Evolutionary emergence and preservation of microproteins encoded by upstream ORFs https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.05.709866v1

We found a viral Trojan Horse: a virus can hide inside another virus.This one surprised us: deltaviruses don’t just borrow a helper virus. They can travel inside it. A literal Trojan Horse “virus-in-a-virus” route into cells. 🤯 Kudos to 1st author @viroscope.bsky.social and co-authors !

In vivo de-amplification of a multi-resistance pseudo-compound transposon in Escherichia coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.06.710075v1

Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you! 1/n

PhD position in our lab - 4-year funded by BBSRC and @nrpdtp.bsky.social in collaboration with @earlhaminst.bsky.social and Inspiralis Ltd. Open to UK fee qualifying students - UK citizens and citizens of Ireland (residency requirement), etc biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/how...

Vacation Studentship Grant🚨 The Society offers a limited number of awards to enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during their summer vacation. The deadline for applications is 15 March 2026, find out more and apply now: https://microb.io/4kDKRm5

A jumbo cyanophage encodes the most complete ribosomal protein set in the known virosphere www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🔔Seminar Opportunity🔔 We're looking for (self)recommendations for a Postdoc who is working in the area of AMR (any area, any discipline) to give an online seminar in May. Reply, DM or email me, there will more opportunities in the future as well so will be good to have a list. #MicroSky #AMR

The impact is already hitting science agencies hard. The NIH—the world's largest public biomedical research funder—has had to rely on leftover stopgap funds. New grant awards have slowed to a trickle — exacerbating the effects of a record-long shutdown in October. (h/t @jeremymberg.bsky.social)

One thing I learned while contributing to this was how much foresight pioneers of DNA synthesis technology had in understanding the importance of their work to studying genome regulation. Found this 1968 gem from Khorana (who , incidentally, was at UBC for a time):

We are excited to be recruiting a new tenure track group leader in the Structural Studies Division at MRC LMB! It is an amazing place to start your own lab. @mrclmb.bsky.social Please get in touch if you have any questions. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Our department at Genentech is hiring. We're looking for a freshly-minted PhD (0-3 years) protein biochemist / structural biologist to join as a Sr Scientist. A rare opportunity to join our group leader job family at a more junior level than we usually hire.

📢 Call for Abstracts! 📊 We're now accepting abstract submissions for Lightning Presentations at the TARGetAMR Conference 2026! 🧠 📅 Deadline: Friday 20th March, 5pm GMT 🔗 Submit yours here: www.targetamr.org.uk/now-open-cal... #TARGetAMR26

🔔Collabator Alert🔔 I’m putting together a project on UTIs and the urogenital microbiome and am looking for a collaborator with solid metagenomic sequencing/analysis experience. If you’d be interested in joining the work, I’d love to talk #MicroSky #UTISky

MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social and @tweethinking.bsky.social join us as keynote speakers this year. miniurl.com/MENI

Colony morphogenesis regulates sporulation dynamics in bacterial biofilms #Bacillussubtilis #colonybiofilm #radialexpansion bioRxiv www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are recruiting a computational scientist for a postdoc position to work on detecting RNA modifications using nanopore sequencing: tinyurl.com/RiboComp Deadline March 4th. Please share and repost! More on the group: www.bric.ku.dk/research-gro...

Advances in CLIP-derived methods have enabled high-resolution mapping of individual RNA binding protein-RNA interactions as well as RNA binding protein-associated RNA–RNA interactions #RNA #CLIP @evannostrandlab.bsky.social bit.ly/4bYjAsg

Bit different from our usual work A PhD applying metagenomics to identify microbial plastic degradation and metabolism, fully funded studentship (UK students only). www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Anyone interested in applying for a BBSRC Fellowship on projects involving; Microbial evolution AMR Mobile genetic elements, inc. insertion sequences 3D culture models Feel free to get in touch, happy to discuss supporting or host potential applicants! #AMR #UTISky #MicroSky tinyurl.com/46fdyfppv

Dear friends and fans of evolutionary biology & medicine (#EvMed), deadlines for the 2026 meeting in Kiel Germany are coming up. Looks to be excellent! March 1, 2026: Abstract submission deadline and travel award decisions April 1, 2026: Abstract decisions open.substack.com/pub/evmedrev...

Applications for Vacation Studentship Grant are now open. The Society offers a limited number of awards to enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during their summer vacation. The deadline for applications is 15 March 2026: https://microb.io/4kFjubf

🧵 New preprint! Our 4-lab team evolved Streptococcus pneumoniae in antibiotic-treated mice of varying immune states and discovered something surprising: bacteria rarely evolved resistance. Instead, they found a different way to survive — by rewiring RNA turnover. 🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@science.org A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #RNA #ribozyme #evolution

Ever notice that when one gene is disrupted, its orthologs get upregulated? This phenomenon, known as transcriptional adaptation, has been controversial and mysterious - glad to see that we are starting to learn how it works.

New in JB: Weiss, Tamayo et al. describe a very cool microbial interaction wherein Enterococcus faecalis, an opportunist found in the inflamed gut, impacts phase-variation noted by chaining & rough colony morphology of C. diff. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriology

Happy birthday to one of my favourite haters, Charles Darwin

Raman spectroscopy can be used to predict cellular physiology and proteome composition in E. coli. 🔗 buff.ly/F2mG5pj

On the need for more research into the relationship between climate change and antimicrobial resistance. 🦠 #AMR

@ewarman.bsky.social has followed up on her discovery of bidirectional promoters in bacteria by defining their basic rules for regulation and links to gene expression noise... academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

mRNA is a key polymer of life. While its sequence is linear, its function requires its 3D organization. Yet what does a mRNA look like in 3D? In collaboration with the fbzt.bsky.social, we developed a method to visualize mRNA in 3D and at the nanoscale inside human cells. tinyurl.com/r858t6ff 1/3

"we examined..patterns of resistance gene abundance, duplication, and mobilization across clinical, agricultural, and wastewater settings... Resistance gene profiles were strongly structured by environment, with distinct duplication patterns emerging across sources. "

I am thrilled to share our paper introducing RBPscan, a novel approach to profile RNA–protein interactions in living cells. Free access link at the end ⬇️ 🧵 1/ www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

🚨 Hiring Alert! 🚨My lab at Institut Pasteur is recruiting several Postdocs! We have exciting open projects in: 🦠 Synthetic Biology and🛡️ Bacterial Immunity. Come do great science with us in the middle of Paris! 🇫🇷🥐 research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd...

Calling all microbial genomics early-career researchers in the Midlands, great event in Nottingham (5 June)

Hey y’all, New paper out from the lab in Microbial Genomics, starting down the rabbit hole of IS elements in Paeudomonas syringae www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

We’re excited to kick off 2026 with a joint meeting with the London RNA Club, featuring Mary Ann Allen and @loverna.bsky.social! 🗓 Wednesday, February 25, 2026 ⏰ 10:00 AM MST 📍 Zoom: please RSVP here for link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... Supported by @rnasociety.bsky.social

Abstracts submissions are open for Early Career Summer Conference 2026. Hear from invited speakers and network with fellow early career members between the 6—7 July. Registration opens 28 January: https://microb.io/ECConf26Abstracts #ECConf26

PhD position available in our team to study how UPEC exploits metals to successfully colonise the host gut. Cool collaboration with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @banzhaflab.bsky.social Please share and get in touch for more details

🦠 #rnasky #rnabiology

Join us at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. We’re searching for an Assistant Professor in Biology. www.uu.se/en/about-uu/...

A prophage-encoded abortive infection protein preserves host and prophage spread www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper out in PNAS!!! 🎉 Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution? 🧵 Dive into the story www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

SAVE THE DATE! The next instalment of the long-running Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Division Conference will take place at www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels..., Italy from the 20th to 23rd of April 2027. Organisers: me, @s-lab.bsky.social, @awehenkel.bsky.social. More info soon. #MicroSky

Lots of PhD opportunities for UK + international students involving my lab. Topics relate to metals & microbiology. First up: TonB-dependent receptors in commensal Neisseria in my lab at Durham, with @kjosts.bsky.social and @mattbashton.bsky.social. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Nature research paper: Construction of complex and diverse DNA sequences using DNA three-way junctions go.nature.com/4qu2ExZ

We are accepting applications for up to 3 Peggy Cotter Travel Awards ($1,650 each) to support early-career professionals attending ASM Microbe 2026. Apply by Feb 16, 2026 by emailing a 1-page letter to [email protected]. ASM membership required; branch membership may be completed once that is live.

We’re looking for a postdoc to join the Hendrickson lab! The project will involve dissecting the molecular mechanisms of a fascinating mobile element in our honeybee biocontrol phages. Sound like something you would be interested in? Get in touch! Details: jobs.canterbury.ac.nz/jobdetails/a...

It’s officially happening folks! The Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference is back in Andover, New Hampshire starting June 27th of 2027! See you there!! @wcratcliff.bsky.social @ksbakes.bsky.social @surtlab.bsky.social #microsky #mevosky

RNA damage isn’t trivial—cells evolved responses to it. Ribosome stalling at damaged RNA triggers stress signaling, impacting inflammation, cell cycle, and tumor suppression. Could RNA repair be the next medical frontier? Cell: ”Cellular responses to RNA damage” www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...