Avigail Stokar-Avihail

New post-doctoral research position in my phage-host interactions (Phi) laboratory in @otagomicroimmuno.bsky.social at @universityofotago.bsky.social New Zealand. The project is focused on defences against jumbo phages. Please share and if interested apply using the link in the comments.

Fantastic collaboration w/ @dbikard.bsky.social @audeber.bsky.social @rayanchikhi.bsky.social labs led by @jmouradesousa.bsky.social : We assessed the rates of variation of anti-phage systems in P4-like satellites and P2 helper phages. Quick conclusion: Huge variation! We focus on 4 key questions/5

Out now! In collaboration with Leifu Chang, we uncover the molecular and structural underpinnings of CRISPR-Cas12f-like RNA-guided transcription systems!

Links to the published articles:
tinyurl.com/55kpavet
tinyurl.com/sk6djwx3

Previous thread for the preprint:
bsky.app/profile/did:...

Abstract submission is now OPEN for the 2026 Symposium on the Immune System of Bacteria!

sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
🗓 May 5–7, 2026
📍 Rockefeller University, New York City
⏰ Abstract deadline: March 16, 2026

Attendance will be capped, be sure to register early and secure your spot.

See you in NYC!

Congratulations to Sonomi Yamaguchi for her paper at @nature.com. Sonomi discovered Clover defense and explained how nucleotide signals control each step of viral sensing, immune regulation, and viral restriction – named for her beautiful "four-leaf" structures 🍀

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

EMBL International PhD Programme - summer recruitment 2026! 👀

Research groups across EMBL are recruiting now! www.embl.org/about/info/e...

Don’t miss this opportunity to receive dedicated mentoring while doing interdisciplinary research.

Rewiring of oncogenic signaling in #DrugResistance is a moving target. In our new study, we used biophysical phosphoproteomics to investigate #BRAF mutant cancer, linking phosphorylation changes to protein function and #MolecularMechanisms through #Multi-Omics integration.
tinyurl.com/funsignaling

The paradox of immune systems conservation between prokaryotes and eukaryotes - Nature Reviews Microbiology The widespread prokaryotic immune systems, in particular restriction–modification, CRISPR–Cas and defensive toxin–antitoxin systems, are absent in eukaryotes, whereas relatively rare ones, such as Arg...

The immune systems paradox

Some widespread prokaryotic immune systems are absent in eukaryotes, whereas relatively rare ones became central to eukaryotic innate immunity

@audeber.bsky.social & E. Koonin hypothesize the answer is #HGT

shareable link: rdcu.be/e2EmD

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

That's cool, and flattering 🙃 I hope they enjoy it

Two independent super-elegant studies from Maxwell & Laub labs find immune proteins that sense infection by binding to oligomeric phage protein rings (i.e phage portal), using them as a scaffold to assemble into their active immune effector form 🤯

Highly recommend read! 🤓📖l

A DNA damage-activated kinase controls bacterial immune pathway expression https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.02.703251v1

A great example of the ongoing arms race between bacteria and phages. 🦠🛡️ The plot thickens on the NAD+ bacteria vs. phage battlefield.

See thread below from @ostermanilya.bsky.social ⤵️

Congrats to you and all involved 🥂 I wonder what's next? 🧐

Helaine& Kranzusch labs reveal a mechanism by which a prophage-encoded abortive infection protein defends the host from other phages using a tail tip triggered tRNA nuclease, while maintaining its own propagation abilities- by encoding a tail tip variant that does not trigger it.

👇🏽🧬✂️☠️🦠

Another cool finding of nucleotides activating antiphage defense 👇🏽

5′-phosphorylated deoxydinucleotides arising during host genome degradation activate the doughnut shaped ApeA oligomer, to cleave host
tRNAs and abort infection

✂️🧬➡️🍩✨➡️✂️☠️🦠

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

Recruitment for the EMBL International PhD Programme is officially open! 🔊

At EMBL, we train young scientists to become skilled and creative future leaders in academia, industry and other sectors. Start your career in the life sciences with us!

🔎 Read more here:
tinyurl.com/4jdt2ra5

A new paper from the lab on virus-like particles called eCISs www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How bacteria evolved thousands of precision nanoinjectors?

Some bacteria don’t secrete toxins — they inject them using phage-derived machines called extracellular contractile injection systems (eCISs).

Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed)
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu

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

Preprint out: We characterise PUA-Cal-HAD, a widespread bacterial antiphage defence family. An infection cue switches a preassembled complex into an immune filament that drains dNTPs via a coupled two-enzyme cascade, and phage DNA mimics can block filament assembly (anti-polymerisation).

Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@sacrozhangt.bsky.social and I wrote a commentary on Jordi van Gestel and Carol Gross's latest paper, check it out!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Sadly, the Editors at PNAS rejected our initial introduction, which was a David Attenborough style voice over of the microbial Serengeti (included below)

Preprint: Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

tinyurl.com/ch3damp

We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity

Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇

Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides.
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Amazing Francois! Congrats! 🥂

Advancing RNA phage biology through meta-omics Abstract. Bacteriophages with RNA genomes are among the simplest biological entities on Earth. Since their discovery in the 1960s, they have been used as i

I'm happy to share the first publication from my lab @hoerlab.bsky.social, now out in @narjournal.bsky.social! I take a look at the biology of RNA phages, focusing on how meta-omics methods are discovering new RNA phage families and bacterial defense strategies.

#PhageSky

doi.org/10.1093/nar/...

The perfect conference. I was so lucky to attend! 🥰

It was an honor for my lab and myself to host the meeting on the Immune Systems of Bacteria. Such a high from all the incredible science and sharing with scientists from the whole world the greatness of Paris in the spring.
Vive la science, et vive Paris!

Excited to share our paper published in @currentbiology.bsky.social that explores the consequences of having multiple genomes in a bacterial model system and it’s benefits in a multidrug environment ! www.cell.com/current-biol...

Protein-primed DNA homopolymer synthesis by an antiviral reverse transcriptase Bacteria defend themselves from viral predation using diverse immune systems, many of which sense and target foreign DNA for degradation. Defense-associated reverse transcriptase (DRT) systems provide...

Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Inducible transposon mutagenesis identifies bacterial fitness determinants during infection in mice - Nature Microbiology InducTn-seq, a method for inducible mutagenesis followed by transposon insertion site sequencing, enables temporal control of transposition to bypass population bottlenecks and enable the quantificati...

OUT NOW: Inducible transposon mutagenesis identifies bacterial fitness determinants during infection in mice

#microsky 🧪

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