Bram van Dijk 🏳️‍🌈

If you get too close you’ll be covered in saliva.

Bacterial immune systems as causes and consequences of microbiome structure Bacterial immune systems have evolved in response to diverse molecular "parasites", yet their ecological roles remain poorly understood. This Essay explores how interactions between mobile genetic ele...

Very happy to see this piece out in @plosbiology.org, on the bacterial immune systems and microbial communities. It was a great team effort with Rafael Custodio, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social , @brownlab.bsky.social, and Edze Westra! 🦠🧫 #phagesky #mevosky

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Great work by @prczhaoyansong.bsky.social, once again elucidating how much flow of information there is in complex microbial ecosystems.

Yesno.

Getting old means going to your own Google Scholar and seeing "if you wrote a paper about something"

Thanks anyway, I can at least take a look at this :)

Wouldn't that be true for all duplicated sequences though?

But S. enterica does have one of those? Or is that also not the case?

I must admit, PerplexityAI is really blowing my mind when it comes to literature searching. I've been avoiding it but I got stuck and decided to take a swing at it. It gave great papers, got my out of my bubble, and really gave me a fresh perspective. :)

Does anyone know a gene in E. coli that duplicated "fairly recently", as to compare and contrast it's sequence divergence with that found in mobile elements?

#sciencesky #microsky

This picture is too low-res to include in a presentation in 2025, so I went full CSI 😂

I wonder though: even though it copies the copyright statement... this does count as a copyright violation? Thoughts?

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

A bachelor student gifted me this beautiful artwork she made based on my first year course, and I am sp excited I wanna share it with “the internet” ❤️

We are also hiring a 4-year postdoc to study the dynamics and evolution of mobile genetic elements in the C-fixing Icelandic host-spring microbiomes

Join our exciting multidisciplinary team funded by @ukri.org BBSRC sLoLa

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Research Associate in Microbiome Ecology:Oxford Road

A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others

Please share & get in touch if interested!

tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3

Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health. Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that can rapidly spread across bacterial populations, promoting the dissemination of AMR genes i...

This is very cool. @sanmillan.bsky.social I wonder to what extend these non-random IS-dynamics are naturally selected for. Could it be the result of a long co-evolutionary history of ISs and bacteria? Are there differences in natural/non-natural antimicrobials?

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major threat to public health. Plasmids are mobile genetic elements that can rapidly spread across bacterial populations, promoting the dissemination of AMR genes i...

New paper out! 🔈🔈📣📣

Plasmids promote antimicrobial resistance through Insertion Sequence-mediated gene inactivation.

Combining experimental and computational approaches, we unveil how two of the most prevalent bacterial MGE accelerate the evolution of AMR. 🧵👇🏻

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

If I were me a few years ago, I would immediately apply. Wonderful environment to work in and Osnabrück is a (suprisingly 😝) fun city.

Highly recommend this great opportunity to develop #theory together with @kostchristian.bsky.social and group who are simply a wonderful bunch!!

I am excited to announce that the position of a senior postdoc (3 +3 years) in the field of theoretical biology is available in my group.

The position provides the opportunity to closely interact with experimentalists and develop own research projects.

Please RT.

Details 👇:
shorturl.at/iiiOv

Interdisciplinary Post-doctoral fellowships (2 positions) in wound healing - Toronto (City), Ontario (CA) job with The Hospital for Sick Children - Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Program | 1284... Two Postdoc positions to identify & visualize translation dynamics & function of proteins that drive epithelial cell migration during wound healing.

We’re #hiring! 2 #post-doc positions for an interdisciplinary project funded by the @hfspo.bsky.social in #axolotl and #Drosophila #wound healing at @sickkidsto.bsky.social #Canada and @umontpellier.bsky.social #France @laghalab.bsky.social. Share and apply here: www.nature.com/naturecareer...

#microsky

mBio Journal Homepage mBio covers the enormity of the interconnected microbial world: from symbiosis to pathogenesis, energy acquisition and conversion, climate change, geologic change, food and drug production, and even ...

Delighted to have started my tenure as an editor for mBio journals.asm.org/journal/mbio handling papers on Streptomyces, natural product evolution and biosynthesis, experimental evolution, bacteriophage resistance, Corynebacterium and engineering biology

Are Fungal Disease Outbreaks Instigated by Starship Transposons? Starships are massive transposons that can transfer virulence genes between fungal species, contributing to new plant disease outbreaks. We raise the possibility that Starships, a recently discovered...

💃 Let's to to the beach-each, let's go get away! 💃

bsppjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Jumbo phage-mediated transduction of genomic islands Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer (HGT), typically mediated by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages and certain integrative and conjugative elements (ICE...

Amazing stuff by one of the most hard working lab rats I’ve ever met. In a good way ;p

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Paulien Hogeweg elected as EMBO Member Paulien Hogeweg has been elected as a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO). This highly regarded recognition highlights her groundbreaking work on the fundamental principles of...

❤️

www.uu.nl/en/news/paul...

Oo, I remember this. Antagonism is such a powerful mechanism to maintain global diversity while it does the opposite locally. Always surprises me a little how, even at the strain level, so much energy is spent on producing stuff to repel others.

ISME congratulates @ilafores.bsky.social from @usherbrooke.bsky.social as the winner of the Alma Dal Co Award, recognizing her as an exceptional early-career scholar who has made important contributions to microbial ecology.
isme-microbes.org/winner-of-th...
#MicrobialEcology #microbes #isme20

Come join us at TBB in simulating the sh*t out of everything related to biology! :)

(in this case, evo-devo/ animal development in general!)

Barbara McClintock portrait

🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬

Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025