#MICROBIOLOGY Scientists at @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social find "new points of fragility" in how bacteria cell walls expand, and this "could be exploited to develop new #antibiotics.” @mariedelaby.bsky.social ‪@natcomms.nature.com nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2...

Excited to share that I have been appointed F.R.S.-FNRS Research Associate to launch my independent research group at the University of Namur!
We will study the diversity, regulation & environmental control of bacterial cell elongation.
More soon- new projects, collaborations & opportunities ahead!

Exciting news!
My work with Liu Yang in the @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social, “Phenotypic plasticity in cell elongation among closely related bacterial species”, has been selected as an Editors’ Highlight in @natcomms.nature.com under Microbiology and infectious diseases!

Check it out here:

Excited to share that my postdoc work with Liu Yang, from @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social lab, is now out in @natcomms.nature.com !
How does your favourite bug grow? Elongation modes vary even between close relatives. We tracked PG insertion and uncovered surprising diversity within the Caulobacteraceae.

Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to [email protected]. See
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky

Excited to share our Cinqascience.bsky.social and our sites.google.com/view/cinq-a-... where you’ll find all details about our activities in Montréal and Québec! A huge thank you to Mafar (from @svanteeffelen.bsky.social sky.social lab) for supporting our communication 💙 #CinqAScience #5AScience

How does your favorite species elongate? 🧵 "Phenotypic plasticity in bacterial elongation among closely related species" by @mariedelaby.bsky.social, Liu Yang et al https://buff.ly/48Kw96x. How do cells elongate, all over, poles, middle? Close species do it the same way right? Not quite! #Microsky

#JobAlert for (Asst/Assoc) Professor in #bacteriology in our Department of Microbiology at the @UMontreal. Join our increasing group of bacteriologists including recent hires of
@brunlabcaulo.bsky.social, Frederique Le Roux and myself. jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/664282/a...

Check out our preprint for all the details on how these findings reshape our understanding of bacterial growth diversity! Huge thanks to my amazing collaborators for making this work possible! 5/5

Extending our analysis to other alphaproteobacteria like Rhodobacter capsulatus, we found that unidirectional midcell elongation isn’t limited to Caulobacteraceae and could be widespread within Alphaproteobacteria. 4/5

A key player? PBP2! In A. excentricus, PBP2 localizes at midcell during midcell elongation, contrasting its dispersed pattern in C. crescentus. This spatial organization appears crucial for directing growth patterns. 3/5

Using fluorescent D-amino acids (FDAA) to track peptidoglycan synthesis, we discovered that PG synthesis in Asticcacaulis excentricus starts at midcell and extends toward the new pole, while A. biprosthecum combines polar and midcell elongation- new growth modes among Caulobacteraceae relatives! 2/5

Excited to share my postdoctoral work from the Brun Lab @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social ! Together with Liu Yang, we uncovered surprising diversity in bacterial cell elongation within the Caulobacteraceae family—from unidirectional to polar elongation 🧵1/5: buff.ly/48Kw96x