Clausen Lab

Anne Bertolotti

We’re looking for a creative & enthusiastic postdoc with expertise in cryo-EM or protein biochemistry to join @annebertolotti.bsky.social (LMB Neurobiology Division) and help solve structures of key stress signalling enzymes and develop new inhibitors.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Apply by 22 MAR

Deltaviruses spread through a viral Trojan Horse Hepatitis D-like satellite viruses, known as deltaviruses, have been recently discovered in a wide range of animals. These viruses are thought to expr…

The Trojan Horse is real, and it’s microscopic! 🐴🦠
Our paper is out today in @cellcellpress.bsky.social!
We discovered that deltaviruses physically hide INSIDE helper viruses to sneak into new cells. And to prove it, we had to image them from every angle. 🧵👇

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

ps – slightly biased - i really like this year’s poster, highlighting the Dark Side of ubiquitin biology – fantastic art by the one and only @philippdexheimer.bsky.social – many thanks, philipp!

Ubiquitin & Friends Fiesta in Vienna, 29-30 April 2026.
Great speakers, small size, a friendly community, perfect for early-career researchers to connect with fellow ubiquitin enthusiasts. Sign up at www.protein-degradation.org/symposium/ and submit abstracts for talks and awards.
#ubfriends26

You are passionate about ubiquitin, proteostasis and cellular biochemistry and want to be part of a collaborative, ambitious, excited and fun team? I am recruiting PhD students via the @imprs-lm.bsky.social graduate school:
www.imprs-lm.mpg.de/index.php/le...
(2/3)

I am incredibly excited to share that I will start my independent lab at the @unidue-zmb.bsky.social at the @unidue.bsky.social as Junior Professor of Cellular Biochemistry. Research in my lab has the goal to decipher the ubiquitin code!
There are multiple open positions!
(1/3)

big congratulations, leo. exciting ub times ahead 🥳

Image of FAF2's predicted helical domain interacting with the UFD1 UT3 domain. Next to this are similar images showing the predicted binding of de novo designed protein binders to the same region. Above is a sequence alignment indicating the key residues involved in the interaction.

🚨⚠️ New Preprint Alert! ⚠️ 🚨
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Screening p97 cofactors, @prithadg.bsky.social identified FAF2 as the strongest activator of the p97-UFD1-NPL4 complex. Leveraging her mechanistic descoveries, we designed 𝘥𝘦 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘰 binders that could also enhance p97 substrate unfolding.

seems interesting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Mammalian cells form hibernating disomes akin to those in bacterial cells - but connected via ribosomal RNA

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

co-first with: @andschwarz.bsky.social

with: @lea-dietrich.bsky.social, @sgiando.bsky.social, @erin-schuman.bsky.social and many more

🧵 0/6
#MolBio 🧪

A pharmacological modality to sequester homomeric proteins - Nature Chemical Biology Polymerization-inducing chimeras are a novel bifunctional modality that uses protein symmetry to sequester targets by forming insoluble supramolecular assemblies. This approach overcomes reliance on a...

Polymerization-inducing chimeras (PINCHs) are a novel bifunctional modality that sequesters target homodimers in a polymeric state, thereby inhibiting their function

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

Happy to share our newest preprint on Parkin missense variants in work led by Erna Sol &
@vvouts.bsky.social in @rhp-lab.bsky.social

Using a multiplexed assay we determined the effects of 9,212 out of 9,300 single amino acid substitutions and nonsense Parkin variants. 1/n

doi.org/10.64898/202...

And a new paper from the lab. A follow up to a previous study in which we elucidate the mechanism of the nuclear transport. Read the full story: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Look at this 🙂 #CryoEM

Structural basis for CTCF-mediated chromatin organization by @lucas.farnunglab.com @voslab.org

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

On the balance of knowledge - Nature Reviews Immunology Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern complex systems.

Too much data, too little thinking.
A important essay from Ruslan Medzhitov on the importance of understanding data, not just generating it. A must read.
@Yale
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A nucleotide code governs Lis1’s ability to relieve dynein autoinhibition - Nature Chemical Biology A combination of biochemical, cell biological and electron microscopy analyses reveal a ‘nucleotide code’ that coordinates Lis1–dynein binding stoichiometry, which in turn governs Lis1’s ability to re...

A new paper reports a “nucleotide code” that coordinates Lis1-dynein binding stoichiometry, which in turn governs Lis1’s ability to relieve dynein autoinhibition

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

Single-molecule dynamics of the TRiC chaperonin system in vivo - Nature Single-particle tracking experiments in intact cells reveal dynamic co- and post-translational interactions of the TRiC–PFD chaperonin complex with client proteins during in vivo protein folding.

I’m excited to share my first-author paper, with co-first author @rongqinxiaoxiao.bsky.social, now out in @nature.com. We developed a live-cell single-particle tracking platform to see how TRiC & prefoldin engage proteins during co- and post-translational folding. 1/9 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PtdIns(3,5)P2 is an endogenous ligand of STING in innate immune signalling - Nature Phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate is a ligand of STING and, together with cGAMP, induces STING activation and innate immune responses.

Nature research paper: PtdIns(3,5)P2 is an endogenous ligand of STING in innate immune signalling

go.nature.com/4klvMp1

The ribosome synchronizes folding and assembly to promote oligomeric protein biogenesis Large oligomeric proteins constitute a major fraction of proteomes, but are difficult to refold in vitro, raising the question of how cells direct their biogenesis. Roeselová and Shivakumaraswamy et a...

Our latest cotranslational folding story is now published @cp-molcell.bsky.social. Really cool (I think) new ideas about how exactly the ribosome directs folding and assembly to make sure complicated proteins mature efficiently in cells.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Have a look at our new structure of co translational folding in yeast. This is collaborative work initialized by the Rospert lab from the @uni-freiburg.de. Structural work has been done by the amazing @lgrundmann.bsky.social Stay tuned for the next ribosome paper from him, following very soon.

New preprint!
Led by @sarahgersing.bsky.social we map how 7,500+ variants in glucokinase (GCK) affect binding to GKRP and disentangle this from stability.
We now have activity, abundance, and interaction scores for 7,128 GCK variants - a resource for understanding phenotypes and glucose homeostasis.

Heterogeneity, dynamics and organelle interactions of lipid droplets - Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology Lipid droplets have key roles in energy storage and lipid metabolism. This Review discusses tools used for assessing lipid droplet heterogeneity, and how their heterogeneous composition and interactio...

With so many great reviews on LDs already out, do we need another?

Sarah @cohenlaboratory.bsky.social and I were approached by
@natrevmcb.nature.com to do a review on LD heterogeneity and inter-organelle contacts...topics in reviews, but not a focus. Fun project!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A single cluster of RNA Polymerase II molecules is stably associated with active genes In eukaryotic nuclei, transcription is associated with the clustering of RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) molecules. The mechanisms underlying cluster formation, their interactions with genes, and their imp...

"RNAPII clusters reflect local accumulations of transcriptionally engaged polymerases and do not form through higher-order mechanisms such as phase separation"

😬

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

by the @mirlab.bsky.social

Hey #portfolioday!

I'm a bloke who used to investigate Genetics before turning into a full-time Artist.

Now I do handmade installations, molecular graffiti, and digital design to convey the beauty of Science.

a Trp/Phospho/Ub trifecta linking metabolism and degradation - wow 🤩 big congrats to the whole team for this amazing, almost historic study.

Join us for the #Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium 2026, April 29-30, in Vienna!
Fantastic guest speakers👇 & many slots for talks from abstracts, flash-talks & posters. Lots of opportunities to network. Register now to save your spot!
➡️ www.protein-degradation.org/symposium/
#ubfriends2026

Computational design of conformation-biasing mutations to alter protein functions Conformational biasing (CB) is a rapid and streamlined computational method that uses contrastive scoring by inverse folding models to predict protein variants biased toward desired conformational sta...

Can we design mutations that bias proteins towards desired conformational states?

Today in @science.org, we introduce Conformational Biasing (CB), a simple and scalable computational method that uses contrastive scoring by inverse folding models to identify conformation-biasing mutations.

We are thrilled to share our latest work uncovering the mechanistic basis of target-directed microRNA degradation (TDMD). This work was driven by @jakobfarnung.bsky.social and @elenaslo.bsky.social in a fantastic collaboration with Brenda Schulman's lab. tinyurl.com/E3TDMD (1/5)

This is really cool and important.

Writing is thinking - a short but memorable thread.