Ever wondered why some bacteria have multiple CRISPR-Cas systems? Our new study led by Leah Smith shows how type I CRISPR systems can promote the acquisition and retention of new spacers into a co-occuring type III system. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New preprint: we developed a method that uses phosphoproteome-derived peptide libraries (PhosPropels) for deep specificity profiling of phosphatases and phospholyases www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

First preprint from the Nemudryi Lab! 🍾

In this work, we link antiviral immunity in bacteria and humans by showing that homologs of human Schlafen nucleases protect bacteria from phages.

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

Was my pleasure to chair the #crispr2025 meeting earlier this year in my hometown in NZ @crisprmeeting.bsky.social

Interested in phage defenses that natively block lytic phage used in therapies?

Or do you want to figure out if a phage has a modified genome?

Meet the END-nucleases, an enzyme family that can broadly restrict phages with many diverse modifications. From talented post-doc Wearn-Xin Yee!

I am super excited to share our work uncovering the structure and mechanism of an ATPase-associated reverse transcriptase (RT) involved in prokaryotic antiviral defense, now available as a preprint on bioRxiv!🧬🦠🔬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🧵👇

Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

My contribution to the Science Homecoming project--I wrote to The Item in Clinton, MA about the impacts that cuts to science funding will have on our health, our economy, and the opportunities available to young people in Clinton www.clintonitem.com/writes-cuts-...

@sciencehomecoming.bsky.social

Finally, in these tough times for science I want to emphasize how this work was supported at every level by NIH: through grants to my lab (DP2); to my students (BTP T32; CBI T32); and from Rohith’s experience as an NIH Postbac in the Tjandra lab. Grateful for the support that made this possible.

Excited to share a new preprint! Wireless devices use FM modulation to transmit multiplexed noise-resistant data. Led by @born2raisecell.bsky.social, we create a biochemical analogue of this paradigm using genetically encoded oscillators (GEOs) for single-cell FM streaming tinyurl.com/nbs8rw42 🧵

CRISPR-Cas supervises diverse anti-phage defense systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.12.27.630466v1

Finishing the year with a paper submission always feels good! 🛡 🦠 (1/5)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Happy holidays everyone! ⭐️🎄

Is it “winner-takes all” when the simplest living things compete? Check out my fresh publication on phage coexistence in Science and a thread below🧵 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

If you were on the fence about coming to CRISPR 2025 let us add that Christchurch airport is well connected internationally and from there you can explore many grand sights in the South Island, NZ. Register now and book a conference trip to NZ hashtag#CRISPR2025 lnkd.in/gaSkt-Ng

I hope you won!

Happy Holidays from the Weeks lab! This year's ornament is a working ferris wheel 🎡☃️

Really beautiful RNA structures from Rachel Kretsch in the Das and Chiu groups

These look like viral capsids but they're only RNA!! Hopefully this unlocks more work on "ornate" RNAs 🧪

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

Meet one of our speakers: Elizabeth Kellogg is an assistant professor in the department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at Cornell. There's still time to register and get to hear Elizabeth speak at CRISPR 2025 in Ōtautahi, Christchurch, NZ. lnkd.in/gds9sURN

Yeah, I remember when it happened, it freaked me out! Still lodged in my memory I guess

Found the video!

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

The tsunami from the 2011 Japanese earthquake entered the bay (at a height of 1 foot). Also, stay safe!

First paper of our lab today @natureportfolio.bsky.social by Nussi!

We provide a real-time movie on how #transcription and #translation cooperate using #single-molecule FM: we find long-range #ribosome/ RNAP communication mediated by #RNA looping!

@embl.org #RNAbiology #RNASky

t.co/a24Xxcxdo0

It’s a wrap! The final version of our paper is out 🎉 where we characterize the multifaceted response of the transcript-activated type III CRISPR-Cas immunity. Here’s a skytorial (bluetorial?) by my awesome co-lead @akshilton.bsky.social

#RNA #RNAsky #WomenInSTEM

Rumour is there are cheaps flights from North America to NZ at the moment 👀✈️- get in quick and book your flights now for CRISPR 2025. Registrations are still open and we would love to see you. The airport is just a short trip to the city! crispr2025.org/registration