Gerrich
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gerrich.bsky.social
Gerrich
@gerrich.bsky.social
Non-conventional microbes, metabolic engineering and microbial genetics. Bacteria go brrr

Finally, finished with my thesis, now off to new frontiers!

https://orcid.org/0009-0004-1949-532X
Pinned
My last thesis paper post:
This one is for plasmid enthusiasts.
Comparing seven different replication system for application in the Zymomonas mobilis.
The pBBR1 replicon and six replicons from native Z. mobilis plasmids of different strains.

Published in @microbiotech.bsky.social 🧪
Construction and comparison of different vehicles for heterologous gene expression in Zymomonas mobilis
In this study, a series of shuttle vectors compatible with modular cloning were constructed based on the replication mechanisms of the native Z. mobilis plasmids pZMO1, pZMOB04, pZMOB05, pZMOB06, pZM...
doi.org
Reposted by Gerrich
How does fever work?

Our new Science paper shows how elevated body temperature can protect against severe influenza and that avian-origin viruses escape this defence.

This is likely one reason why bird flus and some pandemic influenzas can be so severe.🧵

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Avian-origin influenza A viruses tolerate elevated pyrexic temperatures in mammals
Host body temperature can define a virus’s replicative profile—influenza A viruses (IAVs) adapted to 40° to 42°C in birds are less temperature sensitive in vitro compared with human isolates adapted t...
www.science.org
November 27, 2025 at 7:55 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
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
November 27, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
We examined ~4,600 FtsZ sequences and found that charge segregation in the disordered CTL appears to correlate with cell width across species: FtsZ from wider bacteria tends to have more uniform charge distribution in the linker, whereas high charge segregation is mostly found in skinny cells.
November 26, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
💥CONTAM CALENDAR GIVEAWAY💥

Here's your chance to win a ContamCalendar 2026! 🗓️🍄🦠

Just follow @contamclub.bsky.social and repost this post to enter the competition

Winner will be randomly selected from Bluesky or Twitter on Wednesday @ 6pm UTC
November 24, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
Newest preprint from our lab: a new family of promising synthetic CO2 fixation cycles that may outcompete the Calvin cycle and that Vittorio Rainaldi realized to a great extent in E. coli! Up to 11 heterologous enzymes in a cascade supporting CO2 fixation & growth! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Modular in vivo engineering of the reductive methylaspartate cycles for synthetic CO2 fixation
Biological carbon fixation is currently limited to seven naturally occurring pathways. Synthetic carbon fixation pathways have the potential to surpass aerobic natural pathways in efficiency, but none...
www.biorxiv.org
November 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
‼️🚨🗓️ CONTAMCALENDAR 2026 🗓️🚨‼️

Excited to say the ContamCalendar is back for its fifth edition! We’ve created a fresh new design, folding out for an A3 monthly spread. It’s our best yet, we hope you’ll love it 🗓️🦠🧫🍄

Get yours here ➡️ www.contam.club ⬅️
November 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
After 10 Fridays, 10 flowers, and 100+ drawings, the Florédex is complete! ✨

Come take a tour of the design and science behind 10 iconic flowers 🌺🧵
November 21, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
✨Opportunity to join the 🦁🦠 Predatory Bacteria lab!

My lab will move to University of Bern (CH) in April 2026 based on my #ERCStG.
Therefore, we are looking for:
-a PhD student (shorturl.at/mt0LR)
-a 50% Technical Assistant/Lab manager (shorturl.at/0IIKe)

🙏Thanks for sharing.
#MicroSky
November 19, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
Ten days left to apply to be a @crick.ac.uk Early Career Group Leader

Closing date 27th November

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...
November 17, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
I'm assembling a denovo genome of a new pseudomonadota (ONT r10), and barrnap is consistently unable to resolve the 5S site(s) from what should be a fully circularized and decently polished output. Based on the 16S and 23S hits there should at least be 3 5S.

What could be happening here? 🤔

🧫🦠
November 15, 2025 at 9:23 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
📢 Our Dept. of Systems Biology at Columbia University has an open tenure-track Assistant Professor position in the broad area of quantitative biology. Come join our awesome department in NYC! Please circulate.
apply.interfolio.com/177622
Suggested deadline: 12/15/2025.
@columbiasysbio.bsky.social
November 15, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
Very happy to share our recent work @cultivarium.bsky.social on genetic tools for Ideonella sakaiensis, a (Betaproteo-)bacterium that degrades PET plastic.

We identified a plasmid vector for the strain and generated a large RB-TnSeq library, screening for genes impacting plastic degradation.
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Me reading this thread on rebuilding lichen in vitro.

I previously didn't question the claims of 'in lab lichen formation'.
November 13, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
#Lichens form their complex thalli through a partnership involving at least a fungus and an alga. But can these living structures be rebuilt in vitro? For more than a century, people have tried. With @spribille.bsky.social we revisited 150 years of #lichen #resynthesis to ask: has anyone succeeded?
November 7, 2025 at 2:07 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
Absolutely the way to fix peer review is for peer reviewers to do better reviews, not an AI to almost match the current poor level of human review. But maybe if you take away the oppotunity for humans to point out a axis label is missing, they'll find more interesting things to say?
November 11, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
📢 Postdoc position: Biochemistry & Bacterial cell biology

in our group at Marburg University, Germany, funded by the ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"

🔗More information at shorturl.at/OlvlL
📅Deadline: Nov 30, 2025

Please repost. #Postdoc
November 10, 2025 at 6:15 PM
We have two job openings for computational strain design in our group! Please retweet 🧪

PhD student and postdoc!

Both positions are directly with our group leader, Steffen Klamt.

The positions are to be filled in Magdeburg, Germany.

I highly recommend applying!
Doctoral (PhD) and postdoctoral position (m/f/d) in Computational Biology / Biomathematics / Biosystems Engineering
jobs.mpi-magdeburg.mpg.de
November 5, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
📢 We’re hiring!
The DSMZ is looking for a Scientific Lead for the SILVA Database — a unique opportunity to shape one of the world’s most important scientific resources for microbial taxonomy and ecology.
Apply now and help us shape the future of microbial research.

👉 www.dsmz.de/dsmz/career/...
November 3, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Gerrich
Rhodo-Box: a Synthetic Biology Toolbox to Facilitate Metabolic Engineering of Rhodobacter sphaeroides https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.31.685836v1
November 2, 2025 at 5:03 AM
I am vacationing on Tenerife these days. First days off after being #PhDone.

Walking to the lighthouse we passed some banana plantations.

Great chance to talk with my partner about the Cavendish and Fusarium.

Made me curious to look up more facts about banana cultivation. 🤓🍌🧪
October 30, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
Nature Communications will publish ~10K papers in 2025 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?term=%22Natu...

That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
October 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
🧬 Share your science at Natural Products in the 21st Century (NP21C) — 9–11 Feb 2026, Leuven
Join researchers exploring genomics, metabolomics & microbial natural products!
www.conferencemanager.dk/naturalprodu...
#NP21C #secmet
@tilmweber.bsky.social @marnixmedema.bsky.social @kblin.bsky.social
Natural Products in the 21st Century Conference
www.conferencemanager.dk
October 23, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
Folks, it is the year 2025 and Word's grammar checker is suggesting that I should change "fewer" to "less few".
October 22, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Reposted by Gerrich
My fellow biologists we must do everything in our power to prevent this scenario
October 23, 2025 at 12:48 PM