We have a PhD studentship available to develop genome safeguarding technologies for synthetic phage therapeutics www.findaphd.com/phds/project... It is part of an exciting new @officialuom.bsky.social PhD by Enterprise programme www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/resear...

Out now in Nature Biotechnology! Alejandro González-Delgado and a fantastic team of collaborators worked across nine labs to get retron recombineering up-and-running in fifteen bacterial species. Molecular parts on addgene: www.addgene.org/browse/artic... Happy editing!

Please circulate: I will have a postdoc opening soon, ideally with a start date sometime this summer or fall. If you're interested in empirical population genetics, computational methods development, and/or evolutionary modeling via simulation, don't hesitate to reach out. For more info on the lab:

Excited to share that my 2025 collection of science-inspired drawings is now live on the Protein Data Bank (PDB) website. Thank you @rcsbpdb.bsky.social! It is free to explore and download. I’d love to hear what you think! pdb101.rcsb.org/sci-art/bezs...

We're recruiting! We're looking for two graduate students to join us at UBC in Vancouver. Fully funded and open to global applicants, with flexible start-date. Topics include theory, bioinformatics, and microbiology. More details: asherleeks.com/apply #socialviruses #evosky #virosky 🧪

Excited to share our discovery of a new programmable RNA-guided DNA-targeting system hiding inside bacteriophages that predates CRISPR. We call it VIPR (Viral Interference Programmable Repeat), and it uses an entirely new logic to find its targets. Thread + link below.

Wen Zhou previously led research in our group on evolution of the DNA-binding sites that control human cGAS activation. Beautiful work from his own lab at SUSTech University now extends similar insights to evolution of TREX1 regulation: www.cell.com/immunity/abs...

Congratulations to @aragucci.bsky.social and @sadieantine.bsky.social for their nuclease-NTPase work now online in final form at @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We found that TIR domains in animal immune proteins, including the human TLR4, are enzymes that cleave NAD+ to produce the signaling molecule cADPR Read our new preprint by talented Bohdana Hurieva: “Conserved catalytic activity of immune TIR domains in animals” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🎉Excited to share our new preprint! TIR domains from diverse animals, including human TLR4, are catalytically active and produce cyclic ADP-ribose (cADPR). This enzymatic activity is widespread in animals and conserved across the tree of life. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨 We're hiring! A #postdoc position is available @lambrechtslab.bsky.social @pasteur.fr ➡️ Come join our team to investigate the #genomic variations underlying the adaptive potential and vectorial capacity of Aedes aegypti #mosquitoes 🦟 More details at this link: research.pasteur.fr/b/1Cov

Finally published. Many thanks to a wonderful collaborative team and scientific platforms!!! And thanks to editors and reviewers for enthusiasm and a great review. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🔈Paper out! We turned the most fascinating phage host-switch mechanism, diversity-generating retroelements, into a programmable mutagenesis tool, DGRec. You can perform targeted hypermutation of any 50-200bp sequence directly in vivo in E. coli www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Excited to share our new findings in @science.org on how the DRT3 bacterial defense system uses a reverse transcriptase that builds DNA repeats without a nucleic acid template. Microbes never cease to amaze! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications. Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101

My lab at Pitt is looking for a Research Scientist to help us make phage therapy for patients with antibiotic-resistant infections. Please share and apply! cfopitt.taleo.net/careersectio...

Come join us! We're recruiting 3 new academic posts in the School of Biology, University of Leeds, closing 23/04/26. Assoc Prof Plant Science tinyurl.com/4x48jc78 Assoc Prof Animal Biology tinyurl.com/2s4sk85s Lecturer in Ecology, Zoology, Biodiversity or Ecosystem Management: tinyurl.com/39dwp47j

Cool tool to capture genes using a hunter gatherer 🦠 Large-scale recovery of integron cassettes for gene discovery screens www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... by @jaescudero.bsky.social @afpcarvalho.bsky.social @filipatr.bsky.social

Excited to see the major chapter of my PhD in print! We present a massively-parallel approach for screening CRISPR edits in plants to speed up agricultural test cycles + benchmark genomic LMs. Thanks to my fantastic co-authors and advisors. Link below!

I'm hiring! I have 2 open positions: 🔬 Postdoc 🧪 Research associate We study how animal multicellularity evolved by exploring the molecular logic of cell adhesion using cell biology, 'omics, and tool-building in non-model organisms. Come join us! Details and application links 👇 Please repost

This paper started as an idea @albertomarina.bsky.social had many years ago… which of course means he was right all along 😄. Some of us just needed a few years (and a lot of experiments) to catch up. Grateful (and slightly humbled) to be part of this. Thanks Alberto! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

New preprint alert!!! 🚀🤓 We are very happy to finally share this with the world — the result of seven years of work and a new tool to study integrons and discover new functions encoded in these bacterial platforms. If you want to know more, here is a thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Two post-doctoral positions open in our lab. We're looking for people with expertise in molecular microbiology and/or genome-scale tools. Initially 3 yrs, posts could be extended for upto 8 yrs. If you'd like to know more about us take a look at www.graingerlab.com www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQY475/r...

After >10 years of our lab studying bacterial cGAS-like enzymes, @hobbslabutah.bsky.social finally reconstitutes viral sensing in vitro and discovers how these ancient receptors sense phage protease enzymes to detect virion assembly and activate antiviral immunity www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New preprint: Cyclic tri-adenylate signalling by a Panoptes anti-phage guard system with a CARF-TM effector. Great work led by Sabine Grüschow www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

This is kinda bonkers. In addition, 20 amino acids were found on Ryugu, along with uracil and vitamin B3. These have been found in other instances, but since the samples from Ryugu were collected directly from the asteroid and delivered in sealed capsules, contamination on Earth could be ruled out.

Really cool work!

How can we tap into the enormous functional diversity of microbes on this planet? Join us at EMBL Heidelberg (8–10 Dec 2026) to learn about ongoing efforts to decode gene function and organisation in human gut microbes, and present your science.

This is so cool: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Discovery of a Genetic Toxin-Antidote System in Vertebrates hat tip to @asaflevylab.bsky.social

Excited to share our latest work! 📝 We measured the fitness effect of 136 AMR genes and found that many are neutral or even beneficial without selection. 🤯🧬 Oxygen availability can flip their fitness and our stochastic model indicates that oxygen fluctuations help maintain them. Learn more 👇🏼

Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence (new work from @anemudraia.bsky.social and @artemnemudryi.bsky.social labs) www.nature.com/articles/s41... Schlafens are an ancient, mechanistically conserved family of tRNA-targeting immune effectors.

🌱 Postdoc opportunity in Soil Health We are hiring a 2-year postdoc in the EU MultiSoil project. Research focus: how agricultural practices shape soil ecosystems & sustainable cropping. 🗓️ Apply by 4 May 2026 📍 Uppsala, Sweden Apply: www.slu.se/en/about-slu...

Out now! In collaboration with Leifu Chang, we uncover the molecular and structural underpinnings of CRISPR-Cas12f-like RNA-guided transcription systems! Links to the published articles: tinyurl.com/55kpavet tinyurl.com/sk6djwx3 Previous thread for the preprint: bsky.app/profile/did:...

Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)

➡️ preprint from the lab! Bacteria have loads of antiviral defences in their mobile genetic elements (MGEs). So when MGEs move between bacteria, the defences move with them, generating a fast turnover of defences in bacteria. But what about the antiviral defence turnover in the MGEs themselves? 🤔 🧵👇

Published version of our work on diversity-generating retroelements! We reconstituted a phage DGR in E. coli and deployed high-throughput methods to identify factors influencing the activity of this system. #microsky journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Postdoc position on phage-bacteria coevolution available in the @aburmeister.bsky.social lab at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee #phage #evosky #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🔬 #microbiology arburmeister.weebly.com/join-the-lab...

Convergent MurJ flippase inhibition by phage lysis proteins www.nature.com/articles/s41...

SNIPE is a widespread bacterial defence system that exploits the spatial organization of phage genome injection to specifically target viral DNA, distinguishing self from non-self in prokaryotic immune systems @nature.com @mitpress.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📢 Funded PhD in molecular microbiology & phage biology How do bacterial stress responses control prophage activation and horizontal gene transfer? Join us at St Andrews to dissect Clp protease–mediated regulation in Staphylococcus aureus. Apply: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Are you a post-doctoral microbiologist interested in characterising bacterial resistance evolution and want to apply your knowledge and expertise to developing new therapeutics for Klebsiella (and other Enterobacterales) infections? Then we need you! Apply now bit.ly/3MX39Ce close date March 13th 👀

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨 Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!) Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Very excited to be advertising this project with the excellent cosupervision of Peter Mergaert through @i2bcparissaclay.bsky.social and @uniexecec.bsky.social. This position is open to international applicants and will involve stints in both Penryn UK and Paris France. Please share! Apply: adum.fr

Out now in @plosbiology.org : our big joint effort on the role of #CRISPR in plasmid competition. Read on for a really fun (I’m biased ok) analysis of how a defence system has new selective pressures when it’s mobile journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... 1/6

New pre-print with @wtmatlock.bsky.social!!! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... What shapes the distribution of plasmids across bacteria? Our paper shows that conjugative plasmids actually have a very narrow distribution compared to mobilizable plasmids. Conjugative systems restrict plasmid transfer!

Congratulations to Sonomi Yamaguchi for her paper at @nature.com. Sonomi discovered Clover defense and explained how nucleotide signals control each step of viral sensing, immune regulation, and viral restriction – named for her beautiful "four-leaf" structures 🍀 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ooooh. Cool new paper on origins of life. A simple 45-nucleotide RNA molecule that can perfectly copy itself. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#ProtistsOnSky no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...

We're Hiring! We're looking for a postdoc with bioinformatics/modelling skills to join us in an exciting microbiome ecology project in Manchester (deadline 1st March) www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...