Phil Drewniak
@lostmydeuteron.bsky.social
Protein dynamics, structural biology, genetic code expansion, and isotopically labelled amino acid synthesis.
🇨🇦🇨🇦
PhD student | University of Toronto | Biological chemistry
#ChemSky #ProteinCosmo
🇨🇦🇨🇦
PhD student | University of Toronto | Biological chemistry
#ChemSky #ProteinCosmo
Pinned
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization
Aquaporins (AQPs) are α-helical transmembrane proteins that conduct water through
membranes with high selectivity and permeability. For human AQP1, in addition to the
functional Asn-Pro-Ala motifs and...
www.cell.com
A little late but wanted to highlight some work during my master's. If you're interested in aquaporins or hydrogen-bonded networks within proteins, take a look :)
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
Interesting paper by the groups of @zhizhou1619.bsky.social and Xiang Sheng in @natcomms.nature.com. They developed a system, with which thiophenols can be fed to cells, converted into non-canonical amino acids and used for genetic code expansion in protein engineering.
Design and evolution of artificial enzyme with in-situ biosynthesized non-canonical amino acid
Nature Communications - Enzyme design with non-canonical amino acids has achieved rapid progress in biocatalysis. Here, the authors present an efficient strategy for the design of artificial...
www.nature.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Interesting paper by the groups of @zhizhou1619.bsky.social and Xiang Sheng in @natcomms.nature.com. They developed a system, with which thiophenols can be fed to cells, converted into non-canonical amino acids and used for genetic code expansion in protein engineering.
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
Eastern Bluebird
Sometimes you have to pause in order to appreciate...
Sometimes you have to pause in order to appreciate...
April 15, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Eastern Bluebird
Sometimes you have to pause in order to appreciate...
Sometimes you have to pause in order to appreciate...
A little late but wanted to highlight some work during my master's. If you're interested in aquaporins or hydrogen-bonded networks within proteins, take a look :)
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization
Aquaporins (AQPs) are α-helical transmembrane proteins that conduct water through
membranes with high selectivity and permeability. For human AQP1, in addition to the
functional Asn-Pro-Ala motifs and...
www.cell.com
April 8, 2025 at 4:20 PM
A little late but wanted to highlight some work during my master's. If you're interested in aquaporins or hydrogen-bonded networks within proteins, take a look :)
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
A conserved H-bond network in human aquaporin-1 is necessary for native folding and oligomerization: www.cell.com/biophysj/ful...
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
Another “Continuing Crisis” post, this one covering some larger principles and explaining why I’m doing these in general:
The Continuing Crisis, Part VII: An Overview
www.science.org
March 5, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Another “Continuing Crisis” post, this one covering some larger principles and explaining why I’m doing these in general:
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
Not many more days to open, I hope you've all finished purifying your products from door 16 to mix with the product of door 22
December 22, 2024 at 2:14 PM
Not many more days to open, I hope you've all finished purifying your products from door 16 to mix with the product of door 22
Undeniably cool. Definitely has large implications for life on other planets - namely Mars and even the moons of Jupiter and Saturn etc.
More than 2 miles below the Earth's surface, ATOMIC-POWERED BACTERIA thrive in water that last fell as rain 5 million years ago.
Their existence greatly increases the chance of finding life on other planets.
Let's meet Desulforudis audaxviator, the lonely microbe at the 'center of the Earth'.
Their existence greatly increases the chance of finding life on other planets.
Let's meet Desulforudis audaxviator, the lonely microbe at the 'center of the Earth'.
December 11, 2024 at 4:29 PM
Undeniably cool. Definitely has large implications for life on other planets - namely Mars and even the moons of Jupiter and Saturn etc.
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
We did this crazy project where we tried to see if proteins could interact with their mirror image ligand. Seems impossible when proteins need to form 3D structures to interact. But what about if the interaction remains disordered???
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Stereochemistry in the disorder–order continuum of protein interactions - Nature
Studies on protein–protein interactions using proteins containing d- or l-amino acids show that stereoselectivity of binding varies with the degree of disorder within the complex.
www.nature.com
November 27, 2024 at 8:31 PM
We did this crazy project where we tried to see if proteins could interact with their mirror image ligand. Seems impossible when proteins need to form 3D structures to interact. But what about if the interaction remains disordered???
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
All cells are encapsulated by a membrane of complex lipidic composition, right?
Not anymore! @JamesSaenz.bsky.social et al. show that a ‘minimal’ bacterial cell only needs 2 lipid species
#microNatComms #Microbiology #CellBiology #lipids
Read the paper:
www.nature.com/artic...
Not anymore! @JamesSaenz.bsky.social et al. show that a ‘minimal’ bacterial cell only needs 2 lipid species
#microNatComms #Microbiology #CellBiology #lipids
Read the paper:
www.nature.com/artic...
A tuneable minimal cell membrane reveals that two lipid species suffice for life
Nature Communications - All cells are encapsulated by a membrane of complex lipidic composition, and understanding the roles of different lipids in membrane function is experimentally challenging...
www.nature.com
November 29, 2024 at 4:58 PM
All cells are encapsulated by a membrane of complex lipidic composition, right?
Not anymore! @JamesSaenz.bsky.social et al. show that a ‘minimal’ bacterial cell only needs 2 lipid species
#microNatComms #Microbiology #CellBiology #lipids
Read the paper:
www.nature.com/artic...
Not anymore! @JamesSaenz.bsky.social et al. show that a ‘minimal’ bacterial cell only needs 2 lipid species
#microNatComms #Microbiology #CellBiology #lipids
Read the paper:
www.nature.com/artic...
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
On the bright side about fire ant venom:
'Derivatives of solenopsins, (fire ant potent piperidine alkaloids), have been found to have antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, and antiangiogenics activities'
(article about the Thai fire ant Solenopsis geminata)
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
'Derivatives of solenopsins, (fire ant potent piperidine alkaloids), have been found to have antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, and antiangiogenics activities'
(article about the Thai fire ant Solenopsis geminata)
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
November 29, 2024 at 1:14 AM
On the bright side about fire ant venom:
'Derivatives of solenopsins, (fire ant potent piperidine alkaloids), have been found to have antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, and antiangiogenics activities'
(article about the Thai fire ant Solenopsis geminata)
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
'Derivatives of solenopsins, (fire ant potent piperidine alkaloids), have been found to have antibacterial, antifungal, insecticidal, and antiangiogenics activities'
(article about the Thai fire ant Solenopsis geminata)
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by Phil Drewniak
