🚀 Just 5 days left to apply! We’re hiring — and we’d love for you to join our team. If you’re passionate about AI, health and infection research, this is your moment to start an independent junior research group at HZI in one of Europe's most research-rich regions. ⏰ Deadline: March 30

Excited to share the first preprint from the lab! We show that ApeA defends against RNA phage infection by cleaving the phage genome: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

My time in @martinsteinegger.bsky.social's group is ending, but I’m staying in Korea to build a lab at Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine. If you or someone you know is interested in molecular machine learning and open-source bioinformatics, please reach out. I am hiring! mirdita.org

Think outside the box and address the most pressing challenges in infection research with us!🧑‍🔬 We're offering 10 PhD positions at five HZI sites across Germany. 👉Don’t miss out—apply by February 28, 2026 and contribute to shaping the future of infection research jobs.helmholtz-hzi.de/job/Braunsch...

I’m thrilled to share our work on phage triggers of the bacterial immune system in its final form @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy to share our recent preprint: "DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social

#microsky #phagesky #phage defence www.cell.com/cell-reports...

3′UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Phages go persistent, what does it mean for phage therapy and how can this special feature be leveraged? Take a look at the work of @emggroupucph.bsky.social, to which we contributed @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41... N&V www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bakterielle Infektionen können uns krank machen oder sogar zum Tod führen. Zudem wirken Antibiotika durch zunehmende Resistenzen immer schlechter. @quarkswdr.bsky.social zeigt, wie rasant sich Bakterien vermehren & welche Rolle #Antibiotikaresistenzen dabei spielen. www.quarks.de/gesundheit/m...

Phages are full of genes of unknown function that are likely adaptive in specific conditions. New preprint: Phage TnSeq identifies essential genes rapidly and knocks all non-essentials. We would like to send a pool of phiKZ mutants to anyone wanting it! Reach out tinyurl.com/bdcfrejh

📢 We have multiple open PhD positions to study bacterial immune systems using cutting-edge cryo-EM, microbiology, and biochemistry in our group! Join us and uncover how bacterial defenses eliminate predators and engineer next-gen biotech tools. 🔥 Apply by Jan 8, 2026 Details: phd.pages.ista.ac.at

Impact of Small RNA Sponges on Regulatory RNA Networks in Bacteria #microsky www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

Von Biotechnologie bis Pandemiebewältigung: Heute feierten wir mit Partnern, Alumni & Gästen aus Wissenschaft, Politik & Wirtschaft #HZI60. Zu den Gratulant:innen zählten u.a. Nds. Ministerpräsident Olaf Lies, Martin Keller @helmholtz.de & Otmar D. Wiestler. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

Angesichts zunehmender #Antibiotikaresistenzen können #Phagen ein vielversprechender Therapieansatz sein, so @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social. Mehr über das Potenzial von #Bakteriophagen erfahrt ihr hier: www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center... #WAAW2025 #Weltantibiotikawoche

The HZI is seeking new junior group leaders for its HUMAN program: If you’re passionate about infection biology, data science, or #AI driven health research, this is your chance to lead your own team. 🧬 Deadline: November 26 www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/career/jo... www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/career/jo...

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages. Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms. A thread 1/8

Große Phagen, kleine Phagen, Phagen aus Primatenkot... 💩Die Forschenden am @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social, @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social & HZI gehen in ihrer Bakteriophagen-Forschung an die Grenzen! @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @jenshoer.bsky.social @gerovac.bsky.social @jangogarten.bsky.social #WAAW2025

Immer mehr Bakterien werden resistent & #Antibiotika stoßen an Grenzen. Zur #Weltantibiotikawoche zeigen unsere Forschenden, dass Hoffnung in einem uralten biologischen Prinzip liegen könnte: #Bakteriophagen - #Viren, die gezielt Bakterien angreifen. #WAAW2025 www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

Can we leverage bacterial competition for targeted replacement of harmful strains? Maybe! Our recent piece in @natmicrobiol.nature.com provides a theoretical framework and a set of experiments to show what it might take: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

After 5 years of waiting, the new #CRISPR classification by Makarova et al. is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Growth-coupled microbial biosynthesis of the animal pigment xanthommatin — Led by Leah Bushin, featuring M. Gracia Alvan, @danielvolke.bsky.social @oscarpuiggene.bsky.social in a fantastic collaboration w/Brad Moore @labnikel.bsky.social @natbiotech.nature.com 🦑 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Use antisense oligomers to silence phage genes and discover new biology. @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de print: www.nature.com/articles/s41... highlight: www.nature.com/articles/s41... briefing: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Proud to be part of this incredible multidisciplinary team uncovering why some people are NOT infected by Salmonella. This new Wellcome Trust @wellcometrust.bsky.social funding will allow us to uncover why some people naturally resist infection and colonisation by Salmonella Typhimurium.

Cool work by @microberna.bsky.social & Kai Papenfort, presenting the first RNA-RNA map in C. crescentus using RIL-seq, revealing an RNA sponge that controls the transition from nutrient abundance to starvation; new insights into RNA networks and stress responses! #RNA www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#phage #phagesky

One transcript, two functions: the emerging roles of dual-function RNAs microLIFE review by @lizmarialuke.bsky.social and Kai Papenfort at @uni-jena.de academic.oup.com/microlife/ad...

How to become a "hot RNA" 🌡️? The answers were kindly provided by hyperthermophilic archaea: rRNA modifications are key! Check out this new publication presenting pan-modification profiling of the epitranscriptome. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex.... (1/3)

Excited to share our new @narjournal.bsky.social paper! Using ReLo and AlphaFold, we described a network of interactions between Drosophila piRNA pathway factors suggesting new links how they coordinate to ensure transposon silencing and genome integrity. academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from? Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Very excited to share the latest work from our lab, which was published today in Nature! nature.com/articles/s41... PhD graduate and now post-doc Sofia Dahlman, along with co-senior author Sam Forster from The Hudson and other researchers from our lab and others.

Unsere stärkste Waffe gegen #Infektionskrankheiten stumpft ab: #Antibiotikaresistenzen stellen auch die Forschung am HZI vor große Herausforderungen, wie Mark Brönstrup und @schauflerlab.org @helmholtz-hioh.bsky.social in einer Doku von @artefr.bsky.social erklären. www.arte.tv/de/videos/12...

Check out our preprint! With new molecular mechanisms, 140 subtomogram averages, and ~600 annotated cells under different conditions, we @embl.org were able to describe bacterial populations with in-cell #cryoET. And there’s a surprise at the end 🕵️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #teamtomo

#Viren sind mehr als nur Krankheitserreger: @quarkswdr.bsky.social zeigt, wie Viren seit Milliarden von Jahren die Evolution beeinflussen, unser Erbgut geprägt haben & heute als Grundlage für #Impfstoffe oder alternative Therapieformen genutzt werden können. www.ardmediathek.de/video/Y3JpZD...

Two group leader positions available in the broader areas of RNA science, RNA technologies, and RNA medicine. Attractive packages and a great environment. Come and join us at Helmholtz RNA Würzburg, Bavaria.

Please RT: We have an opening for a junior group leader position in „Phage Biology & Biotechnology“. www.fz-juelich.de/de/karriere/... Interested candidates are encouraged to contact me via email for further details. @spp2330.bsky.social; @mibinet.bsky.social

DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce? We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE. "Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness" 🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...

Viral AlphaFold Database (VAD) is live in Science Advances ~27,000 predicted viral protein monomers & homodimers Conserved folds across bacteria, archaea & eukaryotic viruses New toxin–antitoxin system KreTA uncovered Vast “functional darkness” remains uncharted www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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...

*New preprint* #phage #phagesky This is a cool effort lead by Fangchao, Arkin lab, to test a new tech to study phage-host interaction mechanism at scale, in a droplet! We benchmarked it by using a set of 2 classical coli phages to identify their receptors, impt for generatin data for AI/ML models

Wir freuen uns, drei weitere Nachswuchsgruppenleiter:innen in unserem HUMAN-Programm zu begrüßen! 🎉 Christiane Iserman, Jakob Wirbel und Sampurna Chakrabarti @amapruns.bsky.social nehmen heute die Arbeit in ihren neuen Gruppen auf. Herzlich willkommen am HZI und alles Gute!

Wir haben ein Krise von Antibiotika-Resistenzen. Dennoch werden Bakteriophagen - eine Virus-Art, die Bakterien abtöten kann - kaum als alternative Therapieform eingesetzt. Warum? Das erklärt ETH-Forscher Alexander Harms im Interview. (@aharms485.bsky.social) ethz.ch/de/news-und-...

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/...

Am HZI-Standort @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social werden die Grundlagen für neuartige RNA-Therapien erforscht. Heute wurde das Richtfest für den mehr als 10.000 Quadratmeter großen HIRI-Neubau auf dem Medizincampus der @uni-wuerzburg.de gefeiert. 📷HIRI / Mario Schmitt www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

Excited to annouce the latest research published by our lab, which is led by Dinesh Subedi and is out today in Nature Microbiology. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

You like phages ? In this publication, we use metaHiC and our new version of the MetaTOR pipeline to challenge the traditional view of phages with a narrow host range. @rkoszul.bsky.social @natmicrobiol.nature.com @cnrs.fr @institutpasteur.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Recent study in @natbiotech.nature.com: A team led by #HIRI’s Beisel lab introduced a new way to fine-tune genetic material. They describe an innovative technique where chemical tags are attached directly to DNA, opening new possibilities in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. ➡️ rdcu.be/eG4fk

No Genetics? Try ASOs – A non-genetic approach to silence genes at the phage-host interface. We use it to study jumbo phage biology and anti-phage defence. @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social published now in @nature.com

Es war uns eine große Ehre, Yasmine Belkaid, Präsidentin des @pasteur.fr, heute am HZI begrüßen zu dürfen. Vielen Dank für die wertvollen wissenschaftlichen Diskussionen und den inspirierenden Vortrag über die Immunität gegenüber der Mikrobiota und die Auswirkungen auf die Impfstoffentwicklung.

RNA-basierte Medizin hat das Potenzial viele Krankheiten zu heilen. Am @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social arbeiten Forscher:innen unter anderem an programmierbaren #Antibiotika und diagnostischen Werkzeugen auf RNA-Basis. Mehr dazu findet ihr in unserem Wissensportal. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/wissen/wisse...