JChen Lab

Our latest! Phages no longer own transduction! Staph pathogenicity islands engage in lateral transduction and can also piggyback LT to drive genome hypermobility. Amazing work by @melchee92 @DrEsterSerrano @rbacigalupe @jrpenades @jrossfitz and others! authors.elsevier.com/a/1hW-hL7PXmd9j

Pleased to share our latest study @NatureComms. We show that the host metabolites fumarate and itaconate impose selective pressure on Staphylococcus aureus, driving its adaptation via the enzyme FumC. Grateful to all who contributed to this work! nature.com/articles/s4146…

A new encyclopedic review, for plasmid lovers: academic.oup.com/nar/article/53… We (Mapi, Eduardo and I) hope you like it!

1/11 New #MRSA #Staph publication from Dr. Diane Boff a talented former postdoc co-mentored by the @TorresVJ_Lab and @DrShrutiNaik! science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

@Yuanqiao1002 Congrats!

🎊It has been a long and tough journey💪, but the paper is finally out online. Excited to share this work led by my first PhD student, Chenyu elucidating the structures and functions of natural bacteria-derived PGNs in the host gut. doi.org/10.1038/s41467…

Happy to share our new preprint describing prophage encoded anti-phage defense system,TERi, that targets the terminase complex of invading phages to inhibit DNA packaging. The system also encode self immunity proteins that protect the prophage. biorxiv.org/content/biorxi…

New mechanism of gene transfer! With @CostaT_Lab @CBRB_Imperial, cf-PICIs form tail-less elements that, once released, spread among different bacterial species by hijacking tails from various phages. More exciting news soon! shorturl.at/kRJqE

We have a fully funded PhD scholarship for Aug 2025 intake. If you are interested in joining our research group, please check the admission requirement on the website and contact us. ntu.edu.sg/education/grad…

PhD projects at University of Leicester Including three phage projects .... With @MarthaClokie , and me. Including an iCASE project with Dr Abhinav Koyamangalath Vadakkepat , using cryoEM le.ac.uk/study/research…

Pls share: Microbiology faculty position available at Texas A&M University.

Our paper is finally out at Nature Microbiology. A team effort discovering Tailocin cell factories. Listeria monocytogenes bacteria produce and store ~6000 tailocins per cell in a remarkable way. nature.com/articles/s4156…

@hauryliuk @Eppendorf_Group We had a similar problem. For us it was was Qiagen minipreps. Some people don’t angle the lids of the tubes correctly in the elution step. The lids break off and they cause damage before being pulverized to dust.

Hey twitter! We have 2-year old @Eppendorf_Group 5418 R centrifuge - and the rotor fills up with dust and corrodes. The instrument is used for common molbiol activities. None of our non-@Eppendorf_Group centrifuges degrade this way. Any ideas? Anybody seem this happening before?

@jrpenades Congrats! Nice work Jose, @Lingchen_H, and team!

Latest from the lab! PICI and prophage-encoded Tai proteins protect cells by blocking phage tail assembly. Prophages counter with a mechanism allowing tail formation after induction. Defence and counter-defence genes are organised for expression. nature.com/articles/s4146…

1/7 Happy to share a new publication from the team spearheaded by @Keenan__Lacey published today in @ScienceAdvances. This project was started at @nyugrossman and was completed @StJudeResearch by @APickrum and A. Castellaw. science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

@yunnhwen @KJwushuguy @TrevorLithgow Congrats to all!

A wonderful 4 year collaboration with Hanah Margalit & her excellent team on #sRNAs, adding another layer of control to #capsule regulation in #hvKp. academic.oup.com/nar/advance-ar… @KJwushuguy @TrevorLithgow

Our T6SS paper on TssA is now available @NatureComms A publication marathon but so happy to see this accepted on my birthday TssA is an intriguing protein providing specificity and fine tuning in T6SS assembly and firing. Thank you so much for your brilliant work Selina et al

@jrpenades Congrats, Jose! For sure you earned it!

I don't think I deserve this, but I am honoured to be elected and very grateful to my family, past and present group members, collaborators, and mentors for making it possible! As a Spaniard, I also thank this country for such extraordinary recognition. royalsociety.org/news/2024/05/n…

Thank you to our excellent reviewers and Editor for helping us to improve significantly this review with their very useful comments!

@jrossfitz @roslininstitute @EdinburghUni @RoyalSocEd Congrats, Ross!

Honoured to be elected and very grateful to group members past and present, collaborators, mentors, and family for making it possible ! @roslininstitute @EdinburghUni @RoyalSocEd

Just missing April fool's, here is something that is no laughing matter: nature.com/articles/s4156… In @NatureMicrobiol, we describe how a prophage avoids autoimmunity from its own defence systems