Biologists Confirm Not Much Evolution Happened Today STANFORD, CA—Calling it a “pretty slow one” as far as natural selection and genetic drift were concerned, biologists from Stanford University confirmed Tuesday that not much evolution happened today. ...

Except in GCs

theonion.com/biologists-c...

Overview of RB-TnSeq screens. Top left: Schematic for RB-TnSeq screen experimental set-up. Top middle: Pie chart depicting the number of RB-TnSeq screens completed for each category. Top right: Previously published TnSeq fitness with 27ng/mL isoniazid plotted against BarSeq fitness with 25 ng/mL isoniazid. Dotted line represents linear correlation between statistically significant hits from RB-TnSeq with TnSeq. Bottom left: BarSeq fitness (log2 fold change) for sugI (Rv3331) and sugA (Rv1236). Bottom right: Cofitness data for Rv3220c and Rv1626.

Discovery of gene functions in #Mycobacterium #tuberculosis has been slow. This study tests a genome-wide barcoded #transposon library across 95 environmental conditions, providing a rich resource of new gene functions, including metabolic & resistance pathways @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4vG0mz1

By editing blood stem cells, the Nussenzweig lab shows that the immune system itself can be transformed into a durable, boostable source of therapeutic proteins--opening the door to potential single-shot treatments for diseases ranging from HIV to cancer.

🔗: https://bit.ly/4cgDoqp

Ca²⁺ leakage is a conserved signal for non-canonical ATG8/LC3 lipidation and membrane repair - The EMBO Journal Endomembrane damage of intracellular vesicles triggers signals that activate membrane repair in mammalian cells to restore homeostasis. However, the signals that drive diverse membrane repair recruitm...

💥Our latest @embojournal.org on membrane damage and repair. Di @dichen02.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk found that calcium is a conserved signal for ATG8/LC3 lipidation on membranes using novel probes to record calcium leakage. Congratulations Di et al!
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Our lab is hiring!

As our fierce technician is moving on to graduate school (GO ANNA!), we’re looking for a new tech to join our team studying bacteria-phage interactions.

Ideal for recent grads interested in molecular biology and microbiology - please reach out with a CV to aviramn@mskcc.org.

Now this is the future of TB research 👏

39 Keystone Symposia & @gatesfoundation.bsky.social scholarship awardees at #KSTB26.

With ~1.5M TB deaths each year, these early-career scientists are driving progress through collaboration and new ideas.

@maxgg.bsky.social @breealdridge.bsky.social

Unbelievably proud of the work that everyone has put into this paper. Really grateful for such fab colleagues! Mycobacteria continue to be (subjectively) the most interesting bacteria 🤭

We've been we've been working on this for quite a while now (hopefully published soon). Grateful to @proftracypalmer.bsky.social for concinving me & @lislowe.bsky.social that mycobacteria produce inter-bacterial toxins. Team science, led by @sambenedict5.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Nontuberculous Mycobacteria: The Common Infections You’ve Possibly Never Heard Of Twenty facts about a surprisingly common group of infections.

Latest for @nejm.org, an attempt to bring much-needed attention to these challenging ID cases that for some reason receive so little attention -- NTM. #IDSky

Nontuberculous Mycobacteria: The Common Infections You’ve Possibly Never Heard Of | NEJM Voices voices.nejm.org/doi/full/10....

Most mass spectrometers still analyze molecules one or just a few at a time. Now, a new MultiQ-IT prototype from Rockefeller's Brian Chait can cool, trap, filter, and redirect over a billion ions simultaneously.

🔗: https://bit.ly/47FWUd6

Angelika Amon was an inspiration, and I’m deeply grateful for my time in her lab. Please encourage PhD students outside the US who embody her excellence in research & infectious passion for biology to apply. ki.mit.edu/events/prize...

I’m pleased 🤗 to share our new preprint exploring the mode of action and resistance of the antitubercular drug pyrazinamide (PZA) 💊 Thanks to everyone who have participated 🙌
We hope these findings will help the fight against drug resistance in tuberculosis.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

How can we tap into the enormous functional diversity of microbes on this planet?

Join us at EMBL Heidelberg (8–10 Dec 2026) to learn about ongoing efforts to decode gene function and organisation in human gut microbes, and present your science.

Images of the protein α-actinin-4 binding actin filaments in weak and strong modes, derived from cryo-electron microscopy data. Force promotes a transition from the weak mode to the strong mode, strengthening the interaction.

Very excited to share our latest preprint, where we visualize the impact of force on the catch bonding actin crosslinker α-actinin-4. Led by @tri-i.bsky.social MD-PhD student Alfred Chin, a great collaboration with Glen Hocky's lab.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Figure 1. Cryo-EM of abundant protein complexes in native membranes.

Figure 2. Cryo-EM of membrane proteins in vesicles.

Figure 3. 3D reconstruction of V-ATPase in native synaptic vesicle membranes.

Figure 4. Generation of membrane vesicles for structure determination of proteins in their native lipid bilayer.

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM:

Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer

Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics:
doi.org/10.1017/S003...

We are searching for a tenure-track junior faculty member. Join our collaborative research environment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at WCM. Please see the link to the job posting and distribute among your networks!
apply.interfolio.com/181869

Discovery and development of a new oxazolidinone with reduced toxicity for the treatment of tuberculosis - Nature Medicine MK-7762 is a new oxazolidinone antitubercular agent that is structurally similar to linezolid, and demonstrated in vivo efficacy, lesion penetration and limited toxicity compared to linezolid, indicat...

Congrats Brendan, Clif, David, and team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell-free genomics reveals fundamental regulatory principles of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis transcription cycle Tiers of gene regulation govern cellular life. The intrinsic activities of RNA polymerase (RNAP) constitute a primary tier, while direct modulation by…

Congrats Ruby, Bob, Liz, and team! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats @oneyrolles.bsky.social and team!

A new frontier for our lab! After many months of development by postdoc @ranaabdelaziz.bsky.social (our resident medicinal chemistry - now also an excellent structural biologist) and the staff at the SickKids Drug Discovery platform, we're conducting our first proof-of-principle inhibitor screen.

Cartoon representing the mycobacterial oxidative phosphorylation system, including cytochromes, NDH-2, and ATP synthase. Taken from Figure 1 of the article.

#Microbiology

The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear

Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works

@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR

http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W

Congrats @tobinlab.bsky.social!

Many of you in the mycobacterial community attended the awesome inaugural 2025 Biology of Mycobacteria GRC, organized by @heran.bsky.social and myself: www.grc.org/biology-of-m....

I am writing with an update about this conference as the new chair.

Peptidoglycan architecture dictates protein interactions, tissue tropism, and arthritis in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Author summary Many of the pathogenic mechanisms by which Borrelia burgdorferi causes disease involve cell envelope interactions with host components. To further elucidate the role of peptidoglycan in...

Check out our exciting new paper out now in @plos.org where Dr Ahmad manipulated #peptidoglycan chemistry to understand Lyme disease and arthritis 👇👏
#Microsky
#glycotime

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system - Nature Microbiology A library of 400 phage protein-coding genes is used to find a trove of antiphage systems, revealing systems that target tail fibre and major capsid proteins.

I’m thrilled to share our work on phage triggers of the bacterial immune system in its final form @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats @regolab.bsky.social! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The Barber lab is looking to hire post-docs to work on #tuberculosis #immunology using murine and NHP models. BSL3 experience not required. Check out our lab in the NIH intramural program in Bethesda MD!

A study in @science.org from Paul Cohen's lab, led by @maschakoenen.bsky.social, demonstrates how beige fat directly influences blood pressure. The findings offer a new target for treating vascular disease and could lead to more precise therapies for hypertension: https://bit.ly/4pK0hGh

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...

Congrats @maxgg.bsky.social and team! This looks very cool.