New Organelle Discovered: UVA and NIH Researchers Identify ‘Hemifusomes’ as a Key to Cellular Recycling
In a groundbreaking study published in Nature Communications, researchers from UVA’s Center for Membrane & Cell Physiology and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered a previously unknown cellular structure—the hemifusome—that could fundamentally reshape our understanding of how cells recycle their contents and sort and direct intracellular cargo.
The discovery was co-led by Seham Ebrahim, PhD, a CMCP resident faculty member, and assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at UVA, and Bechara Kachar, MD, chief of the Laboratory of Cell Structure and Dynamics at the NIH’s National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). It represents a major collaborative breakthrough powered by UVA’s Molecular Electron Microscopy Core (MEMC), a state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscopy facility directed by Michael Purdy, PhD.
“This is the first time anyone has visualized this structure inside cells,” said Dr. Ebrahim. “The hemifusome is a brand-new organelle, and we believe it plays a central role in a newly discovered pathway for building multivesicular bodies—key recycling centers within our cells.” READ MORE