WE are
the MAYOR LAB.
We are a research lab at the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of British Columbia directed by Dr. Thibault Mayor (see short bio). Our aim is to better understand how unwanted and aberrant proteins are managed in the cell.
Accumulation of aberrant misfolded proteins lead to their aggregation in the cell and has been link to numerous neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and Huntington’s. How misfolded cytosolic proteins are degraded, which proteins are more prone to aggregation and how we can modify the cellular environment to improve protein productions are three major questions we are trying to tackle
We like molecular chaperones, ubiquitin, the proteasome, protein mass spectrometry, yeast genetics, mammalian tissue culture cells and many other ways to investigate protein quality control.
01 PROJECTS
Prospective students
There will an opening for 2 PhD positions in 2024. Prospective students should contact Dr. Thibault Mayor by email with their CV and consult the websites of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and of the Genome Science and Technology Program.
There are typically between 1-3 ongoing undergraduate projects at any given time (summer projects, 448/449 directed studies, work-studies or co-op projects). For inquiries, interested students should directly contact Dr. Thibault Mayor by email with their CV and a copy of their transcripts (unofficial).
Prior wanting to join the lab each applicant is encouraged to read our lab code of conduct & policies document to make sure our lab is the appropriate environment and beter understand some of the expectations.
Project Overview
A first priority in our lab is to decipher client repertoire of co-chaperones associated to protein aggregation, as well as identify elements of the protein homeostasis network that target cytosolic misfolded proteins for degradation. A major approach used in these projects is protein mass spectrometry, especially BioID proximity labeling. The work is mostly done in mammalian tissue culture cells and relies on diverse standard techniques (e.g., molecular biology, transfection & lentiviruses, CRISPR/CAS9, fluorescent microscopy, and flow cytometry). See our soon to be published manuscript here.
A second priority in our lab is to continue our work in recombinant protein production using microbial cell factories. Our goal is to develop and optimize yeast host cell for heterologous protein production and better understand some of the bottlenecks associated to protein homeostasis in cell factories. For these biotechnology projects, the ideal candidate should have some expertise in molecular biology, yeast genetics, enzyme kinetics and/or microbiology. For more information check the graphical summary of our first study and read the manuscript here.
Our third priority is to look at changes of the protein homeostasis network upon aging. For this project, candidates should have some experience in bioinformatics, biochemistry, proteomics and/or handling mice. For more information read out latest manuscripts in PNAS and Cell Reports, as well as our comic strips (second & third ones). Note that we will only hire a new trainees in this area if we can secure additional funds for this project.
02 PUBLICATIONS
Selected
2024
2022-2023
Shift of the insoluble content of the proteome in the aging mouse brain.
Molzahn C, Kuechler ER, ... Mayor T.
PNAS (2023) 120(45):e2310057120 PDF
Pulse labeling reveals the tail end of protein folding by proteome profiling.
Mang Z, Kuechler ER, Wong RWK, Calabrese G, Sitarik IM, Rana V, Stoynov N, O'Brien EP, Gsponer J, Mayor T.
Cell Reports. (2022) 40(3):111096 PDF
Protein interaction networks in neurodegenerative diseases: from physiological function to aggregation.
Calabrese G, Molzahn C, Mayor T.
J. Chem. Biol. (2022) 298:102062 PDF
GraPES: The Granule Protein Enrichment Server for prediction of biological condensate constituents.
Kuechler ER, Jacobson M, Mayor T, Gsponer J.
Nucleic Acids Res. (2022) 50(W1):W384-W391 PDF
2020-2021
Protein feature analysis of heat shock induced ubiquitination sites reveals preferential modification site localization
Kuechler ER, Rose A, Bolten M, .... Mayor T.
J Proteomics (2021) 239:104182 PDF
Proteomic analysis reveals the direct recruitment of intrinsically disordered regions to stress granules in S. cerevisiae.
Zhu M, Kuechler ER, Zhang J, ... Gsponer J, Mayor T.
J Cell Sci. (2020) 133(13):jcs244657 PDF
Distinct Features of Stress Granule Proteins Predict Localization in Membraneless Organelles.
Kuechler ER, Budzyńska PM, Bernardini JP, Gsponer J, Mayor T.
J Mol Biol. (2020) 432(7):2349-2368 PDF
2017-2018
A Method to Monitor Protein Turnover by Flow Cytometry and to Screen for Factors that Control Degradation by Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting.
Comyn SA, Mayor T.
Methods Mol Biol. (2018) ;1844:137-153
Recurrent background mutations in WHI2 impair proteostasis and degradation of misfolded cytosolic proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Comyn SA, Flibotte S, Mayor T.
Sci Rep. (2017) 23;7(1):4183.
2016-2017
2014-2015
A feature analysis of lower solubility proteins in three eukaryotic systems.
Albu RF, Chan GT, Zhu M, Wong ET, Taghizadeh F, Hu X, Mehran AE, Johnson JD, Gsponer J, Mayor T.
Journal of Proteomics (2015) 118:21-38.
Rsp5/Nedd4 is the main ubiquitin ligase that targets cytosolic misfolded proteins following heat stress.
Fang NN, Chan GT, Zhu M, Comyn SA, Persaud A, Deshaies RJ, Rotin D, Gsponer J, Mayor T.
Nature Cell Biology (2014) 16(12):1227-37
Deubiquitinase activity is required for the proteasomal degradation of misfolded cytosolic proteins upon heat-stress.
Fang NN, Zhu M, Rose A, Wu KP, Mayor T.
Nature Communications (2016) 7:12907
Prefoldin Promotes Proteasomal Degradation of Cytosolic Proteins with Missense Mutations by Maintaining Substrate Solubility.
Comyn SA, Young BP, Loewen CJ, Mayor T.
PLoS Genetics (2016) 12(7):e1006184
2013-2012
2010-2011
System-Wide Analysis Reveals Intrinsically Disordered Proteins are Prone to Ubiquitylation after Misfolding Stress.
Ng AH, Fang NN, Comyn SA, Gsponer J, Mayor T.
Mol. Cell. Proteomics (2013) 12(9):2456-67
The Yeast Ubr1 Ubiquitin Ligase Participates in a Prominent Pathway That Targets Cytosolic Thermosensitive Mutants for Degradation.
Khosrow-Khavar F, Fang NN, Ng AH, Winget JM, Comyn SA, Mayor T.
G3 (2012) 2:619-628
Hul5 HECT ubiquitin ligase plays a major role in the ubiquitylation and turnover of cytosolic misfolded proteins.
Fang NN, Ng AH, Measday V, Mayor T.
Nature Cell Biology (2011) 13(11):1344-52
The Diversity of Ubiquitin Recognition: Hot Spots and Varied Specificity.
Winget JM and Mayor T.
Molecular Cell (2010) 38: 627-635
The co-chaperone DNAJA2 buffers proteasomal degradation of cytosolic proteins with missense mutations. Baker HA, Bernardini JP, Csizmok V, Madero A, Kamat S, ... Mayor T
J Cell Sci. (in press)
Genome-wide screen identifies new set of genes for improved heterologous laccase expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Strawn G, Wong R, Young B, Davey M, Nislow C, Conibear E, Loewen C, Mayor T.
Microbial Cell Factories (2024) 23:36 PDF
04 Lab ALUMNI
Graduate Students, Postdocs & Staff
Cristen Molzhahn - PhD Student (2018-23); Postdoc (Gu lab)
Aastha Dalal - MSc Student (2021-23)
Gaetano Calabrese - Postdoc (2020-23); Media and Marketing Manager (CECAD)
Marcel Bolten - Postdoc (2017-23); Freelance Science Programmer
Erich Kuechler - Postdoc (2017-23); Scientist (AbCellera)
Garrett Strawn - MSc Student (2020-22); Research Associate (Allen Institute)
Mang Zhu - PhD Student (2015-22); Postdoc (Hartl)
Paulina Budzynska - Postdoc (2019-20); now Senior Scientist (Evolved Therapeutics)
Jon Bernardini - Postdoc (2019-20); Postdoc (Komander)
Angel Madero - Lab Research Assistant (2018-19); Graduate Student (Stanford)
Shaima Kammoonah - Lab Manager (2016-19); Lab Manager (STEMCELL)
Veronika Csizmok - Research Associate (2017-18); Staff Scientist (Genome Science Center)
Amalia Rose - MSc Student (2016-18); Lab Technician
Sophie Comyn - PhD Student (2012-17); Postdoc (JBI) - now Scientist (Abalone Bio)
Nancy Fang - PhD Student (2008-15); Postdoc (Church-Zandstra)
Patrizio Panelli - MSc Student (2013-15); Lab Technician
Gerard Chan - MSc Student (2012-15); Data Analyst (Lenovo)
Razvan Albu - Postdoc (2013-15); Scientist (ABM) - now Scientist (SpeeDx)
Patrick Chan - Postdoc (2012-15); Scientist (CDRD) - now Scientist (AbCellera)
Jason Winget - Postdoc (2009-12); Scientist (ISB) - now Senior Scientist (Procter & Gamble)
Karzin Khosrow-Khavar - MSc Student (2008-11); PhD - now Instructor Faculty (Rutgers)
Inga Wilde - Postdoc (2008-10); now Medical Writer (Paraxel)
Esther Gies - Visiting Student (MSc) (2009-10) - Graduate Student (UBC)
Chris Pu - MSc Student (2007-08); Lab Technician
Constance Couture - Lab Technician (2007 - 2008); Lab Technician (UBC Oceanography)
Undergraduate Students
Oliver Hong - Honours & USRA Research Assistant (2023-24); Graduate Student (UBC)
Vivian Ho - Coop student (2024)
Jasmine Lay - Directed Studies student (2023-24)
Maline Akwar - Worklearn Lab Assistant (2023-24)
Sofia Serrano - Worklearn Lab Assisitant (2023-24)
Darasimi Kola-Ilesanmi - Research Assistant (USRA) (2023); Graduate Student (U Calgary)
Phillip Qiao - Directed Studies (2022-23)
Virginia Wu - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2022-23)
Hailey Eng - Summer Research Assistant (USRA) (2022); Graduate Student (UBC)
Karl Stoliker - Honours Project (2021-22)
Alexi Shade - Research Assistant (2022)
Rowel Sabahat - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2022)
Tiffany Wai - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2021-22)
Vanessa Emnacen - Volunteer Research Assistant (2022)
Omar Kassas - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2021)
Devina Grisella - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2020-21)
Irina Zemlyankina - Coop & Honours Project (2020-21); Graduate Student (U Calgary)
Marissa Foo - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2019-20) ; Graduate student (UBC)
Claire Grall - Summer Research Assistant (USRA) (2019-20)
John Kim - Directed studies (2019-20) ; Graduate Student (UBC)
Thea Audsen - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2019-20)
Lucy (Yi) Lu - Coop Research Assistant (2019-20) ; Lab Assistant (Symvivo)
Chenyuan (Coco) Wu - Summer Research Assistant (2019)
Morgan Towgriss - Research Assistant (2019); Graduate Student (UBC)
Kara Schultz - Coop Research Assistant (2019)
Loulou Cai - Summer Research Assistant (2019)
Jeremy Hui - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2018-19); MD school
Jeremy Soroka - Directed Studies (2018-19); Research Associate
Janet Huang - Coop Research Assistant (2018); Medical Laboratory Science program
Joyce Zhang - Research Assistant (USRA) & Directed studies (2017-18) ; MD/PhD student
Jessica Li - Summer Research Assistant (USRA) (2018)
Lucy (Yi) Lu - Coop Research Assistant (2018)
Alice Man - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2018); MD/PhD student
Prakruti Uday - Volunteer Student (2017) ; Graduate Student (UBC)
Eric Xiang - Lab Assistant (2017)
Abigail Moraes - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2017) ; Lab Technician (Amgen)
Katharina Schatz - Visiting student (MSc; MITACS) (2017) ; Engineer (Synovo GmbH)
Sebastian Ittermann - Visiting Student (MSc) (2017)
Naomi Kam - Summer Research Assistant (2017)
Sam Mitchell - Summer Research Assistant (2017)
Ben Allwein - Visiting student (summer) (2017); Graduate Student (Cornell)
Erika Jang - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2016-17)
Lisa Lee - Honours Project & Research Assistant (USRA) (2015-16); Graduate Student
Jay Yin - Honours Project (2015-16)
Erin Kim - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2014-16); Research Associate
Amalia Rose - Directed Studies (2014-14); Graduate Student (UBC)
Florian Zhou - Summer Research Assistant (USRA) (2014)
Amelia Tan - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2014)
Luisa Hallmaier-Wacker Work-learn Lab Assistant (2013-14)
Nelson Chow - Coop Research Assistant - Directed Studies (2012-13)
Sung Hoon Choi - Directed Studies (2012-13)
Mang Zhu - Honours Project & Research Assistant (USRA) (2012-13) ; Graduate Student (UBC)
Jun Cao - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2012-13)
Nicolas Coutin - Honours Project (USRA) (2011-12) ; Graduate Student (UBC)
Alex Ng - Honours Project & Research Assistant (USRA) (2011-12) ; Graduate Student (Harvard)
Anthony Emmott - Volunteer Research Assistant (2012)
Thomas Pu - Lab Assistant - Worklearn (2012)
Tianna Koreman - Lab Assistant - Worklearn (2011-12)
Cecilia Perez-Borrajero - Directed Studies & Research Assistant (2010-11); Grad Student (UBC)
Carolyn Wong - Work-learn Lab Assistant & Summer Research Assistant (2010-11)
Carolina Arias Novoa - Directed Studies (2009-10)
Ryan Li-Yun-Fong - Directed Studies (2009-10)
Simon Au - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2009-10)
Islam Ratib - Coop Research Assistant (2009)
Anita Ho - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2008-09)
Maria Brack - Visiting Student (Diploma) (2008); Research Associate
Grace Chan - Summer Research Assistant (2008)
In Whang - Summer Research Assistant (2008)
Mayumi Iwashita - Lab & Research Assistant (2007-08); MSc (UBC)
Jack Zheng - Coop Research Assistant (2007)
Stephen Cheung - Work-learn Lab Assistant (2007)
05 NEWS!
- Oct 2024 - Congrats to Heather (and Shriya, Liz and so many past lab members) for their JCS paper!
- Sep 2024 - Our lab welcomes Dane and Oliver (Graduate students), Aubrey and Steve (Honours students)
- July 2024 - Congratulations to Sahil for his UBC 4YF scholarship!
- June 2024 - Happy to see Nancy joining back our lab as a part-time Research Associate
- May 2024 - Our lab welcomes several new undergraduates: Max & Vivien
- Jan 2024 - Congrats to Garrett for his Microbial Cell Factory paper!
- Jan 2024 - Happy New Year and Welcome to Sahil (PhD student) who joins us from the Audas lab
- Dec 2023 - We made it ! We won the 2023 Kilburn Cup for the Best MSL Holiday video
- Nov 2023 - Congrats to Cristen for a superb defence of her PhD
- Nov 2023 - Congratulations to Aastha for successfully defending her MSc thesis
- Nov 2023 - Great presentation from Aastha at VAMS (Vancouver Area MS) discussion group
- September 2023 - Welcome to Jasmine (honours), Maline (work-learn), Oliver (honours)
- May 2023 - Welcome to Liz (lab manager), Dara (NSERC-USRA) and Sofia (work-learn)
- April 2023 - Congrats to Heather for her CIHR Canada Graduate Scholarships
- Jan 2023 - Congrats to Erich for her new position at AbCellera. You will be missed!
- September 2022 - Welcome (again) to Shriya who is now a BMB graduate student
- May 2022 - Welcome to Virginia (work-learn) and Hailey (NSERC-USRA)
- Spring 2022 - Congrats to Shriya for her GSAT summer scholarship & MSL entrance scholarship
- Jan 2022 - Welcome to Rowel (work-learn) and Vanessa (CHEM 445 RLE)
- Oct 2021 - Welcome to Aastha (BMB graduate student)
- Sep 2021 - Welcome to Karl (449) & Omar (work-learn)
- June 2021 - Talk from Erich at the CSMB meeting
- May 2021 - Welcome to Shriya (co-op & 448 directed studies) and Tiffany (work-learn)
- March 2021 - Talk from Cristen at the US-HUPO meeting
- Nov 2020 - Welcome to Tanio who just completed a 2 week quarantine and congratulations for Tanio's DFG and MSFHR Postdoctoral Fellowships
- Oct 2020 - Congratulations to Paulina for her new position at AbCellera. We are sad to see you go!
- Oct 2020 - Great talk from Cristen at our MSL Seminar Series
- Sep 2020 - Welcome to Garrett our new BMB graduate student and Devina our new work learn student.
- June 2020 - Congrats to Heather for her one year BC Graduate Student Scholarship
- May - Welcome to Claire Grall (NSERC-USRA) and Irina Zemlyankina (International work learn)
- March 2020 - Lab shutting down
- February 2020 - Excellent Presentation from Erich in our monthly BMB presentations
- Sep 2019 - Welcome to John (directed studies), Marissa (work-learn), Lucy (research assistant), our new or returning undergraduate students and Heather (biochemistry graduate student)
- Aug 2019 - Congrats to Cristen for her 4 year scholarship
- Aug 2019 - We say good bye to Angel who is starting his graduate studies in Stanford
- June 2019 - Great Lightning Presentation from Mang at the GRC on stress response in Lucca (Italy)
- June 2019 - Welcome to Jon who joined us as postdoc
- May 2019 - Congrats to Ryan for his NSERC MSc scholarship
- May 2019 - Welcome to Thea (work-learn), Coco (CS-research assistant), Loulou (NSERC USRA) & Kara (coop) our new summer undergraduate students
- Feb 2019 - Lab snow day activity!
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Feb 2019 - Welcome to Paulina who joins us as a postdoc and Sigrid Juselius Foundation fellow
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Sep 2018 - Mang's presentation at the MSL seminar series
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Sep 2018 - Welcome to Ryan (biochemistry graduate student), Jeremy (BIOC448) and Angel (Research Assistant) for joining the lab
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Aug 2018 - Congratulation to Veronika for her new position at the Genome Science Center (we are sad to see you go!)
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Aug 2018 - Lab retreat on Gambier Island
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Spring 2018 - Our lab was awarded a new CIHR grant project!!
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May 2018 - Congrats to Joyce who just graduated. We wish her good luck with her Master in September 2018
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May 2018 - Lab busy organizing the 10th CNPN (Canadian National Proteomics Network) symposium with the Lange lab
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May 2018 - welcome to Janet (coop), Jeremy (work learn), Jessica (NSEC USRA) and Lucy (coop); our new summer students!
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July 2017 - Poster presentation by Mang at the GRC on stress proteins meeting in Sunday River
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Aug 2017 - Welcome to Cristen who just joined our Biochemistry Graduate Program
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Aug 2017 - Lab retreat with the Tokuriki lab on Galiano Island
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Sep 2017 - Welcome to Veronika our new Research Associate and Alice our new Work learn student
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Nov 2017- Mang's presentation at our monthly department symposium
CONTACT
Our mailing address is:
Mayor Lab
University of British Columbia
2125 East Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4
Canada
Tel: 1-604-822-5144