Won’t be spending time here anymore - find us where facts still matter, where the sky is blue, and where nobody claims otherwise. @LudersLab.bsky.social

Very sad news… Joan was director when I joined @IRBBarcelona and I owe him this great opportunity. He has led us to become not only a place for excellent science, but also a warm and welcoming environment, a rare combination. Joan will be missed, but we continue in his spirit!.

…you won’t look back👇🏼.‘A place of joy’: why scientists are joining the rush to Bluesky

RT @iaincheeseman: Our latest work from lab member jimmy Ly! This fundamentally changed the way we see mitosis. Massive rewiring of transla….

RT @StearnsLab: Everyone should read @callimcflurry’s piece on the human cost of scientific fraud by a lab member - disillusionment, wasted….

Smart bees.

Here is a free access link to our latest work @LudersLab with @LlorcaLab in @Dev_Cell on the activation of the #microtubule nucleator #gTuRC:. Please also check out similar work by @MikeVVieczorek lab in the same issue!. A summary is here:.

And none of this would have happened without the fantastic collaboration with @LlorcaLab @OscarLlorcaCNIO!!! 10/10.

. that #gTuRC has essential roles beyond the nucleation of #microtubules, for example as cap and stabilizer of microtubule minus ends. 9/10.

Open/future questions: while gTuRC is considered essential for #mitosis, genome-edited cells that express only gTuRC that cannot bind CM1, grow more slowly, but can still successfully complete mitosis, suggesting CM1-independent activation of gTuRC and/or. 8/10.

. that the increased conformational repertoire of activated #gTuRC promotes cooperativity with incoming ab-tubulin. gTuRC templates with improved symmetry facilitate ab-tubulin docking, which in turn further promotes template symmetry, resulting in efficient #nucleation. 7/10.

. a fraction of CM1-bound #gTuRC does not contain luminal #actin that is consistently observed in non-activated gTuRC. However, lack of actin is not correlated with gTuRC conformation, suggesting that actin displacement may be indirectly linked to activation. We propose. 6/10.

Somewhat surprisingly, CM1 binding activates #gTuRC without inducing a complete conformational switch. However, when bound to CM1, gTuRC can adopt conformations that more closely resemble #microtubule symmetry and that are not observed in the absence of CM1. Moreover. 5/10.

A CM1-binding site mutant of gTuRC is insensitive to CM1-dependent activation both in vitro and in cells. But how does CM1 activate #gTuRC? Does it involve switching gTuRC into a 'perfect template' configuration? 4/10.

We reconstituted activated gTuRC bound to the CM1 motif of the #centrosome scaffold protein CDK5RAP2, and determined its #cryoEM structure. CM1 binds to multiple sites on the outside of gTuRC, modulating lateral interactions among GCP subunits. 3/10.

#gTuRC was proposed to nucleate #microtubules by a template mechanism. However, its splayed structure (Zimmermann et al. 2020, Sci Adv) does not match #microtubule symmetry, consistent with poor nucleation acitvity in vitro. So how can gTuRC become an efficient nucleator? 2/10.

Happy to share (time-limited) free access to our latest work @Dev_Cell by Fabian Zimmermann @LudersLab @IRBBarcelona and @sernarina @CNIOStopCancer @LlorcaLab:.By reconstitution and #cryoEM we show how the #microtubule nucleator #gTuRC gets activated 🧵👇

RT @GallegoLab: We open a PhD position in our lab @UPFbiomed , if you like exploring never studied #fungi, understanding #biophysical princ….

First day with our iDIFFER network in beautiful Bilbao full of exciting science centered on cell proliferation and differentiation!

RT @MalumbresLab: iDIFFER: Cell differentiation & proliferation meeting in Bilbao. Pre-meeting activities… more to come soon. @LudersLab @….