The mind of a predatory worm
A new perspective piece in Science highlights a study (published in same issue) showing that a behavioural switch in nematodes (from non-predatory to predatory) is due to widespread neural changes, not just one key connection.
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
04.08.2025 12:37 — 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
New Research! Our postdoc Kateryna Maksymenko & co. developed a new method making it possible to design custom proteins that bind precisely to specific sites in diseased cells. A big step for the development of targeted drugs, esp. cancer.
Find out more: www.bio.mpg.de/476284/news_...
29.07.2025 12:29 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Two of our researchers, Gesa Freiman and Alexandra Waldherr, are giving short, interactive and engaging talks as part of #SoapboxScience Tübingen this Saturday!
📌Holzmarkt, Tübingen (Georgsbrunnen)
🕐 13:00 to 16:00
soapboxsciencetuebingen.github.io
23.07.2025 10:00 — 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Hassan Salem
Interview with Hassan Salem, who studies beetles and their microbial partners at the
Max Planck Institute for Biology.
Grateful to the folks @CurrentBiology.bsky.social for the fun Q&A!
Come for the beetles, stay for the symbionts — and forgive the basketball detour 🪲🦠🏀
www.cell.com/current-biol...
17.07.2025 08:45 — 👍 46 🔁 17 💬 1 📌 0
Join us again this Friday for the next Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk to be delivered by Prof. Dr. Pulin Li from MIT. Everyone is welcome!
▶️More info: shorturl.at/Xk3li
📆: Friday 25th July at the earlier time of 11am
📍: MPI-BIO seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
21.07.2025 06:17 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
📌 #OffeneStelle #WirSuchen #Jobs
Bitte teilen
Die Stelle als Pressesprecher/ Pressesprecherin ist noch offen. Muttersprachler sind super willkommen!
▶️ befristeter Vertrag für 2 Jahre
▶️ Bewerbungsfrist: 28 Juli 2025
lnkd.in/drNzYgvQ
10.07.2025 13:07 — 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Ever needed to analyze flagellomes? @anya-bogdanova.bsky.social and @atyakht.bsky.social developed FlaPro to sort flagellins into how they are predicted to interact with TLR5: silent or stimulatory. The ratio changes with IBD! 🧫🦠
07.07.2025 16:21 — 👍 14 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
🎉Congratulations to @caroleduchene.bsky.social, recipient of the 2025 "Grandes Avancées françaises en biologie" from @academiesciences.bsky.social for her research on how microalgae navigate ocean depths. Learn more: s.gwdg.de/FxdLh8
#Microalgae #ScienceAwards
Photos © Académie des sciences
08.07.2025 08:35 — 👍 17 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Human gut flagellome profiling using FlaPro reveals TLR5-related phenotype-specific alterations in IBD
Flagellin is the protein monomer of the bacterial flagellum, which confers motility, allowing bacteria to reach their favored niches. Flagellin is highly conserved across bacterial species and thus the target of the innate immune receptor Toll-like receptor 5 (TLR5). In the gut, bacterial flagellin agonizes human TLR5, triggering a pro-inflammatory response. However, the ability to bind and activate TLR5 varies considerably between different flagellins, suggesting that the composition of an individual's flagellin repertoire - the flagellome - may mediate the inflammatory response to the microbiome, with relevance to inflammatory bowel diseases. However, to date, methods to assess the inflammatory potential of a flagellome are lacking. To address this gap, we constructed a curated database of human gut flagellins. To predict the inflammatory potential of the flagellome by sorting flagellins into either "stimulatory" (strong TLR5 agonists) or "silent" (weak TLR5 agonists), we trained a machine learning model on experimentally characterized flagellins with known binding and stimulatory activities. The FlaPro pipeline was implemented using the Snakemake workflow engine for high-throughput analysis and is available at https://github.com/leylabmpi/FlaPro. To validate our approach and explore clinical associations, we applied FlaPro to a publicly available multi-omics dataset from an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) cohort. Our analysis demonstrates that FlaPro enables robust profiling of the human gut flagellome from metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data. Analysis of the IBD datasets revealed a depletion of flagellome diversity and a reduced silent-to-stimulatory flagellin abundance ratio in Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, observed at both the genomic and transcriptional levels. Multiple condition-specific alterations were identified at the level of individual flagellin clusters. These findings indicate that IBD is associated with distinct alterations in the gut flagellome, particularly in relation to TLR5 recognition. Flagellome features represent a functionally interpretable class of microbiome-derived markers with potential utility in microbiome-wide association studies in the context of human health and disease. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Max Planck Society and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unions Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme Grant agreement
FlaPro - a pipeline for quantifying silent and stimulatory flagellins in the human gut - reveals how the flagellome shifts in inflammatory bowel diseases.
Congrats to @anya-bogdanova.bsky.social on her first preprint from the Ley Lab @microbiome.bsky.social !
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
07.07.2025 06:48 — 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
Excited to share our latest review on histone-mediated chromatin organization in prokaryotes and viruses! 🧬 @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
30.06.2025 09:33 — 👍 13 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
Join us again this Friday for the next Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk to be delivered by Assis. Prof. Michael O'Donnell from Yale University. Everyone is welcome!
▶️More info: shorturl.at/o6IVn
📆: Friday 11th July at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
07.07.2025 08:14 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Come along to this Friday's Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk, this week to be delivered by Prof. Dr. Andreas Plückthun from the University of Zurich
▶️More info: shorturl.at/Cy1y4
📆: Friday 4th July at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
30.06.2025 07:31 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
📢 Offene Stelle
Wir suchen ein*e: ▶️ IT-Spezialist*in für den IT Support
🔎 Mehr Infos unter: jobs.tue.mpg.de/en/programs/...
Wir freuen uns auf eure #Bewerbungen !
18.06.2025 12:34 — 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Congratulations Detlef! An extremly well deserved award @plantevolution.bsky.social @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
17.06.2025 19:45 — 👍 23 🔁 6 💬 0 📌 1
Microbial life is the foundation of all living systems. A new
@asm.org report, with our Director Susana Coelho part of the steering committee, explores 3 key steps in Earth’s history—from simple cells to complex life— and what it means for future science.
Read more: s.gwdg.de/Dzn885
16.06.2025 07:56 — 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Full house at our friday seminar today @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social featuring Edwige Moyroud from @slcuplants.bsky.social on the evolution and development of pattern formation in flowers.
13.06.2025 13:09 — 👍 15 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Temperature is so important for plants that they have come up with many independent temperature sensors.
Curious? Read more in this review by former WeigelWorld members Sridevi Sureshkumar & Suresh Balasubramanian.
#plantscience
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
13.06.2025 05:40 — 👍 71 🔁 39 💬 1 📌 1
Come along to this Friday's Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk, this week to be delivered by Dr. Edwige Moyroud from the Sainsbury Laboratory at the University of Cambridge
▶️More info: shorturl.at/2jxhp
📆: Friday 13th June at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
10.06.2025 08:22 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
The inaugural @africanplantgen.bsky.social symposium wasn’t just an event; it started a movement! With the launch of the African Plant Genomics Network & plans for a 2027 symposium, a stronger future for plant science in Africa is truly underway. For more info: shorturl.at/8mYf6 #PlantGenomics
05.06.2025 09:49 — 👍 8 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Come along to tomorrow's Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk, this week to be delivered by Prof. David Mangelsdorf from the UT Southwestern, Dallas
▶️More info: shorturl.at/3XhQC
📆: Friday 6th June at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
05.06.2025 09:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Hebel-Gymnasium Schwetzingen | Bericht vom Landschulheim der Klasse 6e im April 2025
UPDATE: The students wrote a very sweet blog post summarising their experience in Tübingen, including a short description of their visit to the Institute:
www.hebelgymnasium.de/news/bericht...
04.06.2025 07:56 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This is what a multi-floor meeting looks like at the @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social. Love a good science lobby 😁
27.05.2025 08:18 — 👍 13 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
On this UN’s International #BiodiversityDay, we look fwd to celebrating the Institute’s Diversity Day (27 May). The 2025 talks include “DNA, Drama & (cell) Division,” “Plants & Pathogen Prediction,” “Algae Genomes & Diversity,” & “Plasticity & Communities.” Here’s a look back at 2024 events.
22.05.2025 07:35 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
To all my #Drosophila Pop-Gen, Quan-Gen, & Evolution pals - Submit an abstract to the European Drosophila meeting, and let's meet and discuss in the Pop-Gen and Evolution session in Alicante 🐝 (a bee 'cause there's no fly emoji 😢)
19.05.2025 15:01 — 👍 0 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Come along to this Friday's Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series talk, this week to be delivered by Prof. Kevin Foster from the University of Oxford
▶️More info: shorturl.at/C9YIS
📆: Friday 23rd May at 3pm
📍: MPI-IS seminar room (ground floor)
#DSSS
19.05.2025 12:13 — 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Thrilled to share that our Director, Yen-Ping Hsueh, has received the prestigious NSTC Outstanding Research Award 🎉
▶️ Find out what this means to Dr. Hsueh: tinyurl.com/3fhsd63p
▶️ Dr. Hsueh's Dept. of Complex Biological Interactions: www.bio.mpg.de/391832/compl...
#NSTC #AcademicAward #Taiwan
19.05.2025 09:55 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
📢 #WirSuchen #Jobs
Wir suchen zum nächstmöglichen Zeitpunkt eine/einen Pressesprecher/ Pressesprecherin (m/w/d):
▶️ befristeter Vertrag für 2 Jahre
▶️ Bewerbungsschluss: 10. Juni 2025
Mehr Infos zur Stelle:
👉 www.mpg.de/24729027/mit...
19.05.2025 09:04 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Doctoral researcher at The Ley Lab MPI For biology
Algae enthusiast! Post-doc at @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
Your Only Source For Professional Dog Ratings
nonprofit: @15outof10.org ❤️🩹
links.weratedogs.com
Official account of the American Society for Microbiology. With over 37,000 members, ASM's mission is to promote & advance the microbial sciences.
Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) is a research institute of the University of Cambridge dedicated to plant developmental biology.
Crisis communication consultant, business owner and author of three books on crisis, issues and reputation management. Find me at www.amandacolemancomms.co.uk
Die BAdW steht für außeruniversitäre Grundlagenforschung, ein internationales Netzwerk von Spitzenforschenden und den Dialog zwischen Wissenschaft, Politik und Gesellschaft.
www.badw.de
🏅Soutenir la recherche
👩🔬Transmettre les connaissances scientifiques
💡 Conseiller les pouvoirs publics
https://linktr.ee/academiedessciences
#helloESR
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) is one of the largest demographic research bodies in Europe and part of
Max Planck Society (@maxplanck.de). www.demogr.mpg.de/go/press
The Wolf Conservation Center (WCC) is a non-profit organization that promotes wolf conservation by teaching about wolves and their role in our world.
nywolf.org
Exploring the world of 'hidden dimensions' ( #colloids & #interfaces ) and bridging the gap between #molecules, #MultiScaleMaterials, and #BioSystems. In Potsdam, #Germany.
https://www.mpikg.mpg.de/departments
#chemsky #Forschung #Research
Securing tomorrow’s resources: The JKI is the Federal Research Center for Cultivated Plants in Germany and one of four departmental research institutes of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (#BMLEH). www.julius-kuehn.de/en/
Development is a leading research journal in the field of developmental biology, covering stem cells, regeneration, evo-devo, epigenetics, morphogenesis and more. @biologists.bsky.social
Award-winning home tank for all things zebrafish! Sign up for our Slack tankspace at linktr.ee/zebrafishrock 🐟🎸
From single cells to intricately constructed colonies - bacteria are multicellular wonders! An interdisciplinary research effort to unravel the intricate paths, regulation systems and structures behind the multifaceted forms of bacterial multicellularity
MRC-LMB #cryoET #biofilms #S-layers #antibiotics
https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/bharat/
🇧🇷🇺🇸Evolutionary Cell Mechanobiology of Archaea. Assistant Professor at Brandeis University. Standing tall on the shoulders of tiny (salty) bugs.
bissonlab.com
Account of the German Society for Plant Sciences (Deutsche Botanische Gesellschaft, DBG). Advocating #PlantSci, #science, basic and applied #research. Imprint: https://www.deutsche-botanische-gesellschaft.de/en/home/legal-notice