We said goodbye to our WONDERFUL lab manager Sarah Hasham last week as she starts a new chapter in San Diego at the @salkinstitute.bsky.social's Busch Lab! We'll miss her terribly but wish her the best of luck in her future plant endeavors 🌱👩‍🔬💚

Shoutout to our amazing postdoc @chucksbiscuit.bsky.social!

The Cress lab is excited to welcome 2 new postdocs: Dr. Zach LaTurner from Rice University and Dr. Madeline Hayes from UW Madison, shared with @therubinlab.bsky.social

One of the biggest challenges in microbial biotechnology? Unlocking the potential of non-model microbes and synthetic communities! Glad to share our review @sonjablasche.bsky.social @simonemozzachiodi.bsky.social @kiranrpatil.bsky.social @cambridgebiosci.bsky.social🧵(1/7) doi.org/10.1016/j.co...

A sweeping new mural at UC Berkeley celebrates 150 years of women at the university, featuring 41 trailblazers—from pioneering architect Julia Morgan to Nobel laureate Jennifer Doudna. news.berkeley.edu/2026/03/06/sprawling-new-painting-commemorates-150-years-of-women-at-uc-berkeley

Early-bird registration discounts for CRISPR 2026 expire Feb 28. CRISPR 2026, held at Yale University, June 10 - 12, is the continuation of the original CRISPR meeting established in 2008. Register here: web.cvent.com/event/ac20b6...

Today in Nature Communications, a team of IGI researchers from The Banfield Lab and Pam Ronald's labs uncover a new way to reduce #methane emissions from rice by influencing the activity of rice paddy soil #microbes. Read more: https://ow.ly/45j150Y3WsI#methane#microbes

Featured Article: Chemical inhibition of a bacterial immune system Small molecules inhibit type II Thoeris anti-phage systems from diverse bacteria. IP6C improves phage-therapy against P. aeruginosa & acts against Thoeris in polymicrobial communities www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Check out our latest preprint from @jnvmartinson.bsky.social and @leosong.bsky.social! 🌟🦠 We found that conjugative plasmids can actively eliminate recipient bacteria that resist plasmid acquisition. 🧵

Check out this cool new preprint from @therubinlab.bsky.social led by @jnvmartinson.bsky.social They shielded recipient strains from lethal zygosis (conjugative killing of the recipient) by encoding protective DNA cargo via CASTs 🧪🦠🧬🧫

Plasmids weaponize conjugation to eliminate non-permissive recipients https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.10.705089v1

We're honored and grateful to have a project accepted by @nsfexfab.bsky.social BioFoundry, spearheaded by our amazing postdoctoral researcher Dr. Madeline Hayes @chucksbiscuit.bsky.social (co-advised by @cresslab.bsky.social and Dr. Michelle O'Malley from UCSB)! 🦠🔍🤩

Wrapping up 2025's progress, milestones, and goals for the future at our lab's Year-End Review meeting!🍾 We're excited for an upcoming awesome year of science in 2026😉

ICYMI Out Now! Host factors dictate gut microbiome alterations in chronic kidney disease more strongly than kidney function #MicroSky

Also a big thanks to @cresslab.bsky.social and @therubinlab.bsky.social who came up with the idea to start this meeting and were instrumental in making it happen! And congratulations to @therubinlab.bsky.social and @paulwilmes.bsky.social for their elections as vice-chairs for the next one!

It was a true privilege to co-chair the inaugural GRC meeting on Microbiome Editing together with @jenniferdoudna.bsky.social . The positive energy and quality of the Science presented were truly inspiring. I look forward to the next one chaired by KC Huang and @omalleylab.bsky.social !!!

A new preprint on expanding the genetic code, from IGI's Jill Banfield, Peter Penev, and collaborators across the country: https://ow.ly/HiYO50XVNXR

How do the ancestors of CRISPR-Cas unwind DNA and how can this lead to better genome editing? With our collaboration between @doudna-lab.bsky.social x @jacobsenucla.bsky.social x Zev Bryant's lab x @savagecatsonly.bsky.social we've uncovered the secrets behind TnpB's dynamics!

A team of scientists led by UC Berkeley is working on a system that uses probiotics, beneficial bacteria within our bodies, and prebiotics, the nutrients that support these good bacteria, to combat lung pathogens.

Such a privilege to share the Phage Foundry (phagefoundry.org) team’s work at the inaugural GRC meeting on Microbiome Editing 🎉🎊.

Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive. Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

During my postdoc in @therubinlab.bsky.social, @leosong.bsky.social and I aimed to make CRISPR-associated transposons more efficient for editing bacteria. Couldn’t have done it w/o a CAST of characters at IGI and beyond @innovativegenomics.bsky.social, @cresslab.bsky.social, @doudna-lab.bsky.social

New in Science Magazine Science Advances from the Doudna Lab, Rubin Lab and Cress Lab —Identification of proteins influencing #CRISPR-associated #transposases for enhanced #GenomeEditing. Read here: https://ow.ly/U0s450XS82n#CRISPR-associated

Happy New Year from the Rubin Lab! 🎇  We're excited to start 2026 off with a fresh publication at @science.org Advances. Here, we identified a cast (😉) of host factors affecting VchCAST using genome-wide screens and validated their improvement or inhibition of CAST activity. (1/2)

Nature Microbiology turns 10! 🎂 As a special treat, we take you back to the editorial team that started it all and then fast forward to take a peek into the future of microbiology through some brilliant microbiologists. #MicroSky 🦠 www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...

🚨 Our Lab is HIRING! If you are interested in characterizing model microbiomes using genome-resolved methods, statistical/metabolic modeling, and/or machine learning please submit an application here: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05234 #postdoc #sciencejobs #biology #microbiome

#NewResearch Diverse genomes of lytic phages are found in bacterial assemblies, challenging assumptions about the nature of the lytic lifestyle. #MicroSky 🦠 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#microsky #synbiosky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed. In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Troubleshooting common errors in assemblies of long-read metagenomes - @merenbey.bsky.social @banfieldlab.bsky.social go.nature.com/44P7nSm

Congrats to #BioEGSB affiliate scientist Ben Rubin and team on publication of @therubinlab.bsky.social's first lead paper!

As the year ends, we decided to select our favorite papers of 2025 Turns out, it is impossible as we love them all! So, we picked 'some' that exhibit the range of microbiology highlighted through the columns of Nature Microbiology. Here is a glimpse into #EditorPicks of 2025 #MicroSky 🦠

See this fantastic illustration from the scicomm team at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social and check out our paper! ⬇️

Cow farming is a major source of greenhouse gases. New research from IGI Investigators at UC Berkeley and UC Davis uncovers a microbial blueprint for climate-friendly cows. Read here: https://ow.ly/4wbu50XAkzZ

Restoring a gut Bifidobacterium community in early infancy In light of increasingly reduced Bifidobacterium in infant microbiomes, this Forum examines interventions that may prevent or reverse this dysbiosis, thus mitigating noncommunicable diseases www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Transitions in lung microbiota & pneumonia Microbiota states are predictive of pneumonia subtypes & exhibit differential stability & therapy response. Disruptive forces, e.g. aspiration, associated w/changes in gene expression & microbial community www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

As 2025 wraps up, we’re looking back at some of the most intriguing microbes that made their scientific debut this year. This blog highlights standout bacterial species that caught our eye. Read the full #FEMSmicroBlog: buff.ly/2wz7k16 #NewMicrobes

Congrats to IGI's Jill Banfield, Jennifer Doudna, Mary Firestone, Patrick Hsu, Alex Marson, Kris Niyogi, Eva Nogales, Dan Nomura, and Jennifer Puck — each is on Clarivate's Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list for ranking in the top 1% in their field by citations!

You still have time to register for our @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium (Dec. 12th), with 6 speakers discussing how microbial metabolites impact the nervous, immune, and endocrine systems. It's free! Recordings of the talks will be available afterwards. isbscience.org/events/2025-...

A very nice Preview of our work in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social this morning from Chrishan Fernando & Nicole D. Marino! www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Heard our lab wrapped just dropped... 🎧🔬

#ResearchBriefing Inhibitory interactions between industrial and agricultural chemicals and gut bacteria make a case for considering antibacterial activity in chemical safety assessment. #MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠🧪💻 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed) sisb2026.rockefeller.edu

We're excited to share our lab's first lead paper! We developed OriGen, a language model trained to generate plasmid origins of replication. 🔄🦠 The model generates sequences that are significantly different from wild type origins and, remarkably, they allow for replication in vivo. Read it here ⬇️

We're excited to help launch the inaugural Gordon research conference on #microbiome editing, coming up in January in Pomona, CA! Learn more and register here: https://ow.ly/a6Am50X9XkE

Some archaea—an ancient group of microorganisms—have an entirely novel genetic code, according to a new study in Science. The findings expand our understanding of how alternative genetic codes evolve and hint at new molecular tools for biotechnology applications. https://scim.ag/4omApQ7

Calling all rising juniors & seniors: Interested in biological or biomedical research? Applications for our ’26 Summer Undergraduate Research Experience Program are now open! Nine weeks, hands-on research, & mentorship from some of the nation’s top scientists — learn more: bit.ly/CechFellows

Out now in Nature Communications: Convergent evolution of viral-like Borg archaeal extrachromosomal elements and giant eukaryotic viruses www.nature.com/articles/s41... @luisvalentin.bsky.social @lingdong-shi.bsky.social @martianmicrobe.bsky.social @mschoelmerich.bsky.social

The best group of lab Minions out there 🥸🧪

Our lab is looking for undergrads!⭐️ Asst. Lab Manager: Support lab operations, with potential to transition to a full-time role. Apply: forms.gle/mHufTGPZXYCk... Research Assistant: Work on microbiome editing projects using CRISPR-Cas and other synbio tools. Apply: forms.gle/GNu9kJLFjxx9...