Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
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pilhoferlab.bsky.social
Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
@pilhoferlab.bsky.social
Microbial cell-cell interactions | contractile injection systems | cytoskeleton | evolution | multiscale imaging | ETH Zürich
- run by lab members -
Pinned
Asgard archaea have actin - but what about microtubules? Where do they come from? 🧐 Our new paper www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... by @xujwet.bsky.social & @florianwollweber.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Schleper & Wieczorek labs, describes tiny Asgard microtubules! #TeamTomo #ArchaeaSky 1/6
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Bacteriologists - save the date for the next BacNet meeting in September 2026 #BacNet26 organised by @lalouxlab.bsky.social
Bacterial networks #BacNet26 in September 2026 will be chaired by @lalouxlab.bsky.social and co-chaired by @s-lab.bsky.social with @coralietesseur.bsky.social

Sneak peak on invited speakers and preliminary program:
meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...
November 20, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
We got a large Helmholtz Bioengineering grant with Oliver Daumke, Artur Yakimovich, Alina Bazarova, and Dietrich Ruess to use protein design to target cancer.

Five open postdoctoral positions in Generative AI & Protein Engineering. Share & apply!

jobrxiv.org/job/max-delb...
Postdoctoral Positions in Protein Engineering
Post a job in 3min, or find thousands of job offers like this one at jobRxiv!
jobrxiv.org
November 21, 2025 at 7:08 AM
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now i've seen everything... 😱
don't care what anybody says but #protists are cognitive
Cellular structure self-organizes through an interplay between internal mechanisms and external cues. The single-celled suctorian P. collini builds a trap structure to capture large prey using microtubule feeding tentacles, creating feedback between cell morphology and prey availability.
November 19, 2025 at 1:46 PM
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Today, at the Rice University Center for Nanoscale Imaging Sciences Conference, Prof. Steve Ludtke (BCM) presented impressive results of continuous-rotation cryo-ET, enabled by the ultra-fast counting of the DE Apollo camera. #teamtomo
November 18, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Quite a busy day on #Bluesky !
Been a while since we have been #preLight -ed !

Discover HAK-Actin if you haven't already ;)
November 19, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Update to BacFighT6, with presets for easy exploration of complex behaviors:
sites.google.com/view/bacfight6

Try "battle royale" preset where prey (blue) produce capsule, attackers (red) move towards prey and feed on it, defenders (orange) retaliate!

Took a while to eliminate the reds!
November 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
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Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers

Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.

S-layers are everywhere!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology
Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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The Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis at the University of Zurich is seeking a new Head:

jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...

It is super fun to work with them, tons of expertise and cutting edge instrumentation in ❄️🔬
Application deadline: December 15, 2025.
UZH: Head of the Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis (Core Facility)
The Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis (ZMB) is a nationally and internationally recognized Core Facility at the University of Zurich (UZH), providing access to state-of-the-art light and electr...
jobs.uzh.ch
November 12, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Apply and come be my colleague!
Job Opening **ASSISTANT PROFESSOR MARINE ECOLOGY**, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island.

jobs.uri.edu/postings/15960
November 12, 2025 at 1:39 AM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Good luck to my grad students Sylvia Nupp and Stavros Trimmer, who will sail on the Falkor(too) in search of Asgard archaea off the coast of Uruguay and Brazil the next month. Smooth sailing! Thanks to Brett and Alyson for organizing the cruise.
November 11, 2025 at 8:55 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
📢 Interested in #chromosomes 🧬 & #archaea thriving at the edge of life? PhD project in York,UK on how archaea pass on their genome to daughter cells.Friendly supervisors: me, @steve-quinn-lab.bsky.social & @georgerheath.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
📅 January 7, 2026
Please RP🙏thx!
November 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
We have wondered what a complex archaeal cell might look like ever since 2014. It’s been a long road (and the journey is far from over), but it’s a good time to pause for breath and look. These Asgard archaeal cells are a surprise! And that is the joy of being a cell biologist.
November 7, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Great collaboration with @brunlabcaulo.bsky.social for resolving the Tad pilus machine structure by cryo-ET. Beautiful work by graduate students James Iarocci and Ryu Williston in our lab.

Preprint:https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.05.686773v1
November 6, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Great collaboration with @guo-lab.bsky.social to determine an in situ architectural model of the Tad pilus machine. Be on the lookout soon for a preprint on the same topic by Grant Jensen and @viollierpat.bsky.social. #microsky
November 6, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Excellent #postdoc opportunity available in @sjorsscheres.bsky.social’ group, working on new image processing algorithms for #cryoEM structure determination in their #RELION open-source software.
www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Apply by 25 NOV
#PostdocJobs #ScienceJobs
November 6, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
Very happy that NWO supports this major upgrade of our national EM infrastructure. It is great that this initiative got broad support all over NL, and it will EMPower fantastic science - looking forward to that!
www.uu.nl/en/news/33-m...
33 million euro investment for national electron microscope facility EMPower
A major new national facility for electron microscopy, called EMPower, has been awarded to a consortium of Dutch universities and medical centers. EMPower aims to pave the way for major discoveries im...
www.uu.nl
November 4, 2025 at 7:14 AM
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Some great years ahead for #teamtomo in the Netherlands🥳🥳
Congrats @fridof.bsky.social and the team!
November 4, 2025 at 12:33 PM
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📢 Postdoc position: Cell Biology of Cyanobacteria

in my group, as part of the Excellence Cluster "Microbes for Climate" (M4C) in Marburg, Germany.

More information at shorturl.at/wNnDT (see Project 2)

🔗Apply at shorturl.at/VsEDl
📅Deadline: Nov 16, 2025

Please repost. #Postdoc
November 2, 2025 at 7:13 PM
🥳 Today marks the start of the lab of former postdoc @florianwollweber.bsky.social at @embl.org Grenoble!
www.embl.org/groups/wollw...
Florian-- we will miss you dearly and wish you much success!

With us, Florian applied multiscale imaging 🔬to Asgard archaea ...👇
November 1, 2025 at 12:41 PM
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Exciting day for the lab: our 1rst paper is officially out in @currentbiology.bsky.social 🥳 Wonderful collaboration wt @gautamdey.bsky.social showing how Cryo-ExM achieves consistent immunostaining in diverse diatoms, from the lab and the natural environment 1/n
#ProtistsOnSky
tinyurl.com/2zxaund7
October 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Pilhofer Lab 🦠❄️🔬
📢 Open Call! The Max Perutz Labs invite applications for a Full Professorship in Integrative Structure Biology with a focus on in situ structural biology using cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and related methods. More details ➡️ tinyurl.com/brswbymu
October 31, 2025 at 9:24 AM
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🚨 Last chance!
The Helmholtz Institute Würzburg is offering 2️⃣ JUNIOR GROUP LEADER POSITIONS in RNA BIOLOGY, RNA TECHNOLOGY or RNA MEDICINE. 🧬🧫 💻 ⚕️
The deadline is today, so apply now at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/e15-groups/
E15 Groups
The Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Researchopens a call for
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
October 31, 2025 at 9:58 AM
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Congratulations to Nicola Aceto for receiving the Cloëtta Prize!
ETH Professor Nicola Aceto receives the 2025 Cloëtta Prize
This year’s Cloëtta Prize goes to the cancer researcher from the Department of Biology at ETH Zurich. The award is in recognition of his groundbreaking contributions to cancer metastasis research.
ethz.ch
October 31, 2025 at 10:16 AM