Chen Wang
chenwang.bsky.social
Chen Wang
@chenwang.bsky.social
Postdoc | UMass Chan Medical School @umasschan.bsky.social | biochemistry & structural biology
PhD | Australian National University | host-microbe interactions
Reposted by Chen Wang
Online Now: Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity Online now:
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 phage replication, establishing msDNA as a molecular switch for Eco8 activation.
dlvr.it
October 30, 2025 at 7:14 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
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
Reposted by Chen Wang
Structural insights into type I and type II Lamassu anti-phage systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.23.660979v1
June 24, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Thrilled to share our new paper uncovering the defense mechanism of Retron-Septu antiphage systems! Grateful to the incredible Fu lab team, our outstanding colleagues at UMass Chan and OSU, and wonderful collaborators at UCSD for their support and contributions.
❄️🔬🧬🦠🧫 Disassembly activates Retron-Septu for antiphage defense | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @rti-umasschan.bsky.social #RNA #DNA #retrons #microbiology #phage #immunity #phagesky #MicroSky
June 16, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
❄️🔬🧬🦠🧫 Disassembly activates Retron-Septu for antiphage defense | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... @rti-umasschan.bsky.social #RNA #DNA #retrons #microbiology #phage #immunity #phagesky #MicroSky
June 16, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Reposted by Chen Wang
🧬🧫🦠 @science.org Bacterial reverse transcriptase synthesizes long poly-A–rich cDNA for antiphage defense | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #microbiology #bacteriophage #antiphage #immunity #DNA #RNAsky #RT #Cryo-EM #DRT9
May 2, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
Excited to share my PhD work in the Kranzusch Lab published in @nature.com!

Two key discoveries:
- Nucleotides can act as negative regulators of antiviral immunity
- Ion channel activation is gated by DNA

Thank you to our all collaborators! @soreklab.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A DNA-gated molecular guard controls bacterial Hailong anti-phage defence - Nature
Nature - A DNA-gated molecular guard controls bacterial Hailong anti-phage defence
www.nature.com
April 30, 2025 at 6:57 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
Out in Nature today: A new immune signaling molecule, His-ADPR, is produced by defensive TIR domain proteins in bacteria to protect from phage

Joint work with the Tamulaitienė and Kranzusch labs

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

Congrats Carmel Avraham, Dziugas Sabonis, Renee Chang and co-authors!
April 30, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
My lab has postdoc openings in the following areas: 1) Structural biology and single molecule biophysics; 2) Developing novel genome editing methods; and 3) Protein and RNA engineering. Please share the info with your trainees, and RT please. 🙏 postdocs.yale.edu/yale-postdoc...
Yale Postdoctoral Positions | Office for Postdoctoral Affairs
postdocs.yale.edu
April 22, 2025 at 5:00 PM
So excited to see a Fu Lab trainee take the stage at #ASBMB25! Great to see our lab represented.
April 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
Structural basis for Lamassu-based antiviral immunity and its evolution from DNA repair machinery https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.02.646746v1
April 2, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Chen Wang
Hello BlueSky! Inaugural post here from the Sternberg Lab. We're excited to share our latest work, in which we teamed up with the @WiedenheftLab to study how DRT9 reverse transcriptases provide antiviral immunity. Here’s what we found: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Protein-primed DNA homopolymer synthesis by an antiviral reverse transcriptase
Bacteria defend themselves from viral predation using diverse immune systems, many of which sense and target foreign DNA for degradation. Defense-associated reverse transcriptase (DRT) systems provide...
www.biorxiv.org
March 26, 2025 at 10:13 PM