Took a few friends from the lab on a birding jaunt to Norfolk today, pretty quiet until this Great Grey Shrike flew past us on Hunstanton golf course. Showed beautifully for a while this evening. @birdguides.bsky.social @norfolkbirds.bsky.social
Great grey shrike on Hunstanton golf course just now! @norfolkbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social
First patch foray of 2026 at Fen Drayton. Nice stumble upon this Red-breasted Merg, which I believe is the first for some years. Two drake Smew visible from the reserve on St Ives gravel pits. Merlin, Goosander and lots of expected wildfowl the supporting cast. #PWC2026 @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social
I’m excited to announce that I will be starting my research group on computational enzyme design at the Generative Biology Institute, Oxford, UK (@eitoxford.bsky.social)! PhD applications are open, deadline is Jan 8th (www.chem.ox.ac.uk/genbio-dtp). Email kiarash.jamali@eit.org with any questions!
New preprint from the lab!!🎉
We show that Asgard archaea ESCRT-III proteins can trigger membrane fission and reveal its molecular mechanism, offering clues to how these cells may have built internal compartments. But do these organisms even have these compartments?
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
While admiring this diorama in the Roman baths museum (in Bath..) I noticed this small tribute to the Life of Brian- a figure (under supervision) vandalising the walls with red writing!
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Great Grey Shrike
Jack Snipe
Purple Sandpiper
Lesser Yellowlegs
131 species for the week by public transport in north Norfolk. Self-found GGS and Richard’s Pipit the highlights. Best of rest: Hume’s, many YBW, Glossy Ibis, L Yellowlegs. Classic coastal autumn vismig with many Crossbill, Brambling, thrushes etc. Curlew and Purple Sands, Little Stint.
Just having tea in Cley visitor centre and a Great Grey Shrikes flies past the window! Managed to get a few people on it, appears to have gone down in a hedgerow east of visitor centre. Best bird I’ve found while mid-cup of tea @birdguides.bsky.social
Come and join our lab @mrclmb.bsky.social for your PhD! A wonderful environment to explore our archaeal origins with supportive and collaborative colleagues and the chance to investigate big evolutionary and cell biology questions.
We are excited to share our preprint describing how Sulfolobus cells coordinate DNA segregation with cell division! In eukaryotes this type of regulation involves checkpoints and CDK-cyclins. But how does this work in archaea? This is the question we ask in our paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Finally, an enormous thank you to everyone involved! It has been a wonderful collaboration. Thanks also to the @mrclmb.bsky.social core staff. And thanks to Arthur for sharing reagents and data prior to publication and to Steve Bell for coordinating submission. We appreciate it!
In this sense, Sulfolobus cells use a regulatory decision point (analogous to a eukaryotic cell cycle checkpoint) to ensure that they only trigger DNA segregation once they are ready to divide.
Taken together, our data suggest a new model for Sulfolobus cell division: First, CdvA forms a ring. This isn't enough to trigger DNA segregation, though, since this requires the recruitment of a medial ESCRT-III ring, which triggers DNA segregation and defines the axis of DNA segregation.
Nevertheless, using live imaging we observed that while mutant cells can still segregate their DNA in the absence of SegA or SegB, they often suffer serious DNA compaction errors, leading to constricting cells with bridging DNA.
We also used a knockout strategy. SegA, SegB and SegAB deletion strains only observed modest division defects by flow cytometry, implying redundancy in the system.
To explore how ring assembly and DNA segregation might be coupled, we turned our attention to the ParA homologue, SegA, and its partner SegB, using antibodies kindly gifted by @acharlesorszag.bsky.social (see www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)
Furthermore, blocking ESCRT-III ring recruitment prevented DNA segregation. These data show that the completion of ESCRT-III ring formation is necessary for cells to segregate their DNA and divide. In addition, ring position determines the axis of DNA segregation.
To do this, we quantified DNA segregation in cells with different ring compositions. While there was little to no DNA segregation in cells with a CdvA-only ring, once cells had recruited a medial ESCRT-III-positive division ring, they tended to have segregated their DNA.
Using coarse-grain molecular dynamic simulations they showed that DNA mobility followed by rapid compaction can aid entropic DNA segregation, even in spherical cells like Sulfolobus. Next, we assessed the relative timing of DNA segregation and division ring formation.
In interphase DNA was associated with the membrane. Then, just before DNA segregation, the DNA became diffuse and mobile, before rapidly compacting into two spatially separated foci. To determine a possible role for these changes, we teamed up with @vsorichetti.bsky.social and Andela Saric.
Like eukaryotic cells, Sulfolobus has an ordered cell cycle with distinct non-overlapping phases. But they lack CDK-cyclins. So how is DNA segregated in archaea? To find out, we imaged DNA and membrane in live dividing cells at 75°C. Unexpectedly, this revealed dynamic changes in DNA organisation.
We are excited to share our preprint describing how Sulfolobus cells coordinate DNA segregation with cell division! In eukaryotes this type of regulation involves checkpoints and CDK-cyclins. But how does this work in archaea? This is the question we ask in our paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Excited to announce the Molecular Biology of Archaea (MBoA) 2026!
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated to Archaea.
Happy to share our paper’s final version on the evolution, structure, and membrane binding / remodeling of Asgard ESCRT-III proteins! And my first 🦋 post! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our latest work on how the surface layer assists cell division in Sulfolobus is now out! Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe!
My good friend Arjun and I found a stunning male Bluethroat this afternoon at Grantchester meadows in Cambridge. Spring patch birding at its absolute best!
