Vikram Alva

Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus | PNAS ARGONAUTE (AGO) proteins are a highly conserved family of RNA-binding proteins that play central roles in gene regulation and developmental process...

One protein. One pathway. A whole germline fate.

New paper from my postdoc @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social out in PNAS:
Germline fate determination by a single ARGONAUTE protein in Ectocarpus www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Research Group Leader Do you want to lead groundbreaking research in computational biology? Join us at EMBL-EBI! EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) is seeking talented and highly-motivated scientists to jo...

We are hiring for group leaders again — EBI is a great place to start your research group!

embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/EMBL/job/Hin...

From fibril to framework: P. abyssi AbpX illuminates a calcium-responsive family of microbial biomatrix proteins that form thermostable hydrogels Evolutionary pressure on microbial communities propagating under extreme environmental conditions often results in unique structural adaptations to promote cell survival. Here, we report an investigat...

New manuscript alert. Turns out that calcium ion coordination may be a more common mechanism than we initially expected to trigger polymerization of extracellular filaments. @mikesleutel.bsky.social @vikramalva.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Excited to be at #SMBE2026 in Copenhagen! Don’t miss Symposium #17: “Unicellular organisms in major evolutionary transitions.” Registration is now open!

#protistsonsky

📝 Abstract deadline: Tuesday, Feb 3, 2026.
Let’s fill #SMBE2026 with #protistsonSky love!

The real drama of life happened "backstage" in the unicellular world. 🎭🧬 #protistsonSky
Our postdoc Vika Shabardina is co-organizing this symposium with Annia (@ankarn.bsky.social). Two brilliant minds leading the evocell way!
Plus, a talk by @vikramalva.bsky.social. 👇

Led by Yimin Hu, with key contributions from
@samuelschwab.bsky.social, @kyq21.bsky.social 21.bsky.social and Yunsen Zhang, and in collaboration with Marcus Hartmann, @damelab.bsky.social and Birte Hernández-Álvarez.

@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

Happy to share that our work on HLp, a bacterial histone from Leptospira perolatii, is now published in Nature Communications 🎉

In this study, we show that HLp forms stable tetramers that wrap ~60 bp of DNA, revealing a distinct histone–DNA organization in bacteria.

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

SMBE2026 Symposium 17 | Unicellular organisms in major evolutionary transitions Organisers - Victoria Shabardina — Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain (Female) - Anna Karnkowska — Institute of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland (Female) Invited Speaker - Vikram Alva — Max Planck Institute of Biology, Tuebingen, Germany (Male)

Organisers
- Victoria Shabardina | @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
- @ankarn.bsky.social | University of Warsaw

Invited Speaker
- @vikramalva.bsky.social | @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

SMBE2026 Symposium 17 | Unicellular organisms in major evolutionary transitions

SMBE2026 Symposium 17 | Unicellular organisms in major evolutionary transitions

📨 Abstract submission
smbe2026.org/abstracts

📋 Programme details
smbe2026.org/programme

#SMBE2026

GenBio DTP Optional supporting text

I’m excited to announce that I will be starting my research group on computational enzyme design at the Generative Biology Institute, Oxford, UK (@eitoxford.bsky.social)! PhD applications are open, deadline is Jan 8th (www.chem.ox.ac.uk/genbio-dtp). Email kiarash.jamali@eit.org with any questions!

Ending my PhD with a bang:
Face-to-face histones are important organizers of archaeal chromatin alongside classical histones.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Thank you, Daniela, @danielabarilla.bsky.social, for a wonderful commentary! 🤗🤗 More spotlight on the Asgards and their chromatin! ❤️ #archaea #chromatin

YouTube video by MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology Introduction to microbial surface layers (S-layers)

Also see the associated primer video on S-layers made by the @mrclmb.bsky.social Visual Aids department Konstantinos Alexandrou and Shraddha Nayak!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgSf...

Pleased to share our review on S-layers with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen, and @tbharat-lab.bsky.social, where we explore recent advances and argue that deeper insight into S-layers is key to deciphering microbial interactions and community organization. @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social

We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.

An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

What a gem from @dudinlab.bsky.social @gautamdey.bsky.social @centriolelab.bsky.social in Cell! Expansion microscopy atlas of >200 eukaryotes comparing cytoskeletal architectures revealing structures not seen before. Stunning visualisation! Exactly the kind of transformative cell biology we need.

🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Fruit flies are more than pests! Humans share 60% of their genome with them. @luisapallares.bsky.social busts myths about how these tiny creatures can tell us about human diseases. Watch Luisa's full video here: www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/71433/videos #BiologyMyths #Drosophila #Genomics

Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Ecology & Evolution Phylogenetic and biochemical analyses show a diversity of components of the DNA replication machinery in different Asgard archaea that contributed to the eukaryotic DNA replication machinery.

Glad to share our paper out today @NatureEcoEvo: “Serial innovations by Asgard archaea shaped the DNA replication machinery of the early eukaryotic ancestor”. www.nature.com/articles/s41... #microsky #archaeasky

Our Pyrodictium cannulae paper is out in its final form! Cannulae assemble into calcium-stabilized tubular filaments stable at 100 °C—a unique archaeal cell–cell connection. Led brilliantly by @mikesleutel.bsky.social & @vinceconticello.bsky.social.

www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64120-8

Look at this nice cover: beautiful archaella, image made by @sshamphavi.bsky.social !

Thanks also to Marta Rodeiguez for keeping the EM im shape in @ottlab.bsky.social lab!

At @biologyunifreiburg.bsky.social at @uni-freiburg.de @sfb1381.bsky.social @cibss.bsky.social

So happy to see my first first-author paper published! 🎈
A short thread on how Ectocarpus and its TE secrets have kept me busy lately:

rdcu.be/eITQH

EXCITING NEWS!! We're searching for a new professor colleague at the Biozentrum🇨🇭. Ideal candidates are exploring novel biological questions with structure, biophysics, or high-resolution imaging. 🧪 🧶🧬 🔬

The call closes Nov 3. Please get in touch if you would like more information. Come join us! 👩‍🔬🤓

New Insights Into Bacterial Motility and DNA Transfer:
a small press on our discovery of ComFB signaling family by @claussenarne.bsky.social @hhu.de

www.eurekalert.org/news-release...
w/ @mygalperin.bsky.social @thethormannden.bsky.social
@cmfi.bsky.social @mibinet.bsky.social @sfb1381.bsky.social

Registration deadline for @embo.org workshop EvoChromo extended until September 30.

meetings.embo.org/event/24-evo...

Busting myths with @jweir.bsky.social. Did you know you don't inherit exactly 1/4 of your DNA from each grandparent? Or that fertility issues can affect young people, too? Find out more: www.fml.tuebingen.mpg.de/71433/videos #BiologyMyths

Rewiring of chromatin regulation underlies the evolution of brown algal multicellularity Chromatin structure plays a central role in regulating transcription, genome stability, and epigenetic inheritance in eukaryotes. Much of our understanding of chromatin architecture and histone post-t...

Super glad to contribute to this study on chromatin evolution in brown algae! Special thanks to Jeromine Vigneau, @borglab.bsky.social and Susana Coelho for making this happen.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...