Welcome to the Switch Laboratory

Mapping aggregation-specific interactions in human disease

Our research focuses on understanding the mechanisms gearing protein folding and misfolding and their relation to human disease. In particular, we are investigating how protein aggregation affects the interactome by suppressing native interactions but also by introducing novel aggregation-specific interactions. These latter are especially relevant as they are usually associated with gain of function activities such as neurotoxicity (neurodegeneration).

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Newest publications

  • publication

    Native Fold Delay and its implications for co-translational chaperone binding and protein aggregation

    Ramon Duran-Romaña, Bert Houben, Paula Fernández Migens, Ying Zhang, Frederic Rousseau, Joost Schymkowitz
    Nat Commun . 2025 Feb 15
    PubMed
  • publication

    Co-translational protein aggregation and ribosome stalling as a broad-spectrum antibacterial mechanism

    Laleh Khodaparast, Ladan Khodaparast, Ramon Duran-Romaña, Guiqin Wu, Bert Houben, Wouter Duverger, Matthias De Vleeschouwer, Katerina Konstantoulea, Fleur Nysen, Thomas Schalck, Daniel J Curwen, Lisandra L Martin, Sebastien Carpentier, Bernard Scorneaux, Jan Michiels, Joost Schymkowitz, Frederic Rousseau
    Nat Commun . 2025 Feb 12
    PubMed
  • publication

    FoldX Force Field revisited, an improved version

    Javier Delgado, Raul Reche, Damiano Cianferoni, Gabriele Orlando, Rob van der Kant, Frederic Rousseau, Joost Schymkowitz, Luis Serrano
    Bioinformatics . 2025 Feb
    PubMed
  • publication

    Structural commonalities determined by physicochemical principles in the complex polymorphism of the amyloid state of proteins

    Silvia Errico, Giulia Fani, Salvador Ventura, Joost Schymkowitz, Frederic Rousseau, Antonio Trovato, Michele Vendruscolo, Francesco Bemporad, Fabrizio Chiti
    Biochem J . 2025 Jan 22
    PubMed
  • publication

    Composition and liquid-to-solid maturation of protein aggregates contribute to bacterial dormancy development and recovery

    Celien Bollen, Sofie Louwagie, Femke Deroover, Wouter Duverger, Ladan Khodaparast, Laleh Khodaparast, Dieter Hofkens, Joost Schymkowitz, Frederic Rousseau, Liselot Dewachter, Jan Michiels
    Nat Commun . 2025 Jan 26
    PubMed
  • publication

    pTau pathology in the retina of TAU58 mice: association with ganglion cell degeneration and implications on seeding and propagation of pTau from human brain lysates

    Grzegorz Walkiewicz, Alicja Ronisz, Simona Ospitalieri, Grigoria Tsaka, Sandra O Tomé, Rik Vandenberghe, Christine A F von Arnim, Frederic Rousseau, Joost Schymkowitz, Lies De Groef, Dietmar Rudolf Thal
    Acta Neuropathol Commun . 2024 Dec 20
    PubMed