Chi-Min Ho's Avatar

Chi-Min Ho

@cmholab.bsky.social

Structural Biologist • Biochemist • Parasitologist • Co-host of ThePlungePodcast theplunge.org • Assistant Professor @ Columbia • Cryo electron microscopy/tomography of malarial membrane protein complexes. #teamtomo #cryoET #cryoEM #malaria cmholab.org

517 Followers  |  209 Following  |  25 Posts  |  Joined: 16.11.2024  |  1.8705

Latest posts by cmholab.bsky.social on Bluesky

Congrats Ahmad!! 🥂🍾

29.01.2026 12:47 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Our paper on the structural and functional basis of the human dimeric OS9–SEL1L–HRD1 ERAD complex, together with @qilabuva.bsky.social, is now out! Huge congratulations to Leo, Emir, and Elina!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

27.01.2026 20:24 — 👍 42    🔁 18    💬 3    📌 2

Subcellular Structures in Native Hippocampal Synapses Revealed by Cryo-electron Tomography pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41491937/ #cryoEM

07.01.2026 20:57 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 1
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🔬 Our first community-contributed image is here!
Stunning SEMs of two Trichomonas vaginalis parasites connected by cytonemes.
Want to share your parasite images? Visit parasitesrule.com to contribute!
📸 Salas et al., eLife 2023 doi:10.7554/eLife.86067 @eLife

30.12.2025 13:52 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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A Divergent Cytochrome c in Malaria Parasites with an Anomalously Low Redox Potential Eukaryotic cytochrome (cyt) c is a highly conserved mitochondrial protein central to cellular respiration, featuring a covalently attached hexacoordinate heme whose redox potential is tuned by axial H...

Happy to share a new preprint exploring the unusual biochemistry of a "weirdly" diverged cytochrome c in malaria parasites that exemplifies a lineage common to many apicomplexan parasites. @uofubiochem.bsky.social @uuhsresearch.bsky.social @uofutahcihd.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

26.12.2025 16:37 — 👍 17    🔁 9    💬 0    📌 0

It’s out! Using cryo-ET in Dicty cells, we take a fresh in situ look at vaults. Surprisingly, we uncover vaults associated with ER and NE membranes, and find that many vaults enclose ribosomes in defined orientations, opening new avenues to their cellular function! www.biorxiv.org/lookup/conte...

16.12.2025 08:17 — 👍 106    🔁 39    💬 2    📌 5
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Holy cow the Zhou lab at UCLA is cooking with Isonet 2 - www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Averaging-free direct visualization of ribosome translational state! #teamtomo #cryoet

12.12.2025 15:53 — 👍 103    🔁 35    💬 2    📌 1

😍 Zhou Lab on fire!!! 🔥🔥🔥 #cryoet #teamtomo

12.12.2025 13:55 — 👍 12    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

IsoNet2 determines cellular structures at submolecular resolution without averaging https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.09.693325v1

11.12.2025 11:32 — 👍 35    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 4

Ribosomal Architecture and rRNA Modification Landscape in the Tick-Borne Parasite Babesia divergens pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41293005/ #cryoEM

27.11.2025 22:14 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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ZAK activation at the collided ribosome - Nature The kinase ZAK is activated at collided ribosomes to mediate the ribotoxic stress response.

Check out our latest work on how collided ribosomes activate the MAP3K ZAK! 💫

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

A fun collaboration with @beckmannlab.bsky.social @doubleshuang.bsky.social

24.11.2025 21:12 — 👍 44    🔁 23    💬 0    📌 1

Mechanism of Ribosome Stalling by the AMD1 C-terminal Tail Arrest Peptide https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.16.688537v1

17.11.2025 00:50 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Structural basis of herpesvirus helicase-primase inhibition by pritelivir and amenamevir Structural studies of HSV-1 helicase-primase revealed how pritelivir and amenamevir bind and block its helicase activity.

New work from Tahirov x Lim collaboration! @qixianghe.bsky.social from my lab contributed the cryo-EM structures for this work. We are excited to help explain how anti-HSV drugs work and to guide their future development.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@unmc.bsky.social @uwbiochem.bsky.social

10.11.2025 00:14 — 👍 34    🔁 13    💬 1    📌 1

Seeing is believing-Plasmodium falciparum translation in action pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41202797/ #cryoEM

08.11.2025 21:58 — 👍 7    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0
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Excited to share our latest @nature.com: How does naloxone (Narcan) stop an opioid overdose? We determined the first GDP-bound μ-opioid receptor–G protein structures and found naloxone traps a novel "latent” state, preventing GDP release and G protein activation.💊🧪 🧵👇 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

05.11.2025 16:22 — 👍 123    🔁 35    💬 6    📌 2

I love AlphaFold—but please include PAE (Predicted Aligned Error) plots for every “interaction.” Pretty PDBs ≠ proof. If the PAE doesn’t show an interface, it ain’t one. Show the plots. Structural biology's reputation is on the line.

24.10.2025 17:44 — 👍 128    🔁 29    💬 5    📌 4

Congrats Paul!! Excited to see this out! 🥳

28.10.2025 23:01 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Chemical propulsion of hemozoin crystal motion in malaria parasites | PNAS Malaria parasites infect red blood cells where they digest host hemoglobin and release free heme inside a lysosome-like organelle called the food v...

Thrilled our study on heme crystal motion in #malaria @parasitesrule.org is now published @pnas.org, support from NIH, @bwfund.bsky.social, @uofutahcihd.bsky.social, UofU 3i. With Fu and Bidone labs @price.utah.edu, @uofubiochem.bsky.social, @uofuhealth.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

28.10.2025 19:55 — 👍 7    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 1

Congrats Misha, looks gorgeous! 🥳Can't wait to dig in 😍

28.10.2025 22:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Cryo-EM structure of the naked mole-rat ribosome reveals a stabilized split 28S rRNA The naked mole-rat (Heterocephalus glaber) is a long-lived mammal with remarkable resistance to cancer and hypoxia, suggesting the evolution of robust proteostasis networks. The ribosome, the central ...

We have a new preprint for you. Naked mole rats are very long-lived rodents and have increased translational fidelity.

Interestingly, 28S ribosomal RNA is split. Here we investigated the structure of the ribosome by single particle cryo-EM. Take a look.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

28.10.2025 15:24 — 👍 49    🔁 12    💬 2    📌 1
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Endogenous structure of antimalarial target PfATP4 reveals an apicomplexan-specific P-type ATPase modulator Nature Communications - Here, the authors present the 3.7 Å cryoEM structure of native sodium efflux pump PfATP4 from Plasmodium falciparum, revealing a bound protein that they term...

Learn how our hunt for the native structure of top antimalarial target PfATP4🧂led to the discovery of PfABP, an unknown essential binding partner, out now! @natcomms.nature.com 👉 rdcu.be/eLRlH 🦠🔬❄️

A team effort led by @mehsehret.bsky.social & Anurag Shukla @akhilvaidya.bsky.social! #cryoEM #malaria

20.10.2025 12:55 — 👍 63    🔁 21    💬 1    📌 1
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When noncanonical olfaction is optimal | PNAS The early olfactory system is canonically described by a “one-receptor-to-one-neuron” model: each olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) expresses a single...

It was so fun to work on this with @gkocker.bsky.social and @clienkaemper.bsky.social! It is out @pnas.org
If you love olfaction and love math, this one is for you!
🦟👃🧮

When noncanonical olfaction is optimal | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

08.10.2025 12:42 — 👍 4    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

Congrats, Halil and Team! 🥳

30.09.2025 22:22 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Cardiolipin dynamics promote membrane remodeling by mitochondrial OPA1 - Nature Communications This study reveals how cardiolipin governs mitochondrial morphology by modulating the activity of human OPA1 and how its replacement by monolyso-cardiolipin, as observed in Barth syndrome, impacts mitochondrial membrane-shaping mechanisms.

Excited to share that our paper on mitochondrial cardiolipin dynamics is published in @natcomms.nature.com today! We provide molecular explanations for unique aspects of mitochondrial morphology and the mechanisms underlying cardiolipin-related Barth Syndrome.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

30.09.2025 20:09 — 👍 30    🔁 12    💬 1    📌 0
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Behind every scientist is an army of workers who keep the biomedical research ecosystem running. Hear from these workers and how they contribute at www.nycures.org/ and SIGN UP to have your voice heard!

25.09.2025 00:16 — 👍 5    🔁 3    💬 1    📌 0
Structural Analysis of Membrane Proteins in Cell-Derived Microvesicles

We have a preprint of a book chapter for you: Structural Analysis of Membrane Proteins in Cell-Derived Microvesicles.

We describe how to image membrane proteins in mid-sized vesicles using cryo-electron tomography

zenodo.org/records/1717...

22.09.2025 12:36 — 👍 51    🔁 17    💬 1    📌 0

🚀 Check out our new preprint on extending the scope of single-particle cryo-EM with 2D template matching!
Improved cryo-EM reconstruction of sub-50 kDa complexes using 2D template matching is now available on bioRxiv!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

17.09.2025 17:07 — 👍 35    🔁 16    💬 3    📌 0

This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!

We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.

Read on for details... 1/x

13.09.2025 00:04 — 👍 266    🔁 82    💬 20    📌 14
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🚀 NY-CURES Launch — Championing State-Wide Investment in Science! 🚀

Our new coalition advocates for sustained public support of New York’s vibrant biomedical research ecosystem — creating cures, economic gains & strengthening communities.

Sign up. Stay informed. Join the movement: www.nycures.org/

04.09.2025 16:32 — 👍 47    🔁 55    💬 4    📌 6
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Stopping Ribosomes in Action! SBGrid member Chi-Min Ho uses cryo-electron tomography to map malaria’s ribosomes at work.

Stopping Ribosomes in Action!: a publication highlight from @keandreyam.bsky.social featuring the lab of @cmholab.bsky.social of @columbiauniversity.bsky.social & colleagues.

Read more here: buff.ly/jWYKq7r

#SBGrid #CryoET

08.09.2025 16:05 — 👍 4    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

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