Liz Tan

Chimeric infective particles expand species boundaries in phage-inducible chromosomal island mobilization Capsid-forming PICIs (cf-PICIs) produce their own capsids and exploit phage tails from unrelated species to transfer their DNA across bacterial hosts. This tail piracy enables broad dissemination and ...

Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social
lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species.
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Gabija restricts phages that antagonize a conserved host DNA repair complex Anti-bacteriophage systems like restriction-modification and CRISPR-Cas have DNA substrate specificity mechanisms that enable identification of invaders. How Gabija, a highly prevalent nuclease-helica...

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

#phagesky #phage

A DNA nicking Class 1 OLD family nuclease mediates phage defense in Vibrio cholerae and is countered by a phage-encoded inhibitor Abstract. Bacteria are constantly threatened by their viral predators (phages), which has resulted in the development of defense systems for bacterial surv

DNA nicking Class 1 OLD family nuclease mediates phage defense in Vibrio cholerae and is countered by a phage-encoded inhibitor

#phage #phagesky

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

@ashleyluo.bsky.social and @yisak26.bsky.social My cholera phage homies made this meeting extra special! :)

A fun mosaic of the events of the day from Boston Bacteria Meeting 2025 of our wonderful keynote speaker Dr. Petra Levin! Feat a thumbnail of this year's organizing committee this was made by my good friend, Dr. Claudette Gardel an alumna of the Beckwith lab who loves bacterial genetics & phages!

New pre-print from Doudna lab members @erinedoherty.bsky.social & @jnoms.bsky.social ✨

Here we explore how recurrent adaptation of a single anti-defense protein fold enables evasion of distinct immune systems.

Elio (1928-2025) by The STC Team — Losing a close friend always saddens one deeply, regardless of age. Losing a person who has so immensely influenced our worldview through his guidance and example makes the sadness e...

schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2...
#MicroSky

Systematic, high-throughput characterization of bacteriophage gene essentiality on diverse hosts Understanding core and conditional gene essentiality is crucial for decoding genotype-phenotype relationships in organisms. We present phage high-thro…

Delighted to be part of this collaboration with the Raman Lab at @uwmadison.bsky.social:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats!! Exciting stuff!

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...

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

#MicroSky

🧬Happy Transposon Day!

🎉Each year on the 16th of June we commemorate the birthdate of the founder of transposable element research, Barbara McClintock (1902-1992).

#TransposonDay2025 #MobileDNAjournal

Rest in beautiful harmonious peace, Brian Wilson! The single most influential and mainstay sound of my young adulthood was— the Beach Boys. Pet Sounds was incredibly spiritual & brought me so much joy and comfort. Wonderment, awe, resilience, and expansiveness are all solidly present in BWs music

Had a blast Boston Bacteria Meeting this year! Thank you to all who attended 😎

Some highlights were the
1) Science for Public Good discussion session

2) amazing talks/posters from friends & colleagues

3) bacteriology trivia - so chaotic & so fun

4) seeing all the vibrio, phage &stress homies!

@thedailynu.bsky.social Northwestern is still supporting our research despite not receiving any $ from active and new fundable grants. Definitely unsustainable and anxieties are piling up..

Congrats, Postdoc Greg aka PBP1 Greg!

Biography: Rachel Levine Rachel Levine became the highest-ranking openly transgender government official in U.S. history when she was confirmed by the Senate as the 17th Assistant Secretary for Health in March 2021.

www.womenshistory.org/education-re...

Dr. Admiral Rachel Levine - from my hometown of Wakefield, MA! Pediatrician, psychiatrist, LGBTQ+ advocate, trans woman, and public health expert!

May your misty mornings always greet you with damn good coffee☕, and hot!

Disco lights

Phage DisCo! Our targeted phage discovery method in press today: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Perfectly timed with our four summer undergrad's first successful phage hunt... disco lights in the lab to mark the occasion 🕺

I signed. You should too!

Dear scientists presenting at meetings this summer:

Let it be known if your own work, citations, or if funding cuts already happened- that was publically funded. Advocate for your science by addressing the influences of funding affected by today's politics and what gets lost when these are cut

🤯 Implications for OLE RNA as a natural integral membrane RNA from Ron Breaker's lab rnajournal.cshlp.org/content/earl...

Freedom of speech, thought, and ideas are getting slashed in science! Don't wait on admins to respond to what's happening at Harvard- it'll be a while, so pack a lunch 🥪 🥤

Scientists as individuals can voice dissent to these actions now. Stand united. Check in on your people & communities!

America cannot long remain free, nor first among nations, if it becomes the kind of place where universities are dismantled because they don't align politically with the current head of the government.

gonna be a sweet line up

West African–South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae encodes multiple distinct phage defence systems - Nature Microbiology The West African–South American lineage of Vibrio cholerae contains multiple distinct anti-phage defence systems that provide resistance to various phage families, including vibriophage ICP1, a key pr...

Exciting news!! Our latest paper is out in Nat. Microbiol. @natmicrobiol.nature.com

We show that a sub-lineage of 7th pandemic V. cholerae has acquired mobile genetic elements packed with phage defense systems—rendering it multi-phage resistant 😳 ..... 1/3

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

Coming soon!! Thrilled to announce that the Bourgeois Lab will be launching at WPI. We will leverage natural diversity to understand Borrelia burgdorferi transmission and Lyme disease manifestations. We are hiring at all levels so please reach out!

bourgeoislabworcester.wordpress.com

One more day to submit your abstracts!