Amirrasoul Tavakoli

Cryo-ET, Structural Cell Biology, and AI enthusiast, @NIH, Former @CellUtsw @Baylor

[Gabriele Corso @GabriCorso]

Thrilled to finally see BoltzGen, our new state-of-the-art all-atom binder design model, coming out fully open-source after a very extensive experimental validation with many top academic and industry labs! 🧬

The diversity of the experiments is unprecedented, spanning binder modalities from nanobodies to disulfide-bonded peptides and including targets ranging from disordered proteins to small molecules. These experiments demonstrate state-of-the-art performance, for example, a 67% success rate at designing nanomolar nanobody binders against several novel targets with only 15 or fewer designs. 🚀

Incredible work from an amazing team led by @HannesStaerk! 🤗

[nature @Nature]

Nature research paper: Bottom-up design of Ca2+ channels from defined selectivity filter geometry

https://t.co/qJmrYdbnTM

[Bluntly Put Philosopher (BPP) @SocraticScribe]

A living mandala under the microscope, Trichodina, a single-celled parasite on fish. Its disc spins with perfect symmetry and cilia, a sacred geometry of motion and balance where even a parasite mirrors the universe’s hidden order.

[Bechara Kachar @BecharaKachar]

Excited to share our latest work, led by Saman Hussain and Miloslav Sedlacek, who uncovered spontaneous Ca²⁺ transients in stereocilia — a discovery that offers fresh insight into MET channel behavior

Full story: https://t.co/g5xhehA6P6

#neuroscience #haircells #calciumimaging

[Museum of Science @museumofscience]

A new cellular structure has been discovered! 🧫🔬

@AlexDainis explains how scientists uncovered the hemifusome, a hidden compartment in mammalian cells that might help cells recycle proteins and lipids. This was discovered while using a super-powerful 3D microscope called cryo-electron tomography. This finding is changing what we know about how cells work.

[Michael F. Chiang, MD @NEIDirector]

Meet the ‘hemifusome’:

A newly discovered vesicular organelle complex with a unique membrane topology. Could it play a role in protein and lipid sorting, recycling, and intraluminal vesicle formation?

@IRPatNIH @BecharaKachar

@NatureComms paper: https://t.co/SRjwREeLd4

[Madam Mitochondria @Madam_Mito]

New organelle found in the Human body.

The organelle, which is a form of specialized structure, has been given the name “hemifusome” and may help researchers develop new treatments for disease. https://t.co/6aYa9V1ohB

[Amirrasoul Tavakoli @amirrasoultav]

Grateful to have contributed to this work alongside a fantastic team. Exciting to see it out!

[NatureStructMolBiol @NatureSMB]

New online! Mouse radial spoke 3 is a metabolic and regulatory hub in cilia https://t.co/IFNWILASvc

[Amirrasoul Tavakoli @amirrasoultav]

Grateful to see a briefing of our new paper shared more widely always meaningful when the science resonates beyond the lab.
Great collaboration with amazing scientists @HuShiqiong @sehamebrahim @BecharaKachar

[Brian Roemmele @BrianRoemmele]

“Scientists discover unknown organelle inside our cells”

Each new discovery changes how we perceive pharmaceuticals and toxins impact life.

Science is about accepting we only know small parts of a complex system.

https://t.co/fqXn8TZPsw

[Bechara Kachar @BecharaKachar]

5/5

This study https://t.co/ZlP3wzqYbc was made possible by a fantastic team: @amirrasoultav and @HuShiqiong @NIH and @sehamebrahim @UVA

[Bechara Kachar @BecharaKachar]

3/5

Hemifusomes can exhibit lens-shaped hemifusion structures embedded within vesicle bilayers, mimicking "dead-end hemifusion" state from mathematical models.

These are not fleeting intermediates, but long-lived structures with implications for protein and lipid sorting.

[Bechara Kachar @BecharaKachar]

4/5

We propose an ESCRT-independent mechanism for intraluminal vesicle and multivesicular body (MVB) formation.

Via PND-driven vesicle generation, hemifusion, and internalization, hemifusomes act as hubs for building complex MVBs - no ESCRT machinery required.

[Bechara Kachar @BecharaKachar]

New organelle uncovered by in situ #cryoET: the #hemifusome, a stable, hemifused vesicle pair separated by an extended hemifusion diaphragm. This structure redefines what membrane fusion intermediates can do.

https://t.co/ZlP3wzqYbc

#CryoET #MembraneBiogenesis #Organelle

🧵1/5

[Elizabeth Chen @EChenLab]

Our live imaging video of muscle cell fusion is hosted on HHMI's Beautiful Biology!

Thanks BB for selecting our video and congratulations to @YueluUTSW!

https://t.co/QmNxO05yFl

[ShorterLab @ShorterLab]

Expanding the molecular grammar of polar residues and arginine in FUS phase separation: https://t.co/xb4KevJwgQ

[Nisha Mohd Rafiq @nishamrafiq]

Our review on the emerging roles for primary cilia in synapses and neurological disorders is now online! 😍https://t.co/UKVAx4UkFF

[Seham Ebrahim @sehamebrahim]

We find members of the TMC family of putative #mechanosensors at the tips of #intestinal #microvilli! @BecharaKachar

Modeling @Angelative and molecular dynamics simulations @LabSotomayor suggest they may be ion channels and/or lipid scramblases, like TMC1 at #stereocilia tips!

[Amirrasoul Tavakoli @amirrasoultav]

Excited to be part of this study using Cryo-ET to uncover new cellular organelles!

[Seham Ebrahim @sehamebrahim]

We are thrilled to share a truly exciting discovery by cryo electron tomography: the “hemifusome”- a new cellular organelle complex containing a hemifusion diaphragm! Tavakoli et al.
https://t.co/YPio7TscYJ
@amirrasoultav, @HuShiqiong and @Becharakachar
Tweetorial below (1/8)

[Sam Lacey @samlacey745]

Our paper looking at the structure of retrograde IFT trains is out now! Have a look at the link, or see some of the headlines in this video:
https://t.co/SvADj5wRoh