Dorentina Humolli
@humollidorentina.bsky.social
PhD student studying phage-host interactions at ETH Zürich | Lab of Molecular Phage Biology
We wrote a short “Behind the Paper” post about our HIDEN-SEQ journey together with @aharms485.bsky.social.
Check it out: go.nature.com/4yBHsdy
Special to share it with the @natmicrobiol.nature.com cover, featuring the amazing art of the great scientist and artist Sophia Zimmermann from our lab!
Check it out: go.nature.com/4yBHsdy
Special to share it with the @natmicrobiol.nature.com cover, featuring the amazing art of the great scientist and artist Sophia Zimmermann from our lab!
October 6, 2026 at 2:17 PM
We wrote a short “Behind the Paper” post about our HIDEN-SEQ journey together with @aharms485.bsky.social.
Check it out: go.nature.com/4yBHsdy
Special to share it with the @natmicrobiol.nature.com cover, featuring the amazing art of the great scientist and artist Sophia Zimmermann from our lab!
Check it out: go.nature.com/4yBHsdy
Special to share it with the @natmicrobiol.nature.com cover, featuring the amazing art of the great scientist and artist Sophia Zimmermann from our lab!
Very happy to share that HIDEN-SEQ is now out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com!
Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 25, 2026 at 10:08 AM
Very happy to share that HIDEN-SEQ is now out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com!
Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Preprint here: Please let us know if we have missed any references to cite. This is like looking at past 60 years of work with a small window.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Genome-wide characterization of host factors involved in single-stranded RNA and DNA phage infection pathways
Single stranded RNA (ssRNA) and single stranded DNA (ssDNA) bacteriophages represent a key component of the global virome, yet the host genetic networks supporting their infection cycles remain poorly...
www.biorxiv.org
September 19, 2026 at 4:46 AM
Preprint here: Please let us know if we have missed any references to cite. This is like looking at past 60 years of work with a small window.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Out now in Science: Two papers from our lab reveal VIPR, an RNA-guided DNA-targeting system in bacteriophages, providing clues to the origins of CRISPR
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats to Peter Yoon, @kenjmloi.bsky.social @terryzzy.bsky.social, T.Docter & team
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats to Peter Yoon, @kenjmloi.bsky.social @terryzzy.bsky.social, T.Docter & team
A noncontiguous code for RNA-guided DNA recognition at the origin of CRISPR-Cas
CRISPR-Cas provides RNA-mediated adaptive immunity, but how its first RNA-guided effector arose is unclear. In this study, we report the discovery of Viral Interference Programmable Repeat (VIPR) syst...
www.science.org
September 19, 2026 at 1:12 AM
Out now in Science: Two papers from our lab reveal VIPR, an RNA-guided DNA-targeting system in bacteriophages, providing clues to the origins of CRISPR
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats to Peter Yoon, @kenjmloi.bsky.social @terryzzy.bsky.social, T.Docter & team
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Congrats to Peter Yoon, @kenjmloi.bsky.social @terryzzy.bsky.social, T.Docter & team
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
The "Research Day" at our department D-HEST is always caleidoscope of exciting science from food over health to medicine.
Phage biotechnology was well represented with Dorentina @humollidorentina.bsky.social and Enea @phagemuffin.bsky.social from our group and the lab of Martin Loessner. 🧫🧬🍻
Phage biotechnology was well represented with Dorentina @humollidorentina.bsky.social and Enea @phagemuffin.bsky.social from our group and the lab of Martin Loessner. 🧫🧬🍻
June 9, 2026 at 8:12 PM
The "Research Day" at our department D-HEST is always caleidoscope of exciting science from food over health to medicine.
Phage biotechnology was well represented with Dorentina @humollidorentina.bsky.social and Enea @phagemuffin.bsky.social from our group and the lab of Martin Loessner. 🧫🧬🍻
Phage biotechnology was well represented with Dorentina @humollidorentina.bsky.social and Enea @phagemuffin.bsky.social from our group and the lab of Martin Loessner. 🧫🧬🍻
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Happy to share our latest pre-print on the Druantia defense system.
We find that Type III Druantia uses a cooperative helicase-nuclease mechanism to sense and degrade replication-associated forked DNA structures.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A🧵
We find that Type III Druantia uses a cooperative helicase-nuclease mechanism to sense and degrade replication-associated forked DNA structures.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A🧵
www.biorxiv.org
May 14, 2026 at 7:02 AM
Happy to share our latest pre-print on the Druantia defense system.
We find that Type III Druantia uses a cooperative helicase-nuclease mechanism to sense and degrade replication-associated forked DNA structures.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A🧵
We find that Type III Druantia uses a cooperative helicase-nuclease mechanism to sense and degrade replication-associated forked DNA structures.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A🧵
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Out Now! Conditional activation of Cas13 enforces lysogeny in a native type VI-A CRISPR host #MicroSky
Conditional activation of Cas13 enforces lysogeny in a native type VI-A CRISPR host
Nature Microbiology, Published online: 10 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02288-5RNA-targeting CRISPR in Listeria seeligeri restricts the lytic cycle of temperate phages but tolerates prophage acquisition while also preventing induction—a system that enables acquisition of beneficial prophages while mitigating the risks of lysis.
go.nature.com
March 10, 2026 at 5:29 PM
Out Now! Conditional activation of Cas13 enforces lysogeny in a native type VI-A CRISPR host #MicroSky
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
March 7, 2026 at 11:11 AM
🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Phage-encoded CasPRs transcriptionally silence diverse CRISPR-Cas systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707548v1
February 24, 2026 at 2:18 AM
Phage-encoded CasPRs transcriptionally silence diverse CRISPR-Cas systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707548v1
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
November 20, 2025 at 8:40 PM
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
🚀New preprint from our lab!
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
November 20, 2025 at 6:52 PM
🚀New preprint from our lab!
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
I am very excited to finally share what has been the main focus of my PhD for the past almost 3 years! It is about viral dark matter and a powerful tool we built to shed light on it. 🧬💡
Continue reading (🧵)
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
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...
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
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...
Here’s the story of how we discovered the Metis defense system 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Surviving phage attack dynamically regulates bacterial immunity to defeat counterdefenses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688357v1
November 15, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Surviving phage attack dynamically regulates bacterial immunity to defeat counterdefenses https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.13.688357v1
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
📢Preprint out!
Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social!
We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery.
Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!
Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social!
We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery.
Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!
July 13, 2025 at 7:49 AM
📢Preprint out!
Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social!
We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery.
Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!
Excited to share my final work from the @soreklab.bsky.social!
We mined phage dark matter using structural features shared by anti-defense proteins (viral tools that help phages bypass bacterial immunity) to guide discovery.
Found 3 new families targeting immune signaling!
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
Most people fail to appreciate just how groundbreaking McClintock's work truly was. Her transposon work was first presented in 1950 - before we knew, for example, "DNA is the genetic material." Long before most discoveries that we consider fundamental to the question of: "What is a gene?"
June 16, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Most people fail to appreciate just how groundbreaking McClintock's work truly was. Her transposon work was first presented in 1950 - before we knew, for example, "DNA is the genetic material." Long before most discoveries that we consider fundamental to the question of: "What is a gene?"
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
The BASEL collection of E. coli #phages is limited by its host strain. @humollidorentina.bsky.social @damienpiel.bsky.social @aharms485.bsky.social &co use a modified host to add 36 new phages, revealing roles of O-antigen in recognition & R-M systems in immunity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4jirGvX
April 8, 2025 at 4:55 PM
The BASEL collection of E. coli #phages is limited by its host strain. @humollidorentina.bsky.social @damienpiel.bsky.social @aharms485.bsky.social &co use a modified host to add 36 new phages, revealing roles of O-antigen in recognition & R-M systems in immunity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4jirGvX
Reposted by Dorentina Humolli
🚨 🧬 Updated preprint on the completed BASEL collection - what's new? Some fun with bacterial immunity and a new P22 relative infecting E. coli K-12. A thread 🧵
February 6, 2025 at 6:05 AM
🚨 🧬 Updated preprint on the completed BASEL collection - what's new? Some fun with bacterial immunity and a new P22 relative infecting E. coli K-12. A thread 🧵