Structure, action and evolution of gigantic bacterial roll-like structures

Speaker: Dr. Dukas Jurėnas, Université Libre de Bruxelles

Talk:  Structure, action and evolution of gigantic bacterial roll-like structures

Time: 24.10.2025, 9:00 am

Venue: Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Abrahama 58, hall 042B

Dr. Dukas Jurėnas studies bacterial toxins, particularly those implicated in interbacterial competition and interaction with other microorganisms in the niche. He is a researcher and associated professor at Free Brussels University (ULB) in Belgium. After his studies in Vilnius University in Lithuania, he moved to Brussels University for PhD and then to CNRS-Marseille in France for a postdoc where he started to work with bacterial secretion systems and secreted effector proteins. Since 2022, he has established and independent research group at ULB, where he developed new model – Chryseobacterium, an environmental bacterium from phylum Bacteroidota. His team has identified molecular mechanisms and specific toxins that help these bacteria to compete against other microorganisms including competing bacterial species, protists, and nematodes. In his seminar, he will focus on extraordinary intracellular structures synthesized by a subpopulation of bacteria in defence against phagocytic predators.