Abul Tarafder
abultarafder.bsky.social
Abul Tarafder
@abultarafder.bsky.social
Scientist in the Bharat lab, MRC-LMB, Cambridge. Studying gloopy bacterial biofilms with any kind of microscopy.
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
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
November 20, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
There's just over 2 weeks left to apply for a fully funded PhD studentship with us working on C. difficile vancomycin resistance. Two more studentships - linked in the thread below - close in early January
November 19, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers

Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social.

S-layers are everywhere!

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology
Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments

Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Looking for a PhD? 🚀 MIBTP projects are out lots to explore!
🔬 #Bacteria#AMR#Interdisciplinary • FUN!
My projects explore how Gram-negative bacteria build and maintain their three-layered cell envelope, using cryo-EM, fluorescence microscopy and biochemistry.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
Dr Melissa Webby
Dr Melissa Webby
warwick.ac.uk
October 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Really excited to have our work out in the world. CCHFV has a 450kDa L-Protein, about twice the size of L-Proteins from other segmented RNA viruses. We have used cryoEM and functional assays to begin to understand it this massive multifunctional protein works.
Structural and functional characterisation of the Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Virus RNA Dependent RNA Polymerase
Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Virus (CCHFV) is found across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East where it can cause Haemorrhagic outbreaks with high case fatality rates. Central to the viral life cycl...
www.biorxiv.org
October 22, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
We are looking for motivated #postdocs to join the lab! Biochemistry/microbiology/cryo-EM experience? Excited by #cryo-EM/ET, #chromatin? ❄️🧬🧫
Interdisciplinary projects, top EMBL facilities!
Email CV + short cover letter → svetlana.dodonova@embl.de
Info about the group: www.embl.org/groups/dodon...
Dodonova Group – Organisational principles and 3D architecture of archaeal chromatin
www.embl.org
October 15, 2025 at 10:38 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
EMBL’s 2025 Kendrew alumni award recipient may know how to make fairy tales come true.

Irma Querques (@irmaquerques.bsky.social) repurposed the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ transposon as a genetic tool for new therapeutics, particularly against cancer.

www.embl.org/news/people-...
October 14, 2025 at 11:46 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions at the John Innes Centre.

Repost = nice. Thank you very much!!!
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026.

Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.

Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...
Independent Research Fellowships Leading to Tenured Faculty Positions | John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…
www.jic.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Our PhD studentship programme is officially open; pass it on

If you are looking for a fully-funded PhD in the mechanisms underlying human disease, here are the details...

Great science and a great environment!

www.path.ox.ac.uk/news-article...
Applications now open for our PhD studentship programme - Dunn School
Applications are now open to apply for our four year, fully-funded PhD programme in Molecular Cell Biology in Health and Disease.
www.path.ox.ac.uk
September 8, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Together with colleagues at the Dept. of Microsystems Engineering, we are looking for a PhD student to develop methods for femtoliter-scale sample dispensing in cryoEM sample preparation.

edu.nl/h436k

If you like interdisciplinary research & fascinating physics at ultrasmall scales, please apply!
September 8, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Excited to share our latest work, driven by my recently graduated PhD student Kaitlyn Barrack, exploring the mechanisms of bacterial dysbiosis in the CF gut - including a role for a colorectal cancer-associated genotoxin in this competition.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@kbarrack.bsky.social
September 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Sub-cellular chemical mapping in bacteria using correlated cryogenic electron and mass spectrometry imaging

Congrats Hannah Ochner and authors on this important paper! Strong collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
@mrclmb.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social
August 31, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Our newest manuscript on the gut-lung axis in CF, lead by Rebecca Valls, explores sex and intestinal regional differences in response to Bacteroides. Check it out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
August 28, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
We are excited to be a part of a collaboration lead by Tarafder and Bharat titled "Targeted disruption of phage liquid crystalline droplets abolishes antibiotic tolerance of bacterial biofilms" - this work has exciting implications for biofilm-targeted therapeutics.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
July 29, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Targeted disruption of phage liquid crystalline droplets abolishes antibiotic tolerance of bacterial biofilms

led by @abultarafder.bsky.social

Great collaboration with @pearce-maths.bsky.social and @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social

www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
July 29, 2025 at 9:35 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Highly collaborative efforts that involved 6 lab members and the labs of @yiliangding.bsky.social and @rdaslab.bsky.social. We uncovered a telomerase dimer and its potential role in telomere maintenance.
Sebastian Balch, Zala Sekne & Elsa Franco-Echevarría in @kellythd-nguyen.bsky.social's group have confirmed the existence of dimeric telomerase and illustrated how it is key to telomere maintenance:
www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/first-struct...

#LMBResearch @yiliangding.bsky.social @rdaslab.bsky.social 🧪
July 11, 2025 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Exciting study from @kiranrpatil.bsky.social and colleagues. Hannah Ochner from the group performed cryo FIB imaging.

Congrats!
Researchers in the Patil Lab have discovered that certain species of gut bacteria can absorb PFAS. Boosting these species in our gut microbiome could be a new way to protect us from the harmful effects of PFAS.

Read more here: buff.ly/4FsVFsS

@kiranrpatil.bsky.social @indraroux.bsky.social
July 1, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Excited to share our latest review on histone-mediated chromatin organization in prokaryotes and viruses! 🧬 @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social
June 30, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Bedaquiline resistance driven by the MmpS5L5 efflux pump is threatening the drug regimens used to treat MDR-TB.

In our new preprint, we used structural and genetic approaches to better understand how MmpS5L5 effluxes bedaquiline and how future resistance may evolve. 🧵🔽

#TBsky #MicroSky #TB
Structural and functional analysis of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpS5L5 efflux pump presages a pathway to increased bedaquiline resistance
Bedaquiline, an antitubercular drug that targets ATP-synthase, is a key component of a new oral drug regimen that has revolutionized the treatment of multi drug resistant tuberculosis. Clinical bedaqu...
www.biorxiv.org
June 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Excellent opportunity for a postdoc to join @jgreener64.bsky.social’s group at the LMB.
You’ll help develop novel molecular simulation methods to optimise sequences for diverse design tasks in computational protein design.
See: www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Apply by 13 JUL
#PostdocJobs #ScienceJobs
June 25, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
We have a 3-year funded postdoc position to work on structures of #amyloid filaments. If you are an expert in protein biochemistry, structural biology or #cryoEM / #cryoET, this could be for you! Feel free to email me with any questions. Come join us! 🤩

www.nature.com/naturecareer...
Postdoctoral Scientist - Structural Studies - Dr Sjors Scheres - LMB 2640 - Cambridgeshire job with MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) | 12840844
Postdoctoral Scientist Starting Salary: £41,344 Fixed term: 3 years MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK We are looking for a postdoc...
www.nature.com
June 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Structural and functional analysis of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpS5L5 efflux pump presages a pathway to increased bedaquiline resistance

Exciting paper by Adam Fountain and Lalita Ramakrishnan. Cryo-ET by @janboehning.bsky.social

Congrats!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
June 25, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
The mechanics of a continuous self-assembling surface-layer aids cell division in an archaeon

out in @pnas.org

Tight collaboration with Sherman Foo, Alice Cezanne and @buzzbaum.bsky.social, Sulfolobus cryo-ET from @idocaspy.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A self-assembling surface layer flattens the cytokinetic furrow to aid cell division in an archaeon | PNAS
The surface layer or “S-layer” is a two-dimensional lattice of proteins that coats a wide range of archaea and bacteria in place of a cell wall or ...
www.pnas.org
June 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Abul Tarafder
Structure of the virulence-associated Neisseria meningitidis filamentous bacteriophage MDAphi

Out in @pnas.org

Congrats @janboehning.bsky.social @abultarafder.bsky.social Miles Graham @mathieucoureuil.bsky.social
@mrclmb.bsky.social @hopitalnecker.bsky.social

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
June 23, 2025 at 10:26 AM