In July, with co-applicants Paul Miller, Pietro Sormanni (Chemistry), and Marko Hyvonen and Florian Hollfelder (Biochemistry), we were awarded an Isaac Newton Trust Strategic Grant to set up a Cambridge Protein Library Screening Facility
In May with IIKEA funds we hosted a workshop entitled ‘Understanding the dynamics of repeat-protein structures and the functional consequences’ to bring collaborators together including those on our HFSP grant together in Cambridge. The workshop led to two new collaborators and a Cambridge-LMU Strategic Partnership award.
The Itzhaki lab welcomed new PhD students Khushboo Matwani (Trinity College Trinity Krishnan-Ang studentship) and Connor McFarlane (CRUK Cancer Centre studentship), MPhil students Lovisa Jonsson and Zoya Cassidy (jointly supervised with Ioanna Mela), and CRUK Cancer Centre MRes student Celeste Watson (with Ioanna Mela).
Laura was a member of the organizing committee for an Elrig-Protein Society ‘Protein Sciences in Drug Discovery’ meeting in Cambridge in November, at which Laura Blenkarn (joint PhD student with Cathy Wilson) won the best poster prize.
Publications:
Yang-Schultz A, Zacharopoulou M, Itzhaki LS, Bahar I, Gordon R. Direct observation of small molecule activator binding to single PR65 protein. NPJ Biosensing (2025) 2, 2. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44328-024-00018-7
Eapen R, Okoye C, et al., Phillips C, Lindon AC, Itzhaki LS. Development of D-box peptides to inhibit the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome. ELife (2025) in press
King HR et al., Itzhaki LS, Artavanis-Tsakonasa K. Targeting the Plasmodium falciparum UCHL3 ubiquitin hydrolase using chemically constrained peptides. PNAS (2024) 121, e2322923121
Ng TLC et al., Itzhaki LS, Kumita JR. Tandem-repeat proteins introduce tuneable properties to engineered biomolecular condensates. bioRxiv doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.16.589709
Banerjee A et al., Itzhaki LS, Gordon R, Bahar I. Influence of point mutations on PR65 conformational adaptability: Insights from molecular simulations and nanoaperture optical tweezers. Sci Adv. 2024 10, eadn2208. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn2208.
King HR et al., Itzhaki LS, Artavanis-Tsakonasa K. Targeting the Plasmodium falciparum UCHL3 ubiquitin hydrolase using chemically constrained peptides. PNAS (2024) 121, e2322923121
Eapen R et al., Itzhaki LS. Development of D-box peptides to inhibit the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome. bioRxiv doi:https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.04.30.590460
Banerjee A et al., Itzhaki LS, Gordon R, Bahar I. Influence of point mutations on PR65 conformational adaptability: Insights from molecular simulations and nanoaperture optical tweezers. Sci Adv. 2024 10, eadn2208. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adn2208