Our Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UCSF is running a faculty search this year for a new Assistant Professor! Please see the ad below for details. Searching for a great colleague, mentor, and scientist! aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807

New PrePrint from the Vecchiarelli and Mosalaganti (@shyamalm.bsky.social) labs! 🧵 Collaboration with the Giessen and Pi labs Congratulations to co-first authors Y Hoang (@hoanghamyy.bsky.social) and Pankaj Jadhav! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

And here is the published version of the work from @selimlab.bsky.social, @mygalperin.bsky.social, Dubnau labs and @thethormannden.bsky.social labs (superb collaboration) ComFB, a widespread family of c-di-NMP receptor proteins www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

A new theme issue of #PhilTransB examines the evolutionary history of bacterial immune systems, their modes of action, and the patterns how different bacterial immune systems are distributed across different ecosystems. Read: buff.ly/Z4qdxY1

Morning stroll in early fall.

How can we understand the earliest events in evolution of eukaryotic immunity? @yao-li.bsky.social reports incredible molecular fossils of complete bacterial-like operons in eukaryotes that illuminate how animal immunity was first acquired from anti-phage defense www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited about our most recent collaboration with the Wong lab, lead by William Schmidt, describing a T4P and CdrA-mediated mechanism of sensing surface EPS. Fun stuff and great work William and team. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Kin Recognition Systems and Their Role in Multicellular Behaviors #AnnuRevMicrobiol by Karin Yaniv and Karine Gibbs @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social four bacterial and eukaryotic microorganisms with collective migration where recognition is known or implied www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Preprint: We discovered phage proteins that sequester diverse immune signaling molecules, including cUMP, cCMP, and N7-cADPR The first viral sponges to inhibit Pycsar and type IV Thoeris Congrats to talented leading author Romi Hadary! Read her thread to learn more about our findings

🚨 Imagine a bacterium that refuses to follow the textbook: It grows as tangled filaments, divides unevenly, reshapes its own membranes… and even builds grappling hooks. Meet Litorilinea aerophila — and here’s why it blew our minds.

I am excited to announce that the position of a senior postdoc (3 +3 years) in the field of theoretical biology is available in my group. The position provides the opportunity to closely interact with experimentalists and develop own research projects. Please RT. Details 👇: shorturl.at/iiiOv

💥 Excited to introduce Bacformer 🦠 - the first foundation model for bacterial genomics. Bacformer represents genomes as sequences of ordered proteins, learning the “grammar” of how genes are arranged, interact and evolve. Preprint 📝: biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 1/n

We wrote a review on the free nucleotide pool as a central playground in human, bacterial, and plant immunity – now out in Nature Reviews in Immunology www.nature.com/articles/s41... Was fun to write this piece with Dina Hochhauser! Here is a thread to explain the premises 1/

#NatMicroPicks Ancient Proteins, Modern Immune Insights! 🦠 A conserved protein family member activates inflammation via the Toll-like receptor pathway in mammals highlighting new aspects of human immunity. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

1/16 New pre-print from the Sternberg Lab! We uncover how temperate phages can use RNA-guided transcription factors to remodel the flagellar composition of their bacterial host and enhance their fitness. Find the preprint and full story here: tinyurl.com/mshwjd77

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity. We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity. Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Fold first, ask later: structure-informed function annotation of Pseudomonas phage proteins Structural predictions to improve #phage genome annotation! @hannelorelongin.bsky.social @gbouras13.bsky.social y.social @susiegriggo.bsky.social @veravannoort.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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...

Prophages block cell surface receptors to preserve their viral progeny www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Please repost: PhD position with my lab and @weisslab.bsky.social in a great collaboration on bacterial adhesion #microsky. See drive.google.com/file/d/1GJD4...

Our annual Bachelor's lab class finished with the agar-art contest. Always great fun. Here is the winner.

Just published, expansion in situ genome sequencing, where you can sequence DNA while still inside the cell, mapping its organization relative to proteins and other markers, with the help of expansion microscopy! Led by @jbuenrostro.bksy.social. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Prophage induction - nice study, inducers other than MitC, but also that inducer concentration matters. Search for optimum needed to get highest titers ☝️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵5 Top Free Alternatives to BioRender for Scientific Illustrations! These five websites offer free scientific illustrations for biologists. Great for presentations, research papers and other research communication needs. Save and share the post!

Our paper on how integrons are biobanks of novel minimal defense systems is now out www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Two main conclusions on this excellent work led by @eloilittner.bsky.social @baptistedarracq.bsky.social 1/n

I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs. Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng Custom Lab Hardware Turn Key Genetic Design Please repost for reach 💚

Out in Nature today: A new immune signaling molecule, His-ADPR, is produced by defensive TIR domain proteins in bacteria to protect from phage Joint work with the Tamulaitienė and Kranzusch labs www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats Carmel Avraham, Dziugas Sabonis, Renee Chang and co-authors!

A beautiful discovery by Joel Tan and Philip Kranzusch, out today in Nature: A DNA-gated molecular guard controls bacterial Hailong anti-phage defence Congrats Joel and Philip! Was a pleasure to contribute to this discovery together with Sarah Melamed www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Why is the DFG asking me to provide a review? Our Head Office invites suitably qualified and renowned national and international experts to review proposals submitted on specific research topics. We have compiled key reasons and practical information: www.dfg.de/en/research-...

Rotem Sorek receives the Selman Waksman Award! #NAS

Join the Blokesch lab (@EPFL) as a postdoc in Molecular Microbiology 🤩 Study Vibrio cholerae defense systems (phage/plasmid) in a dynamic, collaborative environment in Lausanne close to Lake Geneva in 🇨🇭! Please visit my lab's webpage for details about the position and how to formally apply.

Phollow reveals in situ phage transmission dynamics in the zebrafish gut microbiome at single-virion resolution | Nature Microbiology https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-01981-1?utm_source=%5Btwitter%5D&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=%5Bnimcrobiol%5D

New postdoc position in our lab (2 y+): evolutionary genomics of integrons and MGEs with focus on vibrio-phage interactions. Great environment @pasteur.fr for science, career building. Super collaborators @celineloot.bsky.social @amazeld.bsky.social @fredoleroux.bsky.social 3 weeks to apply!

I’m always amazed by our similarities and homologies with bacteria. Our version of a foreign nucleic acid sensor called STING, which activates interferon, is almost identical to the version that bacteria use to sense and defend against viruses. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The BASEL collection of E. coli #phages is limited by its host strain. @humollidorentina.bsky.social @damienpiel.bsky.social @aharms485.bsky.social &co use a modified host to add 36 new phages, revealing roles of O-antigen in recognition & R-M systems in immunity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4jirGvX

The BASEL collection of E. coli #phages is limited by its host strain. @humollidorentina.bsky.social @damienpiel.bsky.social @aharms485.bsky.social &co use a modified host to add 36 new phages, revealing roles of O-antigen in recognition & R-M systems in immunity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4jirGvX

This looks super cool! The whole concept of mini phage mutants eventually invading and outcompeting the filamentous phage is funnily enough very analogous to @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social 's new preprint, where mini plasmids do the same to full length plasmids 🤯 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Many phages encode "sponge" proteins that catch immune signaling molecules to block bacterial immunity. Two preprints report a defense system plugged the other way around: the signaling molecule constitutively inhibits the effector, so that sponges trigger effector activity 🤯 what a wild mechanism!

Phage satellites are now known to be very diverse, numerous and ancient. They pose many evolutionary, ecological and mechanistic questions. Lots of fun in perspective! Great pleasure to write this review to show it, with @jrpenades.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social Kim Seed & John Chen.

Don't move faster, move smarter: A slight upregulation of a single MCP enhances chemotactic spreading in structured environments. Includes cool chemotaxis assays by Rémy Colin and cool single cell tracking by Laurence Wilson. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

@warneke.bsky.social receives the PhD Award of the @vaam-microbes.bsky.social at the annual congress! Congratulations, Robert!

Asgard archaea have actin - but what about microtubules? Where do they come from? 🧐 Our new paper www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... by @xujwet.bsky.social & @florianwollweber.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Schleper & Wieczorek labs, describes tiny Asgard microtubules! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 1/6

Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to [email protected]. See lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky

I proudly present a new review paper of my group that just came out in Trends in Microbiology @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social with Leonardo Ona and Shryli Shreekar Disentangling microbial interaction networks Open access link: authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

I just posted "Some Experiments Work, and Some Don't." It features this new paper from Paul Rainey's group, along with a *failed* experiment that Paul Sniegowski and I ran in the 1990s trying to test the same idea. telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com/2025/02/21/s...

We are searching for a new professor in genetics (W3) at Osnabrück University. Come and join us. 👇 www.uni-osnabrueck.de/universitaet...