Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · 2d

More exciting Cationic Amino acid Transporters: The more promiscuous and pH-regulated SLC7A4.

Beautiful work from our friends in the Newstead and @philbiggin.bsky.social labs down the hill of @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

Structural basis for pH-responsive amino acid transport via SLC7A4

The transport of amino acids across cell membranes is essential for metabolism, neuronal signalling, and immune system function. The amino acid polyamine organocation (APC) superfamily regulates amino...

www.researchsquare.com

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Oli Clarke @olibclarke.bsky.social · 12d

Carve that last sentence in stone, alongside “if you can’t see your particles they are not there” and “if you can’t see your ligand do not try to just model it anyway”

Sjors Scheres @sjorsscheres.bsky.social · 12d

I feel some responsibility, as we develop the software. But helical reconstruction is prone to getting stuck in local minima, and unfortunately still requires a lot of self-criticism. The most important one: if you don't see expected features in the map, don't trust it!

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · 24d

Shockingly disappointed in this impulse buy. So many simple chemistry mistakes…

Love an easy read, and 100% support accessible science, but this is more frustrating than fun.

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Sep 3

Keeping my identity secret requires two hotspots!

Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na-Na…

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Aug 30

A new, small molecule inhibitor to NorA that increase fluoroquinolone efficacy against Staph. With everything: screening, med. chem., and CryoEM!

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Small molecule inhibitors of the NorA multidrug efflux pump potentiate antibiotic activity by binding the outward-open conformation

Antibiotic resistance is among the greatest threats of the modern era. Multidrug efflux pumps expel antibiotics from bacterial cells and present a particular challenge by conferring resistance to a br...

doi.org

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Sigurbjörn Markússon @sigurbjornm.bsky.social · Aug 21

Our paper on SLC45A4 is out now in @nature.com! The orphan SLC45A4 transporter is a polyamine transporter involved in chronic pain signalling!

SLC45A4 is a pain gene encoding a neuronal polyamine transporter - Nature

The SLC45A4 gene encodes a neuronal polyamine transporter and is linked to pain response in humans and mice.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Camilo Perez @camiloperezc6h6.bsky.social · Aug 21

We are hiring a Postdoc in membrane protein cryo-EM at the University of Georgia. Looking for candidates with expertise in membrane protein purification and biochemistry. Fully funded for up to 5 years. Join us in Athens, GA. Apply: [email protected]

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

The Rosalind Franklin Institute @rosfrankinst.bsky.social · Aug 18

Exciting work from the Franklin, @ox.ac.uk, and @diamondlightsource.bsky.social has led to a new method for imaging small proteins (<50 kDa) using cryoEM. By using bifunctional, bispecific nanobody scaffolds, the team have successfully solved the smallest protein structure to date (14 kDa).

Quote from Dr. Mingda Ye, University of Oxford, highlighting the collaborative breakthrough in cryo-EM imaging of small proteins: “This idea was initiated when solving sub-50kDa protein structures by cryo-EM was almost impossible. To break this barrier, many world-class scientists in different fields have combined forces and it is a great honour to work with them to bring this game-changing tool into reality!” The background diagram outlines the scientific workflow used in the study.

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Aug 15

Di-Gembodies (dimerized nanobodies) for improved and duplexed CryoEM of small and challenging targets!

A collaboration of @cmd.ox.ac.uk, STRUBI, @diamondlightsource.bsky.social, @rosfrankinst.bsky.social

Out now in Nature Chemical Biology @natchembio.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Covalently constrained ‘Di-Gembodies’ enable parallel structure solutions by cryo-EM - Nature Chemical Biology

Disulfide-based dimerization of modified identical and heterologous nanobody scaffolds enables higher-order assembly for high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure determination that is widely...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Rob Klose @robklose.bsky.social · Jul 15

My wonderful colleage Colin Kleanthous is raising money for the MND association. Please support Colin in this worthy endeavor! www.justgiving.com/page/colin-k...
(Please repost!)

Colin Kleanthous' fundraiser for Motor Neurone Disease Association

Help Colin Kleanthous raise money to support Motor Neurone Disease Association

www.justgiving.com

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

LolandLab @lolandlab.bsky.social · Jul 8

Looking for a Post doc position in Structural Biology? We are hiring!
See post here:
jobbank.dk/job/2850337/...

The task is to continue our endeavor in solving cryo-EM structures of the human dopamine transporter. See: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Thanks to the Novo Nordisk Foundation for funding.

Faculty and academic positions – University of Copenhagen

https://employment.ku.dk/faculty/?show=…

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 29

Wow! Deep Mutational Scan of NaCT!!

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Valuable to biochem. understand NaCT folding & function, and clinical VUS in SLC13A5-Epilepsy

Beautiful study and Herculean effort by Wen-An Wang and REsolution colleagues in @supertifurgalab.bsky.social at @cemm.oeaw.ac.at

Large-scale experimental assessment of variant effects on the structure and function of the citrate transporter SLC13A5

Functional and mechanistic analysis of all single–amino acid variants in the human citrate transporter SLC13A5.

www.science.org

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 25

Closing soon!

Please apply if you are interested in targeting membrane proteins with new therapeutics!

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 3

Join our group in the Centre for Medicines Discovery at Oxford Univ. @cmd.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk !!!!

Happy to chat about any questions about the role and science. Oxford will assist with a skilled worker visa.

Please RT!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

Photo of a Sauer Membrane Protein group party, why space for a new hire

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 24

Unacceptable! 😡😡
Review deadline of 2 weeks, then cancel at 4 days as "time restrictions are too tight"

"Paper [achieved] the required review" == editor knew this was waste of time

I will always support colleagues by reviewing papers, but my view of your journal has changed.

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 22

Hello Carolina,
Happy to chat! Just email me and we can arrange a time!

Best wishes,
David

David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 12

Ugh. Account on Twitter is hacked.

Still annoying, even if I'm not active there much these days.

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Michael J. Robertson @biophysicsguy.bsky.social · Jun 2

Excited to share our latest preprint! We used cryoEM and MD simulations to look at the GTP-induced activation of the mu-opioid receptor-Gi complex with partial, full, & super agonists resolving the landscape of Gi activation and how its modulated by different ligands!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 3

Join our group in the Centre for Medicines Discovery at Oxford Univ. @cmd.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk !!!!

Happy to chat about any questions about the role and science. Oxford will assist with a skilled worker visa.

Please RT!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · Jun 2

University bureaucracy (probably universal)

Ain't this place a geographical oddity, 2 weeks from everywhere! (GIF from the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?)

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Edward T Eng @edwardteng.bsky.social · May 28

The 3rd NYC Integrative Structural Biology Symposium (#NYCISB25) will be Oct 9-10, 2025.

Register today:
nyc-isb25.eventbrite.com

This event will be focused on integrative structural biological techniques and limited to 100 attendees.

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David B. Sauer @davidbsauer.bsky.social · May 28

@annaliiiiiiii.bsky.social got the cover of @cp-cellreports.bsky.social for her human muscle-type nAChR structure

Cover of the May 2025 issue of Cell Reports

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Arjen Jakobi @cryotud.bsky.social · May 22

We are happy to release LocScale2.0: a tool for context-aware, confidence-weighted cryoEM map optimisation.

Taking two half maps as input, LcoScale-2.0 produces feature-enhanced maps along with a robust confidence score that guides objective map interpretation.

cryotud.github.io/locscale/

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

giuliosupertifurga.bsky.social @giuliosupertifurga.bsky.social · May 19

Paper(s) alert from our RESOLUTE project – In a compilation of four papers in @molsystbiol.org we show how we were deciphering cellular logistics and present a comprehensive systematic blueprint of chemical transport pathways with #SoluteCarrier transporters

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Collaborative Computational Project for Electron cryo-Microscopy @ccpem.bsky.social · May 15

2025 Spring Symposium lectures are now up on our YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

CCP-EM Spring Symposium 2025 - YouTube

The 11th annual CCP-EM Spring Symposium was held from the 23-25th April 2025 at the East Midlands Conference Centre, University of Nottingham as a hybrid in-...

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by David B. Sauer

Ron Leuty @rleutybiotech.bsky.social · May 13

Today is SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day, I'm reminded in an email this morning from Kim Nye, founder of TESS Research Foundation.
Read more here: www.tessresearch.org/awareness/ and …

SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day – TESS Research Foundation

May 13 is SLC13A5 Epilepsy International Awareness Day! The goal of this annual virtual event is to raise awareness for the international community affected by SLC13A5 Epilepsy. We hope all affected f...

www.tessresearch.org

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