New preprint from the Vecchiarelli Lab! 🧵
Congratulations to first author Dr. Claire Dudley!
@claire-dudley.bsky.social
Claire uncovered a critical player in the organization for the photosynthetic cytoplasm of cyanobacteria - polyphosphate! #polyP
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New in JB: Mike Cashel is known internationally for his work on "magic spot", or (p)ppGpp, that serves as a key regulator of bacteria physiology. Hinman & Gottesman remember Dr. Cashel.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
@asm.org #JBacteriol
I had way too much fun introducing Developmental Biology in my Genetics class today with this awesome @acapellascience.bsky.social video set to Despacito. Fortunately, Justin Bieber is still a recognizable cultural reference for undergrads.
@felixrl.bsky.social reported that PcdA mediates orthogonal cell division in #Staphylococcus aureus: www.nature.com/articles/s41....
But what’s the point? Well, forming staphylococcal abscess communities to evade host immune responses requires this mode of division:
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
🚨Happy to share our new mini-review on phage-encoded small RNAs and their potential for phage therapy and antibacterial strategies, written with Aviezer Silverman!
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
#RNA
#phage
@journals.sagepub.com
@hebrewuniversity.bsky.social
@phagedirectory.bsky.social
Are you investigating the biology of prokaryotic or eukaryotic cells? Are you looking for an excellent scientific environment to establish and lead your own research team? The I2BC is your place and a new call for team leaders is now open.
More info👇Deadline 22nd April
@i2bcparissaclay.bsky.social
(bacterial) chromosome segregationists take note 👇
membrane-anchoring of the 𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘊 region to ensure proper daughter chromosome segregation after replication initiation – proposed decades ago but never substantiated... 👉now shown for 𝘚. 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴 by mariana pinho's lab
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.
What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.
Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Thank you for highlighting our paper on how septal PG hydrolysis licenses a second wave of PG transpeptidation during cell separation! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... I will do a thread when the page set version is out.
This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program is funded by the National Science Foundation to create "points of entry" for students interested in research. Students apply from across the country to spend 10 weeks in Bozeman, Montana this summer (May 26, 2026 - August 1, 2026). Admitted students are paired with a faculty mentor, who serves as an advisor for a student's summer project. Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Our program leverages MSU’s unique microbiology expertise, focusing specifically on microbes living with little or no oxygen (like those in the hot springs of nearby Yellowstone). Low oxygen microbes are essential to human and ecosystem health. They influence (or control) such processes as the breakdown of food in the GI tract, removal of toxins from our bodies and the environment, and production of greenhouse gases. They are also models for understanding the origins of life on this planet, and the potential for life on other planets. A key goal of our program is to recruit students from schools with limited research infrastructure. Being in Montana, a state with a vibrant Native American community, we are particularly interested in applications from students at tribal colleges. However, ANYONE with an interest in microbiology - or biology/science in general - can and should apply. If willing and able, please share/tweet/spread the word far and wide. Applications are due February 14, 2026. Full details can be found through our website http://www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/
Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University.
www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/
Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided.
Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline
🧫🧪🦠#microsky
Canada Research Chairs www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...: $1M/year for 8 years, plus up to $6M in CFI infrastructure support. Looking for leading researchers abroad interested in AMR research, antibiotic discovery (Pandemicstopai.ca), phages. Email short vision + CV. Tight deadlines: March 10 & June 15
We are hiring new faculty!! Come join our amazing community in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine! The deadline for applications is 2/21, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. facultyopportunities.wustl.edu/Posting/Deta...
A new year brings new opportunities: we are looking to fill a permanent professorship position with a Microbiologist preferably with expertise on archaeal biology, RNA biology or imaging techniques to unravel cell biology in prokaryotes! Please share and/or apply :)! www.nature.com/naturecareer...
A cool genetic system to study site-pecific replication fork collapse and repair from the brilliant @winterhalterlab.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The sporulation phosphorelay protein Spo0B is membrane localized in Paenibacillus! The transmembrane domain appears to increase interaction with relay partners. Congrats to former lab undergrad @isabellalin.bsky.social and her grad mentor @cassidyprints.bsky.social
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
A major challenge in RNA delivery is overcoming poor loading efficiency into nanoparticles. F. Machinandiarena solves this by using "SSHELs", our particles inspired by bacterial spores, to deliver RNA specifically to HER2+ ovarian cancer cells.
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
Late job posting: My department is hiring a tenure-track faculty member in microbiology! Please share with anyone interested in working at a PUI. We have a preference for someone who can teach Medical Microbiology, but other than that the focus is open-ended. Happy to answer qs.
Do viruses use RNA to rewire bacteria?
Yes!
In our paper in @cp-molcell.bsky.social RIL-seq reveals interkingdom RNA interactions during λ infection. Phages don’t just encode proteins, they use small RNAs to hijack bacterial replication and fine-tune infection.
#RNA #Phage
doi.org/10.1016/j.mo...
What is better than one? Two connected papers!
#NewResearch
S protein of Streptococcus pneumoniae activates PBP1a and coordinates with a wider GpsB-associated multi-protein complex to regulate peptidoglycan remodelling and cell division.
#MicroSky 🦠
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to become part of the SCALE community! Several professorships and group leader positions are available at Goethe University and FIAS. We are looking for professors in the fields of molecular microbiology, cellular biochemistry, and molecular biochemistry.
Can’t wait!! My bacterial cell bio friends, you’re gonna want to go to this GRC and GRS.
Tenure-Track Faculty Position in Microbiology
Come and join great students and colleagues at Hofstra Biology. Please apply using the link below and/or spread the word!
hofstra.peopleadmin.com/postings/6542
Fer’s tour de force in B. anthracis is out! Fer got Tn-seq running, built an ordered knockout library, defined all essential sporulation genes, and found a peptidoglycan deacetylase inhibitor critical for engulfment. Including our first one-by-all Alphafold screen! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Excited to share my latest postdoctoral work in the Shen Lab at Tufts! In this study, we follow up on an exciting finding by former grad student @shailab.bsky.social that C diff uses its Class A PBP (PBP1) to drive cell division (unlike previously studied bacteria)! journals.plos.org/plosgenetics...
Wow, that's impressive! I see Ganesh's name. Congrats!!
Why does daptomycin resistance appear so fast in Enterococcus? We finally have a clue.
DAP resistance in enterococci pops up quickly. What’s been missing is why resistance-associated membrane changes look the way they do, and why the classic path of mutations is so predictable.
🔊 New story!
This GlmR (of hope) article has it all. Cell shape, cytokinesis, c-di-AMP, and catalysis - the famous 4 Cs 💎?
There is also antibiotic resistance, phosphorylation, acetylation, and a (cool) model to explain what shapes Bacillus cells.
Excellent group effort. Congrats team!
#Microsky