February 2024
Our paper showing annelid FMRFa-gated sodium channel (FaNaC) structures is now finalized! CryoEM from collaborators and electrophysiology out of the lab in Bergen. Want a look down the cryo-electron microscope? Full text here.
February 2024
Giulio’s work on delta-type glutamate receptors is now out. Full text here. Prepare to be surprised by what the neurotransmitter GABA is up to in numerous bilaterian animals.
September 2023 - Congratulations Mowgli!
Mowgli Dandamudi’s four years in the lab included some great research outputs, some nice work that we will follow up on, and his defence on 28th September was accordingly splendid. Some more details at the Centre’s news page.
We will miss you Mowgli, but we are happy to see you did so well, and we wish you well for the future!
Many thanks also to examiners Lena van Giesen and Stefan Gründer for discussions, presentations, and a great week of channels/receptors at the Michael Sars Centre.
Photo: Melanie Burford
September 2023
Giulio attended the first Berlin Single Molecule Biophysics Course 4th-8th September at Humboldt University, Berlin. Hands-on instruction from experts in the field! Here he is in action with single molecule expert Jelena Baranovic. Thanks also to tutors, Claudio Grosman and Andrew Plested.
August 2023
New preprint! Former lab member Sandra’s main project, with help from Oksana, Yuhong, and collaborator Hassan Harb. See how one particular amino acid residue in the ligand-binding domain controls iGluR activity. As shown in rat NMDA receptors and in a leak channel from Trichoplax adhaerens, a simple animal with some interesting ion channels! Preprint avaialable here.
AUGUST 2023
ASICs and delta iGluRs in the spotlight! Josep presents his work at the annual meeting of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution in Ferrara, Italy, and Giulio presents his work at the European Biophysical Societies' Association 2023 congress in Stockholm!
May 2023
Thanks to a collaboration with wonderful structural biologists Valeria Kalienkova and Cristina Paulino (formerly) at University of Groningen, and to our friend Mal (pictured), we can now report high-resolution structures of an FMRFamide-gated sodium channel (FaNaC) from the annelid worm Malacoceros fuliginosus. You can see all the details in <3 Å resolution in the preprint at Biorxiv.
February 2023
eLife has a published a nice feature on Josep’s work with Hejnol Lab collaborators on the evolution of acid-sensing ion channels. Available online here.
20th February 2023
Mowgli, Giulio and Tim were in San Diego to present their work at the annual Biophysical Society meeting. Great meeting, including plenty of DEG/ENaC and iGluR action.
31st JANUARY 2023
The name of our centre has changed to the Michael Sars Centre (previously The Sars International Centre for Marine Molecular Biology) and we are now a part of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at UiB. Nice article on pioneering Norwegian biologist Michael Sars here.
9th NOVEMBER 2022
The deadline passed for our recent job ad. But please contact Tim if you are interested in working here.
12th August 2022
Congratulations to Léa for a nice presentation on ASICs, wrapping up her stay in the lab working with Josep on DEG/ENaCs. Good luck with your next project!
See what Mowgli has been cooking.
22nd June 2022
Mowgli’s description of neuropeptide receptor evolution in molluscs and worms is now finalized in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, where it was higlighted as an “Editors’ Pick”. The full version is available here, and the Sars Centre features a nice story about Mowgli’s Ph.D. work here.
19th May 2022
Congrats Natalie and Cecilie on a nice presentation of your work with Josep on Oikopleura synapses. Pictured here at the UiB BIO Student Poster Symposium.
28th March 2022
Mowgli presented his work on neuropeptide-gated ion channels at the Ligand Recognition & Molecular Gating GRS/GRC in Italy last week! You can read the full story in the preprint at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.23.485451v1 . Mowgli used phylogenetics, mutagenesis, and electrophysiology to show that worms and mollusks have similar neuropeptide signaling machinery, which has evolved additional functions in worms.
New preprint!
19th March 2022
Josep has been busy with Aina Børve and Andreas Hejnol from UiB and Paul Bump from Stanford dissecting the evolution and function of acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs). Check out the preprint at https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.03.17.484724v1
Two postdoc positions open!
12th March 2022
We are looking for a patch clamper to work on ion channel biophysics (application deadline extended) and someone with a background in ion channels or receptor structure-function to work on the evolution of ligand recognition. Contact Tim for more details or see job description and apply at Jobbnorge, links below. Both job application deadlines 31st March 2022.
6th March 2022
Giulio presented his work on glutamate receptors at the annual Biophysical Society (USA) meeting in San Francisco last week. Exciting results on mysterious delta-type iGluRs.
Credit to Mowgli, Valeria, and Matze for the images!
10th February 2022
We have a three-year postdoc position available. If you’re interested in the evolution, function, and pharmacology of neurotransmitter receptors and have experience in patch clamp, we would love to hear from you. All applications are via jobbnorge, link below, and you can email Tim for other questions at tim.lynagh@uib.no Deadline for applications 11th March 2022.
Happy New Year!
1st January 2022
Wishing everyone a great 2022!
We look forward to sharing our first results, welcoming new lab members, and starting new projects.
New rig!
30th June 2021
Thanks to Francesco from Scientifica, our new inverted scope is ready to go, and hopefully we’re patch clamping soon.
Happy New Year!
We’re distancing, so the lab is half-full, and we’ve got face masks on. But we’re expecting many exciting developments in 2021!
Friday: 22°C, cloudy.
4th August 2020
Wishing everyone a happy and safe summer!
Welcome Giulio!
25th May 2020
Giulio made it! With facemask on, he rolled into Bergen yesterday and starts his Ph.D. today. For now he will be working from home, but that gives him time to read up on glutamate receptors before hitting the lab running. He did a master’s project on TRPV channels. I guess you could say these are kinda like upside-down glutamate receptors!
(Most of) Our Plants Survived!
18th May 2020
On 12th March 2020, we put down our microelectrodes, threw away our Xenopus oocytes, and began home office. Now Sars Centre and UiB are carefully starting laboratory work again. Here’s Adriana checking that Mowgli is working safely!
BPS 2020
February 2020
Tim was lucky enough to attend the annual Biophysical Society meeting, this year in San Diego. Not only did the meeting showcase some of the newest work on excitatory neurotransmitter receptors from across the globe, it highlighted work from adjacent fields such as computational approaches to protein function, and it also included a several talks on the use of chemical biology to investigate ion channel function. Great chance to meet up with his former supervisor and colleagues too, Stephan, Nina, and Chow from theplesslab.com.
Work With Us
January 2020
Students
Deadlines have closed for a new PhD student position. Potential Masters’s and Bachelor’s project students should contact Tim directly.
Postdocs
We plan to recruit a locally-funded postdoc later this year, stay tuned for more details. Those wishing to apply for external funding should contact Tim to discuss possibilities (tim.lynagh at uib.no).
Exciting!
August 2019
Those are some of the first measurements of currents in the lab. Here Sandra has applied acid to cells she’s treated to express acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs). Sound weird? We actually have ASICs in our brain! In certain contexts, they contribute to learning and memory. In others, they mediate pain, and there is therefore a lot of interesting in developing medicines that modulate ASICs.
Vidden
Summer 2019
Bergen cracked 33 degrees this July!
Undeterred, Sandra, Adriana, Harald, Josep, and Tim made it around Vidden, a walk connecting two of the “Seven Mountains”.
