During my postdoc in @therubinlab.bsky.social, @leosong.bsky.social and I aimed to make CRISPR-associated transposons more efficient for editing bacteria. Couldn’t have done it w/o a CAST of characters at IGI and beyond @innovativegenomics.bsky.social, @cresslab.bsky.social, @doudna-lab.bsky.social

Registration is open for September’s Vibrio2026 conference in Berlin! event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...

NLR-like immunity in bacteria A new study from the Alex Gao lab. The scope of this work is incredible!!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Driving in the snow // #xfiles Pencil and chalk pencil on moleskine

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I’m happy to share our new preprint! We uncovered the full diversity of bacterial TIR-based antiviral immune signaling, massively expanded the known diversity of Thoeris systems, and revealed conservation of TIR-derived immune signals across the tree of life. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Systematic discovery of TIR-based immune signaling systems in bacteria https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.03.692087v1

📢 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

#OpenCloning is a an Open Source alternative to SnapGene/Benchling that supports automation and integration with other software ✅ Free 🔓 Open Source 🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene 🤖 Can be automated with python 👨‍🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers! 👉 Check it out at opencloning.org

🚀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

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Today is Trans Day of Remembrance (TDoR), a day to remember people lost to transphobic violence. 🏳️‍⚧️Today we mourn, but also reaffirm our commitment to fight for the living. Take care of yourselves Today!🏳️‍⚧️

The Microbiology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our 2026 Prizes! The winners will be awarded and deliver Prize Lectures at Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast from 13–16 April. Find out more about it: microb.io/PrizeWinners.... Meet the winners below. #Microbio26

Couldn't have said it better! @prideinmicro.bsky.social is happy to announce that we are the recipient of the 2026 EDI Prize @microbiologysociety.org 🏳️‍🌈 This is a very real affirmation that the work we do is valued by the community, and is an affirmation for 2SLGBTQ+ folks that you belong in STEM 🏳️‍⚧️

On #LGBTQSTEMDay, Bruno Francesco Rodrigues de Oliveira, a founding member of the Pride in Microbiology Network, reveals how it has developed since it was launched three years ago - and what needs to happen next. www.the-microbiologist.com/opinion/prid...

Almost three years after @prideinmicro.bsky.social, where are we at?

Happy International Day of LGBTQIA+ People In STEM! How are you celebrating it? #LGBTQSTEMDay #PrideInSTEM

I’m excited to share my recent postdoc work. Here, we interrogate how different phage infection outcomes (productive vs. restrictive) affect the expression of phage defense systems. We find that a restricted infection not only inhibits the phage but also induces increased immune protein abundance.

Amazing piece of work from @rtoshiro.bsky.social & Kim Seed at UC Berkeley. 🙌 Played a tiny role in this work. Surviving phage attack dynamically regulates bacterial immunity to defeat counterdefenses www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Tri-Councils had our backs: "...at no time did CIHR consider disclosing individual EDI and/or self-identification data, information about individual unsuccessful applications or peer reviewers’ review notes and scores" in response to demands of the Parliamentary Committee on Science and Research.

Really sad state of affairs...we have safe and effective paths forward to prevent this.

A Sharon Begley byline, almost 5 years after her death. Upon hearing the news James Watson had died, a STAT reporter said in our Slack, "I wish I could read what Sharon would have written." Incredible news: Sharon in fact did pre-write a Watson obit. And it is masterful and excoriating. 🧪🧬🧫

🚀 Looking for a motivated postdoc in molecular biology! Apply for a Juan de la Cierva 2025 fellowship and join R'n'R lab in Madrid. 📅 PhD Jan'24–Dec'25 🔍 DNA replication & biotech #piMDA #WGA, bacterial genomics & defense 👉 rnrlab.github.io #Postdoc #JdC2025 @iib.uam.es @uammedicina.bsky.social

Preprint: Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides tinyurl.com/ch3damp We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇

I’m a bit puzzled that the employers of faculty and staff-and the educators responsible for students whose information we protect so carefully-haven’t made any public statements about the risks of releasing private grant information in Canada, which contains confidential and sensitive details.

Structures of the sheathed flagellum reveal mechanisms of assembly and rotation in Vibrio cholerae

Excited to share: DNA glycosylases are diverse antiviral effectors. They recognize phage base modifications and initiate genome destruction. A structure‑guided approach made the scope of this discovery possible! 🧪 #phagesky doi.org/10.1101/2025... #phage #microbiology

Toronto's ROM is hiring 2 new curators! Botany & Ornithology. Come be part of the Toronto EEB community, with cross-appt in my dept at UofT @romtoronto.bsky.social royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/XBR2Yc... royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/Sf2iAO...

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...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #phagesky #phage

Beautiful work on the emergence of the pandemic clone of V. parahaemolyticus

Last week, we had to say goodbye to our sweet Susan. She was the embodiment of kindness, trust, resilience, and forgiveness. Through her love we were changed. She is sorely missed ❤️

Streptomyces venezuelae uses secreted chitinases and a designated ABC transporter to support the competitive saprophytic catabolism of chitin vs Bacillus subtilis @plosbiology.org by Anne van der Meij et al from Justin Nodwell with Marie Elliot journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

EMBL researchers have developed a new AI framework – AlphaDesign – which can design new proteins that might have therapeutic benefits. Using AlphaDesign, the researchers succeeded in creating synthetic inhibitors for a bacterial phage defence system. www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

I'm home after the 74th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists at Université de Montréal. This year I had the pleasure of sharing our work on anti-phage defence and Vibrio integrons in the Postdocotral Research Symposium—and I won the Knowles Postdoctoral Research Prize!

At least someone can enjoy themselves in this heatwave...

A letter from scientists to the community: Protect transgender scientists. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"In a competitive academic world, building bridges instead of walls may be our most powerful tool to accelerate discovery and rebuild public trust in science." I'm very happy with this article piece! 🥳 www.the-scientist.com/science-thri...

On my way to the 74th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society of Microbiologists at Université de Montréal! Looking forward to sharing our recent work on integrons and anti-phage defence at the upcoming postdoctoral symposium! Thanks for the ride @viarailcanada.bsky.social

🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬 Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025

THANK YOU to everyone who attended our first annual Pride Month Game Night with us on Saturday! We had a blast and are so excited to announce our next Pride Month event... 🥁 PowerPoint Karaoke!🎙️ June 28th More info to come 🌈

#phagesky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I'm excited to share our new review in Current Opinion in Microbiology: “A solution to the post‑antibiotic era: phages as precision medicine.” Here, we explore how engineered bacteriophages could be the next generation of anti-bacterials!

🏳️‍🌈Hello Pride in Microbiology Network!🏳️‍🌈 We’re kicking off Pride Month with something FUN! Join us for our very first Pride Month Games Night—Saturday, June 14th at 7PM EST! Expect lots of laughs, good vibes, and a chance to meet new friends and fellow microbiology enthusiasts.

I attended the 6th annual 2SLGBTQ+ in STEM conference at Toronto Metropolitan University last week. We've built this conference over the last 6 years. It was incredible to see what we've built come together! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 So proud of these leaders and excited for the future of Queer STEM in Canada 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈

We have things planned indeed!! Looking forward to sharing the details with you all in the coming week... In the meantime, Happy Pride Everyone! Take this time to appreciate the community we build together everyday and appreciate your Queer and Trans family!