Westermann Lab
Microbiota RNA Lab at the University of Würzburg and the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research.
helmholtz-hiri.de/en/research/associa…
- Reposted by Westermann Lab📢 We are hiring 📢 1st round of recruiting for our ERC project BacImmune-Decode! @erc.europa.eu We are looking for a postdoc for wet-lab work on regulation of phage defence systems in bacteria using high-throughput microbial genetics. Check it out: lnkd.in/es7AE968 #Hiring #Postdoc #Microbiology
- Reposted by Westermann LabOur first paper is out today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We introduce a prostate organoid model and show that UPEC invades prostate cells via FimH binding to the prostate-specific protein PAPP. A step toward targeted therapies against bacterial prostatitis. 🎉 #UTI #UPEC #Organoids #AMR
- 3′UTR-derived small RNA couples acid resistance to metabolic reprogramming of Salmonella within macrophages url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
- RIL-seq boosts the study of sRNAs. Here comes its first application to intracellular bacteria. Plus, 10 years after its characterization, we now present an RNA sponge of Salmonella PinT. Congrats to @kooshapour.bsky.social & great collaboration w/ @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social! doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
- 🎓 Congrats to Elise Bornet, who completed her PhD this week! Her courageous work dissected morphological heterogeneity in predominant human gut commensals, and yielded an ultra-sensitive transcriptomics pipeline to sequence the RNA content of single Bacteroides cells. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
- Reposted by Westermann LabGrateful to be among the 25 inspiring women featured in @zeit.de as part of the #Zia fellowship for Visible Women in Science. Thanks to @uni-wuerzburg.de for their support and to everyone involved for making scientific work by women more visible. Honored and proud to be part of this initiative ☺️.
- Reposted by Westermann LabOur new paper from my PhD work is online. It shows how bacterial population structure can trick machine learning—sampling matters! Many thanks to @lbarquist.bsky.social for the support and guidance! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
- Reposted by Westermann LabHow does a bacterial small RNA evolve new functions? Our new study reveals the stepwise evolutionary journey of UhpU, a 3′UTR-derived sRNA in E. coli and relatives. It evolved from a metabolically-focused regulator to one with expanded targets and biogenesis manner. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- 🔊 Interested in doing a PhD on RNA-binding proteins in an abundant microbiota species and becoming a member of the German Priority Programme “Illuminating Gene Functions in the Human Gut Microbiome”? Apply here: www.uni-wuerzburg.de/karriere/sin...
- Reposted by Westermann LabDe-DUFing the DUFs 🧩 @franznarberhaus.bsky.social lab uncovers how small DUF1127 proteins regulate #phosphate uptake by binding the sensor kinase PhoR. Their conserved role from Agrobacterium to E. coli highlights how even small DUFs can shape bacterial physiology 🦠 buff.ly/jJd9Eho
- Reposted by Westermann LabExcited to share our preprint led by Carlos Voogdt et al We developed new genetic tools & genome-wide libraries for species of the Bacteroidales order; constructed saturated barcoded transposon libraries in key representatives of three genera. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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- Congrats to Ann-Sophie Rüttiger who successfully defended her PhD this week! 🎓 She focused on global RNA-binding proteins in Bacteroides—bacteria lacking Hfq, ProQ, CsrA, Khp—culminating in the discovery of a post-transcriptional network governed by RbpB (www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-55383-8).
- Reposted by Westermann LabLooking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…
- New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Wenhan Zhu (U Vanderbilt): using dual RNA-seq during B. theta colonization of the host mucous layer, we identify IroR--an iron-response sRNA that tunes capsule expression and facilitates adaptation to iron limitation. doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.08.672848
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[Not loaded yet] - Reposted by Westermann LabA Salmonella T3SS-2 mutant grows fine in spleen macrophages, contradicting tissue culture dogma (PMID: 23236281). This observation was largely ignored, but adding certain carbon sources rescues growth in cultured macrophages, hinting that T3SS-2 may be doing something entirely different in vivo.
- New pre-print in the lab! Beautiful work by Francisco Garcia-Rodriguez in collab with @kamovalenz.bsky.social and @joaquinbernal.bsky.social : when macrophages are provided with specific nutrients, Salmonella can bypass its requirement of the T3SS to replicate, a process that occurs within the SCV
- Latest preprint from the lab: doi.org/10.1101/2025... In this study lead by @lenaamend.bsky.social from the group, we explore carbon cross-feeding between a gut commensal and an enteropathogen. Can we counter infection by cutting sugar supply to pathogens?
- Reposted by Westermann LabAbsolutely delighted to share the labs latest work. We identify and characterise two pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic EHEC and Citrobacter.
- Reposted by Westermann LabFinally online! Our latest research is out @nature.com: We show that non-antibiotic drugs can disrupt colonization resistance, raising the risk of enteric infections. rdcu.be/ewwrG
- Reposted by Westermann LabHow are bacterial transport machineries regulated by external cues? @brochadolab.bsky.social &co identify environmental chemicals that regulate #transporter transcription, identifying the TF Rob as a key modulator of #EffluxPump expression in #Ecoli #AMR @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46pUM9Q
- Reposted by Westermann LabNew preprint! We characterise the small, regulatory RNA Arp which controls DNA uptake and twitching motilty in A. baumannii. Led by our Dr Fergal Hamrock @hamrockfergal.bsky.social and in collaboration with @westermannlab.bsky.social and Mike Gebhardt's lab!
- Congrats to Gianluca Prezza (@gprezza.bsky.social) for reveiving the 2025 PhD Award from the Friends of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI)!👏 The award honours excellent PhD theses from the field of life sciences at HZI partner universities. His thesis focused Bacteroides' RNA biology.
- Very honored that our recent study on Bacteroides morphotypes was spotlighted 🔦 in Trends in Microbiology by Eric Martens & Qinnan Yang: www.cell.com/trends/micro....
- Thank you to all students and to the GSLS for this award! It means a lot to me! (-AW)
- We proudly present the first-ever #GSLS Supervisor of the Year Award! 🏆 From 40 nominations, four top PIs were selected: 🥇 Gabriele Büchel 🥈 Alexander Westermann @westermannlab.bsky.social 🥉 Carmen Villmann & Matthias Gamer @gamerlab.bsky.social Proud to have the best supervisors! @uni-wuerzburg.de
- Reposted by Westermann Lab𝔟α𝐜𝐓𝕖Ř𝒾ⒶĹ ＳＨⓐ𝓹Ẹ 丂ħ𝓲ƒ𝓉ⒺⓇร 🦠 Ultra-sensitive RNA-seq and FISH show 𝘉𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘯 cells adopt different shapes reflecting distinct gene expression profiles and metabolic specializations A deliberate survival strategy for the ever-changing gut environment? www.cell.com/cell-reports...
- Our latest: www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00615-1. Links Bacteroides cell size w/ gene expression. Protocol works even for single cells. 🦠 Shoutout to @elisebor.bsky.social, @emmanuel-saliba.bsky.social, @lbarquist.bsky.social, @jorg-vogel-lab.bsky.social, Till Strowig & KC Huang.
- Reposted by Westermann LabVery excited about our latest combining advanced cell culture, transposon-insertion sequencing, and statistical modeling to map Shigella virulence determinants in organoid models. Great collaboration w/ @mldm.bsky.social @sellinlab.bsky.social in @natgenet.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Reposted by Westermann LabBacterial genomes still contain many hidden genes. This article reports a high-resolution map of translated proteins, incl. small ones, in the pathogen Campylobacter jejuni @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social @campy-bara.bsky.social @sharmalab.bsky.social
- Reposted by Westermann LabErfolg auf ganzer Linie: zwei Exzellenzcluster für Würzburg! 🥂🚀 Im Rahmen der #ExStra wird nicht nur der Quantenphysik-Cluster ctd.qmat weiterhin gefördert. Mit NUCLEATE, einem Forschungsprojekt zu Nukleinsäuren, kommt noch ein zweiter Cluster hinzu! ➡️ go.uniwue.de/xstra25
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- Reposted by Westermann LabHere we share thoughts on next-gen cultivation: rdcu.be/ejPSb. Hope it helps 😄 Was fun to write with great colleagues @lisamaierlab.bsky.social @jselkrig.bsky.social @baerboletta.bsky.social @typaslab.bsky.social @mmmicrobiomelab.bsky.social @leibniz-dsmz.bsky.social @westermannlab.bsky.social
- Reposted by Westermann LabI'm happy to share the first publication from my lab @hoerlab.bsky.social, now out in @narjournal.bsky.social! I take a look at the biology of RNA phages, focusing on how meta-omics methods are discovering new RNA phage families and bacterial defense strategies. #PhageSky doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
- Reposted by Westermann LabIf you want to do single-cell RNA-seq on your favourite bacterium, here‘s our detailed Nature Protocol for microbial MATQ-seq. It profiles up to 600 genes in a single bacterial cell! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- Some say, important sRNAs can be recognized by having their own “sponge” 🧽. Well, here comes InvS: a sponge of PinT (and vice versa). Congrats to @kooshapour.bsky.social and @ginlaca.bsky.social on their great work! doi.org/10.1101/2025...
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- 📣Fully funded PhD position available in our lab at @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social, in collaboration with Dr. Connolly at Newcastle University (@ruamicro.bsky.social). "Dissecting the RNA-centric landscape of microbiota-pathogen interactions in the gut”. 🦠 Apply here: www.uni-wuerzburg.de/karriere/sin...
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- Reposted by Westermann LabTiny Protein, Big Impact! @elisa-venturini.bsky.social & colleagues reveal YjiS shapes #pathogen dissemination! Yjis a highly induced intracellular #Salmonella protein delays macrophage escape, rewires host responses & controls motility!🔬🦠 @uniwuerzburg.bsky.social buff.ly/4gjYvGY
