Dalia Smalakytė, a PhD student and researcher at Vilnius University’s Life Sciences Center, received the Best Poster Award at the prestigious “EMBO Workshop: The Immune System of Bacteria” (SISB2025), held this April in Paris.
Dalia presented her work titled “The Art of Destruction: Intrinsic Control and Sigma Factor Release in the Type III CRISPR-Cas Tripartite Effector,” which explores the mechanisms of bacterial defense systems - specifically, the analysis of the Type III CRISPR-Cas tripartite effector. “This multi-component effector is not only activated during viral infection but can also shut itself down to avoid damaging the host bacterium. In our study, we revealed how this self-regulation mechanism operates at the molecular level,” explains D. Smalakytė.
According to the PhD student, participating in such an event is not only an opportunity to present research to an international audience but also a chance to connect with scientists from other countries and learn from leading experts in the field. “Winning the poster session award is not only a great personal achievement, but also a meaningful reminder that the research carried out at Vilnius University’s Life Sciences Center is relevant on a global scale,” she adds.
The event brought together scientists from around the world to discuss the latest advances in bacterial defense systems and their significance for both fundamental research and applied biotechnology. This field has experienced rapid progress in recent years, revealing that bacterial immune systems are far more complex and diverse than previously thought. Beyond the well-known CRISPR systems and restriction enzymes, microbes encode over a hundred newly discovered defense systems, demonstrating an extraordinary range of mechanisms. These findings have also uncovered an unexpected parallel - both human cells and bacteria use similar principles to defend themselves against viral infections.
 |