Thank you Youssef!

Thanks!

Thanks Jens!

This is my first first-author paper in my current position—grateful to everyone involved!

Phage homing endonuclease amplifies anti-defense genes to evade bacterial immunity - Nature Communications Phages employ diverse counter-defense strategies to overcome bacterial immune systems. Here, the authors reveal that the phage homing nuclease SegB facilitates immune evasion by promoting the segmenta...

Happy to share our new work on how phages escape bacterial immunity.

We show that a phage homing endonuclease drives segmental amplification of anti-defense genes, pointing to a versatile and rapid mode of adaptation.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#PhageSky #MicroSky

2'3'-cGAMP-induced membrane shearing promotes broad antiphage immunity An evolutionarily conserved CBASS transmembrane effector—ancestral to the mammalian cGAS-STING pathway—is activated by 2'3'-cGAMP to assemble into membrane-spanning filaments that disrupt membranes via a newly defined mechanism of vertical lipid shearing.

Now online! 2'3'-cGAMP-induced membrane shearing promotes broad antiphage immunity

Very proud of this work and all the efforts from my team and collaborators on this! You can now use DGRs for in vivo targeted hypermutagenesis in E. coli. We also included some early proof of concept in Yeast thanks to @seth-shipman.bsky.social !

Excited to share our new paper out today in @science.org 🎉

We show that HGT via natural competence drives diversification of chromosomal integrons in V. cholerae 🤩

Below a 🧵 on key findings incl. background on natural competence in V. cholerae 1/
#microsky #phagesky
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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_...

Takeshi Kanda represented our team at the Japanese Society for Bacteriology conference, founded by Prof. Dr. Shibasaburo Kitasato - one of Japan's oldest societies. He also took the opportunity to connect with several Würzburg alumni.

How do you kill a MRSA superbug armed with 15 different anti-phage defense systems? You make a smarter phage. Check out our latest preprint on overcoming bacterial immunity using defense-guided engineering to build durable therapeutic phage cocktails! Led by Sarah Voss. doi.org/10.64898/202...

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...

Our work on bacterial Schlafens in phage defense is out today @natmicrobiol.nature.com!

Check out the final version here:
rdcu.be/e7Bmz

We are looking for postdocs and students to expand our team! Official postings are coming soon.

Please reach out if you're interested!
#phage #phagesky #microsky

Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence Nature Microbiology, Published online: 09 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02277-8This study highlights that Schlafens are ancient, mechanistically conserved immune effectors that mediate antiviral immunity in organisms ranging from humans to bacteria.

Out Now! Bacterial Schlafen proteins mediate phage defence #MicroSky

After >10 years of our lab studying bacterial cGAS-like enzymes, @hobbslabutah.bsky.social finally reconstitutes viral sensing in vitro and discovers how these ancient receptors sense phage protease enzymes to detect virion assembly and activate antiviral immunity

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Stunning new structural analysis and mechanism for Tmn anti-phage defense by @fnobrega.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Rapid modular evolution of antiviral repertoires in P2 phages and their P4 satellites: shuttling, swapping and mixing www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...

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…

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

1/5
Happy by a recent biorxiv pre-print about DARNA (PD-T7-3) anti-phage defense system. This system is activated by binding to ssDNA, presented by phage SSB, to cleave tRNA in the anti-codon loop.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Two cartoon images of children with plasmids for faces about to fight. Commentators are saying "Plasmid-borne CRISPR-Cas systems provide significant defensive benefits" and "Yes, but toxin-antitoxin systems on competitor plasmids constrain the offensive CRISPR-Cas benefit"

Out now in @plosbiology.org : our big joint effort on the role of #CRISPR in plasmid competition. Read on for a really fun (I’m biased ok) analysis of how a defence system has new selective pressures when it’s mobile
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/... 1/6

Structure and mechanism of antiphage retron Eco2 Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - This study shows how the bacterial retron Eco2 defends against viruses. Phage nucleases trigger activation of Eco2, which cuts RNAs, shuts down protein...

1/6) Hot off the press @natsmb.nature.com 🔥! Jasnauskaite et al. reveal how the minimal bacterial retron Eco2 defends against #phage 🛡️. Phage nucleases trigger Eco2, which cuts RNA, shuts down protein production and stops phage replication 🦠🚫. #phagesky #immunity #microbiology #cryo-em rdcu.be/e4AyH

Molecular basis for anti-jumbo phage #immunity by AVAST type 5.

Avs5 detects an early jumbo‑phage activator and halts infection by rapidly hydrolyzing NAD+.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #phage #bacteriophage #MicroSky

My first paper from my undergraduate work is out today :)

A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system Nature Microbiology, Published online: 16 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02239-6A 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.

Out Now! A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system #MicroSky

Happy to share our recent preprint:
"DNA-intercalating antiphage molecules trigger abortive infection through mutual destruction and synergize with bacterial immunity"

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@spp2330.bsky.social, @mibinet.bsky.social, @dfg.de @hhu.de @fzj.bsky.social

Phold's manuscript is now available @narjournal.bsky.social thanks to @susiegriggo.bsky.social @npbhavya.bsky.social @vijinim.bsky.social @linsalrob.bsky.social @martinsteinegger.bsky.social @milot.bsky.social @eunbelivable.bsky.social & others not on bsky #phagesky academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Secret life of prophages: template-directed synthesis of DNA superstructures via prophage activation and rolling circle replication in bacterial biofilms Extracellular DNA (eDNA) plays crucial roles in biofilm formation and function, yet the role of bacteriophages (phages) in controlling eDNA synthesis, structure and activity remains obscure. Here, we ...

Secret life of prophages: template-directed synthesis of DNA superstructures via prophage activation and rolling circle replication in bacterial biofilms

bioRxiv by Gabriel Antonio S. Minero et al
with @thethormannden.bsky.social, Rikke Louise Meyer

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Only in Shenzhen: Science Nature coffee bar. If you’ve published in @science.org or @nature.com, they give you coffee for free. 100% real!

Very fascinating! can’t help wondering whether mimivirus tRNAs — together with its local translation compartment — might play a failsafe role against host immunity.

www.nature.com/articles/s41564-025-02234-x

RNA-triggered Cas12a3 cleaves tRNA tails to execute bacterial immunity - Nature Cas12a3 nucleases constitute a distinct clade of type V CRISPR–Cas bacterial immune systems that preferentially cleave the 3′ tails of tRNAs after recognition of target RNA to induce growth arres...

Our paper is out! Hiding in plain sight among Cas12a nucleases, Cas12a3 cleaves not its RNA target but the 3′ ends of tRNA. Huge thanks to all who made this possible, especially the Beisel lab, Biao & Dirk for the structure, & @sebastianglatt.bsky.social for all things tRNA. doi.org/10.1038/s415...