Helena Shomar

A family of lanthipeptides with anti-phage function

The paper identifies a family of over 2000 lanthipeptide biosynthetic gene clusters in Actinobacteria with anti-phage function, demonstrating their conservation and novel compound production.

Protein and genomic language models chart a vast landscape of antiphage defenses

The paper uses language models to predict novel antiphage defense proteins in Actinomycetota, discovering six new defense systems and over 45,000 uncharacterized protein families.

Resolving phylogenetic and biochemical barriers to functional expression of heterologous iron-sulphur cluster enzymes

The paper investigates why iron-sulphur cluster enzymes are often inactive when heterologously expressed in E. coli and identifies strategies to improve their functionality.