A single DNA methylation site regulates cell fate during Clostridioides difficile sporulation www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

📣New preprint with @rberntsson.bsky.social👇We overturn the long-standing view that Gram-positive bacteria lack conjugative pili! We identify pili-forming proteins in a wide range of bacteria and show they're essential for the spread of #antibioticresistance #AMR 🧵1/6 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Tiffany Zarrella et al. provide new insights into the role of the bacterial second messenger cyclic di-adenosine monophosphate (c-di-AMP) in maintaining cell envelope homeostasis in Streptococcus pneumoniae. #MicroSky #cyclic-di-AMP onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

1/ Our new preprint is out on biorxiv on how antibiotics bind to bacterial 30S subunits, please repost. #ribosome #antibiotics #microsky #rnasky doi.org/10.64898/202...

High-throughput transposon mutagenesis defines the essential genome of diverse phages https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.19.695335v1

Do viruses use RNA to rewire bacteria? Yes! In our paper in @cp-molcell.bsky.social RIL-seq reveals interkingdom RNA interactions during λ infection. Phages don’t just encode proteins, they use small RNAs to hijack bacterial replication and fine-tune infection. #RNA #Phage doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...

RNA–RNA interactome approaches provide in vivo evidence for a critical role of the Hfq rim face in sRNA–mRNA pairing url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

I think some folks might be happy to see this. NIGMS MIRA R35 for EI/NI has been published. PAR-26-121 files.simpler.grants.gov/opportunitie...

We’re hiring! We’re looking for researchers who use AI/machine learning to study infectious disease. The position is at the University at Albany, in the Biomedical Sciences Dept, which has very close ties to the Wadsworth Center. albany.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdeta...

Assistant Professor Biomedical Sciences AI position available. Read details and apply at: albany.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdeta...

What started out as a structure-function project for an undergraduate researcher morphed into something bigger w/ @popea.bsky.social leading the way. Check out how RhlR fine tunes its response to its autoinducer to avoid producing too much pyocyanin. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

It is rare as an editor to get to take on an article so uniquely in your wheelhouse. Sharing some wonderful work by Guarnaccia et al. from the Perez, Ng, and Neiditch labs. #structuralbiology of #pathogens @plos.org dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

🚨The Yap Lab at Northwestern Univ is looking to fill 2 postdoc positions in 2026 to study aspects of Staphylococcus aureus antibiotic resistance and RNA synthesis-degradation. Please contact Frances Yap at [email protected] for details. sites.northwestern.edu/yaplab/. Pls repost #Microsky

Phage-encoded sRNA counteracts xenogenic silencing in pathogenic E. coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.27.690950v1

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Brand new preprint from my lab, showing that TnpB, the ancestor of Cas12, acts as a gene drive in plasmids! And it turns out in conjugative plasmids that it acts as a primitive anti-self defense system, providing a potential link between its transposon effect and becoming CRISPR!

Apply through APHL to be a summer intern at the Wadsworth Center. Both basic science research and public health opportunities available.

The University at Albany Biomedical Sciences Department is hiring at the Assistant Professor level. We are looking for researchers at the intersection of infectious disease and artificial intelligence: albany.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdeta... #infectiousdisease #artificialintelligence

Canonical transcription termination mechanisms explain a minority of operons in cyanobacteria https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687660v1

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