Ahmad Jomaa's Avatar

Ahmad Jomaa

@jomaalab.bsky.social

Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia, Biochemist, Molecular and Structural Biologist, Husband, Father, Traveller #cryoem #ribosome #rna med.virginia.edu/jomaa-lab/

257 Followers  |  261 Following  |  40 Posts  |  Joined: 21.11.2023  |  1.9908

Latest posts by jomaalab.bsky.social on Bluesky

wow! congrats CJ and team!!

31.10.2025 03:33 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Human RPA is an essential telomerase processivity factor for maintaining telomeres Telomerase counteracts telomere shortening by repeatedly adding DNA repeats to chromosome ends. We identified the replication protein A (RPA) heterotrimer as a telomerase processivity factor critical ...

Our paper in Science is out! @souravagrawal.bsky.social, @rlynn.bsky.social, @susvirkar.bsky.social, and the rest of the team show human RPA is a telomerase processivity factor essential for telomere maintenance. This reshapes our thinking about telomerase regulation. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

30.10.2025 22:07 β€” πŸ‘ 119    πŸ” 40    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 5
Post image

Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM πŸ§¬β„οΈ
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

28.10.2025 15:07 β€” πŸ‘ 308    πŸ” 105    πŸ’¬ 5    πŸ“Œ 7

congrats!

20.10.2025 13:21 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

All is good here. Hope all is well by you too, with everyone and the little one as well!

16.10.2025 22:26 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Job advertisement

We are hiring…position suitable for PhD student with interest in ribosomes, antibiotics and cryoEM…
www.uni-hamburg.de/en/stellenan...

16.10.2025 16:02 β€” πŸ‘ 10    πŸ” 8    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 2

Nice! Congrats Basil!

16.10.2025 21:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Structural basis of T-loop–independent recognition and activation of CDKs by the CDK-activating kinase Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are prototypical regulators of the cell cycle. The CDK-activating kinase (CAK) acts as a master regulator of CDK activity by catalyzing the activating phosphorylation o...

Now out in Science! Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs) are key regulators of the cell cycle. In @vcushing.bsky.social's magnum opus, we use #cryoEM to figure out how the CDK-activating kinase recognises CDKs to fully activate them - a key step in cell cycle control.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

16.10.2025 19:17 β€” πŸ‘ 175    πŸ” 57    πŸ’¬ 9    πŸ“Œ 4
Post image

✨Excited that the main project of my PhD is now available as a pre-print on #bioRxiv

Here, we used #CryoET to visualise mitochondrial proteostatic stress and together with SPA #CryoEM shed light into the functional cycle of the Hsp60:10 chaperone system. #TeamTomo

πŸ”— www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

08.10.2025 15:59 β€” πŸ‘ 81    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2
Preview
Cryo-EM resolves the structure of the archaeal dsDNA virus HFTV1 from head to tail This structure of an archaeal tailed virus (arTV) provides detailed insights into arTV assembly and infection mechanisms.

Out in Science Advances: Our #cryoEM structure of HFTV1, a virus infecting the halophile #archaea. *First full atomic structure (containing all structural proteins) of any tailed virus!* Congrats and thanks to all co-authors and our fantastic collaborators! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

06.10.2025 11:31 β€” πŸ‘ 127    πŸ” 53    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 7
Preview
The mechanistic basis of cargo selection during Golgi maturation Resident proteins of the Golgi recycle in vesicles and the protein GOLPH3 enables the COPI vesicle coat to accomplish this.

The mechanistic basis of cargo selection during Golgi maturation. From Rebecca Taylor, @katciazynska.bsky.social, @jggkaufman.bsky.social & @grigorytagiltsev.bsky.social at @mpibiochem.bsky.social with David Owen and Sean Munro's group @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social | www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

06.10.2025 11:39 β€” πŸ‘ 53    πŸ” 22    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
Preview
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...

Beautiful reconstitution of amino acid stress-dependent ISR activation by my @harvardcellbio.bsky.social colleagues presenting a unifying mechanism for GCN2 activation, which requires ribosome collisions and is enhanced by cognate uncharged tRNA in the A site! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

03.10.2025 11:02 β€” πŸ‘ 53    πŸ” 19    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2

Nice!

03.10.2025 19:43 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

A molecular-resolution look into the near-native architecture of the spinach chloroplast🌱. This one was a long time in the oven, but we're happy to finally share our "version of record". What long-standing debates did we settle? Check back for a short thread🧡 on Monday. #TeamTomo #PlantScience πŸ§ͺπŸ§ΆπŸ§¬πŸ”¬πŸŒΎ

20.09.2025 19:24 β€” πŸ‘ 137    πŸ” 46    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.16.676506v1

How the twin-arginine translocase (Tat) system manages to transport folded proteins across membranes without any leaks? To answer this fundamental question we solved the first structure of TatB3C3 complex with bound cargo. Please check out new preprint!
t.co/962Kj9pt6F

18.09.2025 17:35 β€” πŸ‘ 55    πŸ” 18    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1

Awesome, congrats Ed!

16.09.2025 23:25 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

πŸš¨πŸ§ πŸ”¬ A major breakthrough in molecular neuroscience:

I am excited to share a new story from our lab, published in accelerated format today by @nature.com:

"Delta-type glutamate receptors are ligand-gated ion channels"

Read more here (free article link): rdcu.be/eGIKz

16.09.2025 16:47 β€” πŸ‘ 96    πŸ” 34    πŸ’¬ 10    πŸ“Œ 2
Post image

We were one of the lucky ones to receive our NCI award. We have an open postdoctoral fellow or research tech position in the group. If you (or anyone you know) has strong expertise in structural biology or cell biology (genomic instability mechanisms) please reach out. www.antonylab.org

10.09.2025 19:39 β€” πŸ‘ 12    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Structural studies by Ahmad Jomaa and colleagues @jomaalab.bsky.social show how NAC on translating #ribosomes couples protein synthesis to N-myristoylation of nascent polypeptides by NMT2
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

03.09.2025 11:31 β€” πŸ‘ 9    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Sub-cellular chemical mapping in bacteria using correlated cryogenic electron and mass spectrometry imaging

Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social

31.08.2025 18:44 β€” πŸ‘ 135    πŸ” 59    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 4
Upper - cryo-EM reconstruction of stomatin AQP1 complex. Lower - reconstruction of stomatin-UT-B complex.

Upper - cryo-EM reconstruction of stomatin AQP1 complex. Lower - reconstruction of stomatin-UT-B complex.

Happy to share a new preprint from the Clarke & Vallese (@fravallese.bsky.social) labs reporting #cryoem structures of two RBC stomatin complexes – with AQP1 & UT-B - continuing the SPFH theme from our recent vault preprint! This was a fun one and has been cooking for a while - read on for more! ⬇️

30.08.2025 14:10 β€” πŸ‘ 119    πŸ” 30    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 7
Preview
Leopard-EM: An extensible 2DTM package to accelerate in situ structural biology The ability to generate high-resolution views of cells with cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) can reveal the molecular mechanisms of biological processes in their native cellular context. The re...

First pre-print from the Lucas Lab led by Matthew Giammar and @joshdcryoem.bsky.social online today! We develop a new, extensible Python implementation of 2DTM and apply it to build pixel size optimization, constrained search and characterize molecular motions in situ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

30.08.2025 00:49 β€” πŸ‘ 82    πŸ” 31    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 4
Video thumbnail

Glad to share the final version of our story about the UBR4 complex, an E4 ligase protein quality control hub @science.org. Now with more cryo-EM structures and a deeper dive into substrate recognition, especially escaped mitochondrial proteins @clausenlab.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

28.08.2025 18:54 β€” πŸ‘ 80    πŸ” 30    πŸ’¬ 7    πŸ“Œ 1

thank you!

29.08.2025 12:02 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
A split-site E3 ligase mechanism enables ZNFX1 to ubiquitinate and cluster single-stranded RNA into ubiquitin-coated nucleoprotein particles Grabarczyk et al. show the structure and mechanism of a non-canonical ubiquitin ligase, which is activated through nucleic-acid-induced oligomerization and is critical for cell survival during immune ...

Happy to share our work on the structure and function of the unusual E3 ligase ZNFX1 @cp-cell.bsky.social. It uses a nucleic acid-activated transthiolation mechanism, ubiquitinating and clustering RNA to protect cells in an immune response. @clausenlab.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

27.08.2025 19:04 β€” πŸ‘ 85    πŸ” 40    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Our new review paper in stalled neuronal ribosomes with Wayne Sossin @mcgill.ca is out today:
portlandpress-com.proxy3.library.mcgill.ca/biochemsoctr...

27.08.2025 12:42 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

thanks, Charles!

27.08.2025 14:14 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Thanks, Ling, for all your support!

27.08.2025 01:31 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
Video thumbnail

Want to know how lipidation of some nascent chains takes place by NMT2-- Check our latest work on how NAC couples Protein Synthesis with Nascent Polypeptide Myristoylation on the Ribosome out today @embojournal.org‬: www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

26.08.2025 11:00 β€” πŸ‘ 42    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 2

Congrats Niladri!

21.08.2025 19:29 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

@jomaalab is following 20 prominent accounts