Chen Zhang
@zchenstory.bsky.social
Bacteriologist studying S-layer 🔬🦠🧬 Postdoc at Rudner lab @harvardmed. PhD alumni @epfl
Reposted by Chen Zhang
‘Chromosomal Topological Domain Formation Modulates Transcription and the Coupling of Neighboring Genes in Escherichia coli‘ by Drs. Nico Yehya, Christopher Bohrer, and collaborators, is now available on bioRxiv. Check it out! doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Chromosomal Topological Domain Formation Modulates Transcription and the Coupling of Neighboring Genes in Escherichia coli
Chromosomal topology and transcription are tightly coupled, yet the quantitative impact of topological constraints on transcription, supercoiling, and the potential coupling between neighboring genes ...
doi.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:04 PM
‘Chromosomal Topological Domain Formation Modulates Transcription and the Coupling of Neighboring Genes in Escherichia coli‘ by Drs. Nico Yehya, Christopher Bohrer, and collaborators, is now available on bioRxiv. Check it out! doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Really cool paper from @vincentdebakker.bsky.social @jonbakerlab.bsky.social now published @natcomms.nature.com #MicroSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Multi-omics profiling reveals atypical sugar utilization and a key membrane composition regulator in Streptococcus pneumoniae - Nature Communications
The pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae can adapt to diverse microenvironments in the human body. Here, De Bakker et al. study these adaptation responses, showing unusual sugar utilization and identifyi...
www.nature.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Really cool paper from @vincentdebakker.bsky.social @jonbakerlab.bsky.social now published @natcomms.nature.com #MicroSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Hmmm
This work has so many implications on literature 😳😬
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
This work has so many implications on literature 😳😬
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS
Dihydrodichlorofluorescein derivatives have been employed as reporters of intracellular
reactive oxygen species (ROS) in innumerable studies. Their...
www.pnas.org
November 19, 2025 at 5:03 AM
Hmmm
This work has so many implications on literature 😳😬
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
This work has so many implications on literature 😳😬
Fluorescein-based dyes are not valid reporters of oxidative stress in bacteria, and conclusions based on their use must be reconsidered | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Happy to share our latest T6SS review:
nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!
nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!
The type VI secretion system and associated effector proteins - Nature Reviews Microbiology
In this Review, Basler and colleagues examine the type VI secretion system (T6SS), focusing on the diversity of antibacterial T6SS effectors and the evolutionary forces that shape them. They explain h...
nature.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:08 AM
Happy to share our latest T6SS review:
nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!
nature.com/articles/s41...
Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers
Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.
S-layers are everywhere!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.
S-layers are everywhere!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology
Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers
Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.
S-layers are everywhere!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.
S-layers are everywhere!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
"Watermelon!" this is what my 2yo son calls 😂
--bacterial biofilm photograph at Harvard museum of nature history (guess it's congo red stained and hope never appears in watermelon)
--bacterial biofilm photograph at Harvard museum of nature history (guess it's congo red stained and hope never appears in watermelon)
July 21, 2025 at 9:29 PM
"Watermelon!" this is what my 2yo son calls 😂
--bacterial biofilm photograph at Harvard museum of nature history (guess it's congo red stained and hope never appears in watermelon)
--bacterial biofilm photograph at Harvard museum of nature history (guess it's congo red stained and hope never appears in watermelon)
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Very happy to share that a large part of my thesis work is out today: B. subtilis uses the second messenger c-di-AMP to modulate its turgor pressure in response to the state of its cell envelope. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Cyclic-di-AMP modulates cellular turgor in response to defects in bacterial cell wall synthesis - Nature Microbiology
Brogan et al. uncover a signalling pathway in which levels of the nucleotide second messenger c-di-AMP increase in response to defects in cell wall synthesis. This regulatory pathway decreases turgor ...
www.nature.com
June 17, 2025 at 12:20 PM
Very happy to share that a large part of my thesis work is out today: B. subtilis uses the second messenger c-di-AMP to modulate its turgor pressure in response to the state of its cell envelope. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
The mechanics of a continuous self-assembling surface-layer aids cell division in an archaeon
out in @pnas.org
Tight collaboration with Sherman Foo, Alice Cezanne and @buzzbaum.bsky.social, Sulfolobus cryo-ET from @idocaspy.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
out in @pnas.org
Tight collaboration with Sherman Foo, Alice Cezanne and @buzzbaum.bsky.social, Sulfolobus cryo-ET from @idocaspy.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A self-assembling surface layer flattens the cytokinetic furrow to aid cell division in an archaeon | PNAS
The surface layer or “S-layer” is a two-dimensional lattice of proteins that coats
a wide range of archaea and bacteria in place of a cell wall or ...
www.pnas.org
June 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
The mechanics of a continuous self-assembling surface-layer aids cell division in an archaeon
out in @pnas.org
Tight collaboration with Sherman Foo, Alice Cezanne and @buzzbaum.bsky.social, Sulfolobus cryo-ET from @idocaspy.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
out in @pnas.org
Tight collaboration with Sherman Foo, Alice Cezanne and @buzzbaum.bsky.social, Sulfolobus cryo-ET from @idocaspy.bsky.social
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
time to admit as a REAL bacteriologist
May 13, 2025 at 7:17 PM
time to admit as a REAL bacteriologist
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Our latest preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1..., describes Willi Stepp’s project to make smart microscopy even gentler by doing event detection in phase contrast. We developed neural networks to detect mito-LD and mito-lysosome contacts, as well as mitochondrial pre-fission constrictions.
April 6, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Our latest preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1..., describes Willi Stepp’s project to make smart microscopy even gentler by doing event detection in phase contrast. We developed neural networks to detect mito-LD and mito-lysosome contacts, as well as mitochondrial pre-fission constrictions.
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Happy to share Asha Joseph and Inchara Adhikashreni's latest work from the lab, describing replisome speed variation in Caulobacter!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Live tracking of replisomes reveals nutrient-dependent regulation of replication elongation rates in Caulobacter crescentus
Adhikashreni et al. use quantitative live-cell imaging to track cell-cycle dynamics
in hundreds of individual bacteria. They observe nutrient-dependent regulation of
replication elongation rates that ...
www.cell.com
April 4, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Happy to share Asha Joseph and Inchara Adhikashreni's latest work from the lab, describing replisome speed variation in Caulobacter!
www.cell.com/current-biol...
www.cell.com/current-biol...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
It has been coming a long way... happy to share our latest work with you: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here, we show the importance of septal fortification by the Class A Penicillin Binding Protein, PBP1b, in E. coli and provide a molecular mechanism for this function. (1/12).
Here, we show the importance of septal fortification by the Class A Penicillin Binding Protein, PBP1b, in E. coli and provide a molecular mechanism for this function. (1/12).
The aPBP-type cell wall synthase PBP1b plays a specialized role in fortifying the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture
A multi-protein system called the divisome promotes bacterial division. This apparatus synthesizes the peptidoglycan (PG) cell wall layer that forms the daughter cell poles and protects them from osmo...
www.biorxiv.org
April 3, 2025 at 10:13 PM
It has been coming a long way... happy to share our latest work with you: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here, we show the importance of septal fortification by the Class A Penicillin Binding Protein, PBP1b, in E. coli and provide a molecular mechanism for this function. (1/12).
Here, we show the importance of septal fortification by the Class A Penicillin Binding Protein, PBP1b, in E. coli and provide a molecular mechanism for this function. (1/12).
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Expansion microscopy of a tardigrade
April 1, 2025 at 2:31 AM
Expansion microscopy of a tardigrade
Super glad to be one of the awardees!
🥳Congrats to the 50 outstanding postdocs from 25 nations awarded 2025 #HFSPFellowships! 🎉These brilliant minds are shaping the future of #LifeSciences!🧪
🏆Are you one of them? Tag yourself & celebrate!
📖 Meet the new fellows: www.hfsp.org/bookletFS2025#book/
#HFSP #NextGenResearchers #sts
🏆Are you one of them? Tag yourself & celebrate!
📖 Meet the new fellows: www.hfsp.org/bookletFS2025#book/
#HFSP #NextGenResearchers #sts
March 31, 2025 at 4:39 PM
Super glad to be one of the awardees!
Reposted by Chen Zhang
We have 3 positions for students who want to start a PhD in the next 12 months. If you like advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques and S. aureus cell biology, check links and apply(April 4)
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325394
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325395
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325396
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325394
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325395
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325396
March 29, 2025 at 8:18 PM
We have 3 positions for students who want to start a PhD in the next 12 months. If you like advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques and S. aureus cell biology, check links and apply(April 4)
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325394
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325395
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325396
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325394
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325395
euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/325396
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Reposted by Chen Zhang
In @molecularmicro.bsky.social: two special issues on Prokaryotic Chromosome Organization. Many excellent contributions, including a vision article: 'Future directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field', outcome of BioPhyChrom 2023 @biophychrom.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Future Directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field
In September 2023, the Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes meeting ran at the Lorentz Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. As part of the workshop, those in attendance developed a series of ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 20, 2025 at 8:14 PM
In @molecularmicro.bsky.social: two special issues on Prokaryotic Chromosome Organization. Many excellent contributions, including a vision article: 'Future directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field', outcome of BioPhyChrom 2023 @biophychrom.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Expansion microscopy (ExM) of the entire mouse body (pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...), developed by the labs of Profs. Jae-Byum Chang and Young-Gyu Yoon (former SynthNeuro postdocs running labs at KAIST), could empower studies of how multiple systems (nervous, immune, etc.) interact across scales.
March 11, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Expansion microscopy (ExM) of the entire mouse body (pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...), developed by the labs of Profs. Jae-Byum Chang and Young-Gyu Yoon (former SynthNeuro postdocs running labs at KAIST), could empower studies of how multiple systems (nervous, immune, etc.) interact across scales.
Reposted by Chen Zhang
I'm thrilled to share that our review article, "Molecular Level Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging," has now been published online (www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...)! We provide a comprehensive overview of fluorescence super-res methods that push the limits towards molecular-scale imaging.
Molecular Level Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging | Annual Reviews
Over the last 30 years, fluorescence microscopy, renowned for its sensitivity and specificity, has undergone a revolution in resolving ever-smaller details. This advancement began with stimulated emis...
www.annualreviews.org
February 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
I'm thrilled to share that our review article, "Molecular Level Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging," has now been published online (www.annualreviews.org/content/jour...)! We provide a comprehensive overview of fluorescence super-res methods that push the limits towards molecular-scale imaging.
Reposted by Chen Zhang
ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS 🧬🎨🍬
The glycocalyx, our cells' sugar coat, holds secrets in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible… until now. #glycotime #microscopy
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The glycocalyx, our cells' sugar coat, holds secrets in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible… until now. #glycotime #microscopy
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
February 10, 2025 at 8:21 AM
ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS 🧬🎨🍬
The glycocalyx, our cells' sugar coat, holds secrets in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible… until now. #glycotime #microscopy
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The glycocalyx, our cells' sugar coat, holds secrets in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible… until now. #glycotime #microscopy
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
SAVE THE DATE ‼️ 📆 📢
BBM 2025 will be held on June 9-10th at the Harvard Science Center feat. the one and only Dr. Petra Levin as keynote! We can't wait to see you there.
Registration and scholarship applications open next week.
BBM 2025 will be held on June 9-10th at the Harvard Science Center feat. the one and only Dr. Petra Levin as keynote! We can't wait to see you there.
Registration and scholarship applications open next week.
February 1, 2025 at 3:05 PM
SAVE THE DATE ‼️ 📆 📢
BBM 2025 will be held on June 9-10th at the Harvard Science Center feat. the one and only Dr. Petra Levin as keynote! We can't wait to see you there.
Registration and scholarship applications open next week.
BBM 2025 will be held on June 9-10th at the Harvard Science Center feat. the one and only Dr. Petra Levin as keynote! We can't wait to see you there.
Registration and scholarship applications open next week.
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Interested in a single molecule bacteriology PhD?
Deadline 16th Jan. Location Warwick, UK
Broad topic is the physical biology of the bacterial cell wall. Could suit almost any scientific background, eg biology, physics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Deadline 16th Jan. Location Warwick, UK
Broad topic is the physical biology of the bacterial cell wall. Could suit almost any scientific background, eg biology, physics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Single molecule biology of bacterial cell wall remodelling at University of Warwick on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Single molecule biology of bacterial cell wall remodelling at University of Warwick, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
January 7, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Interested in a single molecule bacteriology PhD?
Deadline 16th Jan. Location Warwick, UK
Broad topic is the physical biology of the bacterial cell wall. Could suit almost any scientific background, eg biology, physics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Deadline 16th Jan. Location Warwick, UK
Broad topic is the physical biology of the bacterial cell wall. Could suit almost any scientific background, eg biology, physics, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Chen Zhang
Exciting new #synbio engineered living materials work from Chao Zhong, Peng Huang and Bolin An's team in Shenzhen has just come out on bioRxiv. Lovely demonstration of how engineered E.coli can sense and treat in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
January 5, 2025 at 10:50 PM
Exciting new #synbio engineered living materials work from Chao Zhong, Peng Huang and Bolin An's team in Shenzhen has just come out on bioRxiv. Lovely demonstration of how engineered E.coli can sense and treat in vivo.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...