Andrea Rocha

Leveraging microproteins to treat obesity, aging, and mitochondrial disorders - Salk Institute for Biological Studies LA JOLLA—Like bees breathing life into gardens, providing pollen and making flowers blossom, little cellular machines called mitochondria breathe life into our bodies, buzzing with energy as they prod...

Excited to see our work featured in the Salk news release! www.salk.edu/news-release...

This work highlights how many ‘hidden’ microproteins remain to be discovered. uORFs aren’t just passive elements — they can encode regulators of metabolism and beyond. Excited to see where this field goes! 🍾

This work builds on our 2024 paper where we first described SLC35A4-MP. Here, we extend the story and uncover how this microprotein shapes mitochondrial biology and lipid metabolism in vivo.

Abnormal mitochondrial structure and function in brown adipose tissue of SLC35A4-MP knockout mice A uORF-encoded microprotein, SLC35A4-MP, modulates mitochondrial morphology and function in brown adipose tissue.

Thrilled to share that our paper is finally out in Science Advances!
We uncovered how a uORF-encoded microprotein can control mitochondrial biology and lipid metabolism in brown fat. So proud of this work! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Differentiation, ageing and leukaemia alter the metabolic profile of human bone marrow haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells Nature Cell Biology - Lalioti, Romero-Mulero et al. combine metabolomics, lipidomics and transcriptomics of haematopoietic stem and progenitor cells during differentiation, ageing and leukaemia,...

Ageing & leukemia reshape metabolism of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Mapping lipidomic and metabolomic shifts in human bone marrow, spotlighting choline as a key player in stemness to restore physiology!
@natcellbio.nature.com @ninacabezas.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s415... 🧪

Methods and applications of in vivo CRISPR screening - Nature Reviews Genetics In vivo CRISPR screens generate high-throughput, unbiased genotype–phenotypes maps for complex biological processes that cannot be studied in vitro. This Review outlines key criteria for understanding...

Methods and applications of in vivo CRISPR screening
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Translation dysregulation in cancer as a source for targetable antigens Weller et al. substantiate the role of translation dysregulation in mediating anti-tumor immunity by demonstrating that TYW2 loss in melanoma cells induces aberrant peptide MHC presentation, increasin...

Love this! Tumor cells with broken tRNA modifications create weird peptides that T-cells love to track down.

Translational dysregulation in cancer as a source for targetable antigens.

www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...

Cell-autonomous innate immunity by proteasome-derived defence peptides - Nature Proteasomal degradation of cellular proteins generate defence peptides constitutively and in response to bacterial infection. Such peptides might provide a source of natural antibiotics that...

Wow!

surprising new cell-intrinsic innate immune function in 𝘕𝘈𝘛𝘜𝘙𝘌

PROTEOSOMES generate antimicrobial peptides that kill bacteria as a first line of defense

bacterial infection alters proteasome function to boost this protective activity

are proteosomes a novel target for antimicrobial therapy?

A roadmap toward genome-wide CRISPR screening throughout the organism Genome-wide CRISPR screening in the organism has tremendous potential to answer long-standing questions of physiology and disease; however, technical limitations have prevented its broad application. ...

Can we perform genome-wide screens in any cell type in the body?! Excited to share our roadmap for leveraging advances in sgRNA delivery, library design, and phenotypic selection to enable unprecedented genetic dissection of organismal physiology and disease.

www.cell.com/cell-genomic...

Great review