A new #CryoET study shows that the protein ZapD helps organise FtsZ filaments into stable ring-like structures in building bacterial division machinery. buff.ly/saLPqJM

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.

How the twin-arginine translocase (Tat) system manages to transport folded proteins across membranes without any leaks? To answer this fundamental question we solved the first structure of TatB3C3 complex with bound cargo. Please check out new preprint! t.co/962Kj9pt6F

Delighted that our FtsEX-EnvC paper is now live at mBio! FtsEX-EnvC is a bacterial Type VII ABC transporter that activates key periplasmic enzymes during cell division. We found mutations that disrupt FtsEX-EnvC activity and a disulfide that leaves it permanently active. doi.org/10.1128/mbio...

New paper out, with a contribution from Dom Gurvic and I; led by Andy Lovering and @lalouxlab.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Paper in Nature 150 years ago. Beats reading any single-cell experiment…

Check out our latest preprint! We show that the same antibacterial toxin requires different immunity proteins depending whether it’s intra or extracellular

Super excited to share our latest work revealing impt of protein-lipid interactions for the pri fn of the Tol-Pal complex in maintaining outer memb lipid homeostasis in E. coli! Huge discovery by Nadege Lim in collab @pstansfeld.bsky.social @robincorey.bsky.social 1/7 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

CdpA-an archaeal anchor for FtsZ! Excited to be part of this. (FtsZ is easily my favourite protein and the whole larger family in Archaea are intriguing). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Really excited that our group was able to contribute to this awesome work from Bing Zhang and Zihe Rao solving the structure and assembly of the MmpS5L5 efflux pump from Mtb!! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Why make a cofactor when you can get it for free? Our work, led by @fabianmunder.bsky.social, shows that bacteria from 22 phyla use the high-affinity transporter PqqU to obtain the redox cofactor PQQ from the environment as an alternative to cofactor synthesis. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Beta-lactams covalently bind to Penicillin Binding Proteins and have been the mainstay of antimicrobial chemotherapy for decades. In this new paper with colleagues @Bicycle_tx we show a new way to hit old targets: rdcu.be/eoaRI

I forgot to post about this recent paper - exciting work led by @michriscopy.bsky.social showing clearest evidence yet for transertion strongly tethering the bacterial nucleoid to the membrane during fast growth. It was a pleasure to contribute a little 🔬🦠🧫 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I’m excited that the work by Diego Ramirez and Lei Yin is out, where they gained several key insights into what provides the force underlying bacterial cell division doi.org/10.1101/2025.... To divide, cells must first bend the membrane inward, a process that’s energetically expensive

Our new paper on FtsN is out! Now there are three tracks for organized cell wall constriction-- the old, boring E. coli always manages to surprise us. A special shout-out to all the people who made this work possible, especially Dr. Jason Lyu, and Dr. David Weiss. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The UK Health Security Agency has released an updated antimicrobial stewardship tool to guide healthcare professionals in prescribing the most appropriate antimicrobial to patients to preserve antimicrobial efficacy. Find out more microb.io/452uTvL 👈 #KnockingOutAMR

Excited to learn that our story on characterizing an interbacterial protease toxin is finally out @plosbiology.org "An interbacterial cysteine protease toxin inhibits cell growth by targeting type II DNA topoisomerases GyrB and ParE". Led by my wonderful team at Academia Sinica!

Look at all of our badgers!

'If successful, it would be the first new class of antibiotic capable of killing acinetobacter or any other “Gram-negative” bacteria to be developed for more than 50 years. This type of bug has a structure that makes it more difficult to treat.' www.ft.com/content/1f94...

We are recruiting for a PhD student who wants to understand how bacterial membranes are built and how they function. It would be a biology meets maths project … if this piques your interest take a look here: macsys.org/monash-phd-s... for project details and contact info

In our latest preprint we used cryoEM to solve the structure of A-ENA fibers and show that they are stabilized by 10 isopeptide bonds per monomer. A-ENA couples the spore to the cry-toxins, and in doing so increases the virulence of Bacillus thuringiensis: www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

New Type VII ABC Transporter just dropped! We are super excited to present our characterisation of the YbbAP-TesA complex, a novel Type VII ABC transporter linked to a periplasmic thioesterase. doi.org/10.1101/2025...

1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below. shorturl.at/o6S1w

#MicroSky job alert!

Happy to share our recent work on E. coli cell division, now published in Nature Communications!

Our latest work on the bacterial Tol-Pal complex now published! Kudos & congrats to the brilliant @weeboont.bsky.social! We can (finally) confidently assign the true function of Tol-Pal in maintaining OM lipid homeostasis, independent of cell division! 👇 1/7 #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New preprint! FtsEX-EnvC is a Type VII ABC transporter that activates the periplasmic enzymes needed to break the peptidoglycan layer during cell division. We tested the importance of structural features underpinning activation and the auto-inhibition mechanism that keeps it all in check.

🚨👉 Please check our recent work on bacterial cell division. In situ Cryo-ET reveals the cellular function of the penicillin binding protein 1b supported by AFM, live-cell imaging, in silico AlphaFold proteome screen and TIRFM. Hope you enjoy the read! #teamtomo #cryo-ET ❄️🔬🐎 big thanks to the team!