Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

Karolinska Institutet @ki.se · 3d

The 2025 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body 🧪 www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medic...

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Doudna Lab @doudna-lab.bsky.social · 7d

"Jane Goodall showed us what a life in science could look like: rigorous discovery paired with fierce advocacy for what you study. She gave the world six decades of groundbreaking research on chimpanzees and their habitats, then turned that knowledge into a global movement for conservation." (1/2)

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Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid) @vdlorenzo.bsky.social · 16d

Once upon a time Desk Editors quietly fixed minor issues in accepted papers to ensure format compliance. Now, even the smallest formatting slip sends a ms back to the authors for trivial corrections. Is this really about maintaining standards—or just saving salaries of those used to handle this 🤔?

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Alexander Hogrebe, PhD @alexhgo.bsky.social · 19d

Diese #Klimademo war laut, bunt, wütend, hoffnungsvoll - ich bin stolz auf dich #Berlin, weiter so 💪🏻

Hund Chico vor den Scientist For Future bei der Berliner Klimademo

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Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid) @vdlorenzo.bsky.social · 27d

Bio-desulfurization of fossil fuels has been a classic env biotech challenge for decades, but the field became stagnant for a while … until @pglekas.bsky.social et al leveraged SynBio tools to develop superior whole-cell catalysts enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 😱

Boosting Dibenzothiophene Biodesulfurization Through Implantation of a Refactored DBT Pathway in a Tailored Pseudomonas putida Chassis

This study engineered a Pseudomonas putida strain to efficiently remove sulfur from dibenzothiophene (DBT) by reordering and optimising the dsz operon from Rhodococcus qingshengii IGTS8, enhancing ca...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Sebastian Wenk @sebwenk.bsky.social · Sep 6

That's a great idea. Wish you a pleasant transition and as said before: tell us where you are heading ;-)

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Richard Sever @richardsever.bsky.social · Aug 27

Very honored to receive the Royal Society Research Culture Award - this represents the work of a great team who've worked non-stop since we launched bioRxiv in 2013 royalsociety.org/news/2025/08... www.cshl.edu/inglis-and-s...

Invisibility cloak pioneer Sir John Pendry awarded Royal Society’s top prize | Royal Society

The Royal Society announces the medals and awards recipients 2025

royalsociety.org

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Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

Andrew Roger @andrewjroger.bsky.social · Aug 25

I gave a symposium talk at the European Society for Evolutionary Biology 2025 (#eseb2025) meeting last week and this was my title slide showcasing how I was speaking as an independent scientist because @dalhousieu.bsky.social @dalhousie.bsky.social has locked us out.

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Pablo Ivan Nikel @pabnik.bsky.social · Aug 21

#Synthetic C1 #metabolism in #Pseudomonas putida enables strict formatotrophy and methylotrophy via the reductive glycine pathway—led by J. Turlin, M. G. Alván, @oscarpuiggene.bsky.social w/@stefanodonati.bsky.social & @sebwenk.bsky.social @mbio.bsky.social #SynBio
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Synthetic C1 metabolism in Pseudomonas putida enables strict formatotrophy and methylotrophy via the reductive glycine pathway | mBio

Soluble C1 feedstocks, such as formate and methanol, have gained attention as sustainable substrates for biotechnology, with the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on sugar-based resources. Despite their promise, the metabolic ...

journals.asm.org

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labnikel.bsky.social @labnikel.bsky.social · Aug 22

A discovery journey of almost 4 years initiated by J. Turlin, and then continued by M. G. Alván, @oscarpuiggene.bsky.social with the precious collaboration of @stefanodonati.bsky.social and @sebwenk.bsky.social!
5/5

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Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid) @vdlorenzo.bsky.social · Aug 12

Spain is on fire. Italy, Greece, Portugal — all burning. We have had summer fires before, but never like this. This is climate breakdown in real time. It is killing people, animals, and our future. DAMN the climate deniers. DAMN those who know and could do but do NOTHING www.bbc.com/news/article...

Wildfires rage across southern Europe as temperatures pass 40C

The heatwave has led to red alerts being issued in parts of Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and the Balkans.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · Aug 11

There are more than a million Dominicans in NYC, and yesterday on 6th Avenue I felt every bit of that pride.

Thank you for welcoming me in to celebrate the vibrant, beautiful culture and community that does so much for our city. 🇩🇴

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Sebastian Wenk @sebwenk.bsky.social · Jul 27

Fascinating story. Congratulations Danny 🥳

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Paula Ramiro-Martínez @paularamiro.bsky.social · Jul 22

New paper alert! 🚨

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate.

We combine theory, simulations, experimental evolution, and bioinformatics to demonstrate that mutation rates scale with plasmid copy number.

Let's dive in! 🧵👇

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate

Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

www.biorxiv.org

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Tom Ellis @proftomellis.bsky.social · Jun 30

We're hiring for 2 postdocs to work in our lab in London on the newly announced Wellcome Trust SynHG project. If you know people looking to work on big-scale ambitious science like this, please RT and share this with them. Apply by 7/20, interviews in Aug. imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

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Animalcules @bacteriophile.bsky.social · Jun 14

Bacteria poison and eat their neighbors | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacteria poison and eat their neighbors

Bacteria leverage a secretion system to kill and scavenge nutrients from nearby competitors

www.science.org

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Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

Natanella Illouz-Eliaz @natanellae.bsky.social · Jun 11

We are strict with time #TCTeAC

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Jan-Willem Veening @veeninglab.com · Jun 10

New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...

DMF: Tenure Track Assistant Professor towards Associate Professor in Molecular Microbiology - Site des postulations FBM

wwwfbm.unil.ch

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Roland Hatzenpichler @environmicrobio.bsky.social · Jun 9

@asm.org and @vscooper.micropopbio.org #ASMMicrobe is there a plan for ASM Microbe next week to guarantee the safety of all attendees? Given there will be hundreds or thousands of international attendees how can they be safe from ICE, the National Guard, and rioters? #microsky 🦠🧪

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Sebastian Wenk @sebwenk.bsky.social · Jun 3

Mega! Congratulations Dr. Orsi. Looking forward to future collaborations and fruitful exchanges for our quest to sustainable bioproduction ♻️🧪🦠🧑‍🔬

Enrico Orsi @eorsi.bsky.social · Jun 3

🎉 Excited to share that I’ve received an Emerging Investigator Grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation! I’ll start my research group in Jan 2026 to develop universal cell factories for P2X & CO₂-based biomanufacturing 🌱🔬
👉 researchleaderprogramme.com/recipients/e...

Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

Max Fürst @maxfus.bsky.social · May 20

🚨 preprint 2️⃣ this month: our (purely experimental🧪) venture into #ChemBio
We prouldy present: ADD-tagging of proteins (or "ADDing") —a super convenient enzymatic technique to install click chemistry handles on proteins.
Led by superstar @wahyuwidodo.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A 🧵👇🏽

Overview of ADD-tagging including ADP-ribosyl cyclase (ADPRC)-catalysed dinucleotide substrate generation and two step chemoenzymatic labelling of target proteins with the flavin transferase ApbE, followed by click chemistry-based functional group attachment.

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WuTangIsForTheChildren @wutangforchildren.bsky.social · Apr 18

London bus stop near Amazon HQ 🔥

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Itai Yanai @itaiyanai.bsky.social · Apr 17

Journal editors are now receiving such letters from the US government. The entire scientific community must unite to support our journals in flatly resisting such illegal interventions.

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Sven T. Stripp @stripplab.bsky.social · Apr 9

Define fascism

MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · Apr 8

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist

"I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

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Reposted by Sebastian Wenk

MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · Apr 8

We're disappointed to see Ben Barres's powerful book "The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist" among the ~400 titles removed from the Naval Academy Library. Needless to say, we're proud to have published his book and will keep it — and his memory — alive.

The Coming Out of a Transgender Scientist

"I know that I am making the right decision because whenever I think about changing my gender role, I am flooded with feelings of relief."

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

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