Happy New Year from the Rubin Lab! 🎇  We're excited to start 2026 off with a fresh publication at @science.org Advances. Here, we identified a cast (😉) of host factors affecting VchCAST using genome-wide screens and validated their improvement or inhibition of CAST activity. (1/2)

Looking for a POSTDOC to work on jumbo phages (those with large genomes and fascinating cell biology), using our latest ASO technology (Gerovac M et al. 2025 Nature) to define RNA export mechanisms as well as to help to advance phage therapy. Here's the job ad.

✨New preprint! 🧵1/4 Excited to share our work on AI-guided design of minimal RNA-guided nucleases. Amazing work by @petrskopintsev.bsky.social @isabelesain.bsky.social @evandeturk.bsky.social et al! Multi-lab collaboration @banfieldlab.bsky.social @jhdcate.bsky.social @jacobsenucla.bsky.social🧬 🔗👇

Phages are full of genes of unknown function that are likely adaptive in specific conditions. New preprint: Phage TnSeq identifies essential genes rapidly and knocks all non-essentials. We would like to send a pool of phiKZ mutants to anyone wanting it! Reach out tinyurl.com/bdcfrejh

📢 We have multiple open PhD positions to study bacterial immune systems using cutting-edge cryo-EM, microbiology, and biochemistry in our group! Join us and uncover how bacterial defenses eliminate predators and engineer next-gen biotech tools. 🔥 Apply by Jan 8, 2026 Details: phd.pages.ista.ac.at

Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed) sisb2026.rockefeller.edu

🚀New preprint from our lab! I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡 Continue reading (🧵)

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages. Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms. A thread 1/8

IT'S HAPPENING! 💥 I'm psyched to launch the collaboration between @qedscience.bsky.social & @openrxiv.bsky.social @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social! Preprint + q.e.d = your science is out there, and anyone can appreciate it. Let's care about making discoveries, and not on “getting published” (1/3) 👇

After 5 years of waiting, the new #CRISPR classification by Makarova et al. is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Use antisense oligomers to silence phage genes and discover new biology. @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de print: www.nature.com/articles/s41... highlight: www.nature.com/articles/s41... briefing: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

🚨 The #HIRI invites applications for 2 JUNIOR GROUP LEADER POSITIONS in the areas of: 🔵 RNA Biology 🔵 RNA Medicine 🔵 RNA Technology Apply by October 31 at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale... Find an overview in this thread. 🧵👇 (1/6)

Been working on a really strange retron bacterial immune system, here's the preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Type VI retrons are unlike any other. Phage infection triggers reverse transcription of a DNA fragment that activates translation of a toxin to kill the infected cell.

Now published in PLOS Biology! We found new retron containing bacteria in the wild, figured out defense mechanisms, and turned them into genome editors. From a cupful of dirt to new parts for genome editing in one story! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

I'm hiring a lab technician to help me explore some exciting new questions about virus-host interactions! Biochemistry and/or mammalian cell culture experience is desired.

Are you interested in studying RNA phages? We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc to join the lab! For more information and how to apply, see below 👇 Please RT!

Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from? Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Hiring! 🧬🔬 Ever wondered how bacteria fight off viruses? We’re looking for a PhD student to dive into the molecular basis of newly discovered microbial immune systems, an area of biology where much remains to be uncovered. RT/share to help us find our next team member! www.lumc.nl/en/about-lum...

Please RT: We have an opening for a junior group leader position in „Phage Biology & Biotechnology“. www.fz-juelich.de/de/karriere/... Interested candidates are encouraged to contact me via email for further details. @spp2330.bsky.social; @mibinet.bsky.social

Very interesting talk by our invited speaker @patrick-pausch.bsky.social on how retron Eco 2 breaks tRNAs for antiphage defense!

Two group leader positions available in the broader areas of RNA science, RNA technologies, and RNA medicine. Attractive packages and a great environment. Come and join us at Helmholtz RNA Würzburg, Bavaria.

Now online at @nature.com we show how the Panoptes defense system protects against viruses that attempt immune evasion - and expands our understanding of the role of oligonucleotides in immunity. Check out this work co-led with @benadler.bsky.social here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I am happy to share our work on the mechanism of prokaryotic immunity by a reverse transcriptase associated with an SMC-family ATPase, now published in @natcomms.nature.com 🔗 nature.com/articles/s4146… (🧵 on the bioRxiv version ⬇️)

No Genetics? Try ASOs – A non-genetic approach to silence genes at the phage-host interface. We use it to study jumbo phage biology and anti-phage defence. @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social published now in @nature.com

Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

🚀 New publication alert! 🚀 We just published in @natbiotech.nature.com: 👉 Targeted DNA ADP-ribosylation triggers templated repair in bacteria and base mutagenesis in eukaryotes doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Excited to share our new preprint co-led by @jnoms.bsky.social! Here we reveal an exceptional diversity of viral 2H phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that enable immune evasion by selectively degrading oligonucleotide-based messengers. This 2H PDE fold has evolved striking substrate breath & specificity.

🚀 Today we're launching the 'Night Science Institute', a non-for-profit organization to lead a cultural shift in science! You may say we're dreamers 😉, but we think we're not the only ones. Perhaps today you will join us to make the Day Science and Night Science parts of the process live as one!

I am super excited to announce that I will be starting my lab at the Department of Pharmacology of the University of Zurich in Switzerland next year!

A new preprint led by Sonomi Yamaguchi in our lab describes a bacterial anti-phage defense system named Clover that uses nucleotide signals to both activate and inhibit host immunity. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We have written up a tutorial on how to run BindCraft, how to prepare your input PDB, how to select hotspots, and various other tips and tricks to get the most out of binder design! github.com/martinpacesa...

'Structural insights into Cas9-mediated prespacer selection in CRISPR-Cas adaptation' Check out our preprint on #bioRxiv on the #Cas9-Cas1-Cas2-Csn2 supercomplex involved in #CRISPR spacer acquisition: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... Thread below.

PhDs, Postdocs and young PIs listen up! Next to connecting young scientists, we organised an engaging Night Science 💫 workshop (by @itaiyanai.bsky.social and Martin Lercher), and an epic social event at one of Vilnius’ best venues 🍻 .

This year's EMBO Young Scientists’ Forum (EYSF) will take place in Vilnius, LT from 24–26 Sep 2025. The EYSF brings together scientists across #Europe for #networking and scientific exchange – Apply now! 🧪 Abstract submission by 1 Aug Registration by 15 Aug meetings.embo.org/event/25-eysf

I'm looking for a postdoc in computational evolutionary phage genomics, with the goal to better understand how protein innovation arises in viruses, at @jagiellonskiuni.bsky.social in Krakow (Poland). Drop me a line if it sounds cool! Deadline: 20.06. Link here: mcb.uj.edu.pl/documents/15...

We are very excited about our latest work, which just came out @embojournal.org – www.embopress.org/doi/full/10..... The work @MCB_UJ was driven by Anna Biela and Ting-Yu Lin 林亭妤 in collaboration with @jmbujnicki.bsky.social…a short🧵

And here it is, the completed BASEL collection finally published as early access in @plosbiology.org - see the thread for more details. 🤗🧬🎣

Please spread the word! We have an opening in the Atkinson lab for a post-doc with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of microbial immune systems. Can be a fully computational or experimental or hybrid project. Read more and apply here: lu.varbi.com/en/what:job/... #phage #bioinformatics

Science is an investment that pays enormous dividends. So if you’re business-minded, it’s an offer you can’t refuse! Here's my full speech from the Stand Up For Science rally in DC today: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eemj...

Dive into our lab’s first peer-reviewed publication—co-led with our friends @benadler.bsky.social and Muntathar Al-Shimary from the @doudna lab! If you’ve already read the preprint, don’t miss the new updates: doi.org/10.1038/s415... @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social

Friends: Science is under threat! Worldwide, forces seek to make it corporate-like, focused on deliverables, or even the enemy of society. It's time to take a stand to celebrate the science we know and love. Introducing: Woodstock.Bio2 + Night Science June 10-13, Prague & Woods of Bohemia Join us!

🚨 🧬 Updated preprint on the completed BASEL collection - what's new? Some fun with bacterial immunity and a new P22 relative infecting E. coli K-12. A thread 🧵