François Rousset
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francoisrousset.bsky.social
François Rousset
@francoisrousset.bsky.social
710 followers 320 following 57 posts
Principal Investigator | Microbial Molecular Genomics Lab | https://www.rousset-lab.com |International Center for Infectiology Research (CIRI) in Lyon 🇫🇷 Studying the molecular basis of phage-bacteria interactions.
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francoisrousset.bsky.social
François Rousset @francoisrousset.bsky.social · Sep 4
Super excited to receive the ERC starting grant to explore what phage-bacteria interactions can teach us on host-pathogen conflicts 🤩 I'm immensely grateful to my wonderful team and to present and past mentors 🙏
erc.europa.eu European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Sep 4
📣 The ERC Starting Grant call results are out!

Find out which early-career researchers will receive funding this year, what they will be investigating, where they will be based... plus lots of other #ERCStG facts & figures for 2025!

➡️ buff.ly/IsafuFh

#FrontierResearch 🇪🇺#EUfunded #HorizonEurope
francoisrousset.bsky.social
I'm humbled to receive the Paoletti Prize awarded by @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social 😌 and very grateful to present and past mentors !
January 8, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
jnoms.bsky.social
I'm recruiting 1-2 grad students through the AITHYRA-CeMM PhD program! Applications are due January 30th. This is a fully-funded PhD program, combining AI and biology to advance biological discovery. Please forward to anyone who may be interested! You can apply here: apply.cemm.at
Fullfabric :: AITHYRA-CeMM PhD
apply.cemm.at
January 8, 2026 at 10:48 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
sluengo.bsky.social
🧫 🧪 We’re so excited to share our new preprint, where we tackle the wealth of structural and functional diversity across antiviral STAND NTPases in bacteria.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome
Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...
www.biorxiv.org
January 6, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
emggroupucph.bsky.social
[1/3] Is your favorite bacterial isolate hiding a surprise lytic virus with a VERY different lifestyle? Finally I can proudly say that our paper on persistent phages is out in Nature Microbiology. rdcu.be/eWJEp. Well done @peterdoug.bsky.social
Persistent virulent phages exist across bacterial isolates
Nature Microbiology - The long-term existence of diverse virulent phages within cultures of Escherichia coli and others challenges the virulent–temperate dichotomy and points to non-canonical...
rdcu.be
December 29, 2025 at 2:00 PM
francoisrousset.bsky.social
A systematic analysis of STAND NTPases and their associated sensor domains in bacterial immunity 🤯 Mind-blowing work !
Diverse bacterial pattern recognition receptors sense the conserved phage proteome
Recognition of foreign molecules inside cells is critical for immunity in all domains of life. Proteins of the STAND NTPase superfamily, including eukaryotic nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain ...
www.biorxiv.org
January 5, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
audeber.bsky.social
Bacterial genomes encode a rich repertoire of antiphage systems, but we still know surprisingly little about when these systems are actually expressed.

In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Environment and physiology shape antiphage system expression
Bacteria and archaea encode on average ten antiphage systems. Quorum sensing, cellular, or transcription factors can regulate specific systems (CRISPR-Cas, CBASS). Yet, a systematic assessment of anti...
www.biorxiv.org
December 15, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
ciri-lyon.bsky.social
An ERC Consolidator Grant for Lucie ETIENNE @lucievirevolte.bsky.social, Researcher PI at the CIRI (@cnrs-rhoneauvergne.bsky.social, @ensdelyon.bsky.social, @insermaura.bsky.social, UCBL, @hospicescivilslyon.bsky.social , UJM-Saint Etienne)!
CONGRATULATIONS!!🎉👏

www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/personne/...
December 12, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
ciri-lyon.bsky.social
International Call: recruitment of an Early-Career Team Leader in Virology at CIRI!
For further information: ciri.ens-lyon.fr/nous-rejoind...
December 1, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
lucievirevolte.bsky.social
Yay! Joy & excitement for the #science ahead & for our #team @ciri-lyon.bsky.social, who is getting @erc.europa.eu #Consolidator grant support to work on the FUNctional EVOlution of mammalian innate immunity #FUNEVO ! So thankful to #ERC and #everyone who contributed & provided support along the way
erc.europa.eu European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Dec 9
The results of the ERC Consolidator Grant call have been announced! 📣

349 researchers have been selected for funding. Congratulations to all! #ERCCogG!

👉 buff.ly/uu62uFV

#FrontierResearch #EUfunded #HorizonEurope

@scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu
December 9, 2025 at 5:17 PM
francoisrousset.bsky.social
Huge congrats Lucie !!! 🥳💪
lucievirevolte.bsky.social Lucie Etienne @lucievirevolte.bsky.social · Dec 9
Yay! Joy & excitement for the #science ahead & for our #team @ciri-lyon.bsky.social, who is getting @erc.europa.eu #Consolidator grant support to work on the FUNctional EVOlution of mammalian innate immunity #FUNEVO ! So thankful to #ERC and #everyone who contributed & provided support along the way
erc.europa.eu European Research Council (ERC) @erc.europa.eu · Dec 9
The results of the ERC Consolidator Grant call have been announced! 📣

349 researchers have been selected for funding. Congratulations to all! #ERCCogG!

👉 buff.ly/uu62uFV

#FrontierResearch #EUfunded #HorizonEurope

@scienceinnovation.ec.europa.eu
December 9, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
doudna-lab.bsky.social
✨New preprint!

🧵1/4 Excited to share our work on AI-guided design of minimal RNA-guided nucleases. Amazing work by @petrskopintsev.bsky.social @isabelesain.bsky.social @evandeturk.bsky.social et al!
Multi-lab collaboration @banfieldlab.bsky.social @jhdcate.bsky.social @jacobsenucla.bsky.social🧬

🔗👇
December 9, 2025 at 7:52 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
jbdsf.bsky.social
Phages are full of genes of unknown function that are likely adaptive in specific conditions.
New preprint: Phage TnSeq identifies essential genes rapidly and knocks all non-essentials. We would like to send a pool of phiKZ mutants to anyone wanting it! Reach out
tinyurl.com/bdcfrejh
December 8, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
ciri-lyon.bsky.social
Reportage France Info - La recherche sur les phages et l'équipe Stapath du CIRI mises à l'honneur !

www.franceinfo.fr/replay-radio...
REPORTAGE. Résistance aux antibiotiques : la France mise sur les phages, véritables tueurs de bactéries
Avec le risque d'augmentation des bactéries résistantes aux antibiotiques, les phages, virus capables de détruire ces bactéries, sont porteurs d'espoir. En France, une équipe de chercheurs les fabriqu...
www.franceinfo.fr
December 8, 2025 at 3:07 PM
francoisrousset.bsky.social
A massive expansion of Thoeris defense systems !

Congrats @erezyirmiya.bsky.social and @soreklab.bsky.social
erezyirmiya.bsky.social Erez Yirmiya @erezyirmiya.bsky.social · Dec 4
I’m happy to share our new preprint! We uncovered the full diversity of bacterial TIR-based antiviral immune signaling, massively expanded the known diversity of Thoeris systems, and revealed conservation of TIR-derived immune signals across the tree of life.

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Systematic discovery of TIR-based immune signaling systems in bacteria
Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domains are important for immune signaling across humans, plants and bacteria. These domains were recently found to produce immune signaling molecules in plant immuni...
www.biorxiv.org
December 4, 2025 at 9:44 AM
francoisrousset.bsky.social
🚨 We are hiring a group leader in Virology at CIRI !

Join us in the beautiful city of Lyon 🇫🇷

Deadline on March 31st 2026
ciri-lyon.bsky.social CIRI Lyon @ciri-lyon.bsky.social · Dec 1
International Call: recruitment of an Early-Career Team Leader in Virology at CIRI!
For further information: ciri.ens-lyon.fr/nous-rejoind...
December 2, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
jpkbravo.bsky.social
📢 We have multiple open PhD positions to study bacterial immune systems using cutting-edge cryo-EM, microbiology, and biochemistry in our group! Join us and uncover how bacterial defenses eliminate predators and engineer next-gen biotech tools.

🔥 Apply by Jan 8, 2026

Details: phd.pages.ista.ac.at
phd.pages.ista.ac.at
December 2, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
annakanevskaya.bsky.social
Our SPARHA story is out in Nature Communications!
doi.org/10.1038/s414...
We investigated a new short pAgo-HNH defense system, showing that it assembles into filaments degrading cellular DNA, inducing abortive infection, resolved their structure, and uncovered the activation mechanism 🧵
December 1, 2025 at 8:38 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
humollidorentina.bsky.social
🚀New preprint from our lab!
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
November 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
msuskiewicz.bsky.social
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
francoisrousset.bsky.social
A mysterious lactamase-nuclease module found in multiple defense systems finally solved ! Congrats @owentuck.bsky.social et al. !
November 14, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
owentuck.bsky.social
Our nuclease-protease story is out! We explored a fascinating case of coevolution and modularity in prokaryotic immune systems: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Thanks to wonderful coauthors/collaborators/friends, the whole @doudna-lab.bsky.social and everyone at @innovativegenomics.bsky.social
Recurrent acquisition of nuclease-protease pairs in antiviral immunity
Antiviral immune systems diversify by integrating new genes into existing pathways, creating new mechanisms of viral resistance. We identified genes encoding a predicted nuclease paired with a trypsin...
www.science.org
November 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by François Rousset
aharms485.bsky.social
Fantastic paper by James Bean and colleagues on phage Bas63 - this has been one of the first phages I ever isolated just for fun as a PhD student (in 2012!). It's #2 on this plate of Rhine river water on an E.coli K-12 lawn....

How it started /// How it's going
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
francoisrousset.bsky.social
Congrats Alexandre, @lucievirevolte.bsky.social et al. 🙌
Glad we could bring a small contribution
November 13, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by François Rousset
cnrsbiologie.bsky.social
#ResultatScientifique 🔎 Certains gènes antiviraux humains partagent des défenses communes avec les bactéries, révélant une convergence évolutive surprenante 🧬
✍️ Alexandre Legrand et @lucievirevolte.bsky.social
📕 Nature Ecology and Evolution
buff.ly/Su0EdiU
Défenses immunitaires : une invention répétée au cours de l’évolution
Dans une étude publiée dans Nature Ecology and Evolution, des scientifiques montrent que les gènes SAMD9 et SAMD9L, a
www.insb.cnrs.fr
November 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM