K. Lasker

Probing different conformational states of polar organizing protein Z with AlphaFold

This study shows AlphaFold can predict different conformational states of PopZ's oligomerization domain without altering the input sequence alignment.

Aberrant phase separation is a common killing strategy of positively charged peptides in biology and human disease

The paper identifies a common toxic mechanism in positively charged peptides across species and develops a machine learning tool to detect it.

Poly(A)-binding protein is an ataxin-2 chaperone that emulsifies biomolecular condensates.

The paper identifies a conserved 14aa sequence in ataxin-2 that acts as a condensation switch and reveals poly(A)-binding proteins as RNA-dependent chaperones that regulate this switch.

A modular platform for engineering function ofnatural and synthetic biomolecular condensates

The paper identifies design principles for biomolecular condensates using PopZ and applies them to create synthetic condensates in human cells.

ATAC-seq reveals megabase-scale domains of a bacterial nucleoid

The paper uses ATAC-seq to reveal megabase-scale domains of bacterial nucleoids in Caulobacter crescentus, showing they are shaped by DNA gyrase and GapR.

The in situ structure of Parkinson’s disease-linked LRRK2

This study uses cryo-electron tomography to reveal the in situ structure of LRRK2 with a pathogenic mutation, showing its oligomerization around microtubules and functional domains.

Phospho-signal flow from a pole-localized microdomain spatially patterns transcription factor activity

The paper studies how a microdomain at the cell pole of Caulobacter crescentus spatially patterns transcription factor activity through phospho-signaling.