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Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) ClpCP is an essential protease and represents an attractive drug target. Researchers from the Weber-Ban group adapted a high-throughput bacterial two-hybrid screen to probe the Mtb proteome leading to the identification of 196 putative interactors, amongst them a large number of toxin-antitoxin complexes.

As in many other professions, it is not easy for laboratory personnel and especially for trainees in this field to work outside their familiar professional environment. For laboratory trainees, two days of vocational school per week continue with distance learning tools, but the laboratory cannot be taken home. In the course of the corona crisis, new ways of making good use of home office time have been developed with great commitment and creativity.

Pili are hair-like appendages found on the surface of many bacteria and play a pivotal role in the formation of antibiotic-resistant biofilms. A recent PNAS paper by the Christen group shows how pili function as tactile sensors and reports on the underlying signaling mechanism that interlinks surface attachment with cell-cycle initiation in bacteria.

My defense turned out to be same and different from my expectations all at once. Same, for there is still tension, nervousness and uncertainty. And of course the work will be presented to the committee, come what may. Different, for there is no physically present audience, friends and family stay home and everything takes place online.

The recent Science Advances paper by the groups of Volodymyr Korkhov (IBC & PSI) and Konrad Basler (IMLS, UZH) reports the 3.2 Å resolution cryo-EM structure of Drosophila melanogaster Dispatched, the membrane protein involved in the release of the Hedgehog morphogen.