Shaul Pollak
@envsysmicro.at
Assistant Professor
Environmental Systems Microbiology.
Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, Ecology
w: https://www.envsysmicro.at
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
@cemess.bsky.social
@univie.ac.at.
Environmental Systems Microbiology.
Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, Ecology
w: https://www.envsysmicro.at
@dome-vienna.bsky.social
@cemess.bsky.social
@univie.ac.at.
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Arbitrium systems control lysis/lysogeny through the regulation of small antirepressor proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.689978v1
November 25, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Arbitrium systems control lysis/lysogeny through the regulation of small antirepressor proteins https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.23.689978v1
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
GlobDB: a comprehensive species-dereplicated microbial genome resource
AbstractMotivation. Over the past years, substantial numbers of microbial species’ genomes have been deposited outside of conventional INSDC databases.Resu
doi.org
November 21, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Our paper describing the GlobDB is now published in @bioinfoadv.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
doi.org/10.1093/bioa...
The GlobDB is the largest species dereplicated genome database currently available, containing 306,260 species representatives.
More information on globdb.org 1/5
🖥️🧬🦠
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
November 20, 2025 at 8:40 PM
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Thrilled to share our new work uncovering how membrane transporters determine resource-size preferences in gut bacteria, and showing that deleting a single protein domain can shift a transporter’s preference from long to short fructans. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Niche partitioning by resource size in the gut microbiome
Niche partitioning promotes diversity of the human gut microbiota. However, the molecular basis of resource specialization and niche separation in the gut remains poorly understood. Here we show that ...
www.biorxiv.org
November 17, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Thrilled to share our new work uncovering how membrane transporters determine resource-size preferences in gut bacteria, and showing that deleting a single protein domain can shift a transporter’s preference from long to short fructans. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Please apply for this, and/or encourage your mentees and peers to do so!
Every year #ESEB distinguishes a young evolutionary biologist with the John Maynard Smith Prize! Nominations for the 2026 prize are due by January 15th!
Find out more here: eseb.org/prizes-fundi...
Find out more here: eseb.org/prizes-fundi...
November 19, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Please apply for this, and/or encourage your mentees and peers to do so!
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Introgression impacts the evolution of bacteria, but species borders are rarely fuzzy
Nature Communications - It is commonly thought that bacterial species borders tend to be fuzzy, due to frequent exchange of DNA. Here, Diop et al. quantify the patterns of gene flow between core...
rdcu.be
November 18, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Our latest paper is out with @adiop.bsky.social and @gmdouglas.bsky.social. We analyzed the extent of homologous recombination between bacterial species (introgression) and how it affects species borders (it can vary a lot depending on the approach used to classify species!). rdcu.be/eQAMf
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Excited to share some new work led by grad student Sophie Walton (w/ @petrovadmitri.bsky.social). We used in vitro gut communities to study how natural selection acts on strains of the same species as they compete within larger communities. Check out Sophie's thread below for details!
Super excited that the bulk of my PhD work is now preprinted! Here we used whole-community competition, or coalescence, experiments to quantify selection acting on genetically diverged strains within larger communities. (1/n)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 3:43 AM
Excited to share some new work led by grad student Sophie Walton (w/ @petrovadmitri.bsky.social). We used in vitro gut communities to study how natural selection acts on strains of the same species as they compete within larger communities. Check out Sophie's thread below for details!
My brother wrote this.
Unimaginable violence that has been happening since 67, supported by every single government since.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Unimaginable violence that has been happening since 67, supported by every single government since.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Lynch mobs, arson, animal slaughter: West Bank faces unprecedented Israeli violence
Israeli Settler Militias, Backed by Soldiers, Are Laying Waste to Palestinian Communities – Beating Residents, Torching Crops, Smashing Cars, Slaughtering Animals. Jonathan Pollak, Who Accompanies Pal...
www.haaretz.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:43 PM
My brother wrote this.
Unimaginable violence that has been happening since 67, supported by every single government since.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Unimaginable violence that has been happening since 67, supported by every single government since.
www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
My lab is hiring postdocs! We combine AI, protein structure prediction and comparison, and high-throughput virology to study the virus-host conflict.
You can read more about my lab's research here: jasonnomburg.com/research/
Apply here to join us in lovely Vienna! aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/0khkxp82
You can read more about my lab's research here: jasonnomburg.com/research/
Apply here to join us in lovely Vienna! aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/0khkxp82
The Starting Principal Investigators at #AITHYRA the Research Institute for Biomedical Artificial Intelligence of the OeAW in Vienna invite outstanding candidates to apply for postdoctoral positions in the field of AI/ML & Life Sciences.
www.oeaw.ac.at/aithyra/post...
Please apply by 20 Nov 2025!
www.oeaw.ac.at/aithyra/post...
Please apply by 20 Nov 2025!
October 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM
My lab is hiring postdocs! We combine AI, protein structure prediction and comparison, and high-throughput virology to study the virus-host conflict.
You can read more about my lab's research here: jasonnomburg.com/research/
Apply here to join us in lovely Vienna! aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/0khkxp82
You can read more about my lab's research here: jasonnomburg.com/research/
Apply here to join us in lovely Vienna! aithyra.onlyfy.jobs/job/0khkxp82
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
🚨Exciting 🧪👩🎓🦠 job alert 🚨
Postdoc position on dark microbial O2 production in marine oxygen minimum zones with Bo Thamdrup and @beatekraft.bsky.social at @sdu.dk
Love fieldwork, stable isotopes, the sea and a fantastic team? Then apply -> fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoc position on dark microbial O2 production in marine oxygen minimum zones with Bo Thamdrup and @beatekraft.bsky.social at @sdu.dk
Love fieldwork, stable isotopes, the sea and a fantastic team? Then apply -> fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoc on microbial oxygen production in marine oxygen minimum zones
Application deadline: 17 November 2025 at 23:59 hours local Danish time
fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com
October 18, 2025 at 8:58 AM
🚨Exciting 🧪👩🎓🦠 job alert 🚨
Postdoc position on dark microbial O2 production in marine oxygen minimum zones with Bo Thamdrup and @beatekraft.bsky.social at @sdu.dk
Love fieldwork, stable isotopes, the sea and a fantastic team? Then apply -> fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Postdoc position on dark microbial O2 production in marine oxygen minimum zones with Bo Thamdrup and @beatekraft.bsky.social at @sdu.dk
Love fieldwork, stable isotopes, the sea and a fantastic team? Then apply -> fa-eosd-saasfaprod1.fa.ocs.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
October 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Feel free to contact me for info about this open position and the project! Fully funded through @hfspo.bsky.social and in collaboration with @jacrickets.bsky.social and Shawn McGlynn
Postdoc opportunity in Dal Bello Lab at Yale EEB (starting Dec 2025). Focus is on microbial ecology and learning mechanisms. Apply via email to Martina with CV. More info: https://www.dalbellolab.com/ #postdoc
dal bello lab
dal bello lab
www.dalbellolab.com
September 25, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Feel free to contact me for info about this open position and the project! Fully funded through @hfspo.bsky.social and in collaboration with @jacrickets.bsky.social and Shawn McGlynn
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
We are looking for a postdoc to study single-cell transcriptional heterogeneity in the human skin microbiome.
We have a new protocol mostly developed, but need someone to see it through. Experience with protocol dev or RNAseq appreciated.
Funded by a new grant from MIT-HEALS.
We have a new protocol mostly developed, but need someone to see it through. Experience with protocol dev or RNAseq appreciated.
Funded by a new grant from MIT-HEALS.
September 12, 2025 at 4:49 PM
We are looking for a postdoc to study single-cell transcriptional heterogeneity in the human skin microbiome.
We have a new protocol mostly developed, but need someone to see it through. Experience with protocol dev or RNAseq appreciated.
Funded by a new grant from MIT-HEALS.
We have a new protocol mostly developed, but need someone to see it through. Experience with protocol dev or RNAseq appreciated.
Funded by a new grant from MIT-HEALS.
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Bifido adaptations across hosts
@halllab.bsky.social survey insects, reptiles, birds & mammals to uncover how Bifidobacterium adapts to hosts. Bifidobacterium & host exhibit strong co-phylogenetic associations, driven by vertical transmission & dietary selection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
@halllab.bsky.social survey insects, reptiles, birds & mammals to uncover how Bifidobacterium adapts to hosts. Bifidobacterium & host exhibit strong co-phylogenetic associations, driven by vertical transmission & dietary selection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Host-specific microbiome and genomic signatures in Bifidobacterium reveal co-evolutionary and functional adaptations across diverse animal hosts
Bifidobacterium are beneficial members of the microbiota across animal hosts. Kujawska
et al. demonstrate that bifidobacteria have likely co-evolved more closely with mammals,
particularly primates, a...
www.cell.com
September 11, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Bifido adaptations across hosts
@halllab.bsky.social survey insects, reptiles, birds & mammals to uncover how Bifidobacterium adapts to hosts. Bifidobacterium & host exhibit strong co-phylogenetic associations, driven by vertical transmission & dietary selection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
@halllab.bsky.social survey insects, reptiles, birds & mammals to uncover how Bifidobacterium adapts to hosts. Bifidobacterium & host exhibit strong co-phylogenetic associations, driven by vertical transmission & dietary selection
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
See our new study examining how P additions in tropical rainforests affect tree growth and feedback to AMF and EMF communities. Very interesting links to EMF biomass production strategies. Great work led by Qingshui Yu 🍄🟫🍄
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Decadal nutrient addition reveals phosphorus limitation and its adaptive mechanisms in tropical rainforests
Tropical rainforests on low-phosphorus soils are highly biodiverse and productive, playing a crucial role in climate change mitigation. However, the d…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 11, 2025 at 7:04 PM
See our new study examining how P additions in tropical rainforests affect tree growth and feedback to AMF and EMF communities. Very interesting links to EMF biomass production strategies. Great work led by Qingshui Yu 🍄🟫🍄
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Glenn
YouTube video by Slint - Topic
youtu.be
September 3, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
📢 New paper in @nature.com
Microbes rock 🎸🤘 with sulfide and iron minerals
I am very excited to share our recent study, which describes a previously unknown microbial energy metabolism ⚡⚡⚡🦠🧫⚡⚡⚡
🆕 Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - MISO
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbes rock 🎸🤘 with sulfide and iron minerals
I am very excited to share our recent study, which describes a previously unknown microbial energy metabolism ⚡⚡⚡🦠🧫⚡⚡⚡
🆕 Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - MISO
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - Nature
Genomic and biochemical analyses of prokaryotic sulfur metabolism identify diverse microorganisms with the capacity to oxidize sulfide using iron(iii).
www.nature.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:17 PM
📢 New paper in @nature.com
Microbes rock 🎸🤘 with sulfide and iron minerals
I am very excited to share our recent study, which describes a previously unknown microbial energy metabolism ⚡⚡⚡🦠🧫⚡⚡⚡
🆕 Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - MISO
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Microbes rock 🎸🤘 with sulfide and iron minerals
I am very excited to share our recent study, which describes a previously unknown microbial energy metabolism ⚡⚡⚡🦠🧫⚡⚡⚡
🆕 Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation - MISO
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
August 20, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Out after peer review, collaborative study from Nordborg & Weigel labs with help from many others. Not the largest collection of new Arabidopsis thaliana genomes, but we hopefully put forward some good ideas for how to think about pangenomes and their analysis!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years theonion.com/search-...
August 16, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Search For Self Called Off After 38 Years theonion.com/search-...
Reposted by Shaul Pollak
Excited to share a new preprint w/ the Sonnenberg lab, led by Matt Carter, @zzzhiru.bsky.social & @mattolm.bsky.social. We analyzed the microbiomes of two non-industrialized populations from opposite sides of the globe to try to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of our gut microbiota.
Prehistoric Global Migration of Vanishing Gut Microbes With Humans
The gut microbiome is crucial for health and greatly affected by lifestyle. Many microbes common in non-industrialized populations are disappearing or extinct in industrialized populations. Understand...
www.biorxiv.org
August 16, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Excited to share a new preprint w/ the Sonnenberg lab, led by Matt Carter, @zzzhiru.bsky.social & @mattolm.bsky.social. We analyzed the microbiomes of two non-industrialized populations from opposite sides of the globe to try to reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of our gut microbiota.