Álvaro López Codina

Hot off the press!

I'm thrilled to share that our paper "Unravelling the Maturation Pathway of a Eukaryotic Virus through Cryo-EM" has been published!

Link to the paper: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Nature is full of remarkable protein nanomachines, and now we can watch one more in action.

Topological Regulation of the Mammalian Genome by Positive DNA Supercoiling https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.10.710740v1

ATG5 regulates autophagy-apoptosis-ER stress dysregulation in steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (SONFH) pathogenesis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.07.710256v1

Rising Stars: From the Development of Cryo-Electron Tomography to In Situ Structural Biology Research pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41796651/ #cryoEM

Integrated proteomic screening reveals design principles of CRBN molecular glue degraders https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.08.710269v1

So great to see this work come out from my colleague's lab @cdsnow.bsky.social at CSU. Truly a dream-come-true innovation that will really accelerate X-ray structure determination. Applications are endless. Take a look and see if your protein of interest will work.

Allosteric PROTACs: Expanding the Horizon of Targeted Protein Degradation Proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) have transformed the concept of chemical intervention in biological systems by co-opting the ubiquitin–proteasome system to selectively degrade proteins. A key...

Allosteric PROTACs: Expanding the Horizon of Targeted Protein Degradation | Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Cells may work with “Lego®️ bricks” 🧱 at the molecular level. Our new study shows that peroxiredoxins can mix different subunits to form hybrid complexes arranged in donut-like rings 🍩, creating molecular diversity that helps cells fine-tune stress and redox signaling responses. Out in Nat Chem Biol.

Cells build diversity like Lego® 🧱: @messenslab.bsky.social ,
the Morgan & Deponte labs show that peroxiredoxins can mix different subunits to form hybrid complexes arranged in 🍩-like rings, creating molecular diversity that helps cells fine-tune stress and redox signaling

Direct Observation of Nanometer-Sized Steps of Single Myosin VI Molecules in Living Cells Living cells undergo dynamic biological processes. For example, motor proteins transport cargos by taking nanometer-sized steps. However, it is challenging to measure nanometer-sized steps in living cells. Using cell-permeable, extremely bright, and photostable deuterium congeners of tetramethyl(silicon)rhodamine (SiR-d12) connected chloroalkane linker to label single HaloTag-fused myosin VI in living cells and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM), we measured nanometer-sized steps of single myosin VI in living cells. The measured step size of wild-type myosin VI was larger than that predicted from its short-lever arms. Furthermore, myosin VI harboring a mutation in the ATP-binding pocket exhibited longer dwell times between steps, reduced velocity, and shorter run lengths than wild-type myosin VI, underscoring the critical role of the ATP-binding pocket in motility. Therefore, our direct measurements of nanometer-sized steps of single motor proteins in living cells provide mechanistic insights into the dynamics and biological processes of motor proteins in living cells.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Apical spectrin organizes cortical actin filament bundles to pattern C. elegans cuticle ridges

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Research progress on the structure of photosynthetic reaction centers-mobile electron carrier supercomplexes pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41801319/ #cryoEM

Actin-membrane interface stress regulates Arp2/3-branched actin density during lamellipodial protrusion

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

ARHGEF6-dependent cytoskeletal regulation underlies a conserved program of forebrain interneuron development https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.710568v1

Reversible one-way lipid transfer at ER–autophagosome membrane contact sites via Atg2 Hao et al. report that lipophilic dye octadecyl rhodamine B (R18) is transported to the ER mediated by membrane transfer proteins. Upon autophagy, ER-resid

Reversible one-way lipid transfer at ER–autophagosome membrane contact sites via Atg2 url: rupress.org/jcb/article-...

IRE1 drives a homeostatic response to reduced protein influx into the endoplasmic reticulum www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Multivalent weak contacts shape chaperone-nascent protein interactions https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.709851v1

Chain entropy modulates cooperativity selectively within intermediate sub-populations during protein unfolding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.08.710427v1

Hao, Suzuki et al. @utokyoofficial.bsky.social report that lipophilic dye octadecyl rhodamine B (R18) is transported to the ER mediated by #membrane transfer proteins. During #autophagy, ER-resident R18 is transferred to the autophagic membrane via Atg2. rupress.org/jcb/article/...

#lipid

The giant E3 ligase #RNF213 serves as a master regulator of B-cell biology while its deficiency impairs PIK3/PIP3-mediated AKT-mTOR signaling and #MitochondrialRemodeling to disrupt B-cell development and #HumoralImmunity.

#OpenAccess: doi.org/10.1038/s413...

SBGrid Consortium - Software Updates The SBGrid Consortium is an innovative global research computing group operated out of Harvard Medical School. SBGrid provides the global structural biology community with support for research…

Technical Notes: This month's software push includes updates to Ais, AlphaFold3, Boltzgen, Bowtie2, CellProfiler, ChimeraX, CryoMaskR, CryoSPARC-tools, Foldseek, IsoNet2, Protenix, RDKit, and upside2-md.

More here: buff.ly/SHUsfWz

#SBGrid #Software #StructuralBiology

Role of desolvation on biomolecular liquid-liquid phase separation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.710469v1

Ropinirole hydrochloride mitigates oxidative stress and neuroinflammation via the PI3K-mTOR pathway in TDP-43 hiPSC-derived microglial-like cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.07.710283v1

Hetero-oligomerization drives structural plasticity of eukaryotic peroxiredoxins - Nature Chemical Biology Peroxiredoxins from diverse organisms were found to assemble into hybrid complexes, not just identical ones. These mixed assemblies reshape structure and stability, challenging a long-held view of per...

Peroxiredoxins from diverse organisms are found to assemble into hybrid complexes, not just identical ones. These mixed assemblies reshape structure and stability, challenging a long-held view of peroxiredoxin assembly in cells

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

Purification of ribosomes from human embryonic stem (hES) cells for high-resolution Cryo-EM structural studies pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41797992/ #cryoEM

Some molecular machines, like ribosomes, can persist for long periods of time in cells.

Could molecular aging of ribosomes shape how proteins are made?

In our new preprint we track ribosomes as they age in cells and uncover unexpected effects on translation (1/10)

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We built DNA scaffold crystals that can be reprogrammed to host different guest proteins for X-ray structure determination — no new crystallization screen required. This animation shows a guest protein (glowing) seeking its designed binding site inside the crystal lattice. shorturl.at/DANdc

Meet the ultimate gatekeeper of the nucleus. This molecular machine determines what compounds are welcome inside and which shall not pass. The mechanism behind its selectivity remains a mystery. www.quantamagazine.org/disorder-dri...

CDK/mTOR-dependent phosphorylation of UBE2H restrains its charging with ubiquitin and regulates CTLH-dependent degradation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.07.710281v1

Arrestin-3 scaffolds multiple MAP3Ks driving stress-induced JNK3 activation and cell death. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.710604v1