Pascal Falter-Braun

"Unter der Führung von Peter Altmaier und Katherina Reiche ist vor 13 Jahren die deutsche Solarindustrie kollabiert. Hans-Josef Fell [...]: Reiche wollte die erneuerbaren Energien damals unwirtschaftlich machen. Daran hat sich nichts geändert."
www.n-tv.de/politik/Hans...

Meinung: Sascha Lobo: Donald Trump und das Chaos im Weißen Haus: Der Irrwitz regiert die USA Donald Trump hat seit seinem Amtsantritt 2025 keinen einzigen kohärenten, klaren, politischen Gedanken geäußert. Darüber müssen wir offen reden und schreiben, auch wenn es uns zutiefst verstört.

Danke @saschalobo.bsky.social die Irrsinn-normalisierende Sprache in den deutschen und internationalen Medien so klar zu benennen und zu beschreiben. Es ist gut zu sehen, dass man nicht alleine angewidert ist wie Absurditäten in seriösen Nachrichten verharmlost werden.
www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/net...

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Greetings from inside the economic blockade zones of Minneapolis and St Paul! Don’t look away, please. We need you. It’s been a month and they’re trying to destroy us.

A picture with large yellow, green and red block letters and it says: BLACK HISTORY HONORING THE PAST INSPIRING THE FUTURE

Happy Black History Month

We have leadership who refuses to acknowledge it, so we have to take up the torch. They can’t erase history.

“Always remember you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars
to change the world”
-HARRIET TUBMAN
❤️💛💚
#Pinks #ProudBlue

This looks like a great opportunity. Consider applying ...

Die Klimakrise gibt es immer noch, auch wenn Friedrich Merz & Co. nicht darüber reden (wollen).

Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation Nature Microbiology, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02241-yLarge-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathways.

Out Now! Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation #MicroSky

Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation - Nature Microbiology Large-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathwa...

"Our findings indicate that T3SS contribute to microorganism–host cohabitation and that effector–host protein interactions may represent an underappreciated route by which commensal gut microbiota influences health." www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Thank you so much!

Co-expression-wide association studies link genetically regulated interactions with complex traits - Nature Communications Proteins can affect traits through their interactions with one another. Here, the authors propose the COWAS method to identify pairs of interacting genes or proteins whose genetically regulated co-exp...

My second dissertation paper is now out in @natcomms.nature.com! Here we introduce the co-expression-wide association study (COWAS) method for identifying pairs of genes or proteins whose genetically regulated co-expression is associated with complex traits. 🧵⬇️

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

Final/10
Take-home message:
Direct protein injection may be an underappreciated mode of communication between the human microbiome and its host—with implications for evolution, immunity, and disease.

Happy to discuss!

9/10
Finally, we looked if the effectors can be found in the gut microbiomes of patients with or without inflammatory bowel diseases. Surprisingly, we found many more effectors in patients with crohn’s disease compared to healthy individuals, but fewer in ulcerative colitis patients.

8/10
Important: the targeted human functions play a role in microbiome-influenced disease, like autoimmune diseases. And we demonstrate that effectors change the immune responses when they are in human cells.

7/10
In the network, we see that effectors converge onto few host proteins - a pattern we found before in effector-host protein interactions in plant symbioses 🌱

6/10
To find out, what the commensal effectors do in human cells we experimentally built a systems-level map of their interactions with human proteins.

5/10
Moreover, these commensal effectors are not simply weakened versions of pathogenic ones. Their sequences, structures, and domains suggest distinct evolutionary trajectories and roles beyond virulence.

4/10
But here’s the surprise: we found T3SS to be common in bacteria from healthy human guts. We show that commensal bacteria can actually use these systems and show that a set of bacterial proteins – so called effectors – get injected into human cells.

3/10
Pathogens use a needle-like molecular structure - the Type III Secretion System (T3SS) - to inject bacterial proteins into host cells. These systems are usually viewed as weapons of disease.

2/10
Most microbiome research focuses on metabolites or immune sensing. But some bacteria have another option: they can deliver proteins directly into human cells and change their behavior.

What's the science behind our paper? A thread 🧵 1/10

The human gut microbiome plays a major role in immunity, metabolism, and disease risk—but we still don’t fully understand how gut bacteria communicate with our cells.

Happy and proud as well to see the paper out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! Thanks to Pascal @interactome.bsky.social and all collaborators for this fantastic work. A special thank to the people in our team at @tagc-u1090.bsky.social, @netbiotagc.bsky.social and Renaud at @afmblab.bsky.social

Further Daniel Krappmann, Claudia Falter, Thomas Rattei, Jean-Claude Twizere, Marc Vidal, Mike Calderwood, Daniel Kotlarz, and many more.

Some of the outstanding individuals who shaped this paper with their ideas, analyses, and thoughts: @azanzoni.bsky.social @marianneboes.bsky.social @tclavel.bsky.social @netbiotagc.bsky.social @tcahitch.bsky.social @lukelambourne.bsky.social @mcalderwood.bsky.social

This was a very enjoyable and productive collaboration among wonderful colleagues and friends. The story was mainly developed by the PhD students Veronika Young and Bushra Dohai at my Institute of Network Biology @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social. #HelmholtzMunich #MTTC

Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation - Nature Microbiology Large-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathwa...

Very happy and proud that our paper “Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation” is out today in #NatureMicrobiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com
Paper 👉 t1p.de/v42xb

#microbiome #commensal #pathomechanism #T3SS #immune #health #IBD

This was an immensely enjoyable large collaboration among wonderful colleagues and smart friends. The story was mainly developed by the graduate students Veronika Young and Bushra Dohai at my Institute of Network Biology @helmholtzmunich.bsky.social. #HelmholtzMunich #MTTC 2/4

Photos of Alex Pretti with Sara’s caption: On August 16th at approximately 10:00 pm I received a call from the ICU at the VA saying my Dad had sepsis and needed to be intubated to stay alive so Josh and I headed in. We were greeted by the kindest, most calming and warm soul who helped us understand what was happening and showed deep care for us and my Dad. He continued to show utmost patience and kindness over the next few days as my Dad remained in the ICU and we were there continually. It was Alex Pretti, the man shot today by ICE. If you see this video and don't think it's murder, I don't understand your thinking and ask you to question your heart. He was out there trying to help and protect and from the little we knew of him, it doesn't surprise me he was not afraid to be on the front lines of this horrible scene in our Minneapolis. Weeping for his family and all those at the VA who no longer get to work with him or receive his care.

My friend Sara posted this about the superb care her father received from with Alex Pretti

Absolutely heartbreaking