Alfredo Castello

Are you thinking on an exciting PHD project at the interface of translation control and innate immunity? @rnanomad.bsky.social and I have a project that might interest you!

Uukuniemi virus infection causes a pervasive remodelling of the RNA-binding proteome in tick cells Author summary In host cells, RNA-binding proteins play essential roles in the life cycle of many viruses by influencing how viral RNA is processed, translated, replicated and assembled into virions. ...

Our new PLOS Pathogens paper with ‪@brennanlab.bsky.social‬ is out! We charted the first protein–RNA interaction map for virus-infected tick cells, revealing 283 RNA-binding proteins reshaped by Uukuniemi virus. Some directly control viral particle output. Full story: doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Post 5/5 🧵
IMPACT: This transforms tick-borne disease research:
🎯 New drug targets
🎯 Understanding vector competence
🎯 Virus-tick evolution
Testing if mechanisms work across other tick viruses next.

👨‍🔬 collaborative project with @alf-castello.bsky.social and @alainkohlvirology.bsky.social

🚀 New from Cell: SPIDR is a game-changer—map dozens to hundreds of RNA-binding proteins simultaneously with single-nucleotide precision in one CLIP experiment. An exciting advance for RNA–protein interactomics! 🧬🔗https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2025.06.042

Integrating Alternative Fragmentation Techniques into Standard LC-MS Workflows Using a Single Deep Learning Model Enhances Proteome Coverage We built and characterised a mass spectrometer capable of performing CID (both beam type and resonant type), UVPD, EID and ECD in an automated fashion during an LCMS type experiment. We exploited this...

I am really pleased we managed to squeeze this story out during #ASMS2025. This is our contribution relating to the fantastic Omnitrap/Orbitrap. What we thought would be a straightforward conversation of our exploris-omnitrap turned into quite a journey. (1/n)

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

🚨🚨 News from the @castello-lab.bsky.social and @shabazlab.bsky.social. Our work, led by Louisa Iselin, reveals pervasive changes in the RNA-bound proteome induced by interferon. #RNA, #immunity, #interferon, #host-virus www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

RNA binding regulation is a new dimension in the type I IFN response The type I interferon (IFN-I) response shapes the intracellular environment to supress virus infection. Historically, this remodelling has been linked to the transcriptional induction of interferon st...

Proud of Louisa Iselin for this work. Not only a covid baby but had both of her supervisors move lab (@alf-castello.bsky.social and me). The works is a meticulous analysis of the interferon pathway and specifially how RNA binding of proteins are modulated by PTMs.

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

Happy to see Honglin Chen's paper published! 🎉🎉🍾🥂. Great collaboration with @shabazlab.bsky.social to discover the discordances between RNA and protein in the interferon response...

Addressing NHS chemistry: Efficient quenching of excess TMT reagent and reversing TMT-over labelling in proteomic samples by methylamine N-Hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) ester chemistry is used extensively across proteomics sample preparation. One of its increasingly prevalent applications is in isobaric reagent-based quantitation such as iT...

A basic solution to a very common problem.

collab with @kusterlab.bsky.social and @bendavisgroup.bsky.social

www.mcponline.org/article/S153...

Great conference at @embl.org on the expanding world of #RBPs. After the hard (fun) work, the @castello-lab.bsky.social chilled out in the beautiful Heidelberg

Pre-print is up! SARS-2 produces a truncated N protein to antagonize multiple antiviral pathways. A very collaborative project in the @corcoranlab.bsky.social with @nogasharlin.bsky.social, Danyel Evseev, and Max Bui-Marinos, and of course the boss Jenn Corcoran

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

@science.org Cryo-EM reveals mechanisms of natural RNA multivalency | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#RNAsky #RNAbiology #Cryo-EM

Excellent talk of Louisa Iselin on the remodelling of the RBPome by interferon at the "Expanding Universe of RBPs" in @embl.org, Heidelberg. The @castello-lab.bsky.social is very proud 🍾🥂🎊🎊

Spatiotemporal control of translation in live zebrafish embryos via photoprotected mRNAs - Communications Chemistry Translation of mRNA into protein is a fundamental process and tightly controlled during development, however, experimentally controlling the mRNA translation remains challenging. Here, the authors dem...

Translation of mRNA can be triggered with spatiotemporal control in zebrafish 🐟 embryos by light ⚡ & FlashCaps 🧪⚗😊 Kudos to all authors and collaborators 🙏👍
www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Imp/IGF2BP and Syp/SYNCRIP temporal RNA interactomes uncover combinatorial networks of regulators of Drosophila brain development RNA binding protein combinations control neuronal identity through a network of temporal regulators.

Amazing work of our dear friends @ilandavis.bsky.social and @jeffylee.bsky.social characterising the interlinked roles of two key RBPs in drosophila brain development, congratulations 🍾🥂🎉🎉🎉 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Had a wonderful couple of days with these guys. @alf-castello.bsky.social @marvintanenbaum.bsky.social and Stephen carter. Always a pleasure

At this END of YEAR please check out our new paper on GENE ENDS and a convenient marker of transcription termination: RNAPII CTD T4ph! We think it is relevant to anyone studying human/animal #genes and #genome so put a lot of effort to make it easy to read. #RNABiology and #Epigenetics meet:)

Why Bax detection in >1400 publications might be flawed - Cell Death & Disease Cell Death & Disease - Why Bax detection in >1400 publications might be flawed

These studies are so important. Well done to the authors and the journal for publishing it. This certainly applies to so many antibodies. Companies selling antibodies should do and provide the right controls before commercialisation.

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

Please check out our paper in collaboration with Nahum Sonenberg's group. We show how some DNA viruses co-opt the host cell translation machinery to repress the cGAS/STING response.
TLDR; the cap-binding protein 4EHP represses the cGAS mRNA translation.
#RNA, #RNASky
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Antiviral defence during early development at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Antiviral defence during early development at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com

RECRUITING-PhD student to study the role of RNA-binding proteins in antiviral defence during early development.
#crispr #iclip #omics
Interested candidates, please email a full CV and a statement of interest. Open to both UK and overseas

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

Alphavirus infection triggers selective cytoplasmic translocation of nuclear RBPs with moonlighting antiviral roles Kamel et al. apply complementary approaches to elucidate the composition of Sindbis virus ribonucleoproteins. They identified a subset of nuclear proteins that selectively translocate to the cytoplasm, interact with viral RNA, and suppress virus infection. Among them, U2 snRNP emerges as a ribonucleoprotein complex with moonlighting antiviral activity.

Nuclear RBPs moonlighting in the cytoplasm as part of the host response to Sindbis virus. Another beautiful work by Alfredo Castelo’s group. I’m struggling to keep up with reading all the amazing papers they’ve published in the last few months.

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Ribosome Quality Control mitigates the cytotoxicity of ribosome collisions induced by 5-Fluorouracil Abstract. Ribosome quality control (RQC) resolves collided ribosomes, thus preventing their cytotoxic effects. The chemotherapeutic agent 5-Fluorouracil (5

I am just going to plug-in the latest paper from our lab, wherein we show that treatment with the chemotherapy agent 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) induces ribosome collision and that RQC pathway mitigates the 5FU-induced cytotoxicity. #RNA, #RNASky, #Cancer
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

A deserved celebration after the hard work 🍾🥂. @waelskamel.bsky.social and collaborators from the @castello-lab.bsky.social discovered that the U2 snRNP displays a moonlighting antiviral role and uses the U2 snRNA to interact with viral RNA 🤯🤯🤯 t.co/DJlXFxmGEv

🎄Amazing @castello-lab.bsky.social Christmas lunch! Great food, fantastic company, and lots of fun. We even created some art masterpieces during our pottery painting session afterwards 🥳. #Lablife, #Christmasfun, #RNA, #virus

🦸 Hidden superheroes in our cells!?

@waelskamel.bsky.social, @castello-lab.bsky.social & the Rosalind Franklin Institute have uncovered how a team of cellular “superheroes” leap into action to stop viruses in their tracks.

More: gla.ac.uk/research/az/...
The study: cell.com/molecular-ce...

@shabazlab.bsky.social, definitively I struggled more! I am not an early morning person... 🤔😂

Cool

Big news! We're looking for a new Professor (or Associate Professor) in Infection and/or Immunity! Come work with us in @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social, it's a collaborative and supportive environment with great resources, students and colleagues!
www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/49381/
Deadline 26/1/25 (Pls RT)

Really important achievement.. Price to the most original lab costume for the @castello-lab.bsky.social in the @cvrinfo.bsky.social Christmas party. Inspired by the notes of the "Sound of Music"😁. 🍾🥂🏆

Alphavirus infection triggers selective cytoplasmic translocation of nuclear RBPs with moonlighting antiviral roles Kamel et al. apply complementary approaches to elucidate the composition of Sindbis virus ribonucleoproteins. They identified a subset of nuclear proteins that selectively translocate to the cytoplasm, interact with viral RNA, and suppress virus infection. Among them, U2 snRNP emerges as a ribonucleoprotein complex with moonlighting antiviral activity.

I am delighted that our long standing close collaboration with AlfredoCastello lab has led to yet another very exciting publication in Mol Cell: thanks so much to Wael and Alfredo for taking the lead.

www.cell.com/molecular-ce...