Patrick R. Secor
@prsecor.bsky.social
Associate Professor at Montana State University. Studying bacteria and their viruses with a focus on phage-host-microbe interactions.
Lab Website: https://secorlab.org
Faculty profile:
https://www.montana.edu/mbi/directory/2553333/patrick-secor
Lab Website: https://secorlab.org
Faculty profile:
https://www.montana.edu/mbi/directory/2553333/patrick-secor
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
The final form of my 2nd postdoc paper with the Bassler Lab! Turns out our favorite quorum-sensing phage isn’t a one-off, but rather a member of a globally dispersed family of phages that sense a universal autoinducer.
#phagesky #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
#phagesky #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species | mBio
The discovery of quorum-sensing responsive linear plasmid phages has transformed understanding
of phage-bacterial interactions by demonstrating inter-domain chemical communication.
To date, however, e...
journals.asm.org
December 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
The final form of my 2nd postdoc paper with the Bassler Lab! Turns out our favorite quorum-sensing phage isn’t a one-off, but rather a member of a globally dispersed family of phages that sense a universal autoinducer.
#phagesky #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
#phagesky #microsky
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
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...
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
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...
In this preprint, Lucas Paoli et al, ask what shapes antiphage systems expression in native contexts.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
The Gallatin Range, Montana
December 14, 2025 at 10:05 PM
The Gallatin Range, Montana
Congrats Nanami! It was a pleasure to be on your committee 🎉🥳🍾
Happy to announce that I successfully defended my PhD thesis today! Thank you those who attended in person and virtually.
December 8, 2025 at 11:16 PM
Congrats Nanami! It was a pleasure to be on your committee 🎉🥳🍾
Had our lab holiday party and this was one of the white elephant gifts 🤣🫡
@dominickfaith.bsky.social
#microsky
#phagesky
@dominickfaith.bsky.social
#microsky
#phagesky
December 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Had our lab holiday party and this was one of the white elephant gifts 🤣🫡
@dominickfaith.bsky.social
#microsky
#phagesky
@dominickfaith.bsky.social
#microsky
#phagesky
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
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
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
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
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
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
🦠🧪🧬🚨 New paper and database alert: the new IMG/VR release is now MetaVR ! We have a new website - meta-virome.org - with quick search capabilities for the >24M viruses, >12M vOTUs, and >42M protein clusters (including >790k with predicted structures !). academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Meta-virus resource (MetaVR): expanding the frontiers of viral diversity with 24 million uncultivated virus genomes
Abstract. Viruses are ubiquitous in all environments and impact host metabolism, evolution, and ecology, although our knowledge of their biodiversity is st
academic.oup.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:34 AM
🦠🧪🧬🚨 New paper and database alert: the new IMG/VR release is now MetaVR ! We have a new website - meta-virome.org - with quick search capabilities for the >24M viruses, >12M vOTUs, and >42M protein clusters (including >790k with predicted structures !). academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed)
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
SISB2026
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
December 1, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Check this out for the 2026 SISB (phage defense) meeting in NYC. Mark your calendar! (and note the Zoom option, if needed)
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
sisb2026.rockefeller.edu
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
Check out our latest paper on mirusviruses, one of the most remarkable new groups of protist viruses - extremely diverse, carry lots of spliceosomal introns (including new homing introns) and are at the evolutionary crossroads between tailed phages and herpesviruses! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Widespread and intron-rich mirusviruses are predicted to reproduce in nuclei of unicellular eukaryotes - Nature Microbiology
Environmental metagenomic explorations show that Mirusviricota lineages lack essential replication and transcription genes and contain spliceosomal introns, suggesting nuclear reproduction.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Check out our latest paper on mirusviruses, one of the most remarkable new groups of protist viruses - extremely diverse, carry lots of spliceosomal introns (including new homing introns) and are at the evolutionary crossroads between tailed phages and herpesviruses! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
Identification of Previously Unknown DNA-Binding Proteins Using DNA Affinity/Pull-Down Methods Followed by Mass Spectrometry
Jutras, Babb, Jusufovic, Krusenstjerna, Saylor, Verma, and Stevenson
Current Protocols 2025, 5:e70264
doi: 10.1002/cpz1.70264
#MicroSky
Jutras, Babb, Jusufovic, Krusenstjerna, Saylor, Verma, and Stevenson
Current Protocols 2025, 5:e70264
doi: 10.1002/cpz1.70264
#MicroSky
November 26, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Identification of Previously Unknown DNA-Binding Proteins Using DNA Affinity/Pull-Down Methods Followed by Mass Spectrometry
Jutras, Babb, Jusufovic, Krusenstjerna, Saylor, Verma, and Stevenson
Current Protocols 2025, 5:e70264
doi: 10.1002/cpz1.70264
#MicroSky
Jutras, Babb, Jusufovic, Krusenstjerna, Saylor, Verma, and Stevenson
Current Protocols 2025, 5:e70264
doi: 10.1002/cpz1.70264
#MicroSky
Want to see something that will fry your brain? Disappearing reappearing plaques on P aeruginosa @dominickfaith.bsky.social
🧫🦠🧪
🧫🦠🧪
November 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Want to see something that will fry your brain? Disappearing reappearing plaques on P aeruginosa @dominickfaith.bsky.social
🧫🦠🧪
🧫🦠🧪
Snowing at the lab today here at Montana State ❄️🦠🧫
November 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Snowing at the lab today here at Montana State ❄️🦠🧫
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
www.science.org
November 20, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
📣 New preprint from us at phagefoundry.org 📣
A solid machine learning framework & to predict strain-level phage-host interactions across diverse bacterial genera from genome sequences alone. Avery Noonan from the Arkin Lab led this massive effort
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A solid machine learning framework & to predict strain-level phage-host interactions across diverse bacterial genera from genome sequences alone. Avery Noonan from the Arkin Lab led this massive effort
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Phage Foundry
phagefoundry.org
November 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
📣 New preprint from us at phagefoundry.org 📣
A solid machine learning framework & to predict strain-level phage-host interactions across diverse bacterial genera from genome sequences alone. Avery Noonan from the Arkin Lab led this massive effort
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A solid machine learning framework & to predict strain-level phage-host interactions across diverse bacterial genera from genome sequences alone. Avery Noonan from the Arkin Lab led this massive effort
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
Just got an email from my SRO for the study section that was missed in October. Good news is that they are trying to reschedule ASAP (Dec/Jan). The bad news is that CSR is mandating that only the the top third (not half) of applications will get discussed for the next 2 rounds.
November 13, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Just got an email from my SRO for the study section that was missed in October. Good news is that they are trying to reschedule ASAP (Dec/Jan). The bad news is that CSR is mandating that only the the top third (not half) of applications will get discussed for the next 2 rounds.
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
New lab paper!
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Modulation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing cascade by MexT-regulated factors | mBio
Bacteria interact with both abiotic and biotic factors in their environment. Quorum
sensing (QS) is one mechanism that bacteria use to communicate with other bacteria
and coordinate behaviors in the p...
journals.asm.org
October 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
New lab paper!
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
For what it’s worth, The Wyoming Worm lab has funding for 5 years along with exciting projects with solid foundations. We are is still looking for capable, dedicated, and fun-to-work-with lab members at all career stages. davidfay@uwyo.edu
scholar.google.com/citations?us...
scholar.google.com/citations?us...
October 22, 2025 at 1:28 PM
For what it’s worth, The Wyoming Worm lab has funding for 5 years along with exciting projects with solid foundations. We are is still looking for capable, dedicated, and fun-to-work-with lab members at all career stages. davidfay@uwyo.edu
scholar.google.com/citations?us...
scholar.google.com/citations?us...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
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 Patrick R. Secor
Our Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UCSF is running a faculty search this year for a new Assistant Professor! Please see the ad below for details. Searching for a great colleague, mentor, and scientist!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807
Microbiology and Immunology – Faculty Position (Ladder Rank) – Assistant Professor
University of California, San Francisco is hiring. Apply now!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu
September 25, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Our Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UCSF is running a faculty search this year for a new Assistant Professor! Please see the ad below for details. Searching for a great colleague, mentor, and scientist!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
Faculty Professor Associate - Full-Time | Vaughn Cooper
We are recruiting Faculty microbiologists in three (3) different, complementary, and collaborative areas at the University of Pittsburgh associated with the School of Medicine.
1) Fundamental researc...
www.linkedin.com
September 23, 2025 at 10:31 PM
🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro
2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute
3) Center for Vaccine Research
🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...
Reposted by Patrick R. Secor
🚨Job alert!🚨
We are looking for a new lab manager to join our group at the University of Oregon! Applicants with experience in microbiology, evolutionary genetics, or protein biochemistry are especially encouraged to apply. See the link below for more information: barberlab.org/contact/
We are looking for a new lab manager to join our group at the University of Oregon! Applicants with experience in microbiology, evolutionary genetics, or protein biochemistry are especially encouraged to apply. See the link below for more information: barberlab.org/contact/
Contact
View of the University of Oregon campus from nearby Hendricks Park Lab Address:322 Pacific Hall5289 University of OregonEugene, OR 97403 Lab Phone:541-346-1537 Joining the lab Lab Manager: We are c…
barberlab.org
September 12, 2025 at 7:20 PM