Jens Hör
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jenshoer.bsky.social
Jens Hör
@jenshoer.bsky.social
1.1K followers 390 following 66 posts
Molecular Principles of RNA Phages | Junior Professor @uni-wuerzburg.de | Group Leader @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
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jenshoer.bsky.social
Jens Hör @jenshoer.bsky.social · Sep 4
I'm really happy to have been granted an @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant! We'll study the molecular principles of RNA phages—from infection to replication to bacterial immunity. Interested in joining? Feel free to reach out! Formal job ads to follow.

More info here:

tinyurl.com/RIBO-PHAGE

#ERCStG
1.5 million euros for research into “bacterial killers”
ERC Starting Grant awarded to Jens Hör from the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
Reposted by Jens Hör
sternberglab.bsky.social
1/9 Metagenomics lets us read microbiomes in nature without cultivation, but writing (editing) them in their native context is still a major challenge.

Meet MetaEdit: a platform for pathway-scale metagenomic editing inside the gut microbiome. science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases
Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...
science.org
November 14, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
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 Jens Hör
bostinalab.bsky.social
Cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage Bas63 reveals structural conservation and diversity in the Felixounavirus genus | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Cryo-EM structure of bacteriophage Bas63 reveals structural conservation and diversity in the Felixounavirus genus
Cryo-EM of phage Bas63 reveals unique capsid and tail features, offering insights into Felixounavirus evolution and architecture.
www.science.org
November 12, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
🚨 Applications close today! 🚨
@jenshoer.bsky.social is looking for a #postdoc & a #PhD student to join his lab. His research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of #phages with RNA genomes during infection, host takeover & anti-phage defense. 🧫🦠
➡️ www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
Working at HIRI
At the HIRI, we do not just value excellent research. Short distances, an open door policy, and a good working atmosphere—this is what distinguishes us from others. Have a look at our current job…
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
November 13, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
hansonmark.bsky.social
We wrote the Strain on scientific publishing to highlight the problems of time & trust. With a fantastic group of co-authors, we present The Drain of Scientific Publishing:

a 🧵 1/n

Drain: arxiv.org/abs/2511.04820
Strain: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
Oligopoly: direct.mit.edu/qss/article/...
A table showing profit margins of major publishers. A snippet of text related to this table is below. 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. A figure detailing the drain on researcher time. 1. The four-fold drain 1.2 Time The number of papers published each year is growing faster than the scientific workforce, with the number of papers per researcher almost doubling between 1996 and 2022 (Figure 1A). This reflects the fact that publishers’ commercial desire to publish (sell) more material has aligned well with the competitive prestige culture in which publications help secure jobs, grants, promotions, and awards. To the extent that this growth is driven by a pressure for profit, rather than scholarly imperatives, it distorts the way researchers spend their time. The publishing system depends on unpaid reviewer labour, estimated to be over 130 million unpaid hours annually in 2020 alone (9). Researchers have complained about the demands of peer-review for decades, but the scale of the problem is now worse, with editors reporting widespread difficulties recruiting reviewers. The growth in publications involves not only the authors’ time, but that of academic editors and reviewers who are dealing with so many review demands. Even more seriously, the imperative to produce ever more articles reshapes the nature of scientific inquiry. Evidence across multiple fields shows that more papers result in ‘ossification’, not new ideas (10). It may seem paradoxical that more papers can slow progress until one considers how it affects researchers’ time. While rewards remain tied to volume, prestige, and impact of publications, researchers will be nudged away from riskier, local, interdisciplinary, and long-term work. The result is a treadmill of constant activity with limited progress whereas core scholarly practices – such as reading, reflecting and engaging with others’ contributions – is de-prioritized. What looks like productivity often masks intellectual exhaustion built on a demoralizing, narrowing scientific vision. A table of profit margins across industries. The section of text related to this table is below: 1. The four-fold drain 1.1 Money Currently, academic publishing is dominated by profit-oriented, multinational companies for whom scientific knowledge is a commodity to be sold back to the academic community who created it. The dominant four are Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley and Taylor & Francis, which collectively generated over US$7.1 billion in revenue from journal publishing in 2024 alone, and over US$12 billion in profits between 2019 and 2024 (Table 1A). Their profit margins have always been over 30% in the last five years, and for the largest publisher (Elsevier) always over 37%. Against many comparators, across many sectors, scientific publishing is one of the most consistently profitable industries (Table S1). These financial arrangements make a substantial difference to science budgets. In 2024, 46% of Elsevier revenues and 53% of Taylor & Francis revenues were generated in North America, meaning that North American researchers were charged over US$2.27 billion by just two for-profit publishers. The Canadian research councils and the US National Science Foundation were allocated US$9.3 billion in that year. The costs of inaction are plain: wasted public funds, lost researcher time, compromised scientific integrity and eroded public trust. Today, the system rewards commercial publishers first, and science second. Without bold action from the funders we risk continuing to pour resources into a system that prioritizes profit over the advancement of scientific knowledge.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
jenshoer.bsky.social
Two days left to apply for a PhD or postdoc position in my lab!
jenshoer.bsky.social Jens Hör @jenshoer.bsky.social · 29d
Are you interested in studying RNA phages? We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc to join the lab!

For more information and how to apply, see below 👇

Please RT!
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social Helmholtz Institute Würzburg @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social · Oct 16
📢 The #HIRI is looking for a #postdoc & a #PhD student to join the research group of @jenshoer.bsky.social. His lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of #phages with #RNA genomes during infection, host takeover & anti-phage defense. 🧫🦠 More info: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
November 11, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
crisprflydesign.bsky.social
🤯This is wow! Molecular mechanism of mRNA export. by @juliusbrennecke.bsky.social @plaschkalab.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Illustration of the molecular mechanism controlling mRNA export.
November 6, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
apcamargo.bsky.social
🚨New preprint out!
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
⏰ The deadline is fast approaching! Only one week left to submit your application at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
November 6, 2025 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
patrick-pausch.bsky.social
After 5 years of waiting, the new #CRISPR classification by Makarova et al. is out @natmicrobiol.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
An updated evolutionary classification of CRISPR–Cas systems including rare variants - Nature Microbiology
An exploration of previously undescribed variants from the long tail of the CRISPR–Cas distribution.
www.nature.com
November 6, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
ostermanilya.bsky.social
Bacteria can sense when a virus starts shredding their genome — by detecting methylated mononucleotides.
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
A membrane-bound nuclease directly cleaves phage DNA during genome injection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.03.685801v1
November 3, 2025 at 4:16 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
audeber.bsky.social
Hi everyone, a few years ago, we started a list of labs studying bacterial immunty for students, editors, conference organizers... (currently n=79).

Update time ! Send me a message to 1) add your lab or others 2) Correct info
docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
#Phagesky #Microsky
Labs in bacterial immunity
docs.google.com
November 4, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
emmseveri.bsky.social
#microsky #phagesky #phage defence

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
Reposted by Jens Hör
soreklab.bsky.social
Last year it was discovered that a single bacterial NLR-like protein can recognize multiple, structurally unrelated phage proteins (Béchon et al, Kibby et al)

Now, a new study shows the same for a plant NLR. Another example how principles of immunity remain conserved from bacteria to eukaryotes
November 2, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
jwoodgett.bsky.social
Heard directly about some of the great work being done by Jens at HIRI this week. RNA phages are one element of the powerful biology that has taught us so much about gene regulation, translation and defense mechanisms.
jenshoer.bsky.social Jens Hör @jenshoer.bsky.social · 29d
Are you interested in studying RNA phages? We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc to join the lab!

For more information and how to apply, see below 👇

Please RT!
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social Helmholtz Institute Würzburg @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social · Oct 16
📢 The #HIRI is looking for a #postdoc & a #PhD student to join the research group of @jenshoer.bsky.social. His lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of #phages with #RNA genomes during infection, host takeover & anti-phage defense. 🧫🦠 More info: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
October 31, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
jenshoer.bsky.social
Are you interested in studying RNA phages? We are looking for a PhD student and a postdoc to join the lab!

For more information and how to apply, see below 👇

Please RT!
October 17, 2025 at 12:52 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
chenwang.bsky.social
I’m thrilled to share our Retron Eco8 paper published in Molecular Cell today. Thanks all Fu lab members and our collaborators.
👉Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity. www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Phage SSB detection by retron Eco8 msDNA unleashes nuclease-mediated immunity
The cryo-EM structure of the retron Eco8 system reveals an autoinhibited 4:4:4 complex of RT, msDNA, and OLD nuclease. Phage SSB binding to msdDNA unleashes non-specific nuclease activity to restrict ...
www.cell.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
🚨 Last chance!
The Helmholtz Institute Würzburg is offering 2️⃣ JUNIOR GROUP LEADER POSITIONS in RNA BIOLOGY, RNA TECHNOLOGY or RNA MEDICINE. 🧬🧫 💻 ⚕️
The deadline is today, so apply now at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/e15-groups/
E15 Groups
The Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Researchopens a call for
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
October 31, 2025 at 9:58 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
saharmelamed.bsky.social
Cool work by @microberna.bsky.social & Kai Papenfort, presenting the first RNA-RNA map in C. crescentus using RIL-seq, revealing an RNA sponge that controls the transition from nutrient abundance to starvation; new insights into RNA networks and stress responses!
#RNA
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
An RNA sponge directs the transition from feast to famine in Caulobacter crescentus - Nature Communications
In bacteria, many small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs) associate with the RNA chaperone Hfq to modulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Here, the authors identify global Hfq-mediated RNA-R...
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
jangogarten.bsky.social
A paper for the #eDNA crowd, in particular those using flies for terrestrial biomonitoring. We show that massive pooling works well, reducing costs + time, bringing us a step closer to scalable terrestrial eDNA biomonitoring. doi.org/10.1002/edn3...
An Exploration of DNA Extraction Methods of Fly iDNA for Scalable Biodiversity Monitoring
Metabarcoding of invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) is an excellent tool for assessing terrestrial mammal diversity, but the time and costs associated with sample processing constrain its wider adoption....
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social
Antiviral Defence is a Conserved Function of Diverse DNA Glycosylases https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.29.685425v1
October 30, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
🚨 The clock is ticking! ⏰
Applications close tomorrow. Don't miss your chance to apply: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/e15-groups/
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social Helmholtz Institute Würzburg @helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social · 18d
🚨 The #HIRI invites applications for 2 JUNIOR GROUP LEADER POSITIONS in the areas of:

🔵 RNA Biology
🔵 RNA Medicine
🔵 RNA Technology

Apply by October 31 at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...

Find an overview in this thread. 🧵👇

(1/6)
E15 Groups
The Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Researchopens a call for
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
October 30, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Reposted by Jens Hör
paulbrainey.bsky.social
@prczhaoyansong.bsky.social’s deep dive into the dark matter of compost communities is now out 🎉 Genomic islands hijack jumbo phages—whose capsids enable transfer of large tracts of DNA—shedding new light on the scale & scope of phage-mediated gene flow 😎

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Jumbo phage–mediated transduction of genomic islands | PNAS
Bacteria acquire new genes by horizontal gene transfer, typically mediated by mobile genetic elements (MGEs). While plasmids, bacteriophages, and c...
www.pnas.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:36 PM
Reposted by Jens Hör
helmholtz-hiri.bsky.social
🚨 The #HIRI invites applications for 2 JUNIOR GROUP LEADER POSITIONS in the areas of:

🔵 RNA Biology
🔵 RNA Medicine
🔵 RNA Technology

Apply by October 31 at www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...

Find an overview in this thread. 🧵👇

(1/6)
E15 Groups
The Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Researchopens a call for
www.helmholtz-hiri.de
October 28, 2025 at 4:04 PM