indeed, 𝘙𝘶𝘨𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘢 𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘻𝘢𝘦 looke like fusilli, which are notably better at holding on salsa di pomodoro than spaghetti... and as pasta addicts, we fell instantly in love with the shape of this newly described alphaproteo from the Rhizobiales 🤭 #MicroSky

💾 Shovill 1.4.1 has been released! The best way to de novo assemble microbial genomes from Illumina FASTQ. Major fixes to the SKESA module, plasmid mode for the Spades module, and more error checking. #bioinformatiocs #genomics #microbiology github.com/tseemann/sho...

A diet enriched in microbiome-fermentable substrates (more fruits and veggies) was shown to be associated with lower frailty and lower mortality risk in an older cohort (N>6000; 65+ y/o), with inflammation markers significantly mediating the dietary effect. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This single-celled amoeba can thrive at temperatures that kill all other known eukaryotic life go.nature.com/4452LXP

#NewResearch A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice. #MicroSky 🦠💊 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New video on Nested Symbiosis in extreme environments out on my YouTube Channel. Give it a watch if you can, a great paper by @mkrupovic.bsky.social Original Paper: doi.org/10.1038/s415... youtu.be/OQR5obtf7-4

Marvellous Minoan clay vessels made by creative potters on the island of Crete during the Aegean Bronze Age around 3,500 years ago! 🤩 Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

This week, Dr. Laura Weyrich, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the paleo oral microbiome! We will learn if our ancestors had the same kind of resident microbes as we do. @markowenmartin.bsky.social @lauraweyrich.bsky.social

Would you expect that Bacteria use an archaellum for swimming? We didn't, but we found that some Chloroflexota do! Find the story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... A little thread below 1/n

Excited to present my work at poster #82 at #EESMicrobiome today! Come round and talk RNA viruses with me

☀️ Good morning from Day 3 of #EESMicrobiome 🦠 ☕🥨 Fuelled by coffee and pretzels, we’re starting strong with Session 4: Microbiome–host interactions in health and disease. 🎤 'Understanding gut-to-host communication to prevent cardiovascular disease' by @fzmarques.bsky.social (Monash University)

Welcome to the EMBO | EMBL Symposium ‘The human microbiome’ 🦠🙌🏼 With a growing crowd on site, it is time for the opening remarks – #EESMicrobiome Day 1, let’s go! 🤩

Happy to see this paper finally out in @pnas.org! #phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬 Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...

This study describes the oldest microbial DNA ever sequenced go.nature.com/4nfIzcU

Interesting paper. Authors ruled out contamination; are not claiming 'blood microbiome', but rather 'DNA remnants' 'Blood-borne immune cells carry low biomass DNA remnants of microbes in patients with colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

New BBC article on fungal infections in which we are quoted: www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

In a couple of days, my grad student Stavros Trimmer will present his new Asgard archaea culture at the GRC Archaea. He named it Skadiarchaeum after Skadi, the Norse goddess of skiing and hunting. Cartoon of Skadi based on cryoET, which was performed together with with @florianwollweber.bsky.social

Meanwhile the news. To learn more about antibiotic-resistant superbugs visit our educational website or come to our pop-up shop in Cardiff.

💥 Excited to introduce Bacformer 🦠 - the first foundation model for bacterial genomics. Bacformer represents genomes as sequences of ordered proteins, learning the “grammar” of how genes are arranged, interact and evolve. Preprint 📝: biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵 1/n

New online! Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation

“GlycoCaging” uses gut bacteria to activate drugs for inflammatory bowel disease. Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/4ltfMk8

Leveraging longitudinal data from 194 infants across the first 18 months of life, researchers show that microbial genes encoding neuroactive compounds are associated with visual cortical neurodevelopment. Read the article in #mBio: asm.social/2uo

#MicrobiologyMonday: Pseudomonas aeruginosa releases a surfactant that displaces Klebsiella pneumoniae from solid surfaces. By pushing K. pneumoniae away, the detergent allows P. aeruginosa to better compete for limited iron. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2sH

Half way through the IMI Summer school 2025 starts with a fantastic Q&A panel with our own UoB students and Postdocs and @wvschaik.bsky.social giving a great talk on AMR & Phages 🦠🦠

How does your diet impact the microbiome? Let's find out...🦠🦠

Some exciting results from the IMI Summer school experiments 🧪🧫🔬

schaechter.asmblog.org/schaechter/2... #MicroSky #Archaea #ArchaeaSky #SymbioSky

Excited to announce the EMBO Conference: Molecular Biology of Archaea (MBoA) 2026! Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated entirely to Archaea.

A 1.0 release for Sandpiper. 700,000 microbial community profiles (3x the last version, 4.7 Pbp metaG), searchable via the @ace-gtdb.bsky.social R226 taxonomy that just dropped. MetaGs are going exponential, but we are still nowhere near a MAG for all species. sandpiper.qut.edu.au #microsky 🧬🖥️ 1/2

I am raising money for Cancer Research UK by walking 23 miles in the Kiltwalk Mighty Stride on the 27th of April. Any donations would be greatly appreciated! www.justgiving.com/page/ross-mc...

How do microbial metabolites influence host physiology? They hop on the circulation line, obvs... (WIP) #sciart #microsky 🧪

New Video up on my YouTube Channel all about Archaeal RNA Polymerase, and how it differs to eukaryotic and bacterial RNAP 🧪 youtu.be/H2tPufQ8tEw

ᗩᑎTIᗷIOTIᑕ ᖇEᔕIᔕTᗩᑎᑕE ᑌᑭᗪᗩTE EPIC BATTLE IN SCOTLAND 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 WHISKEY 🥃 vs E COLI 🦠 no doubt works even for carbapenem-resistant strains of sequence type 131 carrying extended-spectrum beta-lacatamase CTX-M-15 #AMR #SingleMalt

Excited to share our latest, out today in @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social Bacteriocin production facilitates nosocomial emergence of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium www.nature.com/articles/s41... @idpittstop.bsky.social

I'm delighted to share a useful FREE web-based app portal of powerful bioinformatics tools for microbial genomes and shotgun microbiome sequences! It's called Micromics and is built by Middle Author Bioinformatics, led by co-founder @ironark.bsky.social omix.midauthorbio.com

Has anyone gotten so bad with browser tabs that they regularly close like 60 of them without even checking what they are?

Gene editing and many other useful biotechnology tools came from studies of bacteria fighting off viral invaders. But scientists have only begun to unlock the secrets of this ancient arms race https://go.nature.com/4lD4LOa

Thrilled to have our recent T6SS resistance work featured in this @pnas.org commentary by Prof. Nick Shikuma. Thanks for the shoutout Nick! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🗞️ Saturn’s moon Titan could harbour life, but only a small amount, study from ISSI International Team 539 finds. See press release: www.issibern.ch/saturns-moon... 🔭 @harvard.edu

Cool! Though we recently published a microbial functional genomics browser with the same name: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...

New @fwf-at.bsky.social CoE Microplanet Publication in BMC Microbiology from the lab of @chmoei.bsky.social @medunigraz.at shows high-methanogenic phenotype in #centenarians with #Methanobrevibacter smithii dominance and youth-like #archaeal profiles. rdcu.be/egk03 #microsky #archaeasky

The BASEL collection of E. coli #phages is limited by its host strain. @humollidorentina.bsky.social @damienpiel.bsky.social @aharms485.bsky.social &co use a modified host to add 36 new phages, revealing roles of O-antigen in recognition & R-M systems in immunity @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4jirGvX

#midweekmicro🔬 A human gut bacterium antagonizes neighboring bacteria by altering their protein-folding ability @cellpress.bsky.social #CellHost&microbe #microsky www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

OUT NOW: Intestinal crypt microbiota modulates intestinal stem cell turnover and tumorigenesis via indole acetic acid #microsky 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper! We analyzed gut #microbiomes of 250+ individuals (ages 19–109). #Centenarians often show a high-methanogen “human cow” phenotype 🐄, with #Methanobrevibacter smithii dominance and youth-like archaeal profiles. #Archaea may stabilize networks in aging. Link: rdcu.be/egk03 @archaeasky

Clean energy powered 40% of global electricity in 2024, report finds

New paper from the group - here we show that aurodox prevents shiga toxin mediated damage in a murine model. Interesting changes to the microbiota too. Amazing work by @rebeccamchugh.bsky.social and the group. Paper here- rdcu.be/efW0K

We have an open PhD position (deadline 14th March) in my group at QIB, Norwich, UK: buff.ly/1zRakR6 This might be of interest for researchers who want to understand gut microbial evolution, and how this changes when the human host is sick. Please RT.

New paper: long-term trends in antibiotic resistance show signs of stabilisation (thread). journals.plos.org/plospathogen...