Roberto Zoncu Lab
@robzonculab.bsky.social
Professor of Molecular Therapeutics @ Berkeley-MCB
Cofounder of Frontier Medicines
Codirector, Molecular Therapeutics Initiative
Lysosomes, mTORC1, nutrient signaling, growth regulation, metabolism, autophagy, quality control.
www.robertozonculab.org
Cofounder of Frontier Medicines
Codirector, Molecular Therapeutics Initiative
Lysosomes, mTORC1, nutrient signaling, growth regulation, metabolism, autophagy, quality control.
www.robertozonculab.org
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Join us in sunny California for the 2026 GRC Autophagy meeting! Excited to co-chair with Oliver Florey and vice chairs Helene Knaevelsrud and @robzonculab.bsky.social
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...
2026 Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease Conference GRC
The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Autophagy in Stress, Development and Disease will be held in Ventura, California. Apply today to reserve your spot.
www.grc.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:26 PM
Join us in sunny California for the 2026 GRC Autophagy meeting! Excited to co-chair with Oliver Florey and vice chairs Helene Knaevelsrud and @robzonculab.bsky.social
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Structural and cell biology NPG publication two-fer today: lysosome signaling structural biology tinyurl.com/mt3uc96k with @robzonculab.bsky.social and mitophagy initiation tinyurl.com/3rpjyfjt with @martenslab.bsky.social @lazaroulab.bsky.social and @hummerlab.bsky.social
July 25, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Structural and cell biology NPG publication two-fer today: lysosome signaling structural biology tinyurl.com/mt3uc96k with @robzonculab.bsky.social and mitophagy initiation tinyurl.com/3rpjyfjt with @martenslab.bsky.social @lazaroulab.bsky.social and @hummerlab.bsky.social
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Today, Nobel laureate (and former NIGMS Advisory Council member) gave an NIH-wide lecture. She enthusiastically signed the #BethesdaDeclaration.
She was introduced by NIH Director Bhattacharya...(likely slightly awkward)
1/2
She was introduced by NIH Director Bhattacharya...(likely slightly awkward)
1/2
June 11, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Today, Nobel laureate (and former NIGMS Advisory Council member) gave an NIH-wide lecture. She enthusiastically signed the #BethesdaDeclaration.
She was introduced by NIH Director Bhattacharya...(likely slightly awkward)
1/2
She was introduced by NIH Director Bhattacharya...(likely slightly awkward)
1/2
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Please join the chorus of voices, including my own, in support of the talented, hardworking and dedicated scientists and staff at NIH. They serve their country by deploying their training and skills to improve the health and quality of life of all Americans 🙏 🇺🇸
June 9, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Please join the chorus of voices, including my own, in support of the talented, hardworking and dedicated scientists and staff at NIH. They serve their country by deploying their training and skills to improve the health and quality of life of all Americans 🙏 🇺🇸
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Online today in @nature.com - our latest study led by superstar postdoc Gilles Rademaker detailing the role of PSCK9 in driving sterol dependent metastatic organ choice in pancreatic cancer nature.com/articles/s41...
full text available here 👉 rdcu.be/em0VG and thread 👇
full text available here 👉 rdcu.be/em0VG and thread 👇
May 21, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Online today in @nature.com - our latest study led by superstar postdoc Gilles Rademaker detailing the role of PSCK9 in driving sterol dependent metastatic organ choice in pancreatic cancer nature.com/articles/s41...
full text available here 👉 rdcu.be/em0VG and thread 👇
full text available here 👉 rdcu.be/em0VG and thread 👇
Fantastic MTx-Neuro seminar by Michael Ward @michael-e-ward.bsky.social, incredible science and full house! @mti-ucb.bsky.social
May 20, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Fantastic MTx-Neuro seminar by Michael Ward @michael-e-ward.bsky.social, incredible science and full house! @mti-ucb.bsky.social
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
My advisor @baym.lol pointedly speaking with WBUR.
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
"I'm still in shock. I know that there have been political issues around Harvard in recent weeks, but antibiotic resistance isn't one of them." My conversation with Harvard microbiologist @baym.lol, one of many researchers there who just lost millions in fed. grants. www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...
Antibiotic research at Harvard lab threatened by federal funding cuts
Microbiologist Michael Baym studies antibiotic resistance at Harvard Medical School. He lost millions in federal funding this week.
www.wbur.org
May 17, 2025 at 12:06 PM
My advisor @baym.lol pointedly speaking with WBUR.
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
“I think that reason is a pretense. I think that this is an attack on Harvard as a symbol of academia in the United States.”
It was great to collaborate with @jimhurley.bsky.social on the structural-functional dissection of Arginine sensing by mTORC1 via CastiGATOR
mTORC1 is activated when cells are fed with amino acids. New preprint with @robzonculab.bsky.social led by Rachel Jansen shows how the massive "CastiGATOR" complex is formed when arginine-free CASTOR1 binds to the GATOR2 complex to antagonize mTORC1 starved cells. tinyurl.com/yr6en6f4
May 14, 2025 at 4:56 PM
It was great to collaborate with @jimhurley.bsky.social on the structural-functional dissection of Arginine sensing by mTORC1 via CastiGATOR
Spectacular structure-function study of a giant quality control E3 ligase by @micharapelab.bsky.social & team!
Excited that our work revealing the structure and function of the monster stress response silencing factor, the E3 ligase SIFI, is now out! Congratulations to the most amazing team of Zhi Yang, Diane Haakonsen, Michael Heider and Sam Witus!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Molecular basis of SIFI activity in the integrated stress response - Nature
Nature - Molecular basis of SIFI activity in the integrated stress response
www.nature.com
May 7, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Spectacular structure-function study of a giant quality control E3 ligase by @micharapelab.bsky.social & team!
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Excited to host @brentstockwell.bsky.social for a seminar tomorrow in the UC Berkeley Molecular Therapeutics Series! If you are on campus come by for an exceptional seminar on recent advances in our understanding and targeting of #ferroptosis! 😀
April 30, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Excited to host @brentstockwell.bsky.social for a seminar tomorrow in the UC Berkeley Molecular Therapeutics Series! If you are on campus come by for an exceptional seminar on recent advances in our understanding and targeting of #ferroptosis! 😀
tinyurl.com/mrce6bbb Fun to write this N&V together with Regina @hrshin.bsky.social, on the several cryoEM papers that build on her discovery of the fascinating LYCHOS protein and its role in cholesterol sensing and mTORC1 regulation!
Cholesterol finds its pocket in LYCHOS - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
The lysosomal transmembrane protein LYCHOS enables activation of the master growth regulator mTORC1 kinase by cholesterol. Here we summarize recent structural findings that shed light on the LYCHOS ch...
tinyurl.com
April 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM
tinyurl.com/mrce6bbb Fun to write this N&V together with Regina @hrshin.bsky.social, on the several cryoEM papers that build on her discovery of the fascinating LYCHOS protein and its role in cholesterol sensing and mTORC1 regulation!
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
This structure is absolutely _nuts_. Lipids are captured marching through the tunnel
April 26, 2025 at 10:02 AM
This structure is absolutely _nuts_. Lipids are captured marching through the tunnel
Our PKA-autophagy story by outstanding graduate student Ashley Segura (co-led with Rose Citron) published in @embojournal.org, dissects a deep connection between autophagy and PKA in neuronal signaling, with implications for neurological disease. Great collaboration with @manciaslab.bsky.social!
AKAP11 recruits PKA holoenzymes to #autophagosomes in a bidirectional functional association, both promoting downstream PKA signaling and increasing AKAP11-PKA complex degradation
@robzonculab.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
@robzonculab.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
April 23, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Our PKA-autophagy story by outstanding graduate student Ashley Segura (co-led with Rose Citron) published in @embojournal.org, dissects a deep connection between autophagy and PKA in neuronal signaling, with implications for neurological disease. Great collaboration with @manciaslab.bsky.social!
thank you for the fun interview and a wonderful visit overall Hanieh!
Earlier this month I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Zoncu @robzonculab.bsky.social during his visit to Yale. It was so inspiring- and also fun! Here is a link: medicine.yale.edu/cellbio/news...
Meet our Speakers: Dr. Roberto Zoncu
As a scientist, starting from my postdoc and continuing in my own lab, we have helped redefine the role of the lysosome. Historically, it was considered a
medicine.yale.edu
April 19, 2025 at 8:24 PM
thank you for the fun interview and a wonderful visit overall Hanieh!
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
America will be less healthy & less safe as a result of Peter Marks' forced resignation from FDA. He & FDA protected us from people who enrich themselves selling snake oil: unproven stem cell therapies, vaccine alternatives, other fake treatments. Thank you for all you did for public health Peter.
March 29, 2025 at 4:28 PM
America will be less healthy & less safe as a result of Peter Marks' forced resignation from FDA. He & FDA protected us from people who enrich themselves selling snake oil: unproven stem cell therapies, vaccine alternatives, other fake treatments. Thank you for all you did for public health Peter.
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
An incredible tour de force in biochemistry and cell biology by superstar @robzonculab.bsky.social lab postdoc @aakritijain.bsky.social
LyLAP - a new lysosomal protease responsible for degrading integral membrane proteins in highly phagocytic cells like #PDAC cells.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
LyLAP - a new lysosomal protease responsible for degrading integral membrane proteins in highly phagocytic cells like #PDAC cells.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Leucine aminopeptidase LyLAP enables lysosomal degradation of membrane proteins
Breakdown of every transmembrane protein trafficked to lysosomes requires proteolysis of their hydrophobic helical transmembrane domains. Combining lysosomal proteomics with functional genomic dataset...
www.science.org
March 28, 2025 at 7:13 PM
An incredible tour de force in biochemistry and cell biology by superstar @robzonculab.bsky.social lab postdoc @aakritijain.bsky.social
LyLAP - a new lysosomal protease responsible for degrading integral membrane proteins in highly phagocytic cells like #PDAC cells.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
LyLAP - a new lysosomal protease responsible for degrading integral membrane proteins in highly phagocytic cells like #PDAC cells.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Congrats to @jeremybaskin.bsky.social for receiving the ACS Chemical Biology young investigator award…plus organizing a fantastic session capped off with a tour de force talk on phosphatidic acid dynamics
March 27, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Congrats to @jeremybaskin.bsky.social for receiving the ACS Chemical Biology young investigator award…plus organizing a fantastic session capped off with a tour de force talk on phosphatidic acid dynamics
Exciting new work by phenomenal postdoc Aakriti @aakritijain.bsky.social uncovering a key mechanism for membrane protein degradation in the lysosome. Aakriti’s research is already making a major impact, and she’s ready to launch her own lab. Departments hiring in this area—she’s one to watch!
March 27, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Exciting new work by phenomenal postdoc Aakriti @aakritijain.bsky.social uncovering a key mechanism for membrane protein degradation in the lysosome. Aakriti’s research is already making a major impact, and she’s ready to launch her own lab. Departments hiring in this area—she’s one to watch!
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy caught in situ by cryo-ET! New preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... led by @kev-in-situ-et.bsky.social. This has been a long-standing goal of team @mito911.bsky.social within the @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org initiative.
March 25, 2025 at 6:15 PM
PINK1/Parkin-dependent mitophagy caught in situ by cryo-ET! New preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... led by @kev-in-situ-et.bsky.social. This has been a long-standing goal of team @mito911.bsky.social within the @asapresearch.parkinsonsroadmap.org initiative.
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
If you are immigrant into the US and work in the biomedical sciences (like me) and are still young (not like me), please apply for the Vilcek prizes for Creative Promise founded by an inspiring immigrant couple, Marica and Jan Vilcek.
vilcek.org/prizes/vilce...
vilcek.org/prizes/vilce...
Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise - Vilcek Foundation
The Creative Promise Prizes are awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.
vilcek.org
March 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
If you are immigrant into the US and work in the biomedical sciences (like me) and are still young (not like me), please apply for the Vilcek prizes for Creative Promise founded by an inspiring immigrant couple, Marica and Jan Vilcek.
vilcek.org/prizes/vilce...
vilcek.org/prizes/vilce...
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
CNBC is calling it the Tesla Chain Saw Massacre.
🤣
🤣
March 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
CNBC is calling it the Tesla Chain Saw Massacre.
🤣
🤣
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
I'm co-organizing a Cell Symposia on Metabolites in Organellar Communication with @robzonculab.bsky.social, Kivanc Birsoy, and Allyson Evans (@cp-cellmetabolism.bsky.social). It will be in Sitges May 11-13. Submit an abstract by Feb 14. Hope to see you in Spain! cell-symposia.com/metabolites-...
Home – Cell Symposia: Metabolites: organellar communication in health and disease
Cell Symposia: Metabolites: organellar communication in health and disease
cell-symposia.com
February 12, 2025 at 9:04 PM
I'm co-organizing a Cell Symposia on Metabolites in Organellar Communication with @robzonculab.bsky.social, Kivanc Birsoy, and Allyson Evans (@cp-cellmetabolism.bsky.social). It will be in Sitges May 11-13. Submit an abstract by Feb 14. Hope to see you in Spain! cell-symposia.com/metabolites-...
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
I'm thrilled to share our latest research, published in Nature Communications. This work highlights how pancreatic cancer cells hijack cell polarity proteins to regulate macropinocytosis and tumor metabolism, shedding light on potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cell polarity proteins promote macropinocytosis in response to metabolic stress - Nature Communications
Cancer cells rely on macropinocytosis to survive in a nutrient-deprived environment. Here, Lambies et al. identified various members of the cell polarity protein network as essential regulators of mac...
www.nature.com
December 4, 2024 at 12:52 AM
I'm thrilled to share our latest research, published in Nature Communications. This work highlights how pancreatic cancer cells hijack cell polarity proteins to regulate macropinocytosis and tumor metabolism, shedding light on potential therapeutic vulnerabilities.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Roberto Zoncu Lab
In case you missed it.. New preprint! Our latest study identifying how MHC-I is captured by autophagy and targeted for degradation in #PDAC - It all happens at the ER ! Congrats to co-first authors Marine Berquez, Alex Li & Matthew Luy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A multi-subunit autophagic capture complex facilitates degradation of ER stalled MHC-I in pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) evades immune detection partly via autophagic capture and lysosomal degradation of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I). Why MHC-I is susceptible to ...
www.biorxiv.org
December 12, 2024 at 4:49 AM
In case you missed it.. New preprint! Our latest study identifying how MHC-I is captured by autophagy and targeted for degradation in #PDAC - It all happens at the ER ! Congrats to co-first authors Marine Berquez, Alex Li & Matthew Luy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...