Carlos J. Blondel
@cjblondel.bsky.social
Researcher at Universidad Andres Bello- Chile working on host-bacteria interactions & contact-dependent systems #T3SS and #T6SS. Pew LAF class 2013 and HHMI IRS 2017-2022
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Lac operon: Wait… what?! Noise in the basement?
by Christoph — If you've ever come across the topic of 'gene regulation in bacteria' in your biology classes at high school, college or university, you've inevitably learned about a classic: the lac operon of E. coli. Well, this it's not an exam…
by Christoph — If you've ever come across the topic of 'gene regulation in bacteria' in your biology classes at high school, college or university, you've inevitably learned about a classic: the lac operon of E. coli. Well, this it's not an exam…
Lac operon: Wait… what?! Noise in the basement?
by Christoph — If you've ever come across the topic of 'gene regulation in bacteria' in your biology classes at high school, college or university, you've inevitably learned about a classic: the lac operon of E. coli. Well, this it's not an exam here! Just ask yourself what you remember without the help of an AI.
smallthingsconsidered.blog
December 1, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Lac operon: Wait… what?! Noise in the basement?
by Christoph — If you've ever come across the topic of 'gene regulation in bacteria' in your biology classes at high school, college or university, you've inevitably learned about a classic: the lac operon of E. coli. Well, this it's not an exam…
by Christoph — If you've ever come across the topic of 'gene regulation in bacteria' in your biology classes at high school, college or university, you've inevitably learned about a classic: the lac operon of E. coli. Well, this it's not an exam…
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp
Proteome-wide in silico screening for human protein-protein interactions
Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) drive virtually all biological processes, yet most PPIs have not been identified and even more remain structurally unresolved. We developed a two-step computational...
biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Thrilled to share that the final piece of my PhD work is now on bioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.1... With support from @nvidia and the @NSF, we used AlphaFold to screen 1.6M+ protein pairs, revealing thousands of potential novel PPIs. All data can be viewed at predictomes.org/hp
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
I have posted about this before, but...
Researchers at Pitt School of Public Health (with NIH funding) developed Project Tycho where they digitized reportable disease data from across the country going back to ~1900.
graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
1/6
Researchers at Pitt School of Public Health (with NIH funding) developed Project Tycho where they digitized reportable disease data from across the country going back to ~1900.
graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
1/6
Battling Infectious Diseases in the 20th Century: The Impact of Vaccines
The number of infected people, measured over 70-some years and across all 50 states and the District of Columbia, generally declined after vaccines were introduced.
graphics.wsj.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I have posted about this before, but...
Researchers at Pitt School of Public Health (with NIH funding) developed Project Tycho where they digitized reportable disease data from across the country going back to ~1900.
graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
1/6
Researchers at Pitt School of Public Health (with NIH funding) developed Project Tycho where they digitized reportable disease data from across the country going back to ~1900.
graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
1/6
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
🚀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 (🧵)
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
🚀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 (🧵)
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 (🧵)
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
#Abstract submissions are open for The #Shigella Meeting! If you would like to be considered for a #travel #grant, abstracts are due December 16, 2025. Regular submissions due January 14, 2026. Show us your #science!
@shigellameeting.bsky.social
🦠 🧫🔬 #Microsky #IDsky
@shigellameeting.bsky.social
🦠 🧫🔬 #Microsky #IDsky
Call for abstracts - EMBO Workshop Shigella: from biology to prevention
EMBO Workshop Shigella: from biology to prevention
www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org
November 21, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
#NewResearch
A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice.
#MicroSky 🦠💊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice.
#MicroSky 🦠💊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Structure-guided design of a synthetic bile acid that inhibits Clostridioides difficile TcdB toxin - Nature Microbiology
A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated Clostridioides difficile infection in mice.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 2:07 PM
#NewResearch
A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice.
#MicroSky 🦠💊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice.
#MicroSky 🦠💊
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
You can download the lecture PDFs as a package
Or join (free!) the GenEpi-BioTrain – Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training Programme run by the European CDC (ECDC) to hear the recordings. 🧫🧬💻
learning.ecdc.europa.eu/enrol/index....
Or join (free!) the GenEpi-BioTrain – Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training Programme run by the European CDC (ECDC) to hear the recordings. 🧫🧬💻
learning.ecdc.europa.eu/enrol/index....
ECDC Learning Portal
learning.ecdc.europa.eu
November 18, 2025 at 8:27 AM
You can download the lecture PDFs as a package
Or join (free!) the GenEpi-BioTrain – Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training Programme run by the European CDC (ECDC) to hear the recordings. 🧫🧬💻
learning.ecdc.europa.eu/enrol/index....
Or join (free!) the GenEpi-BioTrain – Genetic Epidemiology and Bioinformatics Training Programme run by the European CDC (ECDC) to hear the recordings. 🧫🧬💻
learning.ecdc.europa.eu/enrol/index....
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
The @klebnet.bsky.social team are pleased to share slides from our “Klebsiella pneumoniae Genomic Epidemiology & Antimicrobial Resistance” lecture series!
Topics include Kleb diversity, lineages, AMR, hypervirulence, how to use Kaptive & Kleborate for typing, and more!
klebnet.org/2025/11/18/k...
Topics include Kleb diversity, lineages, AMR, hypervirulence, how to use Kaptive & Kleborate for typing, and more!
klebnet.org/2025/11/18/k...
Klebsiella pneumoniae genomics tutorials – KlebNET-GSP
klebnet.org
November 18, 2025 at 8:25 AM
The @klebnet.bsky.social team are pleased to share slides from our “Klebsiella pneumoniae Genomic Epidemiology & Antimicrobial Resistance” lecture series!
Topics include Kleb diversity, lineages, AMR, hypervirulence, how to use Kaptive & Kleborate for typing, and more!
klebnet.org/2025/11/18/k...
Topics include Kleb diversity, lineages, AMR, hypervirulence, how to use Kaptive & Kleborate for typing, and more!
klebnet.org/2025/11/18/k...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Happy to share the last paper form the lab:
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize
T9SS signals and target
effectors to their final destinations. Great work by @maellepllt.bsky.social, led by @thicoz.bsky.social in collaboration with @audebertstephane.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize
T9SS signals and target
effectors to their final destinations. Great work by @maellepllt.bsky.social, led by @thicoz.bsky.social in collaboration with @audebertstephane.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize Type IX secretion signals and target effectors to their final destinations in Flavobacterium johnsoniae
Communications Biology - Bacteroidota use the Type IX secretion system to secrete proteins with a conserved C-terminal domain (CTD) secretion signal domain. Type B CTDs require specific shuttle...
www.nature.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Happy to share the last paper form the lab:
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize
T9SS signals and target
effectors to their final destinations. Great work by @maellepllt.bsky.social, led by @thicoz.bsky.social in collaboration with @audebertstephane.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Specialized shuttle proteins recognize
T9SS signals and target
effectors to their final destinations. Great work by @maellepllt.bsky.social, led by @thicoz.bsky.social in collaboration with @audebertstephane.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s42...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
📣 Join us for the 2025 @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium, focused on "Gut Microbial Metabolites and Their Impact on Host Systems".
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
2025 ISB Virtual Microbiome Symposium - Institute for Systems Biology (ISB)
Symposium Schedule All presentation times are shown in Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00 / UTC -07:00) Time Talk / Session 9:00 Welcoming remarks by Sid Venkatesh Session One: Neural Effects
isbscience.org
November 13, 2025 at 7:13 AM
📣 Join us for the 2025 @isbscience.org Virtual Microbiome Symposium, focused on "Gut Microbial Metabolites and Their Impact on Host Systems".
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
co-director - @flash-point.bsky.social 🦠💥
It's free, & we have an amazing line-up of speakers!
Dec. 12th. Please share!
isbscience.org/2025-isb-vir...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Genomics isn’t just solving #Outbreaks, it’s stopping them before they escalate
HOT take from @natrevmicro.nature.com: If you only sequence #MDR outbreaks, you’re already late. Consider susceptible strains & #Plasmids
#GenomicSurveillance #InfectionControl
🖥️🧬💻
#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
#IDSky
🧪🧫🦠
HOT take from @natrevmicro.nature.com: If you only sequence #MDR outbreaks, you’re already late. Consider susceptible strains & #Plasmids
#GenomicSurveillance #InfectionControl
🖥️🧬💻
#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
#IDSky
🧪🧫🦠
New online! Genome sequencing for prevention of health-care-associated bacterial infections
Genome sequencing for prevention of health-care-associated bacterial infections
Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 10 November 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01254-yMicrobial whole-genome sequencing is an important element of health-care-associated infection (HAI) prevention strategies. Focusing on specific high-priority antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens, this Review outlines the epidemiology and microbiology of HAIs and discusses the role of whole-genome sequencing in HAI prevention and surveillance.
www.nature.com
November 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Genomics isn’t just solving #Outbreaks, it’s stopping them before they escalate
HOT take from @natrevmicro.nature.com: If you only sequence #MDR outbreaks, you’re already late. Consider susceptible strains & #Plasmids
#GenomicSurveillance #InfectionControl
🖥️🧬💻
#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
#IDSky
🧪🧫🦠
HOT take from @natrevmicro.nature.com: If you only sequence #MDR outbreaks, you’re already late. Consider susceptible strains & #Plasmids
#GenomicSurveillance #InfectionControl
🖥️🧬💻
#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
#IDSky
🧪🧫🦠
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
#microsky #phagesky #phage defence
Novel bacterial ubiquitination-like pathway!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Novel bacterial ubiquitination-like pathway!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Mechanistic basis for protein conjugation in a diverged bacterial ubiquitination pathway - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Ye et al. define the structure and mechanisms of a bacterial pathway that performs ubiquitination-like protein conjugation, revealing new insights into the evolution and biological roles of ubiquitina...
www.nature.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:56 PM
#microsky #phagesky #phage defence
Novel bacterial ubiquitination-like pathway!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Novel bacterial ubiquitination-like pathway!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Our new paper maps the tRNA modification landscape in Vibrio cholerae! 💫
We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠
Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators!
@plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications
We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠
Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators!
@plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications
The tRNA epitranscriptomic landscape and RNA modification enzymes in Vibrio cholerae
Author summary This study charts the first genome-wide map of transfer RNA (tRNA) modifications in the cholera pathogen, Vibrio cholerae, revealing how chemical marks on tRNAs shape translation and st...
journals.plos.org
November 3, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Our new paper maps the tRNA modification landscape in Vibrio cholerae! 💫
We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠
Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators!
@plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications
We describe differences from E. coli and discuss links to decoding of stress-related codons 🦠
Huge thanks to amazing co-authors and collaborators!
@plos.org #rnasky #microsky #tRNAmodifications
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance - Nature Communications
Bacteria employ a range of competition systems that deliver toxins to inhibit competing strains. This study shows that these systems are particularly important for the ecology of virulent and antibiot...
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:32 AM
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Proud to be part of this incredible multidisciplinary team uncovering why some people are NOT infected by Salmonella. This new Wellcome Trust @wellcometrust.bsky.social funding will allow us to uncover why some people naturally resist infection and colonisation by Salmonella Typhimurium.
NEWS | Professor @jayhinton.bsky.social and an international team have been awarded £4.56M Wellcome Discovery Award to investigate natural human resistance to Salmonella
🔗 bit.ly/4hujsRG
@livuninews.bsky.social | #TeamLivUni
🔗 bit.ly/4hujsRG
@livuninews.bsky.social | #TeamLivUni
October 30, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Proud to be part of this incredible multidisciplinary team uncovering why some people are NOT infected by Salmonella. This new Wellcome Trust @wellcometrust.bsky.social funding will allow us to uncover why some people naturally resist infection and colonisation by Salmonella Typhimurium.
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Our paper, describing how the T6SSs of P. putida shape the tomato rhizosphere, is now in its final format in @isme-microbes.bsky.social ISME Communications. If you'd like to learn more, here is a thread (1/11) or read the Article doi.org/10.1093/isme....
October 6, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Our paper, describing how the T6SSs of P. putida shape the tomato rhizosphere, is now in its final format in @isme-microbes.bsky.social ISME Communications. If you'd like to learn more, here is a thread (1/11) or read the Article doi.org/10.1093/isme....
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
If you are a USA or Canada citizen and want to join my lab for a postdoc on bacterial secretion systems, toxins, and/or MGEs, check out this opportunity and contact me. 🦠
Zuckerman STEM Postdoc Program: Research in Israel for US & Canadian Scholars share.google/YOOdDRvUgGm1...
Zuckerman STEM Postdoc Program: Research in Israel for US & Canadian Scholars share.google/YOOdDRvUgGm1...
Zuckerman STEM Postdoc Program: Research in Israel for US & Canadian Scholars
Attracts postdoctoral scholars from the United States and Canada to conduct research at Israeli universities. Fosters US-Israeli scientific cooperation and encourages scholars to take faculty position...
share.google
October 19, 2025 at 4:33 PM
If you are a USA or Canada citizen and want to join my lab for a postdoc on bacterial secretion systems, toxins, and/or MGEs, check out this opportunity and contact me. 🦠
Zuckerman STEM Postdoc Program: Research in Israel for US & Canadian Scholars share.google/YOOdDRvUgGm1...
Zuckerman STEM Postdoc Program: Research in Israel for US & Canadian Scholars share.google/YOOdDRvUgGm1...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Bacterial telomeres are common, just not so much in RefSeq 'complete' genomes. But they can be added by the new tool David Faurdal wrote. I am thrilled to see this out as a preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @tilmweber.bsky.social @thombooth.bsky.social
October 15, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Bacterial telomeres are common, just not so much in RefSeq 'complete' genomes. But they can be added by the new tool David Faurdal wrote. I am thrilled to see this out as a preprint here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... @tilmweber.bsky.social @thombooth.bsky.social
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Type IV secretion systems: from structures to mechanisms
Kévin Macé and colleagues summarize recent structural insights into the assembly and function of bacterial type IV secretion systems
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Kévin Macé and colleagues summarize recent structural insights into the assembly and function of bacterial type IV secretion systems
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
October 9, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Type IV secretion systems: from structures to mechanisms
Kévin Macé and colleagues summarize recent structural insights into the assembly and function of bacterial type IV secretion systems
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Kévin Macé and colleagues summarize recent structural insights into the assembly and function of bacterial type IV secretion systems
www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Also see the accompanying paper from Carol Gross' lab that used a similar approach for Bacillus subtilis: www.cell.com/cell-systems...
Comprehensive genetic interaction analysis of the Bacillus subtilis envelope using double-CRISPRi
Koo et al. apply genome-scale double-CRISPRi to map cell envelope gene interactions
in Bacillus subtilis, revealing >1,000 genetic interactions and uncovering gene networks
in envelope biogenesis and ...
www.cell.com
October 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Also see the accompanying paper from Carol Gross' lab that used a similar approach for Bacillus subtilis: www.cell.com/cell-systems...
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Finally out, such an awesome piece of work, very proud of this one: www.cell.com/cell-systems... #MicroSky
October 4, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Finally out, such an awesome piece of work, very proud of this one: www.cell.com/cell-systems... #MicroSky
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
A great opportunity to attend the #Shigella meeting April 20-24, 2026! Abstract submissions are open! @shigellameeting.bsky.social #Microsky
External Event Grant awards of up to £750 are available for eligible members as a contribution towards the costs of registration, travel, and accommodation to attend an event beginning 01 Jan – 30 April 2026. Apply now before the deadline 01 Nov at 23:59: microb.io/ExternalEven...
External Event Grant
Login to apply
microb.io
September 27, 2025 at 12:03 PM
A great opportunity to attend the #Shigella meeting April 20-24, 2026! Abstract submissions are open! @shigellameeting.bsky.social #Microsky
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
We just opened the Bluesky account of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative (IMiLI) headed by Ken Timmis. Follow us to know more about the initiative or even better become one of our volunteers to bring Microbiology to kids all ages around the world 🦠 🏫
Welcome to the social media account of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative (IMiLI). Nearly 1,000 researchers freely contribute to the IMiLI project integrating microbiology into education providing downloadable resources for all. Explore at imili.org
September 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
We just opened the Bluesky account of the International Microbiology Literacy Initiative (IMiLI) headed by Ken Timmis. Follow us to know more about the initiative or even better become one of our volunteers to bring Microbiology to kids all ages around the world 🦠 🏫
Reposted by Carlos J. Blondel
Delighted to announce that The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios will be back next year!
Vibrio2026 will be held in Berlin in September 13-16. See you there Vibriologists!
event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...
Vibrio2026 will be held in Berlin in September 13-16. See you there Vibriologists!
event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...
Vibrio2026: The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios
Fourwaves - Vibrio2026: The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios
event.fourwaves.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Delighted to announce that The International Meeting on the Biology of Vibrios will be back next year!
Vibrio2026 will be held in Berlin in September 13-16. See you there Vibriologists!
event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...
Vibrio2026 will be held in Berlin in September 13-16. See you there Vibriologists!
event.fourwaves.com/vibrio2026/p...