Great piece and cover @science.org about how our field is uncovering the evolutionary and mechanistic connections between bacterial and eukaryotic immunity ! www.science.org/content/article/ancient-wars-between-microbes-gave-us-key-immune-defenses

@khongsamchia.bsky.social Extremely excited to share the first pre-print from my PhD project in the Carella lab, co-first authored with @khongsamchia.bsky.social 🎉 (Thread below ⬇️) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to all co-authors and the #CarellaCapybaras for all the support 😊

Super cool work! Congrats @philcarella.bsky.social and team!

Canonical NLR immune receptor architecture enforces EDS1-dependency onto divergent TIR domains https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.20.726525v1

@johanduchene.bsky.social @sholtodavid.bsky.social Spent the last hour looking, found ten more apparently manipulated Western blots in Thermo Fisher's antibody verification data (across eight different catalogued products). Thread below. www.thermofisher.com/antibody/pro...

Just published: The Hidden Handshake: How AlphaFold Solved a Decade-Long Mystery in Plant Immunity Over ten years in the making - generations of students and postdocs... Here's the structural basis of NLR activate-and-release, and, yes, we can engineer it. medium.com/p/the-hidden...

I am very grateful to Franz Hagn, his team and colleagues for making this possible. Atomic resolution of the inactive, active and downstream effector ICR/RIP-bound active ROP GTPase RACB. The complex may form a positively charged interface for plasma membrane interaction. doi.org/10.1038/s420...

1/ Happy to share our latest work, now on bioRxiv! 🌱🍄 We explore how Serendipita indica effectors target root plastids and modulate plastidial metabolism through prion-like domains. bioRxiv: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #plastids #plantmicrobe #chloroplasts #plants

Can we rewire how plants fight disease? We used AF3 to predict, validate, and engineer a sensor–helper interface that escaped biochemistry for years 🤯 Grateful to @mpcontreras.bsky.social & @kamounlab.bsky.social for trusting me to be part of this story. Full story below👇🏻

We passed the half-way point of our ambitious goal of raising $40,000 for the Mishkind Travel fund for early career researchers to attend our 2027 Congress*. Please consider donating today! ismpmi.org ISMPMI's president will make a $2500 donation to honor her challenge pledge.

Started off as convergent observations in the lab with Mau and led to one of my favorite works so far! Gotta love molecular evolution and receptor biology 😊🧬💻 Huge effort from @maigarro.bsky.social @mpcontreras.bsky.social for pushing this together to the end. 🤘🏻

We are looking for a sugar beet breeder here at @kwsgroup.bsky.social to work on insect/pest resistance traits. This is a full-time, permanent position here in Einbeck (remote work possible) You will most likely get a chance to work with me on #PlantImmunity! #PlantScienceJobs #plantscijobs

This is the culmination of >10 years of work by generations of students and postdocs. Many false starts. And we know that others have tried too. Structural insights into the activate-and-release mechanism of NLR activation. And we can engineer it too! Kudos Team 🙏🔥

Check out our latest work! AlphaFold 3 revealed a transient immune receptor complex that eluded biochemical studies for almost a decade 🤯 We describe a conserved structural logic underlying sensor–helper communication in an NLR immune receptor network 🧵👇

When AlphaFold was released, there was a lot of talk that it marked the end of structural biology. That is far from the case. We will, I’m sure, hear similar comments with the emergence of AI co-scientist agents. AI is just a tool but It will never replace a scientist’s intuition & experience.

I am thrilled to share our last work on the evolution of plant antiviral immunity @cragenomica.bsky.social !. Please, let us know what you think! biorxiv.org/content/10.648 98/2026.05.18.725958v1 🧵

Developmental diversification re-patterns basal antiviral immunity across plant cell types. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725958v1

Emma Turley started her PhD expecting the effector ChEC108 would aid Colletotrichum establish infection, but she instead discovered that when it makes it's way to plasmodesmata it's bound by host HIPP6, triggering PD closure and impeding infection. #PlantScience

Colletotrichum higginsianum effector ChEC108 binds a plasmodesmal HMA protein and elicits plant defence https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.19.726166v1

A conserved structural logic underlies sensor-helper NLR communication in the NRC immune receptor network https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725810v1

MILDEW RESISTANCE LOCUS O (MLO) proteins function as trimeric inward calcium channels https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725938v1

@joshwbennett.bsky.social, one of our students based at the @johninnescentre.bsky.social completed his #PIPS at start-up @resurrectbio.bsky.social. Read about his experience 🔽 biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/student-stor... #PhD #amazingplacements

Early bird registration for PPATH2026 closes 31 May. Save money and secure your spot at the BSPP's annual conference. 8–11 September 2026, Norwich. Student members get a reduced rate, worth joining if you haven't already. Register: tinyurl.com/EPCC2026 #PlantPathology #PlantHealth #PlantScience

The Cryo-Electron Tomography Workshop at the University of Michigan is June 7-11 - Participants will learn about standard image processing packages used to analyze cryoET data - Learn more -> zurl.co/RFnOL Register deadline is April 10th - We are a sponsor of this event

Plants use immunogenic peptides to coordinate immunity. Pathogens can mimic them to hijack defense. 🌱 We compare phytocytokines with animal cytokines and ask how these signals are made, released, mimicked, and controlled in space and time. doi.org/10.1111/tpj....

It's out! 🥳 In situ architecture of #plasmodesmata - plant cytoplasmic bridges - by #cryoET. 📝 Paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵 Thread: bsky.app/profile/madi... #teamtomo #proteomics #AlphaFold

New preprint: In situ Architecture of #Plasmodesmata. Using #cryoET, #AlphaFold & proteomics, we uncover the native organization of plant intercellular nanopores. 🔗 doi.org/10.1101/2025... 🧪🧵1/n #teamtomo #PlantScience #Physcomitrium #Arabidopsis #cryoEM

Excited to have started my group @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social through the @dfg.de Emmy Noether program. In this project we will be looking at the mechanisms of host invasion by fungal pathogens 🍄🌱 Check it out and drop me a line if you are interested! uni-tuebingen.de/en/universit...

Thrilled to share the updated video of my paper in Nature with Maciej (under supervision of @simonemattei.bsky.social & @jomaalab.bsky.social) Proud to use Cryo-ET to uncover how hibernation factors are key to translation restart! To model PTMs in situ and render animations fulfilled my PhD dream!🥹🎉

1/13 So excited to share our new preprint!! How do organelles pack together in a crowded cytoplasm? we know organelles interact via contact sites, but how does competition for space contribute to organelle morphology and interactions? @wallaceucsf.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are excited to release the BAT!🦇🚨 We've used this phylogenetic analysis pipeline in our lab for years, and grad Ben Sheppard now presents a Github release and preprint. I run BAT analyses almost daily. It makes exploring gene families routine, customizable, and fun🧵

We hope BAT will help molecular biologists to think in terms of gene trees. Evolutionary signal within gene families is often the first clue that there is amazing, novel biology to be found. Check out our repo and try out BAT analyses of YFGs (Your Favorite Genes!) github.com/steinbrenner...

Fungi deploy antimicrobial proteins (AMPs) to compete with microbes, including bacteria. But can bacteria fight back? We @teamthomma.bsky.social found that some AMP-sensitive bacteria can repress AMP deployment, suggesting an unrecognized bacterial–fungal arms race. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

An Indiana University biology professor has been kicked out of his university lab after speaking up in defense of international postdocs who were targeted for deportation. www.science.org/content/arti...

#IS-MPMI members- our new temporary website is up while our new one is under constructions. Visit our site to renew or become a member, donate,and find out about events. ismpmi.org

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

A very Happy Birthday to Sir David Attenborough today! My family Attenborough story: When schools closed in 2020, I raced to think of activities for my kids (then 6 and 8). One was that they should write a letter to someone they admire. My son chose Sir David. /1

Dear PhD students and postdocs — we want to hear about your science firsthand at our annual Early Career Microbiologists Mini-Symposium @johninnescentre.bsky.social (UK) this September. For more information and to apply: www.jic.ac.uk/event/early-...

📢 EffectorGeneP is finally here! Stop missing small, single-exon or orphan genes from your favourite pathogen genome. Current tools only annotate 15%-78% of effector genes, EffectorGeneP finds 95% - including the large AvrSr26 family in stem rust. #Bioinformatics 📖 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Some predictions are high-confidence. These go to eleven! Huge congrats to the whole team ❤️ Such a privilege to work with you all.

📢 The next @mpmijournal.bsky.social Focus Issue is now open for submissions: "Plant Immune Receptors in the Spotlight" 🌱🔬 Edited by @dinglab.bsky.social @clemmar.bsky.social @marischuster.bsky.social Rich Wilson and myself! Submit your best work by 31/10/26! 👇 apsjournals.apsnet.org/mpmireceptors

Protein structure prediction changed biology. Protein assembly discovery is next. We present SNI (Structural Novelty Index), a scalable framework for finding new protein complexes. We used it to uncover an unexpected resistosome assembly: 11-mer. 🧵👇🏻 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I’m thrilled to share an update to our work on bacterial NACHT domain containing proteins! In our last preprint, we reported that bNACHT11 is activated by multiple phage proteins. We’ve now expanded this work with structural insight and investigation of programmed cell death following activation.

AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.03.722499v1

End of April and I got my diploma🥂 Now the PhD degree is official! I hope I've mentioned everyone in my acknowledgments, but I still can’t thank you enough for all the support along this journey: ) If anyone's looking for some 400-page light reading… here it is ➡️ ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

Very excited to see our recent work on NRG1 organellar targeting now published! It has been a pleasure working with Tarhan on this, combining synthetic biology/genetics with some incredible microscopy 🤝 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Where do plant pathogen effectors come from? @mesny.bsky.social shows how fungi turned shield 🛡️ into sword ⚔️ to end up with dual-function molecules to disrupt host immunity & protective host microbiota. @ceplas.bsky.social @mibinet.bsky.social @madfungi.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🎉 📰 Very happy to share the journal publication of our manuscript "Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation"! #ScienceAdvancesResearch @science.org @teamthomma.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

🚨 Paper out now in #ScienceAdvances @science.org 🌱🦠 Pathogens don’t just target protein degradation—they also hijack host translation. "Bacteria use P-body condensates to attenuate host translation during infection" ⚖️♻️ led by @manuelgonzalezfuen.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

And that's a wrap at the 2026 Leibniz Plant Biochemistry Symposium #IPB2026!💚 Thanks to all the speakers & participants for great presentations & lively discussions.👏🏻 Safe travels home to all & pls spread the word that #Halle is a great place for science & living!🗣️ #PlantSci #ECR #HalleSaale