My dogs are not impressed by the UK weather at the moment. One benefit of our very old house is that the uninsulated floor is nice and cold

How's your evening going? I'm drawing!

New preprint from the lab led by Alex Dobrila! We show that butyrate-dependent toxin release in C. difficile is mediated by a broadly-conserved endolysin (EndD), which is under the control of the sporulation sigma factor SigK. Excited to share this story! 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Is it a review? Is it a research article? We started out writing a review for IUCrJ CryoEM special issue but then we had to include our new data and reanalysed data sets of our previously published phage structure

Quick trip to the vet this morning on the way to work. Tire blowout after I clipped a kerb parking. 4 hours later and I'm waiting for the RAC to come back with my wheel. Argh I have so much marking to do!!!

There is not enough coffee in the verse....

This is a scandal equivalent of a hypothetical situation wherein the Chair of the UK EHRC followed neo-Nazi accounts and ‘race realists’, but the UK media won’t touch it because trans people in the UK are considered to be a minority that must be oppressed and subjugated by the state

I'm really lucky that 21 years ago I decided to start working on C. difficile. Just back from a great @3cdf.bsky.social meeting organised by @smitslab.bsky.social in Leiden. We have the best community - I don't have competitors, I have friends all over the world @johann-i2bc.bsky.social

The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)

One of these paws is not like the other - poor pup has a broken toe. Waiting for the ortho's opinion but looks like a surgical fix needed

Planes, trains and automobiles. En route to Leiden for @3cdf.bsky.social - see you all in a few hours

Synchronised sleeping! Our dogs really aren't enjoying the hot spell

Oh FFS...

Moving house over the summer and really hoping our new place handles heat better than our 1905 brick terrace. It was 35C in our 4 year old's bedroom last night and only slightly colder in the other bedrooms. I can't justify AC for a few days a year but sorely tempted

I have come to the conclusion that I detest editorial manager even more than I hate Researchfish (*not even a real fish*). As an author, a reviewer and an editor it is the worst imaginable platform with absolutely no redeeming features

Paper accepted 5min after resubmission - that's an editor who's on the ball

Just a boy and his dog

Academia is such a rollercoaster. Right now I'm on a high and I'm going to savour this moment and celebrate with our group. It won't always be like this but the memory of the wins keeps us going through the rest

Ah, another day another game of "is it a cold or is it hay fever?"

#microsky Tour de force from the @pmoyniha.bsky.social @lislowe.bsky.social & @proftracypalmer.bsky.social labs on the Type VII secretion in Mycobacteria 🎉👏👏👏 Mine was a minuscule contribution, flattered to feature. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Just one day to go until the JMM seminar with Dr Robert Fagan! Be sure to catch their discussion on ‘Clostridioides difficile - an evolving AMR threat’. Register here: https://microb.io/4l58vI6 #JMM

Oh that is sad news. RIP Jeff

Find the hot-off-the-press plasmids here! www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

New paper from us. If you're interested in genetic manipulation of Clostridia, we have a few new tools for you! 36 new plasmids - all available from @addgene.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #microsky

Our puppy turned 1 today. I think I managed to tire her out on a muddy walk!

Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

Colleagues of mine @naomilpollock.bsky.social and @alice-rothnie.bsky.social are at a BBSRC event today and have been told that the RM call is paused, until maybe March, to allow them to transition to a open call rather than 3 deadlines a year. Nice that this is widely communicated 😉

I know what they're getting at with the "could put jobs at risk" but can we focus on the immediate impact? Each suspended round at MRC and BBSRC means about 80 fewer postdoc jobs and the retrospective cuts at MRC add another 30 or so

Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding. “Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail.

Finally comms from UKRI - on a Sunday evening. No mention of the hundreds of ECRs who will see their careers ended by these decisions and notably no explanation for MRC retrospectively applying cuts and wasting all the work that went into writing, reviewing and scoring applications - £millions

Dynamic DnaA–DnaB interactions at oriC coordinate the loading and coupled translocation of two DnaB helicases for bidirectional replication url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Appalling news for the biosciences in the UK. I have three grants under review at the moment so the last week since I heard these rumours have been a definite career low point. Shifting priorities (read political interference) are bad enough www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

I'm seeing relatively little chatter or outcry about what is happening at the MRC, the UK's biomedical research funder. Before Christmas MRC paused the acceptance of many of its grants, including the standard applicant-led research grant. There has been no public information on what is happening 🧵

Been working flat out since Christmas so decided to take today off. Afternoon plans out the window after a call from Mr4's school. Never work with children or animals 🤣

A quick mental health break before the final grant submission push. Never too cold for a dip if you're a Labrador!

orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing

Some Lego fun with Mr4 on New Year's Eve!

I did some actual science this week - like actual handled some bacteria! Not sure I can make sense of the results or if they will ever see the light of day but I still feel like I did something

Eventful Thursday! Pip cut her paw on something in our house, leading to a quick trip to the vets for some super glue. So she's had to come into the office with me. Apologies to everyone I've talked to today for the barking Labrador in the background!

I had an amazing time at my viva! It was a privilege to work in such an amazing lab and my examiners were so friendly and knowledgeable which led to a great discussion!

Congratulations to the new Dr @bexx-menday.bsky.social! And huge thanks to fantastic examiners Peter Rosenthal and Ellie Harrison

Our paper with @robfagan.bsky.social @jasonwils.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier on #phage has been included in this year's LSA special collection. www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...

Kate Willett pass her viva yesterday, congrats Dr Willett! Huge thanks to @robfagan.bsky.social @ @jeremykeown.bsky.social

The deadline for the first of our three fully funded PhD studentships is tomorrow! Determining the role of the dual-function VanT in C. diff vancomycin resistance. Collab with @gavinhthomas.bsky.social and Marjan van der Woude

It's time for our annual lab hike and Christmas dinner - so of course there's torrential rain. I hope the pub has the fires lit!

Inseparable

There's just over 2 weeks left to apply for a fully funded PhD studentship with us working on C. difficile vancomycin resistance. Two more studentships - linked in the thread below - close in early January

Absolutely delighted (and proud) that @freyaallen.bsky.social passed her viva with minor corrections today. Thanks very much @jessicamablair.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social for examining!

Thrilled to present the findings from my 2025 #SUREscheme project - 'Investigating the influence of latent bacteriophages on healthcare-associated C. difficile lysogens' - at the showcase yesterday evening. Huge thanks to @funnirudh.bsky.social and @robfagan.bsky.social for making this possible!