Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
@pilhoferlab.bsky.social
Microbial cell-cell interactions | contractile injection systems | cytoskeleton | evolution | multiscale imaging | ETH Zürich - run by lab members -
New preprint! In collaboration with the Yogev lab (Yale), we characterized and determined structures of various gamma-tubulin complexes from C. elegans, showing how divergent worm subunits evolved to template non-canonical (11-pf) and possibly canonical (13-pf!) microtubules: tinyurl.com/2sapyx2b
New preprint! #MicroSky Led by @ayaiizuka.bsky.social & Maria Vittoria Mazzuoli, we ask what helps Staphylococcus aureus enter, survive inside and evade treatment in human monocytes. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Staphylococcus aureus Mnh1 cation–proton antiporter promotes phagocytic uptake and intracellular survival in human monocytes
While Staphylococcus aureus is predominantly an extracellular human commensal, it can also exhibit an intracellular lifestyle that enables its persistence within diverse host cell types, including mon...
biorxiv.org
Preprint 🦠🚨: We are diving deeper into #T6SS effectors, and now in #Pantoea. We describe the largest, most diverse effector arsenal associated with a single T6SS, and it's in a plant pathogen that forms galls on beet roots. Sweet! 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Pantoea agglomerans T6SS effectors reside in hotspots with combinatorial offensive and defensive arsenals
Gram-negative bacteria deploy type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) to mediate interbacterial competition. Although numerous T6SS effectors have been identified, their pan-genomic repertoires and evolutio...
biorxiv.org
📢 PhD position in the Excellence Cluster 'Microbes for Climate' (M4C) in Marburg, Germany. 🔬 Aim: Develop cutting-edge fluorescence imaging approaches to study the cell biology & physiology of anaerobes critical to global CO₂ fixation. Apply at: www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb17/m4c/... (Project 4).
I give an invited talk "Revising a century-old paradigm: Diversity, ecology, and metabolic flexibility of thermoproteotal methanogens" in AS15.1, Biogeochemical cycles and greenhouse gas dynamics, at 14:30-15:00 on Thu Aug 20th in room Te paepae.
Happy to share our recent story on the Type VII secretion system. Here were present new insights into the regulation of secretion mediated by the central pore. Thanks to all authors involved in the work. 🙂
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 5d agoIntrinsic flexibility of Type VII secretion central pore is required for substrate translocation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.742005v1
Take a look at our new paper on the structure of the EHD2 that, upon oligomerization, forms rings that remodel the plasma membrane and form caveolae. Beautiful work by Elena, Vasya @vasiliimikirtumov.bsky.social, Jeff & Oliver Dumke's team; take a look: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🚀 New preprint 🥳 Fantastic work by our recent PhD graduate Daan ! How are mRNPs remodeled as they exit the nucleus? We identify PAIP1 as a factor that promotes exchange of the nuclear poly(A)-binding protein PABPN1 for cytoplasmic PABPC1, coupling mRNA export to cytoplasmic mRNP maturation.
bioRxiv Molecular Biology@biorxiv-molbio.bsky.social · 2d agoPAIP1 couples mRNA export to cytoplasmic mRNP remodeling and poly(A) homeostasis https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.31.742013v1
Join us at Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) as an Assistant/Associate/Full Professor in Mechanisms of Disease Apply before 31st August, 2026: careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Assistan...
The final version of @florentwaltz.bsky.social's Chlamy chlororibosome "hat" is now online at @natplants.nature.com 🌾 📜 nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02361-1 🧪🔬 #TeamTomo The charge complementarity in the arm domain is striking. Blue & red proteins wrapped around each other, like a barber pole💈
Florent Waltz@florentwaltz.bsky.social · 6mo agoLong in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome! Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins. bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected! 1/n 🧵
One cell, one tomogram! Our montage tomography workflow, MOSAIC, is out in Structure, and MontageMaker is on GitHub! MOSAIC: www.cell.com/structure/fu... MontageMaker: github.com/MPI-Dortmund... Big thanks to @maikaboiero.bsky.social, Adriana Prajica, Gavin Rice, and @raunser-lab.bsky.social!
Good day, everyone! We are looking for a technician to join our lab in Berlin. If you know anyone or want to apply, click the link. Starting time: soon. jobrxiv.org/job/max-delb...
Technical Assistant / Laboratory Manager
Post a job in 3min, or find thousands of job offers like this one at jobRxiv!
jobrxiv.org
This story is now published in @natplants.nature.com ! 🎉🎩 Check out the final article here: nature.com/articles/s41477-026-02361-1 Very similar to the original bioRxiv preprint, with the addition of some cool polysome analysis (in the supplementals)! Thanks and congrats to everyone involved! 🙏
Chloroplast-encoded small subunit extensions reshape the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome - Nature Plants
Using in situ cryo-electron tomography, researchers found a unique ‘arm’ domain on the small subunit of Chlamydomonas chlororibosomes. This discovery suggests that chlororibosome structure is more evo...
nature.com
Florent Waltz@florentwaltz.bsky.social · 6mo agoLong in the making, but happy to present the Chlamydomonas chlororibosome! Cryo-ET🔬reveals a large new domain on the small subunit, built from multiple extensions in conserved ribosomal proteins. bioRxiv 📖: shorturl.at/q44tG This suggests greater chlororibosome diversity than expected! 1/n 🧵
And two more pre-prints from the lab, focusing on MreB polymerization cycle and dynamics! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A genetic screen unveils the polymerization cycle of the bacterial actin-like MreB
MreB, a bacterial actin homologue that organizes cell wall synthesis in most rod-shaped bacteria, assembles into membrane-associated filaments through mechanisms that have remained elusive despite dec...
biorxiv.org
New preprint from the lab! Led by graduate student @lainahall.bsky.social we show a new method to thin cells for cryo-EM imaging with minimal damage. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Optimized cryo-FIB milling strategy to generate thin, minimally damaged biological lamellae
Focused ion beam (FIB)-milling has been adapted to thin frozen cells for visualization of macromolecular structures in situ with cryogenic electron microscopy. However, only a few large and abundant c...
biorxiv.org
New pre-print from the lab, about impact of cell wall antibiotics on PG elongation machineries. Any comments and (constructive) criticism are welcome!
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 2w agoDifferential impact of cell wall antibiotics on the Rod complex and aPBPs in Bacillus subtilis: Insights into the peptidoglycan elongation machineries https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.07.24.740396v1
The second story from my PhD is now online! We found that the +1 nucleosome actively functions in the initiation-elongation transition of Pol II transcription. Many thanks to @jabrilgarrido.bsky.social for the great collaboration and everyone involved! authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...
The +1 nucleosome functions in RNA Pol II transcription initiation and the transition to elongation
By combining biochemical assays and electron cryo-microscopy, Zhan, Abril-Garrido, et al. elucidated key steps of transcription initiation and the transition to elongation in the presence of the +1 nu...
cell.com
Do #tintinnids dream of electric sheep? 🤯 Here is a single cell capable of building a lorica and living inside it for protection... it also swims, feeds, hunts Can even detect and habituate to mechanical cues! #celllearning #protistsonsky #cilia Read more in our preprint doi.org/10.64898/202...
EMBL and University of Washington researchers have developed NovoTags – AI-designed protein tags – that in future could help researchers combine fluorescence microscopy and cryo-ET, helping identify individual proteins inside cells. @steffenklein.bsky.social More info 👉 www.embl.org/news/science...
I am starting my lab at the University of Geneva next January! Incredibly excited to soon be joining the MOCEL department as an Asst. Professor. The lab will use evolutionary cell biology to study chromosomes, centromeres & speciation 🧬🔬🌱 Intrigued, want to join or collaborate? 🔗 helsenlab.org
Helsen lab | chromosome and centromere evolution
The Helsen lab at the University of Geneva explores how centromeres and chromosomes evolve, diversify, and function across eukaryotes. Discover our latest publications, research team, and open positio...
helsenlab.org
#JobOpening: We are seeking a Head of the Core Facility for Protein Biochemistry at our newly established location in #Berlin Dahlem. 💶 Pay grade: up to TVöD Bund E14 ⏰ Apply by August 23, 2026 📅 Start date: next possible date 👉 Application form: jobs.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/jobposting/2...
We're recruiting a fungal biologist to our friendly department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel. For details contact our chair. Talented non-Israli applicants are welcome to apply. See below.
Structural basis of biofilm formation mediated by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa fibrillar adhesin CdrA led by @olivia--smith.bsky.social Collaboration with @alexbateman1.bsky.social , Andres Floto and @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social labs
Team science preprint, exploring the capabilities and limitations of Alphafold3 across different application areas, including protein-RNA, protein-lipid, ubiquitination,TCR and antibody recognition with @ninjani.bsky.social @labvanni.bsky.social @dgfeller.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Capabilities, specificity gaps and training-data dependence of AlphaFold3 across diverse application areas
Structure prediction models have moved from single proteins to assemblies that include diverse biomolecules and their modifications. AlphaFold3 (AF3) and related models extended structural modelling v...
biorxiv.org
This single author paper has to be seen to be believed.... My 'GIF' does it no justice Chen, M. (2023) ‘Rendering protein structures inside cells at the atomic level with Unreal Engine’, bioRxiv. doi.org/10.1101/2023...
Fresh out of the lab! Our new preprint is now up on BioRxiv, exploring how the beneficial bacterium Pseudomonas putida controls its T6SS nanoweapon. It turns out the Gac/Rsm pathway acts as a strict molecular brake on the system. 👇 (1/4) Read the full preprint here: doi.org/10.64898/202...
🚨 We're hiring! My new lab at EMBL Hamburg is looking for a Research Technician. I'm looking for someone excited by phages, metabolism, enzymes, structural biology and bacterial immunity—if you know the right person, please share this post!🧵⬇️ Apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...
Research Technician (Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity)
EMBL Hamburg / CSSB The European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) is Europe’s flagship life sciences organization, with more than 110 independent research groups across Heidelberg, Hamburg, Grenobl...
embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com
Happy to share that this beautiful work by @mudgal17.bsky.social in collaboration with the Weis lab @eth-dbiol.bsky.social, discovering a new membrane fusion mechanism in eukaryotes, is finally out in peer-reviewed form at @cp-molcell.bsky.social. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
A conserved mechanism of membrane fusion in nuclear pore complex assembly
Fischer et al. uncover a fundamental mechanism of membrane fusion during nuclear pore complex (NPC) assembly. Brl1 and Brr6 form ring-shaped, membrane-remodeling complexes that interact and bridge the...
cell.com
Vanni Lab at UNIFR, Switzerland@labvanni.bsky.social · last yr.Happy to share the latest work from the lab, led by @mudgal17.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Weis lab @ethzurich.bsky.social. How do nuclear membranes fuse during NPC assembly? We answer this question in our latest work, where we identify a new mechanism for membrane fusion… (1/13)
Some bacteria do not live as individuals. They build multicellular filaments and connect neighboring cells through tiny cell-cell junctions. Cyanobacteria are among the most beautiful examples 😍 In our new paper, we reveal first molecuar insights on the cyanobacterial septal junction architecture 🧵
