Sorek Lab
@soreklab.bsky.social
📤 3445
📥 265
📝 102
The Sorek Lab Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
https://www.weizmann.ac.il/molgen/Sorek/
reposted by
Sorek Lab
Owen Tuck
1 day ago
Beautiful preprint from Simone Evans et al. in Alex Gao's group looking at MBL/nuclease and other cool zymogens (pepco, EACC1) in antiphage defense systems. Great to see this paradigm extended - probably many more proteolytically activated effectors out there...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.14.688446v1
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Sorek Lab
Janine Brunner
3 days ago
MISO: microfluidic protein isolation enables single-particle cryo-EM structure determination from a single cell colony. Or from a single dish of HEK cell culture in the case of two membrane proteins. Out in Nature Methods now!
lnkd.in/gpyBSceg
Wonderful collaboration with the Efremov lab.
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Sorek Lab
bioRxiv Microbiology
3 days ago
Surviving phage attack dynamically regulates bacterial immunity to defeat counterdefenses
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688357v1
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Congratulations to Sorek lab alumnus Nitzan Tal, who won the prestigious 2025 Science & SciLifeLab prize for the best PhD thesis in Systems Biology! 💫 Read her Prize Assay, published in the journal Science today
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
@nitzantal.bsky.social
3 days ago
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Sorek Lab
Osterman Ilya
3 days ago
Fascinating discovery - anti-phage defense protein is a proenzyme that is cleaved by partner protease after phage infection and all three! products of cleavage form active nuclease.
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Sorek Lab
bioRxiv Microbiology
4 days ago
Cap1 forms a cyclic tetra-adenylate-induced membrane pore during the type III-A CRISPR-Cas immune response
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688252v1
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Sorek Lab
Owen Tuck
4 days ago
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems:
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole
@doudna-lab.bsky.social
and everyone at
@innovativegenomics.bsky.social
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Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity
Antiviral immune systems diversify by integrating new genes into existing pathways, creating new mechanisms of viral resistance. We identified genes encoding a predicted nuclease paired with a trypsin...
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea8769
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Sorek Lab
BejaLab
5 days ago
Viral NblA proteins negatively affect oceanic cyanobacterial photosynthesis
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
this project was led by
@omernadel.bsky.social
and is a joint work between the labs of
@bejalab.bsky.social
, Debbie Lindell and Oded Kleifeld from
@biologytechnion.bsky.social
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Sorek Lab
Lucie Etienne
5 days ago
📖Latest from the lab: Evo. characterization
#antiviral
#SAMD9/9L
across
#kingdoms🚶
♀️🦍🦠🧫🖥️: ancient
#convergence
+
#adaptations
@natecoevo.nature.com
Led by amazing Alexandre Legrand +major contributions by Rémi Demeure & Amandine Chantharath
@ciri-lyon.bsky.social
1/n
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Evolutionary characterization of antiviral SAMD9/9L across kingdoms supports ancient convergence and lineage-specific adaptations - Nature Ecology & Evolution
A search for analogues of the human SAMD9/9L antiviral genes identifies convergent evolution of this gene family in the bacterial and animal kingdoms, with species-specific and recent genomic signatur...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-025-02845-x
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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👇
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11 days ago
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Sorek Lab
EMBL
12 days ago
HT-PELSA, a new proteomics tool by EMBL researchers, processes samples 100x faster and works directly with complex crude cell, tissue, and bacterial lysates – developments which could accelerate drug discovery and basic biological research 💊 🔗
www.embl.org/news/science...
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Sorek Lab
bioRxiv Microbiology
14 days ago
A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685801v1
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Sorek Lab
Aude Bernheim
13 days ago
Hi everyone, a few years ago, we started a list of labs studying bacterial immunty for students, editors, conference organizers... (currently n=79). Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky
#Microsky
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Labs in bacterial immunity
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mKy0ALZSbGZsEmt3h20JNQ5MOpVsCQ276HybsMo-t4c/edit?gid=0#gid=0
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Last year it was discovered that a single bacterial NLR-like protein can recognize multiple, structurally unrelated phage proteins (Béchon et al, Kibby et al) Now, a new study shows the same for a plant NLR. Another example how principles of immunity remain conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes
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15 days ago
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Sorek Lab
Jens Hör
about 1 month ago
Are you interested in studying RNA phages? We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc to join the lab! For more information and how to apply, see below 👇 Please RT!
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Sorek Lab
Chen Wang
18 days ago
I’m thrilled to share our Retron Eco8 paper published in Molecular Cell today. Thanks all Fu lab members and our collaborators. 👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity.
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
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Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity
The cryo-EM structure of the retron Eco8 system reveals an autoinhibited 4:4:4 complex of RT, msDNA, and OLD nuclease. Phage SSB binding to msdDNA unleashes non-specific nuclease activity to restrict ...
https://www.cell.com/molecular-cell/fulltext/S1097-2765%2825%2900824-X
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Sorek Lab
Landon Getz
18 days ago
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
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Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases
Bacteria are frequently attacked by viruses, known as phages, and rely on diverse defence systems like restriction endonucleases and CRISPR-Cas to survive. While phages can evade these defences by cov...
https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.10.29.685425
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Sorek Lab
bioRxiv Microbiology
19 days ago
Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.29.685425v1
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Sorek Lab
GBM (Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie)
21 days ago
🎉 Huge congrats to Maya Schuldiner from the Weizmann Institute (Israel) for the 🏅 Otto Warburg Medal 2026! Her work on how proteins find their way to organelles and how these organelles talk to each other has reshaped how we think about cells 🧬✨
#OWM
#WeizmannInstitute
@elsevierconnect.bsky.social
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Sorek Lab
Hannes Stark
22 days ago
Everything is integrated in one easy to use end-to-end pipeline! Just type up your design specification and try it out!
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Sorek Lab
Hannes Stark
22 days ago
Excited to release BoltzGen which brings SOTA folding performance to binder design! The best part of this project is collaborating with a broad network of leading wetlabs that test BoltzGen at an unprecedented scale, showing success on many novel targets and pushing the model to its limits!
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Sorek Lab
Nature Microbiology
24 days ago
New article alert: Bacterial TIR-based immune systems sense phage capsids to initiate defense Out now in Nature Microbiology by Cameron G. Roberts, Chloe B. Fishman, Zhiying Zhang, Dalton V. Banh, Dinshaw J. Patel & Luciano A. Marraffini
#microsky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Bacterial TIR-based immune systems sense phage capsids to initiate defense - Nature Microbiology
After sensing capsids, the Thoeris antiphage defense system triggers a cascade that leads to NAD+ cleavage and cell arrest, which are dynamics that are mirrored in some mammalian immune pathways.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02150-0
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Sorek Lab
Seth Shipman
25 days ago
Been working on a really strange retron bacterial immune system, here's the preprint:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Type VI retrons are unlike any other. Phage infection triggers reverse transcription of a DNA fragment that activates translation of a toxin to kill the infected cell.
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Sorek Lab
Seth Shipman
25 days ago
Now published in PLOS Biology! We found new retron containing bacteria in the wild, figured out defense mechanisms, and turned them into genome editors. From a cupful of dirt to new parts for genome editing in one story!
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
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Sorek Lab
Anurag Agrawal
about 1 month ago
New biology: stink bugs inoculate their eggs with a fungus that protects them from parasitoids
www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagaz...
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Science Magazine - Defensive fungal symbiosis on insect hindlegs
Tympanal organs have repeatedly evolved in diverse insects and were thought to be required for auditory perception (1).
https://www.sciencemagazinedigital.org/sciencemagazine/library/item/16_october_2025/4301778/
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Sorek Lab
Jay Shendure
about 1 month ago
Super excited about first Shendure/Baker Lab collaboration & preprint on a multiplex sequencing-based strategy for screening de novo proteome editors in mammalian cells. Kudos to the brilliant Chase Suiter (not here) &
@greenahn.bsky.social
on the work! Preprint here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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NAD+ is a central molecule in bacterial immunity. An excellent and timely review by Hugo Vausset and Aude Bernheim
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about 1 month ago
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A new study from the Sternberg lab suggests that the telomerase function evolved from a defense system that protects bacteria against phages. Amazing!
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about 1 month ago
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Sorek Lab
Kranzusch Lab
about 1 month ago
Perfect timing in the field for a beautiful review on NAD+ in bacterial immunity by
@hugovaysset.bsky.social
and
@audeber.bsky.social
@cp-molcell.bsky.social
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
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Sorek Lab
plasmidsaurus
about 1 month ago
🦖 Something HUGE just hatched. Plasmidsaurus now offers RNA sequencing for gene expression analysis: • As fast as 3 day turnaround • $50/sample for academia, $80 for industry • Up to ~10M unique transcript 3’ end reads per sample • Interactive results Explore Plasmidsaurus RNA-Seq today.
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reposted by
Sorek Lab
about 1 month ago
Wow, a significant expansion of what we know about BREX.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Expanding the Landscape of BREX Diversity: Uncovering Multi-Layered Functional Frameworks and Identification of Novel BREX-Related Defense Systems
Despite extensive scrutiny of BREX systems, several overarching questions persist regarding the functional modalities of individual components and the collective mechanistic framework underlying their...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.09.681413v1.abstract
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Sorek Lab
Stephan Gruber
about 1 month ago
Happy that the final version of our Lamassu work
@yli18smc.bsky.social
is now out:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Thanks again to our awesome collaborators
@mblokesch.bsky.social
and David and co and Mark Szczelkun and
@steven-shaw.bsky.social
and the DCI Lausanne
@fbm-unil.bsky.social
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Sorek Lab
Kranzusch Lab
about 1 month ago
Thank you to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences for honoring our research uniting human innate immunity and bacterial anti-phage defense at
@danafarber.bsky.social
@harvardmicro.bsky.social
@harvard.edu
bit.ly/4pZUDkF
blavatnikawards.org/news/items/t...
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Sorek Lab
Stephan Gruber
about 1 month ago
How do SMC complexes load onto DNA to get ready for loop extrusion?
@roisnehamelinf.bsky.social
& co discovered that Wadjet, an SMC complex involved in bacterial DNA immunity, performs some impressive molecular gymnastics 🤸♂️🤸♂️🤸♂️. Check out the new paper:
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
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Sorek Lab
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
about 1 month ago
Congratulations to Philip J. Kranzusch, Ph.D., Professor of Cancer Immunology and Virology, who was one of three scientists awarded top honors at the 2025 Blavatnik National Awards for Young Scientists. Watch to learn more about his work:
bit.ly/4pZUDkF
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Sorek Lab
Marcel Dickmanns | 🌿❄️🔬
about 1 month ago
You can get MSAs directly from AlphaFold DB now (
alphafold.ebi.ac.uk
). I also missed the FoldSeek implementation, which lets you search for structurally similar proteins direktly. This saves some clicking around. Neat!
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Sorek Lab
Malcolm White
about 2 months ago
My pleasure
@erinedoherty.bsky.social
and
@benmorehouse.bsky.social
- for me this was the stand-out discovery of the last year in the field
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Sorek Lab
Ben Morehouse
about 2 months ago
Our story describing the Panoptes bacterial immune defense system is now finally peer-reviewed and published today!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature
The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09557-z
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Sorek Lab
Ben Adler
about 2 months ago
Today in
@nature.com
, we highlight how a cousin of CRISPR-Cas10, mCpol, establishes an evolutionary trap in anti-phage immune systems. Check out
@erinedoherty.bsky.social
and my work from
@doudna-lab.bsky.social
lab here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature
Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09569-9
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Sorek Lab
Emmanuele Severi
about 2 months ago
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#phagesky
#phage
defence
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Molecular mechanisms of CBASS phospholipase effector CapV mediated membrane disruption - Nature Communications
CBASS systems trigger bacterial suicide via membrane disruption. Here, authors show that effector CapV relocates to the cell pole upon sensing 3’3’-cGAMP, where it cleaves phospholipids and ruptures membranes, revealing a filament-dependent activation mechanism for antiviral defense
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63658-x
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Sorek Lab
Bethany Brookshire
about 2 months ago
In reporting this piece on the new trial for a Huntington's treatment, I was struck by one thing in particular: The joy. One of my sources wept for joy. He has spent his entire career studying this disease, he said it was the happiest day.
www.sciencenews.org/article/hunt...
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Huntington's progression slowed by experimental gene therapy
An experimental gene therapy slowed Huntington’s by up to 75 percent in a small clinical trial. While not a cure, it may give patients longer lives.
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/huntingtons-slowed-with-gene-therapy
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Sorek Lab
Sarah Lempriere
about 2 months ago
I found this fascinating! Termites build and tend a fungal garden.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Gardening strategies of termite farmers
Termites use microbe-infused soil to protect a fungal symbiont
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aeb5715
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Sorek Lab
Kranzusch Lab
about 2 months ago
You’ve heard of ubiquitination, meet deazaguanylation: Doug Wassarman in our lab discovered phage defense pathways have co-opted Q nucleobase biosynthetic enzymes to catalyze a new form of protein conjugation chemistry
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
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Sorek Lab
Diego del Alamo
about 2 months ago
Still boggles my mind that we can leave frameworks as-is and only edit CDRs and still reliably get nM binders. Complete opposite of what I would have expected given how hard it is to graft CDRs from one FW to another (such as humanizing mouse mAbs). First RFantibody and now this
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Sorek Lab
Asaf Levy
about 2 months ago
A recent cool preprint by John Whitney's lab on a new family of antibacterial proteins secreted by Gram-positive bacteria that enter and kill a broad spectrum of bacteria. Cell entry is receptor-independent and relies on cleavage by a co-secreted protease and the PMF.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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Proteolytically activated antibacterial toxins inhibit the growth of diverse Gram-positive bacteria
Many species of bacteria produce small-molecule antibiotics that enter and kill a wide range of competitor microbes. However, diffusible antibacterial proteins that share this broad-spectrum activity ...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.13.648598v1
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Sorek Lab
Martin Steinegger 🇺🇦
about 2 months ago
MMseqs2-GPU sets new standards in single query search speed, allows near instant search of big databases, scales to multiple GPUs and is fast beyond VRAM. It enables ColabFold MSA generation in seconds and sub-second Foldseek search against AFDB50. 1/n 📄
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
💿
mmseqs.com
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GPU-accelerated homology search with MMseqs2 - Nature Methods
Graphics processing unit-accelerated MMseqs2 offers tremendous speedups for homology retrieval from metagenomic databases, query-centered multiple sequence alignment generation for structure predictio...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-025-02819-8
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Sorek Lab
Alexis Verger 🧬🧫🧪
about 2 months ago
De novo design of All-atom biomolecular interactions with RFdiffusion3
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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De novo Design of All-atom Biomolecular Interactions with RFdiffusion3
Deep learning has accelerated protein design, but most existing methods are restricted to generating protein backbone coordinates and often neglect interactions with other biomolecules. We present RFd...
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.18.676967v1
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Sorek Lab
Nature Methods
about 2 months ago
GPU-accelerated MMseqs2 offers tremendous speedup for homology retrieval, protein structure prediction with ColabFold, and protein structure search with Foldseek.
@martinsteinegger.bsky.social
@milot.bsky.social
@machine.learning.bio
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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GPU-accelerated homology search with MMseqs2 - Nature Methods
Graphics processing unit-accelerated MMseqs2 offers tremendous speedups for homology retrieval from metagenomic databases, query-centered multiple sequence alignment generation for structure predictio...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-025-02819-8
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Sorek Lab
Julius Brennecke
2 months ago
PIWI clade Argonautes are essential for transposon silencing. Without them, animals are sterile due to massive transposon activity. But how does piRNA-guided target interaction translate into silencing? PhD student Júlia Portell Montserrat has an intriguing answer
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
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Sorek Lab
bioRxiv Microbiology
2 months ago
YprA family helicases provide the missing link between diverse prokaryotic immune systems
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.15.676423v1
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