Elf Lab

Adventures with single molecules in E. coli

Our quest is to bridge the gap between quantitative physical models and biological observations in order to identify and resolve inconsistencies in our current understanding of life at the molecular level.

Lab News

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AI adds the third dimension to fluorophore tracking in bacteria

Traditional 2D imaging methods can capture movement across a flat plane but miss details along the depth-axis. In this project, we train a neural network to locate fluorescent markers in 3D by simulating training data based on experimental background models. To test the approach, we track chromosomal loci throughout the E. coli cell cycle and find interesting loci-specific patterns in the yz-plane.

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Elf lab conference 2024 - Fårö

The Elf and Jones labs spent four days on beautiful Fårö. Elf lab alumni Emil Marklund, Petter (Hammar) Knagge, and Cia Unoson spoke about different career paths in science, and we enjoyed Zoom lectures on exciting new science from around the globe. Thank you also to Nazir Ismail, who gave us a thorough introduction to Tuberculosis - disease and diagnostics, and to the Öhmans for hosting us at their vacation home!

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The replisome - stationary or mobile replication machine?

The bacterial replisome has the important task of copying genetic information, securing the species' survival. But how the replisome executes the process is debated. Does the complex follow the DNA (like a baby dragon running on spaghetti), or does the dragon remain stationary, slurping up the genetic strands as the copying process proceeds? A new study from the Elf lab provides the answer to this question.

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Innovation from the Elflab wins prestigious prize

From three days to 45 minutes – that's a huge improvement when you're a patient waiting for the correct treatment. A technique making it possible to test the antibiotic susceptibility of a bacterial infection in less than an hour has now been awarded the prestigious £8 million Longitude Prize in AMR. The quick test was developed by the company Sysmex Astrego, based on research in the Elflab.

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NO OPTION - The hidden crisis and hope for AMR

In this book, two dozen eminent doctors, including Prof. Johan Elf, recount their experiences fighting AMR, illuminating the daunting daily realities that individuals and healthcare professionals face worldwide.

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Expanding the scope and scale of single-cell microbiology

Praneeth Karempudi defends his thesis entiteled Microfluidics and AI for single-cell microbiology.

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Metamorphosis - when changing conformation is the key

Malin Lüking defends her thesis entiteled Molecular Metamorphosis in Transcriptional Regulation.

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Beautiful Science in Beautiful Tällberg

The MSB program retreat in Tällberg had four distinguished visitors who made the meeting extra special. Thank you Nathalie Balaban, Gene-wei Li, Stephan Uphoff, and Johan Paulsson for the excellent talks and valuable discussions.

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To copy or not to copy - new insight into the bacterium's dilemma

In this study, we make one of the hitherto largest efforts to explain how bacteria decide when it is time to copy their DNA. This problem has eluded science for over half a century. The article, and the somewhat incredible 3.5 TB of data it's based on, are openly available. The experiments support a model in which DnaA is activated in relation to the cell size and inactivated in relation to the number of chromosomes. Replication is initiated at the correct ratio of active to inactive DnaA.

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Loremaster awarded prize for pioneering science

Johan Elf is awarded the Norblad-Ekstrand medal for his pioneering work on the characterization of individual molecules in living cells.

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