Anirban Banerjee

My culture and upbringing taught me to listen to people who make you feel bad about yourself, in a good way. James Saenz @jamessaenz.bsky.social fit that bill beautifully in his talk at the recently concluded 2026 annual meeting of the Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social
#bps2026

Jue Chen gave the inaugural Chris Miller Award talk in the Membrane Transport Symposium at 2026 Annual Meeting of Biophysical Society. Chris is my academic grandfather and I am truly proud to be part of his scientific family. His introduction to Jue was full of wit, humor and intellect.
#bps2026

Tagging @membraneenzymology.bsky.social

Almost half of the session themes for the @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social meeting came from member submissions. So feel free to suggest ideas every year!

So very appreciate your kind response. Will surely do.

Hope that Karen Fleming @karenfleming.bsky.social and others will consider keeping this session in future meetings of the Biophysical Society 🙂 @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social
#bps2026
n/n

Many thanks to Ilya Levental and Ariane Briegel @arianebriegel.bsky.social , that changed this year. It was my honor to chair this session. Amazing session with a wide range of topics in this emerging area. Thanks to Stephen Blacklow, Amy Rosenzweig, Raquel Lieberman and K. V. Lakshmi .

2/n

Transmembrane enzymes are poorly understood, important in all kingdoms of life and have been linked to many disastrous human diseases. Yet, till last year, there was never a dedicated session to this large area in biophysics in Biophysical Society @biophysicalsoc.bsky.social annual meetings.
1/n

SAFETY PERMITTING, I ditch the plastic cover on coffee cups these days. This is personal opinion but who wants more nanoplastics in their brain ? Watch what you eat and drink ! Scientists consume an enormous amount of coffee at conferences. Perhaps that’s a place to start ?
#bps2026

Very glad that Robbins Puthenveetil in my lab played a small but important role in this work. Three cheers to collaborative research within NIH Intramural Program.

n/n

Now the lab of Yihong Ye at NIH Intramural Program has shown that DNAJC5(CSP⍺) a critical co-chaperone in MAPS is palmitoylated by zDHHC11. Their studies suggest that palmitoylation sites of DNAJC5 act with flanking sequences to control its subcellular localization and function in MAPS.
2/n

New paper alert !
Misfolded proteins are at the heart of devastating diseases, particularly neurodegenerative disorders. Recently discovered Misfolding Associated Protein Secretion (MAPS) pathway selectively exports misfolded or misassembled proteins.
1/n

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/share/author...

In the 27th Anita Roberts lecture at the NIH Intramural Program, Cindy Dunbar gave an inspirational talk on her life and 39 years of research. Cindy leaves a rich legacy of pioneering science and community engagement. Her talk shows what is possible here. Now we have to hold the standards up.

Structural basis for domain coupling in heteromeric glycine receptors revealed by an atypical allosteric agonist Counteracting ligands stabilize glycine receptor states revealing mechanisms of pentameric ligand-gated channel allostery.

Check out our latest paper on the glycine receptor with
@chakrapanilab.bsky.social

where we show the interplay between the orthosteric and allosteric binding sites.

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

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself.

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

Tanmay also set up the first direct visualization based assay of protein S-acylation using GUVs. See for yourself what his findings are.

n/n

Tanmay Mondal in my lab decided to change that and set up a fluorescence polarization based assay for protein S-acylation in lipid nanodiscs. This opens up many possibilities for biochemical investigations of zDHHC enzymes.

3/n

The most widely recognized role of protein S-acylation is membrane localization of the target protein although this is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, there were no direct in vitro assays of protein S-acylation in a membrane environment.

2/n

In vitro reconstitution in membrane environment reveals critical lipid dependence of substrate S-acylation by protein palmitoyltransferase enzymes Protein S-acylation, also known as protein palmitoylation, is a common form of post-translational modification and the most abundant form of lipid modification of proteins with several thousands of su...

New paper from our lab !
Thousands of proteins are targets of a form of post translational lipid attachment known as protein S-acylation, commonly as protein palmitoylation. 23 transmembrane zDHHC enzymes catalyze protein S-acylation in humans.

1/n

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Yes, makes sense. Thank you.

I have to say that a well drawn chemical structure with the right balance of line thickness indicating bonds and font sizes denoting atoms always makes me stop and stare at it !

Alcohol, nicotine and more — could drugs like Ozempic curb the desire for vices? | CBC News Studies combing through past patient data have made a similar link between drugs like Ozempic and a loss of appetite for more than just food.

Thanks for sharing these insights. Might you have any idea if the side effects of GLP-1 such as described in this article would be the same given that much higher doses are required for the oral preparation ?

www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

2025 was a year full of great scientific discoveries and breakthroughs. Here, I want to highlight 10 papers that got me really excited. Of course, this is a highly subjective selection and I am sure I am forgetting some papers that I would love to include, but here it goes: (1/12)

Many thanks to Aleksandra Nita-Lazar, our equal partners in this research, and Jiraphorn Issara-Amphorn and Sung Hwan Yoon in Aleksandra's lab. Three cheers to National Institutes of Health (NIH): Intramural Research Program (IRP) !

n/n

Enhanced S-Palmitoylated Protein Detection by Mild Nonionic Detergent in Proteomic Workflow Loss of hydrophobic peptides and proteins remains a significant challenge in bottom-up proteomics, resulting in under-representation of membrane and membrane-associated proteins that are critical for ...

This study also reveals how rapidly the palmitoylome remodels within just 30 minutes of immune activation by LPS. Read our paper, look for your favorite protein and find out the connection between palmitoylation and immunology. But please cite us 😀

pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

5/n

Hyojung identified over 2,500 putative S-palmitoylated proteins, including over 1,000 candidates not previously reported in mouse immune cells. Crucially, a significant number of these were identified exclusively by the non-tryptic proteases.

4/n

He also moved beyond the commonly used RAW 264.7 cells, employing iBMDMs to generate the first deep palmitoylome map in a model that closely mimics primary macrophage physiology. The results were striking.

3/n

To address this, Hyojung implemented a comprehensive multi-protease strategy (including Trypsin, AspN, Chymotrypsin and GluC) coupled with Acyl-Biotin Exchange (ABE) to interrogate the repertoire of palmitoylated proteins in immune cells.

2/n

Missing out on hits in your palmitoylproteomic workflow by relying only on Trypsin digestion ? Hyojung Kim in my lab suspected so , particularly because palmitoylation often occurs in hydrophobic segments of proteins that lack the charged residues (Lys and Arg) required for Trypsin cleavage.

1/n

Wow !!