Cluster of Excellence CMFI

Publication:
Rapp J, Verhülsdonk A, Garcke A, Stadelmann A, Farke N, Troßmann F, Kronenberger T, Alvarado A, Petras D, Link H. (2025) The metabolome of an E. coli CRISPRi library identifies benefits of minimal metabolite levels and targets for engineering. Cell Systems. doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

Why are most metabolites barely detectable in wild-type cells — biology or technology?

A new study from the Link lab shows it's biology: cells actively maintain minimal metabolite pools to avoid unwanted effects.

www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news-even...

@unituebingen.bsky.social @andreaspeschel.bsky.social @eranelinav.bsky.social @nehagarg.bsky.social @nadineziemert.bsky.social @microbiome.bsky.social @lisamaierlab.bsky.social

📅 Save the Date – CMFI Conference 2027
Feb 17–19, 2027

📍 Tuebingen, Germany

Confirmed speakers:
Benoit Chassaing · Eran Elinav · Neha Garg · Kiran Patil · Bertrand Routy · Nina van Sorge

Subscribe to stay updated and join us in Tuebingen:

www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/cmfi2027

Listeria-infected macrophages promote biomechanical alterations in endothelial cell monolayers for transmigration Intracellular pathogens like Listeria exploit macrophages to cross endothelial barriers and spread systemically. Muenkel et al. show that exposure to infected macrophages weakens contractile forces wi...

I'm excited to share our paper on how infected #macrophages promote #biomechanical alterations in #endothelia to transmigrate, published in @cp-cellreports.bsky.social! Thanks to all contributors, @sergemostowylab.bsky.social and @cmfi.bsky.social for the support. Here: www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Prof. Dr. Largus Angenent (Universität Tübingen). Foto: CORC Aarhus University

Largus Angenent, Professor für Environmental Biotechnology an der Universität Tübingen, erhält den Landesforschungspreis 2026, mit insgesamt 200.000 Euro der höchstdotierte Forschungspreis eines Bundeslandes. Herzlichen Glückwunsch! 👏 sohub.io/oal7 @mwk-bw.bsky.social #Landesforschungspreis

#wissenschaftsjahr #wj2026 @w-i-d.de @dfg.de #MedizinDerZukunft

Kirsten Küsel and Kyle Mason-Jones, speaker at the CMFI Microbiology Colooquium in Tübingen February 5, 2026. © CMFI / University of Tübingen

Great Microbiology Colloquium at CMFI today!
Kirsten Küsel (@kuesellab.bsky.social @microverse.bsky.social) shared insights on the groundwater microbiome, plus Kyle Mason-Jones (@unituebingen.bsky.social) on soil bacteriophages. Thanks to all for great talks and discussions!

@pdersch.bsky.social @effiebastounis.bsky.social @andreaspeschel.bsky.social Samuel Wagner @unituebingen.bsky.social

CMFI colloquium guest Petra Dersch from the University of Münster with her Tübingen colleagues Andreas Peschel (spokesperson for the CMFI Cluster of Excellence, left) and Samuel Wagner (former CMFI board member, Vice-President for Sustainable Development at University of Tübingen, right). Photo: Jonas Ritz / CMFI.

CMFI Junior Reserach Group Leader Effie Bastounis speaking at the CMFI Microbiology Colloquium. Photo: Jonas Ritz / University of Tübingen

Great colloquium today! Guest speaker @pdersch.bsky.social showed how 𝘠𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘢 reprograms neutrophils during infection, causing severe inflammation and @effiebastounis.bsky.social how 𝘓𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢 hijacks immune cells to spread.
Key findings for fighting pathogens!
#Microbiology #InfectBiology #BioMech

🦠🧫 a collaboration with the Institute for Tropical Medicine in Tübingen and CERMEL in Gabon @cmfi.bsky.social

Paper in a Minute — Ana Brochado, Vibrio cholerae CBASS phage defence system. Nature Microbiology YouTube video by CMFI - Cluster of Excellence

🎥 New series: Paper in a Minute!

CMFI researchers explain key findings from recent publications in under 60s.

Ep. 1: Ana Rita Brochado @brochadolab.bsky.social on antifolate-triggered CBASS activation in V. cholerae.

Watch: youtu.be/q3EErS28oMs?...

#ERC #AMR @natmicrobiol.nature.com
#scicomm

Ana Rita Brochado © Friedhelm Albrecht / Unversity of Tübingen

🎉 Congrats to @brochadolab.bsky.social @unituebingen.bsky.social on a €2M ERC Consolidator Grant for BacImmune-Decode, advancing our understanding of bacterial immunity to fight infections + AMR!!

More: www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news-even...

@erc.europa.eu
#ERC #AMR #Microbiology #ScienceNews

WAAW - World Antimicrobial Awareness Week YouTube video by CMFI - Cluster of Excellence

🌍 World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2025 🦠

Antimicrobial resistance threatens global health.
Unnecessary antibiotic use accelerates resistance and makes infections harder to treat.

Use antibiotics responsibly and help raise awareness.

Act now!

youtu.be/_Qy3aTKiVLE

#WWAW2025 #AMR #GoBlue

This was a large interdisciplinary effort together with the groups of Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt within the @cmfi.bsky.social Tübingen, and @mingxunwang.bsky.social at @ucriverside.bsky.social.

Role of Formyl Peptide Receptor 2 and Toll-Like Receptor 2 in Skin Barrier Function and Atopic Dermatitis The skin acts as a barrier against external threats and plays an important role in tissue repair. Skin cells, including keratinocytes, sense microbe-a…

How do keratinocytes sense bacterial commensals or pathogens?
@cmfi.bsky.social
Here is our recent review:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Studie: Nicht nur Antibiotika stören das Darm-Mikrobiom Studie unter Leitung der Universität Tübingen: Viele Nicht-Antibiotika schwächen die natürliche Schutzfunktion des Darms, sodass sich krankmachende Bakterien leichter dort ansiedeln können

#Antibiotika stören das #Mikrobiom im #Darm und ebnen so den Weg für Erkrankungen. Das gilt allerdings auch für viele Nicht-Antibiotika, zeigt eine neue Studie von @ghammeranne.bsky.social und @jdlcz.bsky.social ‪vom @lisamaierlab.bsky.social am @cmfi.bsky.social ‪der @unituebingen.bsky.social‬.

A new doctor is born 😊🥳
Welcome with me Dr. Haffner, the first PhD student of the group after wonderful years @cmfi.bsky.social

Michael published 8 articles & a review with 3 as 1st author..
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Enhancing tandem mass spectrometry-based metabolite annotation with online chemical labeling - Nature Communications To improve annotation in non-targeted metabolomics studies, authors develop a Multiplexed Chemical Metabolomics (MCheM) platform, combining post-column derivatization with integrated data processing. ...

New paper from the group. Together with Chambers Hughes, Giovanni Vitale and our amazing collaborators, we developed a multiplexed chemical metabolomics workflow to assign functional groups in non-targeted LC-MS/MS data:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Behind the paper story:
go.nature.com/45ljV4d

Left: Compound-promoter interaction network. Fifty-three significant compound-promoter interactions are shown as edges in a Sankey diagram connecting the compounds (left, source nodes) to the promoters (right, target nodes). Edge thickness represents mean Z-scores (n = 8), while node size represents the total number of interactions. Right: Proposed model for the molecular mechanism of caffeine-ciprofloxacin antagonism. Caffeine triggers expression of MicF small RNA in a Rob-dependent manner, which then binds to the 5′-UTR of ompF mRNA to inhibit and decrease OmpF protein levels. This ultimately prevents ciprofloxacin from entering the cell, resulting in caffeine-ciprofloxacin antagonism

How 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

Study finds #caffeine can weaken effectiveness of certain #antibiotics

Substances from natural environment can trigger bacteria's alert systems – implications for future therapeutic approaches?

Read the press release here: www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news-even...

@unituebingen.bsky.social

It's finally out!🎉

We known that the #microbiome confers colonization resistance against #pathogens, we know that some meds 💊 affect gut microbes 🦠

So, do 💊 alter colonization resistance? It turns out that some do! If you wanna know more, check out our latest work www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Non-antibiotics disrupt colonization resistance against enteropathogens - Nature Non-antibiotic drugs from a wide range of therapeutic classes can alter the ability of gut commensals to resist invasion by enteropathogens, a previously underappreciated side effect of such drugs.

Seeing this published is even better than eating sweets! I am so happy and proud of whole @lisamaierlab.bsky.social, especially Lisa and @jdlcz.bsky.social who walked the funny/exciting/rocky road with me until the very end. Check it out!
#science #microbiome #health

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Unexpected side-effect: how common medications clear the way for pathogens

CMFI's @lisamaierlab.bsky.social @unituebingen.bsky.social show in @nature.com: many non-antibiotics weaken the natural protective function of the intestine.

Press release: www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/news-even...

This is work of many years and many wonderful people! 🧑‍🔬

Led by Anne Grießhammer @ghammeranne.bsky.social and me at the Maier lab @lisamaierlab.bsky.social in Tübingen @cmfi.bsky.social. Read the TL;DR and how the project and Lisa's lab grew hand in hand here: go.nature.com/3Ix8lu3

🚨 Naming Challenge:
Help redefine the #glycopeptide family!

🏆Submit your idea & win 500 € + authorship credit

Let’s rethink antibiotic classification—together!

🧬 Deadline: Sept 15, 2025

👉 docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

@nadineziemert.bsky.social #NameChallenge #NaturalProducts #Antibiotics

CMFI - Cluster of Excellence - Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections The CMFI is one of more than 50 Clusters of Excellence funded by the German federal and state governments as part of the Excellence Initiative. We develop new strategies to control microbial mechanism...

They are fundamental to how we understand, maintain, and restore health.

More about CMFI's microbiome researchers:
www.cmfi.uni-tuebingen.de/en/

#CMFI #Microbiome #MicrobesMatter #HumanHealth #MicrobiomeResearch #GutHealth #LifeScience #ScienceCommunication @apcmicrobiomeirel.bsky.social

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗲𝘀: 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵

The human microbiome—comprising trillions of microorganisms—interacts closely with our immune, metabolic, and nervous systems. It influences directly our health.

On #WorldMicrobiomeDay, we celebrate the science that shows how much Microbes Matter.

The pill that might be relieving your heartburn but killing your gut microbes Why drugs commonly used against heartburn harm your gut microbiome

Big thanks to scientific writer Libera Lo Presti for this great little piece on our recent work exploring how proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) and pH affect human gut microbes.
Check it out here: go.nature.com/4lf6jNk

Die @unituebingen feiert Erfolg im Exzellencluster-Wettbewerb 🎉Freude und Jubel bei der Pressekonferenz zur Entscheidung der DFG am 22.05.25 mit gut 200 Gästen. Weitere Infos und Fotos gibt es online 👉 uni-tuebingen.de/universitaet... @cmfi.bsky.social @ml4science.bsky.social