@westermannlab
Microbiota RNA Lab at the University of Würzburg and the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research. https://www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/research/associated-scientists-alumni/teams/team/host-pathogen-microbiota-interactions/
We are looking for RNA enthusiasts to join us at the @uniregensburg.bsky.social as a junior group leader! Our university offer excellent infrastructure and collaboration opportunities for ground breaking RNA research. Please RT @jrrnascientists.bsky.social @rnasociety.bsky.social
We have an open position for a #PhD student (last week to apply!) & a lab technician/TA. For more information see: www.beuschlab.org/join-us
Interested in understanding post-transcriptional regulation and how #RNA #splicing decisions are made? Then take a look or share with people who might be! 🧪🧫
Like bacteria, phages use sRNAs to regulate gene expression! Out today in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social, @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social and I highlight a recent RIL-seq study from the @saharmelamed.bsky.social lab that looked into posttranscriptional regulation of lambda!
tinyurl.com/lambda-RIL-seq
Looking for a truly unique PhD programme on RNA drugs and therapeutics? We have just opened the call for the second cohort of RNAmed-Future leaders in RNA-based medicine. More details under www.rnamed.de Please spread the word.
Two days of inspiring exchange 🧬🤝✨
On February 10 and 11, our Scientific Advisory Board came together to review the scientific orientation and performance of #HIRI. We are grateful for the insightful discussions and valuable feedback.
👉 Read more: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/newsroom/...
Thrilled to announce that I’ve just opened my research lab at @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social !
A huge thank you to my mentor Roi Avraham (and lab members!) for the incredible training and support that made this possible.
Do you want to understand how RNA #splicing decisions are made? We‘ve got a PhD position open for you (see 👇👇)!!
Please share #RNAsky and RT!
tinyurl.com/4ztu9cb9
📢 We are hiring 📢 1st round of recruiting for our ERC project BacImmune-Decode! @erc.europa.eu
We are looking for a postdoc for wet-lab work on regulation of phage defence systems in bacteria using high-throughput microbial genetics. Check it out: lnkd.in/es7AE968
#Hiring #Postdoc #Microbiology
Our first paper is out today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com!
We introduce a prostate organoid model and show that UPEC invades prostate cells via FimH binding to the prostate-specific protein PAPP. A step toward targeted therapies against bacterial prostatitis. 🎉
#UTI #UPEC #Organoids #AMR
3′UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
RIL-seq boosts the study of sRNAs. Here comes its first application to intracellular bacteria. Plus, 10 years after its characterization, we now present an RNA sponge of Salmonella PinT.
Congrats to @kooshapour.bsky.social & great collaboration w/ @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social!
doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
🎓 Congrats to Elise Bornet, who completed her PhD this week! Her courageous work dissected morphological heterogeneity in predominant human gut commensals, and yielded an ultra-sensitive transcriptomics pipeline to sequence the RNA content of single Bacteroides cells. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
Grateful to be among the 25 inspiring women featured in @zeit.de as part of the #Zia fellowship for Visible Women in Science. Thanks to @uni-wuerzburg.de for their support and to everyone involved for making scientific work by women more visible. Honored and proud to be part of this initiative ☺️.
Our new paper from my PhD work is online. It shows how bacterial population structure can trick machine learning—sampling matters! Many thanks to @lbarquist.bsky.social for the support and guidance! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
How does a bacterial small RNA evolve new functions?
Our new study reveals the stepwise evolutionary journey of UhpU, a 3′UTR-derived sRNA in E. coli and relatives. It evolved from a metabolically-focused regulator to one with expanded targets and biogenesis manner.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
🔊 Interested in doing a PhD on RNA-binding proteins in an abundant microbiota species and becoming a member of the German Priority Programme “Illuminating Gene Functions in the Human Gut Microbiome”? Apply here: www.uni-wuerzburg.de/karriere/sin...
De-DUFing the DUFs 🧩 @franznarberhaus.bsky.social lab uncovers how small DUF1127 proteins regulate #phosphate uptake by binding the sensor kinase PhoR. Their conserved role from Agrobacterium to E. coli highlights how even small DUFs can shape bacterial physiology 🦠
buff.ly/jJd9Eho
Excited to share our preprint led by Carlos Voogdt et al
We developed new genetic tools & genome-wide libraries for species of the Bacteroidales order; constructed saturated barcoded transposon libraries in key representatives of three genera.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
How to search for unknown RNA-binding proteins? We did GradR in the cyanobacterium Synechocystis 6803. And now our paper „RAPDOR: Using Jensen-Shannon Distance for the computational analysis of complex proteomics dataset“ is finally out in Nature Communications, here: rdcu.be/eImcr .
Congrats to Ann-Sophie Rüttiger who successfully defended her PhD this week! 🎓
She focused on global RNA-binding proteins in Bacteroides—bacteria lacking Hfq, ProQ, CsrA, Khp—culminating in the discovery of a post-transcriptional network governed by RbpB (www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55383-8).
Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…
New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Wenhan Zhu (U Vanderbilt): using dual RNA-seq during B. theta colonization of the host mucous layer, we identify IroR--an iron-response sRNA that tunes capsule expression and facilitates adaptation to iron limitation.
doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.08.672848
Starting the meeting microbes and RNA- Gerhart on stage - lifetime achievement Lecture - congrats Gerhart!
A Salmonella T3SS-2 mutant grows fine in spleen macrophages, contradicting tissue culture dogma (PMID: 23236281). This observation was largely ignored, but adding certain carbon sources rescues growth in cultured macrophages, hinting that T3SS-2 may be doing something entirely different in vivo.
Latest preprint from the lab: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In this study lead by @lenaamend.bsky.social from the group, we explore carbon cross-feeding between a gut commensal and an enteropathogen. Can we counter infection by cutting sugar supply to pathogens?
Absolutely delighted to share the labs latest work. We identify and characterise two pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic EHEC and Citrobacter.
Finally online!
Our latest research is out @nature.com: We show that non-antibiotic drugs can disrupt colonization resistance, raising the risk of enteric infections.
rdcu.be/ewwrG
Left: Compound-promoter interaction network. Fifty-three significant compound-promoter interactions are shown as edges in a Sankey diagram connecting the compounds (left, source nodes) to the promoters (right, target nodes). Edge thickness represents mean Z-scores (n = 8), while node size represents the total number of interactions. Right: Proposed model for the molecular mechanism of caffeine-ciprofloxacin antagonism. Caffeine triggers expression of MicF small RNA in a Rob-dependent manner, which then binds to the 5′-UTR of ompF mRNA to inhibit and decrease OmpF protein levels. This ultimately prevents ciprofloxacin from entering the cell, resulting in caffeine-ciprofloxacin antagonism
How are bacterial transport machineries regulated by external cues? @brochadolab.bsky.social &co identify environmental chemicals that regulate #transporter transcription, identifying the TF Rob as a key modulator of #EffluxPump expression in #Ecoli #AMR @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46pUM9Q
New preprint! We characterise the small, regulatory RNA Arp which controls DNA uptake and twitching motilty in A. baumannii. Led by our Dr Fergal Hamrock @hamrockfergal.bsky.social and in collaboration with @westermannlab.bsky.social and Mike Gebhardt's lab!