Janet Iwasa

The structural basis for LRRK2's activation and autoinhibition

This paper elucidates the structural mechanisms by which LRRK2 is activated and autoinhibited, showing how mutations affect these processes and suggesting therapeutic strategies.

Nucleosome unwrapping and PARP1 allostery drive affinities for chromatin and DNA breaks

This study investigates how PARP1 binds to DNA breaks and chromatin, revealing that nucleosome unwrapping and allostery influence its affinity and binding dynamics.

Cryo-ET reveals the in situ architecture of the polar tube invasion apparatus from microsporidian parasites

The paper uses cryo-electron tomography to reveal the in situ architecture of the polar tube invasion apparatus in microsporidian parasites.

Cell-free assays reveal that the HIV-1 capsid protects reverse transcripts from cGAS

The paper shows that HIV-1 capsids protect reverse-transcribed DNA from cGAS detection, and that disrupting the capsid enhances cGAS activity.

Protein Surface Chemistry Encodes an Adaptive Tolerance to Desiccation

The paper identifies protein surface chemistry as a determinant of desiccation tolerance and shows that modifying surface amino acids can confer tolerance to otherwise sensitive proteins.

Dynamin is primed at endocytic sites for ultrafast endocytosis

The paper shows that Dynamin 1xA forms molecular condensates with Syndapin 1 at endocytic sites, enabling ultrafast endocytosis by bypassing the recruitment step.

SynapsEM: computer-assisted synapse morphometry

SynapsEM is a computer program that automates synapse morphometry by recording coordinates from segmented structures and calculating synaptic parameters in Matlab.