Gilles Vanwalleghem

Loss of Fsr quorum sensing promotes biofilm formation and worsens outcomes in enterococcal infective endocarditis - Nature Communications Infective endocarditis (IE) is an understudied biofilm-associated infection. Here, analyses of preclinical and clinical data reveal that the Fsr quorum sensing (QS) system of Enterococcus faecalis is ...

What if quorum sensing doesn’t promote biofilms - but restrains it? 🤔

New work from @harisantypas.bsky.social shows that the Fsr QS system in Enterococcus faecalis acts as a brake on biofilm formation and pathogenesis during infective endocarditis (IE).

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

LOOK WHO'S TALKING

YES, HOW IS THAT NEWS TO YOU?

Yeah, not very surprising, in the thread Anthropic had the same results. So maybe we should stop pushing AI everywhere?

Intestinal macrophages modulate synucleinopathy along the gut–brain axis - Nature Muscularis macrophages, housekeepers of enteric nervous system integrity and intestinal homeostasis, modulate α-synuclein pathology and neurodegeneration in models of Parkinson’s disease, and understanding the accompanying mechanisms could pave the way for early-stage biomarkers.

Nature research paper: Intestinal macrophages modulate synucleinopathy along the gut–brain axis

go.nature.com/4rg6DOI

Tide is turning.

Zebrafish model of cerebral small vessel disease reveals role of mutations in foxf2 =>abnormal pericytes that wrap around vessels

📷 Merry Faye E Graff et al @ucalgary.bsky.social
in @elife.bsky.social

➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2026...

A historical black and white photo of young survivors in striped uniforms standing behind a barbed wire fence at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Black and white historical photo of liberated prisoners walking under the 'Arbeit Macht Frei' gate at Auschwitz Concentration Camp.

Black and white historical photo showing a large hall filled with discarded clothing, with a person visible in the background.

Historical black and white photograph of Auschwitz concentration camp after liberation showing dilapidated wooden barracks and victims' bodies on the ground.

Eighty-one years ago today, over 7,000 prisoners of the German Nazi camp #Auschwitz, including some 700 children, were liberated by the soldiers of the Soviet Army.

1,689 days of murder, pain, suffering, and humiliation were over.
Today, we all remember. We must keep remembering.

Today marks 81 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

We must never forget the horrors of the Holocaust.

#HolocaustMemorialDay

📢Last weeks #immunometabolism discoveries @biomednews.bsky.social ⬇️⬇️⬇️

biomed.news/bims-imicid/...

Interesting finding:

Spatiotemporal regulation of energetic charge dictates T cell function @natcomms.nature.com

A phage protein screen identifies triggers of the bacterial innate immune system - Nature Microbiology A 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.

I’m thrilled to share our work on phage triggers of the bacterial immune system in its final form @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Faculty position in Molecular Health (Tenure-Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor) at Aarhus University, Denmark - Vacancy at Aarhus University Vacancy at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics - Cellular Health, Intervention, and Nutrition, Aarhus University

A new faculty position in our department in Molecular health as a broad topic, come join us! Send me a message if you have any question

international.au.dk/about/profil...

Inhibition of IRAK4 by microbial trimethylamine blunts metabolic inflammation and ameliorates glycemic control - Nature Metabolism The microbial metabolite trimethylamine (TMA), the precursor of TMAO, which is associated with adverse cardiometabolic outcomes, is shown to have beneficial metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects in the host in the context of obesity.

RESEARCH | J Chilloux, @marcedumas.bsky.social et al. (Imperial College London)

The microbial metabolite TMA (precursor of TMAO) has beneficial metabolic and anti-inflammatory effects🧪

Keystone concept revisited: insights into microbial community dynamics and control Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 02 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01266-8In this Perspective, Garza et al. revisit the keystone concept and discuss its relevance for microbial keystone taxa and functions. For this, they explore the different mechanisms behind keystoneness, cover the strengths and weaknesses of current keystone prediction methods, present recent findings on keystone taxa and functions and explore the role of keystones in community control.

New online! Keystone concept revisited: insights into microbial community dynamics and control

I will be recruiting two postdocs early next year.
- One image analyst
- one biologist interested in working on lymphatics!

Reach out if you are interested 👍

A super detailed protocol + video on Cryo-ExM - Cryo-Expansion Microscopy, led by the labs of our former postdocs @marinelap.bsky.social & @ebertiaux.bsky.social.
Clear, practical, and very useful for anyone doing nanoscale imaging 🚀 app.jove.com/t/68595/expa...

The Center is a wonderful collaboration with scientists extraordinaire @taijamakinenlab.bsky.social Kari Vaahtomeri and Cecilia Sahlgren.

We are all recruiting, so keep an eye on our website If you are looking for a postdoc position 😀

Point of no returns: researchers are crossing a threshold in the fight for funding With so little money to go round, the costs of competing for grants can exceed what the grants are worth. When that happens, nobody wins.

"How can funders avoid crossing the Szilard point?"

The Szilard point is "the threshold at which the total cost of competing for a grant equals (or surpasses) the value of the available funding."

Director of new research centre in biological psychiatry with focus on brain circuit dysfunction - Vacancy at Aarhus University Vacancy at Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University

international.au.dk/about/profil...

Aarhus University is looking for a director to establish and lead a centre working at the circuit level to tackle brain disorders. Please circulate if you know people who may be interested

Another senior position, this one in social/affective psychology at Queen's:
www.queensu.ca/psychology/s...

Investigating morphogen and patterning dynamics with optogenetic control of morphogen production Benzinger et al. develop a chemo-optogenetic system for precise spatiotemporal control of morphogen production in vitro. Using light-controlled Sonic hedgehog expression, they recapitulate neural tube...

Good to see the peer reviewed version of this published

A chemo-optogenetic system for spatiotemporal control of gene expression

We use it to:

- Reconstruct SHH mediated neural tube patterning in vitro

- Measure extracellular half-life of Shh

www.cell.com/developmenta...

Tenure Track Professorship (W1 with Tenure Track to W3) in “Molecular Biology" (f/m/d) - Heidelberg job with Universität Heidelberg | 12850668 The Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH) and the Faculty of Biosciences invite applications for a   Tenure Track Professors...

We are recruiting a tenure track professor in the broader area of molecular biology @zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de at Heidelberg University! www.nature.com/naturecareer... Please share and apply!

The Microflora Danica atlas of Danish environmental microbiomes - Nature Microflora Danica—an atlas of Danish environmental microbiomes—reveals that although human-disturbed habitats have high alpha diversity, species reoccur, revealing hidden homogeneity.

Denmark just mapped its entire environmental microbiome. More than 10,000 samples revealing hidden, dominant nitrifiers that shape fertilizer use, water quality, and climate impact. A national microbiome atlas could transform sustainable agriculture across Europe.
#AMR
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very excited to share this thread on our recent paper! We show how Zebrafish integrate visual navigation signals in aligned topographic maps. Full thread below🧵

Multilayer network science: theory, methods, and applications Multilayer network science has emerged as a central framework for analysing interconnected and interdependent complex systems. Its relevance has grown substantially with the increasing availability of...

Multilayer network science: theory, methods, and applications arxiv.org/abs/2511.23371

ERC success rates are tanking and the move is... even bigger grants for fewer people? smh

Had a great advisory meeting, very supportive colleagues, feeling a lot less stressed now.
Relaxing by imaging some plant roots, because science is fun

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/...

PhD position in Neuroscience Reveal the neuronal populations underlying innate fear responses using whole-brain imaging of neuronal activity and gene expression in larval zebrafish!

PhD position on fear response in zebrafish in a new and exciting lab working with Dr. Emmanuel Marquez Legorreta. He's a great scientist and super nice guy, I highly recommend him

www.uu.nl/en/organisat...

I am very excited to be organizing a session for postdocs (with focus on those in the job market). Be on the lookout for info and registration! 🐟🧪