Ashutosh Kumar

Excited to share our new preprint! 📜 Here, we used CALVADOS and ultra-CG models to show how the kinetochore establishes a robust attachment to the dynamic microtubule end. Spoiler: IDRs 🧵 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A new class of lipid transfer proteins is required for the recycling of lipids from the P. falciparum digestive vacuole https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.11.750981v1

The dystonia-associated Torsin1A sustains CLCC1 function in membrane fusion of the nuclear envelope for NPC biogenesis

Any1 is a #phospholipid scramblase involved in #endosome biogenesis. From Jieqiong Gao, @labvanni.bsky.social, Christian Ungermann and colleagues: rupress.org/jcb/article/... 📕 From our #Lipid and #Membrane collection: rupress.org/jcb/collecti... #EMBOLipidCode

Check out our preprint on the structural mechanisms of how LEM2 and ESCRTs seal the nuclear envelope. Awesome collaboration with @karenpalacior.bsky.social who brought my structures to life 💃🔬❄️🌀 @hummerlab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A conserved mechanism of membrane fusion in nuclear pore complex assembly

Delighted to share my first author paper on how the MIC10 protein complex generates curvature in mitochondrial crista out now in Science Advances!! 🥳🥳 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... See below for a run through of why we were interested and what we found 👇

Preprint with work led by Fran Toplek in Tatiana Morozova's recently established lab in Lyon on refining and testing the Martini models ability to capture properties of IDR condensates including structural and dynamical properties, and ion partitioning. doi.org/10.64898/202...

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.

Interesting coarse-graining trick: Simply scaling the mass of water particles in the Martini model speeds up the simulation without affecting equilibrium properties. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Predicting RNA structure is hard, and predicting RNA dynamics is even harder We combined extensive NMR data with MD simulations to study the dynamics of RNA tetraloops By projecting onto the universe of tetraloop structures, we show how NMR+MD captures structures not seen by prediction methods

1/ Do cells use phase separation to adapt biosynthetic output to changing demands? In our new preprint, we show that under nutrient limitation, the nucleolus enters a reversible ‘hibernation’ state that slows ribosome biogenesis. See doi.org/10.64898/202...

We are excited by the publication of our work on Torsin1A, its interaction partner CLCC1, and their role in membrane fusion during NPC biogenesis! A fantastic collaboration with @jagannathan-lab.bsky.social @labvanni.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social and the Korkhov and Antonin labs!

Online Now: The dystonia-associated Torsin1A sustains CLCC1 function in membrane fusion of the nuclear envelope for NPC biogenesis Online now:

How do transcription factors bind DNA strongly, and in a switch like manner, while remaining sequence specific? Our new paper on a canonical plant TF suggests the answer is a previously underappreciated assembly state: transcription factor nanoclusters. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It’s time for the World Cup final with one of the greatest footballers that may be playing his last cup So time for a short thread on a link between Messi and an intrinsically disordered protein. 1/n

Team science preprint, exploring the capabilities and limitations of Alphafold3 across different application areas, including protein-RNA, protein-lipid, ubiquitination,TCR and antibody recognition with @ninjani.bsky.social @labvanni.bsky.social @dgfeller.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are hiring postdoctoral researchers. Please share!

Happy to share that this beautiful work by @mudgal17.bsky.social in collaboration with the Weis lab @eth-dbiol.bsky.social, discovering a new membrane fusion mechanism in eukaryotes, is finally out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-molcell.bsky.social. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Some bacteria do not live as individuals. They build multicellular filaments and connect neighboring cells through tiny cell-cell junctions. Cyanobacteria are among the most beautiful examples 😍 In our new paper, we reveal first molecuar insights on the cyanobacterial septal junction architecture 🧵

Not everyday a friend is able to define a new organelle!!! If you like membrane compartimentalization and are interested in how cells responde to stress in membrane tension, check this out!👇👇 Congrats to Elda and co!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our work on identifying membrane fusion mechanism prior to NPC assembly is now out in peer reviewed form at @cp-molcell.bsky.social Have a look if you are interested in NPC biogenesis and membrane fusion.

This amazing work by @danialv.bsky.social and Bodan Hu is now out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-cell.bsky.social with a lot of new simulations! Check it out if interested in lipid transport!

This story by the Reinisch, Vanni & De Camilli is among the most important membrane biology papers this year. Amazing work, Congratulations everyone!!!

Beautiful cover on our Atg2-Atg18 work (with @ungermannlab.bsky.social, @arnemoeller.bsky.social and reggiori lab) by lab PhD student @yarasayed1.bsky.social. Congrats Yara! #lipidtime

Three PhD positions available to work on yeast lysosome biogenesis and reconstitution of membrane fusion as of July or September 2026. Details can be found here: myshare.uni-osnabrueck.de/f/76c16d1fcc...

1/🧵 Can transcription factor condensate formation be explained without phase separation? Our new preprint introduces SPARK, a simulation tool that reproduces condensate behavior (clustering, fusion, FRAP) from diffusion & binding kinetics alone. Movie: 60 sec FRAP sim www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Happy to share our latest work on bridge lipid transfer proteins, by PhD student @yarasayed1.bsky.social. A great collaboration with @ungermannlab.bsky.social @arnemoeller.bsky.social and Reggiori lab!

Atg18 interaction positions Atg2 for efficient lipid transfer into phagophore elongation Sabrina Chumpen Ramirez, @dmitryshvarev.bsky.social  et al link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We just preprinted one of my favorite studies @FlatironInst . I was lucky to be part of an amazing team studying the effects of rapid cooling to preserve samples in cryoEM. Read on to learn about the limits of cryoEM for biophysics and how to overcome them www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Beyond proteins and DNA, #lipids are emerging as key players in nuclear biology - shaping nuclear envelope dynamics, mechanosensing, gene regulation and genome stability. Our new Perspective highlights recent advances, open questions, and future directions 👉 journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/...

Wonderful and honoured to write a perspective with @prudentlab.bsky.social @mrc-mbu.bsky.social on such an intriguing and cool observation of beautiful mitochondrial biology! Amazing work on how pearling allows mitochondrial genome organisation by @jclandoni.bsky.social @sulianamanley.bsky.social!

Mechanosensory channels mediate ER Ca2+ transients to trigger assembly of autophagosome initiation sites for degradation of ER subdomains

2026 has been a remarkable year for me so far (despite the current world events): opening my lab at the University of Zurich, assembling an amazing group of people in the group, and celebrating it with a fantastic lab warming party. Figured it's also time for a small profile refresh.

You are finishing your PhD and looking to continue in science? The Martin lab @biology-unige.bsky.social has an open postdoctoral position in cell biology to study cell-cell fusion. For more information, please consult mocel.unige.ch/research-gro.... Thanks for reposting!

We uncover the physical mechanisms governing nanoparticle–membrane interactions using coarse-grained simulations, mapping distinct regimes from adhesion to wrapping. A step toward predictive design rules for nanomedicine & adaptive materials pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

Amazing PhD @cristianrocharoa.bsky.social and I have collected our thoughts and questions (many!) on lipid scramblases in this review: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... If you are interested in lipid transport and metabolism, membrane asymmetry and membrane protein function, give it a read!

Happy to share our newest preprint on Parkin missense variants in work led by Erna Sol & @vvouts.bsky.social in @rhp-lab.bsky.social Using a multiplexed assay we determined the effects of 9,212 out of 9,300 single amino acid substitutions and nonsense Parkin variants. 1/n doi.org/10.64898/202...

Pablo’s work on “condensate Deborah numbers” is now out in #JCP!! Selected as Editor’s Pick and featured as a #Scilight pubs.aip.org/aip/jcp/arti...

Espadas, J., Souza, D. P., Hakala, M., García-Arcos, J. M., Tran, J., Kumar, A., Marcuello, C., Merino, A., ..., Toret, C. P., & Roux, A. (2025). Molecular basis for cellular compartmentalization by an ancient membrane fission mechanism. bioRxiv. #EpithelialMechanics buff.ly/OQv9qMw

Does targeting enzymes and substrates in a condensate lead to rate enhancement? No. Here, we investigate how the condensate environment can inhibit an enzyme reaction. Spoiler: Mass-transport limitations. We find a strong correlation between diffusion and reaction rates. doi.org/10.64898/202...

How does molecular valency shape condensate assembly and function? We used the CO2-fixing organelle in algae—the pyrenoid—to find out… 🧵 Preprint here!: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @cellarchlab.com @phaips.vd.st @biologyatyork.bsky.social #Rubisco #PhaseSeparation #Condensates #Pyrenoid

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!

Looking for something to read over the weekend? Our review on computational design of intrinsically disordered proteins is now published in final form 🍝 With @giuliotesei.bsky.social & @fpesce.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.sb...

Finally, @danialv.bsky.social used CG simulations to show that VPS13A can deliver lipids to an acceptor membrane that is bound at the C-terminal of VPS13A, and that XKR1 is proximal, but not continuous, to the delivery site. (6/7)

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...

Molecular insights into bulk lipid transport from structural studies of the bridge-like protein VPS13A complexed with the scramblase XKR1 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Biomolecular condensate architecture of an autophagic cargo at molecular resolution in situ https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.07.698105v1

New Preprint dropped. LAMMPS + ANI, a super fast implementation of MLIPs. Highly parallel (> 1000 GPUS) and much faster than anything else out there ! Work done by the amazing @ignaciopickering.bsky.social, @nickterrel.bsky.social , and Jinze (Richard) Xue. chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Meet Hofund, the N-terminal amphipathic helix of 15 aa in Heimdall ESCRT-IIIA (named after Heimdall’s sword). How do we know Hofund is the molecular trigger for fission? Remove Hofund → ESCRT-IIIA loses fission activity. Add Hofund alone → uncontrolled fission.