Luca Jovine
@jovinelab.org
Professor of #StructuralBiology @karolinskainst.bsky.social studying #egg-#sperm interaction at #fertilization & #ZonaPellucida (ZP) module proteins Member of #EMBO & the #NobelAssembly at Karolinska Institutet More @ http://jovinelab.org
New preprint: how does one sperm protein "key" recognize two different egg-coat receptors — the real "lock", and a decoy? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
How a single sperm protein recognizes highly divergent egg coat components
For successful fertilization, sperm must recognize and penetrate the egg coat, called vitelline envelope (VE) or, in mammals, zona pellucida (ZP). In abalone, sperm acrosomal protein lysin dissolves t...
biorxiv.org
Hong Wang, a mathematician at the IHES Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies, has been awarded the prestigious Fields Medal for solving the Kakeya conjecture in three dimensions, in collaboration with Joshua Zahl. 🏅📚
Fields day for Hong Wang
news.cnrs.fr
Looking forward to talk about egg coat structure and egg-sperm interaction @eshre.bsky.social 2026! #ESHRE2026 #zp #egg #sperm #fertilization #zonapellucida
Susan was a bright and kind light in our world, who will be missed and remembered fondly
Study for the Society of Reproduction@ssrepro.bsky.social · last mo.SSR mourns the passing of Past President Susan Stevens Suarez, PhD (2012–2013), Professor Emeritus at Cornell. Recognized worldwide for pioneering sperm research, she will be remembered for her deep commitment to mentorship and service. We extend our condolences to her family and colleagues.
Fun to talk about how #AlphaFold and #ROCKET can help #crystallography and #cryoEM studies of #fertilization at this year's American Society of Andrology meeting in Phoenix! andrologysociety.org/annual-meeti... #ASA #reproductivebiology #andrology
#FlatironCCM researchers have developed a new tool called ROCKET that extends the capabilities of AlphaFold by directly learning from raw experimental data: https://bit.ly/4dUTZkG #science #math
Introducing ROCKET: An Upgrade to AlphaFold That Learns From Raw Experimental Data
Introducing ROCKET: An Upgrade to AlphaFold That Learns From Raw Experimental Data on Simons Foundation
simonsfoundation.org
Starting from an #AlphaFold-Multimer prediction, we used #ROCKET to build a model of ZPD, a homopolymeric zona pellucida (#ZP) protein, into an initial #cryo-EM map at only ~9 Å resolution. A subsequently obtained 4.6 Å map highlighted how superior the ROCKET model was over the initial prediction:
Very happy to have had a chance to attack an initially very low-resolution #cryo-EM map with #ROCKET! Thank you again @alisiafadini.bsky.social and all other co-authors of this important work, which truly shows the power of combining experimental structural biology and #AI inference. rdcu.be/fa9YH
Alisia Fadini@alisiafadini.bsky.social · 4mo agoROCKET 🚀 inference-time optimization of AlphaFold to fit structural data is published! rdcu.be/fa9YH Since our preprint, we’ve pushed it to regimes where other methods break: low resolution, weak signal, real experimental edge cases. Here’s what we learned: 1/15
Nice to see our work on #ZP2-targeted female nonhormonal #contraception featured in today's @lemonde.fr: www.lemonde.fr/sciences/art... Merci Juliette Baëza! Original @pnas.org paper → www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
La piste des anticorps comme moyen de contraception
Les recherches se multiplient pour utiliser ces protéines naturelles comme méthode contraceptive non hormonale. Mais leur mise sur le marché ne devrait pas intervenir avant dix ans ou quinze ans.
lemonde.fr
Having a blast at XI NAZIONALE SIERR 2026 meeting in #Rome, with @enricabianchi.bsky.social and many other excellent italian scientists! www.sierr.it/eventi/xi-co...
XI NAZIONALE SIERR 2026
La SIERR è una società scientifica, senza finalità di lucro, costituita da Biologi, Biotecnologi e Medici che operano in laboratori di procreazione assistita.
sierr.it
Delighted to deliver an invited lecture at this year's TI-FRIS/FRIS Symposium in Sendai! A highly interdisciplinary meeting bringing together diverse fields through excellent science: lnkd.in/d5XqH7ZV
Thrilled to announce that the GRC Fertilization and Activation of Development and associated GRS will come to Europe for the first time in 2027! Join us in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 31 July–6 August 2027. Mark your calendars and help us spread the word! #GRC #GRS #Fertilization #Development
Great to get another peek at this story, after hosting @jacob-hanna.bsky.social as keynote speaker of our recent #GRC on Fertilization and Activation of Development!
Human Frontier Science Program@hfspo.bsky.social · 12mo ago🧪 From petri dish to embryo model: @jacob-hanna.bsky.social work shows how naïve pluripotent stem cells can self-organize into advanced developmental stages. The 2025 #HFSPNakasoneAward lecture reveals the science behind synthetic embryo models. Full lecture 🎥 👉 zurl.co/Tgf4f #sts
Excited that the Gordon Research Conference on Fertilization and Activation of Development 2025 (and associated GRS) is just a few days away! www.grc.org/fertilizatio... www.grc.org/fertilizatio... #GRC #GRS #fertilization #development #egg #sperm
Up on biorxiv! The tour de force protein tagging atlas for the #Celegans cuticle #aECM - from Jordan Ward @gotworms.bsky.social and Andrew Chisholm labs. So many beautiful images of cuticle collagen substructures !! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Multiscale patterning of a model apical extracellular matrix revealed by systematic endogenous protein tagging
Barrier epithelia are shielded from the external environment by their apical extracellular matrices (aECMs). The molecular complexity of aECMs has challenged understanding of their organization in viv...
biorxiv.org
Thanks @svtnyheter.bsky.social for covering our #ZP2 non-hormonal #contraception story! www.svt.se/nyheter/inri... @ki.se @esrf.fr @pnas.org @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social @kawresearch.bsky.social
Ny forskning kan leda till hormonfritt preventivmedel
Jakten på ett hormonfritt preventivmedel har pågått i många år. Nu har forskare på KI upptäckt ett sätt att stoppa befruktning med hjälp av antikroppar. – Det hade gett kvinnor möjligheten att själva ...
svt.se
As an old tRNA aficionado, can't help loving this beautiful tour-de-force cryo-EM work on one of nature's coolest molecules! Congrats @sebastianglatt.bsky.social and colleagues!!!
Sebastian Glatt@sebastianglatt.bsky.social · last yr.We are very excited about our latest work, which just came out @embojournal.org – www.embopress.org/doi/full/10..... The work @MCB_UJ was driven by Anna Biela and Ting-Yu Lin 林亭妤 in collaboration with @jmbujnicki.bsky.social…a short🧵
New step taken towards non-hormonal contraception news.ki.se/new-step-tak...
New step taken towards non-hormonal contraception
A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows how a small antibody fragment can block fertilisation by targeting a key protein on the surface of the egg. This discovery brings a non-hormonal contracept...
news.ki.se
Fresh off the press in @pnas.org: functional and structural studies of the interaction between #fertilization-blocking mAb IE-3 and mammalian #egg coat protein #ZP2 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... Thanks to @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social @erc.europa.eu @embo.org @kawresearch.bsky.social @dfg.de
Structural basis of ZP2-targeted female nonhormonal contraception | PNAS
Monoclonal antibody IE-3 prevents mouse fertilization by binding ZP2, a major component of the oocyte-specific zona pellucida (ZP). We show that an...
pnas.org
Just in time for 8 March, we are thrilled to open the way to targeted non-hormonal contraception with the first structure of a fertilization-blocking antibody bound to a key female reproductive protein, #ZP2: Structural basis of ZP2-targeted immunocontraception www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Happy to have played a small part in this nice story on our old friend #endoglin ! Thrombin cleaves membrane-bound endoglin potentially contributing to the heterogeneity of circulating endoglin in preeclampsia www.nature.com/articles/s42... #ENG #preeclampsia #HHT
Thrombin cleaves membrane-bound endoglin potentially contributing to the heterogeneity of circulating endoglin in preeclampsia - Communications Biology
Thrombin cleaves membrane-bound endoglin and soluble endoglin, releasing fragments of varying sizes; these findings emphasize the heterogeneity of sEng in preeclampsia, connecting endothelial dysfunct...
nature.com
