Rock Lab

We are searching for a tenure-track junior faculty member. Join our collaborative research environment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at WCM. Please see the link to the job posting and distribute among your networks!
apply.interfolio.com/181869

Discovery and development of a new oxazolidinone with reduced toxicity for the treatment of tuberculosis - Nature Medicine MK-7762 is a new oxazolidinone antitubercular agent that is structurally similar to linezolid, and demonstrated in vivo efficacy, lesion penetration and limited toxicity compared to linezolid, indicat...

Congrats Brendan, Clif, David, and team! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Cell-free genomics reveals fundamental regulatory principles of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis transcription cycle Tiers of gene regulation govern cellular life. The intrinsic activities of RNA polymerase (RNAP) constitute a primary tier, while direct modulation by…

Congrats Ruby, Bob, Liz, and team! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Congrats @oneyrolles.bsky.social and team!

A new frontier for our lab! After many months of development by postdoc @ranaabdelaziz.bsky.social (our resident medicinal chemistry - now also an excellent structural biologist) and the staff at the SickKids Drug Discovery platform, we're conducting our first proof-of-principle inhibitor screen.

Cartoon representing the mycobacterial oxidative phosphorylation system, including cytochromes, NDH-2, and ATP synthase. Taken from Figure 1 of the article.

#Microbiology

The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear

Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works

@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR

http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W

Congrats @tobinlab.bsky.social!

Many of you in the mycobacterial community attended the awesome inaugural 2025 Biology of Mycobacteria GRC, organized by @heran.bsky.social and myself: www.grc.org/biology-of-m....

I am writing with an update about this conference as the new chair.

Peptidoglycan architecture dictates protein interactions, tissue tropism, and arthritis in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi Author summary Many of the pathogenic mechanisms by which Borrelia burgdorferi causes disease involve cell envelope interactions with host components. To further elucidate the role of peptidoglycan in...

Check out our exciting new paper out now in @plos.org where Dr Ahmad manipulated #peptidoglycan chemistry to understand Lyme disease and arthritis 👇👏
#Microsky
#glycotime

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

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...

Congrats @regolab.bsky.social! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The Barber lab is looking to hire post-docs to work on #tuberculosis #immunology using murine and NHP models. BSL3 experience not required. Check out our lab in the NIH intramural program in Bethesda MD!

A study in @science.org from Paul Cohen's lab, led by @maschakoenen.bsky.social, demonstrates how beige fat directly influences blood pressure. The findings offer a new target for treating vascular disease and could lead to more precise therapies for hypertension: https://bit.ly/4pK0hGh

We are hiring new faculty!! Come join our amazing community in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine! The deadline for applications is 2/21, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. facultyopportunities.wustl.edu/Posting/Deta...

Congrats @maxgg.bsky.social and team! This looks very cool.

Built to breathe: mini ‘lungs’ recreate individual response to infection Lung-on-chip device exposes earliest stages of tuberculosis infection, and opens doors to investigate diversity in disease progression and personalised treatment.

Lab-grown lung models have traditionally been grown from a mixture of cells, making it hard to tell how a disease or treatment will affect an individual person.

These new models by @maxgg.bsky.social’s team and AlveoliX are grown from a single person’s stem cells ⤵️ www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-01...

Computational Immunologist - Boston, Massachusetts (US) job with Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, & Harvard | 12849577 The Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Harvard in Cambridge MA, together with the Departmen

The @ragoninstitute.bsky.social is launching a new faculty search for a computational immunologist! Applications are open now and reviewed on a rolling basis. Please share broadly with your networks! #immunosky

www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Congrats Luiz and colleagues. Important work!

While everyone is hustling for the holidays, hopefully folks will have time to submit abstracts or register for #ASMMicrobe2026 in DC! Please repost!

We’re heading for one thousand ⭐️ signatures today! Thank you to all who have signed and shared so far,

Still plenty of other people to reach before we all wrap up for the holidays, so send family and friends the petition link as an early resolution for a happier New Year! c.org/rstb5XTvns

The Bryson Lab | Vaccine Development & Research at MIT Developing effective accessible vaccines to end tuberculosis worldwide. Combining immunoengineering, molecular microbiology & systems biology at MIT.

Two pieces of fun news:

1. We've launched a new website for our lab: www.brysonlab.org

2. With some new funding, we are recruiting for new postdocs and graduate students. The projects build upon our previous studies of antigen presentation and phagosome biology and go into new exciting dimensions!

🚨 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐚𝐛, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐁 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝! 🚨

We’re thrilled to share our new study revealing how the chromatin regulator SP140 preserves protective T cell immunity during #tuberculosis infection by restraining harmful type I IFN responses.

📖 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘁: shorturl.at/r5jd9

The Sidney & Joan Pestka Graduate & Post Graduate Awards - International Cytokine & Interferon Society Nomination/Application Form The submission deadline has been extended to May 31, 2025 The Sidney & Joan Pestka Graduate & Post Graduate AwardsDescription: The Sidney & Joan Pestka Graduate and Post-Gr...

Congrats to @alercher.bsky.social of the #RiceLab, who has won the 2025 Sidney & Joan Pestka Post-Graduate Award from the @cytokinesociety.bsky.social!

Creation of new junior research groups at the Institut Pasteur - Call for applications 2026 - Research The Institut Pasteur is launching an international call to recruit new junior research group leaders leveraging cutting-edge transdisciplinary approaches to exploring infectious diseases, host-microbe...

🔬 Call to create junior research groups at the Institut Pasteur

Focus: Infectious diseases, host-microbe interactions, vaccines
Special interest: AI methodologies

📅 Deadline: Feb 9, 2026
👥 2-12 years post-PhD

Apply now 📝 research.pasteur.fr/en/call/crea...

#JobOpportunity #Research

Essential redundancies fuel Mycobacterium tuberculosis adaptation to the host Redundancy in biology is, at a glance, counterintuitive because if the function of two gene products completely overlaps then, throughout the course of evolution, one of the genes will likely accumula...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an outlier in many ways. One of them is keeping a high degree of functional redundancy despite its obligate pathogen lifestyle. In this review, we reflect on the biological meaning of M. tuberculosis functional redundancies.

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Hey friends. I’m looking for a postdoc interested in studying host-pathogen interactions and immunology of tuberculosis. Send me some good people! We have a great group here! Email me joanne@pitt.edu. Thanks!

Transcription co-inhibition alters drug resistance evolution and enhances Mycobacterium tuberculosis clearance from granulomas - Nature Microbiology Targeting two distinct steps of the transcription process yields synergistic antibiotics that kill non-replicating Mycobacterium tuberculosis and reduce drug resistance.

Does this create an Achilles’ heel, and can you drug it? Turns out: yes.

Congrats to Barbara, Vanisha, Liz, and the rest of the team.

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

Antibiotic resistance mutations boost bacterial fitness in the presence of drug but can decrease fitness in its absence. We & others showed that the fitness cost of the most common rifampicin-resistance mutation in M. tuberculosis stems largely from excessive transcriptional termination.

FEBS Press CRISPRI-mediated gene silencing and phenotypic exploration in nontuberculous mycobacteria. In this Research Protocol, we describe approaches to control, monitor, and quantitatively assess CRISPRI-med...

🚀 Latest paper form the lab is now out at @febsopenbio.bsky.social
@febspress.bsky.social 🔵⚪🔴

We use CRISPRi tools from the @rocklabtb.bsky.social to target essential genes and control smooth to rough transition in M.smegmatis & M.abscessus 🦠🧫👇👇👇

febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

New research from Rockefeller's Michel Nussenzweig and colleagues finds one particular class of immune cells appears to play a crucial role in achieving a functional cure among people with HIV. #worldAIDSday