Glenn Bantug

VDAC1 is a target for pharmacologically induced insulin hypersecretion in β cells β cells are dysfunctional in type 2 diabetes (T2D) and congenital hyperinsulinism (HI), but the mechanisms linking hypersecretion to β cell failure ar…

These are two important papers that profile beta cell excitotoxicity in response to a sulfonylurea or the VDAC1-stabilizing molecule SW016789. Comparing these studies should make for an excellent journal club. Congrats to all authors! @kalwat.bsky.social tinyurl.com/fwrzrtk9 tinyurl.com/3nzfsp79

Nerve-to-cancer transfer of mitochondria during cancer metastasis
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Journalists keep asking me, baffled, “What’s the Trump administration really trying to do to the science agencies?”

So I say “They are trying to destroy them. Cut off their funding, ruin their facilities, harass their staff into leaving.”

It’s not reform, and it never was. It’s destruction.

ACAD10 and ACAD11 enable mammalian 4-hydroxy acid lipid catabolism - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Rashan, Bartlett and colleagues show that mammalian 4-hydroxy fatty acids are primarily catabolized by ACAD10 and ACAD11 (atypical mitochondrial and peroxisomal acyl-CoA dehydrogenases, respectively) ...

AND IT'S DONE! A 🧵 on our recent article now out in @natsmb.nature.com! Co-led with @abbybartlett.bsky.social, Pagliarini Lab, @judisimcox.bsky.social, we find ACAD10/11 are NOT like other acyl-CoA dehydrogenases and instead catabolize atypical lipids called 4-hydroxy acids 🤯 doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Endoplasmic reticulum–mitochondria contacts are prime hotspots of phospholipid peroxidation driving ferroptosis - Nature Cell Biology Sassano et al. identify endoplasmic reticulum–mitochondria contact sites as the intracellular location where phospholipid peroxidation first occurs to promote ferroptosis. Manipulating these contact s...

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

RNA transcripts regulate G-quadruplex landscapes through G-loop formation G-quadruplexes (G4s) are prevalent DNA structures that regulate transcription but also threaten genome stability. How G4 dynamics are controlled remains poorly understood. Here, we report that RNA tra...

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The integrated stress response fine-tunes stem cell fate decisions upon serine deprivation and tissue injury Novak et al. discover that dietary serine impacts whether hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) prioritize hair growth or skin repair after injury. HFSCs gauge metabolic stress using the ISR and accelerate...

The integrated stress response fine-tunes stem cell fate decisions upon serine deprivation and tissue injury: Cell Metabolism www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

T and B cell responses against Epstein–Barr virus in primary sclerosing cholangitis - Nature Medicine Interrogation of electronic health records and the B and T cell repertoires of people with PSC shows a link between Epstein–Barr virus and primary sclerosing cholangitis, an incurable autoimmune liver...

In case you needed another reason to hate Epstein-Barr virus- it looks like it might cause primary sclerosing cholangitis:

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

Cholesterol-binding motifs in STING that control endoplasmic reticulum retention mediate anti-tumoral activity of cholesterol-lowering compounds - Nature Communications Cholesterol lowering medication positively affects anti-cancer immune response, but the underpinning mechanism is not fully known. Here authors show that the effect is mediated by specific cholesterol...

I may have underestimated how interesting STING is…

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

RIPK1 ablation in T cells results in spontaneous enteropathy and TNF-driven villus atrophy | EMBO reports imageimageAblation of RIPK1 in αβT cells results in spontaneous proximal small intestinal pathology, characterized by microbiome-mediated epithelial hyperproliferation and TNF-driven villus atrophy, u...

'This study shows that Ripk1ΔCD4 mice develop spontaneous small intestinal elongation and severe pathology, including crypt hyperplasia and duodenal-specific villus atrophy, indicating that RIPK1 deficiency in T cells compromises intestinal homeostasis.'
#Immunology #MucosalImmunology

Durable T cell immunity to COVID-19 vaccines in MS patients on B cell depletion therapy - npj Vaccines npj Vaccines - Durable T cell immunity to COVID-19 vaccines in MS patients on B cell depletion therapy

Durable T cell immunity to COVID-19 vaccines in MS patients on B cell depletion therapy

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

Amyloid-β induces lipid droplet-mediated microglial dysfunction via the enzyme DGAT2 in Alzheimer’s disease: @cp-immunity.bsky.social www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Design of diverse, functional mitochondrial targeting sequences across eukaryotic organisms using variational autoencoder - Nature Communications Mitochondria play a key role in cellular metabolism. Here, authors develop a Variational Autoencoder to design novel mitochondrial targeting sequences, validating them across several eukaryotic organi...

Design of diverse, functional mitochondrial targeting sequences across eukaryotic organisms using variational autoencoder
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pokhrel et al, A hidden cysteine in Fis1 targeted to prevent excessive mitochondrial fission and dysfunction under oxidative stress https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59434-6

Last week's publications on #mitochondrialdisease! A few highlights below, many more inside!

biomed.news/bims-mitdis/...

@biomednews.bsky.social @gavinmcstay.bsky.social @mitoscientist.bsky.social @mitoscientists.bsky.social

A cysteine in Fis1 targeted to prevent excessive mitochondrial fission

Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis During tissue formation, dynamic cell shape changes drive morphogenesis while asymmetric divisions create cellular diversity. We found that the shifts in cell morphology that shape tissues could conco...

My first post on Bluesky! Very excited to share our work just published in @science.org. We find that “Interphase cell morphology defines the mode, symmetry, and outcome of mitosis” - in angiogenesis and other tissues! www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1... www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Glucose modulates IRF6 transcription factor dimerization to enable epidermal differentiation Khavari and colleagues show that free glucose accumulation accompanies differentiation. Free glucose itself is required for terminal differentiation in the epidermis and binds to various cellular prot...

#NotTooSweet! Khavari, Lopez-Pajares &co show @cp-cellstemcell.bsky.social that during differentiation intracellular free glucose directly binds & activates the transcription factor IRF6 allowing cell differentiation! www.cell.com/cell-stem-ce...

Get ready for the PROTACS, targeting proteins related to cancer and potentially other diseases
a new feature @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

ZNF574 is a quality control factor for defective ribosome biogenesis intermediates Eukaryotic ribosome assembly is an intricate process that involves four ribosomal RNAs, 80 ribosomal proteins, and over 200 biogenesis factors that pa…

ZNF574 is a quality control factor for defective ribosome biogenesis intermediates

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Inflammasome signaling in astrocytes modulates hippocampal plasticity The function of immune pathways in homeostatic neurobiology remains underexplored. Zengeler et al. find that the inflammasome complex, typically associated with immune responses, is involved in memory...

Inflammasome signaling in astrocytes modulates hippocampal plasticity: Immunity www.cell.com/immunity/ful...

Sigan este pequeño hilo para una breve explicación👇

GIPR agonism and antagonism decrease body weight and food intake via different mechanisms in male mice - Nature Metabolism This study, together with a companion manuscript, show that, in mice, weight loss as a result of GIP receptor antagonism requires, and potentiates, functional GLP-1 receptor signalling in the brain, e...

It's a big week for GIPR pharmacology! Two great studies out in @natmetabolism.nature.com from Gutgesell et al (www.nature.com/articles/s42...) and Liu et al (www.nature.com/articles/s42...) revealing divergent neural mechanisms engaged by GIPR agonism vs antagonism. Commentary here: rdcu.be/ejPSA

2025 Day of Immunology - Brain and Immunity: Immuno... by Lina Salinas
; Apr 29 2025; immunohub.iuis.org/iuis/2024/we...

Review @annualreviews.bsky.social
Human immune responses to EBV highlighted by immunodeficiencies
www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

GDF15 links adipose tissue lipolysis with anxiety - Nature Metabolism Anxiety-like behaviour in mice, as a result of psychological stress, is shown to be mediated by GDF15 release in response to adipose tissue lipolysis.

GDF15 links adipose tissue lipolysis with anxiety

www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Understanding and Managing Aging: excellent new interdisciplinary review in Cell @cellpress.bsky.social outlines 14 hallmarks of aging, including extracellular matrix changes & psychosocial isolation. A precision geromedicine framework to transform aging from a risk factor into a treatable process.

I'm thrilled to share that our story is now out in Science Advances! 🎉 We use quantitative imaging to map the mito central dogma, define translation hubs in the mitochondrial matrix, and show that they're replaced by Mitochondrial Stress Bodies (MSB) when mtRNA processing is perturbed 1/4

Mitochondria-organelle crosstalk in establishing compartmentalized metabolic homeostasis Mitochondria serve as central hubs in cellular metabolism by sensing, integrating, and responding to metabolic demands. This integrative function is a…

Happy to share our most recent review on mitochondria-organelle metabolic communication with Yatrik Shah and Costas Lyssiotis now online at Molecular Cell!

We explored aspect of lipid transfer, organelle membrane contacts, ROS, metabolites, and metals!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

I am happy to share the latest paper from the lab. We detail a tripartite cell-free translation system based on the separation of mRNAs, ribosomes and ribosome-depleted cytoplasmic lysate from human cells, allowing for flexible reconstitution of translation reaction.
#RNA #Ribosome

Metabolites are not genes

A Federal Lab That Tracked Rising S.T.I.s Has Been Shuttered The United States can no longer keep tabs on drug-resistant gonorrhea, among other infections, scientists said.

"Among the CDC employees fired on Tuesday were 77 scientists who, among other work, gathered samples of gonorrhea and other S.T.I.s from labs nationwide, analyzed the genetic information for signs of drug resistance, and readied the samples for storage at a secure facility."

Running a genetic stop sign accelerates oxygen metabolism and energy production in horses Horses are among nature’s greatest athletes, yet the ancestral molecular adaptations fueling their energy demands are poorly understood. Within a clinically important pathway regulating redox and meta...

Running a genetic stop sign accelerates oxygen metabolism and energy production in horses | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...