Marjan Ghotbi

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

#NatMicroPicks

Aerobic archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor? 🦠🫁

The ancestor of eukaryotes may have combined hydrogen metabolism with aerobic respiration, shaping early cellular complexity.

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A new preprint from The Banfield Lab looks at mobile genetic elements with single-cell precision. Read here: https://ow.ly/hFBX50Y0nQA

#microbiology

A vibrant, composite portrait of the brilliant Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani (1977–2017), the first woman and first Iranian to win the Fields Medal. She is shown in a close-up head-and-shoulders view, facing the camera with a gentle, thoughtful expression—short brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a calm smile. She wears a navy blue fleece over a teal/green collared shirt. Overlaid transparently behind and around her is a dense blackboard filled with intricate handwritten mathematical equations in white chalk, featuring complex expressions involving binomial coefficients (e.g., n! / (k!(n-k)!)), factorials, summations, powers, and terms suggestive of hypergeometric series or combinatorial identities. The equations partially surround and frame her face, symbolizing her deep immersion in advanced mathematics, particularly in hyperbolic geometry, Teichmüller theory, and dynamical systems, while evoking the creative, exploratory nature of her work as a Stanford professor and groundbreaking researcher.

Remembering Dr. Maryam Mirzakhani on #WorldCancerDay.

Dr. Mirzakhani was first woman to win the Fields Medal, the most prestigious award in #mathematics. She died in 2017 from #breastcancer at the age of 40.

stanford.io/2C0io2A #WomenInSTEM

A prophage-encoded abortive infection protein preserves host and prophage spread - Nature A Gifsy-1 prophage–encoded higher eukaryotes and prokaryotes nucleotide-binding protein, HepS, senses Siphoviridae infection, activates abortive defence by cleaving host transfer RNAs, blocks rival ph...

A prophage-encoded abortive infection protein preserves host and prophage spread www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phosphate deprivation restricts bacterial degradation of the marine polysaccharide fucoidan Nature Microbiology, Published online: 22 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02240-zLimiting phosphate concentrations could be a strategy to protect and sequester carbon dioxide as fucoidan, a polysaccharide produced by marine algae.

Out Now! Phosphate deprivation restricts bacterial degradation of the marine polysaccharide fucoidan #MicroSky

Cell cycle dysregulation of globally important SAR11 bacteria resulting from environmental perturbation - Nature Microbiology Without key cell cycle control genes, SAR11 cells experience aneuploidy and growth inhibition when exposed to changes in nutrients, carbon sources or temperature stress, a vulnerability that may repre...

Our latest. Led by the very talented @ahoiching.bsky.social

Cell cycle dysregulation of globally important SAR11 bacteria resulting from environmental perturbation www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊

Exploring the IS-capades of Klebsiella pneumoniae: insertion sequences drive metabolic loss in obscure sub-lineages Introduction. Klebsiella pneumoniae is an opportunistic pathogen that causes a wide spectrum of infections within healthcare settings and the community. Four K. pneumoniae sub-lineages, defined using ...

Our new paper on Insertion Sequences (IS) in #Klebsiella

- Lineages have vastly different IS loads and profiles
- An inverse relationship between IS load and metabolic capacity, in particular phosphorus use, consistent with early reductive evolution.

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

A genetically encoded device for transcriptome storage in mammalian cells Understanding how cells make decisions over time requires the ability to link past molecular states to future phenotypic outcomes. We present TimeVault, a genetically encoded system that records and s...

TimeVault transforms vault particles into transcriptome recording devices, which are applied to uncover transcriptional heterogeneity in drug-tolerant persister cancer cells #NBThighlight www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

How Ocean Currents Shape the Marine Microbiome Ocean microbes keep the planet healthy by cycling nutrients and capturing carbon, but a detailed and precise map of where they live had never been made—until now.

Huge thanks to The Scientist for this feature that really captured the spirit of our research!

www.the-scientist.com/how-ocean-cu...

A new preprint on expanding the genetic code, from IGI's Jill Banfield, Peter Penev, and collaborators across the country: https://ow.ly/HiYO50XVNXR

Congrats! Already started to use phold and will reach out for my questions.

Revealing the pervasive landscape of MGE-host interactions in situ with single-cell genomics Mobile genetic elements (MGEs), including plasmids and viruses, drive microbial evolution and ecosystem dynamics, yet their distribution, host range, and functions remain poorly understood, especially...

New preprint out: Revealing the pervasive landscape of MGE-host interactions in situ with single-cell genomics
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@mingyan-igi.bsky.social

Congratulations! Very intriguing! 😊

Provirus induction diversifies adaptive variation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa lysogen populations Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative opportunistic pathogen that forms chronic infections in people with cystic fibrosis. Often P. aeruginosa strains are lysogens, infected with proviruses, that ...

Happy new year! The second big project of my PhD in Rachel Whitaker's lab is now up! 🎉 We look at how provirus infection affects the evolution of the bacterial chromosome with different types of viral induction – with CRISPRs or antibiotics. Take a peek 🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Wow!! Congratulations!! well deserved! :)

Honoured and quite blown-over to receive this award. I have been, and continue to be, very lucky - first with great mentors, and then really prodigious students, postdocs and collaborators. Working with them has been a joy.

Newest preprint from the group on megaplasmids in E. coli led by @assemblerag.bsky.social. In addition to our findings in metagenomic datasets, we identified an RNA-seq project from a giant panda gut sample with evidence of megaplasmids. We would like to include the data creators in our study.

Long-term funding to SciLifeLab researchers: “a huge boost and game-changer to starting a lab” SciLifeLab researchers Maliheh Mehrshad and Camilla Engblom are appointed Wallenberg Academy Fellows, and receive five-year basic research grants.

SciLifeLab researchers Maliheh Mehrshad (SLU) and Camilla Engblom (@ki.se) appointed Wallenberg Academy Fellows ↓ 🧪

“This program gives researchers the chance to pursue high-risk, high-gain research ideas” – @mehrshmali.bsky.social

Q&A ↓
www.scilifelab.se/news/long-te...

@kawresearch.bsky.social

Thanks! 😊

From microscale to microbial insights: validating high-throughput microvolume extraction (HiMEx) methods for marine microbial ecology Abstract. Extracting and directly amplifying DNA from small-volume, low-biomass samples would enable rapid, ultra-high-throughput analyses, facilitating th

Think you need large volumes for microbial experiments?
Our recent publication introduces HiMEx, a simple, scalable method for microbial ecology. academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...
🦠 it provides an easy, efficient approach to capturing viral diversity, opening new opportunities for virome analysis.

In our recent paper, we explored the mechanisms behind its extraordinary resilience and what this reveals about invasion success in marine ecosystems, using an in situ experimental setup called EXOTAX. 🎥 Check out the video to see how the setup looks in action!

Can you imagine a photosynthetic organism surviving in the dark and anoxia for months?
Meet Gracilaria vermiculophylla, a remarkably tolerant invasive alga that thrives under dark and anoxic sediments.

Amazing ability of invasive Gracilaria vermiculophylla to control microbial interaction network of its biofilm. academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a...