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...

If you want to do single-cell RNA-seq on your favourite bacterium, here‘s our detailed Nature Protocol for microbial MATQ-seq. It profiles up to 600 genes in a single bacterial cell! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The EMBO workshop on the Immune System of Bacteria just started in sunny Paris in the Institut Pasteur. So excited for three days of awesome science.

Deazaguanylation is a nucleobase-protein conjugation required for type IV CBASS immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.06.647259v1

„Gesunde Anfänge, hoffnungsvolle Zukunft“ ist Thema des #Weltgesundheitstags @who.int, der die Gesundheit von Müttern & Neugeborenen fokussiert. Auch wir am HZI arbeiten auf diesem Gebiet. So erforscht @ntorow.bsky.social bspw. das frühkindliche Immunsystem. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

🔬The application deadline in our program "CURIOSITY IS INFECTIOUS" is less than a month away! 👉 Apply by April 20 for one of 16 exciting PhD projects - from host-pathogen interactions and novel antiinfectives to molecular mechanisms of infection and immunity. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/career/jo...

#Lungenentzündungen mit Staph. aureus zählen zu den gefährlichsten Infektionen, die im Krankenhaus auftreten können. Eine Forschungsgruppe unter Leitung des HZI hat nun einen neuen Wirkstoffkandidaten gegen Lungeninfektionen durch den Krankenhauskeim entdeckt. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...

CURIOUS ABOUT PHAGE BIOLOGY!? CPIC lab at @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social is recruiting in the call +++ CURIOSITY IS INFECTIOUS +++ helmholtz-hzi.de/en/career/jo... Did you spot the phage? Please share!

🔬 "CURIOSITY IS INFECTIOUS" – PhD Positions in Infection Research at HZI! We are looking for the next generation of pioneers in infection research! 🧬🦠💊 Explore exciting projects - from host-pathogen interactions and novel antiinfectives to molecular mechanisms of infection and immunity.

Join our team as a doctoral researcher, impact science and go viral. We illuminate protein-RNA complexes at the interface between phages and bacterial pathogens @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/career/jo...

What is the diversity of antiphage systems out there ? We used protein and genomic language models (and defense score!) to start bringing some answers: >45 000 protein families. Leb by E. Mordret. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Interactive UMAP to have fun mdmparis.github.io/antiphage-la...