Valeria Vásquez R

A great opportunity to bring trainees, exchange ideas, and connect across disciplines. Registration is open: www.grc.org/ion-channels...

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We have an outstanding speaker lineup, including Keynote Talks by Kenton Swartz, Nancy Carrasco, Miriam B. Goodman (@wormsense.bsky.social), and Francisco Bezanilla. Trailblazer Spotlights presented by Ed Twomey (@cryoet.bsky.social)and Theanne Griffith (@doctheagrif.bsky.social).

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Sudha (@chakrapanilab.bsky.social) and Julio (@cvlab.bsky.social) are organizing the 2026 Ion Channel Gordon Research Conference: Ion Channels Across Scales — Bridging Molecular Events to Physiological Outcomes, to be held at Mount Holyoke College, July 12–17, 2026.

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What's especially insane about all of this is that Maduro is going to get more due process than the Venezuelan migrants deported to CECOT.

1. The longest isoform resembles a Mercedes-Benz steering wheel in top view.
2. The long and intermediate isoforms are semi-flattened and differ from the mammalian domes.
3. Multiple blade–cap contacts stabilize a “toggle-down” conformation.

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Briar and Angela (CV Lab) solved three structures from heavily spliced worm isoforms. Along the way —while solving the structures, characterizing their function, and evaluating effects on membrane curvature— we ran into several surprises:

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This work was a collaboration with Mat Baker (UTHealth Houston), the Chesler Lab @alexchesler.bsky.social (NIH), and the Sotomayor Lab (University of Chicago).

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4. The pore-distal, N-terminal blade is dispensable for mechanoactivation: the intermediate isoform is not only functional, but also inactivates more slowly than the long isoform.
5. The intermediate isoform induces larger membrane deformation than the long isoform.

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Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade PIEZO channels are mechanosensitive ion channels conserved from plants to humans, yet structures exist for only a few mammalian orthologs. We define t…

The Cordero Vásquez Lab is starting the year on a high wheel (see below) with our latest work on the C. elegans PIEZO channel: “Structures of invertebrate PEZO-1 isoforms with a compact architecture and a dispensable pore-distal N-terminal blade”: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
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And here is the story after peer review. This work highlights our current approach, which is to use Piezo channels to uncover new areas of biology that are shaped by mechanical forces: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Checking in on the *ceasefire*

www.cnn.com/2025/11/19/m...

Three German universities offering post-docs for researchers "who cannot conduct or continue their work in the USA appropriately because of actual political pressure. "
www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskoll...

Up to 323 cancelled CSR study sections. That's more than the 204 sections cancelled earlier this year. Rescheduling is going to be a hot mess with NIH staff reductions and study section members heading into finals and holidays that limit availability. 🧪

Thanks to our team members (Luis Romero, Manisha Bade, Sonia Paz-López) and collaborators (Elisa Carrillo, Vasanthi Jayaraman @frettinglab.bsky.social , Syed Hasan, William James Antonisamy, and Zahoor Shah) 6/6

Our results highlight cytoskeletal dysregulation as a key driver of ion channel and behavioral deficits, and suggest that actin-binding proteins may be targets to enhance motor coordination and spatial learning in AS. 5/6

Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome Angelman syndrome (AS) is a neurogenetic disorder characterized by motor coordination and cognitive deficits. In AS, hippocampal neurons show reduced filamentous (F-)actin, a decrease we also reported...

Our new Journal of Neuroscience paper "Cofilin Inhibition Ameliorates PIEZO2 and AMPA Dysfunction in a Mouse Model of Angelman Syndrome (AS)” is out: www.jneurosci.org/content/45/4... 1/6

María Corina’s Nobel Prize Honors the Civilian Coalition That Defeated Maduro | Caracas Chronicles The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize acknowledges the historic achievement of comanditos—60,000 grassroots teams that safeguarded electoral records across Venezuela to expose Maduro’s fraud in 2024

“That collective effort — part self-defense, part civic awakening — may explain why Machado’s Nobel Peace Prize has resonated beyond her polarizing figure” www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/10/14/m...

The Nobel Peace Committee sent a clear message to someone else in awarding the Prize to Ms. Machado:
”But democracy is also in retreat internationally. Democracy – understood as the right to freely express one’s opinion, …is the foundation of peace both within countries and between countries.” 👏

Nobel Peace Prize 2025 The Nobel Peace Prize 2025 was awarded to Maria Corina Machado "for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transi...

“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 goes to a brave and committed champion of peace – to a woman who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”

www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Exciting finding of Piezo1 being upregulated in RBCs and plays a role in sickling of those cells. Loved this paper!

This study was a collaborative effort across multiple groups, led by our first graduate student, Dr.
Luis Octavio Romero, in partnership with graduate student Manisha Bade. 3/3

PIEZO1 is abnormally overactive in sickle red blood cells (humans and mice). In mice, an EPA-enriched diet normalized PIEZO1 and reduced hemolysis, hypoxia-induced sickling, and downstream inflammation, suggesting a potential dietary strategy to support people living with sickle cell disease. 2/3

Enhanced PIEZO1 function contributes to the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease | PNAS Sickle cell disease (SCD), an inherited blood disorder caused by a mutation in the β-globin gene, is characterized by sickle erythrocytes that are ...

Our new PNAS paper "Enhanced PIEZO1 function contributes to the pathogenesis of sickle cell disease" is out: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/3

Conversations with a Regime Insider | Caracas Chronicles Two decades after leaving Venezuela, I’ve maintained a bond with an active chavista official who insists that the ruling elite remains unchallenged, and unwilling to concede power

“Elections don’t matter anymore. They’re just for show. We decide who wins before the first ballots are even printed. You think power changes hands because of a vote?”

www.caracaschronicles.com/2025/07/15/c...

ADD YOUR NAME: Sign the Open Letter in Support of NIH Staff Join the courageous and committed National Institutes of Health (NIH) public servants by adding your name now.

🧵(4/4)
🇺🇸This Independence Day, practice your patriotism by supporting these brave civil servants:

EPA: act.standupforscience.net/forms/epa-ad...

NIH: act.standupforscience.net/forms/add-na...

Our legacy is built on the premise that the populist many CAN overcome the tyrannical few. Keep it going.

Congratulations, Theanne!!! This is so well deserved

UC Davis researchers honored by McKnight and Howard Hughes Medical Institute UC Davis faculty Sergey Stavisky, Theanne Griffith and Elisa Zhang receive prestigious early-career recognition from McKnight Endowment Fund and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

I’m so honored to be selected as both a 2025 McKnight Scholar and 2025 HHMI Freeman Hrabowski Scholar. And I couldn’t be prouder to share these honors with awesome @ucdavis.bsky.social colleagues 💙💛💙💛

health.ucdavis.edu/news/headlin...

Nobel laureate on how Trump's cuts are hurting science Neuroscientist, biologist and 2021 Nobel Prize winner Ardem Patapoutian joined Midday Edition to talk about how the Trump administration's effort to cut back on science spending is impacting researche...

I spoke with Jade Hindmon, host of @kpbssandiego.bsky.social Midday Edition, about the consequences of the current administration’s cuts to science funding. Please share to help spread the word and raise awareness.
www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpb...