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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · 6d

Many congrats Ben!

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · 6d

Many congrats Ben!

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Ben Adler @benadler.bsky.social · 7d

Today in @nature.com , we highlight how a cousin of CRISPR-Cas10, mCpol, establishes an evolutionary trap in anti-phage immune systems.

Check out @erinedoherty.bsky.social and my work from @doudna-lab.bsky.social lab here:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A miniature CRISPR–Cas10 enzyme confers immunity by inhibitory signalling - Nature

Panoptes, an anti-phage defence system against virus-mediated immune suppression, is revealed.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Ben Morehouse @benmorehouse.bsky.social · 7d

Our story describing the Panoptes bacterial immune defense system is now finally peer-reviewed and published today! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature

The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.

www.nature.com

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · 9d

Hiring! 🧬🔬

Ever wondered how bacteria fight off viruses? We’re looking for a PhD student to dive into the molecular basis of newly discovered microbial immune systems, an area of biology where much remains to be uncovered.

RT/share to help us find our next team member!
www.lumc.nl/en/about-lum...

PhD-positie Bacteriële Verdedigingssystemen tegen Virussen | LUMC

Wij zoeken een getalenteerde en gemotiveerde PhD-kandidaat om het onderzoeksteam van Luuk Loeff te versterken. In dit project maak je gebruik van geavanceerde technologieën om te ontrafelen hoe bacter...

www.lumc.nl

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Kranzusch Lab @kranzuschlab.bsky.social · 13d

You’ve heard of ubiquitination, meet deazaguanylation: Doug Wassarman in our lab discovered phage defense pathways have co-opted Q nucleobase biosynthetic enzymes to catalyze a new form of protein conjugation chemistry @science.org

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Patrick van der Wel @pcavanderwel.bsky.social · 20d

Coming up next week: the third Dutch Structural Biology meeting! Now in Delft, on Sept 26. See program here: nvbmb.kncv.nl/biology-2025 with #teamtomo #cryoEM #nmrchat simulations and more (looks like)

Organized by the #NVBMB (associated with KNCV)

Dutch Structural Biology Meeting 2025 - NVBMB

nvbmb.kncv.nl

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Nature Methods @natmethods.nature.com · 22d

Spacedust: a tool for de novo identification of conserved gene clusters from metagenomic data.
@ruoshiz.bsky.social @milot.bsky.social

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

De novo discovery of conserved gene clusters in microbial genomes with Spacedust - Nature Methods

This work presents Spacedust, a tool for de novo identification of conserved gene clusters from metagenomic data.

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Constantinos Patinios @copabio.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚀 New publication alert! 🚀

We just published in @natbiotech.nature.com:
👉 Targeted DNA ADP-ribosylation triggers templated repair in bacteria and base mutagenesis in eukaryotes
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Targeted DNA ADP-ribosylation triggers templated repair in bacteria and base mutagenesis in eukaryotes - Nature Biotechnology

Append editing of ADP-ribosyl to thymine is used for precise modifications in bacteria and eukaryotes.

doi.org

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Melanie Blokesch @mblokesch.bsky.social · Sep 6

Excited to share my latest review, now published in the Royal Society theme issue on ‘The ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems' (available OA):

Defence systems encoded by core genomic islands of seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Defence systems encoded by core genomic islands of seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera, has triggered seven pandemics, with the seventh pandemic emerging in 1961. The success of seventh pandemic El Tor (7PET) V. cholerae as a human pathogen is linked to its acquisition of mobile genetic ...

royalsocietypublishing.org

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Kranzusch Lab @kranzuschlab.bsky.social · Sep 5

How can we understand the earliest events in evolution of eukaryotic immunity? @yao-li.bsky.social reports incredible molecular fossils of complete bacterial-like operons in eukaryotes that illuminate how animal immunity was first acquired from anti-phage defense

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

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Stephan Gruber @gruberlab.bsky.social · Sep 5

Our Wadjet-II paper by @roisnehamelinf.bsky.social is out in polished form: www.cell.com/structure/fu...

With a great preview by @kevincorbett.bsky.social & @amardeeep.bsky.social highlighting the potential of Wadjets:

Wadjet—Keeping a watchful eye on circular DNA.

www.cell.com/structure/fu...

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Sep 5

Many congrats Martin!

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Sep 5

Many congrats Francois!

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Sorek Lab @soreklab.bsky.social · Sep 2

Preprint: De-novo design of proteins that inhibit bacterial defenses

Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications

Congrats Jeremy Garb!
tinyurl.com/Syttt
🧵

Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection

Bacterial defense systems present considerable barriers to both phage infection and plasmid transformation. These systems target mobile genetic elements, limiting the efficacy of bacteriophage-based t...

www.biorxiv.org

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Sep 2

Congrats @audeber.bsky.social very well deserved!

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Jeremy Garb @garbjeremy.bsky.social · Sep 2

📢 New preprint alert!
We designed synthetic proteins that can block bacterial immune systems, allowing phages + plasmids to overcome natural defenses.
This could transform phage therapy + genetic engineering.
Here’s what we found 🧵
Preprint🔗: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection

Bacterial defense systems present considerable barriers to both phage infection and plasmid transformation. These systems target mobile genetic elements, limiting the efficacy of bacteriophage-based t...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Martin Pacesa @martinpacesa.bsky.social · Aug 27

Exciting to see our protein binder design pipeline BindCraft published in its final form in @Nature ! This has been an amazing collaborative effort with Lennart, Christian, @sokrypton.org, Bruno and many other amazing lab members and collaborators.

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

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thank you Sonja! Hope all is well!

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Aug 26

Dank je Marjon!

Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Aug 26

Thank you Johannes! See you soon :)

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Stephan Hacker @stephanhacker2.bsky.social · Aug 26

Great opportunity to join the Leiden University Medical Center as a Junior Principal Investigator!

Congratulations to this year's awardees (Marieke Barnhoorn, Edouard Fu, Lydiane Hirschler, @lloeff.bsky.social and Rajagopal Murugan)! Applications are possible for 2026:

www.lumc.nl/en/news/2025...

First Junior Principal Investigator Talent grants awarded at LUMC | LUMC

At the beginning of 2025, the new Junior Principal Investigator (PI) Talent Program was launched at the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC). With this program, LUMC annually invests in researchers...

www.lumc.nl

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Sorek Lab @soreklab.bsky.social · Aug 25

Preprint: We discovered phage proteins that sequester diverse immune signaling molecules, including cUMP, cCMP, and N7-cADPR

The first viral sponges to inhibit Pycsar and type IV Thoeris

Congrats to talented leading author Romi Hadary! Read her thread to learn more about our findings

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Reposted by Luuk Loeff

Akanksha Thawani, PhD @akankshathawani.bsky.social · Aug 19

Extremely excited to share that I’m joining Columbia University @columbiauniversity.bsky.social as an Assistant Professor!

We will explore how the mobile genome works—how transposons shape us, our DNA and how they can be harnessed to build useful technologies. #NewPI #RNAsky #TEsky

thawanilab.org

The Thawani Lab at Columbia University

The Thawani Lab at Columbia University describing their research on mobile genome, cryo-electron microscopy and genome engineering

thawanilab.org

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Luuk Loeff @lloeff.bsky.social · Aug 19

Congrats Akanksha!

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