Jeroen Meijer

Microbes grow in spatially structured communities. Bäcker et al. comprehensively synthesize evidence that spatial organization drives microbial ecological and evolutionary processes across scales. #FEMSMicrobiolRev buff.ly/wceLoPr @bramvandijk.bsky.social

Curious about the origin of development during the transition to multicellularity?

A very belated preprint alert: bit.ly/4rr2mHU
Reproduction emerges from ecological interactions at the onset of multicellularity.

A short 🧵 with lots of videos...

New paper showing that bacteria with more genes for cooperation can live in a broader range of habitats and that genes for cooperation are more more likely to be in the accessory genome www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @lauriebelch.bsky.social

The VEO Group at @uni-jena.de @microverse.bsky.social has an open position for a Bioinformatics Technician until the end of 2032! Join us to unlock the secrets of the Microverse from big datasets: jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/0...

Ad for Postdoctoral Scientist Position in Burmeister Lab on Bacteria-Phage Coevolution. Full document available here: https://arburmeister.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/9/9/19990727/burmeister_lab_postdoc_position_2026.pdf

Postdoc position on phage-bacteria coevolution available in the @aburmeister.bsky.social lab at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee #phage #evosky #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🔬 #microbiology

arburmeister.weebly.com/join-the-lab...

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨

Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!)

Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇

doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Volunteers plant 800 trees at Wistman’s Wood in Dartmoor as restoration work continues

Well done, Duchy of Cornwall, Natural England, Moor Trees, Woodland Trust. Dartmoor needs more rainforest!

duchyofcornwall.org/article/volu...

The VEO Group has a position open for a Scientific Coordinator Bioinformatics: 👇
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/5...

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

Space is the place (for microbes 🦠)!
Delighted to have contributed to this review on spatial structure in microbial communities by @marcelbaecker.bsky.social @simonvanvliet.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @bramvandijk.bsky.social and others.

Everyone knows that space and spatial structure is super important in shaping the Microverse 🌎🌍🌏 Check out this amazing review where @marcelbaecker.bsky.social and @bramvandijk.bsky.social et al bring together a huge body of knowledge @microverse.bsky.social @binfutrecht.bsky.social

Excited to share first preprint from our lab! @giubotti.bsky.social found that antibiotic tolerance in multispecies biofilms follows a surprising spatial pattern: cells survive only at intermediate distances from a partner species. 🦠 Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202...

Limits to the evolution of metabolic dependency in spatially structured microbial communities In microbial communities, evolutionary processes can lead to loss of biosynthetic pathways, creating metabolic dependencies. The Black Queen Hypothesi…

Excited to share our new paper led by Divvya Ramesh: Limits to the evolution of metabolic dependency in spatially structured microbial communities 🧫
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We have an open position for a bioinformatics/theoretical microbial ecology PhD student to study viral strategies in the global Microverse! Join us at the @microverse.bsky.social at @uni-jena.de, please apply through this link:
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/9...

Novel artificial selection method improves function of simulated microbial communities Author summary Artificial selection has been extremely powerful in improving properties of complex biological or biochemical entities. The most familiar examples come from the breeding of animals and ...

Thrilled to see this paper finally out! journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol... It was a difficult story to communicate and took us a while to get right. Big congratulations to @wbjorn.bsky.social, Pablo Guridi and Flora Arias-Sanchez!! And thank you the reviewers who helped improve it. Keep reading...

Phold's manuscript is now available @narjournal.bsky.social thanks to @susiegriggo.bsky.social @npbhavya.bsky.social @vijinim.bsky.social @linsalrob.bsky.social @martinsteinegger.bsky.social @milot.bsky.social @eunbelivable.bsky.social & others not on bsky #phagesky academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

PhD position in Jena! Unique German-French collaboration to work on integrating phage genomic modules into VirJenDB.org - make sense of #phages, #big_data, #front_end, #back_end, #database. Please apply here 👇
jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/c...

The distinction between virulent & temperate phages gets fuzzier if one can find so many virulent phages in the sequences of bacterial genomes coming from standard lab "pure" cultures. Check Peter's thread on our work and the N&V by Carson & Hynes: doi.org/10.1038/s415...
#phagesky #microsky

Dr. Marco Mauri, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Researcher in Biophysics in the "Theoretical Microbial Ecology" group of Prof. Rosalind Allen at the Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena

As my time as a researcher at FSU Jena and @microverse.bsky.social in the group of Rosalind Allen comes to an end, I warmly thank all collaborators and colleagues for the excellent science and discussions!

🚨I am (yes, again...) on the job market, looking for higher positions -->

"Planten kunnen niet poepen; daar hebben ze dieren voor nodig."

Welcome to Bluesky, @pieterhart.bsky.social!

Pieter just joined my group as a PhD student studying bacterial genome evolution—exciting years ahead!

Here he is enjoying a chat about his MSc work (w/ @kassipan.bsky.social & @ettema.bsky.social) at Science4Life @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social 🧬🦠✨

Comparison of short-read and long-read metagenome assemblies in a natural soil community highlights systematic bias in recovery of high-diversity populations Abstract. Comparisons of long-read and short-read (meta)genome assemblies typically show that short-read sequence assemblies are less error-prone, but stru

🧬🦠🚨 Another new paper alert, this time led by @maureenbug.bsky.social ! In collaboration with the Emerson lab and
@titus.idyll.org lab (@taylorreiter.bsky.social), both at UC Davis. Asking the question: what are we missing in short-read metagenome assembly, and why ?

doi.org/10.1093/narg...

Now officially published in Current Biology 🥳🥳 @mfseidl.bsky.social @binfutrecht.bsky.social

www.cell.com/current-biol...

I am very excited to announce that a fully funded PhD position is available in my group.

Topic: Synergistic coevolution in mono-specific and multi-species microbial consortia

Please RT or forward this information to interested candidates.

Deadline: 11.01.26

More info:

shorturl.at/f1TuF

Bacterial immune systems as causes and consequences of microbiome structure Bacterial immune systems have evolved in response to diverse molecular "parasites", yet their ecological roles remain poorly understood. This Essay explores how interactions between mobile genetic ele...

Very happy to see this piece out in @plosbiology.org, on the bacterial immune systems and microbial communities. It was a great team effort with Rafael Custodio, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social , @brownlab.bsky.social, and Edze Westra! 🦠🧫 #phagesky #mevosky

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

🚨New preprint out!
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz Team With ‘Ready or Not’ Filmmakers for New ‘Mummy’ Movie Radio Silence, the directing team known for the recent 'Scream' hits, will direct the feature for Universal.

Issuing a tentative but hopeful “holy shit”
www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

#microsky #mevosky @spp2389.bsky.social

A PhD position is available in my lab to work on:

Emergence and self-organisation of bacterial metabolism in consortia of cross-feeding bacteria.

Please RT

Deadline: 12.11.25

More infos 👇
shorturl.at/rAKAT

Jumbo phage–mediated transduction of genomic islands | PNAS Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer, typically mediated by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages, and c...

@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎

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

Fantastic! Congratulations!!