Shashank Dadsena

TL;DR: A photoactivatable ceramide probe combined with a computation approach and functional studies support a role of VDAC2 as direct effector of ceramide-mediated cell death, providing a molecular framework for how ceramides exert their anti-neoplastic activity.

TL;DR: The authors showed that BAX and BAK have distinct oligomerization properties, with BAK organizing into smaller structures with faster kinetics than BAX, and showed that BAK recruits and accelerates BAX assembly into oligomers that continue to grow during apoptosis.

TL;DR: A photoactivatable ceramide probe is used combined with computer simulations and functional studies to identify the voltage-dependent anion channel VDAC2 as a critical effector of ceramide-induced mitochondrial apoptosis, providing a novel molecular framework for how ceramides execute their widely acclaimed anti-neoplastic activities.

TL;DR: The developed switchable version of the ceramide transfer protein CERT, sCERT, is established as a novel tool to dissect the underlying mechanism in a time‐resolved manner and extend the previous finding that mistargeting of ER ceramides to mitochondria specifically activates Bax.

TL;DR: A review of the structure and molecular mechanisms of mitochondria pore formation at the interface between cell death and inflammatory signaling to regulate cellular outcomes is presented in this paper , where the authors discuss the current understanding of the mitochondrial pore structure.