Tera Levin

Assistant professor of Biological Sciences at Pitt, studying evolution, genes, and microbes. Now mostly hangs out at: @[email protected]. #NewPI She/her

[Tera Levin @tera_levin]

🎉Our work on the ancestry of innate immune proteins is now published in PLOS Biology!
Great insights from postdoc Ed Culbertson on the connections between mammalian immunity and bacterial anti-phage immunity🦠

Original tweet thread on our findings here: https://t.co/k5E0lKVrpM

[PLOS Biology @PLOSBiology]

How did our #InnateImmune systems first evolve? Ed Culbertson & @tera_levin reveal origins of 3 families of #antiviral proteins: CD-NTases (incl #cGAS), STINGs & #Viperins; each reveals a different story connecting animal & bacterial immunity #PLOSBiology https://t.co/vtPDAxDGLW

[Joe Bondy-Denomy @joeBondyDenomy]

A great program at UCSF to start your own small lab. Please alert graduating PhD students around you who you think have a strong track record and the potential to succeed with early independence.

[Tera Levin @tera_levin]

@elpearse Dunno, good question. Best to ask the search committee

[NatureEcoEvo @NatureEcoEvo]

We're hiring! If you have a background in any subdiscipline of #ecology (global change and microbial ecology particularly welcome) and would like to work with us, check out the job ad below. #editorjobs #ecologyjobs

https://t.co/CpNpjUj5hL

[George O'Toole (he/him/his) @GeiselBiofilm]

Pls share: Microbiology faculty position available at Texas A&M University.

[MDMLab @MDMlab_Paris]

In a new study, we report the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of mammalian innate immunity!!

Co-led with @EnzoZ_P lab, in collab with @morehouse_ben
https://t.co/AvaPknd6XX

[Julia Kreiner @jmkreiner]

The University of Chicago has two faculty searches that should interest evolutionary biologists/geneticists. A fantastic university with lots of strong colleagues across departments.

Get in touch if you have any questions!

https://t.co/CIGQ8b9bXd

https://t.co/MeV2SUmqUN

[Victoria McGovern 🇺🇸🇬🇷🇮🇪🏴‍☠️ @BWFPATH]

VEuPathDB coming back online is terrific. BUT for now it is only a temporary reprieve that brings back a static version.

Please visit https://t.co/uzMgkUa18H to stay informed on what's happening and take the anonymous survey there to help inform discussion about the future

[Yao Li @YaoChocoholic]

Congrats, Sammy! Such amazing works characterizing an enzymatic TIR in animals

[Benjamin tenOever @virusninja]

I’m pleased to announce my transition to Chair of the Department of Microbiology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. As part of this role, we’re recruiting two junior faculty for 2025, focusing on infection biology. Learn more and apply: https://t.co/Dcf8ynAgWu

[Zhulin Lab @zhulinlab]

We are hiring! Assistant Professor in Microbiology (with emphasis on molecular and/or cellular biology). Please, spread the word:
https://t.co/D50PeZ7aWp

[Aravind group @jivarahasya]

Our new article, “The Prokaryotic Roots of Eukaryotic Immune Systems,” is out. Immune factors from both prokaryotes (e.g., restriction-modification, CRISPR/Cas systems) and eukaryotes (antibodies) have been central reagents for the very emergence of modern biochemistry and molecular biology. But this historical course superficially indicated that the immune systems of prokaryotes and eukaryotes might have little in common. However, starting from our early work on domains involved in eukaryotic apoptosis in the late 1990s, it started becoming increasingly clear to us that there were deep evolutionary connections between eukaryotic and prokaryotic immune systems despite the extreme divergence that is a natural feature of them. These connections take multiple forms: 1. Direct homologies, where immune components were either vertically inherited or laterally transferred from the prokaryotic superkingdoms. This group includes the growing body of evidence regarding domains at the interface of immunity and apoptosis; 2. Then there are homologous domains that were drawn from different prokaryotic conflict systems e.g., those involved in interorganismal conflict and incorporated into eukaryotic immunity – e.g., the mutagenic AID/APOBEC -like deaminases. 3. Finally, there are the analogs that have convergently acquired comparable immune functions in the different superkingdoms. Together they make up a tangled tale of immunity of which we provide a brief account here. You will find little sketches of many domains of interest to the connoisseur and first-time explorer alike: SMODS and friends, TIR, Sirtuin, ADP-ribosyltransferase fold, Schlafen, base deaminases, viperins, caspases, FGS, ricin, GTPases, STANDs, TRADD-N, the Death-like fold and more. https://t.co/dHzdPcP1kX

[Victoria McGovern 🇺🇸🇬🇷🇮🇪🏴‍☠️ @BWFPATH]

Is your research impacted by the loss of VEuPathDB?

Take the survey at https://t.co/dTyrB6mJO0
Sign up on the same page for further information

[Molly Ohainle, Ph.D. @MollyOhainle]

We’re hiring in my Division of @BerkeleyMCB!

Come join a fantastic group of immunologists in a larger community of basic scientists in the department

https://t.co/Z0ysrFoqRM

[Victoria McGovern 🇺🇸🇬🇷🇮🇪🏴‍☠️ @BWFPATH]

VEuPathDB data will remain available beyond the day NIAID meant it to go dark, but no new data will be brought in.

Get involved with @VEuPathDB in the conversation about the future of shared data.

[Andy Goodman @Goodman_lab]

THREE assistant professor faculty positions in microbiology at Yale!
(1/3) Microbial Pathogenesis @YaleMicroPath: https://t.co/bUb0Boc23C, deadline 10/15. Virologists, please apply.

[@boylelab.bsky.social @BoyleLab]

New Lab Content: @lf_cabo⁩ shows that Toxoplasma rewires placental trophoblasts with important developmental consequence. My fav part: infection suppresses trophoblast fusion, a critical process in maintaining the protective placental barrier. Read 👇 https://t.co/8lT7Wgs1c7

[Tera Levin @tera_levin]

It’s very upsetting! A big loss to those who work on microeukaryotes

[Victoria McGovern 🇺🇸🇬🇷🇮🇪🏴‍☠️ @BWFPATH]

It’s difficult to wrap one’s mind around NIH’s decision to shut down the most important shared resource for work in many of the world’s most impactful infectious diseases.

https://t.co/OSdzyZpJoE

[Tera Levin @tera_levin]

There have been some exciting new papers using anti-phage genes to discover new eukaryotic immune defenses... and vice versa! 🤯
These cross-kingdom evolutionary links are super cool. Check out our new Preview for an overview:
https://t.co/75K3MjAFqh

[Joe Bondy-Denomy @joeBondyDenomy]

The link for the faculty position is now posted! Deadline is October 15th. Please share widely with talented scientists in your network. Come join us at UCSF!
https://t.co/Gccrtpl8ym