涩里番 session focuses on proximity-dependent biotinylation
How proteins interact with one another and with other macromolecules, their organization in cells and how these associations are modulated following perturbations long have defined an important branch of the field of functional proteomics. In the past 10 years, approaches that enable the study of these connections in the context of live cells — and now live organisms — have revolutionized the role of proteomics in cell biology.
This session at the 2021 ASBMB Annual Meeting focuses on proximity-dependent labeling approaches, which allow for the covalent tagging of proteins that have come in close proximity to a bait protein (a protein of interest fused to an enzyme) in the context of living cells. Coupling of this strategy to mass spectrometric identification of the labeled proteins permits the characterization of cellular organization.
Since its first implementation to identify the components of the nuclear lamina in cultured cells, proximity-dependent biotinylation has contributed to better understanding of the composition of both membrane-bound and membraneless organelles, defined new signaling complex components, and illuminated the molecular mechanisms underlying several diseases. Proximity-dependent biotinylation methods, including APEX and BioID, still are developing, permitting new experimental modalities and answering increasingly complex questions.
The three presenters selected by the editorial leadership of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics are early-career researchers pushing the boundaries of proximity-dependent biotinylation methods and their applications.
Tess C. Branon, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, will present her work on the directed evolution of promiscuous biotin ligases for efficient proteomic mapping in vivo.
Geoffrey Hesketh, a postdoctoral fellow at the Lunenfeld–Tanenbaum Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, will describe how he used proximity-dependent sensors to reveal new intricacies in amino acid signaling.
Ilia Droujinine, a principal investigator and Scripps fellow at Scripps Research in California, will introduce new work exploring protein trafficking by in vivo tissue-specific labeling in Drosophila.
Enjoy reading ASBMB Today?
Become a member to receive the print edition four times a year and the digital edition monthly.
Learn moreGet the latest from ASBMB Today
Enter your email address, and we鈥檒l send you a weekly email with recent articles, interviews and more.
Latest in People
People highlights or most popular articles

Biochemists and molecular biologists sweep major 2025 honors
Recent Nobel, MacArthur and Kimberly Prize honorees highlight the power of biochemistry and molecular biology to drive discovery, including immune tolerance, vaccine design and metabolic disease, and to advance medicine and improve human health.

Subramanian receives electron microscopy honor
He delivered remarks at the International Conference on Electron Microscopy in Bangalore, India.

Bioart for fall: From order to disorder
The cover of the fall issue of ASBMB Today was created by ASBMB member, Soutick Saha, a bioinformatics developer at Wolfram Alpha LLC.

Doudna wins Priestley Medal
She will receive a $20,000 research grant and will formally accept the honor at the ACS Spring 2026 conference.

In memoriam: David Baltimore
He was a Nobel laureate, president emeritus at the California Institute of Technology and an ASBMB member for more than 50 years.

In memoriam: Stuart A. Kornfeld
He was a pioneer in glycobiology and was a member of the 涩里番 for more than 50 years.