2024
Hermany Munguba*, Vanessa Gutzeit*, Ipsit Srivastava*, Melanie Kristt, Ashna Singh, Akshara Vijay, Anisul Arefin, Sonal Thukral S, Johannes Broichhagen J, Joseph Stujenske JM, Connor Liston C, Joshua Levitz. Projection-Targeted Photopharmacology Reveals Distinct Anxiolytic Roles for Presynaptic mGluR2 in Prefrontal- and Insula-Amygdala Synapses. bioRxiv.
Benjamin Polacco, Braden Lobingier, Emily Blythe, Nohely Abreu, Prachi Khare, MatthewHoward, Alberto Gonzalez-Hernandez, Jiewei Xu, Qiongyu Li, Brandon Novy, Zun Zar Chi Naing, Brian Shoichet, Willow Coyote-Maestas, Joshua Levitz, Nevan Krogan, Mark Von Zastrow, Ruth Hüttenhain. Profiling the proximal proteome of the activated μ-opioid receptor. Nature Chem Bio.
Gabriele Ciceri, Arianna Baggiolini, Hyein Cho, Meghana Kshirsagar, Silvia Benito-Kwiecinski, Ryan Walsh, Kelly Aromolaran, Alberto Gonzalez-Hernandez, Hermany Munguba, So Yeon Koo, Nan Xu, Kaylin Sevilla, Peter Goldstein, Joshua Levitz, Christina Leslie, Richard Koche, Lorenz Studer. An epigenetic barrier sets the timing of human neuronal maturation. Nature.
Indu Menon, Taras Sych, Yeeun Son, Takefumi Morizumi, Joon Lee, Oliver P. Ernst, George Khelashvili, Erdinc Sezgin, Joshua Levitz, Anant K. Menon. A cholesterol switch controls phospholipid scrambling by G-protein coupled receptors. Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Emiliano Hergenreder, Andrew P. Minotti, Yana Zorina, Polina Oberst, Zeping Zhao, Hermany Munguba, Elizabeth L. Calder, Arianna Baggiolini, Ryan M. Walsh, Connor Liston, Joshua Levitz, Ralph Garippa, Shuibing Chen, Gabriele Ciceri, Lorenz Studer. Combined small-molecule treatment accelerates maturation of human pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons. Nature Biotechology.
Cristina Lao-Peregrin*, Guoqing Xiang*, Jihye Kim*, Ipsit Srivastava, Alexandra B. Fall, Danielle M. Gerhard, Piia Kohtala, Daegeon Kim, Minseok Song, Mikel Garcia-Marcos, Joshua Levitz, Francis S. Lee. Synaptic plasticity via receptor tyrosine kinase/G protein-coupled receptor crosstalk. Cell Reports.
2023
Kilian Roßmann*, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Hernandez*, Rahul Bhuyan, Karl Börjesson, Joshua Levitz, Johannes Broichhagen. Deuteration provides a general strategy to enhance azobenzene-based photopharmacology. bioRxiv.
Benedikt Baumgartner, Viktorija Glembockyte, Robert Mayer, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Hernandez, Robert Kindler, Abha Valavalkar, Alexander Wiegand, Adrian Müller-Deku, Lutz Grubert, Florian Steiner, Christoph Gross, Martin Reynders, Vincent Grenier, Johannes Broichhagen, Stefan Hecht, Philip Tinnefeld, Armin Ofial, Benjamin Dietzek-Ivanšic, Joshua Levitz, Oliver Thorn-Seshold. Azobenzenes can achieve near-infrared photocontrol in biological systems, with quantitative Z→E photoisomerization, via singlet manifold photoredox. ChemRxiv.
Chiara Mancinelli*, Dagan C. Marx*, Alberto Gonzalez-Hernandez*, Lucia Mancinelli, George Khelashvilli, Joshua Levitz, David Eliezer. Control of G protein-coupled receptor function via membrane-interacting intrinsically disordered C-terminal domains. bioRxiv.
Alexa Strauss*, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Hernandez*, Joon Lee*, Nohely Abreu, Purushotham Selvakumar, Leslie Salas-Estrada, Melanie Kristt, Dagan C. Marx, Kristen Gilliland, Bruce J. Melancon, Marta Filizola, Joel Meyerson, Joshua Levitz. Structural basis of allosteric modulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor activation and desensitization. bioRxiv.
Joon Lee*, Alberto J. Gonzalez-Hernandez*, Melanie Kristt*, Nohely Abreu, Kilian Rossman, Anisul Arefin, Dagan C. Marx, Johannes Broichhagen, Joshua Levitz. Distinct beta-arrestin coupling and intracellular trafficking of metabotropic glutamate receptor homo- and hetero-dimers. Science Advances.
Minfei Su, Jinan Wang, Guoquing Xiang, Hung Nguyen Do, Joshua Levitz, Yinglong Miao, Xin-Yun Huang. Structural basis of agonist specificity of α1A-adrenergic receptor. Nature Communications.
2022
Guoqing Xiang, Amanda Acosta-Ruiz, Arthur Radoux-Mergault A, Melanie Kristt, Jihye Kim, Jared D Moon, Johannes Broichhagen, Asuka Inoue, Francis S. Lee, Miriam Stoeber, Jeremy S. Dittman, Joshua Levitz. Control of Gαq signaling dynamics and GPCR cross-talk by GRKs. Science Advances.
David Simon and Joshua Levitz. A ciliary synapse for "short-circuit" neuromodulation. Cell.
Johannes Broichhagen and Joshua Levitz. Advances in tethered photopharmacology for precise optical control of signaling proteins. Curr Opin Pharmacol.
Birke R, Ast J, Roosen DA, Lee J, Roßmann K, Huhn C, Mathes B, Lisurek M, Bushiri D, Sun H, Jones B, Lehmann M, Levitz J, Haucke V, Hodson DJ, Broichhagen J. Sulfonated red and far-red rhodamines to visualize SNAP- and Halo-tagged cell surface proteins. Org Biomol Chem.
Morstein J*, Romano G*, Hetzler B, Plante A, Haake C, Levitz J, Trauner D. Photoswitchable Serotonins for Optical Control of the 5-HT2A Receptor. Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English).
2021
Purushotham Selvakumar*, Joon Lee*, Nandish Khanra, Changhao He, Hermany Munguba, Lisa Kiese, Johannes Broichhagen, Andreas Reiner, Joshua Levitz#, Joel R. Meyerson#. Structural and compositional diversity in the kainate receptor family. Cell Reports.
George Khelashvili, Anoop Narayana Pillai, Joon Lee, Kalpana Pandey, Alexander M. Payne, Zarek Siegel, Michel A. Cuendet, Tylor R. Lewis, Vadim Y. Arshavsky, Johannes Broichhagen, Joshua Levitz, Anant K. Menon. Unusual mode of dimerization of retinitis pigmentosa-associated F220C rhodopsin. Scientific Reports.
Nohely Abreu, Amanda Acosta-Ruiz*, Guoqing Xiang*, Joshua Levitz. Mechanisms of differential desensitization of metabotropic glutamate receptors. Cell Reports.
Jordana K. Thibado, Jean-Yves Tano, Joon Lee, Leslie Salas-Estrada, Davide Provasi, Alexa Strauss, Joao Marcelo Lamim Ribeiro, Guoqing Xiang, Johannes Broichhagen, Marta Filizola, Martin J. Lohse, Joshua Levitz. Differences in interactions between transmembrane domains tune the activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors. eLife.
Vanessa A Gutzeit , Amanda Acosta-Ruiz, Hermany Munguba , Stephanie Häfner, Arnaud Landra-Willm, Bettina Mathes, Jürgen Mony, Dzianis Yarotski, Karl Börjesson, Conor Liston, Guillaume Sandoz, Joshua Levitz, Johannes Broichhagen. A fine-tuned azobenzene for enhanced photopharmacology in vivo. Cell Chemical Biology.
2020
Amr Ellaithy, Javier Gonzalez-Maeso, Diomedes A. Logothetis, Joshua Levitz. Structural and Biophysical Mechanisms of Class C G Protein-Coupled Receptor Function. Trends in Biochemical Sciences.
Nohely Abreu, Joshua Levitz. Optogenetic Techniques for Manipulating and Sensing G Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology.
Pascal Poc*, Vanessa A. Gutzeit*, Julia Ast*, Joon Lee*, Ben J. Jones, Elisa D'Este, Bettina Mathes, Martin Lehmann, David J. Hodson, Joshua Levitz, and Johannes Broichhagen. Interrogating surface versus intracellular transmembrane receptor populations using cell-impermeable SNAP-tag substrates. Chem. Sci.
Joon Lee, Hermany Munguba, Vanessa A. Gutzeit, Melanie Kristt, Jeremy S. Dittman, Joshua Levitz. Defining the Homo- and Heterodimerization Propensities of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors. Cell Reports.
Amanda Acosta-Ruiz*, Vanessa A. Gutzeit*, Mary Jane Skelly, Samantha Meadows, Joon Lee, Puja Parekh, Anna G. Orr, Conor Liston, Kristen E. Pleil, Johannes Broichhagen, Joshua Levitz. Branched Photoswitchable Tethered Ligands Enable Ultra-efficient Optical Control and Detection of G Protein-Coupled Receptors In Vivo. Neuron.
2019
Chris H. Habrian, Joshua Levitz, Vojtech Vyklicky, Zhu Fu, Adam Hoagland, Isabelle McCort-Tranchepain, Francine Acher, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Conformational pathway provides unique sensitivity to a synaptic mGluR. Nature Communications.
Prashant C. Donthamsetti, Johannes Broichhagen, Vojtech Vyklicky, Cherise Stanley, Zhu Fu, Meike Visel, Joshua Levitz, Jonathan A. Javitch, Dirk Trauner, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Genetically Targeted Optical Control of an Endogenous G Protein-Coupled Receptor. J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Vanessa A. Gutzeit, Jordana Thibado, Daniel Starer Stor, Zhou Zhou, Scott C. Blanchard, Olaf S. Andersen, Joshua Levitz. Conformational dynamics between transmembrane domains and allosteric modulation of a metabotropic glutamate receptor. eLife.
Amanda Acosta-Ruiz, Johannes Broichhagen, Joshua Levitz. Optical Regulation of Class C GPCRs by Photoswitchable Orthogonal Remotely Tethered Ligands. G Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology.
Michael H. Berry, Amy Holt, Autoosa Salari, Julia Veit, Meike Visel, Joshua Levitz, Krisha Aghi, Benjamin M. Gaub, Benjamin Sivyer, John G. Flannery, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Restoration of high-sensitivity and adapting vision with a cone opsin. Nature Communications.
Sanduo Zheng, Nohely Abreu, Joshua Levitz, Andrew C. Kruse. Structural basis for KCTD-mediated rapid desensitization of GABAB signalling. Nature.
Perrine Royal, Alba Andres-Bilbe, Pablo Ávalos Prado, Clément Verkest, Brigitte Wdziekonski, Sébastien Schaub, Anne Baron, Florian Lesage, Xavier Gasull, Joshua Levitz, Guillaume Sandoz. Migraine-Associated TRESK Mutations Increase Neuronal Excitability through Alternative Translation Initiation and Inhibition of TREK. Neuron. 2019. Vol, 101 (2), 232-245.
2018
Helen Farrants, Vanessa A. Gutzeit, Amanda Acosta-Ruiz, Dirk Trauner, Kai Johnsson, Joshua Levitz#, Johannes Broichhagen#. SNAP-tagged nanobodies enable reversible optical control of a G protein-coupled receptor via a remotely tethered photoswitchable ligand. ACS Chemical Biology. 2018. Vol. 13 (9), 2682–2688.
Andreas Reiner*#, Joshua Levitz*#. Glutamatergic Signaling in the Central Nervous System: Ionotropic and Metabotropic Receptors in Concert. Neuron. 2018. Vol. 98, 1080-98.
2017
Kalpana Pandey, Brigitte Ploier, Michael Goren, Joshua Levitz, George Khelashvilli, Anant Menon. An engineered monomeric opsin scrambles phospholipids. Scientific Reports. 2017. Vol. 7, 16741.
Michael Berry, Amy Holt, Joshua Levitz, Johannes Broichhagen, Benjamin Gaub, Meike Veisel, Cherise Stanley, Dirk Trauner, John Flannery, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Restoration of Patterned Vision with an Engineered Photo-activatable G Protein-Coupled Receptor. Nature Communications. 2017. Vol. 8, 1862.
Prashant Donthamsetti, Nils Winters, Matthias Schonberger, Joshua Levitz, Cherise Stanley, Jonathan Javitch, Ehud Isacoff, Dirk Trauner. Optical control of dopamine receptors using a photoswitchable tethered inverse agonist. JACS. 2017. Vol. 139, 18522.
Joshua Levitz*#, Johannes Broichhagen*, Philipp Leippe, David Konrad, Dirk Trauner#, Ehud Y. Isacoff#. Dual optical control and mechanistic insights into photswitchable group II and III metabotropic glutamate receptors. PNAS. 2017. Vol. 114. E3546-54.
2016
Joshua Levitz, Chris Habrian, Shashank Bharill, Zhu Fu, Reza Vafabakhsh, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Mechanism of assembly and cooperativity of homomeric and heteromeric metabotropic glutamate receptors. Neuron. 2016. Vol. 92, 1-17.
Joshua Levitz*, Perrine Royal*, Yannick Comoglio, Sebastien Schaub, Daniel Clemens, Ehud Y. Isacoff, Guillaume Sandoz. Heterodimerization within the TREK channel subfamily produces a diverse family of highly regulated potassium channels. PNAS. 2016. Vol. 113, 4194-4199.
Joshua Levitz*, Andreas Reiner*, Andrei Popescu*, Ehud Y. Isacoff. A toolkit for orthogonal and in vivo optical manipulation of ionotropic glutamate receptors. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. 2016. Vol. 9.
David Barber, Matthias Schonberger, Jessica Burgstaller, Joshua Levitz, Braxton Norwood, C. David Weaver, Ehud Y. Isacoff, Herwig Baier, Dirk Trauner. Optical control of GIRK channels using a light operated GIRK opener (LOGO). Chemical Science. 2016. Vol. 7, 2347-52.
2015
Johannes Broichhagen*, Arunas Damijonaitis*, Joshua Levitz*, Kevin Sokol, Phillip Leippe, David Konrad, Ehud Y. Isacoff, Dirk Trauner. Orthogonal optical control of a class C G protein-coupled receptor using a SNAP-tethered photoswitch. ACS Central Science. 2015. Vol. 1, 383-93.
Reza Vafabakhsh*, Joshua Levitz*, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Conformational dynamics of a class C G protein-coupled receptor. Nature. 2015. Vol. 524, 497-501.
Andreas Reiner*, Joshua Levitz*, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Controlling ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors with light: principles and potential. Current Opinion in Pharmacology. 2015. Vol. 20, 1-9. (Review)
Elizabeth Carroll, Shai Berlin, Joshua Levitz, Michael Kienzler, Zhe Yuan, Dorte Madsen, Delmar Larsen, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Two-photon brightness of azobenzene photoswitches designed for glutamate receptor optogenetics. PNAS. 2015. Vol. 112: E776-85.
2014
Yannick Comoglio*, Joshua Levitz*, Michael Kienzler, Florian Lesage, Ehud Y. Isacoff, Guillaume Sandoz. Phospholipase D2 specifically regulates TREK potassium channels via direct interaction and local production of phosphatidic acid. PNAS. 2014. Vol. 111, 13547-13552.
2013
Andreas Reiner, Joshua Levitz, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Bringing optogenetics to the synapse. Neuron. 2013. Vol. 79, 209-10. (Review)
Guillaume Sandoz and Joshua Levitz. Optogenetic techniques for the study of native potassium channels. Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience. 2013. Vol. 6. (Review)
Joshua Levitz, Carlos Pantoja, Benjamin Gaub, Harald Janovjak, Andreas Reiner, Adam Hoagland, David Schoppik, Brian Kane, Philipp Stawski, Alexander Schier, Dirk Trauner, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Optical control of metabotropic glutamate receptors. Nature Neuroscience. 2013. Vol. 16, 507-16.
2012
Guillaume Sandoz, Joshua Levitz, Richard Kramer, Ehud Y. Isacoff. Optical control of endogenous proteins with a photoswitchable conditional subunit reveals a role for TREK1 in GABAB signaling. Neuron. 2012. Vol. 74, 1005-1014.
2011
Luke H. Chao, Margaret M. Stratton, Il-Hyung Lee, Oren Rosenberg, Joshua Levitz, Daniel J. Mandell, Tanja Kortemme, Howard Schulman, John Kuriyan. A mechanism for tunable autoinhibition in the structure of a human Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II holoenzyme. Cell. 2011. Vol. 146, 732-745.
* = Equal Contribution # = corresponding author