I'm not allowed to boil a kettle in my office; the electricity is public money. This rule can be justified in a sentence. Most of what lands on my desk has never had to be. New post on unnecessary bureaucracy. academicrenewal.substack.com/p/the-one-wa...

The one-way audit

Researchers are required to account for their time and money. Administrative procedures rarely include any account of the research time they consume.

academicrenewal.substack.com

Record outbreak of diarrhea-causing parasite 20M eggs recalled due to salmonella Worst air quality in world from wildfire smoke UN says world risks HIV resurgence due to funding cuts Most measles cases in 35 years They’re going after Fauci to distract you from current public health failures

🎉final print version in PLOS Genetics @sullivan-lab.bsky.social @biosci.lbl.gov journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...

Cross-family and phage-specific gene requirements for Klebsiella infection revealed by scalable RB-TnSeq genetic screens

Author summary Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that infect bacteria and play central roles in shaping microbial communities across ecosystems. Despite their ecological importance, the bacterial...

journals.plos.org

Vivek Mutalik@vivekmutalik.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New paper 🔔 Collaboration @sullivan-lab.bsky.social Marissa Gittrich led the work Klebsiella phage biology has focused almost entirely on capsulated strains, but capsule loss is the #1 resistance mechanism under phage predation. We used a naturally acapsular host to reveal the receptor landscape

John Gai carried his sick father to a nearby clinic in a wheelbarrow, but he died from cholera on the way. Gai then pushed the wheelbarrow for hours through the camp to take him to the cemetery: “Nobody should have to carry a dead body among the living.” (Published December 2025)

Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.

Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a re...

propublica.org

Remember to register for our 7th Infect-Net network meeting in Würzburg. Registration Deadline is 31.08.2026 Registration link: www.hygiene.uni-wuerzburg.de/formulare/7t...

Another massive jump in Ebola cases in DRC (reflecting new cases as well as "data harmonization"). Now 2,905 cases including 1,269 deaths. I find it harder every day to square the size and speed of spread of this outbreak with the lack of attention it is getting. insp.cd/sitrep-n069-...

Our new preprint is out! We investigate chromosome organization in obligate mammalian symbionts and show that these bacteria maintain stable chromosome orientations while displaying conserved lifestyle-associated chromosome architectures across species. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

1/4 Every good defence needs a backup! 🛡️⚔ Out now in @natrevmicro.nature.com our Comment on "𝗶𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴"! 🎉 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Immune safeguarding as a conserved principle of antiviral defence - Nature Reviews Microbiology

All organisms defend against viral infections through active immunity mechanisms that clear the virus or population-level mechanisms that cause regulated cell death. Recent research increasingly shows...

nature.com

Out @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social, natural products meet bacterial immunity! We used genomics to identify lanthivirins: a family of >2,000 lanthipeptide BGCs that protect Actinobacteria against phages. Led by @hshomar.bsky.social & @mariegllm.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A family of lanthipeptides with anti-phage function

Bacteria produce natural products to adapt to their environments, with phage interactions as major ecological and evolutionary drivers. While some nat…

sciencedirect.com

1/10 🚨Preprint! One RING to rule them all (phages)👑💍⚔️ Bacteria build giant DNA-scaffolded RNase rings (larger than the ribosome!) to shut down viral infection🧬🧵👇 biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Our paper out in Science today: The Metis defense system senses molecular byproducts released when a phage degrades the bacterial genome, and then prevents replication of the phage in the infected cell Congratulations @ostermanilya.bsky.social and co-authors!

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

science.org

Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · 4w ago

Excited to share that our Metis story is now published in Science! 🎉 Bacteria can sense phage-induced degradation of their genome and activate immunity. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... More details in my earlier thread 🧵⬇️

New preprint! We show that the bacterial predator B. bacteriovorus deploys a unipolar Tad nanomachine for irreversible attachment to prey and invasion. @coralietesseur.bsky.social used CRISPRi+microfluidics to overcome barriers associated with essential systems in an obligate predatory lifestyle 🦠

A polarity-controlled Tad nanomachine enables prey invasion in a bacterial predator

Type IV pili are dynamic surface appendages assembled by envelope-spanning nanomachines that mediate diverse bacterial interactions, yet how these systems are adapted to predatory lifestyles remains p...

biorxiv.org

🚨Join us at the University of Geneva! We're seeking an outstanding junior researcher to apply for an ERC or SNSF Starting Grant with our institutional support in host–pathogen interactions, bacteriology, virology, parasitology, or mycology. www.unige.ch/medecine/mim... Please share!

🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇

The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology

A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.

doi.org

Thanks to my lab for the b'day cake🎂 & gifts!🥰 Aperol🍹+chocolate🍫(they know me way too well!)-plus promising new data🤓 Tuesday was also my last day before rotating off my Institute Directorship, so hopefully more time back at the bench... assuming turning 5️⃣0️⃣ doesn't immediately come with back pain 😂

We are recruiting a lab manager for my group in Oxford. This is a lovely team doing great things, and you could be an important part of it! See here: www.path.ox.ac.uk/vacancy/lab-... Please spread the word!

Lab Manager - Molecular Immunology - Dunn School

Laboratory Manager/Senior Scientist position in the Molecular Mucosal Immunology group at Oxford

path.ox.ac.uk

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

A short, informal intro to Drosophila genetics (with a French accent 🇫🇷): key concepts & techniques for new lab members. www.epfl.ch/labs/lemaitr...

Short Introduction to Drosophila_Engl

If you like French accent:A short and informal introduction to Drosophila genetics, covering the basic knowledge and techniques that may be helpful when working with Drosophila. This series of short l...

epfl.ch

Check out our latest T7SS toxin story. These reverse toxins aren’t as rare as we thought!

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · last mo.

A novel reverse lipase toxin substrate of the Staphylococcus aureus type VII secretion system https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.22.733114v1

New paper in collaboration with @proftracypalmer.bsky.social, @lislowe.bsky.social and many more. We show that mycobacteria produce Type VII secreted anti-bacterial protein toxins. Excited to explore this new area of mycobacterial biology. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I know it seems like a heretical idea, but one way to figure out if a preprint is really interesting (to you) is... to read the preprint. Then, in the spirit of sharing, send a note to authors: a simple kudos or a more detailed question. I do this a dozen times a year. It's awesome. Try it.

Are restriction/modification modules only used for host defense? @selmamhm.bsky.social shows an alternative use. "Restriction-modification systems are required for Neisseria gonorrhoeae pilin antigenic variation" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2602688123 #Microd #Microsky. #Microbiology

#microsky #phagesky #phage #synbio www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Abi is over-diagnosed

Erin Huiting@erinhuiting.bsky.social · last mo.

From my time with @jbdsf.bsky.social: Our latest CBASS story is now published! ‘CBASS’ is the ancestral origin of anti-viral cGAS immunity and encoded in diverse bacteria. For the first time, we show that CBASS enables cell survival (vs cell death) to protect bacteria from phage infection. More ⬇️

Our newest preprint is out! 🧫 Can pathogens affect epithelial regeneration? And if so, what are the consequences for the tissue and pathogen physiology? We used pyocyanin, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa metabolite, to start addressing this. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.15.732350v1 🧵

Pyocyanin disrupts airway regeneration to favor chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection

During chronic infections, host tissues undergo repeated cycles of injury and repair while being exposed to bacterial products. Although many virulence factors trigger immune responses, whether bacter...

biorxiv.org

How useful are phages in explaining cholera disease severity? Accordingly to our latest little paper, possibly quite useful — up there with patient age and hospital location, and possibly more important than antibiotic exposures!

The Journal of Infectious Diseases@jidjournal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Ranked placement of phage predation as a determinant of dehydration severity among cholera patients in Bangladesh ✅ Just Accepted 🔗 https://bit.ly/3Q2eDGi

"The real work is not convincing myself I belong …. Instead, the challenge is rewiring my own perspectives and my responses to the subtle and persistent messages telling me I’m not what a professor looks like." #ScienceWorkingLife https://scim.ag/4xdo4TI

Excessive paperwork and inefficient systems are sabotaging scientific progress. Really proud to be part of this global manifesto spearheaded by @kentimmis.bsky.social. We need action at all levels to tackle the root causes. Our analysis & proposals @microbiotech.bsky.social: doi.org/10.1111/1751...

Scientists' Warning to Humanity: Unnecessary Bureaucracy Is a Global Impediment to Productivity, Advancement of Human and Planetary Wellbeing, Science and Sustainability

Unnecessary bureaucracy is a global impediment to progress and productivity that increases stress and lowers workplace morale and motivation. In research it smothers creativity and innovation that ar....

doi.org

Super happy to have hosted Jack @jpkbravo.bsky.social this week for our Institute's seminar series. Fantastic presentation with exciting work currently ongoing in this lab 👏. Thanks so much for the visit, Jack 🤩!!!

A great opportunity! www.linkedin.com/pulse/join-u...

Join us in Paris: Systems and Synthetic Biology x AI and health - Inserm Tenuring Position and Starting Package

I'm delighted to announce that we - ELiS Lab / Inserm U1338 at the nascent Paris Biofoundry and the Computational, Quantitative, Synthetic Biology Dept. at the Sorbonne Université - are recruiting an ...

linkedin.com