
2023
New adventure in progress!
The Ferreira-Cerca team is currently moving to a new and shiny laboratory space at the Structural Biology of the Cell Laboratory located at “École Polytechnique de Paris” in France. See institutional website here Ribosome and RNA Homeostasis | Laboratoire de Biologie Structurale de la Cellule (polytechnique.edu).


2022
Published book: Archaea – Methods and Protocols – MiMB Vol. 2522
We are very proud of the community efforts that has been made to put together this very dense volume that includes not less than 34 chapters on our favorite domain of life!!!
It has been a real honor to serve the community has an editor and I am grateful that my colleagues were following me on this adventure.
Thanks to all the contributors for their trust in this project and for making it happening!
The dark side of the ribosome life cycle!
There are so many unseized opportunities and diverse paths to follow in the Life Sciences…
In this manuscript we share a few personal reflections on the dark side of the ribosome life cycle we still need to explore. #Biodiversity #Adaptation
For more read of our contribution @RNA Biology Journal.
Outreach publication published in BIOspektrum!
A very short summary in German of our understanding of ribosome biogenesis in Archaea written for BIOspektrum, a magazine supported by the main German Life Sciences associations is now available. We are really glad we could highlight our favorite topic to the German scientific communities.
1, 2, 3…Manuscripts published!
Not 1, not 2, but 3 Manuscripts from the lab are now finally out as part of the MiMB volume on Ribosome Biogenesis edited by Karl-Dieter Entian (Uni Frankfurt – Germany)…
….But that´s not the best part of it, the book is available for free in Open Access and/or at a very reduced rate as an in-print version… And it also contains contributions from our SFB960 colleagues, so check it out!!!
New publication!
Looking through the lens of the ribosome biogenesis evolutionary history: possible implications for archaeal phylogeny and eukaryogenesis.
A very special and meaningful manuscript for the lab as it lay down our initial steps to integrate our studies and expertise on ribosome biogenesis into more evolutionary thinking and discussions. It also marks the beginning of an additional scientific journey for us, and we are very much looking forward to how far this journey will bring us! This development would not have been possible without a very talented PhD student, Michael Jüttner, exciting discussions with many of our colleagues over the past years, and certainly, some lucky eye-opening coincidences making this publication even more remarkable to us!
In this manuscript, we discuss the possible integration of functional information into evolutionary frameworks and provide examples of how our knowledge of the evolutionary history of ribosome biogenesis may further contribute to a better understanding of the evolutionary relationships between organisms.
The full manuscript is available at Molecular Biology and Evolution.
2021
New publication!
Nanopore sequencing of RNA and cDNA molecules in Escherichia coli.
Great collaborative work with our colleagues Dina Grohmann and Felix Grünberger.
In this study, we have compared the currently available Nanopore library preparations and sequencing modes and looked at the ability of this technology to characterize bacterial transcriptome. Results are available at the RNA journal (Check out Figure 6 for an overview).
Master thesis completed!
Not one but two Master thesis completed! Congratulations to Max and Tom and thank you so much for everything you have accomplished. We are all very proud of all your achievements!

Editorial “Archaeal Ribosomes: Biogenesis, Structure and Function”
The publication of this editorial concludes the Research Topic at Frontiers in Microbiology on “Archaeal Ribosomes: Biogenesis, Structure and Function” co-edited with our colleagues Paola Londei and Anna La Teana.
This has been a very exciting experience to be on the “other side” and be responsible for commissioning and gathering exciting works on archaeal ribosomes.
We are really grateful to all our colleagues and all the involved reviewers for helping us to put this great collection of original research articles and reviews.
Visiting Scientist
After several postpone, we are very glad to finally welcome Rani Baes, PhD student in Prof. Dr. Eveline Peeters group (Free University of Brussels), for a short research stay.
Rani will explore the joy of non-canonical nucleotide and amino-acid pulse labelling in S. acidocaldarius. We are super excited to push the limit of some of our protocols and thrilled to see what we will learn.
But for now, we were starting with some delicious Belgium treats, thank you Rani and good luck!

Well done Michael!
There are some rumours saying that Michael has been awarded for the poster he presented at the Summer School of the Regensburg International Graduate School of Life Sciences. Congratulations!
New publication!
Making Ribosomes in Archaea.
Very much delighted and honoured to have contributed to this review on Ribosome Biogenesis in Archaea with Paola Londei, who has pioneered ribosome biogenesis research in archaea.
If you are interested to obtain an overview on the molecular foundations of archaeal ribosome biogenesis and how it compares to what we know about this essential molecular pathway in the other domains of life, you might enjoy this read too.

Full text is available here!
Ph.Done!!!
Robert the very first PhD student of the lab has successfully defended his PhD thesis today (12th of March 2021)!
Congratulations Dr. Knüppel for your very successful thesis and the gigantic work you have achieved over the last years!!! We are all very proud of you!!!
New lab publication!
Insights into synthesis and function of KsgA/Dim1-dependent rRNA modifications in archaea
What a great way to finish/start a new year!
The last chapter of Robert´s PhD thesis (publication number #6!!!) is now online @Nucleic Acids Research.
In this work we have investigated KsgA/Dim1-dependent ribosomal RNA modifications signature and have stumble across a few surprises. In case you did not yet realize, archaea are just amazing and always ready to surprise us …
Welcome to our two new Master Students Max and Tom!
We are really pleased to have you on board for some new exciting scientific and human adventures. Welcome and good luck!
Website is now Alive
This is something we were cooking for a while in our heads…Here it is in front of your eyes!!!
2020
Habilitation prize 2020
I am very honored to have been awarded the Habilitation prize 2020 from the University of Regensburg for my Habilitation work entitled: “From Archaea to Eukarya: an evolutionary perspective on the ribosome biogenesis pathway“.
Thank you very much to all my students, co-workers, mentors, colleagues and family without whom I could not have made it thus far!
For additional information you can check here or here.
We are members of the Regensburg Center for Biochemistry.
We are now officialy members of the newly funded Regenburg Center for Biochemistry (RCB).
First PhD thesis of the lab submitted!
After a very successfull time in our group, Robert has submitted his outstanding PhD thesis entitled: “Small changes, unexpected consequences: Molecular insights into substrate-dependent adaptation of KsgA/Dim1-dependent ribosomal RNA modifications in archaea“. Congratulations!!! We are so proud of your achievements!!!
New PhD student : bienvenue Nicolas!
WARNING! The French population of our lab has suddenly doubled with the arrival of Nicolas at the begining of 2020. Nicolas has been infected very early in his scientific carreer by Archaea and was eager to continue his journey through the archaeal world with us. Welcome Nicolas ! We are all looking forward to your exciting discoveries!
2019
GBM Master thesis prize to Michael Jüttner!

We are really proud and honored that Michael (now PhD student) has been selected as a laureate for the Master prize 2019 awarded by the German Biochemistry and Molecular biology society (Gesellschaft für Biochemie und Molekularbiologie e. V.) for his studies on cis-acting elements required for circular-pre-rRNA formation in the model archaeon H. volcanii.
Congratulations Michael for this well deserved recognition!
For more insights into Michael´s work check the related publication at Nucleic Acids Research.