Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by David Balchin

The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 1d

2026 PhD recruitment is now open.

As well as our main PhD recruitment, which is open to all, we are pleased to be offering scholarships for candidates of Black or mixed Black heritage. Learn more and apply on our website:

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

PhD student recruitment

PhD recruitment information.

www.crick.ac.uk

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Reposted by David Balchin

The Francis Crick Institute @crick.ac.uk · 6d

Motivated graduates with backgrounds in biological or biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering and/or computer science are invited to apply to our 4-year fully funded PhD programme.

Apply by 05 November 2025

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-and-...

PhD students

Our PhD programme attracts the brightest scientific minds and is an opportunity for talented people to embark on their career in biomedical research.

www.crick.ac.uk

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Reposted by David Balchin

Caitie McCafferty @computingcaitie.bsky.social · 15d

I am excited to share our new preprint on the CAGE complex, a mysterious hollow protein complex that I first saw years ago while surveying Tetrahymena ciliary lysate www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #cilia #protistsonsky 🧬🧪

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · 18d

Thanks Mathieu!

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · 19d

Thanks to the reviewers and the editor @katciazynska.bsky.social

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · 19d

Our article on human multidomain protein biogenesis is now published in @natsmb.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The human ribosome modulates multidomain protein biogenesis by delaying cotranslational domain docking - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology

By studying dynamic folding intermediates on the human ribosome, Pellowe et al. show that newly made domains help each other to fold but do not stably interact until synthesis is complete, avoiding in...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by David Balchin

Saarikangas lab @saarikangaslab.bsky.social · 19d

Time to close the EMBO-FEBS Susan Lindquist School on Proteostasis 2025 in Espoo, Finland. Four intensive days of fabulous presentations, discussions, and mentoring, fostering scientific exchange between senior and junior members of the proteostasis field. Thank you to all participants!

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Reposted by David Balchin

$pelletfraction.bsky.social$

Cole Sitron @pelletfraction.bsky.social · 28d

Why are α-synuclein aggregates in Parkinson’s disease (PD) toxic at the cell biological level?

Our new study shows that α-syn fibrils hijack the ESCRT membrane repair system, triggering a feedback loop that worsens aggregation.

You can find it at: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

authors.elsevier.com

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Reposted by David Balchin

Patricia Yuste-Checa @pyustecheca.bsky.social · Aug 8

Curious about the structure and functional analysis of one of the most abundant and enigmatic extracellular #chaperones and one of the highest genetic risk factor for developing late onset #Alzheimer’s disease? Check out our paper on Clusterin/ApoJ!
#proteostasis #apolipoprotein
rdcu.be/ezRLv

Structural analyses define the molecular basis of clusterin chaperone function

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - The authors reveal a three-domain architecture of glycoprotein clusterin and show that the hydrophobic tails are crucial for clusterin’s functions...

rdcu.be

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Reposted by David Balchin

STCmicrobeblog @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social · Aug 7

schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
#MicroSky

The Ribosome as Chaperone

Noteworthy — Small, single-domain proteins usually fold correctly without much assistance. But larger proteins, often containing multiple domains need assistance. To help with protein folding, there a...

schaechter.asmblog.org

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Reposted by David Balchin

Liana Lareau @lianafaye.bsky.social · Aug 7

This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice

Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by David Balchin

Trentini Lab @trentini-lab.bsky.social · Aug 1

🚨 Happy to share our first pre-print 🎉 on the causes of ribosome-associated degradation of CFTR and other transmembrane proteins.
We explore how protein folding, ER insertion, and elongation dynamics influence translation arrests in this new class of RQC targets.👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Principles of ribosome-associated protein quality control during the synthesis of CFTR

Prolonged translational arrests caused by defective mRNAs activate the ribosome-associated protein quality control (RQC) pathway, which marks harmful incomplete proteins for degradation. Multipass tra...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by David Balchin

Saarikangas lab @saarikangaslab.bsky.social · Jun 10

Last call to apply for the Susan Lindquist School on Proteostasis EMBO-FEBS Lecture Course, 16-19 Sept 2025 in Espoo, Finland! Open for postdocs and PhD students. DL June 15! meetings.embo.org/event/25-pro...

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Reposted by David Balchin

MaRtiNA Hallegger @martinahallegger.bsky.social · Jun 3

Join the Hallegger Lab in Oxford! A post-doc position available to develop neuronal cell models to characterise how TDP-43 aggregation leads to its dysfunction in MND.
Highly collaborative project funded by My Name'5 Doddie Foundation
@MNDoddie5
Please repost and share widely!

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · Jun 2

This was led by Alzbeta Roeselova and Santosh Shivakumaraswamy in my lab. Cryo-EM by Gabija Jurkeviciute and Jessica He in Rado Enchev's lab, and selRiboseq from Bernd Bukau's lab.

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · Jun 2

Functional assembly starts during translation, and in a surprising way. Although our model protein is a homooligomer, assembly is directional.
One fully-synthesised subunit interacts with an incomplete subunit on the ribosome, avoiding misassembly between two incomplete chains.

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · Jun 2

A hidden hydrophobic groove on the ribosome surface, normally capped by a flexible "lid", can stabilise nascent amphipathic helices and change the pathway of domain folding.

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · Jun 2

New from our lab @crick.ac.uk, in collaboration with the Enchev and Bukau labs.
By studying a protein that is difficult to fold, we discover fascinating new mechanisms by which the ribosome supports protein biogenesis.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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David Balchin @davidbalchin.bsky.social · Jun 2

A hidden hydrophobic groove on the ribosome surface, normally capped by a flexible "lid", can stabilise nascent amphipathic helices and change the pathway of domain folding.

Reposted by David Balchin

Guillaume Mas @masgu.bsky.social · Jun 2

Thrilled to share our new method in-cyclo NMR that lets us watch molecular machines in action — decoding molecular machine kinetics with atomic precision and exceptional time resolution in one go! 🚀 Check it out: doi.org/10.1038/s414... #NMR #StructuralBiology

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Reposted by David Balchin

Michal Kolář @mhko.bsky.social · Apr 30

Our research group studies #ribosomes. Our favorite region of interest is the ribosomal tunnel. We realized that it has been missing a Wikipedia page until now, so we decided to create one. Read, edit, enjoy👇

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ribosom...

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Reposted by David Balchin

UK Proteostasis Network @ukproteostasis.bsky.social · Apr 22

🚨 Deadline extended! 🚨
Registration for the 2nd UK Proteostasis Network meeting in Dundee is open until 30 April!
🧬 Plenty of chances for selected talks from abstracts
📅 3–5 June 2025
📍 Dundee
🗓️ Program now live!
Sign up and view the programme here: dundee.ac.uk/events/joint...

Joint 2025 Autophagy UK and Proteostasis UK conference | University of Dundee, UK

Welcome to the 2025 joint “Autophagy UK and Proteostasis UK” conference!

dundee.ac.uk

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Reposted by David Balchin

Jasmeen Oberoi @jasmeenoberoi.bsky.social · Apr 16

📢 New PhD Opportunity

🧬🧪 Excited to share a fully funded PhD studentship is available in my lab @gdsc-sussex.bsky.social

📅 Deadline: 2nd May 2025

👉 www.sussex.ac.uk/study/fees-f...

Please share with anyone who might be interested.

PhD Studentship: Structure and function of tyrosine fusion kinases in leukaemia and their regulation by the HSP90 molecular chaperone at University of Sussex

Discover a PhD Studentship: Structure and function of tyrosine fusion kinases in leukaemia and their regulation by the HSP90 molecular chaperone on jobs.ac.uk. Apply now and explore other PhD opportun...

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Reposted by David Balchin

Louise Walport @ljwalport.bsky.social · Apr 14

🚨 Fully-funded 4-yr MRes+PhD studentship @Imperial 🚨

Join our team (w/ Prof Hugh Brady @Imperial + Dr Jacob Bush @GSK) on an exciting PhD project developing a covalent cyclic peptide discovery platform with a focus on immuno-oncology targets 🔬🔥

📅 Deadline: 27 April 2025

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Reposted by David Balchin

Laurenz Rabl @laurenzrabl.bsky.social · Apr 1

doi.org/10.1515/hsz-...

I am super happy to share this review as my first post on Bluesky. After submitting my PhD thesis at the start of the year, my PI Elke Deuerling suggested to write this review with her, covering many of the findings of my thesis. I am excited to see it published today!

The nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC) as regulatory hub on ribosomes

The correct synthesis of new proteins is essential for maintaining a functional proteome and cell viability. This process is tightly regulated, with ribosomes and associated protein biogenesis factors...

doi.org

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