Aaron Whiteley

The EMBO Gold Medal 2025 was awarded to Tanmay Bharat and David Bikard: https://www.embo.org/press-releases/embo-gold-medal-2025-awarded-to-tanmay-bharat-and-david-bikard/ 🧪

At #CellBio2025, the EMBO Gold Medal was handed over to David Bikard in recognition of his pioneering work on #GeneEditing.

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

Last year it was discovered that a single bacterial NLR-like protein can recognize multiple, structurally unrelated phage proteins (Béchon et al, Kibby et al)

Now, a new study shows the same for a plant NLR. Another example how principles of immunity remain conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes

Beyond Immunity: Uncovering the Hidden Diversity of Bacterial NLRs (SCHLIMPERT_J26DTP) | Doctoral Training Partnership Join us in exploring the hidden functions of ancient immune proteins in bacteria. Bacteria, like plants and animals, have evolved sophisticated systems to detect and respond to threats.

We have a PhD opportunity available in our group @johninnescentre.bsky.social through the NRP Doctoral Training Partnership. Help us uncover the Hidden Diversity of Bacterial NLRs.

Start date: October 2026. For more information and how to apply👉 biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/bey...

Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...

1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?

Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thank you to the Blavatnik Family Foundation and The New York Academy of Sciences for honoring our research uniting human innate immunity and bacterial anti-phage defense at @danafarber.bsky.social @harvardmicro.bsky.social @harvard.edu

bit.ly/4pZUDkF

blavatnikawards.org/news/items/t...

Bacteria use a decoy defence molecule to set a trap for viruses Some bacterial-infecting viruses use ‘sponges’ to mop up defence molecules, but bacteria can fight back by responding when a sponge captures decoy molecules.

@mfwhite2.bsky.social reviewed both papers in a News and Views and put the collaboration between phage defense systems best: "scientists can confidently conclude that bacterial defences are indeed more than just the sum of their parts" www.nature.com/articles/d41...

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

Check out the complementary story from @doudna-lab.bsky.social led by @erinedoherty.bsky.social and @benadler.bsky.social Their work on OptE oligomerization is particularly crucial to completing our understanding of Panoptes. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This work was led by @aesully98.bsky.social and was a fantastic collaboration with @benmorehouse.bsky.social + lab. Thanks to all authors including Aravind and Max Burroughs at NIH

Panoptes guards the CBASS pathway (bacterial cGAS-STING). One facet of this work that I find particularly exciting is the genetic linkage between Panoptes and CBASS, which significantly co-occur in bacterial genomes. What other phage defense systems may be genetically (and functionally) linked?

The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

Nucleotide second messengers are frequently antagonized by viruses. However, Panoptes turns this weakness into an opportunity. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Illustration depicting a bacterium under assault by phage. The bacterium “sees” phage immune evasion proteins and protects itself using a newly described antiphage system called Panoptes, named for the many-eyed mythical giant Argus Panoptes. Credit: Clair Huffine Insight Illustrations LLC

Our work on the Panoptes antiphage system is published! Here we find that Panoptes "watches" the cytosol for phage immune evasion proteins–captured in this illustration by Clair Huffine of Insight Illustrations. A beautiful example of the effector triggered immunity paradigm.

The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

A little late to the Panoptes party, but I’m delighted to share that our paper is published! 👁️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

Our story describing the Panoptes bacterial immune defense system is now finally peer-reviewed and published today! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

Today in @nature.com , we highlight how a cousin of CRISPR-Cas10, mCpol, establishes an evolutionary trap in anti-phage immune systems.

Check out @erinedoherty.bsky.social and my work from @doudna-lab.bsky.social lab here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

Now online at @nature.com we show how the Panoptes defense system protects against viruses that attempt immune evasion - and expands our understanding of the role of oligonucleotides in immunity.

Check out this work co-led with @benadler.bsky.social here:

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

New paper online at @nature.com from co-leads @erinedoherty.bsky.social + @benadler.bsky.social !

When predators meet the matrix: Natural resistance via amyloid fibers How do bacteria protect themselves against predators? In a recent issue of Nature, Ledvina et al. reveal curli fibers as a genetically encoded defense against Bdellovibrio predation in wild E. coli st...

I wrote a Preview in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social !
A new study suggests that #curli may protect prey from bacterial predators like #Bdellovibrio.

Really looking forward to seeing this model confirmed with live-cell imaging and specific reporters!

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Divergent viral phosphodiesterases for immune signaling evasion Cyclic dinucleotides (CDNs) and other short oligonucleotides play fundamental roles in immune system activation in organisms ranging from bacteria to humans. In response, viruses use phosphodiesterase...

Excited to share our new preprint co-led by @jnoms.bsky.social!

Here we reveal an exceptional diversity of viral 2H phosphodiesterases (PDEs) that enable immune evasion by selectively degrading oligonucleotide-based messengers. This 2H PDE fold has evolved striking substrate breath & specificity.

📢Preprint out!
Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social!

We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery.

Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!

Identifying phage proteins that activate the bacterial innate immune system https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.02.662641v1

Two important conceptual advances I want to highlight: using a large library of plasmids expressing 100’s of phage proteins allowed us to (1) identify new phage defense systems independent of genome context and (2) characterize known defense systems that did not yield phage escaper mutants

Our new work understanding how phages are detected by the bacterial immune system is posted on bioRxiv! Check out Toni’s thread for a synopsis👇

Functional amyloid proteins confer defence against predatory bacteria Nature - Escherichia coli uses curli fibres, oligomers of the functional amyloid CsgA, as a barrier to protect against the predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Myxococcus xanthus in a...

A publicly available link for the paper can also be found here: rdcu.be/euu5Y

We are just at the beginning of understanding defense against predatory bacteria and the many roles of amyloid proteins across bacteria. Stay tuned for more great work from the Ledvina lab, starting this year at the University of Michigan!

Great science can only happen with great people. Hannah and all coauthors (including 3 undergraduates!) made this work possible. In particular, our collaboration with Aravind and Max Burroughs at the NIH helped expand this analysis to identify the expanse of bacterial amyloid proteins.

Functional amyloid proteins confer defence against predatory bacteria - Nature Escherichia coli uses curli fibres, oligomers of the functional amyloid CsgA, as a barrier to protect against the predatory bacteria Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Myxococcus xanthus in a mechanism th...

Here, we find that defense against predatory bacteria is very different from most modes of defense against phage. Bacteria build a "molecular suit of armor" using functional amyloid proteins to protect themselves. A new role for a fascinating set of proteins. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I never actually thought my lab would work on Bdello. But, as our work on phage explored the antiviral side of the bacterial immune system we found ourselves thinking that there must also be an antibacterial side too.

"Bdello" is from greek for "to leech" because Bdellovibrio leeches nutrients from other bacteria by growing inside their periplasm! This micrograph from Liz Sockett's review shows the predator in action. www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...

I have been fascinated by predatory bacteria ever since 2013 when I saw a presentation by @markowenmartin.bsky.social on Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus at the West Coast Bacterial Physiologists meeting.