To Heme We Bow! Research: anemia; heme & iron trafficking/metabolism; red cell development; parasite-host interactions; drug discovery. Professor: U Maryland; Founder & President: Rakta Therapeutics (website: hamza.umd.edu)
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A cell-nonautonomous heme acquisition pathway enables erythroid hemoglobinization under stress https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705195v1
This cell-nonautonomous pathway opens a new conceptual framework for understanding erythropoiesis and points toward novel therapeutic targets for #thalassemia and other #anemias where insufficient heme supply limits hemoglobin production.
🧵 Thrilled to share our new work in @embojournal! Over a century after Metchnikoff recognized macrophages as central to organismal homeostasis, we reveal how they act as metabolic guardians through an unexpected mechanism.
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
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🧪How does an ABC transporter 'know' nucleotides & substrates bound to far apart binding sites? Using 1H15N, 19F NMR, HDX-MS, PET-FCS & activity assays with Neuweiler, Marcoux, Orelle & Jault labs, we found a communication hinge! 😍🥳
@microverse.bsky.social @lifeprofile.bsky.social
rdcu.be/ePm4C
🧪Bacterial DL-peptidases are key in coordindated predetor defenses AND powerful tools for natural product structure elucidation! 🦠✂️
New JACS paper with @pstallforth.bsky.social
@mlakemeyer.bsky.social @en-hxnu-enment.bsky.social & Hertweck labs
@microverse.bsky.social
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Attention scientists from all over the world🙃
44 new #HFSPResearchGrants.
116 New #HFSPAwardees!
From studying sleep to exploring hidden underground ecosystems, #HFSP awardees are pushing the boundaries of life science in unexpected directions! 🧪
Meet the 2026 cohort → bit.ly/4uGmMQ3 #sts
The successful candidate will use a variety of model systems —including mouse, zebrafish, C. elegans, and yeast at the interface of genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry to tackle fundamental questions in nutrient deficiencies, anemia and genetics. (2/2)
Thrilled to share our HFSP grant "Revealing the Hidden World of Heme Proteins in True Colour" has been funded! An international collaboration with Jennifer Ogilvie (Canada), Michel Sliwa (France), & Philipp Kukura (UK) to develop label-free single-molecule imaging of heme transport and trafficking.
More about the HFSP recipients are here: bsky.app/profile/hfsp...
Red blood cells don't always make their own heme - under stress, they scavange it from neighbors. Our new paper in @ScienceMagazine reveals a cell-nonautonomous heme acquisition pathway essential for erythroid hemoglobinization. #heme #erythropoiesis #anemia
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
bioRxivpreprint
Iqbal Hamza
Heme, an iron-containing cofactor, is synthesized in mitochondria by an eight-enzyme pathway. Although cells were thought to manage heme autonomously, more than 1000 proteins contribute to its product...
