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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland

@labvanni.bsky.social
1.3K followers 233 following 66 posts

Computational biophysics and other amenities... "More thinking and less pipetting"

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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Please share widely (and wildly)!!! If you are a computational/AI scientist in biology and plan to apply your research to frontier biology questions across different methods and communities, you shouldn't miss this!
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Snezhka Oliferenko @alebenoit.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
People!!! This workshop will be ACE - please share, please apply!
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Stefan Schaefer @sl-schaefer.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Played around a bit with Blender over the weekend and made a movie of a computational assay I had set up a while ago. Gasdermin-D binds to PIP lipids and I wanted to know what impact it has to just populate the most prominent binding site. PIP3, even more than PIP2, stabilizes GSDMD oligomers!
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André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This my friends, this is the big one. A long time coming. Lipid Cell Biology is coming of age and even for a hot field, this is a true game changer. This dataset will keep us all busy for years to come. Congrats to everybody on this amazing crew!!! Go party!!
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Giovanni D’Angelo @giodang.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
#lipidtime: It's a lipid universe. Today in Nature we publish the Lipid Brain Atlas, the first map of membrane lipid composition across the entire mouse brain, a layer of organisation that cell-type and transcript maps had left out. #lipidomics #neuroscience #BrainAtlas
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Giovanni D’Angelo @giodang.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Do not miss this fantastic symposium #lipidtime
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Erdinc Sezgin @sciezgin.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Open postdoctoral fellow position in our lab on "𝐌𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐇𝐨𝐬𝐭-𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬". Are you interested in macromolecular interactions during host-pathogen interactions both 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲? Want to join our team? apply here 👇 ki.varbi.com/what:job/job...
ki.varbi.com
Postdoktor i molekylära värd-patogeninteraktioner
Vill du bidra till medicinsk forskning av toppkvalitet? Vi söker en postdoktoral forskare som kommer att studera makromolekylära interaktioner vid värd-patogeninteraktioner med hjälp av avancerade
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Kutay lab @kutaylab.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
We are excited by the publication of our work on Torsin1A, its interaction partner CLCC1, and their role in membrane fusion during NPC biogenesis! A fantastic collaboration with @jagannathan-lab.bsky.social @labvanni.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social and the Korkhov and Antonin labs!
cell.com
The dystonia-associated Torsin1A sustains CLCC1 function in membrane fusion of the nuclear envelope for NPC biogenesis
Maslennikova et al. identify the ER membrane protein CLCC1 as an interaction partner of the dystonia-linked AAA+ ATPase Torsin1A. Torsin1A sustains the function of CLCC1, which is proposed to facilitate fusion of the nuclear envelope during NPC biogenesis by forming an oligomer that promotes lipid bilayer approach and remodeling.
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Abdou Rachid Thiam @abdourachidthiam.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
A long-standing mystery in cholesterol biology: why is ER cholesterol sensing so switch-like rather than gradual? Our answer: cholesteryl ester phase separation in the ER membrane, which converts small lipid changes into a cooperative transcriptional response. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
ER cholesteryl ester phase separation underlies switch-like cholesterol sensing
Cellular lipid homeostasis requires mechanisms that detect subtle changes in lipid abundance and trigger rapid, coordinated responses. The INSIG/SCAP/SREBP2 pathway provides a central feedback system ...
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André Nadler @nadlerlab.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Lipids build the membranes of all cells, but identifying their precise functions is extremely challenging. Here’s our attempt to change that: How to find and understand lipid-protein interactions, by Katelyn Cook & company. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Kresten Lindorff-Larsen @lindorfflarsen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
It's nice when you benchmark your own method and find it good. But its even nicer when others benchmark your method and find it good. Figure from: Coarse-grained simulations of long intrinsically disordered proteins: a benchmark of Martini 3 force-fields doi.org/10.64898/202...
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Pedro Beltrao @pedrobeltrao.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Team science preprint, exploring the capabilities and limitations of Alphafold3 across different application areas, including protein-RNA, protein-lipid, ubiquitination,TCR and antibody recognition with @ninjani.bsky.social @labvanni.bsky.social @dgfeller.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Capabilities, specificity gaps and training-data dependence of AlphaFold3 across diverse application areas
Structure prediction models have moved from single proteins to assemblies that include diverse biomolecules and their modifications. AlphaFold3 (AF3) and related models extended structural modelling v...
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Happy to share that this beautiful work by @mudgal17.bsky.social in collaboration with the Weis lab @eth-dbiol.bsky.social, discovering a new membrane fusion mechanism in eukaryotes, is finally out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-molcell.bsky.social. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
cell.com
A conserved mechanism of membrane fusion in nuclear pore complex assembly
Fischer et al. uncover a fundamental mechanism of membrane fusion during nuclear pore complex (NPC) assembly. Brl1 and Brr6 form ring-shaped, membrane-remodeling complexes that interact and bridge the...
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Check this mind-blowing story! How can a transmembrane protein adapt to a hugely diverse membrane topology to perform his job? Truly amazing in situ and integrative structural biology, and a great collaborative work by @veijosalo.bsky.social @yoelklug.bsky.social and @jennifersapia.bsky.social!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Thanks André!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Beautiful cover on our Atg2-Atg18 work (with @ungermannlab.bsky.social, @arnemoeller.bsky.social and reggiori lab) by lab PhD student @yarasayed1.bsky.social. Congrats Yara! #lipidtime
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
This amazing work by @danialv.bsky.social and Bodan Hu is now out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-cell.bsky.social with a lot of new simulations! Check it out if interested in lipid transport!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Please help me share this amazing opportunity: our neighbours at @merkleinstitute.bsky.social are hiring a professor in data-driven materials discovery. This is a truly excellent (teaching, budget, infrastructure...) position. Deadline is close: 31/05/26. jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/677463/p...
jobs.sciencecareers.org
PROFESSOR (OPEN RANK) IN DATA-DRIVEN MATERIALS DISCOVERY (90-100%) - Fribourg, Switzerland job with University of Fribourg - The Faculty of Science and Medicine | 677463
The University of Fribourg, Switzerland, announces the opening of a position of Professor of Data-Driven Materials Discovery.
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Happy to share our latest work on bridge lipid transfer proteins, by PhD student @yarasayed1.bsky.social. A great collaboration with @ungermannlab.bsky.social @arnemoeller.bsky.social and Reggiori lab!
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ungermannlab.bsky.social @ungermannlab.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Three PhD positions available to work on yeast lysosome biogenesis and reconstitution of membrane fusion as of July or September 2026. Details can be found here: myshare.uni-osnabrueck.de/f/76c16d1fcc...
myshare.uni-osnabrueck.de
260508_PhD positions available.pdf
Share link for 260508_PhD positions available.pdf.
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Daniel Van Damme @danielvandamme.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
I am looking for a postdoctoral fellow to join my team to work on the interplay between endocytosis and autophagy. The 3-year project runs in collaboration with the Dagdas lab @plantophagy.bsky.social and can start asap. Interested candidates can apply via the link below. jobs.vib.be/apply/134365
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Cell Biology J-Club @cellclub.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
The molecular basis of tricalbin-mediated membrane contact site organization in cells url: journals.biologists.com/jcs/article-...
journals.biologists.com
The molecular basis of tricalbin-mediated membrane contact site organization in cells
Membrane contact sites facilitate molecular exchanges through physical interactions between organelles, connected by specific protein tethers. Among these tethers are the tricalbins, which mediate con...
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David Teis @teislab.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
We offer a PostDoc position for a fully funded project on lipid-encoded #lipidtime protein quality-control checkpoints at the Golgi: great collaborators, excellent working & living conditions & benchspace with a view ;) Please share and repost!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Overall, we provide a molecular view of how the interplay between oligomerization, subcellular localization and substrate biophysical properties modulate protein activity, highlighting that during enzymatic lipid remodelling, lipids play important regulatory roles beyond being just substrates. (3/3)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
We found that each DGAT1 subunit binds multiple diacylglycerol (DAG) molecules, and that DAG promotes the formation of high-order DGAT1 oligomers. Further, DGAT1 generates membrane curvature in silico, and it preferentially localizes in the ER tubular network when ER DAG levels increase (2/3).
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Happy to share our latest work where @Jennifersapia.bsky.social teamed up with @veijosalo.bsky.social and Xuewu Sui from @tamu.bsky.social to combine simulations and experiments to investigate DGAT1-dependent triglyceride synthesis, revealing more roles for DAG than previously known….(1/3)
biorxiv.org
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Elisa Fadda @elisafadda.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Wee thread 🧵⬇️ on our new #glycotime with @siglecdude.bsky.social John Klassen and @glycocode.bsky.social 🥳 where we show Siglecs as molecular precision tools, able to recognise sialylated glycans with surgical precision in their natural environment, not bad for a lectin! 😎 doi.org/10.1038/s420...
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Sjors Scheres @sjorsscheres.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
I just made an account and voted for this biology laboratory made of LEGO to "promote biological research and inspire more people into the world of biology". They need 10K votes. Reposting and/or voting below would be helpful. 🤗 beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
beta.ideas.lego.com
Biological Laboratory | LEGO® Ideas
This is a two-floor realistic Biological Laboratory building. In this design, I try to tell stories about biologists, introduce biology concepts to general publ…
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
Congratulations @olzmannlab.bsky.social @arrudalab.bsky.social! Really outstanding and important work!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
Amazing PhD @cristianrocharoa.bsky.social and I have collected our thoughts and questions (many!) on lipid scramblases in this review: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... If you are interested in lipid transport and metabolism, membrane asymmetry and membrane protein function, give it a read!
sciencedirect.com
Lipid scrambling: New players, new questions, new opportunities
Nearly a quarter of the proteins encoded in most organisms are transmembrane proteins. Contrary to textbook description, many feature a hydrophilic gr…
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Florian Fröhlich @flofroehlich.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
New preprint from the lab together with @labvanni.bsky.social. We looked what happens to ER generated free very long chain fatty acids.. VLCFAs are partionig into lipid droplets and are extracted from the hydrophobic core by Fat1. www.biorxiv.org/content/bior...
bsky.app
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Simon Olsson @smnlssn.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
PhD positions in my lab (AI for Science), but with special preference for people who complement our current activities or are enthusiastic about contributing to our on going work. Looking for technically strong, independent and proactive candidates. www.chalmers.se/en/about-cha...
chalmers.se
Vacancies
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@MorieLAB @morielab.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
Please REPOST (“likes” don’t help in diffusion!) and consider applying: we work in such a fantastic context, we ask so interesting questions, and we have such a collegial and best-willing atmosphere… CRBM = Happy & Good Science
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
Please share!!! I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join us. Focus will be on exciting collaborative projects on lipids and membrane biology, pushing the boundaries of in silico "reconstitutions". Previous experience with molecular dynamics simulations of biological systems a strong plus!
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Pavel Barahtjan @pavelbarahtjan.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
We have several Master’s thesis projects available in the D’Angelo lab, spanning different areas of lipid biology/biochemistry. If you know someone who might be interested, we’d really appreciate you sharing this. #lipidtime www.epfl.ch/labs/dangelo...
epfl.ch
Master Projects
DANGELOLAB
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Gallego Lab @gallegolab.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Please share🙏: Our lab opens 2 PhD positions to investigate fungi's evolution: #Barcelona Wet lab in Biochemistry/Structural Biology of cryo-tolerant fungi www.upf.edu/documents/d/... Computational in Physical Chemistry of cellular processes under extrem environments www.upf.edu/documents/d/...
upf.edu
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pilarcossio.bsky.social @pilarcossio.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
I finally made my webpage, check it out: pilarcossio.org
pilarcossio.org
Dr. Pilar Cossio - Research Scientist
Senior Research Scientist at Flatiron Institute. Research in computational biology and biophysics.
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Abdou Rachid Thiam @abdourachidthiam.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
New preprint from the lab! Triglycerides act like salt on ice: they solubilize cholesterol esters and drive lipid droplet growth. The TG/CE ratio shapes both droplet size and proteome, mirroring lipoprotein organization. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
The work by @danialv.bsky.social is now out in @pnas.org with a few changes after peer-review. Have a look if you are interested in lipid transport by bridge lipid transfer proteins (BLTPs)... www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
Thanks André!
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Finally, big congrats to all authors, including collaborators from the @pdc-lab.bsky.social, and thanks to @snsf.ch and @erc.europa.eu for funding this research line in my lab. Looking forward to your comments and feedback! (7/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Finally, @danialv.bsky.social used CG simulations to show that VPS13A can deliver lipids to an acceptor membrane that is bound at the C-terminal of VPS13A, and that XKR1 is proximal, but not continuous, to the delivery site. (6/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
But how does VPS13A contact the lipid bilayer? Using a combination of coarse-grained (CG) MD simulation and in vitro flotation assay, we show that a disordered ATG2_C domain located in the C-terminal part of VPS13A is required for membrane binding. (5/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The plasma membrane scramblase XKR1 directly interacts with the PH domain of VPS13A. All-atom MD simulations show that this interaction promotes a conformational change in XKR1 which exposes a hydrophilic groove, that acts as the scrambling region (4/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The cryo-EM data reveal that the VAB domain of VPS13A can adapt distinct conformations. These are likely to modulate the lipid transfer ability of VPS13A, and this mechanism is probably conserved in similar BLTPs. (3/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
The first step: at Yale, Bodan solved at near-atomic resolution the structure a prototypical BLTP, VSP13A, in complex with Calmodulin (CaM) and a plasma membrane scramblase, XKR1, demonstrating their physical interaction. (2/7)
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Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland @labvanni.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Happy to finally share the amazing results of our long-term collaboration with Karin Reinisch’s lab on how bridge lipid-transfer proteins (BLTPs) cooperate with partner proteins to orchestrate lipid delivery. A quick thread (1/7) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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Nathalie Reuter @nathaliereuter.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Experimental tour-de-force from Anne-Claude Gavin's lab: selectivity mapping of 39 lipid transfer proteins reveals ~500 new LTP-lipid pairs. Molecular modeling by @mahmoudmoqadam.bsky.social, @rezatalandahti.bsky.social & Florian Echelard. @cbubergen.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Client Challenge
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Giovanni D’Angelo @giodang.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Join us for the 2026 Glycolipid & Sphingolipid Biology Gordon Research Conference (GRC). 📍 Renaissance Tuscany Il Ciocco (Italy) 🗓️ March 22 - 27, 2026 Theme: "Molecular Codes of Cell Identity and Recognition" #LipidResearch #Sphingolipids #GRC2026 #ScienceConference #Lipidtime
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Emmanuelle Bayer @emmanuellebayer.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Join us for a two-and-a-half-day meeting in the scenic Wye Valley, to discuss how membrane contact sites shape cellular homeostasis across organelles, organisms, and approaches. 📍 Chepstow, South Wales, UK | 🗓️ 28–30 September 2026 👉 : www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...
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