Biólogo | Grad student Tetrad Program @UCSF
San Francisco, CA
Joined March 2011
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Glad to see this puzzling and exciting story out. Thanks to all the authors who pushed this project through to the end! But well, retrons are forever :)
Out now in Molecular Cell! Retrons protect bacteria from phage infection, and this one has one of the craziest mechanisms we’ve ever seen. (1/8) cell.com/molecular-cell/full…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Been working on a really strange retron bacterial immune system, here's the preprint: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Type VI retrons are unlike any other. Phage infection triggers reverse transcription of a DNA fragment that activates translation of a toxin to kill the infected cell.
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Today we celebrate a milestone for science in Peru: I have deposited in the Protein Data Bank (PDB: 9Y8P) the first protein structure elucidated in the country through single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM), corresponding to the encapsulin from Thermotoga maritima, a work developed at the Single Molecule Unit of Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in collaboration with LNNano.
As first author, I am proud that this achievement marks the beginning of a new era of structural biology in Peru, a milestone made possible thanks to the support and guidance of Professors Daniel Guerra, Wilfredo Evangelista, Jose Maria Carazo and Alfredo Flores, who were key in this journey. 🇵🇪🔬✨
We gratefully acknowledge ProCiencia for funding the completion of this project, and I2PC for the travel grant and specialized training.
Link: rcsb.org/3d-view/9Y8P
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
New Preprint!! @alex_gonzadel accomplished a major feat on this one: ported retron recombineering, which we love so much in E. coli, into 14 new bacterial species via a massive collaborative effort involving 9 labs!
biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
The June issue is live nature.com/nbt/volumes/43/is…
On the cover, Khan et al. present a molecular census of retrons, performing the same battery of tests across many distinct systems to identify similarities and differences go.nature.com/3MOsMBx
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
We just posted a new preprint where we found retrons in bacteria out in the real world, in dirt and water. We describe the first retrons in a handful of new species, show how they defend against phages, and use them to edit genomes. Read about it here: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Very glad to have contributed to this project to broaden our knowledge on the very cool field of retrons and its applications. Especially in the company of such amazing scientists at the Shipman Lab! 🙌 Feeling very lucky.
An experimental census of retrons, now published in @NatureBiotech. We synthesized more than a hundred new retrons and put them through their paces, improved recombineering rates and precise editing in human cells up to 40%. nature.com/articles/s41587-0…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Multiplexed editing of phage genomes using retrons, now published at @NatureBiotech with lots of new bells and whistles. @ChloeFishman @katecrawdaddy @BhattaraiKline @Darshini_Poola @thekarenzhang @alex_gonzadel @matromont
nature.com/articles/s41587-0…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
My favourite discovery ever has just come online. Can I please tell you about some seriously wacky molecular biology? The story starts with a reverse transcriptase that SOMEHOW defends bacteria from viruses.
(👇 I recommend sound ON for the video 🎹)
1/
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
So excited to share one of the final works from my PhD in @SethShipman’s lab with @Asim_g_Khan and @oso_de_antojos, where we used high-throughput libraries and machine learning to create design rules for retron gene editors: biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Multitrons: simultaneous multi-site editing of individual genomes using retron arrays, now published in Nature Chemical Biology @nchembio: nature.com/articles/s41589-0…. Great job @alex_gonzadel and @oso_de_antojos !
New preprint! Simultaneous multi-site editing of individual genomes using retron arrays. We're trying to make it easier to make multiple, non-adjacent, precise mutations to a genome without long cycles of editing, isolating , and editing again. biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
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Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Delighted to share our latest preprint on my favourite piece of biology, CRISPR adaptation! tl;dr: we found that SspA, a known global regulator of bacterial stress response pathways, transcriptionally regulates CRISPR adaptation in E. coli biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
I am delighted to share the newest work from the @SternbergLab, in which we discover RNA-templated gene creation as a mechanism of antiviral immunity. This is a story for anyone who loves molecular biology, and one that repeatedly left us in disbelief. doi.org/10.1101/2024.05.08.5…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Forget Hawaii, Mallorca or the Maldives, this is microbiologists' favorite vacation destination
maps.app.goo.gl/GuD8LhGHdwk4…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
New Preprint, New Retrons! More than a hundred of them. We synthesized a ton of bioinformatically predicted retrons and put them through a battery of tests, from RT-DNA production to editing in human cells, E. coli, and phage biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/… @GladstoneInst @UCSF @UCSF_BTS
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
New preprint! Simultaneous multi-site editing of individual genomes using retron arrays. We're trying to make it easier to make multiple, non-adjacent, precise mutations to a genome without long cycles of editing, isolating , and editing again. biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
New Retro-Cascorder Protocol! We've been recording transcriptional event order in cells using retrons and CRISPR integrases. We've love to expand the users and developers of the technology. To make that a bit easier, we just published a @NatureProtocols. nature.com/articles/s41596-0…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
*Preprint Alert* This one’s in a new area for the lab: phage editing! We're using retrons to produce recombineering donors ~inside~ bacterial hosts. A wild-type phage infects the host and an edited phage comes out. biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/…
Matías Rojas Montero retweeted
Are you an expert in Gene Editing🧬, WasteWater Management 🚰or related fields? Wageningen University students researching for the UN invite you to fill out a 5-10 min survey to help investigate frontier techs for sustainable development. Please share! forms.gle/x65iZfE7x6qBcmzE6