📢 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).

New preprint! Cell division has to happen at the right place but how Archaea pick that place is unknown. We now identified a three-protein system, Dip, that positions the divisome at midcell in H. volcanii and is broadly conserved across Archaea. A thread 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Discussion Meeting of the VAAM special group "Microbial Cell Biology" October 5–7, 2026 | Marburg, Germany More information: mcb2026.eventbrite.com

Out now in @science.org Repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cell shape | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cell shape

Bacteria, like eukaryotes, use conserved cytoskeletal systems for intracellular organization. The plasmid-encoded ParMRC system forms actin-like filaments that segregate low–copy number plasmids. In m...

science.org

Now available as a Version of Record. Thanks a lot again to everyone involved in this project! doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Peptidoglycan recycling is critical for cell division, cell wall integrity, and β-lactam resistance in Caulobacter crescentus

Peptidoglycan recycling is essential for proper cell growth and intrinsic ampicillin resistance in Caulobacter crescentus, highlighting PG recycling enzymes as potential antibacterial targets.

doi.org

Happy to share part of my postdoctoral work at the @lucas.farnunglab.com lab. Great collaboration with @voslab.org and @andersshansen.bsky.social. “Structural basis for CTCF-mediated chromatin organization” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

SAVE THE DATE! The next instalment of the long-running Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Division Conference will take place at www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels..., Italy from the 20th to 23rd of April 2027. Organisers: me, @s-lab.bsky.social, @awehenkel.bsky.social. More info soon. #MicroSky

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!

📢 Interested in #chromosomes 🧬 & #archaea thriving at the edge of life? PhD project in York,UK on how archaea pass on their genome to daughter cells.Friendly supervisors: me, @steve-quinn-lab.bsky.social & @georgerheath.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... 📅 January 7, 2026 Please RP🙏thx!

📢 Postdoc position: Biochemistry & Bacterial cell biology in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH" 🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL 📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025 Please repost. #Postdoc

📢 Postdoc position: Cell Biology of Cyanobacteria in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany. More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2) 🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl 📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025 Please repost. #Postdoc

We are happy to share our latest preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A great collaboration with Waldemar Vollmer’s group, along with our fantastic proteomics and metabolomics facilities. @synmikro.bsky.social

Peptidoglycan recycling is critical for cell division, cell wall integrity and β-lactam resistance in Caulobacter crescentus

Most bacteria possess a peptidoglycan sacculus, which is continuously remodeled during cell growth and division. The peptidoglycan (PG) fragments generated in this process are typically imported into ...

biorxiv.org

new preprint from our group & Antoine Hocher: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A fantastic collaboration with Antoine, with Jovana Kaljevic' initiated the collaboration and drives the project.

Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation

Nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-dependent molecular switches regulate essential cellular processes by cycling between active and inactive states through nucleotide binding and hydrolysis. These mechanis...

biorxiv.org

Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions at the John Innes Centre. Repost = nice. Thank you very much!!!

John Innes Centre@johninnescentre.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026. Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years. Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky

Molecular basis of ParA ATPase activation by the CTPase ParB during bacterial chromosome segregation - Nature Communications

ParABS systems partition chromosomal DNA and low-copy plasmids in bacteria. Here, the authors elucidate the mode of interaction between ParA and ParB and clarify how ParB stimulates the ATPase activity of ParA to drive the segregation process.

nature.com

Now published as a Version of Record, with various new results compared to the initial preprint: Membrane binding properties of the cytoskeletal protein bactofilin Available at: elifesciences.org/articles/100... @synmikro.bsky.social @unimarburg.bsky.social @mpimicrobiomarburg.bsky.social

New PrePrint from the Vecchiarelli and Mosalaganti (@shyamalm.bsky.social) labs! 🧵 Collaboration with the Giessen and Pi labs Congratulations to co-first authors Y Hoang (@hoanghamyy.bsky.social) and Pankaj Jadhav! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Engineering Spatial Control of Bacterial Organelles

Bacteria were once thought to lack organelles, but it is now clear they confine cellular reactions using an array of membrane- and protein-based compartments. A central question, however, is how bacte...

biorxiv.org

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41... Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

Structure of a functional archaellum in Bacteria of the Chloroflexota phylum - Nature Microbiology

Bona fide gene clusters for archaella are widespread across a bacterial phylum and encode functional motility machinery.

nature.com

Sonja-Verena Albers@archaellum.bsky.social · 2y ago

Would you expect that Bacteria use an archaellum for swimming? We didn't, but we found that some Chloroflexota do! Find the story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A little thread below 1/n

Early-career researchers: want to run your own lab? 🌟Max Planck Research Groups offer 6+ years, up to €2.7M in funding, open-topic freedom, team support & tenure-track opportunities. Intrigued? 😃Apply by Oct 14, 2025! www.mpg.de/max-planck-r...

Open Call for Expressions of Interest: become a Max Planck Director & redefine what’s possible in science! We offer scientific independence, long-term stable funding & exceptional infrastructure. Lead your own department & open new frontiers of research. Apply by 31 Oct 2025 → www.mpg.de/directors

Directors

The Max Planck Society offers Directors a unique platform for groundbreaking research and leadership in diverse scientific fields.

mpg.de

We're hiring a DFG-funded PhD student (TVöD E13, 65%) at Max Planck Institute, Marburg to study quorum sensing in Klebsiella & host–pathogen interplay. 3 yrs, start flexible. Apply by Sep 30, 2025 (rolling). Send 1 PDF to laganenka@mpi-marburg.mpg.de

Talk slots full but we can take late breaking poster abstracts until August 7th. Hope to see you in York to hear about your chromosome story 🧬🦠🧫 www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f... @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social @biophychrom.bsky.social

One of the most exciting discoveries from our lab so far is now online as a preprint! Read a story on how the ParMR and Min systems started to collaborate to create the CorMR cytoskeleton, which now controls cell shape in multicellular cyanobacteria: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolutionary repurposing of a DNA segregation machinery into a cytoskeletal system controlling cyanobacterial cell shape

Bacteria, despite their diversity, use conserved cytoskeletal systems for their intracellular organization. In unicellular bacteria, the ParMRC DNA partitioning apparatus is well known for forming act...

biorxiv.org

🚀Women in STEM: Are you a late-stage PhD student or postdoc in the life sciences? The September Science Academy in Marburg offers talks, lab tours, workshops – and the chance to present your own research! Apply now 👉 www.mpi-marburg.mpg.de/1489492/Sept... #LifeSciences #AcademicCareers

Congratulations to Rebecca Hinrichs on her first senior-author paper! @synmikro.bsky.social @unimarburg.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

How does your favorite species elongate? 🧵 "Phenotypic plasticity in bacterial elongation among closely related species". Happy to see this paper in print @natcomms.nature.com. Nice work by @mariedelaby.bsky.social, Liu Yang et al. See original 🧵, different colours, same data and conclusions.

Phenotypic plasticity in cell elongation among closely related bacterial species

Nature Communications - Multiple types of cell elongation have been described in bacteria, but little is known about how these strategies vary across species. Here, the authors use fluorescent...

nature.com

Yves Brun lab@brunlabcaulo.bsky.social · 2y ago

How does your favorite species elongate? 🧵 "Phenotypic plasticity in bacterial elongation among closely related species" by @mariedelaby.bsky.social, Liu Yang et al https://buff.ly/48Kw96x. How do cells elongate, all over, poles, middle? Close species do it the same way right? Not quite! #Microsky

A new study from the Takacs lab, showing that bactofilins are essential for viability and critical for cell shape in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Bactofilins are essential spatial organizers of peptidoglycan insertion in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi

The Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi has a distinctive pattern of growth. Newly-born cells elongate by primarily inserting peptidoglycan at mid-cell, while in longer cells, additional inse...

biorxiv.org

*** Only a few days left to apply *** Postdoc position at the University of Marburg (Germany), funded within our ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH" Spatiotemporal regulation of cellular processes by CTP-switches in bacteria Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...

Learning the dynamic organization of a replicating bacterial chromosome from time-course Hi-C data https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.03.647011v1

#Postdoc position - at the University of Marburg (Germany), funded within our ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH" Focus: CTP-dependent molecular switches as a new principle of cellular regulation in bacteria (including bacteriophages) Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...