Maria Letizia Di Martino
@mldm.bsky.social
370 followers 620 following 16 posts
Senior Researcher at Uppsala University | Host-pathogen interactions | Intestinal organoids | Virulence gene regulation | Shigella and Salmonella | Functional genomics | Affiliated to the SellinLab @sellinlab.bsky.social
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Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
zeynepbaharoglu.bsky.social
🦠 Launching a bimonthly digest on RNA modifications and related topics in bacteria!🤩 First issue: Summer 2025. Shared here + by email, future ones will be quicker reads! 😅 #rnasky #microsky #ribosome Subscribe and share if you are interested! rnamodifupdates.substack.com/p/rna-modifi...
RNA modifications digest Summer 2025
Bimonthly newsletter: RNA modifications and related topics, mostly in bacteria. Summer 2025, first issue!
rnamodifupdates.substack.com
Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
utm-research.bsky.social
Could lab-grown mini-organs help scientists research a range of infections? A new study published in Nature Genetics shows how researchers have mapped how the Shigella bacterium infects the human gut.

Read our interview with study co-author — and UTM Biology prof — Lars Barquist at uoft.me/bI7.
Prof. Lars Barquist. Story title: One the Map: Experimental Research Uses Cultured Mini-Organs to Study Infections
mldm.bsky.social
Excited to be at #EESMicrobiology this week presenting our latest work on #Shigella gut #organoid infection screen from our recent Nature Genetics paper (see below)!
Stop by poster 109 or just look for me, happy to chat and connect!
#Microbiology #Shigella #Organoids #TraDIS
Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
natureportfolio.nature.com
A study in Nature Genetics establishes the comprehensive genome-wide map of Shigella genes required to infect human intestinal epithelium. go.nature.com/4e7fdKp 🧬 🧪
This is figure 2, which shows a genome-wide map of the Shigella geneset required to invade the human enteroid infection model.
mldm.bsky.social
Huge congratulations to Thibault Frisch for leading this work to completion with remarkable insight and drive, and thanks to all co-authors for making it happen! @sellinlab.bsky.social, @lbarquist.bsky.social, @andrenmateus.bsky.social, @holmqvist-lab.bsky.social
mldm.bsky.social
pcnB (poly-A polymerase I) sustains replication of the Shigella virulence plasmid at levels optimal for virulence and boosts intraepithelial expansion in intestinal organoid monolayers.
mldm.bsky.social
New preprint out: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We followed up on our recent Nature Genetics paper mapping Shigella colonization in intestinal organoids with a deep dive into one of the screen hits: pcnB.

#Shigella #virulence #microsky
www.biorxiv.org
Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
sellinlab.bsky.social
Our latest work combines human gut epithelial #organoid culture with experimental #Shigella #infections, transposon mutagenesis, and statistical modeling. This has led to the mapping of the comprehensive geneset that drives Shigella epithelial colonization.

Out @natgenet.nature.com:

rdcu.be/eqGgf
A scalable gut epithelial organoid model reveals the genome-wide colonization landscape of a human-adapted pathogen
Nature Genetics - A genome-wide screen using human gut epithelial organoids combined with transposon-directed insertion sequencing identifies over 100 Shigella flexneri genes required for...
rdcu.be
mldm.bsky.social
Stay tuned for a follow up story coming out soon!
Reposted by Maria Letizia Di Martino
scilifelab.se
“we used mini organs, specifically mini-intestines, and infected them with a dangerous bacterium called Shigella” says @mldm.bsky.social

@sellinlab.bsky.social‬ (SciLifeLab & @uu.se) shows that cultured mini-organs can uncover how pathogens cause disease

youtu.be/xG_66ZGd_fk
Lab-grown mini-organs help uncover how pathogens cause disease
YouTube video by SciLifeLab
youtu.be
mldm.bsky.social
Deeply grateful to @sellinlab.bsky.social for the unwavering support! And special thanks to our lab members Anjeela Bhetwal, @erixoneriksson.bsky.social, Ana Lopes, Angelika Ntokaki, and Martina Pasqua for their contributions. Also grateful to @andrenmateus.bsky.social and our clinical collaborators
mldm.bsky.social
This study was co-led with our outstanding collaborators @lbarquist.bsky.social and Laura Jenniches — whose computational expertise was key to making this possible.
mldm.bsky.social
One of the most exciting insights: Shigella uses tRNA-modifying enzymes and codon usage bias to fine-tune its virulence!