Max Wilkinson
@maxewilkinson.bsky.social
keen on reverse transcription | also keen on spliceosomes | cryoEM dabbler
Assistant Member @MSKCC
Formerly post-doc @MIT
Formerly-formerly PhD @MRC_LMB
Formerly formerly-formerly Otago Uni
Kiwi 🥝 🇳🇿
https://wilkinsonlab.bio/
Assistant Member @MSKCC
Formerly post-doc @MIT
Formerly-formerly PhD @MRC_LMB
Formerly formerly-formerly Otago Uni
Kiwi 🥝 🇳🇿
https://wilkinsonlab.bio/
Reposted by Max Wilkinson
I am so excited to share our project with you! We find prokaryotic proteases activate toxic enzymes and pores as a modular strategy in phage defense. We studied four fascinating protease-toxin pairs that are abundant across bacterial genomes:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Proteolytic activation of diverse antiviral defense modules in prokaryotes
Linked protease–effector modules are widespread in prokaryotic antiviral defense, yet the mechanisms of most remain poorly understood. Here we show that four of the most prevalent modules—metallo-β-la...
www.biorxiv.org
November 15, 2025 at 11:49 PM
I am so excited to share our project with you! We find prokaryotic proteases activate toxic enzymes and pores as a modular strategy in phage defense. We studied four fascinating protease-toxin pairs that are abundant across bacterial genomes:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Max Wilkinson
Oh, your favorite genetic locus only encodes one gene? That's boring.
Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 14, 2025 at 8:07 PM
Oh, your favorite genetic locus only encodes one gene? That's boring.
Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Amazing work from Jess Warren (www.hhmi.org/scientists/j...) to figure this out and prove it was real, given the wacky and challenging insect system we've got here.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
Wilkinson Lab
We discover and study reverse transcriptases
wilkinsonlab.bio
October 31, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
a highly attractive hypothesis for the origin of telomerase, but imo more evidence is needed to rule out convergent evolution
1- other RT phylogenies place TERT within eukaryotic retroelement clades
2- template jumping could plausibly evolve into repeat synthesis activity multiple independent times
1- other RT phylogenies place TERT within eukaryotic retroelement clades
2- template jumping could plausibly evolve into repeat synthesis activity multiple independent times
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 7:11 PM
a highly attractive hypothesis for the origin of telomerase, but imo more evidence is needed to rule out convergent evolution
1- other RT phylogenies place TERT within eukaryotic retroelement clades
2- template jumping could plausibly evolve into repeat synthesis activity multiple independent times
1- other RT phylogenies place TERT within eukaryotic retroelement clades
2- template jumping could plausibly evolve into repeat synthesis activity multiple independent times
Reposted by Max Wilkinson
Public access to the first fly connectome that spans the whole CNS - BANC!: codex.flywire.ai?dataset=banc
Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord)
We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord)
We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
August 2, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Public access to the first fly connectome that spans the whole CNS - BANC!: codex.flywire.ai?dataset=banc
Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord)
We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Different from prior connectomes - it is brain + cord (think spinal cord)
We use it to ‘embody’ the system and find it resembles ‘subsumption architecture’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
If you like transposons...
If you you love genome editing...
Or if you just like random bird animations,
we have the paper for you!
We (@kedmonds.bsky.social et al) are happy to share our work turning a songbird retrotransposon into a genome editing tool. 🐣 (1/n)
If you you love genome editing...
Or if you just like random bird animations,
we have the paper for you!
We (@kedmonds.bsky.social et al) are happy to share our work turning a songbird retrotransposon into a genome editing tool. 🐣 (1/n)
July 3, 2025 at 3:21 AM
If you like transposons...
If you you love genome editing...
Or if you just like random bird animations,
we have the paper for you!
We (@kedmonds.bsky.social et al) are happy to share our work turning a songbird retrotransposon into a genome editing tool. 🐣 (1/n)
If you you love genome editing...
Or if you just like random bird animations,
we have the paper for you!
We (@kedmonds.bsky.social et al) are happy to share our work turning a songbird retrotransposon into a genome editing tool. 🐣 (1/n)
Reposted by Max Wilkinson
Nice visit to the lovely Princeton campus. Could not be prouder of @automnenine.bsky.social. For those who are looking for a postdoc, there are exciting opportunities to join his lab!
May 5, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Nice visit to the lovely Princeton campus. Could not be prouder of @automnenine.bsky.social. For those who are looking for a postdoc, there are exciting opportunities to join his lab!
Ridiculously good work by George on LINE-1 retrotransposition! Also the paper is an inspiring read - there's some really super biochem in it
Did you know that two jumping sequences (LINE-1 and Alu) make up nearly 30% of our genomes? Ever wonder how they jump into new genomic sites? We have some exciting discoveries to share new in @science.org on the structural mechanisms of LINE-1 retrotransposition (aka jumping 🧬➡️🧬) 🧪 #ScienceResearch
March 7, 2025 at 2:44 AM
Ridiculously good work by George on LINE-1 retrotransposition! Also the paper is an inspiring read - there's some really super biochem in it
we recently found some really neat RNA-guided DNA-cutting systems in phages. Despite remarkable similarities to CRISPR systems, including encoding guide RNAs in arrays, they appear entirely evolutionarily distinct (but definitely related to snoRNAs 🤓)
We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
March 1, 2025 at 12:18 AM
we recently found some really neat RNA-guided DNA-cutting systems in phages. Despite remarkable similarities to CRISPR systems, including encoding guide RNAs in arrays, they appear entirely evolutionarily distinct (but definitely related to snoRNAs 🤓)
We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
We decided to call them TIGR-Tas systems 🐯
please go check out this glowing pink blob and what it does to the shiny gold blob
(it's a spliceosome! Truly it was a nostalgic pleasure to help out with this paper, a super fun collaboration with @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social & Kathy and Karli)
(it's a spliceosome! Truly it was a nostalgic pleasure to help out with this paper, a super fun collaboration with @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social & Kathy and Karli)
A splicing factor called Fyv6 controls the selection of 3ʹ splice sites in yeast.
https://buff.ly/49aQvWQ
https://buff.ly/49aQvWQ
December 2, 2024 at 5:05 PM
please go check out this glowing pink blob and what it does to the shiny gold blob
(it's a spliceosome! Truly it was a nostalgic pleasure to help out with this paper, a super fun collaboration with @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social & Kathy and Karli)
(it's a spliceosome! Truly it was a nostalgic pleasure to help out with this paper, a super fun collaboration with @uwmadisonrna.bsky.social & Kathy and Karli)
gonna start shamelessly crossposting some of my molecular movies from the Other Place. Starting with my favourite: showing how wacky reverse transcription can defeat viruses. Bonus: some noises 🎹🎻
November 18, 2024 at 7:05 PM
gonna start shamelessly crossposting some of my molecular movies from the Other Place. Starting with my favourite: showing how wacky reverse transcription can defeat viruses. Bonus: some noises 🎹🎻
Reposted by Max Wilkinson
Our fly brain connectome papers are now live (www.nature.com/immersive/d4...), and is getting traction (www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...). With ~139k neurons, >8k cell types, synapses annotated, transmitters predicted, ~134 evo-devo units denoted, so much is now possible in the fly.
October 3, 2024 at 12:26 AM
Our fly brain connectome papers are now live (www.nature.com/immersive/d4...), and is getting traction (www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...). With ~139k neurons, >8k cell types, synapses annotated, transmitters predicted, ~134 evo-devo units denoted, so much is now possible in the fly.