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Martin Fenk

@mfenk.bsky.social
223 followers 61 following 14 posts

PhD student @MPIIB Berlin | Exploring the captivating realm of microbial evolution within microbiomes #Microbiology #Evolution

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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Dina Grohmann @curiousdina.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
🌙 Bringing Archaea to moon! Our latest study with the Orsi lab shows that M. okinawensis can survive, perform methanogenesis, and grow under simulated Enceladus conditions. Yet another reminder of how astonishingly adaptable Archaea are. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Enceladus-like geochemistry fuels methanogenesis under extreme CO2 limitation
Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus features chemical signatures consistent with an alkaline soda ocean with H2 production via hydrothermal water-rock reactions. Chemolithoautotrophic methanogenesis is thermo...
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Dina Grohmann @curiousdina.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Ignicoccus is one of the most fascinating archaeal organisms due to its double membrane (and because of its tight interaction with Nanoarchaeum). But how does a cell like this divide? As so often, archaea invented their own way ... check out our new preprint and I promise you will be stunned!
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Sean Gibbons 🦠💩 @gibbological.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Dear microbiome enthusiasts: I'm excited to be moving my lab to New York University this fall (& the NYU Institute for Engineering Health); with joint-appointment @isbscience.org I'm hiring a postdoc @ NYU to look at diet-driven evolution in the gut: apply.interfolio.com/189980 Please share! 🦠🤓
apply.interfolio.com
Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology @mpiib-berlin.mpg.de · 19/03/2026
📢 Voices in Infection Biology Join us next week for a talk by Matthew J. Shepherd from @manchester.ac.uk, kindly hosted by @keyfm.bsky.social. 🗓️ March 25 🕓 4 pm 📍 on-site seminar (Berlin) Event info: www.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/events/45077...
Within-patient evolution of ciprofloxacin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa across a large-scale clinical trial 
Matthew J. Shepherd

MArch 25
4 PM 
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE 
FOR INFECTION BIOLOGY, BERLIN
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Matthew J Shepherd @matthewjshepherd.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
biorxiv.org
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Nandita Garud @nanditagarud.bsky.social · 17/12/2025
Grateful to share our paper on gene-specific selective sweeps in human gut microbiomes, now out in Nature! It has been a joy to work with @rwolff.bsky.social, whose insights and hard work made this possible. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Gene-specific selective sweeps are pervasive across human gut microbiomes - Nature
Development and application of the integrated linkage disequilibrium score (iLDS) reveals both selective pressures impacting the human gut microbiome and the mechanisms by which gut bacteria adapt to ...
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Michael Baym @baym.lol · 20/11/2025
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics
From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
Felix M Key @keyfm.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Our new preprint, led by Martin (@mfenk.bsky.social), is online. We address the microbiome’s role as a source and incubator of acute infections by combining prospective collection of native samples with population-wide, culture-based sequencing. Please check out Martin’s wonderful thread. ⬇️🧵🎉
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Martin Fenk @mfenk.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Is the human microbiome a source for hospital-associated infections (HAI) and are any genetic changes associated with HAI? In our new preprint, we longitudinally reconstruct the evolutionary processes within the human microbiome leading up to HAI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org
Colonization, translocation, and evolution of opportunistic pathogens during hospital-associated infections
Many commensal bacteria that peacefully reside in the human microbiome are also able to cause acute opportunistic infections. Emerging evidence suggests that within-host evolution contributes to infec...
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Reposted by Martin Fenk
i-light-maka.bsky.social @i-light-maka.bsky.social · 10/02/2025
Finally getting some of my research for my PhD out there! Hopefully soon in a journal near you ;) Ancient Y. pestis infection from a sheep falls on the LNBA lineage, previously only known from humans! +molecular evolutionary analysis to leverage the ever increasing number of ancient genomes known!
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