Martin Sperfeld

There is a week left to apply for two available positions in my lab @ipbhalle.bsky.social

- PhD: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/12-phd-posit...

- Postdoc: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/13-postdocto...
Earliest start date: 01/05/2026.

We are interested in plant immune receptor biochemistry and evolution. Please share!

Interested in microbial predation? Join us in Ticino Switzerland on July 27-31, 2026!
More info at microbialpredation.ethz.ch

#predation #ecology #evolution #microbes

Now out in @natcomms.nature.com :
versions 2.0 of both BiG-SCAPE and BiG-SLiCE! With significant speed and accuracy increases, as well as new interactive functionalities.
Read the full paper here #openaccess:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Join us as Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Computational Biology at Institute of Biology Leiden (IBL) / @leidenscience.bsky.social / @unileiden.bsky.social

Application deadline on 15 March 2026
👇
careers.universiteitleiden.nl/job/Assistan...

Coral microbiomes as reservoirs of unknown genomic and biosynthetic diversity - Nature Reconstructing microbial genomes from 820 reef-building corals collected at 99 reefs across 32 islands throughout the Pacific Ocean highlights the importance of conserving coral reefs as vital reservo...

We are thrilled to announce the newest study from our lab (and great collaborators) is out now in @nature.com

We show that #coral #microbes are untapped "biosynthetic reservoirs", full of unique
natural products.

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Coral microbiomes as reservoirs of unknown genomic and biosynthetic diversity - Nature Reconstructing microbial genomes from 820 reef-building corals collected at 99 reefs across 32 islands throughout the Pacific Ocean highlights the importance of conserving coral reefs as vital reservo...

Coral microbiomes as reservoirs of unknown genomic and biosynthetic diversity www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧? 🪸

Join us for a 3-year #Postdoc and help us find out! Our ERC-funded project at @hifmb.de offers excellent facilities and an international collaborative work environment.

Apply by April 1st: jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/21...

#ScienceJobs

Two postdoctoral positions (3-year) in Experimental Evolution of Methanogenic Microbiomes in Bioelectrochemical Systems Application deadline: 4 March 2026 at 23:59 hours local Danish time

Hiring: two 3-year Postdoc positions

We’re looking for postdocs who can design and run directed laboratory evolution experiments in microbial communities under electrochemical stimulation, and link adaptations to performance using shotgun meta-omics.

Image from a lecture by Nick Barton, one of the coauthors, from this site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTvFal-zh1M

Beyond Mendel. FINALLY.

Brilliant, thought-provoking read! This new perspective argues that our obsession with single genes and clean knock-outs is holding us back. Couldn't agree more, and I hope Reviewer #2 reads this.

academic.oup.com/genetics/art...

New paper from my team detailing a greatly expanded genomic database of Asgard archaea revealing of high energy metabolism those related to eukaryotes! Led by @katyappler.bsky.social lots of help from @jameslingford.bsky.social @valdeanda.bsky.social @kassipan.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n

Normally a Cell paper with one's name as corr. author would be a reason to break out the champagne. But today I have rather mixed feelings, as I inherited that spot from Peer Bork upon his untimely death. Still, congrats to all the authors! May we finish all the projects that we started with Peer!

The viral shunt is one of the most intriguing concepts in marine microbial ecology — Excited to see work that offers an idea of how to actually measure it 👇

📢 DSMZ is hiring!
We are looking for a Scientific Lead for the SILVA Database, a key tool for understanding microbes and biodiversity.
Learn more and apply: tinyurl.com/y973v547

#HiringNow #ScienceJobs #Microbiology #ResearchCareers
@dsmzd3.bsky.social

Two postdoctoral positions (3-year) in Experimental Evolution of Methanogenic Microbiomes in Bioelectrochemical Systems Application deadline: 4 March 2026 at 23:59 hours local Danish time

I’m looking for two postdoctoral scientists in experimental evolution to join my team from April 2026 (or soon after). Please share! fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Two fully funded PhD candidate positions in Electromicrobiology (3 years) Application deadline: 4 March 2026 at 23:59 hours local Danish time

In addition to the 2 postdoc jobs posted yesterday, we’re recruiting 2 PhD students (environmental microbiology/ molecular ecology) to join us from April. The projects will map microbial populations across niches in bioelectrochemical systems relevant to biomethanation & link them to performance.

Discovery and cultivation of prokaryotic taxa in the age of metagenomics and artificial intelligence Abstract. Despite advances in sequencing, microbial genomics, and cultivation techniques, the vast majority of prokaryotic species remain uncultured, which

Discovery and cultivation of prokaryotic taxa in the age of metagenomics and artificial intelligence

#ISMEJournal from @alexrosado.bsky.social

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Multiple protein structure alignment at scale with FoldMason Protein structure is conserved beyond sequence, making multiple structural alignment (MSTA) essential for analyzing distantly related proteins. Computational prediction methods have vastly extended ou...

FoldMason is out now in @science.org. It generates accurate multiple structure alignments for thousands of protein structures in seconds. Great work by Cameron L. M. Gilchrist and @milot.bsky.social.
📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🌐 search.foldseek.com/foldmason
💾 github.com/steineggerla...

We have an open position for a bioinformatics/theoretical microbial ecology PhD student to study viral strategies in the global Microverse! Join us at the @microverse.bsky.social at @uni-jena.de, please apply through this link:
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/9...

Do you have experience in bioinformatics and are looking for a new challenge? To immerse yourself in a group and institute doing highly diverse research?

Then come and join our group !

Milot’s venture into establishing his own lab is incredibly excitinge. I highly recommend to join Milot on his mission to advance molecular biology through open-source bioinformatics.

In memory of Peer Bork, who sadly passed away yesterday.
@embl.org @borklab.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/ymqyM...

NIOZ - Postdoc position: Mortality and virus-host interactions of phytoplankton in Arctic winters under warming The Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry (MMB) of NIOZ is looking for a talented and dedicated Postdoctoral scientist to join our research on marine virus ecology. You will be part of

Postdoc position available, on Arctic phytoplankton mortality and viral ecology -- Check it out!

workingat.nioz.nl/o/postdoc-po...

Cross feeding between algae and bacteria 👇🏼

The glycine betaine-cobalamin feedback loop drives cross-feeding between marine bacteria and algae Heterotrophic bacteria supply cobalt-containing cobalamin (Cbl) to marine microalgae, which in return provide organic substrates. Such metabolic cross-feeding can regulate the species composition of p...

Methylated compounds are a hallmark of phytoplankton—but how do they fuel bacterial metabolism? Jonathan Hammer & Christian Jogler et al demonstrate a fascinating phototroph-heterotroph feedback loop and how it's regulated. Fun collab! @microbiomeresearch.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Bioengineering the coral holobiont: Evidence, hurdles, and pathways for rebuilding reefs At the frontline of climate impacts, coral reef ecosystems now increasingly depend on active intervention for their functional survival. Bioengineering the coral holobiont, comprising the host, algal ...

Feeling grateful to end this year by contributing to a commentary on bioengineering the coral holobiont. This is my first manuscript as a professor and a dream come true to team up with leaders in coral probiotics, Raquel Peixoto and @reefgenomics.bsky.social. 🪸🧪🧬🦠

www.cell.com/one-earth/ab...

the Tara research vessel has left Lorient and is on its way to the coral triangle; official press conference was last week in Paris, see below & here: fondationtaraocean.org/en/expeditio...

Scikit-bio: a fundamental Python library for biological omic data analysis - Nature Methods Nature Methods - Scikit-bio: a fundamental Python library for biological omic data analysis

The scikit-bio paper in online in Nature Methods! Many thanks to our collaborators, community contributors and reviewers! We couldn’t have done it without you. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Bioinformatics #OpenSource

People working with #protists and #fungi might be interested to hear that we in this study sequenced 13.4 mio. eukaryotic rRNA operons from 450 representative samples. #ProtistsOnSky #Metabarcoding

I am recruiting graduate students for Fall 2026! The Microbial Ecosystems Lab @hot-mes-asu.bsky.social at ASU studies microbial interactions, spatial ecology, and imaging-driven microbiome science. If you love microbes, microfluidics, or single-cell analysis, let’s talk! www.microbialeco.systems