First 🟦 post - my main postdoc work is out in the world! We designed a Cas12a-based genetic screen to identify host factors that contribute to infection by the tickborne pathogen Rickettsia parkeri, and stumbled across a really exciting direct interaction between host and bacterium🦠. Check it out!

The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social 🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬 annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)

De-DUFing the DUFs 🧩 @franznarberhaus.bsky.social lab uncovers how small DUF1127 proteins regulate #phosphate uptake by binding the sensor kinase PhoR. Their conserved role from Agrobacterium to E. coli highlights how even small DUFs can shape bacterial physiology 🦠 buff.ly/jJd9Eho

Thrilled to share our multidisiplinary work on how genome-wide DNA bridging by H-NS reshapes the stationary phase bacterial nucleoid and affects the transcriptional landscape. With Xindan Wang and @meyerroc.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My lab is hiring a postdoc! Official job ad and application instructions here: healthresearch.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/HRI_Ca... Current deadline says October 13, but this will be extended to be open for ~2 weeks.

Our lab is offering 3 PhD projects this year across 3 different topics: antibiotic resistance mechanisms, evolution of pathogenic bacteria, and fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation. www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...

Small side-project from my postdoctoral work with @hitenmadhani.bsky.social. We found that blasticidin S can select for Cryptococcus transformants, and made CRISPR-compatible plasmids for other existing markers. Now 7 dominant genetic selection methods in total! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Our lab website is live, check it out: pokorzynski-lab.squarespace.com

The Tufts IRACDA Program is now accepting applications. The deadline for positions beginning in late fall/early winter 2025–2026 is October 15, 2025. For details, please visit gsbs.tufts.edu/academics/tu... I am also happy to discuss potential fellowship projects in my lab.

NOT TO BE MISSED. My awesome colleague Rob Brewster may have COMPLETELY upended our understanding of how TFs work ... a must-read for anyone who cares in the slightest about gene regulation

Check out our new paper: a review of translational coupling, the phenomenon where translation of one prokaryotic gene can promote translation of the gene downstream. We cover the history, and delve into the mechanism, which is still not fully understood. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Great scientific discussions and community at the Regulating with RNA in Bacteria and Archaea Meeting in Strasbourg 🇫🇷, presenting NIAID research on B. burgdorferi sRNAs and single-cell RNA-seq #rna

Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

De novo engineered guide RNA-directed transposition with TnpB-family proteins reveals features of naturally evolved systems www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Widespread purine bias in bacterial genes driven by runaway transcription https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.25.672197v1

🚨 New Preprint Alert 🚨 Our latest work, A Zur-dependent regulatory RNA involved in maintaining zinc homeostasis in Staphylococcus aureus, is now live on bioRxiv! 🧬🦠📄 Check it out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Analysis of stress-induced small proteins in Escherichia coli reveals that YoaI mediates cross-talk between distinct signaling systems 🦠 from Yadavalli lab. Ribo-seq study of Mg2+ starvation induced 17 small proteins 💫 #RNAsky #microsky #ribosome #smallproteins doi.org/10.1101/2024...

Out yesterday. Using a translation reporter on a mini-tn5 transposon, and high freq. mutagenesis, we looked at translation on whole genome scale independently of genome annotation. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

New cool work from French friends and colleagues: identification of Rho termination sites in B. subtilis! academic.oup.com/nar/article/... #SubtiWiki @narjournal.bsky.social @inrae-france.bsky.social

Talk slots full but we can take late breaking poster abstracts until August 7th. Hope to see you in York to hear about your chromosome story 🧬🦠🧫 www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f... @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

Our work to functionally map the Cryptococcus genome is now "officially" out in Cell!

Had a fabulous day at the Wadsworth Center in Albany yesterday 🤩 Very impressive place to do science plus everybody is so kind 🤗 Thanks so much Sian @sianowen.bsky.social and Tom Bartlett for the kind invitation 🤩. Glad to see your new labs started so well.

#RNASky #ribosome 🧪

Jinich et al. present an important new resource for the Mtb community! The Mycobacterium tuberculosis Transposon Sequencing Database (MtbTnDB) is an interactive web resource summarizing 150+ published screens. #MicroSky #Mycobacterium #tuberculosis onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

The Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, is currently recruiting for a Research Scientist 5 (Assistant/Associate Professor equivalent) to lead an independent research program focused on zoonotic and/or vector-borne pathogens (viral and bacterial).

The Wadsworth Center is expanding it's research focus on #virology /vector-borne diseases! www.asmcareerconnections.org/job/research-scientist-5-g-31/78488664/ This is a unicorn assistant prof equivalent position with 12-month hard money salary and no teaching commitments (!) Reposts appreciated 🙏

Bacterial genomes still contain many hidden genes. This article reports a high-resolution map of translated proteins, incl. small ones, in the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @campy-bara.bsky.social @sharmalab.bsky.social

Phage DisCo! Our targeted phage discovery method in press today: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... Perfectly timed with our four summer undergrad's first successful phage hunt... disco lights in the lab to mark the occasion 🕺

Mycobacterium tuberculosis MutT4 is an RNA pyrophosphohydrolase that forms biomolecular condensates and sensitizes mRNAs to degradation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.13.653832v1

Really excited to share that I'll start my research lab at the Wadsworth Center with the New York State Department of Health in August 2025! My group will use functional genomics to study how fungal pathogens have repurposed machinery from their environmental lifestyles for mammalian infection!

1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below. shorturl.at/o6S1w

The small membrane protein YohP induces membrane depolarization and ppGpp accumulation in Escherichia coli. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.06.652344v1

New preprint alert 🚨: We found that Steno maltophila senses a quorum sensing molecule from the co-infecting pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa and switches to multicellular aggregates as a protective mechanism. #MicroSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Modulation of protein activity by small RNA base pairing internal to coding sequences: Molecular Cell www.cell.com/molecular-ce...

Just posted on bioRxiv! We reveal the structure of the MurJ/LysM (JM) complex. A small phage protein, LysM (37 residues), binds to MurJ like a wedge and freezes its motion. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social Pre-Print from the Vecchiarelli Lab! 🧵 doi.org/10.1101/2025... Congratulations to first author Claire Dudley! @claire-dudley.bsky.social Pls ReSkeet

Preprint: Conjugative transfer inhibition of IncA and IncC plasmids by pervasive SGI1-like elements via relaxosome assembly interference #plasmid #relaxase #bacteria #parasite #MGE #plasmidbiology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Another very useful chemical analog of mycobacterial mycolic acids from the Ben Swarts lab working with @siegristpalmore.bsky.social Photoactivatable Free Mycolic Acid Probe to Investigate Mycobacteria–Host Interactions | ACS Infectious Diseases pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Analysis of (p)ppGpp metabolism and signaling using a dynamic luminescent reporter https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.16.649062v1

I am thrilled to share this new preprint from our lab! We find (>800!) 30S binding sites in hundreds of 5'UTRs, but also new dynamic steps of translation initiation. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Congrats to all co-authors at the RNA control of gene expression lab, IBPC CNRS (Thread, 1/6)

Excited to share that my first first author paper from grad school is up now at PLOS Genetics @plos.org! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Excited to share our new preprint on an RNA sponge counteracting sibling sRNAs in Caulobacter! Laura Vogt and @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social used RILseq, RNA biochemistry and great commitment to work out this story! www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

We are happy to share our new paper on the #Campylobacter translatome out now in @naturecomms.bsky.social. Many congrats to @kathrinfroschauer.bsky.social & @campy-bara.bsky.social and all collaboration partners! #SPP2002 #smallproteins @uni-wuerzburg.de www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-58329-w

Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Structural basis of antiphage defense by an ATPase-associated reverse transcriptase https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.26.645336v1

I’m excited to share some of the results of my postdoctoral work @yalemicropath.bsky.social, where we reveal how a mechanism of nutritional immunity deployed by macrophages against Salmonella governs their metabolic behavior inside host cells, just published @pnas.org: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Happy to share our genetic toolkit designed to make your gene editing (life) easier, faster and very efficient! Also suitable to build saturated chromosomal variant libraries using oligo-recombineering with extra short homology arms! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A lipoprotein partner for the Escherichia coli outer membrane protein TolC https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.19.644130v1

EASY-CRISPR: a toolbox for high-throughput single-step custom genetic editing in bacteria https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.20.644322v1