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In a multidisciplinary study newly published in the Journal of Cell Biology, the Barral group (ETHZ, D-BIOL/IBC) together with the Steinmetz group (PSI), the Stelling group (ETHZ, D-BSSE) and the Liakopoulos lab (CNRS, Montpellier) sheds light on how the motor domain of the kinesin protein Kip2 collaborates with the microtubule plus-end-binding protein Bik1, to moonlight as a microtubule polymerase.

In a recent paper published in “Communications Biology”, the Weber-Ban group (IMBB) demonstrates a role for a ClpC1 partial homologue in helping to protect an essential protein degradation pathway against the antibiotic Cyclomarin A in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

In a recent “CBE–Life Science Education” paper the Center for Active Learning (D-BIOL) and the Kapur lab (D-GESS) present a novel tool and its use to test students’ grasp of molecular randomness, revealing the dimensions and the evolution of conceptual understanding with growing expertise.

A "PNAS" paper coordinated by Jacopo Marino with contributions from the Schertler, Korkhov, Leitner, Picotti & Kaupp groups (PSI, IMBB, IMSB and Uni Bonn) reports the structure of the rod cyclic nucleotide-gated channel in complex with calmodulin. The combination of cryo-EM & structural proteomics explains crucial steps in visual signal transduction.

A "Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences" paper by the Bordoli group (Werner lab, IMHS) sheds light onto the role of vertebrate lonesome kinase (VLK) in lung organogenesis. Mesenchyme-derived VLK regulates matrix dynamics and ultimately alveolar epithelial cell differentiation by altering the matrix proteome.