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Liz Conibear

@lizconibear.bsky.social
740 followers 367 following 0 posts

Cell biologist, Professor at the University of British Columbia. My lab studies membrane contact sites and vesicle trafficking in yeast and human cells

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Reposted by Liz Conibear
MRC-LMB Cell Biology Division @cellbiol-mrclmb.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Great tribute to the discovery by Barbara Pearce of clathrin, the first protein found to act in membrane traffic, along with her mentoring and support of the pioneers (many of whom were other women) who revealed the workings of this key player in cellular function.
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 26/02/2026
Dziurdzik, Sridhar, Conibear et al. identify a conserved adaptor that recruits BLTP2-like proteins to ER–plasma membrane contacts by binding helical projections on their lipid transfer channel to maintain #lipid homeostasis. rupress.org/jcb/article/... #MembraneContactSites #ER_literature
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Carolina Tropini (TropiniLab@UBC) @ctropini.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
CIHR funding rate: 13.6%. Early 2000s: 30%+. Canada’s new $1.7B Impact+ program recruits talent — but without increased Tri-Council base funding, we risk further strain on an already stretched system. We’re calling for $1B over 5 years. Support here: tinyurl.com/33c5av46
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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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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Brett Collins @brettcollins.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
Do you want to know more about how Retromer regulates Rab7 activity in yeast? Of course you do. Check out the new collaboration with Andreas Mayer with work led by Catarina Alves and Kevin Chen.
biorxiv.org
The GTPase activating protein Gyp6 binds Retromer and inactivates Rab7/Ypt7 to coordinate the formation of endosomal carriers
The Retromer coat is conserved in all eukaryotes and is crucial for the correct intracellular sorting of many transmembrane receptors and lysosomal hydrolases. Retromer is an effector of the late endosomal small GTPase RAB7 and is also implicated in its inactivation required for proper endosomal maturation. Here, we explore the role of controlled GTP hydrolysis by the RAB7 ortholog Ypt7 in the formation of Retromer-coated membrane carriers in yeast. Proximity labelling and genetic ablation identify the GTPase Activating Protein (GAP) Gyp6 as a critical regulator of Ypt7 activity in the context or Retromer. Structural studies show that Retromer recruits Gyp6 through its Vps29 subunit, which recognises a specific PL motif and a secondary binding site in the C-terminal domain of Gyp6. This interaction does not occur with other yeast GAPs. Ablation of the Gyp6-Retromer interface or the catalytic activity of Gyp6 leads to the accumulation of tubular structures on endo-lysosomal compartments and to increased association of Ypt7 with Retromer and its cargo Vps10. These results support a model in which Gyp6 controls the switch from Ypt7-dependent Retromer coat assembly and cargo collection to the departure of the carrier through membrane fission and uncoating. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. National Health and Medical Research Council, https://ror.org/011kf5r70, APP2016410 Swiss National Science Foundation, https://ror.org/00yjd3n13, 31003A_179306, 310030_204713, 10.006.083
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Prof Jenny Rohn @jennyrohn.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Does anyone else think this gif looks like somebody crowd-surfing at a gig?
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
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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Wyoming Wormboy @wyomingwormboy.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
Greetings! I decided to make a YouTube video of my AlphaFold workshop that I've given a few times in the past year. Caveats aside, people seem to find this useful for thinking about how to model protein interactions and how to interpret various AF outputs 1/2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=u63o...
youtube.com
David's AlphaFold WorkShop 2026
YouTube video by David Fay
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Jonny Nixon-Abell @abelljonny.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
‼️🚨Hi all! The next Bioc Soc Membrane Contact Site Meeting will be in Chepstow, UK 28-30th Sept 2026. Fantastic speakers with talk slots still available. Sign up & abstract submission now open - limited spaces so register early! Hope to see you all there. Please share + RT 🙏
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Jean lab @jeanlab-uds.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
It is a nice way to end the week: our improved RAB GTPase BioID map now online! www.nature.com/articles/s42... We hope it will be useful to the community, and we're happy to share any reagents!
nature.com
A proximity map of RAB GTPases delineates roles for RAB14 in EARP complex and UHRF1BP1 endosomal recruitments
Communications Biology - Proximity labeling proteomics of RAB GTPases identifies an array of neighboring RAB proteins. Functional validation studies reveal links between RAB25 and DENND6A, or...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Holthuis Lab @holthuislab.bsky.social · 25/10/2025
Proud to share a preprint of our paper on how bridge-like lipid transport protein VPS13C senses lysosomal membrane tension in anticipation of membrane lesions to initiate net ER-to-lysosome lipid transfer for efficient lysosomal repair www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
VPS13C/PARK23 initiates lipid transfer and membrane remodeling for efficient lysosomal repair
Perturbations in lysosome integrity are tightly linked to neurological disorders and ageing, but the underlying pathogenic mechanisms are incompletely understood. Using an unbiased proteomic approach,...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Elisa Fadda @elisafadda.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
"Our LPD-3 complex structural data reveal protein–lipid interactions that suggest a model for how the native LPD-3 complex mediates bulk lipid transport and provides a foundation for mechanistic studies of bridge-like lipid transport proteins (BLTPs)." 🤯🤯😍 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Structural basis of lipid transfer by a bridge-like lipid-transfer protein - Nature
The LPD-3 complex structure reveals protein–lipid interactions that suggest a model for how the native LPD-3 complex mediates bulk lipid transport and provides a foundation for mechanistic studies of ...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Jeremy Baskin @jeremybaskin.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Groundbreaking study in Cell from @leventallab.bsky.social: phospholipid asymmetry is a defining feature of the plasma membrane and cholesterol fills the holes — major implications for how this membrane works. A #lipidtime must-read! www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...
cell.com
Cell membranes sustain phospholipid imbalance via cholesterol asymmetry
This work challenges a major assumption in cell biology by showing that lipid bilayers can have drastically different phospholipid abundances between their two leaflets. This lipid abundance asymmetry...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Journal of Cell Biology @jcb.org · 02/04/2025
An advanced toolset to manipulate and monitor subcellular phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate. New study from Joshua Pemberton, John Burke, Tamas Balla (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development) and colleagues: rupress.org/jcb/article/... #Biochemistry #CellSignaling #lipid
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Steve Griffin @profstevegriffin.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
What's happening to academia in the US is straight out of the authoritarian playbook, and happening at breakneck speed. The link by @chrischirp.bsky.social brilliantly summarises this and the need to fight back 💪 open.substack.com/pub/christin...
open.substack.com
Censor, purge, defund: how Trump is following the authoritarian playbook on science and universities
I have mapped 35 of the Trump administration's attacks on science and universities to the authoritarian playbook - and consider what it means for attacks still to come
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Vanderbilt Center for Structural Biology @vanderbiltcsb.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
New work from the @lpjacksonlab.bsky.social uses a combination of biochemical, biophysical and computational modeling techniques to investigate endosomal trafficking players. Congrats to 1st author @mintuju.bsky.social! bit.ly/4hYry4o @vubasicsciences.bsky.social @vandybiomed.bsky.social
vanderbilt.edu
Greater than the sum of its parts: the role of VARP-SNX27 binding in endosomal “supercomplex” formation
In cells, multi-subunit coat protein complexes are responsible for coordinating the transport of transmembrane proteins and lipid cargo between membranes. At the endosome, cargo trafficking is medi…
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Will Fuller @fuller-lab.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
Soooo excited to share this, just published. www.nature.com/articles/s41.... It started as a crazy ‘Friday afternoon’ experiment and just… worked. And kept on working. We fused a #nanobody to a #thioesterase. This delivers the thioesterase to a target and specifically depalmitoylates this protein
nature.com
Nanobody-thioesterase chimeras to specifically target protein palmitoylation - Nature Communications
Reversible palmitoylation regulates the activity and localisation of numerous proteins. Here, Kuo et al develop nanobody-based reagents to specifically target palmitoylation of individual proteins, us...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Michael Way @drmichaelway.bsky.social · 31/01/2025
Arp2/3 nucleates bidirectional linear actin filaments when activated by SPIN90 !!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Arp2/3-mediated bidirectional actin assembly by SPIN90 dimers in metazoans
Branched actin networks nucleated by the Arp2/3 complex play critical roles in various cellular processes, from cell migration to intracellular transport. However, when activated by WISH/DIP/SPIN90 fa...
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Brett Collins @brettcollins.bsky.social · 17/11/2024
Congratulations. Just beautiful!
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Reposted by Liz Conibear
Daniela Barillà @danielabarilla.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
Can colleagues amplify this appeal to journals and journal editors to open accounts on Bluesky, please? @MicrobioSoc @TrendsMicrobiol @CellCellPress @JBacteriology @jbiolchem @Nature @ScienceMagazine @PNASNews @MolMicroEditors @NAR_Open @NatureMicrobiol @NatureComms @ASMicrobiology 🙏 🦠🧪🧫🧬
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