A nice story by Ami Bhatt's lab. A transposable element insertion upstream of a folate transporter formed a strong promoter, increasing transcription and improving relative fitness under folate limitation. We have recently reported that folate biosynthesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Here is it! Super new science from us on horizontal gene transfer & bact defense systems! Liyana OW YONG discovered the first-of-its-kind defense factor AbjA that triggers 'abortive conjugation' as a defense mechanism, by targeting the T4SS! How neat?! #MicroSky 1/7 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Important study by Chris Connor and Ben Howden (both not on here?) @unimelb.edu.au 'Global dissemination of optrA-mediated linezolid resistance in enterococci', major roles of mobile genetic elements in the dissemination of this important resistance determinant academic.oup.com/jac/article/...

Study 2: Culture-enriched metagenomic sequencing reveals within-patient diversity and transmission of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...

Vancomycin tolerance and dispersion of dual species biofilms of Clostridioides difficile and Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.09.710618v1

Frederick's @frederickreinhart.bsky.social paper on E. faecalis egress from host cells following intracellular replication is now up at #PLOS Pathogens. 😎 Check it out! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Adaptation of Enterococcus faecalis to intestinal mucus revealed by a human colonic organoid model #mSystems from Alexandre Persat with @kimingeneva.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

⏰ Last chance to save $250! Register for Beyond Antibiotics by 11:59pm MST on March 5. Join @joeyzacks.bsky.social, @kimingeneva.bsky.social, @dariavantyne.bsky.social & @maribyndloss.bsky.social to spark new collaborations. 🎥 youtu.be/8Ppjx-MnvxA keysym.us/KSBeyondAnti... #KSBeyondAntibiotics26

What if quorum sensing doesn’t promote biofilms - but restrains it? 🤔 New work from @harisantypas.bsky.social shows that the Fsr QS system in Enterococcus faecalis acts as a brake on biofilm formation and pathogenesis during infective endocarditis (IE). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🧵 After years out of the field, I and my lab are again working on bacterial type IV pili. We have just posted our first preprints, and I'm excited to share what we have discovered. This shows Neisseria gonorrheae bacteria infecting a human epithelical cell. Here, you can see the pili in red. 1/

The American Academy of Microbiology proudly announces the election of 63 fellows to the Class of 2026. Over the past 50 years, the Academy has elected +2,700 distinguished scientists. This year, the new fellows hail from 14 countries. Read press release: asm.social/2OC

New in JB: Weiss, Tamayo et al. describe a very cool microbial interaction wherein Enterococcus faecalis, an opportunist found in the inflamed gut, impacts phase-variation noted by chaining & rough colony morphology of C. diff. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriology

Abstract deadline Mon for 6th Clinical & Scientific Advances in UTI, the premier biennial gathering of our international community. Privileged to be co-organising this year. See you in Nashville! utiga.org/2026-6th-csa... #UTI #UTISky #IDSky #MicroSky @globaluti.bsky.social utiga.org/2026-6th-csa...

Scientist's way of saying 'I ❤️ you' "I found this paper/preprint that made me think of your project." "I checked the mice/cells/plates already." "I just sent you the edits you requested." "I have a slide/diagram that will work for that." "I had that problem with [lab equipment], I have a fix."

🎉 New paper out! Taking a closer look at Enterococcus thailandicus, a species long considered of low clinical relevance. doi.org/10.1016/j.nm...

Lactic acid lover? Check out @ronni.bsky.social 's new work in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social showing how Enterococcus faecalis-derived LA suppresses macrophage activation, in turn promoting bacterial persistence and polymicrobial wound infection in vivo. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Strep/Enterococcal colleagues! Streptococcal Biology GRC/GRS are open for applications. Acceptances are underway and the meeting is on track to fill up. If you’re aiming for a short talk (lots of slots), registering early matters for full consideration. Share widely! www.grc.org/streptococca...

Enterococcus fans: Check out our latest on E. faecalis EET, advancing our understanding of both the fundamental physiology of this bug and new mechanisms of its virulence. This is the product of a thrilling collaboration with friends in Singapore @gthibault.bsky.social led by @aarontan.bsky.social.

⏰ Deadline Jan 7 (11:59 pm MST) to submit a short talk abstract or apply for a scholarship for the Keystone Symposium Beyond Antibiotics. Hear from @joeyzacks.bsky.social, @maribyndloss.bsky.social: youtu.be/8Ppjx-MnvxA keysym.us/KSBeyondAnti... @kimingeneva.bsky.social & @dariavantyne.bsky.social

'In 2021, 11,021 deaths and 353,634 DALYs were attributable to VREfm worldwide, (...) 2,991 deaths and 82,025 DALYs attributable to VREfs. (...) VREfm burden is projected to continue rising across all indicators by 2050, while VREfs shows a sustained decline.' www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

🧵Enterococcus faecalis is not just an extracellular organism. 🧵 A growing body of work shows it can survive + REPLICATE inside host cells, and that intracellular life may seed persistence, dissemination, and reinfection. 1/n #MMBR @asm.org journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

🤩 Long ago in 2021, Irina Afonina saw E. faecalis prophage tail fibers co-purify with membrane vesicles, but we didn't know their fxn: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC.... In this new preprint, Mike Gilmore and colleagues show us what the tail fibers (aka efagins) actually do! Super cool work. 🤩

Thrilled to share that neutrophils produce extra long fibrillar components named proteoglycofili or PGF. PGF are released by living neutrophils and do not contain DNA. They might look like NETs but are not NETs… www.cell.com/cell-reports...

New preprint from our lab www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...! Andrea Dos Santos and Clément Vulin combine experiments and models showing how adding glucose can strengthen negative interactions between microbial species. This can be used in tandem with antibiotic treatment to inhibit pathogens!

Excited to share our first look at Enterococcus faecium infection biology: diabetic wounds are complex, and E. faecium persists despite early immune responses. In diabetic mice, it shows impaired clearance + sustained neutrophil recruitment, worsening healing.

Metabolic cross-talk promotes persistence of Enterococcus in a model of polymicrobial catheter-associated urinary tract infection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.19.689321v1

Registration is now open for @keystonesymposia.bsky.social "Beyond #Antibiotics: Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection." Deadline for scholarships and abstract selected short talks is Jan 7! Join us this May for an amazing meeting! keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26

Enterococcus being one step ahead when it comes to stress… once again! Loved figuring this one out🤓 bsky.app/profile/kimi...

Why does daptomycin resistance appear so fast in Enterococcus? We finally have a clue. DAP resistance in enterococci pops up quickly. What’s been missing is why resistance-associated membrane changes look the way they do, and why the classic path of mutations is so predictable.

A conserved sRNA regulates mucin adhesion and gut colonization across the Enterococcaceae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.11.10.687296v1

We're just 6 months away from @keystoneSymposia.bsky.social Beyond #Antibiotics : Emerging Strategies Combating #BacterialInfection, May 2026 in Breckenridge! 👉Scholarship and short talk abstract deadlines are Jan 7! 🧐 keysym.us/KSBeyondAntibiotics26 #KSBeyondAntibiotics26

Postdoc position (please re-post) A funded postdoctoral position, will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology. If interested in more information, please contact Hank Seifert [email protected] #MicroSky

📣 Ready to lead your own lab? NTU Singapore's Nanyang Assistant Professorship offers a 100% paid salary & a S$2.75M start-up package. We're visiting the US this Sept to recruit top talent. Meet us in NYC, Boston & more! #FacultyJobs #TenureTrack Register HERE: lnkd.in/gSy5qpA7

💕 Such a joyful day celebrating the wedding of our longest-standing lab member Pei Yi (since 2012!) and former PhD student Kelvin. 💍 Their special day brought together generations of the Kline Lab family - a wonderful reminder of the friendships and community that science builds along the way. 💕

Our latest efforts to understand Enterococcal wound infection. In long-term collaboration with @gthibault.bsky.social, we discovered how E. faecalis makes extracellular ROS - via EET!⚡️Which in turn dysregulates host UPR to delay wound healing. Led by @aarontan.bsky.social - his videos below are 🤩!

Enterococcus faecalis modulates phase variation in Clostridioides difficile https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.24.666506v1

At my 1st @femsmicro.org congress (in Milan!) - it's a fantastic meeting. I co-chaired a superb session on Microbial Dark Matter with @jlewillett.bsky.social, who also kicked off the session with a talk on her lab's work. 🤩 We also heard from my FEMS Microbes co-EIC Kathleen Scott! 💪🏽 #FEMS2025

Vancomycin-resistant 𝙀𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙤𝙘𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙪𝙢 (VRE) thrives in the antibiotic-perturbed gut VRE gobbles up enriched sugars and amino acids, and loss of short-chain fatty acids (acetate, propionate, butyrate) eliminates natural growth brakes Therapeutic angle: Prebiotic SCFA mixtures block VRE growth!

🔬Calling all microbiologists. 🔬 Ever feel like your paper is too small for some journals, but too solid to sit on? #FEMSMicrobes welcomes well-executed microbiology manuscripts, and they put special attention on promoting ECR authors, eg the webinar below. 👇 @femsjournals.bsky.social @femsmicro.org

Very happy to share that a large part of my thesis work is out today: B. subtilis uses the second messenger c-di-AMP to modulate its turgor pressure in response to the state of its cell envelope. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

FEMS MICRO Milan is buzzing with excitement! 🎉🧫 Over 1,900 participants from 90+ countries are ready for 1,700+ posters & 100+ sessions (debates, expert panels, keynotes). This is Europe's premier microbiology event🏆🔬 Regular registration closes today, at 23:59 CEST: buff.ly/6f7yHDV

Our paper in @science.org 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... is accompanied by an especially thoughtful perspective by Carey Nadell and Chris Marx 👉🏽 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Jun #SGBUG with Aaron Tan from the groups of @kimingeneva.bsky.social and @gthibault.bsky.social talking about exciting findings on E. faecalis pathogenesis, and @weeboont.bsky.social from our lab sharing his newest work on phospholipid transporters in E. coli! @scelse.bsky.social Awesome crowd!

New tenure track assistant professor position in molecular microbiology in our department @dmf-unil.bsky.social @unil.bsky.social! We are casting a wide net for an experimental molecular microbiologist. Apply here: wwwfbm.unil.ch/releve/appli...

New from The Strain Team: 🎊 Springer Nature Discovers MDPI 🎊 Springer Nature has spawned a copycat journal series called "Discover" mimicking #MDPI journal titles and citation behaviours. We even made a browser game to prove it (see 🔗). Gross! 😀 1/n #ResearchIntegrity #SciPub #AcademicSky

Our very own 🤩Deepti Rawat🤩 is competing in the PhD Booster program at the University of Geneva, a program supporting career advancement by developing skills to communicate science to the public. Vote for her in the People's Choice Public Prize here! 👇 www.unige.ch/medecine/org...

Call for Group Leaders - Join us at GIMM, 7 days till the deadline!

Blaskovich & Cooper review the pipeline of conventional antibiotics and highlight in depth numerous promising alternatives—including potentiators of antibiotic action, bacteriophage, lysins and microbiome modulation—the impact of CARB-X on innovation is patently clear www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Great meeting coming up next May www.keystonesymposia.org/conferences/...

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!