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    RNA transmission between honeybees and their microbiome

    Date:
    02
    Thursday
    May
    2024
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 15:00-16:00
    Location: Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences
    Lecturer: Dr. Eyal Maori
    Organizer: Department of Biomolecular Sciences
    Contact: levana.ayvazo@weizmann.ac.il
    Abstract: Transmissible RNA has emerged as a means of communication between organisms, bot ... Read more Transmissible RNA has emerged as a means of communication between organisms, both within and across different kingdoms of life. Donor organisms transmit long base-paired RNA, tRNA-fragments, and other small RNAs to elicit RNAi responses in recipient individuals, affecting their gene expression and phenotypes. Honeybees offer a unique opportunity to study RNA transmission since they possess a transmissible RNA pathway through which they share RNAs between individuals and across generations via the secretion and ingestion of worker- and royal jelly. We hypothesised that members of the gut microbiome exploit the same pathway and transmit RNA to their honeybee host. We show that RNA originating from a gut-restricted bacterium, Snodgrassella alvi (S. alvi), can be detected in worker- and royal jellies. Endogenous S. alvi RNAs are present also in systemic larval tissues in the absence of bacterial genomic DNA, indicating jelly-mediated microbiome RNA uptake and systemic spread within recipient larvae. Characterisation of transmissible S. alvi RNA reveals enrichment of specific rRNA and tRNA fragments in systemic larval tissues. The transmitted RNA fragments could potentially be involved in RNAi and have the capacity to target honeybee pathogens, such as Nosema and viruses. An expanded transmissible RNA pathway and its potential cooperative roles in honeybee- microbiome interactions will be discussed.
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    The Language of Bacterial Pathogens, Commensals, and Biomedical Potentials

    Date:
    08
    Thursday
    February
    2024
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 15:00-16:00
    Location: Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences
    Lecturer: Dr. Neta Sal-Man
    Organizer: Department of Biomolecular Sciences
    Contact: levana.ayvazo@weizmann.ac.il
    Abstract: Reported cases of diarrheal samples exhibiting co-infections or multiple infecti ... Read more Reported cases of diarrheal samples exhibiting co-infections or multiple infections with two or more infectious agents are on the rise, likely due to advances in bacterial diagnostic techniques. Our work aims to decode the communication between bacterial pathogens within the digestive system and investigates whether they compete or cooperate. Additionally, we examine how commensal strains of the microbiome intercept this communication through specific metabolites
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    Microbiota and cancer treatment - an ecological journey

    Date:
    29
    Thursday
    June
    2023
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 14:00-15:00
    Location: Max and Lillian Candiotty Building
    Lecturer: Dr. Ben Boursi
    Organizer: Dwek Institute for Cancer Therapy Research
    Contact: michal.av@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZ ... Read more Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZm1oZz09
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    Microbiome Metabolites: Syntheses and Surprises

    Date:
    06
    Tuesday
    June
    2023
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 14:00-15:00
    Location: Gerhard M.J. Schmidt Lecture Hall
    Lecturer: Prof. Karl Gademann
    Organizer: Department of Chemical and Structural Biology
    Contact: nicole.dorfman@weizmann.ac.il

    Special guest seminar

    Date:
    04
    Sunday
    June
    2023
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 00:00
    Title: T cell memory, metabolism and the microbiome
    Location: Max and Lillian Candiotty Building
    Lecturer: Professor Sammy Bedoui
    Organizer: Department of Immunology and Regenerative Biology
    Contact: ronen.alon@weizmann.ac.il

    A meta'omics perspective on the functional potential and regulation of metabolic activity in the global ocean microbiome

    Date:
    31
    Tuesday
    January
    2023
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 11:30-12:30
    Location: Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences
    Lecturer: Prof. Shinichi Sunagawa
    Organizer: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
    Contact: david.zeevi@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Host: Dr. David Zeevi

    Microbiome Therapeutics to Enhance Anti-Cancer Immunity

    Date:
    09
    Wednesday
    November
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 11:00-12:00
    Location: Max and Lillian Candiotty Building
    Lecturer: Prof. Sin-Hyeog IM
    Organizer: Department of Immunology and Regenerative Biology
    Contact: michal.av@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZm1oZz09

    Trying to understand how plant-microbiome cooperation evolved(s)

    Date:
    21
    Tuesday
    June
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 11:30-12:30
    Location: Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences
    Lecturer: Dr. Omri Finkel Dudi
    Organizer: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
    Contact: david.zeevi@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Host: Dr. David Zeevi

    Host innate immunity and bacterial commensals prevent fungal dysbiosis in Arabidopsis roots

    Date:
    12
    Tuesday
    April
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 11:30-12:30
    Location: VIA ZOOM: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/98989152393?pwd=a050Mm4rSlEwb2hLN1FiKy9oT24xdz09 Meeting ID: 989 8915 2393 Password: 002663
    Lecturer: Prof. Stéphane Hacquard
    Organizer: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
    Contact: david.zeevi@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Host: Dr. Daniel Dar
    Abstract: Understanding how host–microbe homeostasis is controlled and maintained in pla ... Read more Understanding how host–microbe homeostasis is controlled and maintained in plant roots is key to enhance plant productivity. However, the factors that contribute to the maintenance of this equilibrium between plant roots and their multikingdom microbial communities remain largely unknown. Using a microbiota deconstruction-reconstruction approach in gnotobiotic plant systems with synthetic, yet representative communities of bacteria, fungi, and oomycetes, we observe a link between fungal assemblages/load in roots and plant health. We show that modulation of fungal abundance in roots is tightly controlled by a two-layer regulatory circuit involving the host innate immune system on one hand and bacterial root commensals on another hand. We also report that fungi with the most detrimental activities in mono-association experiments with the host are part of the core root mycobiome in nature. Our results shed a light into how host–microbe and microbe–microbe interactions act in concert to prevent fungal dysbiosis in roots, thereby promoting plant health and maintaining growth-promoting activities of multikingdom microbial consortia.
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    The microbiome as part of the tumor ecosystem

    Date:
    07
    Thursday
    April
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 14:00-15:00
    Location: Max and Lillian Candiotty Building
    Lecturer: Prof. Ravid Straussman and Lian Narunsky Haziza
    Organizer: Dwek Institute for Cancer Therapy Research
    Contact: michal.av@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZ ... Read more Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZm1oZz09
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    The impact of metabolic processes at the brain’s choroid plexus and of the gut microbiome on Alzheimer’s disease manifestation

    Date:
    24
    Thursday
    March
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 16:00
    Title: Student Seminar - PhD Thesis Defense -ZOOM-
    Lecturer: Afroditi Tsitsou-Kampeli
    Organizer: Department of Brain Sciences
    Contact: naomi.moses@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Zoom link https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/98658552127?pwd=ZkZmWTBkd1AxZ0xPbGlpU3FPUW ... Read more Zoom link https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/98658552127?pwd=ZkZmWTBkd1AxZ0xPbGlpU3FPUWpzUT09 Meeting ID:986 5855 2127 Password:495213
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    Abstract: The immune system and the gut microbiome are becoming major players in chronic n ... Read more The immune system and the gut microbiome are becoming major players in chronic neurodegenerative conditions. One of the key interfaces between the brain and the immune system with an impact on brain function is the choroid plexus (CP). The CP interface is central to the maintenance of brain homeostasis by exerting a plethora of different biological processes. However, in aging and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), interferon type-I (IFN-I) signaling accumulates at the CP and impedes part of its beneficial function by inducing a CP-pro-aging signature. My research contributed to the finding that IFN-I signaling at the CP induces an aging-like signature in microglia and impedes cognitive abilities in middle-aged mice in a microglia-dependent manner. In addition, I demonstrated that the brain-specific enzyme, cholesterol 24-hydroxylase (CYP46A1), is expressed by the CP epithelium and that its product, 24-hydroxycholesterol (24-OH), downregulates CP-pro-inflammatory signatures. Furthermore, in AD, CP CYP46A1 protein levels were decreased in both mice and humans and overexpression of Cyp46a1 at the CP in 5xFAD mice reversed brain inflammation, microglial dysfunction signatures, and cognitive loss. Finally, while the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α impaired CP Cyp46a1 expression in vitro, boosting systemic immunity in vivo increased its levels in an IFNGR2-dependent manner. These results highlight CYP46A1 at the CP as a remote regulator of brain inflammation, which diminishes with neurodegeneration, but is amenable to rescue. Focusing on the gut microbiome, I found that 5xFAD mice devoid of microbiome exhibited a striking decrease of long-term spatial memory deficit and increased synaptic and neuronal survival. Spatial memory deficit in 5xFAD mice kept in germ free (GF) or specific-pathogen free (SPF) conditions, negatively correlated with the abundance of 2-hydroxypyridine, while systemic, chronic supply of 2-hydroxypyridine in SPF 5xFAD mice improved spatial memory deficits in comparison to phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)-supplied 5xFAD mice. Overall, these findings demonstrate a microbiome-dependent effect on AD pathology in the 5xFAD mouse model and suggest a connection between 2-hydroxypyridine and AD manifestation. In general, this research thesis addresses novel aspects of choroid plexus and gut microbiome metabolism and their relation to AD progression. Zoom link https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/98658552127?pwd=ZkZmWTBkd1AxZ0xPbGlpU3FPUWpzUT09 Meeting ID:986 5855 2127 Password:495213
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    Canceled ! - The microbiome as part of the tumor ecosystem

    Date:
    10
    Thursday
    March
    2022
    Lecture / Seminar
    Time: 14:00-15:00
    Location: Max and Lillian Candiotty Building
    Lecturer: Prof. Ravid Straussman and Lian Narunsky Haziza
    Organizer: Dwek Institute for Cancer Therapy Research
    Contact: michal.av@weizmann.ac.il
    Details: Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZ ... Read more Meeting URL: https://weizmann.zoom.us/j/5065402023?pwd=a3Z6KzRCU0xJaUFoM2Y5emZwZm1oZz09
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