Bernd Bauer

Why do pathological protein aggregates persist in cells and how can we overcome this? In our new preprint, we show that Tau aggregates fail to initiate selective autophagy and that their autophagic degradation can be restored. #Autophagy #Tau #Proteostasis Out now 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bernd Bauer reposted

Sascha Martens

@martenslab.bsky.social

3 Sept

So well deserved Elias!!! Congrats!

IMP@impvienna.bsky.social

IMP postdoc Elias Adriaenssens has received an ERC Starting Grant worth close to €1.5 million. He will study how cells decide when to dispose of their organelles—and how they prevent healthy ones from being destroyed: https://bit.ly/4zUBQMy

Bernd Bauer reposted

2 Sept

🚨 Out now! Special delivery for autophagy: A new @natcomms.nature.com study from the Martens lab, led by first author Elisabeth Holzer, reveals how ATG2A and ATG8-like proteins deliver key lipids to build and expand autophagosomes ➡️ tinyurl.com/ycx9v759 @univie.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at

Bernd Bauer reposted

Claudine Kraft's Lab

@kraftlabfr.bsky.social

29 June

First ERC Synergy meeting with @martenslab.bsky.social and @jimhurley.bsky.social in Vienna, great start! Thanks Sascha for hosting 🙏 @erc.europa.eu

Bernd Bauer reposted

nature.comLASER couples damage sensing to ESCRT assembly for lysosome repair - NatureATG8 conjugation on damaged lysosomes triggers rapid assembly of a protein complex containing TFG, which directs lysosomal membrane repair by recruiting ESCRT proteins to sites of damage.

16 June

@berndbauer.bsky.social (Martens lab) defended his PhD work "Signed, Sealed, Delivered; I'm Yours Autophagosome: Mechanistic insights into the initiation of aggrephagy" 🎉🎓 - congratulations, well deserved! 💪 @univie.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at

Bernd Bauer reposted

Aakriti Jain

@aakritijain.bsky.social

3 June

So excited to share our new paper out today in @nature.com - 'LASER couples damage sensing to ESCRT assembly for lysosome repair'. This was an amazing collaborative effort with Claire Goul during our time in @robzonculab.bsky.social : www.nature.com/articles/s41...

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Victoria Deneke

@vdeneke.bsky.social

22 May

How do sperm and egg fuse? Surprisingly, we still don’t fully know… Our field has uncovered many pieces of the fertilization puzzle, but not how they fit together. We identify ✨ SPARK ✨ - a conserved sperm complex that couples sperm-egg binding to fusion. tinyurl.com/34cm4xat Read on! 🧵👇

Bernd Bauer reposted

Claudine Kraft's Lab

@kraftlabfr.bsky.social

11 May

Our ULK1–MTFR1L paper is now officially in @jcellsci.bsky.social, a good moment to reshare it. 🎉 The work identifies MTFR1L as a key coordinator of mitochondrial fission, mitophagy initiation and apoptosis. 👉 Paper: doi.org/10.1242/jcs....

doi.orgA ULK1–MTFR1L feedback loop links mitochondrial fission, mitophagy and apoptosisSummary: MTFR1L acts at mitochondrial mitophagy initiation sites, linking mitochondrial fission with autophagy by interacting with ULK1, regulating ATG13 stability, and forming a feedback loop that su...

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7/ In summary, Tau aggregates evade autophagy by excluding TAX1BP1, and forced recruitment of TAX1BP1 reactivates their degradation. TAX1BP1 assembles the upstream autophagy machinery via its SKICH domain to form an initiation hub that triggers autophagosome biogenesis.

A big thanks to the entire lab for their support, especially my PhD supervisor @martenslab.bsky.social This project was funded by @fwf-at.bsky.social and @wwtf.at @viennabiocenter.bsky.social @vbcscitraining.bsky.social @maxperutzlabs.ac.at @sfb-tpd-vienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at

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5/ Mechanistically, TAX1BP1 recruits the upstream autophagy machinery, including the ULK1 complex and TBK1 (A), to assemble an initiation hub via its SKICH domain (B).

6/ And this hub matters: Tethering individual components alone is not enough to induce autophagy (A). Only simultaneous recruitment of the upstream machinery promotes autophagy initiation(B).

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3/ Why? These Tau aggregates fail to initiate autophagy. They exclude key upstream autophagy factors, most importantly the receptor TAX1BP1 (A+B) This mirrors our previous in vitro reconstitution work using post-mortem Tau fibrils.

4/ If we bypass this blockade by artificially tethering TAX1BP1 to Tau aggregates (A), this is sufficient to trigger autophagic flux (B). → Aggregates are sequestered into autophagosomes (C) → And efficiently cleared (D)

2/ Using a reconstituted cellular system, we found that Tau aggregates, despite being ubiquitinated and recognized by the early autophagy receptor p62 (A), are not degraded by autophagy (B). This behaviour is consistent with what is seen in disease.

Bernd Bauer reposted

allepasse.bsky.social

@allepasse.bsky.social

26 Jan

I’m happy to share the main result of my PhD, which you can find on bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6.... If you are interested in learning about a new way to perform DNA-PAINT multiplexing, which we call Combi-PAINT, or if you are interested in the study of mRNA conformation, keep reading! 1/10

Bernd Bauer reposted

@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social

6 Nov 2025

Big news! Group leader Sascha Martens has been awarded a prestigious @erc.europa.eu Synergy Grant for the collaborative project DegrAbility to explore how cells can better recycle harmful protein aggregates linked to diseases like Alzheimer’s ➡️ tinyurl.com/2zuz9jcf @univie.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at

Bernd Bauer reposted

bioRxivpreprint

18 Aug 2025

A lipid transfer-dependent feedback loop activates ATG9A compartments in autophagy initiation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.16.670665v1

Bernd Bauer reposted

Elias Adriaenssens

@elias-adriaenssens.bsky.social

13 Aug 2025

Absolutely honoured to see our work featured on this month’s cover! 🎉🧬 Artwork by the incredibly talented @doroteaartscience.bsky.social 👇

Nature Cell Biology@natcellbio.nature.com

🏖️Our August issue's out! Cover: Flexibility of #autophagy initiation 👉🏼Review on #metabolism in #embryogenesis #devbio 👉🏼Review on #DNArepair 🔬 #ribosomes #neurodevelopment #mitophagy #ferroptosis #stemcells #epigenetics #leukemia #antitumor immunity & more! www.nature.com/ncb/volumes/...

Bernd Bauer reposted

Waggoner Lab

@labwaggoner.bsky.social

2 July 2025

WSTF nuclear autophagy regulates chronic but not acute inflammation @nature.com @terjejohansen.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bernd Bauer reposted

Molecular Cell

@cp-molcell.bsky.social

27 June 2025

Online Now: Regulation of somatic hypermutation by higher-order chromatin structure Online now:

dlvr.itRegulation of somatic hypermutation by higher-order chromatin structureSchoeberl et al. employ Tri-C to unravel the higher-order chromatin architecture underpinning the co-transcriptional mutagenesis of immunoglobulin genes during antibody maturation in human B cells. They provide evidence that antibody maturation occurs within a dynamic multiway hub wherein transcription and mutation of different genes occur non-competitively.

nature.comPhase separation of initiation hubs on cargo is a trigger switch for selective autophagy - Nature Cell BiologyLicheva, Pflaum, Babic, Mancilla et al. show that low-affinity cargo–receptor interactions promote autophagy receptor mobility and condensation of the scaffold protein Atg11 to trigger initiation hub ...

13 May 2025

Thanks for selecting me among all the amazing posters at the symposium :D Also congrats to all other winners 👏

SFB Targeted Protein Degradation@sfb-tpd-vienna.bsky.social

...AND THE #ubfriends2025 WINNERS ARE 👏 Best Short Talk: @leokiss.bsky.social (@mpibiochem.bsky.social) Best Posters: Irene Schwartz (lab of @versteegga.bsky.social), @julianvangerwen.bsky.social (@imsb-eth.bsky.social), Tom Eisenack (lab @trentini-lab.bsky.social), and @berndbauer.bsky.social!

Bernd Bauer reposted

SMICH - doctoral college

@dksmich.bsky.social

31 Jan 2025

‪We're excited to announce that registration for the "Tiles of Life" Student Symposium is now open! With a fantastic lineup of guest speakers, complemented by SMICH student talks, we’re set for two inspiring days. Don’t miss out—register now! 🚀🎓✨ #TilesofLife #studentsymposium #SMICH

Bernd Bauer reposted

Claudine Kraft's Lab

@kraftlabfr.bsky.social

7 Jan 2025

🚨 Paper Alert! We’re starting off the year with our latest publication in @naturecellbiology.bsky.social on the role of phase separation in selective autophagy initiation! This work was a close and exciting collaboration with @wilflinglab.bsky.social 🔗 nature.com/articles/s41... Here's a thread👇

Bernd Bauer reposted