specific protein that regulates PIEZO1/2. Lots of cool things left to show with this protein! MDFIC2 is a sensory neuron–specific PIEZO channel auxiliary subunit | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
MDFIC2 is a sensory neuron–specific PIEZO channel auxiliary subunit | PNAS
PIEZO channels are critical for sensory mechanotransduction. While MyoD-family inhibitor proteins were identified as PIEZO1 auxiliary subunits, the...
pnas.org
Tucker Carlson: "It's vile. It begins w/ a promise to use the US military to commit a war crime. Those people who are in direct contact w/ the president need to say 'No. I'll resign. I'll do whatever I can do legally to stop this, bc this is insane. And if given the order, I'm not carrying it out'"
Using electrophysiology, cryo-EM, molecular simulations, and in vivo models, we also identify a druggable inhibitory site that could guide future therapies for cerebellar ataxia. (2/4)
Functional and structural basis of a hypermorphic TRPC3 variant
Structural snapshots capture an ataxia-linked overactive ion channel in its open state and reveal a druggable site for inhibition.
science.org
Here is the morph video summarizing some of the changes we found in a TRPC3 hypermorphic variant (Science Advances, Science Magazine) (4/4)
We are grateful to all the authors and collaborators who made this study possible. Special thanks to everyone in the Cordero-Morales and Vásquez laboratories (especially Briar Bell, Angela Jaramillo-Granda, and Luis Romero), as well as to our collaborators. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (3/4)
Functional and structural basis of a hypermorphic TRPC3 variant
Structural snapshots capture an ataxia-linked overactive ion channel in its open state and reveal a druggable site for inhibition.
science.org
Excited to share our new paper in Science Advances @science.org In this work, we uncover how a disease-linked TRPC3 mutation, together with a cerebellum-specific splice isoform, stabilizes the channel in an open state, drives Calcium overload, and promotes neurodegeneration. (1/4)
Functional and structural basis of a hypermorphic TRPC3 variant
Structural snapshots capture an ataxia-linked overactive ion channel in its open state and reveal a druggable site for inhibition.
science.org
A great opportunity to bring trainees, exchange ideas, and connect across disciplines. Registration is open: www.grc.org/ion-channels... 3/3
2026 Ion Channels Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Ion Channels will be held in South Hadley, Massachusetts. Apply today to reserve your spot.
grc.org
We have an outstanding speaker lineup, including Keynote Talks by Kenton Swartz, Nancy Carrasco, Miriam B. Goodman (@wormsense.bsky.social), and Francisco Bezanilla. Trailblazer Spotlights presented by Ed Twomey (@cryoet.bsky.social)and Theanne Griffith (@doctheagrif.bsky.social). 2/3
Sudha (@chakrapanilab.bsky.social) and Julio (@cvlab.bsky.social) are organizing the 2026 Ion Channel Gordon Research Conference: Ion Channels Across Scales — Bridging Molecular Events to Physiological Outcomes, to be held at Mount Holyoke College, July 12–17, 2026. 1/3
What's especially insane about all of this is that Maduro is going to get more due process than the Venezuelan migrants deported to CECOT.
1. The longest isoform resembles a Mercedes-Benz steering wheel in top view. 2. The long and intermediate isoforms are semi-flattened and differ from the mammalian domes. 3. Multiple blade–cap contacts stabilize a “toggle-down” conformation. 3/5
Briar and Angela (CV Lab) solved three structures from heavily spliced worm isoforms. Along the way —while solving the structures, characterizing their function, and evaluating effects on membrane curvature— we ran into several surprises: 2/5
This work was a collaboration with Mat Baker (UTHealth Houston), the Chesler Lab @alexchesler.bsky.social (NIH), and the Sotomayor Lab (University of Chicago). 5/5
4. The pore-distal, N-terminal blade is dispensable for mechanoactivation: the intermediate isoform is not only functional, but also inactivates more slowly than the long isoform. 5. The intermediate isoform induces larger membrane deformation than the long isoform. 4/5
The Cordero Vásquez Lab is starting the year on a high wheel (see below) with our latest work on the C. elegans PIEZO channel: “Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade”: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... 1/5
Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade
PIEZO channels are mechanosensitive ion channels conserved from plants to humans, yet structures exist for only a few mammalian orthologs. We define t…
sciencedirect.com
And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
PIEZO channels link mechanical forces to uterine contractions in parturition
Mechanical forces are extensively involved in pregnancy and parturition, but their precise roles and mechanisms remain poorly understood. We identified mechanically activated ion channels PIEZO1 and P...
science.org
Ardem Patapoutian@ardemp.bskyverified.social · 11mo agoNew preprint alert! The uterus expands ~500-fold in pregnancy, yet we know little about how pressures are sensed. Led by @yunxiao-dr.bsky.social, we show PIEZOs are required for contractions and birth in mice, with dual roles of PIEZO1 in muscle and PIEZO2 in neurons www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. " www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...
Early Career Rescue Fellowship
uni-konstanz.de
Up to 323 cancelled CSR study sections. That's more than the 204 sections cancelled earlier this year. Rescheduling is going to be a hot mess with NIH staff reductions and study section members heading into finals and holidays that limit availability. 🧪
Annika Barber@annikabarber.bsky.social · 10mo agoBeen a rough year for federally funded scientists, and I hate to add another tab to this spreadsheet. So far, the shutdown has resulted in cancellation of 161 CSR study sections. 🧪https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lLEx14q7HKrlYahQYJaN6aHKpMqSMJwX4aenyL5g_ZU/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks to our team members (Luis Romero, Manisha Bade, Sonia Paz-López) and collaborators (Elisa Carrillo, Vasanthi Jayaraman @frettinglab.bsky.social , Syed Hasan, William James Antonisamy, and Zahoor Shah) 6/6
Our results highlight cytoskeletal dysregulation as a key driver of ion channel and behavioral deficits, and suggest that actin-binding proteins may be targets to enhance motor coordination and spatial learning in AS. 5/6
Our new Journal of Neuroscience paper "Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome (AS)” is out: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4... 1/6
Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome
Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by motor coordination and cognitive deficits. In AS, hippocampal neurons show reduced filamentous (F-)actin, a decrease we also reported...
jneurosci.org
“That collective effort — part self-defense, part civic awakening — may explain why Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize has resonated beyond her polarizing figure” www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/10/14/m...
María Corina’s Nobel Prize Honors the Civilian Coalition That Defeated Maduro | Caracas Chronicles
The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize acknowledges the historic achievement of comanditos—60,000 grassroots teams that safeguarded electoral records across Venezuela to expose Maduro’s fraud in 2024
caracaschronicles.com
The Nobel Peace Committee sent a clear message to someone else in awarding the Prize to Ms. Machado: ”But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, …is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.” 👏
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.” www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...
Nobel Peace Prize 2025
The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transi...
nobelprize.org
