Mitja M. Zdouc
Pharmacist turned Bioinformatician. PhD in Natural Product Chemistry. PostDoc at Wageningen University. Biosynthesis is my passion, software my daily bread.
- Marine #sponges are generally considered biosynthetic "hotspots" (e.g. Theonella) - but does this always hold true? In our newest study led by @stephenjackson.bsky.social we are looking at Inflatella pellicula's biosynthetic capacity - and our results are surprising doi.org/10.1099/mgen...
- I am working with reaction SMARTS again and they can be really tricky in representing heterocycles! I just had a "fun" time debugging a reaction involving tryptophan - I will show you what I mean!
- Awesome work with implications for chemical ecology!
- Ever wondered about the funny moss growing on trees? Chances were good that you were looking at #lichen! These hybrid fungal-algae/cyanobacterial colonies are biosynthetically surprisingly diverse, as we show in our newest publication led by @garimasingh-gs.bsky.social doi.org/10.1099/mgen... (1/5)
- Have you ever used a #bioinformatics #database and were frustrated by its lack of coverage? Did you ever think about starting your own resource? We just published a new strategy for community-driven #biocuration, based on our experiences with the #MIBiG database (1/8)! doi.org/10.1093/bib/...
- #Biocuration is essential to transform unstructured biological data into machine-readable and structured resources. While institutional databases (e.g. #UniProt) can afford professional biocuration, many smaller initiatives rely on volunteer efforts (2/8).
- Congratulations to this great work, happy to have contributed a little bit :)
- Working on tailoring enzymes and want to learn more about the MITE database? We are organizing a hands-on training session on how use the DB and create new entries: October 30th and November 4th 10-11 am Amsterdam time. Sign up here: forms.gle/KHPqe9XV1RRg... See you there! #secmet #natprod
- Interested in Python programming and good software engineering practices? Check out my newest blog post where I introduce a "modern Python" GitHub repository template and talk about my motivation for its creation! mmzdouc.github.io/posts/2025/1...
- Are you building applications using docker? In my recent blog post, I am investigating git's curious behavior when used as a subprocess inside a containerized Flask application. You can read more here: mmzdouc.github.io/posts/2025/1...
- Great to see PhyloNaP out! Great tool, and it also connects to mite.bioinformatic.nl! #openscience #collaboration
- Happy to share our newest preprint. PhyloNaP as a user friendly database of phylogeny for enzymes involved in natural product production and as public repository for well curated phylogenetic trees. Happy Tree Building!!! #phylogeny #secmet #bioinformatics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Aaand it's out! Meet MITE - the natural product tailoring enzyme database, just published in @narjournal.bsky.social! MITE DB captures the substrate- and reaction-specificity of tailoring enzymes, allowing to capture this information in a human- and machine-readable way! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
- Into natural product biosynthesis & tailoring enzymes? Frustrated by the lack of a dedicated resource to explore their functions? Tired of endless literature searches for reaction info? Meet the MITE database, freely available at mite.bioinformatics.nl. Preprint: doi.org/10.26434/che... (1/8)
- The MITE database is a curated, crowd-sourced, and expert-reviewed database of tailoring enzymes, capturing catalytic reactions, substrate specificities, genomic context, and cross-references to existing resources (e.g. MIBiG, Rhea, UniProt).
- Next at @vaam-microbes.bsky.social Workshop, Leo Dumjahn talks about the opportunistic pathogen Chromobacterium haemolyticum and the cyclic lipopeptides it uses as virulence factors.
- Next at the @vaam-microbes.bsky.social Workshop, Valerie Rebhahn is talking about the cyanobacterial aetokthonotoxin and its mode of action in uncoupling the oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria.
- In today's third talk at @vaam-microbes.bsky.social Workshop at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social, Nico Brüssow talks about the lanthipeptide II RiPP nostolanthin A which apparently oligomerizes - a very unusual property in RiPPs.
- Next at VAAM Workshop at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social , Alexandra Eckart from HIPS talking about her discoveries of tenacious bacteria isolated from Hydractinia echinata hydroids.
- @mitjare.bsky.social kicking off the second day of the VAAM Workshop at @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social talking about the phyllosphere, its bacterial inhabitants and the natural products they produce - including surfactants!
- If you are interested, make sure to apply! I have been working with Marnix, Justin, and Daniel over the last few years and they are awesome!
- We are looking for a 3-year postdoc to work with Daniel Probst, Justin van der Hooft and myself on an exciting project involving federated learning and integrative omics for discovery of new antibiotics from natural products. Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p... Please share!
- Reposted by Mitja M. ZdoucWe are looking for a 3-year postdoc to work with Daniel Probst, Justin van der Hooft and myself on an exciting project involving federated learning and integrative omics for discovery of new antibiotics from natural products. Apply here: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p... Please share!
