Molecular Physiology of the Cell

Methodology article published in 2nd edition of « Yeast Systems Biology »

An article published in collaboration with our colleague Andreas Mayer (Lausanne university) has just been released in the 2^nd edition of the book « Yeast Systems Biology ». The paper signed as first author by our former PhD student Melody Cools (now in the Labiris group of Dr. Isabelle Georis, Brussels) describes detailed protocols for measuring the activity of plasma membrane and vacuolar transporters of yeast. We hope that this methodology article will be helpful for all groups interested in membrane transport and wishing to implement these techniques in their lab.

2019 “International Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting” in Göteborg (Sweden)

Elie Saliba, Minos Evangelinos, and Bruno André attended the 24th “International Yeast Genetics and Molecular Biology Meeting” which was held in Göteborg (Sweden), from August 18 to 22. Elie Saliba presented a poster about the role of Pma1 in TORC1 control and Melody Cools (now in I. Georis’s lab) presented another about the arginine transporters of the yeast vacuole. The meeting was scientifically intense and of top interest, and the programme also included a lecture by Roger Kornberg (Nobel Prize). The meeting also offered a great opportunity to meet again many colleagues and friends.

Céline Barthélemy received her PhD diploma

On July 1rst, Céline Barthélemy publicly presented her PhD work and successfully received her diploma. Her research dealt with the mechanisms promoting endocytosis of the human LAT1 amino acid transporter in HeLa cancer cells. Céline could show that LAT1 endocytosis is triggered by ubiquitylation of the transporter via the Nedd4-2 ubiquitin ligase enzyme. She also investigated the influence of FTY720, an immunosuppressant compound, and found that it also provokes the endocytosis of LAT1, and of several amino acid permeases in yeast.

Team building day at the “Eau d’Heure” site

For this year team-bilding day, we visited the “Eau d’Heure” site and had a very pleasant long walk followed by a lunch.

“Yeasterday 2019” meeting in Groningen

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Elia Saliba and Bruno André attended the 2019 Yesterday meeting in Groningen on June 17-18th. Melody Cools, who has now joined the group of Isabelle Georis, and Isabelle herself also attended. This meeting yearly gathers research groups from the Benelux working on yeast genetics and molecular biology. Melody was invited to give a presentation entitled “The arginine transport systems of the yeast vacuole: diversity and insight into their regulation”.

2019 “PhD student day”

As happens every year, the “PhD student day” was held at the institute in late May, and ended with a pleasant all-together barbecue at the “Parentiville” park. This year, George Kapetanakis presented to all institute members the progress of his research project about amino acid excretion, and has successfully passed the exam. He obviously deserved an ice cream with his colleagues.

Let’s have a break

Nice photo of the entire team taken around mid-March at the occasion of Minos’s birthday. An opportunity to introduce three novel members, Miriam Villegas (3rd from right), a bioingeneer student from ULB finishing her master thesis work, Soulaimane Basri (5th from right), a pregraduate student from the Condorcet technical school finishing his bachelor thesis work, and Nadia Pia Guarini (4th from left), a scientist with a master degree who has recently joined the lab. An incredible team !

13th “LMO” meeting in Musikinsel

Elie Saliba attended the 13th “Levures, Modèles et Outils” meeting held in Musikinsel (Switzerland) on September 11-14. Elie was invited to give a “flash talk” about his current work on the role of the yeast H+-ATPase in regulation of the TORC1 kinase complex.

“Smyte” meeting in Martina Franca

Melody Cools and Bruno André attended the 36th “Small Meeting on Yeast Transport and Energetics” organized in Martina Franca (Italy) by Pr. Carlo Marobbio. The meeting began with a tribute to Pr. A. Goffeau (one of the founders of the Smyte meeting) by P. Morsomme and E. Balzi, followed by a presentation by Pr. John E. Walker (Nobel prize in Chemistry, 1997) about the structure and dynamics of ATP synthases. Most of the regular “Smyters” attended the meeting. Melody was invited to give a talk about her work on vacuolar arginine transporters, and Bruno’s presentation was about the regulation of TORC1 by the H+ ATPase (Pma1).

The “2018 Smyters”

13th IMYA meeting in Leuven

B André attended the 13th International Meeting on Yeast Ageing and Apoptosis held in Leuven on August 26-30. He was invited to give a talk on the recent work of the lab on TORC1 regulation in yeast.