In today’s episode we interview Rafael Pinilla-Redondo, Group Leader of the Bacterial Immunity research group at the Section of Microbiology, University of Copenhagen.

We start the conversation with an overview of his research, he tells us how his team looks into the interplay between phages and bacterial defense systems.

We also talk about the different approaches to uncover and characterize bacterial immunity, from bioinformatic predictions to experimental phage–bacteria interactions, insights into CRISPR-Cas systems—particularly Type IV CRISPRs, CRISPRi systems and their counter-defenses like RNA-based anti-CRISPRs.

The current big questions in bacterial immunity and what impacts this research could have on biotechnology and translational applications.

Finally, Rafael shares his personal journey into the phage field, what excites him most about current research, his reflections on setbacks that turned into opportunities, and his advice for PhD students and early-career researchers.

PhageCast 2025 is sponsored by PrecisionPhage:

⁠www.precisionphage.com

⁠⁠www.phagenomics.net⁠

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