Enrique Ortega-Forte

Excited to share our new paper and lipid- and protein-directed photocatalytic labeling method (POCA) just out in @natchembio.nature.com. tinyurl.com/2kcxuvvv. Big congrats to first author Andrew Becker and the whole team for launching our lab into the wild world of singlet oxygen interactomics.

Membrane editing with proximity labeling reveals regulators of lipid homeostasis - Nature Chemical Biology Coupling an optogenetic lipid-modifying enzyme with proximity labeling reveals protein networks and mechanisms regulating lipid homeostasis in the membranes of target organelles.

Thrilled to share our latest study, led by @reikatei.bsky.social, in @natchembio.nature.com! We began by asking a simple question—how do cells know if they have too much of a lipid in a particular membrane, and how do they respond to rectify this imbalance?
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
More info 👇

It’s #WorldCancerDay! 🎗️ Antibody-drug conjugates are so-called "magic bullet" medicines that target cancer cells while sparing healthy ones. This graphic looks at how they work, their history, and their future: www.compoundchem.com/2026/02/04/a...

#ChemSky 🧪

Inhibition of sterol transport protein function Intracellular sterol transport proteins (STPs) are key regulators of cholesterol homeostasis and potential drug targets in a broad range of diseases i…

Check out our new chapter in Methods in Enzymology on inhibition of #sterol protein function! Here Hogan, Laura and Thomas describe in detail our assay cascade (including step-by-step protocols) to identify inhibitors of sterol transport proteins. (1/2) www.sciencedirect.com/science/chap...

These are great recommendations for studying ROS.
Congrats Johannes!

Bempedoic acid directly binds and activates PPARα Bempedoic acid is a recently approved drug that lowers cholesterol and lipids. Papa et al. show that bempedoic acid directly binds to and activates PPARα to enhance fatty acid oxidation, revealing the...

Bempedoic acid produces direct PPARα activation as a key mechanism of BA action, providing a molecular basis for its lipid-lowering effects and suggesting broader therapeutic potential beyond the liver www.cell.com/cell-metabol...

What if animals emerged by installing a new biological operating system that repurposed what already existed, much like the rise of the smartphone? Here's our new paper in @embojournal.org @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social @melisupf.bsky.social @sfiscience.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Schweinfurthins and their analogues are highly selective cellular probes for oxysterol-binding protein (OSBP) Schweinfurthins (SWs) are natural products isolated from the plant genus Macaranga which display a unique cytotoxicity profile in human cancer cell lines with low nanomolar potency. Their known target...

Happy to share our latest paper in @rscmedchem.rsc.org as part of their 5-year anniversary collection! We carried out comprehensive SAR analysis of natural and synthetic analogues of the #Schweinfurthins, highly potent and selective inhibitors of #OSBP! (1/n) pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Opticial Control of Cholesterol, attempting to stay as close to the original as possible. Congratulations to Michael Zott, who defined and spearheaded this study, and to our wonderful collaborator Luca Laraia!

Development of Photoswitchable Cholesterol Derivatives through Side Chain Replacement Cholesterol is ubiquitous in biology, shaping membrane properties and serving as a biosynthetic precursor for essential signaling molecules and hormones─and, in some contexts, acting as a signaling mo...

Delighted to have collaborated with the @dirktrauner.bsky.social lab on the development and characterisation of #photoswitchable #cholesterol derivatives, now out in @jacs.acspublications.org! (1/3) pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

If this is pre-1975 (and it certainly looks it!) then these Nervine tablets were a straight mixture of bromide salts. Bromides had well-known tranquilizing effects, but well-known toxic side effects that got them removed from the over-the-counter market.

Inverse Correlation between Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Intensity and Antitumor Immune Response with Ruthenium(II)-Based Photosensitizers for the Photodynamic Therapy of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising strategy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), but the immune consequences of tumor cell death remain incompletely understood. We compared two ruthenium(II) polypyridine photosensitizers (PSs) in HNSCC models and found that both were potently phototoxic (nanomolar IC50s), triggered diverse cell death pathways (including autophagy and ferroptosis), and promoted hallmark danger signals of immunogenic cell death (ICD). Strikingly, only one PS induced apoptosis and strong endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, yet paradoxically led to immune tolerance in vivo. Conversely, the PS that did not induce apoptotic cell death with milder stress responses resulted in a better antitumor immunity in vivo. These unexpected findings challenge the prevailing view that PDT-triggered apoptosis and ER stress are essential for ICD. Our study underscores the complexity of PDT-induced cell death balance and immunogenic signals and highlights the need to redefine ICD-inducing criteria for the rational design of next-generation PSs.

Thrilled to announce that the last two collaborations from my postdoc in the @gassergroup.bsky.social are now published in J. Med. Chem. and JACS. ⚗️🧪
Congrats to all co-authors for the excellent work!
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1...

ATG2A-mediated DAG transfer recruits DGAT2 for lipid droplet growth - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Elhan et al. show that ATG2A acts with DGAT2, the enzyme producing triacylglycerol (TAG), in lipid droplet growth. By delivering diacylglycerol to lipid droplets, ATG2A not only fuels TAG production b...

Thrilled to share our latest work showing that the bridge lipid transport protein ATG2A transfers diacylglycerol (DAG), and some TAG/PA, from the ER to LDs, thereby recruiting DGAT2 to drive local TAG synthesis, promoting LD expansion while protecting ER membranes.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Super interesting! Turns out the anticancer effects of several drugs used in the clinic might be actually mediated by DIRECT activation of the ISR 🧪

High-content phenotyping reveals Golgi dynamics and their role in cell cycle regulation | Journal of Cell Biology | Rockefeller University Press Cao, Peng, and Yang et al. present a high-content image-based phenotyping pipeline for quantitative analysis of organelle morphology. The interpretable fea

Cao, Peng, & Yang et al. from Huazhong Agricultural University present the Tools article "High-content phenotyping reveals Golgi dynamics and their role in cell cycle regulation" 👉 rupress.org/jcb/article/...

Black-and-white photo of Gerty Cori in a lab coat, holding a pipette and test tube with focused precision. Shelves of glass bottles and scientific equipment fill the background. A blue diabetes awareness ribbon is overlaid in the lower left.

Celebrating Gerty Cori on #WorldDiabetesDay.

Cori, a biochemist, co-discovered the Cori cycle which unlocked how the body regulates glucose--foundational for diabetes treatments & insulin therapy. She was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery. #WomenInSTEM

Maria Tettamanti shows that inhibition of TORC2 by the small amphipath PalmC induces the TORC2-dependent internalization of sterols. Congrats to Maria and all coworkers involved, and to EMBOj for the efficient review process: use review commons! @biology-unige.bsky.social @sciencesunige.bsky.social

Lipid droplet growth is orchestrated by the seipin complex, which provides a structural platform for droplet nucleation and expansion. The microprotein adipogenin fine-tunes seipin’s conformation, remodeling its architecture to regulate lipid storage capacity. This modulation results in the formation of fewer but larger lipid droplets, revealing a key mechanism in lipid homeostasis.

Fat storage in the body relies on specialized structures called lipid droplets. In a new Science study, researchers identified the microprotein adipogenin as a regulator of adipocyte lipid droplet size, revealing a key mechanism in lipid homeostasis.

Learn more this week: https://scim.ag/4nFEGO7

FSP1-mediated lipid droplet quality control prevents neutral lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis - Nature Cell Biology Lange et al. identify a lipid droplet quality control pathway in which FSP1 safeguards stored neutral lipids from lipid peroxidation, thereby preventing the induction of ferroptosis.

Excited to share our study out in @natcellbio.nature.com! Led by @mikelangelipid.bsky.social, we identify the first #LipidDroplet lipid quality control pathway: LD-localized FSP1 protects stored lipids from oxidative damage and prevents LD-initiated #ferroptosis.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Structure of riboflavine

Periodic reminder that the fluorescent compound in mammalian cell culture media, such as DMEM, is riboflavin (not phenol red)

Our work detailing the metabolic roles of serum for cancer cell proliferation is now out at JBC, @asbmbjournals.bsky.social!

Congrats to Oliver and Eric and many thanks to the editor and reviewers for a thoughtful and efficient review process.

See here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

mitochondria from bipolar patients are closer to the nucleus in these images; control patients' are spread out further

15 years in the making, we confirmed that mitochondria - the powerhouse of the cell - have an unusual localization in patients who experience psychosis (including schizophrenia and bipolar disorders). You’ll never guess what kind of patient cells we used to make this discovery… 🧵

Un-frigging-believable. I have waited for something like this for so long!

Mario Ledesma-Terrón, Diego Pérez-Dones, David Míguez and colleagues @cbm-csic-uam.bsky.social @ifimacuam.bsky.social present OSCAR, a framework to quantify 3D stacks with high cellular density.
journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...

Very exciting work. Shows how interfering with the levels of one lipid class leads to changes of other lipids that are not directly metabolically connected as the cell tries to maintain both lipid flux balance and biophysical membrane properties.

Cholesterol desensitizes the response of endometrial cancer to progestin by attenuating progestin signaling Cholesterol attenuates progesterone signaling through competitive binding of progesterone receptors.

New #ScienceTranslationalMedicine research reveals that cholesterol can disrupt signaling of the fertility-preserving medication progestin in endometrial cancer, and shows that an approved statin can restore progestin sensitivity in mice and a small patient group. https://scim.ag/3IFlwtq

Chimpanzees use the same plants we do to treat similar illnesses A new review of recent studies shows the great apes rely on medicinal plants to heal infections, but the plants’ chemistry remains mostly a mystery

Primatologist Jane Goodall's recent passing left an incredible legacy that transformed our understanding of chimpanzee behavior and intelligence. New insights show that great apes use medicinal plants to treat wounds like humans. cen.acs.org/pharmaceutic... #chemsky 🧪

The bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C/PARK23 mediates ER–lysosome contacts following lysosome damage Nature Cell Biology - Wang et al. show the recruitment of the lipid channel protein VPS13C and formation of VPS13C-dependent contacts between endoplasmic reticulum and lysosomes after lysosomal...

"The bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C/PARK23 mediates ER–lysosome contacts following lysosome damage" out now in Nature Cell Biology
rdcu.be/ehbaL

Impaired hematopoiesis and embryonic lethality at midgestation of mice lacking both lipid transfer proteins VPS13A and VPS13C VPS13A and VPS13C are bridge-like lipid transport proteins with distinct subcellular localization and function, and their absence is linked with chorea-acanthocytosis and Parkinson's disease, respecti...

"Impaired hematopoiesis and embryonic lethality at midgestation of mice lacking both lipid transfer proteins VPS13A and VPS13C" out now in PLOS Biology
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Wonderful to see our paper on the #organelle signatures of #neurons and #astrocytes out in final form - congratulations, Shannon Rhoads and team!🎉 t.co/BPxKlbU6Ou