Jan Brüwer

Yes, some people's legacies are complicated. For example, Watson. After all, though he was racist, don't forget his other traits. For example, he was also sexist. And also anti-semitic. And a data / idea thief. So let's not forget all the different facets.

Zombie cells in the ocean, a perfect topic for Halloween here at RD3 of GEOMAR. Great talk by @janbruewer.bsky.social it was great to have you here.

Zombie cells? 🧟😨 Sounds spooky, and it is past #Halloween.

These #SAR11 are attacked by #viruses and in between life and death. Off #Helgoland, every 10th cell was a zombie. 🌊
Check it out:
mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...

Let's look for more zombies with the simple sampling device by Thalassys.com

Interested in Zombie cells (SAR11 phage infection)?

Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Had the great pleasure introducing Zombie cells 🧟♂️ and my start up thalassys.com during a visit at @geomarkiel.bsky.social today. Intense meetings, interesting feedback and always good to catch up! Thanks @utehentschel.bsky.social for inviting me!

@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social

Revolutionising Water Monitoring with an Innovative Filtration Machine: Meet Start-up Thalassys This team is a prime example of how a simple research solution can ignite a powerful business idea with real-world impact.

Revolutionising Water #Monitoring with an Innovative #Filtration Machine: Meet our #MaxPlanck #StartUp Thalassys!👏🔬🧑‍🔬

Anneke Heins, Greta Reintjes & @janbruewer.bsky.social created the "coffee machine", collecting data far faster than traditional methods.
www.maximize-incubator.com/post/water-m...

Mineralwasser: Still, medium, sprudelnd – und ein Riesengeschäft Mineralwasser ist das meistverkaufte Getränk in Deutschland. Bisher können Hersteller das Grundwasser dafür fast kostenlos aus dem Boden holen. Dagegen regt sich Widerstand

Die SZ schreibt: “Würde ganz Deutschland auf Mineralwasser verzichten (also nur noch Trinkwasser aus der häuslichen Leitung trinken) könnten anderthalbmal so viele Treibhausgasemissionen eingespart werden, wie der gesamte innerdeutsche Flugverkehr verursacht.”
www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/art...

Nordsee: Start-up Separa revolutioniert Meeresüberwachung Mit einer innovativen Filtrationsmaschine revolutioniert das Bremer Start-up Separa die Überwachung des Meeres und anderer Gewässer. Die Gründer erleichtern die Arbeit von Meeresforschern und Umweltsc...

Innovativ & idiotensicher: Die "Kaffeemaschine", entwickelt von unserem #Startup SEPARA, hilft mit einer einfachen Filtrationsmethode bei der Überwachung von Gewässern.🌊
Die Gründer: Anneke Heins, Greta Reintjes und @janbruewer.bsky.social
www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/wirts...
@maxplanck.de #MAXimize

Electron micrograph of two phage infecting a host cell side-by-side, with hearts between them

Do you love phage? I have an opening for a postdoc in my lab at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science (@cmarinescience.bsky.social) looking at interactions between marine phage and iron, which is an important limiting trace metal in the oceans (1/5) 🧵#phagesky 🦠🌊

Vielen Dank @weserkurier.bsky.social für den tollen Bericht über Separa. 👏🏽

Separa: Take a sample. Easy.

@maximize-incubator.bsky.social

www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/wirts...

GenomeFISH: genome-based fluorescence in situ hybridisation for strain-level visualisation of microbial communities Abstract. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) is a powerful tool for visualising the spatial organisation of microbial communities. However, traditio

Very excited to share the first paper out of my Postdoc @CMR:

GenomeFISH: genome-based fluorescence in situ hybridisation for strain-level visualisation of microbial communities.
@sjmcilroy.bsky.social @jamesvolmer.bsky.social @benjwoodcroft.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/isme...

🧵1/7

Many thanks to the great team for representing our institute and joining the fun at #BremerFirmelauf 2025!

Discover our 6 winning projects! - Pure Ocean Fund We are delighted to unveil the winning projects from the 2025 Pure Ocean Call for Projects.

Looking forward to exploring how algal symbionts enable anemones to cope with the environmental conditions of the Mediterranean and the Anthropocene. Thanks @pure-ocean.bsky.social! A fun project lead by @cpogoreutz.bsky.social and together with Christine Ferrier-Pagès. tinyurl.com/pureocean

🏆 Research integrity consultant and image forensics expert @elisabethbik.bsky.social has uncovered fraudulent data in over 7,600 scientific papers and exposed the practices of ‘paper mills’ that produce counterfeit scientific articles. She is honoured with the €200K Individual Award. Congrats!

In der Hölle. Ein verdutzt guckender Mann steht mit einem Schild im Fegefeuer, darauf steht: "Wir sind die Mehrheit", darunter der AfD-Pfeil. Vor im steht Satan und sagt freundlich: "Hier stimmt das wirklich!"

Danke an alle, die gestern auf der Straße waren.
(In Hamburg waren wir 65.000).

I always thought very little of my first publication … I mean: It was my BSc thesis, so expectations should be realistic.

Anyways, today, I read it again and … I enjoyed reading it! Is this normal?

Thanks to @reefgenomics.bsky.social & Shobhit, who helped me with writing back in 2017 🙏🏼

Application deadline now extended to January 12th, some extra time to enjoy the winter break! ☃️🛷🎅

Wooooooow. Congrats!

Verrucomicrobiota are found everywhere, yet we know very little about this group. Here, @iwilkie.bsky.social described and named an unrecognized marine group (previously known as MB11C04). Here, we introduce Seribacter and Chordibacter bacteria.

Exploring the diversity of anti-defense systems across prokaryotes, phages, and mobile genetic elements bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

AntiDefenseFinder!

And it is available also as an option with DefenseFinder: defensefinder.mdmlab.fr

Exploring the diversity of anti-defense systems across prokaryotes, phages, and mobile genetic elements
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

ZOMBIE CELLS!!! 😱🧟🦠
@janbruewer.bsky.social and colleagues discover how #viruses keep #SAR11 in check and even turn them into zombies!
Out now @natureportfolio.bsky.social Nat Comms

mpi-bremen.de/en/Zombie-ce...

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

Please reach out if you have any questions and/or feedback! :
:)
And: Please share 😉

Thanks to all collaborators: Chandni Sidhu, Yanlin Zhao, Andi Eich, Leonard Rößler, @cotoorellana.bsky.social, & Bernhard Fuchs. :)

@mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social

8/8

🌍🌏🌎
Lats but not least, phage-infected SAR11 cells and zombie cells occurred globally. We detected them in all samples that we assessed (Atlantic, Pacific, and Southern Ocean).

7/n

We believe the ribosomal RNA is a valuable resource for the production of new (dsDNA) phages. 🧬

This has been suggested by Matt Sullivan et al. but has not been shown yet ...

6/n

Do I see a zombie in the first microscopy image?
No!

It's a SAR11 cell from the environment. You can see the ribosomes (green), DNA (blue), and phage genes (magenta). I just liked that image a lot ...

5/n

But what are zombies?🧟‍♂️

In environmental samples and pure cultures, we detected phage-infected cells devoid of ribosomes. Zombies contributed up to >15% of total cell counts!😳

We visualized the ribosomes (CARD-FISH), DNA (DAPI), and phage genes (direct-geneFISH). 🔬

4/n

Turns out: We were right! ✅

When SAR11 cell division were highest, up to 19% of SAR11 cells were phage-infected (compared to <5% during low division rates).

3/n

In a previous study, we found that SAR11 divide rapidly 📈, while their cell counts decrease 📉 ... How is it possible?

We speculated it's phages infecting SAR11. We designed FISH probes to visualize phage-infected cells. 🔬👀

The previous story: journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....

2/n

How many SAR11 cells are phage-infected in the environment? And what are zombies?

We studied phage infection in SAR11 using the 🔬. Up to 19% of SAR11 cells were phage infected and many host cells were devoid of ribosomes!

What else did we find? A🧵

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-4...