Luiz Pedro Carvalho, PhD

Acidic pH Restricts Non‐Tuberculous Mycobacteria Replication Different nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) species display unique replication profiles in acidic pH in vitro which correlates to their replication within human macrophages. Inhibition of the acidic ...

Very happy to see this out! Great work by @lockwop.bsky.social @crick.ac.uk and first paper on NTMs from the lab! Parise made a set of 12 fluorescently labelled NTMs covering environmental and opportunistic mycobacteria...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Visiting SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory & Stanford University, and Soichi Wakatsuki and Matthias Wilmanns. Super exciting times... 😍

Beautiful and solid work on trehalose monomycolate synthesis in mycobacteria by @figlegend.bsky.social lab. Check it out folks. Also, for the non-enzymologists, product inhibition is a thing, and actually does matter. 😜

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

The Structura logo with dates for the workshop listed. The bottom reads "Hosted by SickKids and Structura Biotechnology"

Deadline approaching to register for the @structurabio.bsky.social & @sickkidsto.bsky.social CryoSPARC workshop in Toronto!
Open to all, this is a unique opportunity to learn CryoSPARC from the experts at Structura.
April 30/May, 2026.
For more information and to register:
tinyurl.com/y42pf4wy

A small polymerase ribozyme that can synthesize itself and its complementary strand The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

How could a simple self-replicating system emerge at the origins of life? RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but existing ones are so large that their self-replication seems impossible. Could they be smaller?

Excited to share our latest work in @science.org on a new small polymerase.
1/n

Congrats Allison! Particularly on the first achievement!

😉👍

Beautiful and extensive work from the @carobarisch.bsky.social and @soldatilab.bsky.social labs demonstrating that nutrient utilization in intracellular mycobacteria is dependent on their intracellular location.

Visionary work!!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

UK’s £8bn research fund faces “hard decisions” as it pauses new grants UKRI boss Ian Chapman said it had been told by the government to

Helpful update into UKRI and research council funding changes from Zoe Kleinman @zsk.bsky.social

But please more focus on 2 things...

1) Immediate effects (eg funding decisions expected in March)

2) Likely disproportionate effects on early career scientists

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Excited to announce the upcoming 2026 Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity GRC and GRS meeting taking place July 12 - 17, 2026 at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. This meeting will be chaired by yours truly and co-chaired by
@sunnyshinlab.bsky.social www.grc.org/microbial-to...

Bacteria chromosomes contain Genomic Islands that provide virulence, antibiotic resistance, MGE-defence,... They transfer between cells, but the mechanism of most remains elusive.

Here we explore the conjugative capacity of these mysterious Genomic Islands.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@poojag96.bsky.social work on the bioenergetics of spore germination is now published- Pooja had a really nice summary that I've put below but essentially we think the role of bioenergetics in spore germination has been completely overlooked!

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

We are hiring new faculty!! Come join our amazing community in the Department of Molecular Microbiology at Washington University School of Medicine! The deadline for applications is 2/21, but applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. facultyopportunities.wustl.edu/Posting/Deta...

Nice work Jeremy!! Very cool indeed.

Thanks Julien!! Enjoy the holidays! 😉❤️

Happy holidays Eachan! And enjoy the reading!

Thanks Lucas! 🙏

Many thanks Laurent!

Thanks Zamin!

Thanks Gabriele! Now, the next decade should tell us the impact of individual lipid classes in bacterial viability, immunity, etc. exciting times!

Thanks Pierre!!! 🙏😉

Thanks Rock Lab!! 🙏

Thanks Lis! And you guys have a great Christmas and wonderful 2026!

Thanks Snezhka!! 😜

thanks Jamie. Rob is a superstar! Super interesting stuff next, of course.

Thank you John! Looking forward to meet you in person one of these days.

This knowledge could accelerate antibiotic discovery and help explain past vaccine development challenges, as these strongly immunogenic lipids are missing under standard culture conditions. @crick.ac.uk @wertheimufscripps.bsky.social

Discovery of a glycerol 3-phosphate phosphatase reveals glycerophospholipid polar head recycling in Mycobacterium tuberculosis | PNAS Functional assignment of enzymes encoded by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome is largely incomplete despite recent advances in genomics and bio...

This work builds on a previous study led by Gerald Larrouy-Maumus @imperialsci.bsky.social, describing for the first time phospholipid polar head catabolism in Mtb, which suggested both housekeeping and nutritional roles for this pathway.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

These findings highlight that decades of research have focused on an artificial lipid profile, shaped by the high phosphate content of Middlebrook media and likely modestly relevant for infection. The data also reveals a high degree of plasticity in the composition of Mtb cell envelope.

Remarkably, this phosphate-limitation response does not kill the bacterium, suggesting it is reversible and functionally equivalent. Electron microscopy by Max Gutierrez @maxgg.bsky.social and colleagues shows a structured and ~10% thicker cell envelope associated with this remodeling.