I am delighted to share my last work, now published in Current biology (@CurrentBiology )! If you are interested in digging deeper in the activity of the WAVE Regulatory Complex (WRC) during the formation of actin protrusions, have a look here.

I bambini di Gaza stanno morendo di fame e i leader europei pensano a rilassarsi in vacanza?.Non lasceremo che si sottraggano. Porteremo le nostre richieste fin sotto i loro ombrelloni. Unisciti a noi, ora!

Le balene sono guardiane vitali dei nostri oceani, ma sono costantemente minacciate dalle attività umane. Insieme ai leader indigeni chiediamo diritti legali per proteggere questi esseri maestosi. Firma qui:

Sono rimasti solo 800 esemplari dell'orango di Tapanuli e la multinazionale @JardineMatheson vuole distruggere l'unica foresta in cui vivono, per espandere una miniera d'oro. Chiediamo al presidente #BenKeswick di abbandonare la corsa all'oro. Firma ora:

14mila bambini a Gaza potrebbero morire, se Israele non sblocca l'invio di aiuti umanitari. Tutto il mondo sta chiedendo a @EmmanuelMacron @MarkJCarney e @Keir_Starmer di imporre sanzioni a Israele e far arrivare cibo ai bambini di Gaza.

A Gaza i civili sono di nuovo bersagliati. 506 persone uccise finora, tra cui donne e bambini. I governi occidentali sono complici e traggono profitto da questo sterminio: chiediamo il blocco totale della fornitura di armi a Israele. Firma ora!

Attiviste afghane per i diritti umani, fuggite in Pakistan dopo essere state torturate e imprigionate dai talebani per il loro attivismo, rischiano ora di essere rimpatriate. Sarebbe una condanna a morte per loro, firma qui:

Trump si è schierato con Putin. Ora l'Europa deve usare i 300 miliardi di euro di asset russi congelati per aiutare l'#Ucraina a sopravvivere. #MakePutinPay #PutinDevePagare #MakeRussiaPay

Da tutto il mondo siamo vicini ai nostri fratelli e sorelle di Goma, vittime del brutale attacco dell'esercito ribelle. Firma & RT:

La Cina sta facendo il lavaggio del cervello a un milione di bambini tibetani nelle #ColonialSchools, dove imperversano abusi e depressione. #FreeTibet

#FreePakhshanAzizi

19/n: A big thank you also to @LMachesky and @RottnerKlemens, and all the people from their labs in Glasgow and Braunschweig. And thank you to the @CRUK_SI and all amazing people working in it, in particular the @BairBeatson Image Facility.

18/n: This work would not have been possible without the help of a group of great scientists. In particular thanks to @robinsall and all my former colleagues from Glasgow: @Prakash5Singh, @PexiMexi, @JamieWhitelaw5, Peter Thomason, Nikki Paul, @LukeTweedy1, @claydon_sophie.

17/n: We hypothesize that the WRC acts as a general hub that through its polyproline domain promotes the interaction of many different proteins needed for actin polymerization. The formation of lamellipodia and pseudopods would then be the result of a co-operative action.

16/n: Significant questions remain. How much do the two mechanisms contribute to the generation of normal cell protrusions in the presence of Scar/WAVE’s VCA domain? What it’s clear from our data is that the polyproline domain is not a passive linker.

15/n: Based on our results, we propose the existence of two pathways to actin mediated by the WRC. The first is Arp2/3-dependent and is mediated by either WAVE’s or N-WASP’s VCA domains. The second is independent of Arp2/3 and requires at least one polyproline domain.

14/n: Lastly, when we further deleted N-WASP in WAVE1/2 KO B16-F1 cells, WAVE2ΔVCA expression failed to rescue the phenotype. Thus, N-WASP is essential for the formation of lamellipodia in the absence of WAVE’s VCA domain, but WAVE2ΔVCA is still required

13/n: In our interactome of WAVE2’s polyproline domain, VASP, BAIAP2 and Homer3 stood up for their known role in the formation of actin protrusions. However, as demonstrated by their knockdown, none of them is alone essential for lamellipodia formation.

12/n: We then analyzed pull-downs of EGFP-WAVE2 truncations by mass spectrometry. This allowed us to identify a pool of few specific interactors of Scar/WAVE’s VCA and polyproline domains.

11/n: However, when both WAVE2’s and Abi’s polyproline domains were deleted, the WRC was unable to rescue the formation of actin protrusions. Therefore, we conclude that at least one polyproline domain is required for the WRC to promote actin polymerization in B16-F1 cells

10/n: Are polyproline domains essential in B16-F1 cells too? The expression of WAVE2 without VCA and proline-rich domains (WAVE2ΔPVCA) still managed to rescue the ability of WAVE1/2 KO B16-F1 cells to form lamellipodia, suggesting a negative answer.