Dawid Zyla
@dzyla.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at CU Anschutz. Former Instructor in the Saphire lab at La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Structural biology of viral glycoproteins. ETH Zürich alumnus. In my free time, a photographer & programmer. #cryoem #python zylalab.org
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Teddy Rosenbluth at The New York Times about our work on measles. The article covers our efforts and those of others in the field who are working toward anti-measles therapeutic solutions. You can read it here: www.nytimes.com/2026/06/11/w...
With Measles Roaring Back, the Search for a Treatment Is On
nytimes.com
Human neutralizing antibodies targeting the measles virus hemagglutinin and fusion surface proteins pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42102820/ #cryoEM
Read about our story in the Washington Post!
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 3mo agoUsing the blood of a woman vaccinated against measles, scientists have isolated four potent virus-blocking antibodies that could pave the way toward a treatment for people exposed to the highly contagious respiratory disease making a comeback in the U.S.
Measles is coming back. Until now, we didn't know how human antibodies actually recognize and neutralize the virus. No structure of either measles surface protein bound to a human antibody had ever been reported. We set out to change that.
We're super excited to share MissAlignment: a new ML-based approach to reference-free tilt series alignment, spearheaded by @martenchaillet.bsky.social. We think it's going to make your cryo-ET life a lot better. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Code: github.com/warpem/miss-... 🧶 Thread:
Our fourth installment on prefusion herpesvirus gB proteins is available as a preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202.... Working with Ivelin Georgiev's group, we isolated and characterized prefusion-specific HSV gB antibodies from humans!
I am super happy to share this paper in its final form. We used FIB milling to "dig in to" cell lines and mouse brains infected with tick-borne flaviviruses, followed by cryo-ET to study the virus replication. It's open access, so have a look! #virology #teamtomo www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cryo-electron tomography reveals coupled flavivirus replication, budding and maturation - Nature Communications
In this study, Dahmane et al use a method called cryo-electron tomography to uncover new details of how tick-borne flaviviruses transform cells into virus factories.
nature.com
I never imagined I'd be writing this, but I am happy to share that, starting this June, I will be joining @cuanschutz.bsky.social @cu-bmg.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor.
CryoEM folks, If you want to handle huge STAR file efficiently in Python, please try starfile-rs! github.com/hanjinliu/star… Reading a motion data of a particle from a 15 MB file is just like this ↓🤩
The US #measles count for this year has topped 2,000 cases for the first time since 1992. These are confirmed cases only, ie there have been more. 3 reported deaths. The vast majority of the cases are in unvaccinated kids & adults. 11% needed hospitalization. www.cdc.gov/measles/data...
Stabilized Full-Length Measles Fusion Protein Elicits Potent Immunity and Protection In Vivo pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41278811/ #cryoEM
It’s been a while since I put together the Structural Virology starter pack, and I’m sure some new folks have joined Bluesky since then. There’s still plenty of space to fill, so if you’d like to be added to the list just let me know. #virology #cryoEM go.bsky.app/Qxv95BL
Proteins are dynamic structures, but structural biology often shows them as static snapshots. Inspired by long-exposure photography and generative art, I built ProteinCHAOS, an artistic tool inspired by molecular dynamics to capture protein flexibility over time, much like long-exposure images.
#NZ measles 🦠 - Now 14 cases - Needs a week-plus to know if there will be a surge in cases (owing to the non-symptomatic phase), and how widespread - vaccination is free RNZ: Extent of measles outbreak will be confirmed over coming days, an epidemiologist says ⬇️
Extent of measles outbreak will be confirmed over coming days, an epidemiologist says
There are currently no hospitalisations linked to the outbreak.
rnz.co.nz
Interesting side-quest. Has #measles immunity in children declined in Austria due to the #COVID19 pandemic, driving measles outbreaks? (It also tangentially addresses a group's assumption that SARS-CoV-2 "destroys our immune system" and is "airborne AIDS" or whatever). Answer: no, it did not. 1/2
Crawford Kilian@crof.bsky.social · last yr.
Stabilized Full-Length Measles Fusion Protein Elicits Potent Immunity and Protection In Vivo https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.681039v1
Huntingtin binds and bundles F-actin! Thrilled to team up with the Humbert (Sorbonne Université) and Song (KAIST) labs on this discovery. We had a blast doing cryo-ET on this unexpected complex — and now so many new questions lie ahead! #TeamTomo #CryoET #HTT #actin doi.org/10.1126/scia...
New exciting resource published!! The Viro3D paper is out, describing our comprehensive database of predicted virus protein structures! 💻🧬 Work with @ulad-litvin.bsky.social , @grovearmada.bsky.social , Alex Jack, @bljog.bsky.social , @davidlrobertson.bsky.social www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Viro3D: a comprehensive database of virus protein structure predictions | Molecular Systems Biology
imageimageViro3D provides proteome-level, high confidence AI-protein structure predictions for >4,400 viruses, allowing mapping of form and function across the human and animal virosphere. Viro3D i...
embopress.org
Our second paper explores the mechanism by which fusion-targeting antibodies neutralize the measles virus. It was exciting to integrate structural biology, virology, and biophysics to demonstrate that these F-targeting antibodies can provide complete protection against measles infection.
bioRxiv Immunology@biorxiv-immuno.bsky.social · 11mo agoStructural and Mechanistic Basis for Antibody Neutralization of the Measles Fusion Protein https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.11.675466v1
"Unveiling the structural spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 fusion by in situ cryo-ET" www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Unveiling the structural spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 fusion by in situ cryo-ET - Nature Communications
This study delineates the full sequence of SARS-CoV-2 spike-mediated membrane fusion and shows how S2-targeting antibodies inhibit this process, using a near-native functional fusion system and cryo-e...
nature.com
Hi everyone! I’m a #NewPI just starting my lab and would love to hear your advice on lab management and building the lab culture. Any tips, lessons learned, or resources you’ve found helpful are very welcome! Feel free to reply, message me, or email me at rcastellsg(at)cnio.es thanks a lot!! 🤗
a cat is sitting in front of a laptop computer asking for advice
ALT: a cat is sitting in front of a laptop computer asking for advice
media.tenor.com
My colleagues @phaips.vd.st and @florentwaltz.bsky.social have put together this wonderful website with step-by-step tutorials for in situ subtomogram averaging using different software packages 🤩 Check it out, especially if you are a newcomer to the field! #CryoET #TeamTomo #ChlamyDataset
Philippe Van der Stappen@phaips.vd.st · last yr.Hey #TeamTomo, Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging? That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website! tomoguide.github.io Follow the thread 1 /🧵 #CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
“The Website” is here! It can be intimidating getting into analysis of #CryoET data, and software is evolving all the time👩💻🚀. @phaips.vd.st & @florentwaltz.bsky.social put our lab’s workflows into an online guide. We hope this helps lower the bar to joining #TeamTomo. Feedback much appreciated! 🧪🧶🧬🔬
Philippe Van der Stappen@phaips.vd.st · last yr.Hey #TeamTomo, Ever been in need of a tutorial about the fundamentals of cryo-electron tomography? From preprocessing raw frames to high-res subtomogram averaging? That's why @florentwaltz.bsky.social and I made this website! tomoguide.github.io Follow the thread 1 /🧵 #CryoET #CryoEM 🔬🧪
I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs. Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng Custom Lab Hardware Turn Key Genetic Design Please repost for reach 💚
1/5: Over the last few months, I have been working on an update for the #FollowRelionGracefully dashboard, which offers improved real-time job previews for #cryoEM #Relion jobs.
Check out our new study revealing how ATP-independent activator Bpa binds asymmetrically to the Mtb #proteasome — and pinpointing key Bpa residues involved in substrate interaction. 👏 Tatjana v. Rosen, Rafal Zdanowicz & @yasser-elhadeg.bsky.social 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Substrates bind to residues lining the ring of asymmetrically engaged bacterial proteasome activator Bpa - Nature Communications
Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a proteasome similar to eukaryotes. This study reveals how the activator Bpa recruits its substrate HspR, providing structural and mechanistic insights. The authors iden...
nature.com
New preprint on 3D heterochromatin architecture in human cells! Great collab with @sergiocruzleon.bsky.social & @johannesbetz.bsky.social from @hummerlab.bsky.social, @marinalusic.bsky.social & the Turoňová lab. Many thanks to my supervisor @becklab.bsky.social. bioRxiv: tinyurl.com/3a74uanv 🧵👇
Check out our new story led by @aesully98.bsky.social describing how bacteria turn immune evasion against phage! In collaboration with @benmorehouse.bsky.social lab, we discover that bacteria guard their nucleotide second messenger pool using a nucleotidyltransferase related to Cas10/CRISPR enzymes
Ashley Sullivan@aesully98.bsky.social · last yr.Excited to share that my work from the @aaronwhiteley.bsky.social lab is now on bioRxiv! With @benmorehouse.bsky.social, we discovered that the Panoptes defense system—named after the all-seeing watchman of Hera—uses decoy nucleotides to detect phage anti-defense proteins.
✨✨ It's #glycotime for #HIV Env ✨✨ N-linked glycans modulate flexibility & MPER epitope exposure #glycotime Huge effort by @shehata92.bsky.social @lcasalino88.bsky.social with cryoET of Env in VLPs by @thevillalab.bsky.social & team 💪 Would love feedback! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...