Can you tell how an antibiotic kills bacteria just by watching them under a regular microscope — without any dyes ? Yes, it turns out, at least if you are a deep neural net.
Excited to share our paper with @savitski-lab.bsky.social, led by @tarabartolec.bsky.social, Karin Mitosch & Clément Potel, out now in @nature.com. We show that T7 phage broadly disables bacterial defenses using a unique ‘loose cannon’ protein kinase. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Pervasive phosphorylation by phage T7 kinase disarms bacterial defences - Nature
The T7 bacteriophage deactivates bacterial defence systems through T7K phosphorylation of nearly all host and phage proteins during infection.
nature.com
Typas Lab@typaslab.bsky.social · 2y agoExcited to share our preprint with @savitski_lab led by @tarabartolec.bsky.social, @KMitosch & Clément Potel! We uncovered a mechanism by which the T7 phage broadly counteracts DNA-targeting bacterial defenses by deploying a loose cannon kinase in its genome @embl.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Starting with the DNA sequence of a #phage genome, #PholdAPhage will create a 3D reconstruction of the complete phage, almost like you did cryoEM on it! Check out Renee's awesome software github.com/reneegreen81... to assemble unknown phage particles one protein at a time
#VoM2026 has started! 🎉 We were delighted to hear welcoming remarks from ISVM President Lone Brøndsted as we begin a week of exciting science, collaboration, and new connections. Here's to a fantastic week of science and networking in Prague! #VoM2026 #ISVM #Microbiology #Virology
Die HZI-Projekte #PROTON & #ENDURIVAC sind für den Science Breakthrough of the Year von #FallingWalls nominiert. Die Teams entwickeln eine neue Antibiotika-Technologie bzw. eine Plattform für langwirksame Impfstoffe. Herzlichen Glückwunsch an alle Beteiligten! www.helmholtz-hzi.de/media-center...
What is the impact of phage biocontrol on plant immune responses and bacterial virulence? Very happy that this is out @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de, @fz-juelich.de, @hhu.de, @spp2330.bsky.social
Borjana Arsova@borjana-a.bsky.social · 5mo ago #Bacteriophages help sustainable plant protection ✅#Phages restore 🌱 growth during 🦠 infection. ✅🧬 shows ⬇️🌱immunity & ⬇️bacterial virulence. #Biocontroll #PlantSci 🧪 #PMI @frunzkelab.bsky.social @guidogrossmann.bsky.social @mibinet.bsky.social @fz-juelich.de www.cell.com/cell-reports...
1/4 Excited to share our new preprint on phage genome editing: Targeted DNA nicking enables efficient, single-step and counterselection-free editing of bacteriophage genomes Preprint: lnkd.in/dv4g5kW6
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
lnkd.in
Mit dem deutschlandweit einmaligen Master-Studienschwerpunkt #Bioentrepreneurship läuten die @tu-braunschweig.de und das HZI die Zukunft der Innovation ein. Die Vertiefungsrichtung steht Studierenden aus den Biowissenschaften und Wirtschaftswissenschaften offen. youtu.be/UqNEKTdyNmU?...
Bioentrepreneurship studieren in Braunschweig
YouTube video by Technische Universität Braunschweig
youtu.be
Rapid diagnosis of common, undetected, and uncultivable bloodstream infections from positive blood cultures using Oxford Nanopore sequencing: a metagenomic pipeline analysis - The Lancet Microbe www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... #microsky
Rapid diagnosis of common, undetected, and uncultivable bloodstream infections from positive blood cultures using Oxford Nanopore sequencing: a metagenomic pipeline analysis
These findings show that metagenomic sequencing has the potential to rapidly and comprehensively detect pathogens and AMR in bloodstream infections. Integration into clinical practice could help to cl...
thelancet.com
Now out in @pnas.org 🥳 "DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity" --> bad timing can kill you, even as a virus. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
pnas.org
Julia Frunzke@frunzkelab.bsky.social · 10mo agoHappy 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
🛠️💉It's time for engineering contractile injection systems! @chipericson.bsky.social & @davidschaumann.bsky.social introduce programmable CIS - PROCIS, combining tail length control, non-native cargo loading, and cell retargeting all in one system! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵 1/5
🚨After 4 fantastic years in the Sorek lab @soreklab.bsky.social, I’ll be starting my own group at EMBL @embl.org bl.org Hamburg. www.embl.org/groups/oster... Metabolism-driven immunity: phages, metabolites, and discovery of new enzymes, molecules, and pathways 🦠🧬
Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity
embl.org
Out Now! Temperate phages enhance bacterial host fitness via RNA-guided flagellar remodelling #MicroSky
Temperate phages enhance bacterial host fitness via RNA-guided flagellar remodelling
Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02355-xThe prophage of a clinical Enterobacter isolate uses an RNA-guided transcription factor to alter flagellar composition, leading to enhanced bacterial motility and improved gut colonization in a mouse model.
go.nature.com
Great piece and cover @science.org about how our field is uncovering the evolutionary and mechanistic connections between bacterial and eukaryotic immunity ! www.science.org/content/article/ancient-wars-between-microbes-gave-us-key-immune-defenses
Very happy to share our recent preprint: “An Lsr2-like xenogeneic silencer confers immunity against AT-rich bacteriophage infection” www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9... @fz-juelich.de; @hhu.de; @spp2330.bsky.social
MissAlignment is out!!! Our new software that improves reference-free tilt series alignment by mimicking human intuition. Check out Dimitry's beautiful thread for a quick summary! And the preprint for more details: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... The program: github.com/warpem/miss-...
biorxiv.org
Dimitry Tegunov@dtegunov.bsky.social · 7mo agoWe're super excited to share MissAlignment: a new ML-based approach to reference-free tilt series alignment, spearheaded by @martenchaillet.bsky.social. We think it's going to make your cryo-ET life a lot better. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Code: github.com/warpem/miss-... 🧶 Thread:
Our lab is proud to present our latest work harnessing Bridge Recombinase for genome-scale editing in diverse bacteria, microbiome editing, and programmable horizontal gene transfer.
bioRxiv Synthetic Biology@biorxiv-synthbio.bsky.social · 7mo agoBridge recombinase enables versatile rewriting of bacterial genomes https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.04.29.721476v1
We found that TIR domains in animal immune proteins, including the human TLR4, are enzymes that cleave NAD+ to produce the signaling molecule cADPR Read our new preprint by talented Bohdana Hurieva: “Conserved catalytic activity of immune TIR domains in animals” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
#microsky #phagesky Jumbo #phage PhiKZ www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Structural atlas of the intact jumbo phage phiKZ - Nature Communications
Jumbo phages are bacterial viruses with large genomes, oversized icosahedral capsids and complex tail architectures. Here, the authors use cryo-EM to provide a detailed structural analysis of jumbo ph...
nature.com
🚀 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
Helmholtz-Zentrum für Infektionsforschung (HZI)@helmholtzhzi.bsky.social · 8mo agoWe're hiring junior research group leaders for our HUMAN program to push the boundaries of science! 📍Braunschweig | 💼 5-year funding + tenure path | 📅Apply by March 30 🔗 Infection biology: jobs.helmholtz-hzi.de/job/Braunsch... 🔗AI in Health and Infection Biology jobs.helmholtz-hzi.de/job/Braunsch...
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...
biorxiv.org
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
Mirdita Lab - Laboratory for Computational Biology & Molecular Machine Learning
Mirdita Lab builds scalable bioinformatics methods.
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...
A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system - Nature Microbiology
A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.
nature.com
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...
A prophage-expressed type IV pilus component provides anti-phage defense
Sztanko et al. demonstrate that Pseudomonas aeruginosa prophages encode proteins resembling the type IV pilus minor pilin protein, FimU. These prophage-expressed FimU proteins are incorporated into th...
cell.com
3′UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
3′UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages
Abstract. Acid resistance is crucial for enterobacteria to withstand host acidic environments during infection, including the gastrointestinal tract and ma
academic.oup.com
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...
Persistent virulent phages exist across bacterial isolates - Nature Microbiology
The long-term existence of diverse virulent phages within cultures of Escherichia coli and others challenges the virulent–temperate dichotomy and points to non-canonical phage lifestyles.
nature.com
@emggroupucph.bsky.social · 11mo ago[1/3] Is your favorite bacterial isolate hiding a surprise lytic virus with a VERY different lifestyle? Finally I can proudly say that our paper on persistent phages is out in Nature Microbiology. rdcu.be/eWJEp. Well done @peterdoug.bsky.social
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...
Bakterien gegen Mensch: Wer wird gewinnen?
quarks.de