Michal Caspi Tal, PhD

Polypeptides synthesized by common bacteria in the human gut improve rodent metabolism - Nature Microbiology Two polypeptides synthesized by common bacterial strains in human gut microbiota lower body fat and blood glucose and increase bone density, improving the metabolism of rodents.

🦠 ENDOCRINOLOGY?

RORDEP1/2 secreted by gut commensal 𝘙𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴 mimic exercise hormone irisin → systemic effects on host metabolism

⭡ thermogenesis, insulin signaling, glycolysis

↓ gluconeogenesis, lipogenesis

These peptides may be candidate biologics for obesity and type 2 diabetes

The Genetic Basis of Bacterial Adaptation to Hosts Microbes colonize and interact with diverse multicellular hosts using specialized genes, many of which remain unidentified. Better understanding of host-associated gene functions is a key aspect of mi...

📢 New preprint alert!
We used comparative genomics on 72,000+ bacterial genomes to uncover the genetic basis of microbial adaptation to multicellular hosts—plants and animals alike.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A recent paper reveals that while LPS deficiency shields bacteria from phage infection (they lack receptor), it heightens vulnerability to T6SS contact-dependent antagonism, highlighting a critical evolutionary constraint.

by @seeyeunting.bsky.social
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Systematic discovery of antibacterial and antifungal bacterial toxins - Nature Microbiology Genome sequence mining and computational analyses lead to the discovery and functional characterization of conserved bacterial toxins with activity against bacteria and fungi.

Several years of work with several great collaborators, that combined computational biology, molecular microbiology, biochemistry, structural biology and mycology assay culminated in today's publication on discovery of novel bacterial toxins:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Expression level of anti-phage defence systems controls a trade-off between protection range and autoimmunity - Nature Microbiology The authors examine several defense systems and find that increased expression enhances their protection range, albeit at a cost of autoimmunity.

Expression level of anti-phage defence systems controls a trade-off between protection range and autoimmunity
By Nitzan Aframian and Avigdor Eldar.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Peptidoglycan–outer membrane attachment generates periplasmic pressure to prevent lysis in Gram-negative bacteria - Nature Microbiology Outer membrane attachment to peptidoglycan enables periplasmic pressure to build up and counter cytoplasmic turgor pressure, preventing lysis during osmotic challenges in Escherichia coli.

#microsky
We challenge the long-standing view that peptidoglycan alone protects cells from bursting.

Our study shows that the periplasm — enclosed by OM–PG connections — acts as a pressure buffer essential for osmoprotection in Gram-negative bacteria.

📄 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Bacterial cell wall & periplasm paradigm shift - important read #MicroSky

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

Interesting read on Streptomyces #natprod rapamycin's potential role as treatment for long Covid and ME
🧫🦠🧪💊🛌

Fantastic paper that benchmarks all the things you’d want to know for rolling out Oxford Nanopore sequencing for rapid, clinical diagnostics. They looked at time to results and quality trade-offs

#IDSky #MicroSky #AMR #AMRSky #MedSky

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Pleased to say that our preprint benchmarking Nanopore data for MLST, cgMLST, cgSNP & AMR typing from bacterial isolates is out! TL;DR you can get almost perfect results from 50x depth using live SUP basecalling with a GPU in under 20 hours #microsky#IDsky 🦠🧬🖥️ /1
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Droplet microfluidics for single-cell studies: a frontier in ecological understanding of microbiomes Abstract. Recent advances in single-cell technologies have profoundly impacted our understanding of microbial communities—shedding light on cell-to-cell va

Droplet microfluidics for single-cell studies: a frontier in ecological understanding of microbiomes academic.oup.com/femsre/advan... #jcampubs

Bactabolize: A tool for high-throughput generation of bacterial strain-specific metabolic models elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... #jcampubs

A Neurobiotic Sense: Figure depicting a gut-brain sensory modality for microbial patterns. A mouse, gut lumen highlighted, shows recognition of bacterial flagellin by TLR5 and subsequent release of PYY protein from PYY neuropod cells. PYY binds to NPY2 receptors and via the vagus nerve signaling affects appetite choices of the mouse.

Gut-brain signaling: these gut cells can sense bacteria...and signal the brain to change behavior! Am I hungry? Maybe my #microbiome is trying to tell me something...

A neurobiotic sense "at the interface of the biota and the brain."

Liu, Reicher, Alway et al., 2025:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

NKG2D receptor ligands are cell surface biomarkers for injured murine and human nociceptive sensory neurons Nociceptors are primary afferent neurons that sense noxious stimuli. They can be activated by tissue injury as well as the accompanying local immune response. We have shown that following nerve injury...

Neuronal subtype-specific expression of NKG2D ligands, injury models, and axonal degeneration? We have a new preprint @ndcnoxford.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

We have a new preprint ⤵️

You've never seen anything like this before. Come see for yourself! mitnano.mit.edu/events/studi...

You've never seen anything like this before. Come see for yourself! mitnano.mit.edu/events/studi...

Microscope images. Join us at MIT where you'll get to peak under our microscopes at the bacteria that cause #Lyme disease and even get to view YOUR own capillaries to see a bit of what we look at in our clinical study MAESTRO. July 24th RSVP: https://mitnano.mit.edu/events/studionano-lyme/register

Want to see the universe within?
Join us at MIT where you'll get to peak under our microscopes at the bacteria that cause #Lyme disease and even get to view YOUR own capillaries to see a bit of what we look at in our clinical study MAESTRO. July 24th RSVP: mitnano.mit.edu/events/studi...

Chronic Lyme Disease Was Once Dismissed. More Doctors Are Coming Around. Newer trials are starting to track Lyme patients and investigate potential treatments

Thank you @briannaabbott.bsky.social for this wonderful piece, and highlighting what the MIT MAESTRO study means to our participants!
I love that my quote was about HOPE. I KNOW that this is a solvable problem. We need to work together to fix it!
www.wsj.com/health/chron...

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Chronic Lyme Disease Was Once Dismissed. More Doctors Are Coming Around. Newer trials are starting to track Lyme patients and investigate potential treatments By Brianna Abbott July 20, 2025 7:00 am ET

Really great piece on Lyme in the WSJ, feat. @immunofever.bsky.social !

archive.is/Nb5Vc

Chronic Lyme Disease Was Once Dismissed. More Doctors Are Coming Around. Newer trials are starting to track Lyme patients and investigate potential treatments

Thank you @briannaabbott.bsky.social for this wonderful piece, and highlighting what the MIT MAESTRO study means to our participants!
I love that my quote was about HOPE. I KNOW that this is a solvable problem. We need to work together to fix it!
www.wsj.com/health/chron...

Love looking at gorgeous astronomy images? Come join us on Thursday for a unique event at MIT looking at the wonders of biology and infectious disease.

Did I mention there will also be lime themed beverages and snacks?
Where are my Boston science nerds at?

Microscope images. Join us at MIT where you'll get to peak under our microscopes at the bacteria that cause #Lyme disease and even get to view YOUR own capillaries to see a bit of what we look at in our clinical study MAESTRO. July 24th RSVP: https://mitnano.mit.edu/events/studionano-lyme/register

Want to see the universe within?
Join us at MIT where you'll get to peak under our microscopes at the bacteria that cause #Lyme disease and even get to view YOUR own capillaries to see a bit of what we look at in our clinical study MAESTRO. July 24th RSVP: mitnano.mit.edu/events/studi...

I'm so proud of my husband @taltocd.bsky.social for working so hard to help other families like ours get access to support through complex medical journeys. It's a hard road and patients and their caregivers deserve better.

Do you want to come see the wonders revealed under the microscope? Uncovering Lyme disease as never seen before. Join us next Thursday, July 24 4:30-6:30pm at MIT STUDIO.nano. Registration is free but required. Lime themed drinks and snacks will be served.
share.google/EvsVdqc0CLyC...

Are you around the Boston North End? Want to see what a tick looks like by eye vs by microscope? Want to see what YOUR capillaries look like under the microscope? Join us at the North end branch library tonight at 6:30!

I'm so proud of my husband @taltocd.bsky.social for working so hard to help other families like ours get access to support through complex medical journeys. It's a hard road and patients and their caregivers deserve better.

Dealing with a child's chronic diagnosis is hard enough. Then you take on a second job of managing their health. Families deserve better. We're excited to Introduce vela-health.com, a platform to bring clarity to the chaos of chronic illness. Sign up for early access!

Happening tomorrow!