Sébastien Pfeffer

Max Fels @mfels.bsky.social from our lab discovers giant DNA viruses that infect amoeba encode eIF4E and the entire suite of 4F complex proteins to control mRNA translation, including beautiful crystal structures of viral 4E bound to modified mRNA 5' caps:

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Don't miss this great opportunity!

Group Leader Call at the @cbitoulouse.bsky.social in
Genome biology, projects at the interface with devbio will be given particular attention. please share :)
cbi-toulouse.fr/wp-content/u...

#PressRelease🗞️ A specific molecular mechanism has been identified as the cause of the most frequent genetic forms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Charcot’s disease) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).

👉 www.cnrs.fr/en/press/discov...

Pre-assembly of biomolecular condensate seeds drives RSV replication Nature - Viral ribonucleoprotein–viral protein networks form pre-replication centres that nucleate viral factories and drive respiratory syncytial virus replication.

Now out in Nature! We visualize infection of the RNA virus RSV in real-time with single-vRNP resolution to understand how RSV establishes viral factories, biomolecular condensates that act as sites of viral replication. A huge collaborative effort led by Dhanushika Ratnayake!

rdcu.be/e1bBW

Au terme d'une analyse totalement déconnectée de la réalité dont les crânes d'oeuf de Bercy ont le secret, Le gouvernement en déduit qu'il peut récupérer 1,4 milliards d'euros (sur 2,5) sur le dos des universités et de l'ANR principalement.

#RNAi is an ancestral #antiviral system that degrades viral RNA, but what about in #cnidarians? @yehumoran.bsky.social &co show that #Nematostella has an siRNA-mediated antiviral response that lacks 2ary amplification & functions as a short-term antiviral mechanism @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3N192OD

Our latest paper on bat Dicer! 🦇 we show that Dicer antiviral RNAi activity is context-dependent also in bats 👩‍🔬 Specifically in Myotis myotis nasal epithelial cells, Dicer relocalizes to sites of viral replication upon alphavirus infection, which correlates with a proviral activity of Dicer 🦠

Bat Dicer antiviral role and subcellular localization differ upon alphavirus infection in two distinct species Author summary Bats are important to study as they are reservoirs for many viruses that can cause severe disease in humans. Notably, bats often show no clinical symptoms when infected with these virus...

Just in time for Christmas, here is the latest paper from the lab! Great work from @leagaucherand.bsky.social and Hugo Marie, with help from Julie Cremaschi. Funded by @frm-officiel.bsky.social, @agencerecherche.bsky.social

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

@cnrsbiologie.bsky.social @unistra.fr

Yesterday was a good day for the lab with a paper accepted (congrats @leagaucherand.bsky.social and Hugo Marie !) and a very nice Christmas dinner 🎅

"Le financement de nouveaux projets de recherche est menacé" : l'alerte de Claire Giry (ANR) L'Agence nationale de la recherche fête ses 20 ans dans un contexte de grandes tensions budgétaires. Sa présidente Claire Giry revient sur son bilan et décrypte les enjeux du moment.

[ #VeilleESR #LPPR ] Pour fêter ses 20 ans, le gouvernement envisage de baisser le budget de l'@agencerecherche.bsky.social
@claire-giry.bsky.social par @antoinebeau.bsky.social et @stephaniebenz.bsky.social

Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals Host body temperature can define a virus’s replicative profile—influenza A viruses (IAVs) adapted to 40° to 42°C in birds are less temperature sensitive in vitro compared with human isolates adapted t...

How does fever work?

Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.

This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

#RejoignezLeCNRS 🫵 Les concours chercheurs CNRS 2026 ouvrent le 8/12 !
Envie de faire avancer la science au sein d’un des plus grands organismes de recherche ?
👉 carrieres.cnrs.fr/concours-...

#ConcoursChercheurs #Science #Recherche #Icicarecrute #recrutement

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

Are bats tolerant of all viruses? With a comparative -omics approach, we show that Egyptian fruit bat cells show both antiviral and pro-inflammatory immune responses to infection with Zika virus while our Jamaican fruit bat cells are not susceptible.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Ce mépris venu de l’Élysée La reconduction de Sébastien Lecornu à Matignon, cinq jours après sa démission, est stupéfiante parce qu’insensée. Le président de la République a définitivement renoncé à aligner ses décisions sur les aspirations populaires. Seule compte à présent la conservation du pouvoir.

Ce mépris venu de l’Élysée

Par @ilyesramdani.bsky.social‬

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

I researched every attempt to stop fascism in history. The success rate is 0%. Once they win elections, it's already too late.

This was an interesting read.

cmarmitage.substack.com/p/i-research...

Human MX1 orchestrates the cytoplasmic sequestration of neosynthesized influenza A virus vRNPs | PNAS Interferon-inducible Myxovirus resistance 1 (MX1) proteins are known to restrict influenza A virus (IAV) transcription/replication process. Herein,...

After years in the making, Joe McKellar @viroscope.bsky.social’s final PhD paper is finally out today in PNAS! 🎉 🎉🎉
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

RNA-guided genome protection The genome carries information across generations, ensuring species survival. To preserve faithful transmission of genetic information, RNA-directed mechanisms safeguard the genome integrity in diver…

Want to connect with researchers in #GeneRegulation, small RNAs, #StructuralBiology and more? Sign up for EMBO Workshop "RNA-guided genome protection" in Caux, Switzerland, 16–20 June 2026!

Deadline: 15 March

meetings.embo.org/event/26-gen...
#DNAsky #RNAsky #EMBORNAGenomeProtection #EMBOevents 🧪

@alphaerika.bsky.social @cmeignin.bsky.social @lucievirevolte.bsky.social @leagaucherand.bsky.social @emiliebrasset.bsky.social @deborahbourchis.bsky.social @merklinglab.bsky.social @carogoujon.bsky.social

and thank you @alphaerika.bsky.social, who was the co-supervisor of Charline's work!

Today was a great day for Charline Pasquier, who successfully defended her PhD thesis in front of the jury composed of @annemarthe.bsky.social @ericci-aeruginosa.bsky.social, Stefania Millevoi and Jean-Luc Imler. Congratulations to her for a brilliant defense! 🍾

Today @nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Genome-wide mapping of RNA-protein associations through sequencing - Nature Biotechnology A resource of human RNA-protein associations is produced using a sequencing-based method.

Genome-wide mapping of RNA-protein associations through sequencing go.nature.com/4gmf1Ii

Phages, viruses that infect bacteria, could help fight antibiotic resistance, but phage–host interactions are not yet sufficiently understood. Researchers from #HIRI, JMU & HZI now successfully interfered with phage reproduction using ASOs.
Just out in @nature.com:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

An ancient and essential miRNA family controls cellular interaction pathways in C. elegans A microRNA that arose at the origin of eumetazoans regulates cell adhesion and signaling in C. elegans through conserved targets.

Our work on the function of miR-51/miR-100 is out! miR-100 is widely conserved across eumetazoans but its function has been mysterious. Emilio Santillán found in worms it regulates signaling and extracellular matrix genes, some of which seem to be conserved targets! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

ADAR1 as a Placental Innate Immune Rheostat Sustaining the Homeostatic Balance of Intrinsic Interferon Response at the Maternal‐Fetal Interface This study reveals that ADAR1, an RNA-editing enzyme, fine-tunes immune responses in the placenta by preventing the accumulation of immunogenic double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) from interferon-stimulate...

New paper from Bin Cao, showing that placenta-specific KO of ADAR1 is embryonic lethal.