Ben Morehouse
@benmorehouse.bsky.social
Assistant Professor at UCIrvine. Biochemistry and structural biology enthusiast. Dabbling in innate immunity and microbiology. Phage defense, cyclic nucleotides, and cool enzymes. (he/him/his) https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/morehouselab/
Pinned
The Panoptes system uses decoy cyclic nucleotides to defend against phage - Nature
The Panoptes antiphage system defends bacteria by detecting phage-encoded counter-defences that sequester cyclic nucleotide signals, triggering membrane disruption and highlighting a broader strategy of sensing immune evasion through second-messenger surveillance.
www.nature.com
Our story describing the Panoptes bacterial immune defense system is now finally peer-reviewed and published today! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
What is the best strategy to win any contest?
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 20, 2025 at 10:12 PM
What is the best strategy to win any contest?
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Eliminate your opponents of course.
Recently, my friend @fernpizza.bsky.social showed how plasmids compete intracellularly (check out his paper published in Science today!). With @baym.lol, we now know they can fight.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Very happy to share our collaborative project on FAM118 proteins - noncanonical sirtuins that form filaments and process NAD in human and other vertebrate cells.
Filament formation and NAD processing by noncanonical human FAM118 sirtuins
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology - Baretić and Missoury et al. identify vertebrate proteins FAM118B and FAM118A as sirtuins similar to bacterial antiphage enzymes and show that...
rdcu.be
November 17, 2025 at 11:37 AM
Very happy to share our collaborative project on FAM118 proteins - noncanonical sirtuins that form filaments and process NAD in human and other vertebrate cells.
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
I'd also like to highlight a recent publication by @audeber.bsky.social, @enzopoirier.bsky.social, and colleagues showing FAM118B, which they term "SIRal", is essential for innate immune response in mammalian cellular models; they also have great phylogenetic analysis and insights into biochemistry.
A human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins mediates immunity via the Toll-like receptor pathway
Key actors of mammalian immunity originated from bacterial antiphage systems. The full extent of immune system conservation between bacteria and eukaryotes is unknown. Here, we show that the silent in...
www.science.org
November 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
I'd also like to highlight a recent publication by @audeber.bsky.social, @enzopoirier.bsky.social, and colleagues showing FAM118B, which they term "SIRal", is essential for innate immune response in mammalian cellular models; they also have great phylogenetic analysis and insights into biochemistry.
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp
Proteome-wide in silico screening for human protein-protein interactions
Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) drive virtually all biological processes, yet most PPIs have not been identified and even more remain structurally unresolved. We developed a two-step computational...
biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides.
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides.
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Preprint: Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides
tinyurl.com/ch3damp
We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity
Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇
tinyurl.com/ch3damp
We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity
Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇
November 6, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Preprint: Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides
tinyurl.com/ch3damp
We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity
Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇
tinyurl.com/ch3damp
We show how molecular byproducts released during virus-induced cell exploitation are used as signals to trigger host immunity
Revealed by the amazing Ilya Osterman. See his thread below👇
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Hi everyone, a few years ago, we started a list of labs studying bacterial immunty for students, editors, conference organizers... (currently n=79).
Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky #Microsky
Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky #Microsky
Labs in bacterial immunity
docs.google.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Hi everyone, a few years ago, we started a list of labs studying bacterial immunty for students, editors, conference organizers... (currently n=79).
Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky #Microsky
Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky #Microsky
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Check out our latest work led by two talented postdocs, Madhura @mkulkarni.bsky.social and Chris. We find that CASP4/5 can cleave and activate CASP3/7, acting as initiators of both pyroptosis and apoptosis. Notably, both are needed for full pathogen defense!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Human non-canonical inflammasomes activate CASP3 to limit intracellular Salmonella replication in macrophages.
Inflammasomes are multiprotein signaling platforms that activate inflammatory caspases to induce pyroptosis. In humans, canonical inflammasomes activate CASP1, which cleaves the pore-forming protein g...
www.biorxiv.org
November 3, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Check out our latest work led by two talented postdocs, Madhura @mkulkarni.bsky.social and Chris. We find that CASP4/5 can cleave and activate CASP3/7, acting as initiators of both pyroptosis and apoptosis. Notably, both are needed for full pathogen defense!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Our new preprint is out 🥳🥳🥳
Henipaviruses, like Nipah and Hendra, package their genomes inside helical shells built by thousands of nucleoproteins. These nucleocapsids are essential to protect the viral RNA, but how do they ever let the polymerase in to read the sequence?
👇
Henipaviruses, like Nipah and Hendra, package their genomes inside helical shells built by thousands of nucleoproteins. These nucleocapsids are essential to protect the viral RNA, but how do they ever let the polymerase in to read the sequence?
👇
November 3, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Our new preprint is out 🥳🥳🥳
Henipaviruses, like Nipah and Hendra, package their genomes inside helical shells built by thousands of nucleoproteins. These nucleocapsids are essential to protect the viral RNA, but how do they ever let the polymerase in to read the sequence?
👇
Henipaviruses, like Nipah and Hendra, package their genomes inside helical shells built by thousands of nucleoproteins. These nucleocapsids are essential to protect the viral RNA, but how do they ever let the polymerase in to read the sequence?
👇
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
Wilkinson Lab
We discover and study reverse transcriptases
wilkinsonlab.bio
October 31, 2025 at 7:00 PM
The Wilkinson Lab is open for science! @mskcancercenter.bsky.social
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
🧬We'll be finding funky new RNA biology, mainly by looking at reverse transcriptases (i.e. the Best Enzymes In The World)🧬
annnd: I'm hiring - come join! Especially postdocs and PhD students - please get in touch (NYC is great)
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Excited to share: DNA glycosylases are diverse antiviral effectors. They recognize phage base modifications and initiate genome destruction. A structure‑guided approach made the scope of this discovery possible! 🧪 #phagesky doi.org/10.1101/2025... #phage #microbiology
Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases
Bacteria are frequently attacked by viruses, known as phages, and rely on diverse defence systems like restriction endonucleases and CRISPR-Cas to survive. While phages can evade these defences by cov...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Excited to share: DNA glycosylases are diverse antiviral effectors. They recognize phage base modifications and initiate genome destruction. A structure‑guided approach made the scope of this discovery possible! 🧪 #phagesky doi.org/10.1101/2025... #phage #microbiology
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
I’m thrilled to share our Retron Eco8 paper published in Molecular Cell today. Thanks all Fu lab members and our collaborators.
👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity
The cryo-EM structure of the retron Eco8 system reveals an autoinhibited 4:4:4 complex
of RT, msDNA, and OLD nuclease. Phage SSB binding to msdDNA unleashes non-specific
nuclease activity to restrict ...
www.cell.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
I’m thrilled to share our Retron Eco8 paper published in Molecular Cell today. Thanks all Fu lab members and our collaborators.
👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
The Kim Lab (sskimlab.org) at UC Irvine is recruiting motivated grad students interested in uncovering how transcriptional regulators direct cell fates. We accept students through the CMB (cmb.uci.edu) and MCSB (ccbs.uci.edu/education/mcsb/) PhD programs. Please share with prospective grad students!
Kim Lab at UC Irvine
Visit the post for more.
sskimlab.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:37 PM
The Kim Lab (sskimlab.org) at UC Irvine is recruiting motivated grad students interested in uncovering how transcriptional regulators direct cell fates. We accept students through the CMB (cmb.uci.edu) and MCSB (ccbs.uci.edu/education/mcsb/) PhD programs. Please share with prospective grad students!
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Reading the microbial warfare literature
October 30, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Reading the microbial warfare literature
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
We are searching for a lab manager!
If you are detailed oriented, like southern california, HSV-1, sequencing and microscopy, please get in touch :)
If you are detailed oriented, like southern california, HSV-1, sequencing and microscopy, please get in touch :)
October 29, 2025 at 12:25 AM
We are searching for a lab manager!
If you are detailed oriented, like southern california, HSV-1, sequencing and microscopy, please get in touch :)
If you are detailed oriented, like southern california, HSV-1, sequencing and microscopy, please get in touch :)
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Our home department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine is looking to hire a new tenure-track assistant professor in the broad area of structural biology. Come be our colleague! recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09887
Please apply and/or share this post.
Please apply and/or share this post.
Assistant Professor in Structural Biology and Biochemistry, Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
University of California, Irvine is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ap.uci.edu
October 17, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Our home department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine is looking to hire a new tenure-track assistant professor in the broad area of structural biology. Come be our colleague! recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09887
Please apply and/or share this post.
Please apply and/or share this post.
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Excited to share some new work from the lab, led by @shelbyeandersen.bsky.social where we developed a method and computational pipeline to identify antiphage defenses across diverse bacterial phyla.
Serine recombinases are conserved genetic markers of antiphage defense systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.681051v1
October 20, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Excited to share some new work from the lab, led by @shelbyeandersen.bsky.social where we developed a method and computational pipeline to identify antiphage defenses across diverse bacterial phyla.
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
I'm hiring a lab technician to help me explore some exciting new questions about virus-host interactions! Biochemistry and/or mammalian cell culture experience is desired.
October 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
I'm hiring a lab technician to help me explore some exciting new questions about virus-host interactions! Biochemistry and/or mammalian cell culture experience is desired.
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Apply to work with us! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucm/EMPL...
An error has occurred.
careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu
October 17, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Apply to work with us! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psc/ucm/EMPL...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Many antiphage systems use NAD+, in many ways.
@hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all!
Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity!
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
@hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all!
Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity!
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
The multifaceted roles of NAD+ in bacterial immunity
In this review, Vaysset and Bernheim examine how nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
(NAD+) is a key player in diverse and widespread bacterial antiphage defense systems
and phage counterdefense. The au...
www.cell.com
October 17, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Many antiphage systems use NAD+, in many ways.
@hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all!
Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity!
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
@hugovaysset.bsky.social reviewed them all!
Read to know more about all their molecular mechanisms, how phages counteract them, their distribution in bacteria and their conservation in eukaryotic immunity!
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Antiviral reverse transcriptases reveal the evolutionary origin of telomerase
Defense-associated reverse transcriptases (DRTs) employ diverse and distinctive mechanisms of cDNA synthesis to protect bacteria against viral infection. However, much of DRT family diversity remains ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 17, 2025 at 5:22 PM
1/10 Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral RTs, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
October 17, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Genome maintenance by telomerase is a fundamental process in nearly all eukaryotes. But where does it come from?
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Today, we report the discovery of telomerase homologs in a family of antiviral reverse transcriptases, revealing an unexpected evolutionary origin in bacteria.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
My home department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine is looking to hire a new tenure-track assistant professor in the broad area of structural biology. Come be my colleague! recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09887
recruit.ap.uci.edu
October 16, 2025 at 5:07 PM
My home department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry at UC Irvine is looking to hire a new tenure-track assistant professor in the broad area of structural biology. Come be my colleague! recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF09887
Reposted by Ben Morehouse
Perfect timing in the field for a beautiful review on NAD+ in bacterial immunity by @hugovaysset.bsky.social and @audeber.bsky.social @cp-molcell.bsky.social
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 16, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Perfect timing in the field for a beautiful review on NAD+ in bacterial immunity by @hugovaysset.bsky.social and @audeber.bsky.social @cp-molcell.bsky.social
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
#MicroSky
www.cell.com/molecular-ce...