News

Our manuscript entitled “Activation of GTP Hydrolysis in mRNA-tRNA Translocation by Elongation Factor G” by Wen Li, Zheng Liu, Ravi Kiran Koripella, Robert Langlois, Suparna Sanyal, and Joachim Frank has been accepted by Science Advances. In the article we describe two structures of the ribosome bound to the H91A mutant of EF-G in the presence of GTP, one in the rotated PRE, one in the unrotated POST state. From an analysis (by MDFF fitting of existing structures) of the reconstructed density maps at 4.2 and 3.6 Å resolution, we were able to draw conclusions on the mechanism of GTPase...

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Our manuscript entitled "Quantitative Connection Between Ensemble Thermodynamics and Single-Molecule Kinetics: A Case Study Using Cryo-EM and smFRET Investigations of the Ribosome" Authors: Kinz-Thompson, Colin; Sharma, Ajeet; Frank, Joachim; Gonzalez, Ruben; Chowdhury, Debashish has just been accepted by The Journal of Physical Chemistry Part: Part B: Biophysical Chemistry, Biomaterials, Liquids, and Soft Matter This study was spurred by the fact that intermediate states of the pretranslocational complex of the ribosome were found by cryo-EM (Agirrezabala et al., PNAS 2012), with the help...

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The Ryanodine receptor (calcium release channel) is the largest ion channel whose structure has been solved. It is also the largest membrane protein. The structure was solved at 4.5Å resolution through a collaboration between three prominent labs at the Columbia Medical Center: the labs of Andew Marks (leading expert on ryanodine receptor),...

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The picture shows the result of a novel method of analysis, by manifold embedding, as applied to a large dataset of ribosomes. These ribosomes are not engaged in translation as they lack mRNA and most tRNAs. However, they still undergo Brownian motions, and the analysis reveals the continuum of conformational changes that thermal...

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Frank Lab celebrated with pizza at Antika.

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The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy will be holding their bi-annual workshop on Advanced Topics in EM Structure Determination, November 9–14, 2014. Bridget Carragher with Clint Potter (l) and Ron Miligan (r) at one of the NRAMM workshops they have been organizing at The Scripps Institute. Click...

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New York Structural Biology Center Receives Grant from the Simons Foundation On September 9, the NYSBC announced that it had received a grant from the Simons Foundation. The $15 million, 5-year grant, will enable NYSBC to enhance its cryo-electron microscopy facility and will support general operations at the center. The foundation will also provide additional funds to support equipment upgrades in cryo-electron microscopy. This gift coincides with the news that...

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Nam Ho, Frank Lab graduate research assistant, has officially completed his Ph.D. with the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He is the lab's first Columbia Ph.D. student to complete his dissertation work. He is now an adjunct professor of Biochemistry at Columbia University. Nam's dissertation deals with the interaction of a translational...

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Robert Langlois has left the Frank Lab on June 16, 2014 and is now with the bioinformatics company Illumina, in San Diego.

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Structure of the mammalian ribosomal pre-termination complex associated with eRF1•eRF3•GDPNP des Georges, A., Hashem, Y., Unbehaun, A., Grassucci, R.A., Taylor, D., Hellen, C.U.T., Pestova, T.V., and Frank, J. Abstract: Eukaryotic translation termination results from the complex functional interplay between two release factors, eRF1 and eRF3, in which GTP hydrolysis by eRF3 couples codon recognition with peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis by eRF1. Here, we present a cryo-electron...

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