Stephan Gruber
@gruberlab.bsky.social
Microbiologist | Biochemist | Structural Biologist, Lausanne 🇨🇭 | Studying molecular machines (SMC, ParB, Wadjet, Lamassu & more) in Genome Integrity & Nucleic Acid Immunity. 🔬 Lab homepage: wp.unil.ch/gruberlab
Shocking sad news: our colleague Ralf Seidel has suddenly and unexpectedly passed away! www.physes.uni-leipzig.de/pdi/profil/n... Ralf did a postdoc in our #CDlab in the early 2000s and became a professor in Leipzig. He was such a kind person. We'll miss him dearly.
physes.uni-leipzig.de
Stunning pre-print from @artemisaev.bsky.social @dbikard.bsky.social and the Wang lab answering long-standing questions about OLD phage defense and extending the concept of "protein complex disassembly" controlling activation of bacterial immunity: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
“It’s just a microscopic water droplet surrounded by a fatty membrane and stuffed with chemicals and snippets of DNA encoding a mere 36 genes. But it’s also arguably the closest researchers have come to building a living cell from scratch.”🧪 My story in @science.org on a fascinating preprint:
Lab-created ‘SpudCell’ marks ‘stunning’ step toward building life from scratch
A synthetic cell can now grow and divide—but it’s still far from alive
science.org
Excited to share our new preprint! 🧬❄️ by brilliant @mdreimann.bsky.social and great collaborators! Using cryo-ET&EM, we reveal archaeal chromatin in a near-native state: variable-beads-on-a-string fibers shaped by growth phase and histone composition #ArchaeaSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
I am delighted to share our latest preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202.... Fantastic work from my past and present lab members @flofournes.bsky.social, Sandra Martin and Nicolas Pellaton. Also many thanks to our precious collaborators @gruberlab.bsky.social and to @snsf.ch for funding this research.
Genome replication and cell division control by the methylation-sensitive GcrA regulator in Agrobacterium tumefaciens https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.29.728657v1
New online: Rap1-mediated steric hindrance protects telomeres from MRX sensing
Rap1-mediated steric hindrance protects telomeres from MRX sensing
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 20 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41594-026-01810-xThe authors show that Rap1 protein coverage protects telomeres by physically blocking the Mre11–Rad50–Xrs2NBS1 complex. Longer, denser Rap1 arrays better prevent DNA damage responses, providing a mechanism for how cells detect short telomeres and maintain genome stability
dlvr.it
We are implementing a similar policy at @arxiv.bsky.social. If there is incontrovertible evidence of LLM slop in a paper, this means the authors did not take the time to read the LLM output and we can't trust anything else in the paper. Penalty is 1 year ban from arXiv followed by...
Mre11-Rad50 enhances spacer acquisition in a haloarchaeal Type I-B CRISPR-Cas system | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.08.723854v1?rss=1
We’re hiring! 🇸🇪🔬 Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Prokaryotic Microbiology (molecular focus) at Stockholm University. Supportive environment + strong molecular research 👉https://su.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:921526/type:job/where:125/apply:1 Please share!!
Biträdande lektor i prokaryot mikrobiologi med inriktning mot molekylära processer
Institutionen för molekylär biovetenskap, Wenner-Grens institut (MBW) bedriver experimentell grundforskning inom molekylär cellbiologi, integrativ biologi och infektions- och immunbiologi. Forsknin
su.varbi.com
Interested in synthetic biology & microbiomes? 🧬🧫 We are recruiting a PhD student to develop biosensors to study microbe–microbe & microbe–host interactions. In beautiful Lausanne, Switzerland🏔️⛵ @dmf-unil.bsky.social @fbm-unil.bsky.social Apply by 24.05.2026 👇 shorturl.at/6X7M4 Boosts appreciated!
Career Opportunities: PhD position in microbial synthetic biology (22753)
shorturl.at
Really cool work from @mblokesch.bsky.social et al Competence-mediated DNA uptake diversifies Vibrio cholerae sedentary chromosomal integrons www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Competence-mediated DNA uptake diversifies Vibrio cholerae sedentary chromosomal integrons
Bacteria often survive viral attack and environmental stress by sharing genes that enhance their defenses. The cholera pathogen Vibrio cholerae carries a sedentary chromosomal integron (SCI), a genetic element containing hundreds of mostly promoterless ...
science.org
Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications. Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101
Open Positions
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tiny.cc
Just a quick reminder that the first of these Associate Professorships have a closing date for applications of April the 8th. Get your application in now! Please repost
Rob Klose@robklose.bsky.social · 5mo agoWe are excited to be recruiting into 3 Associate Professorship's in @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social. Come join us as a colleague and benefit from our vibrant and multidisciplinary environment. Reach out to me if you have any questions. Please repost! (tinyurl.com/48deybuu) (tinyurl.com/4pdvjaft).
Last day to register for the SMC meeting 2026!
EMBO@embo.org · 6mo agoExplore SMC mechanism and regulation at EMBO Workshop "Threads of life: SMC complexes in #chromosome structure and dynamics" in #Bengaluru, IN, 13–18 Dec 2026. Registration/Abstract submission by 1 Apr/1 May https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-smc-complexes #EMBOThreadsOfLife #genesky #EMBOevents 🧪
AlphaFold database has entered the era of complexes. Together with NVIDIA, DeepMind and EBI, we use ColabFold, OpenFold and MMseqs2-GPU to predict ~31 million complexes (homo & hetro-dimers) resulting in 1.8 million high-quality predictions 📄 research.nvidia.com/labs/dbr/ass... 🌐 alphafold.ebi.ac.uk
‼️Exciting news: we are back‼️ This year marks the 20th anniversary of our graduate student symposium, and we are more than excited to be collaborating with students from the EPFL School of Life Sciences🇨🇭 📅 When? 2nd - 3rd of July 2026 📍Where? MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge
Preprint alert 🚨Happy to share my first Posdoc manuscript from the Vos lab @voslab.org. We introduce GATO-seq, a high-throughput, fully in vitro technique that maps RNA polymerases at base pair resolution over time. Using it, we found a new pause state of Pol II: sidetracking tinyurl.com/superpause
Explore SMC mechanism and regulation at EMBO Workshop "Threads of life: SMC complexes in #chromosome structure and dynamics" in #Bengaluru, IN, 13–18 Dec 2026. Registration/Abstract submission by 1 Apr/1 May https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-smc-complexes #EMBOThreadsOfLife #genesky #EMBOevents 🧪
Pregnancy loss is common in humans, and chromosomal abnormalities are the leading cause. Using genetic data from ~140,000 IVF embryos, we show that maternal variation in meiosis genes influences recombination and aneuploidy risk. First authors: @saracarioscia.bsky.social & @aabiddanda.github.io
Common variation in meiosis genes shapes human recombination and aneuploidy - Nature
Analysis of data from pre-implantation genetic testing sheds light on the genetic basis of meiotic-origin aneuploidy, the leading cause of human pregnancy loss, identifying common genetic variants ass...
nature.com
Ancestral sequence reconstruction reveals CTP-dependent loading of the bacterial centromere-binding protein ParB as an ancient evolutionary feature Now published: tinyurl.com/4ddhwbb3 Thanks to the Hochberg and Bange labs for the great collaboration!
JOB ALERT: Operations Director (DCI–Lausanne). The DCI, a joint initiative of EPFL, UNIL, UNIGE and UNIBE, is recruiting an Operations Director to lead the cryo-EM facility in Lausanne. 📩 Questions: CEO of the DCI: @chgenoud.bsky.social 🔗 Apply here: careers.epfl.ch/job/Lausanne...
@science.org Chromatin buffers torsional stress during transcription | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Chromatin buffers torsional stress during transcription
During eukaryotic transcription, Pol II must overcome nucleosome obstacles and, because of DNA’s helical structure, must also rotate relative to DNA, generating torsional stress. However, there is lim...
science.org
Verspätungen 2025 an über 100 europäischen Bahnhöfen: Sogar italienische Züge sind pünktlicher als deutsche... 🙈 Quelle: chuuchuu.com/2025wrapped
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Agrees to Pay $15 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations Related to Scientific Research Grants. The relator [Sholto David] will receive $2,625,000 under today’s settlement. www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/d...
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Agrees to Pay $15 Million to Settle Fraud Allegations Related to Scientific Research Grants
BOSTON – Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Inc. (Dana-Farber) has agreed to pay $15 million to resolve allegations that, between 2014 and 2024, it made materially false statements and certifications relat...
justice.gov
Online Now: The Ppl protein senses 3′-hydroxyl DNA overhangs and NTP depletion to halt phage infection Online now:
The Ppl protein senses 3′-hydroxyl DNA overhangs and NTP depletion to halt phage infection
Xu et al. reveal that the Ppl defense system protects bacteria from phages by acting as a “double-check” security system. It requires two simultaneous phage-induced stresses to activate, a sophisticated mechanism that ensures effective immunity while preventing premature abortive infection.
dlvr.it
New online: DNA topoisomerase I acts as supercoiling sensor for bacterial transcription elongation
DNA topoisomerase I acts as supercoiling sensor for bacterial transcription elongation
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Published online: 01 December 2025; doi:10.1038/s41594-025-01703-5Vidmar et al. use cryo-EM to reveal how bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) and topoisomerase I (TopoI) cooperate. TopoI switches conformation, senses DNA supercoils near RNAP and relaxes them. Mutations disrupting this process alter bacterial motility and operon polarity.
go.nature.com
The hinge bypass gate paper is finally out! doi.org/10.1038/s414... We show how loop-extruding SMC complexes can maintain DNA entrapment while bypassing obstacles on DNA — including transcription machinery & potentially other SMCs. A lucky convergence of 3 projects lead to the initial discovery!
The SMC Hinge is a Selective Gate for Obstacle Bypass - Nature Communications
SMC complexes are ring-shaped motors that fold DNA by extruding loops, but how they navigate large DNA obstacles is unclear. Here, Liu et al., show that SMC complexes bypass obstacles by threading obs...
doi.org
