RNA-guided systems span kingdoms, from bacterial immunity to eukaryotic gene regulation. How did they evolve? We traced the origins of CRISPR-Cas13 and identified its likely ancestor: an RNA-based toxin-antitoxin (TA) system. Here’s what we uncovered: cell.com/cell/fulltext/… 1/8

Still can’t believe I got the John Kendrew Award 2025! 🤯 Honored to be among such an amazing group of awardees. Huge thanks to my mentors Barabas group and @MartinJinek and former colleagues—both at EMBL and beyond—for all the support! 🎉

RNA-guided nucleases enable a gene drive of insertion sequences in plasmids biorxiv.org/content/10.110… #biorxiv_micrbio

Congrats to team TnpB Rachel F Weissman and Brittney Thornton for getting this story out! Not just one, but two DMS scans covering both protein and RNA, with plenty of insights on the sequence-function landscape and some important engineering successes!

The Vienna BioCenter PhD program in Molecular BioSciences will offer 25+ fully-funded positions in the Autumn Call which is now open. Please RT. Further details: vbcphd.at IMP IMBA imbavienna.bsky.social GMI Vienna gmivienna.bsky.social Max Perutz Labs Vienna Universität Wien MedUni Wien

Check out the Biochemistry, Biophysics and Structural groups that are offering fully funded positions in this call - we have 25+ openings. Pass on or share with your colleagues! ow.ly/UZAg50QJUer IMP IMBA imbavienna.bsky.social GMI Vienna gmivienna.bsky.social Max Perutz Labs Vienna Universität Wien MedUni Wien

Happy to share our manuscript on the in situ visualization of the copia retrotransposon in its final form today published in Cell cell.com/cell/fulltext/… . What’s new?

Congratulations to our incoming PI @Svenklumpe & collaborators - a great piece of science! Looking forward to Sven setting up Vienna BioCenter.

Telomeric transposons are pervasive in linear bacterial genomes | Science science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

🎉 Our Diana Pinheiro is featured in a Women in Science book! The book, part of Ciência Viva’s initiative, celebrates Portuguese women scientists. The latest volume launches tomorrow, #InternationalWomensDay, in Lisbon. 📖 Read more: imp.ac.at/news/article/d… #IWD2025

These are words being made "illegal" in government by NON-ELECTED people. How many describe you and your loved ones? Remember: the Nazis came first for the Jews..who's next here?

We are looking for a PhD student/Postdoc to develop methods of cryo-ET and/or study the structure and function of membrane proteins. Great team at the MDC in Berlin. It's a broad call, please apply and share! jobrxiv.org/job/max-delbru…

Happy to have Iana Hammerschmid in our team!

Great article about the bridge RNA discovery from Evan DeTurk! Very grateful that he took an interest in it and reached out to interview me and Nicholas Perry. berkeleysciencereview.com/article/2025/0…

A drug approved to treat migraine headaches can also alleviate debilitating non-headache symptoms, such as fatigue, brain fog and blinding light sensitivity go.nature.com/3RWbzc2

Tomorrow I’m joining four amazing colleagues from around the globe to talk about science journalism — how it can offer clarity, hope, and accountability in uncertain times. Don’t miss it! More info at: ista.ac.at/en/news-events…

What’s it like to be a postdoc at the Vienna BioCenter? Anna Osnato shares her experience from joining the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology. The VIP³ PostDoc Program call is open – apply now for this unique opportunity! training.vbc.ac.at/post-docs/vip3… #VBCPostDoc

Excited to see our work published in Science Advances! We present RBPseg, a method for structural prediction of #phage receptor-binding proteins. We applied it to diverse tail fibers and validated the predicted structures using #cryoEM. Read here: science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Excited to share my last major PhD work from the Sternberg Lab. We discovered a mechanism that initiates transcription at programmable sites, without requiring promoter sequences - a novel mode of transcription regulation in bacteria.

Exited to share that our RBPseg paper has just come out in Science Advances. Huge cograts to first author Victor Klein-Sousa and co-authors Aritz Roa, Claudia Kielkopf and nicholas sofos #phage #cryoEM #ArtificialIntelligence CPRatUCPH science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…