Dr. Sobolevsky presented talk «Gating and Regulation of Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors, focusing on Kainate receptors» at the SMART Symposium on Protein Sciences, Shenzhen, China. This symposium focused on advancing the frontiers of protein science through the presentation of cutting — edge and unpublished research, and fostering informal interactions among scientists at all stages of their […]

Prof. Sobolevsky delivered an inspiring keynote lecture «Structural view of TRP channel function and pharmacology» at the prestigious FEBS Advanced Lecture Course «Emerging Insights from Structural Biology into Molecular Mechanisms of Diseases», May 25-31! The focus was on groundbreaking structural biology and its role in unraveling the molecular mechanisms of diseases. A fantastic experience sharing […]

In the spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, we in Sobolevsky Lab wish to express our gratitude to Hendrikson Lab. Thank you for sharing supplies, books, food, your coffee, and, on that one strange day in October, your emergency supply of dry ice. This was a mandatory fun event. Attendance was not taken, but absences were […]

It is time for Kirill to say goodbye to one chapter in his life and hello to the next – an exciting new career opportunity as an Senior Scientist at AstraZeneca Company. Kirill joined our lab in 2019, he is author on 19 papers published in peer review journals. Last image was generated by AI.

The Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences announced the three Laureates and six Finalists of the 2024 Blavatnik Regional Awards for Young Scientists. The Awards honor outstanding postdoctoral scientists from academic research institutions across New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The Blavatnik Regional Awards jury, consisting of distinguished scientists and engineers, […]

Congratulation to Dr. Sobolevsky with a 2024 Javits Award! In October 1983, the U.S. Congress established the Senator Jacob Javits Awards in the Neurosciences, in honor of the late Senator Javits (R-NY), to be administered by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke (now the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, […]

SickKids – Research InstitutePeter Gilgan Centre for Research & Learning686 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario

New groundbreaking images of one of the brain’s fastest-acting proteins are providing critical clues that may lead to the development of targeted therapies to treat epilepsy and other brain disorders. The lightning-fast moves of the brain’s kainate receptor are indispensable for neuron-to-neuron communication but create a quandary for structural biologists trying to capture images of […]

Dr. Sobolevsky presented «Gating and regulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors» talk at the EMBO Workshop — Molecular Neurobiology. The meeting took place on the beautiful island of Crete, Greece (Fodele Beach Resort; https://www.fodelebeach.gr/), on Mon 13th — Fri 17th May 2024. The goal of this conference is to bring together experts working on molecular processes […]

We are delighted to announce the winners of the 2024 Columbia University Postdoctoral Research Symposium held on May 3rd, 2024! There were 99 posters at this year’s symposium, demonstrating excellence in research across disciplines. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all participants for their contributions and for their commitment to advancing knowledge in their respective […]

Over the past 30 years, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology (NSMB) has covered an enormous breadth of subjects in the broad field of molecular and structural biology. In this article some of the journal’s past and present editors recount their editorial experience at NSMB and some of the more memorable papers they worked on. Our […]

Biochemistry department party 2023

Department of Nutrition has awarded Dr. Marriah Green with Bernard F. Erlanger Award for Excellence in Research. The Bernard F. Erlanger Award for Excellence in Research was established in 2012 by the Institute of Human Nutrition in honor of the late Dr. Erlanger’s commitment to education, mentoring and research. It is presented annually at the […]

– A dominant chemical ingredient in nutritional soy identified as a magic bullet against cancer If you had hoped that all those soy lattes will pay off one day, here is the scientific proof that they will: A study led by Arthur Neuberger in our lab showed for the first time how a phytoestrogen called […]

In our recent research study published in Nature Communications, we uncovered a structural mechanism for regulating organismal levels of divalent cations through a master regulator ion channel, TRPM7. Depression is one of the most common mental disorders in the world and the leading cause of disability in the United States for individuals ages 15-44. Depression […]

Millions of lives have been lost in the United States alone due to addiction caused by opioid-based pain relief treatment. We probed an alternative, addiction-free strategy to conventional opioid-based pain relief treatment that targets the actual receptors of pain at the very origin of pain perception – the channel protein and pain receptor TRPV1. In […]

Marriah Green has successfully defended her PhD on November 11, 2022. Title of her work is “Structure and function of glutamate receptor-like channels (GLRs)”. This day is both an exciting and sad for everyone in our lab. Getting a degree is the end of the long path of graduate school to learn, study and practice […]

Dr. Alexander Sobolevsky gave a talk «Channel block of calcium-permeable AMPA receptors by polyamine-containing toxins & their analogs» at 21st World Congress of the International Society on Toxinology» at beautiful Abu-Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. https://ist2022.com/

re: iGluR2020  iGluR2021  iGluR2022 After 2-year break iGluR meeting has returned this year at Stony Brook, NY. It was hosted by Dr. Lonnie P. Wollmuth lab at SUNY at Stony Brook, NY. It began on Monday, August 1st with the ‘iGluR social’.  Marilynn and Lonnie hosted at their house and guests enjoyed kayaking, paddle boarding, horseshoes (at […]

Themed Issue: Structure Guided Pharmacology of Membrane Proteins (BJP 75th Anniversary) Volume 179, Issue 14. Pages: 3483-3904 July 2022 Issue Edited by:  Gary Stephens, Arun Shukla

Dr. Sobolevsky presented lecture «Structural basis of temperature sensation by the TRP channel TRPV3» at TRP2021 meeting (online), Lueven, Belgium. Click here for the talk.

Dr. Arthur Neuberger and Dr. Kirill D. Nadezhdin shared a story «Structural mechanism of heat-induced opening of a temperature-sensitive TRP channel» from our lab and presented to the SBGrid community on October 5th, 2021. Their talks were excellent and we had a great turnout. You can find the YouTube recording here.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian «for their discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch.» Their research identified transient receptor potential (TRP) and PIEZO ion channels as the proteins that sense these ubiquitous stimuli. It all makes sense! The groundbreaking discoveries of the TRPV1, TRPM8 […]

Our paper «Structural mechanism of heat-induced opening of a temperature-sensitive TRP channel» was featured on the journal cover (volume 28, pages 564–572 (2021)).

Our lab had a blast kayaking on Hudson river at small lab retreat.

Our paper by Nadezhdin et al. was featured on Columbia University News room website. The first complete high-res image of a heat-sensing molecule in ground squirrels is helping researchers understand how we sense temperature and could lead to the development of new pain relievers. Ground squirrels, like other mammals, sense environmental temperatures with molecules called […]

Our paper «Structure of the Arabidopsis Glutamate Receptor-like Channel GLR3.2 Ligand-Binding Domain» was featured on the Structure cover (issue from Volume 29, Issue 2, 4 February 2021, Pages 161-169 e4).

It is time for Appu to say goodbye to one chapter in his life and hello to the next — an exciting new career opportunity as an Assistant Professor.

Dr. Appu K. Singh, the first author on “Structural basis of temperature sensation by the TRP channel TRPV3”, received a prestigious Har Govind Khorana-Innovative Young Biotechnologist Award. Congratulations, Appu!

The symposium on crystallography in the 21st century was dedicated to Dr. Kanagalaghatta (Raj) Rajashankar, who was the longtime Associate Director of the Northeastern Collaborative Access Team at the Advanced Photon Source of Argonne National Laboratory.

This study by Yelshanskaya et al. provides evidence showing that the combination of the agonist binding and clamshell closure provides the energy to drive channel opening in all ionotropic glutamate receptors.

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels sense temperature in organisms ranging from yeast to human but the molecular mechanisms of thermosensation have been an enigma. In our new paper published in NSMB we present structures of the TRP channel TRPV3, which is predominantly expressed in skin keratinocytes, is implicated in thermo-sensation, nociception, itch, maintenance of the skin barrier, wound healing and hair growth, and is associated with numerous human skin diseases, including a genodermatosis known as Olmsted syndrome, atopic dermatitis, psoriasis and rosacea.

This review is published in Journal of General Physiology on October 15, 2019. Here we discuss recent advances into the structure and function of AMPA receptor regulation by TARP auxiliary subunits.

Columbia University has opened a state-of-the-art center for cryo-EM facility in September 2019. Inside are the most advanced tools in the world for studying biology at the molecular scale. Nobel Laureate Professor Joachim Frank with Columbia officials opened the facility.

Our structures of a new, uniquely folded, 2-fold symmetrical and highly temperature-sensitive TRP channel TRP1 from the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii that opens in response to increased temperature and is positively regulated by the membrane lipid PIP2 (phosphatidylinositol-4,5-bisphosphate) have been published in Nature Communications.

Luke McGoldrick joined our lab in 2016 as a Integrated Program Graduate student. During his PhD training he was part of the ongoing research in TRP channels structure-function.

Dr. Sobolevsky was an invited speaker at the Russian International Conference on Cryo-EM, Moscow, Russia, June 2-5, 2019. The title of the talk was «Structural and functional studies of vanilloid subtype TRP channels».

AMPA receptor, with an inhibitor (red) bound to the glutamate-binding domains. The location of the cell membrane is shown schematically in gray. Nerve cells in our brain communicate with one another using small neurotransmitter molecules. These come in many shapes and sizes, such as acetylcholine, serotonin and endorphins, allowing the nervous system to shape the way neurons talk to one another. The amino acid glutamate is one of the most common neurotransmitters used to carry excitatory signals.

Dr. Sobolevsky presented at 2019 International Conference on Neurostructural Biology at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, April 21-22 2019.

The 49th NIPS international Symposium «ION CHANNELS: LOOKING BACK, SEEING AHEAD» was held at Okazaki, Japan in December 2018. As we are experiencing amazingly progressing world of bioscience, we can now obtain new information of molecular structure, protein-protein interaction, genetic regulation, biological functions and other aspects of ion channels.

Essay from Dr. Sobolevsky titles «JGP 100th Anniversary: Influences: Russian training» is published in Journal of General Physiology on December 3, 2018.

Our paper was featured on the current issue of Nature Structural & Molecular Biology cover! Activating TRPV3. Natural compounds from the camphor tree, oregano, clove and thyme activate the TRPV3 channel. Cryo-EM analyses of mouse TRPV3 provide insights into gating mechanisms.

Our paper «Mechanisms of channel block in calcium-permeable AMPA receptors» was featured on the Neuron cover (issue from Sep 5th, 2018).

This year iGluR retreat was held at University of Pittsburgh, July 31 – August 2. Dr. Alexander Sobolevsky presented the poster titled «Mechanisms of channel block in Calcium-Permeable AMPA receptors». This work was published in Neuron on August 16, 2018.

Luke presented his work on TRPV6 channel opening mechanism at Cellular, Molecular and Biomedical Sciences (CMBS) Columbia University Graduate Program Retreat 2018, Glen Cove Mansion, Glen Cove, NY.

Dr. Alexander Sobolevsky presented a talk «Structural Mechanisms of Gating in Ionotropic Glutamate Receptors» at 2018 Ion Channels Gordon Research Conference at Mt. Holoyoke College, South Hadley, MA.

The first ionotropic glutamate receptor retreat (iGluRetreat) was organized by Dr. Gabriela Popescu (University of Buffalo, NY) and Dr. Derek Bowie (McGill University, Montreal, Canada) and was held at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY in 2013.

To be named DEAN’s award recipient is a tremendous accomplishment! Congratulations, Ed! Hooding ceremony, Columbia University Medical Center, May 13, 2018.

Here is the poster of the today’s PhD defense of Ed Twomey.