Biophysical Society Bulletin | January 2023

Publications

Know the Editor Rebecca Berlow

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Associate Editor Biophysical Reports

Rebecca Berlow

What are you currently working on that excites you? My lab is less than a year old, so I have to say that every thing we are doing nowadays is exciting! The most reward ing aspect of leading a lab is being able to watch the team experience the joy of discovering something new. It is truly a privilege of our job as scientists! I’m really grateful to have a fun, enthusiastic group of people to work with in the lab every day and they keep me optimistic that our hard work will result in transformative discoveries. How do you stay on top of all the latest developments in your field? Scientific communication of all forms is so valuable for dis seminating our findings and staying up-to-date on new ad vances. I have always been an avid reader, but I found that the abrupt change to my daily routines due to the pandemic and the sudden increase in the number of papers being published meant that I couldn’t keep up. During this time, I also realized how much I had relied on conferences, seminars, and other networking opportunities to keep tabs on current research di rections in my field and to establish the context for our work. To fill some of this void, I turned to social media and have found it to be an effective way to keep track of new research and engage with our vibrant scientific community. While the platforms we use may be in flux, I do think that we all have a lot to gain from maintaining our interactions in this space.

Editor’s Pick Biophysical Journal Physiological changes in bilayer thickness induced by cholesterol control GPCR rhodopsin function Olivier Soubias, Alexander J. Sodt, Walter E. Teague, Kirk G. Hines, Klaus Gawrisch “Membrane cholesterol is an important allosteric modulator of GPCR function, but the mechanisms by which it acts are not completely understood. In this study, the authors show that formation of the active MII state of the model GPCR rho dopsin can be up- or downregulated by cholesterol depending on the hydrophobic mismatch between the protein and the surrounding bilayer. Based on data from NMR and molecular simulation, they propose a model that could explain how a GPCR could be turned on or off by physiological changes of bilayer properties induced by small changes in cholesterol content in cell membranes.”

Version of Record Published November 22, 2022 DOI: https:/doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2022.11.2937

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January 2023

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