The Thormann Lab
@thethormannden.bsky.social
Roaming at the Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany. Interested in bacteria, cell biology, motility, phages and the various wonders of life.
Last days in the lab for our friend Vincent Somerville @vincentsomerville.bsky.social before he starts his own operation as junior group leader with Nicholas Bokulich in our institute - watch out for great work on microbes and phages in fermenting foods! 🧀🦠🧬
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 agoExcited 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 🧵⬇️
Our Dept of Microbiology & Immunology @Geisel School of Medicine @Dartmouth has an opening for an Assistant Professor. Looking for programs bridging multiple areas in Micro & Immuno. A great place to be! Programs: www.M2P2.org www.dartmouthbiofilm.org Job ad: apply.interfolio.com/187637
World Cup 2026. Team Captain Jake about to score.
As always, we end our Bachelor's practical class with an agar art contest using the bright colis from @atinygreencell.bsky.social. As always, lots of beautiful images were created. Meet the winner, the Coli Cougar, our next year's class lab book cover.
Ich hab mit edition a ein Buch über ME/CFS gemacht. Hoffentlich ist es hilfreich vor allem für jene, wo die Diagnose noch unklar ist. Normale medizinische Versorgung kann es jedenfalls nicht ersetzen. Darum geht mein Anteil zu 100% an CS Nordlicht der Caritas Socialis.
Our aRES story is finally out 😀 Beyond what was reported in the preprint, we found that aRES is activated by direct binding of the phage DNA polymerase. Another NAD-degrading defense system — and multiple phage strategies to overcome it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Bacterial defense via RES-mediated NAD+ depletion is countered by phage phosphatases
Many bacterial defense systems restrict phage infection by breaking down the molecule nicotinamide (Nam) adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) into adenosine di…
sciencedirect.com
Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · 6mo ago🧬 Metabolic arms race continues! We discovered a new NAD⁺-depleting bacterial immune system aRES and phage enzymes that overcome it. Our preprint is out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · 2mo agoOur aRES story is finally out 😀 Beyond what was reported in the preprint, we found that aRES is activated by direct binding of the phage DNA polymerase. Another NAD-degrading defense system — and multiple phage strategies to overcome it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🚨After 4 fantastic years in the Sorek lab @soreklab.bsky.social, I’ll be starting my own group at EMBL @embl.org bl.org Hamburg. www.embl.org/groups/oster... Metabolism-driven immunity: phages, metabolites, and discovery of new enzymes, molecules, and pathways 🦠🧬
Osterman Group – Metabolism-driven immunity
embl.org
Very happy to share our recent preprint: “An Lsr2-like xenogeneic silencer confers immunity against AT-rich bacteriophage infection” www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-9... @fz-juelich.de; @hhu.de; @spp2330.bsky.social
Latest paper from the lab - particularly glad that we managed to get this one out, after getting scooped several times over… more spectacular work from PhD students extraordinaire, Kailin and Rosa, in close collaboration with Marc Erhardt’s group.
The structure of the Vibrio alginolyticus flagellar filament suggests molecular mechanism for the rotation of sheathed flagella - Nature Communications
Most bacteria use a flagellum, to swim and disseminate in their environment, and it is essential for virulence. In Vibrio, the flagellum is surrounded by a sheath, a membrane-like shield that protects...
nature.com
Somewhat late for a German, but here we are: First BBQ this spring.
How diverse is bacterial immunity ? We report in @science.org how language models allowed us to predict 2.4M antiphage proteins spanning >23K novel potential systems. 👏 @emordret.bsky.social, @alexhv.bsky.social & al doi.org/10.1126/scie... Explore them here defensefinder.mdmlab.fr/wiki/refseq_...
science.org
Apply now to attend the next EMBO Bacterial Networks meeting #EMBOBacNet 🗓️13-18 September 2026 📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain 📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac... 👩🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social #MicroSky
2 x Assistant Professor in Chemistry University of Warwick - Department of Chemistry. 📍 Location: University of Warwick, UK 📅 Start date: AY 2026/2027 ⏰ Deadline to apply: 8th April 2026 warwick-careers.tal.net/vx/appcentre...
Assistant Professor in Chemistry x2 (111367-0226) - University of Warwick
Title: Assistant Professor in Chemistry x2 (111367-0226). Application Deadline: . Position Type: Permanent
warwick-careers.tal.net
Excited to share the first preprint from the lab! We show that ApeA defends against RNA phage infection by cleaving the phage genome: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Little is known about bacterial immunity to RNA phages. The @jenshoer.bsky.social lab discovers ApeA recognition of phage RNA stem loops. With RNA viruses dominating emerging pathogens in humans, a very exciting area of comparison in host antiviral immunity! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New preprint of our friend Aritz Roa @aritz-roa.bsky.social with Nicholas Taylor @nmitaylorlab.bsky.social - even if phage mechanics are not your thing, check out their MAGNIFICENT video of T4 host recognition + infection directly im the post! 🎬🧬🔥
Aritz Roa-Eguiara@aritz-roa.bsky.social · 5mo ago🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
@nitzantal.bsky.social @romihadary.bsky.social @soreklab.bsky.social use structure prediction and in silico binding site analysis to discover viral immune evasion proteins! Exciting for our lab @reneechang.bsky.social @riveralopz.bsky.social to help with this project. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Final version @nature.com of our paper describing unconventional multicellular development in a choanoflagellate inhabiting an extreme environment. A ton of new data since the first @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social preprint (which we've kept updating). A brief 🧵 (carried over from the old place)
Nature Portfolio@natureportfolio.nature.com · 5mo agoA study in Nature shows that the single-celled form of a tiny, aquatic organism can turn into a multicellular version by three different routes. The discovery adds insight to the possible origins of multicellular life, suggesting a previously unrecognized degree of flexibility. 🧪
New post-doctoral research position in my phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory in @otagomicroimmuno.bsky.social at @universityofotago.bsky.social New Zealand. The project is focused on defences against jumbo phages. Please share and if interested apply using the link in the comments.
Save the date for the next International Conference on Gram-Positive Bacteria which will take place between 29 June–2 July 2027. The organizers (@annadragos.bsky.social, @polonca32.bsky.social, and Ines Mandic-Mulec) look forward to welcoming you to Ljubljana, Slovenia
Like bacteria, phages use sRNAs to regulate gene expression! Out today in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social, @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social and I highlight a recent RIL-seq study from the @saharmelamed.bsky.social lab that looked into posttranscriptional regulation of lambda! tinyurl.com/lambda-RIL-seq
Unraveling posttranscriptional regulatory networks in phage infection
Phages employ sophisticated transcriptional regulatory networks to optimize replication. Recently, Silverman et al. used RIL-seq (RNA interaction by l…
tinyurl.com
Join us as Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Computational Biology at Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) / @leidenscience.bsky.social / @unileiden.bsky.social Application deadline on 15 March 2026 👇 careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Assistan...
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Computational Biology
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Computational Biology
careers.universiteitleiden.nl
Please RT: Looking forward to our International Symposium on "Microbial Networking - from organelles to cross-kingdom communities". Highlight of our first funding period of our Collaborative Researc Center @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de www.sfb1535.hhu.de/mibinet @hhu.de , @fz-juelich.de
What’s holding back clinical use of phage therapy in the UK? Our workshop last year brought together international experts, biotech and regulators to find out Meeting Report out now in Nature Microbiology with our take on the challenges and opportunities facing the UK phage therapy sector
Nature Microbiology@natmicrobiol.nature.com · 6mo agoOut Now! Realizing phage therapy in the UK #MicroSky
We found a new mode by which bacteria deplete NAD+ to protect from phages. And then we found how phages overcome this defense Discovered by talented biochemist Dr Ilya Osterman, read the preprint: tinyurl.com/Narp-ap A thread 🧵
Bacterial defense via RES-mediated NAD+ depletion is countered by phage phosphatases
Many bacterial defense systems restrict phage infection by breaking the molecule NAD+ to its constituents, adenosine diphosphate ribose (ADPR) and nicotinamide (Nam). To counter NAD+ depletion-mediated defense, phages evolved NAD+ reconstitution pathway 1 (NARP1), which uses ADPR and Nam to rebuild NAD+. Here we report a bacterial defense system called aRES, involving RES-domain proteins that degrade NAD+ into Nam and ADPR-1″-phosphate (ADPR-1P). This molecule cannot serve as a substrate for NARP1, so that NAD+ depletion by aRES defends against phages even if they encode NARP1. We further discover that some phages evolved an extended NARP1 pathway capable of overcoming aRES defense. In these phages, the NARP1 operon also includes a specialized phosphatase, which dephosphorylates ADPR-1P to form ADPR, a substrate from which NARP1 then reconstitutes NAD+. Other phages encode inhibitors that directly bind aRES proteins and physically block their active sites. Our study describes new layers in the NAD+-centric arms race between bacteria and phages and highlights the centrality of the NAD+ pool in cellular battles between viruses and their hosts. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. European Research Council, ERC-AdG GA 101018520 Israel Science Foundation, MAPATS grant 2720/22 Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, SPP 2330, grant 464312965 Minerva Foundation with funding from the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research research grant from Magnus Konow in honor of his mother Olga Konow Rappaport Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption, https://ror.org/05aycsg86 Clore Scholars Program
tinyurl.com
🚨 Hiring Alert! 🚨My lab at Institut Pasteur is recruiting several Postdocs! We have exciting open projects in: 🦠 Synthetic Biology and🛡️ Bacterial Immunity. Come do great science with us in the middle of Paris! 🇫🇷🥐 research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd...
Postdoctoral position - Synthetic Biology / Bacterial Immunity - Research
The Bikard lab at Institut Pasteur in Paris is seeking to hire postdoctoral researchers. We are investigating bacteria / bacteriophages interactions, and the genetic innovation that happens at this in...
research.pasteur.fr
