Géraldine Laloux
@lalouxlab.bsky.social
Bacterial cell biology lab in the Kingdom of Belgium - Exploring predatory bacteria in space and time - F.R.S.-FNRS research associate / UCLouvain Associate Prof / WEL-RI investigator
Pinned
Géraldine Laloux
@lalouxlab.bsky.social
· Sep 17
Expanding the genetic toolbox of the obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus with inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference
Inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference-mediated depletion in the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
academic.oup.com
🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Just got word that we are a go for the Bacterial Cell Biology and Development GRS and GRC at Southern New Hampshire University!
GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027
GRC will be from June 6-11, 2027
Block off your calendars Prokaryotic Cell Biologists!
More details to come! Please repost!
GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027
GRC will be from June 6-11, 2027
Block off your calendars Prokaryotic Cell Biologists!
More details to come! Please repost!
December 12, 2025 at 2:58 PM
Just got word that we are a go for the Bacterial Cell Biology and Development GRS and GRC at Southern New Hampshire University!
GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027
GRC will be from June 6-11, 2027
Block off your calendars Prokaryotic Cell Biologists!
More details to come! Please repost!
GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027
GRC will be from June 6-11, 2027
Block off your calendars Prokaryotic Cell Biologists!
More details to come! Please repost!
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... Collaboration with Y. Yamaichi. Killing donor bacteria in conjugation mixes using water enables transcriptomic profiling of early plasmid genes ! Superb tool for studying zygotic induction of these early genes, which include anti-SOS and anti-RM factors. #microsky
Selective elimination of donor bacteria enables global profiling of plasmid gene expression at early stages of conjugation
Abstract. Conjugative plasmids are a major driving force for the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. During conjugation, plasmid DNA is transferred
academic.oup.com
December 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
academic.oup.com/nar/article/... Collaboration with Y. Yamaichi. Killing donor bacteria in conjugation mixes using water enables transcriptomic profiling of early plasmid genes ! Superb tool for studying zygotic induction of these early genes, which include anti-SOS and anti-RM factors. #microsky
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Your societies need you #MicroSky! Editorial from the European Academy of Microbiology Task Force: Society journals matter—supporting science through renewed commitment: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Editorial: society journals matter—supporting science through renewed commitment
Scientific publishing is in flux. Commercial publishers have expanded their influence, driven by profit margins and citation metrics. At the same time, a g
academic.oup.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Your societies need you #MicroSky! Editorial from the European Academy of Microbiology Task Force: Society journals matter—supporting science through renewed commitment: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Our preprint is now published in PNAS! This came together thanks to a great collaboration with Antoine Hocher and a strong team effort from the Le Lab. Thank you to the reviewers and to everyone who helped improve it. I hope ParB aficionados will enjoy it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation | PNAS
Nucleotide triphosphate (NTP)-dependent molecular switches regulate essential cellular
processes by cycling between active and inactive states thro...
www.pnas.org
December 4, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Our preprint is now published in PNAS! This came together thanks to a great collaboration with Antoine Hocher and a strong team effort from the Le Lab. Thank you to the reviewers and to everyone who helped improve it. I hope ParB aficionados will enjoy it.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Apply now to attend the next EMBO Bacterial Networks meeting #EMBOBacNet
🗓️13-18 September 2026
📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...
👩🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social
#MicroSky
🗓️13-18 September 2026
📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...
👩🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social
#MicroSky
November 20, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Apply now to attend the next EMBO Bacterial Networks meeting #EMBOBacNet
🗓️13-18 September 2026
📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...
👩🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social
#MicroSky
🗓️13-18 September 2026
📍Sant Feliu de Guixols, Spain
📝Program and registration info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bac...
👩🔬Organised with co-chair @s-lab.bsky.social and ECR @coralietesseur.bsky.social
#MicroSky
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
The diderm cell envelope is not a stack of layers but a unified scaffold of Inner Membrane–Peptidoglycan–Outer Membrane.
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
Redirecting
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The diderm cell envelope is not a stack of layers but a unified scaffold of Inner Membrane–Peptidoglycan–Outer Membrane.
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
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
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
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
📢 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
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
📢 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
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
We’re excited to announce the incredible speaker line-up for the Prokaryotic Cell Biology Conference! Join the leading researchers as they explore the latest advances in Nanoimaging, Cell Growth and Cellular Structures.
Join our speakers & register today! ➡️https://bit.ly/47rtkbw
#ProkaryoticCellBio
Join our speakers & register today! ➡️https://bit.ly/47rtkbw
#ProkaryoticCellBio
October 17, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.10.680097v1
October 10, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Versatile NTP recognition and domain fusions expand the functional repertoire of the ParB-CTPase fold beyond chromosome segregation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.10.680097v1
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Happy to finally show our story of the connection between nucleoid conformation, transcription & predation in our favorite predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. 🧵 1/n
📝New preprint! #MicroSky
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle
The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...
www.biorxiv.org
September 26, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Happy to finally show our story of the connection between nucleoid conformation, transcription & predation in our favorite predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. 🧵 1/n
📝New preprint! #MicroSky
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Dynamics and interplay of gene expression and chromosome organization across a predatory lifecycle
The obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus alternates between a motile attack phase and a growth phase inside another bacterium, during which it undergoes multiple rounds of DNA repli...
www.biorxiv.org
September 25, 2025 at 7:12 AM
📝New preprint! #MicroSky
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🕰️We chart the full, synchronized lifecycle of a predatory bacterium using Hi-C, RNA-seq, ChIP-seq & microscopy.
🧬We uncover dramatic shifts in nucleoid architecture & transcription, tightly coordinated with predation.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Expanding the genetic toolbox of the obligate predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus with inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference
Inducible gene expression and CRISPR interference-mediated depletion in the predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus.
academic.oup.com
September 17, 2025 at 7:27 AM
🚨New paper out! #MicroSky
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Studying obligate predators like Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is tricky—essential genes for predation are also essential for survival.
We expanded its genetic toolbox:
🧬promoters to fine-tune expression
🧬IPTG-inducible system
🧬CRISPRi for rapid knockdown
bit.ly/46GUn2c
1/4
Another great contribution to the “Cell Regulation” themed issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
August 21, 2025 at 9:31 AM
Another great contribution to the “Cell Regulation” themed issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...
Bacterial cell wall & periplasm paradigm shift - important read #MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
July 29, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Bacterial cell wall & periplasm paradigm shift - important read #MicroSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Chromosome enthusiasts, York is calling!
Join us at The Biology & Physics of Chromosomes www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...
Late breaking abstract deadline
📆 7 August
@biophychrom.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social #microsky
Join us at The Biology & Physics of Chromosomes www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...
Late breaking abstract deadline
📆 7 August
@biophychrom.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social #microsky
July 26, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Chromosome enthusiasts, York is calling!
Join us at The Biology & Physics of Chromosomes www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...
Late breaking abstract deadline
📆 7 August
@biophychrom.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social #microsky
Join us at The Biology & Physics of Chromosomes www.eventsforce.net/biochemsoc/f...
Late breaking abstract deadline
📆 7 August
@biophychrom.bsky.social @vslioy.bsky.social @damelab.bsky.social @graingerlab.bsky.social @biochemsoc.bsky.social #microsky
#MicroSky Summer read!
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Strategies and mechanisms of contact-dependent predation in bacteria
Predatory bacteria kill other bacteria to acquire nutrients. Among diverse strategies to kill and feed on prey, contact-dependent predation stands out…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 25, 2025 at 4:59 PM
#MicroSky Summer read!
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛
How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We wrote 2 📕 chapters with tips & tricks to identify protein-protein interactions in bacteria 🦠
1) In vivo proximity labeling with miniTurbo link.springer.com/protocol/10....
2) An adapted polar recruitment assay feat. E. coli as a test tube link.springer.com/protocol/10.....
Enjoy #MicroSky 🧪
1) In vivo proximity labeling with miniTurbo link.springer.com/protocol/10....
2) An adapted polar recruitment assay feat. E. coli as a test tube link.springer.com/protocol/10.....
Enjoy #MicroSky 🧪
a man wearing sunglasses and a white t-shirt is holding something in his hands .
ALT: a man wearing sunglasses and a white t-shirt is holding something in his hands .
media.tenor.com
July 16, 2025 at 11:05 AM
We wrote 2 📕 chapters with tips & tricks to identify protein-protein interactions in bacteria 🦠
1) In vivo proximity labeling with miniTurbo link.springer.com/protocol/10....
2) An adapted polar recruitment assay feat. E. coli as a test tube link.springer.com/protocol/10.....
Enjoy #MicroSky 🧪
1) In vivo proximity labeling with miniTurbo link.springer.com/protocol/10....
2) An adapted polar recruitment assay feat. E. coli as a test tube link.springer.com/protocol/10.....
Enjoy #MicroSky 🧪
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Please repost: PhD position with my lab and @weisslab.bsky.social in a great collaboration on bacterial adhesion #microsky. See drive.google.com/file/d/1GJD4...
July 9, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Please repost: PhD position with my lab and @weisslab.bsky.social in a great collaboration on bacterial adhesion #microsky. See drive.google.com/file/d/1GJD4...
Check out these amazing lipid-monolayer-trapping oligomeric OMPs published by @lalouxlab.bsky.social and Lovering Labs. The BAM complex in these bugs must be wild!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A porin-like protein used by bacterial predators defines a wider lipid-trapping superfamily - Nature Communications
This study reveals that an outer membrane protein from the predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus forms a pentameric assembly that traps a lipid monolayer within. This allows the discovery of two superfa...
www.nature.com
July 7, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below.
shorturl.at/o6S1w
shorturl.at/o6S1w
A bacterial CARD-NLR immune system controls the release of gene transfer agents
Bacteria have evolved a wide array of immune systems to detect and defend against external threats including mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as bacteriophages, plasmids, and transposons. MGEs are ...
shorturl.at
May 9, 2025 at 8:08 AM
1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below.
shorturl.at/o6S1w
shorturl.at/o6S1w
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
#Postdoc position - at the University of Marburg (Germany), funded within our ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
Focus: CTP-dependent molecular switches as a new principle of cellular regulation in bacteria (including bacteriophages)
Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...
Focus: CTP-dependent molecular switches as a new principle of cellular regulation in bacteria (including bacteriophages)
Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...
April 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
#Postdoc position - at the University of Marburg (Germany), funded within our ERC Advanced Grant "C-SWITCH"
Focus: CTP-dependent molecular switches as a new principle of cellular regulation in bacteria (including bacteriophages)
Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...
Focus: CTP-dependent molecular switches as a new principle of cellular regulation in bacteria (including bacteriophages)
Apply by 04 May: stellenangebote.uni-marburg.de/jobposting/2...
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
I’m very happy to share our latest work on the ParABS system. We investigated the dynamic interaction between the ATPase ParA and the CTPase ParB mediating chromosome segregation in Myxococcus xanthus. I would like to thank all the people involved.
Molecular basis of ParA ATPase activation by the CTPase ParB during bacterial chromosome segregation https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03.14.642875v1
March 15, 2025 at 6:36 PM
I’m very happy to share our latest work on the ParABS system. We investigated the dynamic interaction between the ATPase ParA and the CTPase ParB mediating chromosome segregation in Myxococcus xanthus. I would like to thank all the people involved.
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to ML.Antibiotics@gmail.com. See
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky
March 12, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to ML.Antibiotics@gmail.com. See
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky
Reposted by Géraldine Laloux
In @molecularmicro.bsky.social: two special issues on Prokaryotic Chromosome Organization. Many excellent contributions, including a vision article: 'Future directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field', outcome of BioPhyChrom 2023 @biophychrom.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Future Directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field
In September 2023, the Biology and Physics of Prokaryotic Chromosomes meeting ran at the Lorentz Center in Leiden, The Netherlands. As part of the workshop, those in attendance developed a series of ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 20, 2025 at 8:14 PM
In @molecularmicro.bsky.social: two special issues on Prokaryotic Chromosome Organization. Many excellent contributions, including a vision article: 'Future directions of the Prokaryotic Chromosome Field', outcome of BioPhyChrom 2023 @biophychrom.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...