Deadline extended 📢 Submit your abstract for the #PPRM2026 by July 29th! Check our fantastic lineup of invited speakers and come join us discuss all things #plant peptide receptors 🌱 Please spread the word and see you in Freising (Germany) from September 14 to 16 😊 www.events.tum.de/frontend/ind...

Computational design of de novo integrated domains enables rational control of pathogen effector recognition in plant NLR immune receptors. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.10.737686v1

Our latest work on immune receptor engineering for enhanced pathogen recognition is out in @theplantcell.bsky.social academic.oup.com/plcell/artic... #NLRs #Effectors #Exo70

Engineering an Exo70 integrated domain of a barley NLR for improved blast resistance

Engineering the barley NLR RGH2 enhances recognition of blast pathogen effectors from rice and wheat, leading to improved disease resistance.

academic.oup.com

As seen on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social: our story on how the dreaded late blight pathogen hijacks a helper NLR pathway is now out in its final form! 🎉 Meet AVRcap1b: the two-faced effector 🧵👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A potato late blight pathogen effector interacts with ENTH-domain protein TOL9a and an activated helper NLR to suppress immunity

A plant pathogen effector suppresses an activated helper NLR via a host ENTH domain–containing protein, NbTOL9a.

science.org

You saw them first on @bioRxiv. Now they’re out in print—back-to-back. Meet AVRcap1b: the two-faced immunosuppressor from the potato blight pathogen Phytophthora infestans. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A potato late blight pathogen effector interacts with ENTH-domain protein TOL9a and an activated helper NLR to suppress immunity

A plant pathogen effector suppresses an activated helper NLR via a host ENTH domain–containing protein, NbTOL9a.

science.org

Our work is out now! (www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...). We discover a selective autophagy pathway that protects plants from the mess caused by RNA viruses. Intrigued? Follow the spaghetti trail for a summary of our findings🧵-->

Selective autophagy fine-tunes plant immunity to promote cell survival during viral infection

RNA viruses co-opt host endomembranes to form replication complexes, often triggering cellular stress and immune responses. Here, we show that Arabidopsis thaliana activates selective autophagy to res...

science.org

@khongsamchia.bsky.social Extremely excited to share the first pre-print from my PhD project in the Carella lab, co-first authored with @khongsamchia.bsky.social 🎉 (Thread below ⬇️) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Huge thanks to all co-authors and the #CarellaCapybaras for all the support 😊

Started off as convergent observations in the lab with Mau and led to one of my favorite works so far! Gotta love molecular evolution and receptor biology 😊🧬💻 Huge effort from @maigarro.bsky.social @mpcontreras.bsky.social for pushing this together to the end. 🤘🏻

Mauricio Contreras@mpcontreras.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Check out our latest work! AlphaFold 3 revealed a transient immune receptor complex that eluded biochemical studies for almost a decade 🤯 We describe a conserved structural logic underlying sensor–helper communication in an NLR immune receptor network 🧵👇

Huge team effort together with the two legends @amiralito.bsky.social & Maián! Thanks to Raoul Frijters from @rijkzwaan.bsky.social for inspiration and to @kamounlab.bsky.social for the constant support. It was a pleasure to put this story together! Check it out now👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Check out our updated activation-and-release model. This one image condenses over 10 years of work from many legendary @kamounlab.bsky.social members 🤯 Big shoutout to Chih-Hang, @tolgaboz.bsky.social, Lida, Aki, Selvaraj, @jmadhuprakash.bsky.social, @hsuanpai.bsky.social, Ben and many more!

This is the culmination of >10 years of work by generations of students and postdocs. Many false starts. And we know that others have tried too. Structural insights into the activate-and-release mechanism of NLR activation. And we can engineer it too! Kudos Team 🙏🔥

Mauricio Contreras@mpcontreras.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Check out our latest work! AlphaFold 3 revealed a transient immune receptor complex that eluded biochemical studies for almost a decade 🤯 We describe a conserved structural logic underlying sensor–helper communication in an NLR immune receptor network 🧵👇

Check out our latest work! AlphaFold 3 revealed a transient immune receptor complex that eluded biochemical studies for almost a decade 🤯 We describe a conserved structural logic underlying sensor–helper communication in an NLR immune receptor network 🧵👇

bioRxiv Plant Bio@biorxiv-plants.bsky.social · 3mo ago

A conserved structural logic underlies sensor-helper NLR communication in the NRC immune receptor network https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725810v1

A conserved structural logic underlies sensor-helper NLR communication in the NRC immune receptor network https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.18.725810v1

Excited to have started my group @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social through the @dfg.de Emmy Noether program. In this project we will be looking at the mechanisms of host invasion by fungal pathogens 🍄🌱 Check it out and drop me a line if you are interested! uni-tuebingen.de/en/universit...

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft@dfg.de · 3mo ago

Good News!📢 Die DFG hat vom 1. Januar bis 31. März 2026 insgesamt 43 Wissenschaftler*innen in die Programme der #Einzelförderung aufgenommen. Mehr zu den Projekten, Personen und ihren Einrichtungen: ➡️ www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles...

IQ-TREE 3: Phylogenomic Inference Software using Complex Evolutionary Models academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

IQ-TREE 3: Phylogenomic Inference Software using Complex Evolutionary Models

Abstract. IQ-TREE (https://iqtree.github.io/) is a widely used open-source software tool for efficiently inferring phylogenetic trees under maximum likelih

academic.oup.com

Fun thread. Cool work, and make sure to read all the way to the end!

AmirAli Toghani@amiralito.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Protein structure prediction changed biology. Protein assembly discovery is next. We present SNI (Structural Novelty Index), a scalable framework for finding new protein complexes. We used it to uncover an unexpected resistosome assembly: 11-mer. 🧵👇🏻 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

New Preprint in collaboration with GoogleDeepMind: AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies The @kamounlab.bsky.social discovered an 11-protomer complex thanks to the Structural Novelty Index , a new way to use AlphaFold to find protein assemblies that break the pattern.

AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems such as AlphaFold have transformed structural biology by enabling accurate prediction of protein structures. However, their capacity to uncover new classes of…

tsl.ac.uk

Breaking the Pattern with AlphaFold: Introducing the Structural Novelty Index by @KamounLab medium.com/p/breaking-t...

Breaking the Pattern with AlphaFold: Introducing the Structural Novelty Index

The AI system AlphaFold has transformed how we predict protein structures. But sometimes the most interesting discoveries come from asking…

medium.com

Some predictions are high-confidence. These go to eleven! Huge congrats to the whole team ❤️ Such a privilege to work with you all.

AmirAli Toghani@amiralito.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Protein structure prediction changed biology. Protein assembly discovery is next. We present SNI (Structural Novelty Index), a scalable framework for finding new protein complexes. We used it to uncover an unexpected resistosome assembly: 11-mer. 🧵👇🏻 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

📢 The next @mpmijournal.bsky.social Focus Issue is now open for submissions: "Plant Immune Receptors in the Spotlight" 🌱🔬 Edited by @dinglab.bsky.social @clemmar.bsky.social @marischuster.bsky.social Rich Wilson and myself! Submit your best work by 31/10/26! 👇 apsjournals.apsnet.org/mpmireceptors

Protein structure prediction changed biology. Protein assembly discovery is next. We present SNI (Structural Novelty Index), a scalable framework for finding new protein complexes. We used it to uncover an unexpected resistosome assembly: 11-mer. 🧵👇🏻 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

AI-guided discovery of atypical protein assemblies https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.03.722499v1

Just published: A helper NLR challenges the membrane localisation dogma "Plant NLR immune receptors are astonishingly diverse - functionally and structurally. We have only scratched the surface, and there are many more surprises in store." medium.com/p/a-helper-n...

A helper NLR challenges the membrane localisation dogma

PUBLISHED: 30.04.26 | THE SAINSBURY LABORATORY

medium.com

Final version of our NRG1 MS is out! We uncover a surprising mechanism: the helper NLR NRG1 targets organellar membranes to trigger immunity Great collaborations with @KamounLab, @JiorgosKourelis, @jonathandgjones, @AdamWu9527, and the @Phil_Carella labs! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

🎉 📰 Very happy to share the journal publication of our manuscript "Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation"! #ScienceAdvancesResearch @science.org @teamthomma.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Plant-associated fungi co-opt ancient antimicrobials for host manipulation

Fungal effectors may have evolved from ancient antimicrobials, shaping plant microbiota and immunity during infection.

science.org

As an emerging leader in plant innate immunity, we're thrilled to present Mauricio Contreras with a 2027 Early Career Research Award! Alongside advocating for Open Science and preprint review, Mauricio's "activation-and-release" and "NLR resurrection" models are already referenced worldwide.

AlphaFold 3 captures oligomeric states and interaction dynamics of MLO ion channels https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.10.716904v1

#ProtistsOnSky no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...

eLife@elife.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy. buff.ly/vK3GmK5

The Sainsbury Laboratory is delighted to announce that it has received $2 million in funding as part of Google.org's $20 million AI for Science Fund to support organizations focused on cutting-edge AI for science research. @kamounlab.bsky.social @amiralito.bsky.social www.tsl.ac.uk/news/the-sai...

With the new year, is my time to say bye to @gmivienna.bsky.social as I move to @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social in Tuebingen. I will start my solo Group Leader career as a Emmy Norther fellow. Thanks to everyone that helped on the way. I will be advertising PhD and Postdoc positions soon, stay tuned!