BBC Audio | In Our Time Listen to the latest episodes of In Our Time on BBC Audio

bbc.com/audio/brand/...

Now free for all archaea lovers to hear!

Transport of sphingolipids by yeast Npc2 supports phase separation of the vacuole membrane The yeast vacuole membrane forms ordered microdomains that facilitate microlipophagy under nutrient limitation. We previously found that this process …

New paper where we report that Npc2 - a shuttle-like lipid transfer protein - in yeast directly transports sphingolipids to the = vacuole membrane during formation of microautophagy-linked ordered domains #lipidtime
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

close up of plant leaf

Out recently in @natbiotech.nature.com — first authors
@ddingding.bsky.social and @evangroover.bsky.social premier a cell-based method for understanding how #photosynthesis genes can be turned "up" or "down". Read here: ow.ly/KHWg50YyWbR

Phage receptor prediction from genome sequencing alone. Bacterial receptor (blue) interacting with phage proteins (purple) is shown here

📣Huge preprint 🔔
Today we share something our group has been working toward for a long time, led by @lucasmoriniere.bsky.social We asked can we predict which receptor a phage targets from its genome sequence alone? For most phages, we couldn’t. So Lucas set out to do something I had only dreamed of.

Excited to see the major chapter of my PhD in print!

We present a massively-parallel approach for screening CRISPR edits in plants to speed up agricultural test cycles + benchmark genomic LMs.

Thanks to my fantastic co-authors and advisors. Link below!

Can CRISPR edits enable precise tuning of plant gene expression? We think: yes.

In our newest manuscript, we measured the effects of >30,000 CRISPR-like promoter mutations in sorghum protoplasts.

We have been cooking up this story for a while and we are excited to finally be able to share!

Read on if you're interested in whole plant regeneration WITHOUT the application of hormones!

Out today in Nature Biotechnology — a team of IGI scientists including Brian Staskwicz, Kris Nyogi, Dave Savage (Savage Lab), Peggy Lemaux, & first author Evan Groover premier a cell-based method for understanding how #photosynthesis genes can be turned "up" or "down" https://ow.ly/KHWg50YyWbR

Credit: Mylan Ansel

Expansion microscopy of a loricate choanoflagellate, generated by Mylan Ansel in our lab 🤩

(yes, the lorica expands. No, we don't understand how either)

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Archaea How a discovery in the 1970s changed the theory of the origin of complex life on earth.

Archaea hit prime time: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

"There isn't one 'single right way' for a career - and it doesn’t have to be a straight line" Maren Nattermann, Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, on Marjory Stephenson (1885–1948): pioneer of chemical microbiology, whose work on bacterial metabolic...

"My motto is: just do it!" We love this interview w/ Maren Nattermann, Research Group Leader @ Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, on Marjory Stephenson (1885–1948), pioneer of chemical microbiology as well as her own path into science www.mpg.de/26210626/mar... #IWD2026

Do you like it when weird organisms do silly things?? Then you're going to love this!

An unconventional Rubisco small subunit underpins the CO2-concentrating organelle in land plants In many algae, photosynthesis is boosted by biophysical CO2-concentrating mechanisms, which pack the CO2-fixing enzyme Rubisco into liquid-like organelles called pyrenoids. Engineering C3 crops with a...

Our work on #hornwort #pyrenoids is finally out in @science.org! 🎉 We uncovered how hornworts pack their Rubisco into pyrenoids and successfully recreated them in Arabidopsis. A key step toward engineering more efficient photosynthesis in crops @btiscience.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Job opportunity!

Research Assistant / Research Associate

An opportunity to join our team working on the generation of a completely engineered chloroplast genome (= synplastome).

Apply by Thursday 02 April 2026: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/54695/

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

Is it possible to buy a digital copy?

Medium, the data science mini league is great. I moved up to Rundle C for next season which I'm pleased about

How are you doing in the mini league?

Iron-only Fe-nitrogenase underscores common catalytic principles in biological nitrogen fixation www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We are recruiting for a postdoc with a background in cell biology and an interest in infection research to join the @camillagodlee.bsky.social Lab to study how Salmonella remodels host membrane dynamics. Apply here by 24 Feb: www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

Working on an “origin of animals” review paper with @thibautbrunet.bsky.social and Nicole King in Paris.

Andy Knoll is joining us on Zoom from chilly Boston!

Construction of complex and diverse DNA sequences using DNA three-way junctions - Nature Sidewinder enables high-fidelity DNA assembly by separating the information that guides assembly from the final assembled sequence.

Nature research paper: Construction of complex and diverse DNA sequences using DNA three-way junctions

go.nature.com/4qu2ExZ

Putting solar panels on land used for biofuels would produce enough electricity for all cars and trucks to go electric The world dedicates a Poland-sized area of land to liquid biofuels. Is there a more efficient way to generate energy?

Read more in the new article by @hannahritchie.bsky.social and @pablorosado.com: ourworldindata.org/biofuel-land...

New paper from the Hanson lab - KO of all 11 rbcS genes (!!) in tobacco to create a null line for rubisco engineering, plus resurrection of ancestral forms www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Looking to start your lab in generative biology / AI?
Come join us at the @sangerinstitute.bsky.social
Sanger is core-funded so you can generate data at scale to train the next generation of models and understanding. Design/Engineering/Chemistry/Proteins/Pathways!
pls RT
tinyurl.com/GenGenFaculty

Enough, what side are you on?

Fabulous supervisors include @pdchristine.bsky.social @yiliangding.bsky.social @pierrebuscaill.bsky.social caill.bsky.social @morganlab.bsky.social and many more....

Webinar on Dec 10th - details in ads. Deadline Jan 19th.

(UK students only unfortunately)

Engineering plant rubisco enzymes through high-throughput enzyme assays and cryo-EM (Plant BioDesign Cambridge project) at University of York on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Engineering plant rubisco enzymes through high-throughput enzyme assays and cryo-EM (Plant BioDesign Cambridge project) at University of York, listed on FindAPhD.com

🌱🚨 Funded PhD for UK students 🇬🇧🌿
Take a look at this Plant BioDesign Doctoral Training Program.
Come work with me and @michaelwebster.bsky.social to study plant rubiscos. High throughput biochem at Cambridge and Cryo-EM techniques at the John Innes Centre.

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A synthetic bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate) Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the fourth most commonly used plastic worldwide. Like all plastics, post-consumer PET is poorly managed and accumulates in the environment, posing significant ecolo...

Paper alert!
We have created a bacterium that eats plastic! We named it PETBuster! Great work by PhD student Dekel Freund @dekel-freund.bsky.social.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The cold water tintinnid ciliate Parafavella elegans & some diatoms from the Chukchi Sea last summer- almost the end of the Arctic samples....