Liam Faller

Happy holiday ❄️⛄🎅! Global protein synthesis rates can fluctuate dramatically as a function of food intake, infections, energy resources, etc. Wondering whether/how protein elimination routes adapt to these changes to maintain proteome homeostasis ? Find out here: www.cell.com/cell-systems....

The vault associates with membranes in situ The eukaryotic vault particle is a giant ribonucleoprotein complex that assembles into an iconic barrel-like cage. Its cellular function has remained elusive despite extensive characterization. Using ...

Vaults. They are cell biology's greatest puzzle! This preprint from Martin Beck's lab shows them docked on ER membranes with a ribosome inside. What on earth is going on there??

#CellBiology #WTFology

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

ZAKα is a sensor of mRNA stasis at the ribosomal exit channel Despite a growing interest in the ribotoxic stress response (RSR), it remains unknown how the upstream p38 and JNK-activating MAP3 kinase ZAKα senses translational impairment. Combining Alphafold3 pre...

New preprint out!
Our latest work on how ZAKα is activated by stalled or/and collided ribosomes is now online🎉. #Ribosome #RibotoxicStressResponse #ZAKα #Translation #mRNA www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

You smashed it Dr Ramalho! Well done!

How does the kinase ZAK sense ribosome collisions? Find out in our latest collaboration with the @greenlab.bsky.social @doubleshuang.bsky.social @Vienna Huso: 1/4
rdcu.be/eRmJl
#ribosome #cryoEM #LMU #JHMI

eIF2B Selectively Anchors and Activates Mutant KRAS We demonstrate that the translation initiation factor eIF2B, best known for its guanine nucleotide exchange (GEF) function in mRNA translation initiation, also acts as a potent inducer of mutant KRAS ...

eIF2B Selectively Anchors and Activates Mutant KRAS
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Funded PhD: Understanding the role of the ribosomal P-stalk in immune responses at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Funded PhD: Understanding the role of the ribosomal P-stalk in immune responses at University of Bristol, listed on FindAPhD.com

First ad for a position in my new lab at the University of Bristol! If you are looking for a fully funded PhD in cutting edge science that will be based in a supportive environment, and in a great city, check out the link below!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Oxidative stress sensing by the translation elongation machinery promotes production of detoxifying selenoproteins Selenocysteine, incorporated into polypeptides at recoded termination codons, plays an essential role in redox biology. Using GPX1 and GPX4, selenoenzymes that mitigate oxidative stress, as reporters,...

Colliding ribosomes are potent signals of cellular stress. But do cells use ‘programmed’ ribosome collisions to regulate gene expression? I’m excited to present a new story from my lab led by Frederick Rehfeld(@fred-rehfeld.bsky.social) which revealed that the answer is YES! Read on to find out how👇

Funded PhD: Understanding the role of the ribosomal P-stalk in immune responses at University of Bristol on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Funded PhD: Understanding the role of the ribosomal P-stalk in immune responses at University of Bristol, listed on FindAPhD.com

First ad for a position in my new lab at the University of Bristol! If you are looking for a fully funded PhD in cutting edge science that will be based in a supportive environment, and in a great city, check out the link below!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

We have an exciting PhD opportunity to study ribosome hibernation in archaea using cryo-electron microscopy, tomography, microfluidics, omics, and confocal imaging. @daumlab.bsky.social,
@lsiexeter.bsky.social
Apply via:
www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...
Any questions, IM me.

DNASE1L3 surveils mitochondrial DNA on the surface of distinct mammalian cells The extracellular space is a critical environment for discriminating self versus non-self nucleic acids and initiating the appropriate immune responses through signaling cascades to relay information ...

We’re excited to report work led by postdoc Jennifer Porat in the lab, finding that DNA accumulates on the surface of living cells and that the secreted extracellular protein DNASE1L3 can modulate its levels on B and T cells. With a new twist for ATAC-seq as well www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

☝️This one

GCN1 couples GCN2 to ribosomal state to initiate amino acid response pathway signaling During nutrient deprivation, activation of the protein kinase GCN2 regulates cell survival and metabolic homeostasis. In addition to amino acid stress, GCN2 is activated by a variety of cellular stres...

Ooohhh....GCN1 couples GCN2 to ribosomal state to initiate amino acid response pathway signaling | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Cycling linked with lower dementia risk, study finds | CNN Cycling instead of driving has been linked with a lower risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a large study has found.

“Riding a bike is associated with a 19% lower risk of all-cause dementia and a 22% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease, compared with taking nonactive travel modes such as a car, bus or train…” #ISOGG #DNA #epigenetics www.cnn.com/2025/09/20/h...

Thanks Denis!

Couldn't make it today, but I'll see you there tomorrow!

Kudos to Anna Dopler (not on the socials) who led both this study, and the P-stalk one! Thanks to @nar-cancer-editor.bsky.social for publishing it too!

I loved this project because we were looking at 2 members of the ribosome, that had essentially the same effect (reduced antigen presentation), but through completely different mechanisms. Just shows how much there is still to learn about the ribosome!

Turns out they aren't! The P-stalk controls the translation of HLA (and other cytokine-regulated genes), while uL14 regulates the generation and processing of peptides, resulting in the production of more unstable peptides, and reduced presentation as a result.

Identification of essential genes for cancer immunotherapy - Nature The authors describe a two-cell-type CRISPR screen to identify tumour-intrinsic genes that regulate the sensitivity of cancer cells to effector T cell function.

A few years ago the Restifo lab showed that another ribosomal protein (uL14) was also essential for antigen processing and presentation. We wondered whether these two proteins from the same complex were doing the same thing.

www.nature.com/articles/nat...

P-stalk ribosomes act as master regulators of cytokine-mediated processes Cytokines remodel the ribosome to incorporate the P-stalk, therefore altering the translation of mRNAs involved in cytokine responses.

This is a follow on from our Cell paper last year, where we showed that the ribosomal P-stalk was crucial for cellular responses to cytokines.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Loss of ribosomal protein uL14 enables tumor escape from T cell immunosurveillance Abstract. The presentation of peptides on HLA molecules is essential to CD8+ T cell responses. Here, we show that loss of uL14 significantly downregulates

Here's the latest from the lab! In it we dive into the role of ribosomal proteins in antigen processing and presentation!

academic.oup.com/narcancer/ar...

Co-translational ribosome pairing enables native assembly of misfolding-prone subunits - Nature Communications Protein complexes are essential for cell function. Here, authors show that paired ribosomes can help each other’s nascent chains fold correctly, enabling proper dimer assembly and preventing misfoldin...

Very cool stuff on the co-translational folding of dimers by Sander Tans and his team @amolf-nl.bsky.social:

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

Cancer research ‘set back years’ as visa fees drive scien... With vital studies being shelved and foreign experts turning down jobs, leading charity urges ministers to act

'Cancer Research UK told The Observer that several pieces of research had been affected by...immigration costs, which have risen by 126% since 2019 and are up to 17 times higher than the average of comparable countries including France, Australia, the US and South Korea.' Not only cancer research.

Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice Evolution has shaped the genetic code, with subtle pressures leading to preferences for some synonymous codons over others. Codons are translated at different speeds by the ribosome, imposing constrai...

This preprint from Helen Sakharova is one of the coolest things to come out of my lab: “Protein language models reveal evolutionary constraints on synonymous codon choice.” Codon choice is a big puzzle in how information is encoded in genomes, and we have a new angle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A molecular switch at the yeast mitoribosomal tunnel exit controls cytochrome b synthesis Abstract. Mitochondrial gene expression needs to be balanced with cytosolic translation to produce oxidative phosphorylation complexes. In yeast, translati

In a new study by our @pelleeas.bsky.social, we reveal how Mrx4 organizes translational regulation of cytochrome b synthesis at the mitoribosomal tunnel exit. Thanks @kawresearch.bsky.social for funding and @stirlingchurchman.bsky.social for the fun collaboration! academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Here, we show that bacterial ribosomes—often viewed as conserved drug targets—actually vary across species due to extensive sequence variation in their drug-binding residues. In some cases, this divergence may lead to intrinsic drug resistance in certain bacterial clades: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

I'm reading the report behind these headlines about glyphosate and it may be the most scientifically illiterate thing I've come across (although it's a close thing with the recent MAHA report). 1/n

The alternative initiation factor eIF2A regulates 40S subunit turnover in ribosome-associated quality control The noncanonical translation initiation factor eIF2A plays critical roles in diverse cellular processes, including the integrated stress response, neurodegeneration and tumorigenesis. However, the pre...

Identified in the 1970s, the precise molecular function of the alternative initiation factor eIF2A has remained unclear. Here, we map its interactome and uncover a surprising role in ribosome-associated quality control (RQC) upon ribosome stalling. 1/x

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

Translational activity of 80S monosomes varies dramatically across different tissues Abstract. Translational regulation at the stage of initiation can impact the number of ribosomes translating each mRNA molecule. However, the translational

Delighted to share paper on translational activity of 80S monosomes across different tissues in 🪰 in @narjournal.bsky.social thanks to fabulous team Albert Blandy Tayah Hopes Elton Vasconcelos @amy-turner96.bsky.social Bulat Fatkhullin Michaela Agapiou Juan Fontana academic.oup.com/nar/article/...