Applications are open for ISTA’s PhD Program near Vienna, Austria. Pursue curiosity-driven research in an international, interdisciplinary environment, with tailored coursework, expert mentorship, & state-of-the-art facilities. Learn more & apply by Jan 8, 2027: https://bit.ly/3U38T13

We identify novel enzymes regulating ADP-ribosylation of uracil and thymine in nucleic acids, uncovering new insights into RNA modification, antiviral immunity, and bacterial–phage warfare: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Open position! ❄️ The @irmaquerques.bsky.social Lab is looking for an experienced researcher with a strong practical background in cryo-EM ➡️ tinyurl.com/mr22fkty

New preprint from the Gurney Lab, on bioRxiv: The Phage Time Continuum: Genome Organization Constrains Anti-CRISPR Success. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... I think this is one of the cooler things I'll ever do. Work lead by @sczerwinski.bsky.social he coined the term Phage Time Continuum. 1/10

The Phage Time Continuum: Genome Organization Constrains Anti-CRISPR Success

Bacteria and lytic phages experience antagonistic co-evolution, with bacterial defenses (e.g., CRISPR-Cas) battling phage anti-defenses (e.g., anti-CRISPR (Acr) systems). We investigate whether CRISPR...

biorxiv.org

Very nice discovery from the Jackson, Bravo and Basel labs. Cleaved tRNA ends, loaded with an amino acid, activate a form of bacterial immunity

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2w ago

Aminoacylated tRNA tails trigger auxiliary bacterial immunity https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.14.759216v1

Our latest paper is out in @embojournal.org! Chromatin compaction is a hallmark of apoptosis, but the mechanism & function of this process was unclear. We show apoptotic compaction is required to prevent fragmented DNA from spreading beyond the dying cell, and is driven by histone deacetylation.

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 2w ago

How does DNA remain confined to dying cells despite its fragmentation? @mfdspicer.bsky.social @rcollepardo.bsky.social @gerlichlab.bsky.social et al show histone deacetylation compacts apoptotic chromatin, preventing it from entering apoptotic extracellular vesicles link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Out now in @science.org In situ structure of the human ciliary transition zone links linker defects to primary ciliary dyskinesia | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In situ structure of the human ciliary transition zone links linker defects to primary ciliary dyskinesia

The ciliary transition zone (TZ) regulates ciliary proteome composition, yet its molecular architecture, protein content, and contribution to motile ciliopathies remain poorly defined. We applied in s...

science.org

could not be prouder of lillie and the fantastic story she uncovered - from a giant E3 ligase with an unexpected dimer switch to moyamoya mutations that hijack its regulation. a beautiful PhD project, full of surprises and scientific creativity doi.org/10.64898/202... - bsky.app/profile/lill...

Lillie Bell@lilliebell.bsky.social · 3w ago

Happy to share my PhD work on the regulatory mechanism of E3 ligase RNF213! RNF213 is not a monomer, but a dimer that switches between inhibited and activated states in an ATP-dependent manner. We tracked the activation mechanism and showed how disease mutations can destabilize the inhibited state.

I am thrilled to share that my PhD work is now published online in Molecular Cell! 🎉 www.cell.com/molecular-ce... Have a look if you like to learn how the essential amino acid tryptophan directly controls the stability of its metabolic enzyme TDO2 besides its role as a substrate!

Happy to share my PhD work on the regulatory mechanism of E3 ligase RNF213! RNF213 is not a monomer, but a dimer that switches between inhibited and activated states in an ATP-dependent manner. We tracked the activation mechanism and showed how disease mutations can destabilize the inhibited state.

I’m very excited to share my postdoc work in the @plaschkalab.bsky.social, where we investigated the very final act of splicing – spliceosome termination, revealing the stepwise dismantling of the spent spliceosome www.nature.com/articles/s41... (1/11)

Mechanism of spliceosome termination - Nature

A coordinated sequence of RNA helicases and associated factors dismantles normal and defective spliceosome complexes to enable intron degradation and ensure accurate gene expression.

nature.com

Congrats, Milica Mihailović from the Karagöz lab, on successfully defending her thesis titled "Dissecting the role of UFMylation in endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein quality control"! 🤩🎉 @univie.ac.at @meduniwien.ac.at

IMP postdoc Elias Adriaenssens has received an ERC Starting Grant worth close to €1.5 million. He will study how cells decide when to dispose of their organelles—and how they prevent healthy ones from being destroyed: https://bit.ly/4zUBQMy

A stress response can be a great starting point for discovering new biology! By following genes regulated during the chloroplast unfolded protein response, we’re discovering novel factors involved in chloroplast homeostasis. Here’s the first one we characterized: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

VIA1 is a conserved regulator of thylakoid membrane integrity that acts through VIPP1 | PNAS

Thylakoid membranes are indispensable for oxygenic photosynthesis, yet the mechanisms that protect these membranes from photooxidative damage remai...

pnas.org

Huge effort from the Lab into the mechanics of the mysterious #ubiquitin like protein FAT10 – taking structural snapshots of FAT10 activation by UBA6 and transfer onto UBE2Z plus really interesting insights into InsP6 regulating FAT10 conjugation pathways: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

PLEASE SHARE! New job openings in my lab @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social. We have a broad interest into the mechanistic basis of how molecular complexes are rewired during cellular development in plants and during invasion by pathogens. 🌱🍄🔬 See details below 👇 #PlantSciJobs

1/7 New preprint: we found that Chlamydomonas carries a giant and unexpectedly elaborate chloroplast RNA polymerase with 12 previously unknown subunits, overturning the idea that the complexity of this organellar enzyme emerged during plant terrestrialization! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The structure of a 2-MDa chloroplast RNA polymerase reveals unexpected evolutionary complexity

Transcription in chloroplasts depends on the Plastid-Encoded RNA polymerase (PEP), a bacterial-derived enzyme whose catalytic core remains encoded by the highly reduced genome inherited from the cyano...

biorxiv.org

RFK Jr. says that HPV vaccine is “dangerous and defective”. A new study from England shows that HPV vaccines have reduced deaths from cervical cancer to ZERO for women aged 20-24. Significant reductions in older age groups were observed as well, though the latter have lower vaccination coverage.

Cervical cancer mortality trends following HPV vaccination in England, 2001–24: an analysis of population-based mortality data

Our findings provide the first robust national-level evidence, albeit observational, that high HPV vaccination coverage is associated with a substantial reduction in cervical cancer deaths. This is sh...

thelancet.com

Open Postdoc Position - Giant E3 ligases: mysterious mechanisms & non‑protein substrates. Interested? Join us to uncover how these molecular giants tag lipids, RNAs, sugars beyond proteins, on organelles and pathogens, to defend the cell. Details & Application here www.imp.ac.at/career/open-...

Excited to announce I’m starting a new lab at @gmivienna.bsky.social (Vienna BioCentre) in Sept 2026 We study how carbon fixation is inherited and maintained in algae using cryo-ET, imaging, environmental sampling&more Looking for people who want to build the lab together, get in touch! #teamtomo

Ubiquitin & Friends Fiesta in Vienna, 29-30 April 2026. Great speakers, small size, a friendly community, perfect for early-career researchers to connect with fellow ubiquitin enthusiasts. Sign up at www.protein-degradation.org/symposium/ and submit abstracts for talks and awards. #ubfriends26

Excited to share this work done during my PhD here in Vienna! We show how chromatin compaction prevents the release of fragmented DNA in apoptosis, and use new tools to study the mechanism of compaction itself. See our summary/"bluetorial" below & our preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Gerlich Lab@gerlichlab.bsky.social · 8mo ago

1/New preprint just dropped! 🔥🔥 We investigate how the genome is destroyed in apoptotic cells in a way that prevents DNA fragments from spreading beyond the dying cell 🧬⚰ Done here at @imbavienna.bsky.social & in the super @rcollepardo.bsky.social & Rosen labs: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@lorenzoorts.bsky.social previously worked as a postdoctoral fellow at @impvienna.bsky.social in Austria. She will establish a new lab at IMB to investigate how mRNA translation is activated in the early embryo. Welcome to IMB Laura! 💐 Read more here: www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

Ulrich’s research will help advance our understanding of RNA biology & gene regulation, as well as how these mechanisms might be altered during viral infections & other diseases. @hohmannulrich.bsky.social comes from the @impvienna.bsky.social / @imbavienna.bsky.social www.imb.de/about-imb/ne...

Please share! My group at @zmbp-tuebingen.bsky.social is offering a post-doctoral position (4 years). We look for a structural biologist with experience in Cryo-EM/Cryo-ET to investigate the mechanisms of host invasion by pathogenic fungi. Deadline February 28th! uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet...

When RNA Degradation 🤝 meets 🤝 Protein Degradation! tinyurl.com/E3TDMD In a collaboration of @bartellab.bsky.social and Schulman lab, we show that, in target-directed microRNA degradation (TDMD), 2-RNA-factors recruit an E3 ligase and induce the degradation of not only a protein but also RNA (1/5).

Structural Basis for Substrate Recruitment and Catalytic Ubiquitin Transfer by the E2/E3 Hybrid Enzyme UBE2O.

Structural Basis for Substrate Recruitment and Catalytic Ubiquitin Transfer by the E2/E3 Hybrid Enzyme UBE2O.

UBE2O is a promiscuous ubiquitin ligase involved in cellular quality control pathways. Along with BIRC6, UBE2O is one of only two E2 enzymes that can …

sciencedirect.com

📢 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

Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Recurrent evolution of selfishness from an essential tRNA synthetase in Caenorhabditis tropicalis - Nature Ecology & Evolution

In Caenorhabditis tropicalis, three toxin–antidote elements arose via gene duplication from the essential tRNA-synthetase subunit FARS-3. The ancestral antidote probably acquired affinity for FARS-3, ...

nature.com

Very happy to share our collaborative project on FAM118 proteins - noncanonical sirtuins that form filaments and process NAD in human and other vertebrate cells.

Filament formation and NAD processing by noncanonical human FAM118 sirtuins

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Baretić and Missoury et al. identify vertebrate proteins FAM118B and FAM118A as sirtuins similar to bacterial antiphage enzymes and show that...

rdcu.be