Peter Back
@petersmback.bsky.social
Postdoc fellow studying Plasmodium division in the Dvorin lab | PhD in the Bradley Lab | Korean food lover 🥘 amateur violinist 🎻 novice golfer🏌🏻
Reposted by Peter Back
Now available in a polished format! An important step toward accelerated functional genomics for the Cryptosporidium parasite. Brought to you by the incomparable @lucy-watson.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Targeted CRISPR screens reveal genes essential for Cryptosporidium survival in the host intestine - Nature Communications
Cryptosporidium is an important threat to public health, yet it lacks a robust genetic toolkit. Here, Watson et al. introduce a targeted CRISPR-based screening method to identify parasite genes that a...
www.nature.com
August 20, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Now available in a polished format! An important step toward accelerated functional genomics for the Cryptosporidium parasite. Brought to you by the incomparable @lucy-watson.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Peter Back
Our #CryoET story on how a top antimalarial drug candidate perturbs the native malarial translation machinery is out @natsmb.nature.com🥳 rdcu.be/eBbrH
A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo
A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo
Integrated structural biology of the native malarial translation machinery and its inhibition by an antimalarial drug
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Integrated structural biology approach leveraging in situ cryo-electron tomography reveals molecular details of the native malarial translation...
rdcu.be
August 18, 2025 at 12:13 PM
Our #CryoET story on how a top antimalarial drug candidate perturbs the native malarial translation machinery is out @natsmb.nature.com🥳 rdcu.be/eBbrH
A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo
A massive team effort led by @leonieanton.bsky.social Meseret Haile & Wenjing Cheng in collaboration with Jerzy Dziekan & the Alan Cowman! #TeamTomo
Reposted by Peter Back
Hi, are you an academic biology lab in the Boston area? I am a lab manager at a local biotech and I will be getting rid of a lot consumables in the near future (as will many of my colleagues, unfortunately). If you would be interested in free consumables, please reach out to me!
August 7, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Hi, are you an academic biology lab in the Boston area? I am a lab manager at a local biotech and I will be getting rid of a lot consumables in the near future (as will many of my colleagues, unfortunately). If you would be interested in free consumables, please reach out to me!
Reposted by Peter Back
These are the most challenging times for early-career scientists and engineers.
My team is doing its bit to help by maintaining and even expanding our database of funding opportunities for early-career researchers.
We found 437 of them.
Download it freely here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
My team is doing its bit to help by maintaining and even expanding our database of funding opportunities for early-career researchers.
We found 437 of them.
Download it freely here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
August 11, 2025 at 11:54 AM
These are the most challenging times for early-career scientists and engineers.
My team is doing its bit to help by maintaining and even expanding our database of funding opportunities for early-career researchers.
We found 437 of them.
Download it freely here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
My team is doing its bit to help by maintaining and even expanding our database of funding opportunities for early-career researchers.
We found 437 of them.
Download it freely here: research.jhu.edu/rdt/funding-...
Reposted by Peter Back
🚨 New preprint!
Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 19, 2025 at 8:58 AM
🚨 New preprint!
Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Using U-ExM + in situ cryo-ET, we show how C2CD3 builds an in-to-out radial architecture connecting the distal centriole lumen to its appendages. Great collab with @cellarchlab.com @chgenoud.bsky.social @stearnslab.bsky.social 🙌. #TeamTomo #UExM
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
Finally published: discovery of an unusual Arp2/3 complex with surprising new function in transmission of #malaria #parasites. Great work by Franzi Hentzschel, Yvonne Sokolowski + David Jewanski + fantastic collaboration with Matthias Marti: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
June 14, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Finally published: discovery of an unusual Arp2/3 complex with surprising new function in transmission of #malaria #parasites. Great work by Franzi Hentzschel, Yvonne Sokolowski + David Jewanski + fantastic collaboration with Matthias Marti: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Peter Back
Per source, NIH has been instructed to hold off from issuing ALL awards to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern (including med schools)
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
April 18, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Per source, NIH has been instructed to hold off from issuing ALL awards to Harvard, Cornell, Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern (including med schools)
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
Agency staff have also been instructed to not speak about this funding freeze to grantees and applicants
Reposted by Peter Back
🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨
We’ve uncovered a key player in malaria parasite cell division—meet PfAnchor, the first apicoplast-specific dynamin adaptor protein! Check the thread below 🧵for more details. #U_ExM #Malaria #Apicoplast
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We’ve uncovered a key player in malaria parasite cell division—meet PfAnchor, the first apicoplast-specific dynamin adaptor protein! Check the thread below 🧵for more details. #U_ExM #Malaria #Apicoplast
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
An Essential Adaptor for Apicoplast Fission and Inheritance in Malaria Parasites
Blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum parasites rely on a non-photosynthetic plastid, the apicoplast, for survival, making it an attractive target for antimalarial intervention. Like the mitochondrion, th...
www.biorxiv.org
April 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨
We’ve uncovered a key player in malaria parasite cell division—meet PfAnchor, the first apicoplast-specific dynamin adaptor protein! Check the thread below 🧵for more details. #U_ExM #Malaria #Apicoplast
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We’ve uncovered a key player in malaria parasite cell division—meet PfAnchor, the first apicoplast-specific dynamin adaptor protein! Check the thread below 🧵for more details. #U_ExM #Malaria #Apicoplast
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
🔊 Calling all parasite enthusiasts - come join us to study Toxoplasma and Plasmodium organelle biology 🔬
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
Research Associate
Research Associate COLLEGE OF MEDICAL VETERINARY & LIFE SCIENCES SCHOOL OF INFECTION AND IMMUNITY Grade 7We are seeking to recruit an experienced Research Associate/postdoctoral researcher to ...
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk
February 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
🔊 Calling all parasite enthusiasts - come join us to study Toxoplasma and Plasmodium organelle biology 🔬
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/research...
Reposted by Peter Back
Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an
exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an exported virulence factor
Cryptosporidium is a common intestinal infection of vertebrates and a significant threat to public health. Within the epithelial layer of the intestine, the parasite invades and replicates. Infected cells are readily detected under the microscope by the presence of elongated microvilli, particularly around the vacuole where the parasite resides. Here, we identify a family of Cryptosporidium virulence factors that are exported into the host cell during infection and localise to the microvilli. We examine the trafficking and function of the most highly expressed family member, MVP1, which appears to control the elongation of microvilli through engagement of host EBP50 and CDC42. Remarkably, this mechanism closely mirrors that of an enteropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factor, MAP, which is also known to drive host microvilli elongation during infection. This highlights a unique instance where eukaryotic and prokaryotic virulence factors have convergently evolved to modulate host actin structures through a similar mechanism. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
www.biorxiv.org
February 26, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Cryptosporidium modifies intestinal microvilli through an
exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
exported virulence factor!! Phenomenal work from the newly DR’ed Elena Rodrigues
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE)
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
ALT: a poster that says if life gives you lemon make lemonade on it
media.tenor.com
February 15, 2025 at 3:37 PM
ATTENTION (PLEASE SHARE)
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
If anyone has or knows of any positions that might be appropriate for the NIH staff members who were terminated, please post the information in this thread.
There are lots of talented and accomplished people who may be looking for new opportunities.
Reposted by Peter Back
F99/R00 AND K99/R00 DIVERSITY AWARD APPLICANTS
If you have applied for a F99/R00 or K99/R00 Diversity award and the study section for review is not listed on your eRA Commons page, please reach out to me.
DM me, email [email protected], Signal jeremymberg.78
THANK YOU
If you have applied for a F99/R00 or K99/R00 Diversity award and the study section for review is not listed on your eRA Commons page, please reach out to me.
DM me, email [email protected], Signal jeremymberg.78
THANK YOU
a picture of a cartoon character with the words call me on it
ALT: a picture of a cartoon character with the words call me on it
media.tenor.com
February 9, 2025 at 5:25 PM
F99/R00 AND K99/R00 DIVERSITY AWARD APPLICANTS
If you have applied for a F99/R00 or K99/R00 Diversity award and the study section for review is not listed on your eRA Commons page, please reach out to me.
DM me, email [email protected], Signal jeremymberg.78
THANK YOU
If you have applied for a F99/R00 or K99/R00 Diversity award and the study section for review is not listed on your eRA Commons page, please reach out to me.
DM me, email [email protected], Signal jeremymberg.78
THANK YOU
Reposted by Peter Back
📢Postdoc opportunities - deadline Dec 31st
We are seeking two experienced and motivated researchers to join MRC and a WT (below) funded projects on mitochondrial biology in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma shared between Glasgow and Helsinki.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKW033/r...
We are seeking two experienced and motivated researchers to join MRC and a WT (below) funded projects on mitochondrial biology in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma shared between Glasgow and Helsinki.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKW033/r...
#mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells.
Lots of recent studies focused on how the mitochondria of our #immune cells help keep us healthy - but what role do the #pathogen mitochondria play in making us sick?
@wellcometrust.bsky.social awarded us an 8yr #discovery award #WDA to find out!
Lots of recent studies focused on how the mitochondria of our #immune cells help keep us healthy - but what role do the #pathogen mitochondria play in making us sick?
@wellcometrust.bsky.social awarded us an 8yr #discovery award #WDA to find out!
December 19, 2024 at 8:22 AM
📢Postdoc opportunities - deadline Dec 31st
We are seeking two experienced and motivated researchers to join MRC and a WT (below) funded projects on mitochondrial biology in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma shared between Glasgow and Helsinki.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKW033/r...
We are seeking two experienced and motivated researchers to join MRC and a WT (below) funded projects on mitochondrial biology in Plasmodium and Toxoplasma shared between Glasgow and Helsinki.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DKW033/r...
Reposted by Peter Back
Have you ever wondered how knocking out every single gene in the human genome, one by one, might affect your intracellular pathogen of interest? We did, & boy was it a wild ride! Happy to share our preprint discovering the essential host genome for Cryptosporidium -
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
December 6, 2024 at 1:15 PM
Have you ever wondered how knocking out every single gene in the human genome, one by one, might affect your intracellular pathogen of interest? We did, & boy was it a wild ride! Happy to share our preprint discovering the essential host genome for Cryptosporidium -
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
I'm looking for a research technician! If you're interested in studying how malaria gametocytes remodel their host cell come join us on a @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded project at GIMM by applying here: gimm.pt/jobs/laborat...
Deadline 20th December. Please share!
Deadline 20th December. Please share!
Laboratory Technician – GIMMLaboratory Technician – GIMM
GIMM is recruiting a Laboratory Technician under an Employment Contract – Reference GIMM/CT/35-2024
gimm.pt
December 3, 2024 at 12:26 PM
I'm looking for a research technician! If you're interested in studying how malaria gametocytes remodel their host cell come join us on a @wellcometrust.bsky.social funded project at GIMM by applying here: gimm.pt/jobs/laborat...
Deadline 20th December. Please share!
Deadline 20th December. Please share!
Reposted by Peter Back
🚨🖨️👩🔬New Preprint alert! Please have a look to learn about organelle proteostasis in malaria parasites🩸 An apicoplast-biogenesis mutant that dies☠️on the first cycle! 🧪🦟So proud in 1st author Amanda Tissawak for the first major research article from our lab!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A Chaperonin Complex Regulates Organelle Proteostasis in Malaria Parasites
The apicoplast of Plasmodium parasites serves as a metabolic hub that synthesize essential biomolecules. Like other endosymbiotic organelles, 90% of the apicoplast proteome is encoded by the cell nucl...
www.biorxiv.org
November 23, 2024 at 1:22 PM
🚨🖨️👩🔬New Preprint alert! Please have a look to learn about organelle proteostasis in malaria parasites🩸 An apicoplast-biogenesis mutant that dies☠️on the first cycle! 🧪🦟So proud in 1st author Amanda Tissawak for the first major research article from our lab!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
How come we know so little about a protein that is the basis for the currently available malaria vaccines? New review on the Plasmodium circumsporozoite protein, with Photini Sinnis and Mirko Singer out now: authors.elsevier.com/c/1k7sK5Eb1x...
November 20, 2024 at 5:04 PM
How come we know so little about a protein that is the basis for the currently available malaria vaccines? New review on the Plasmodium circumsporozoite protein, with Photini Sinnis and Mirko Singer out now: authors.elsevier.com/c/1k7sK5Eb1x...
Reposted by Peter Back
Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence…
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 23, 2024 at 1:29 PM
Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence…
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
All you ever wanted to know about gene expression in malaria merozoites
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum prepares for life within the host cell by activating a complex gene network
The intraerythrocytic developmental cycle (IDC) during which the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum multiplies asexually within the human host red blood cell is the symptomatic stage of the malari...
www.biorxiv.org
November 25, 2024 at 7:46 AM
All you ever wanted to know about gene expression in malaria merozoites
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Peter Back
Reminder for newcomers that bioRxiv has Bluesky accounts in every subject category - great way to keep up (please re-skeet) connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/09...
bioRxiv expands on Mastodon and Bluesky
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
connect.biorxiv.org
November 10, 2024 at 1:40 PM
Reminder for newcomers that bioRxiv has Bluesky accounts in every subject category - great way to keep up (please re-skeet) connect.biorxiv.org/news/2023/09...
Reposted by Peter Back
Woohoo! We have a new job posting for TWO Neuroscience colleagues in the Dept. of Cellular Biology at
@universityofga.bsky.social! Please apply (I'm on the search committee if you have questions) and share with other folks who might be interested! #Neuroscience
www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/404...
@universityofga.bsky.social! Please apply (I'm on the search committee if you have questions) and share with other folks who might be interested! #Neuroscience
www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/404...
Open Rank, Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience (Tenure-track or Tenured)
The Department of Cellular Biology at the University of Georgia invites applications for two open rank tenure-track or tenured faculty positions, with an anticipated start date of August 2025. These p...
www.ugajobsearch.com
November 9, 2024 at 9:34 PM
Woohoo! We have a new job posting for TWO Neuroscience colleagues in the Dept. of Cellular Biology at
@universityofga.bsky.social! Please apply (I'm on the search committee if you have questions) and share with other folks who might be interested! #Neuroscience
www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/404...
@universityofga.bsky.social! Please apply (I'm on the search committee if you have questions) and share with other folks who might be interested! #Neuroscience
www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/404...
Reposted by Peter Back
Can colleagues amplify this appeal to journals and journal editors to open accounts on Bluesky, please? @MicrobioSoc @TrendsMicrobiol @CellCellPress @JBacteriology @jbiolchem @Nature @ScienceMagazine @PNASNews @MolMicroEditors @NAR_Open @NatureMicrobiol @NatureComms @ASMicrobiology 🙏
🦠🧪🧫🧬
🦠🧪🧫🧬
November 10, 2024 at 1:13 PM
Can colleagues amplify this appeal to journals and journal editors to open accounts on Bluesky, please? @MicrobioSoc @TrendsMicrobiol @CellCellPress @JBacteriology @jbiolchem @Nature @ScienceMagazine @PNASNews @MolMicroEditors @NAR_Open @NatureMicrobiol @NatureComms @ASMicrobiology 🙏
🦠🧪🧫🧬
🦠🧪🧫🧬
Reposted by Peter Back
Congratulations to @petersmback.bsky.social on fantastic work on the Toxoplasma alveolin network and its interactions via UAA photocrosslinking. A really detailed study with great help from the Ward and Zhou labs! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Alveolin proteins in the Toxoplasma inner membrane complex form a highly interconnected structure that maintains parasite shape and replication
Picomplexan parasites require specialized structures like the inner membrane complex to invade host cells and replicate. This study shows that the alveolin protein IMC6 is crucial for maintaining cell...
journals.plos.org
September 12, 2024 at 6:50 PM
Congratulations to @petersmback.bsky.social on fantastic work on the Toxoplasma alveolin network and its interactions via UAA photocrosslinking. A really detailed study with great help from the Ward and Zhou labs! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...