Danna Gifford
@dannagifford.bsky.social
📤 1263
📥 964
📝 135
PI and Lecturer, University of Manchester
https://dannagifford.com
@MERManchester.bsky.social
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Danna Gifford
Fabrice Jean-Pierre
3 days ago
It’s always fun to look at phenotypic microbial diversity on an agar plate.
#microsky
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Rachel M. Wheatley
7 days ago
🔊 Looking for a Research Assistant in Bacterial Evolution to join my lab 🦠 🥼Main duties: Research (AMR + microbiome) + lab assistance. ⏲️ Post duration: 30 months 🗓️ Closing date for applications: 20th April 2026 💰 Salary: ~£35k Details and how to apply:
tinyurl.com/2a3v66y7
Please share!
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LinkedIn
This link will take you to a page that’s not on LinkedIn
https://lnkd.in/esxGGkR8
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Rebecca Lowry Palmer
5 days ago
📢 Excited to be offering a Plant Health vacation studentship this summer on plant disease biocontrol and predatory bacteria! Supervised by me at Manchester Uni!
@manchester.ac.uk
If interested—or know someone who might be—please share and apply!
my.rsb.org.uk/services.php...
28th April deadline 🌿🍅🦠
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myRSB: Me and the RSB
https://my.rsb.org.uk/services.php?grantid=138§ion=grants
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Danna Gifford
Ákos T Kovács
5 days ago
Congratulations to Daniel Rozen on starting his position today as Professor of Microbial Evolution at
#InstituteBiologyLeiden
(
@leidenscience.bsky.social
/
@unileiden.bsky.social
), an exciting milestone and well-deserved recognition.
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Danna Gifford
MERMan Research Group (University of Manchester)
14 days ago
The University of Manchester is pleased to be the UK host for MEEHubs2026. Registration now open! We have an amazing lineup of speakers, Jasmine Ono, Stineke van Houte, and Sarah Coulthurst, & more virtually at other hubs. We hope to see you here or online 3-5 Aug!
meehubs2026.oa-event.com
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Danna Gifford
MEEhubs
18 days ago
MEEHubs2026 registration and abstract submission is now online! 🚨🦠✨ Join us Aug 3 - 5, 2026 at one of the 7 hubs or online. We are incredibly excited about our lineup of speakers, and hope that you submit an abstract to contribute too! More information and registration links at:
meehubs.org
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Home
https://meehubs.org
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Danna Gifford
Will Smith
16 days ago
Here’s the latest preprint from my work on evolved resistance to Type VI Secretion system (T6SS) weaponry, funded by a
@wellcometrust.bsky.social
Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship. So happy to see this out!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.17.712380v1
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Danna Gifford
Archaea Biology Vienna
23 days ago
Slow and steady! After 15 years of continuous cultivation, we finally isolated the first psychrotolerant ammonia-oxidizing archaeon (AOA) from an arctic environment, Ca. Nitrosocosmicus articus! Our new article in Frontiers in Microbiology:
doi.org/10.3389/fmic...
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Danna Gifford
Fiona J Whelan
23 days ago
📣 The Whelan lab is hiring a bioinformatics postdoc 📣 Together with
@fabricejpierre.bsky.social
, we are offering a 1-year bioinformatic PDRA position in comparative genomics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. To find out more please visit
whelanlab.co.uk/contact/
. Applications close 3 April 2026!
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Research Associate in Microbial Genomics:Manchester
This postdoctoral research position is part of a Cystic Fibrosis Canada Early Career Investigator Award funded for 3-years led by Dr. Fabrice Jean-Pierre and Dr. Fiona Whelan. The aim of this project is to identify the genetic changes that arise in the Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome following perturbations – such as antibiotic treatment – in an in vitro system. The PDRA will use a large dataset of P. aeruginosa genomes and experimental metadata to predict key mutationsto the organism.
https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?isPreview=Yes&jobid=34374&advert=external
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UoM Research IT
24 days ago
We've all heard about the over-prescribing of antibiotics but what can be done to help reduce the amount dispensed? Our Research Software Engineers have been working together with FBMH researchers and GPs to trial a new scheme.
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Engineering Software to Support Smarter Antibiotic Decisions
Our Research Software Engineering department recently completed a project to develop and deploy a unique knowledge support system into GP practices to support research into the over-prescription of…
https://buff.ly/0iL7gMY
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Danna Gifford
Jose A Escudero
26 days ago
I am not very active lately in social media, but if you want to see one of our latest works check Alberto’s post on the fitness cost of AMR genes. Great delivery from him and all collaborators. Thanks, guys!
bsky.app/profile/albe...
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Danna Gifford
Smart Alyk
28 days ago
DAY 277 SPECIES 277- Sulfodiicoccus acidiphilus STAGE: Archaea MEDIUM: Arches Paper. Chromatic, QoR & HWC watercolor, Sakura pen, Tombow pencil Sulfodiicoccus acidiphilus is a coccus shaped, non-motile archaeon.
#sciart
#watercolor
#archaea
#painting
#art
#paint
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Danna Gifford
Smart Alyk
29 days ago
DAY 276 SPECIES 276 - Saccharolobus solfataricus STAGE: Archaea MEDIUM: Arches Paper. DS , QoR & HWC watercolor, Sakura pen NOTES: I have 3 colors that I want to keep using over and over.
#sciart
#watercolor
#archaea
#painting
#art
#paint
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Danna Gifford
Charles Mullon
27 days ago
With
@saramitri.bsky.social
,
@sonjalehtinen.bsky.social
and L. Lehmann we’ve launched the UNIL Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution
@unil.bsky.social
🇨🇭 To kick things off, we’re offering short visiting fellowships for theorists in ecology & evolution. Apply & pls RP 😀
tinyurl.com/2wem36zz
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Unil center for theory in ecology and evolution (UCTEE) - FBM Unil
Page Unil Center for Theory in Ecology and Evolution of site Faculty of Biology and Medicine hosted by the University of Lausanne
https://www.unil.ch/fbm/en/home/menuinst/recherche/reseaux/uctee.html
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Danna Gifford
Nature Reviews Genetics
about 1 month ago
New online! Epistasis and co-adaptation in bacterial genome evolution
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Epistasis and co-adaptation in bacterial genome evolution
Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 02 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00941-7Bacterial genome evolution is shaped by epistasis, which can constrain or promote specific evolutionary paths. The authors review how integrating the effects of epistatic interactions into population-scale analyses can improve genotype–phenotype mapping and provide a deeper understanding of the complex traits that shape the microbial world.
http://dlvr.it/TRFVPz
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Danna Gifford
PLOS Biology
about 1 month ago
In support of
#OpenScience
, we routinely ask authors to openly share their
#research
#code
before publication. We are now formalizing this practice with a mandatory
#code-sharing
policy and clarifying what we mean by code sharing. May be nice to cut-out the box for reference
plos.io/47dPeOW
🧪
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Danna Gifford
Ben Vezina
about 1 month ago
Surveyed misconceptions around
#AntibioticResistance
are fascinating: • 66% believe they aren't at risk of resistance when taking antibiotics • ~70% assume ‘antibiotic resistance’ refers to the body gaining resistance • ~25% expect antibiotics for viral infections
#AMR
#SciComm
Sources below:
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Danna Gifford
Zamin Iqbal
about 1 month ago
Courtesy of
@martibartfast.bsky.social
, we have a new release of AllTheBacteria which adds another 322,920 assemblies, covering all ENA (illumina, isolate) prokaryotes to May 2025.
allthebacteria.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ov...
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Overview — AllTheBacteria documentation
https://allthebacteria.readthedocs.io/en/latest/overview.html
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Danna Gifford
Matthew J Shepherd
about 1 month ago
🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
, and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)
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https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.18.705331v1
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Danna Gifford
Siobhán O'Brien
about 2 months ago
MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have
@rachelmwheatley.bsky.social
@drrebeccajhall.bsky.social
@jpjhall.bsky.social
and
@tweethinking.bsky.social
join us as keynote speakers this year.
miniurl.com/MENI
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Danna Gifford
Clara Torres-Barceló
about 2 months ago
Back to Madagascar 🇲🇬 for our 2nd phage field season: exploring eco-evolutionary dynamics in rice fields. Aiming to limit sampling to just 1 year of lab + bioinformatics 😅! Great teamwork between Xplain (
@phimresearch.bsky.social
) and FOFIFA
@mariandm.bsky.social
#microsky
#phagesky
#phage
#inrae
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Danna Gifford
Fiona J Whelan
about 2 months ago
📣 2026 PhD studentship 📣 Via
@manchester.ac.uk
's President's Doctoral Scholar Awards, we are encouraging applications for a PhD on the effect of pollutant exposure on microbe-immune cross talk. This project will incorporate microbiology, immunology, & bioinformatics. Deadline: 16 March 2026!
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(President's Doctoral Scholar Award) A mechanistic understanding of microbe-immune cross talk in the face of pollutant challenge at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (President's Doctoral Scholar Award) A mechanistic understanding of microbe-immune cross talk in the face of pollutant challenge at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.c...
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/president-s-doctoral-scholar-award-a-mechanistic-understanding-of-microbe-immune-cross-talk-in-the-face-of-pollutant-challenge/?p194332
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Danna Gifford
Microbiology Society
about 2 months ago
Applications for Vacation Studentship Grant are now open. The Society offers a limited number of awards to enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during their summer vacation. The deadline for applications is 15 March 2026:
https://microb.io/4kFjubf
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Vacation Studentships
The Society offers a limited number of awards to enable undergraduates to work on microbiological research projects during their summer vacation. The scheme also gives early- and mid-career scientists the opportunity to gain supervision experience.
https://microb.io/4kFjubf
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Danna Gifford
Vaughn Cooper
about 2 months ago
Researchers of the evolution of plasticity, tolerance, and resistance, take note. Many common themes for precision targeting of AMR, for instance.
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Danna Gifford
Brooke Weinstein
about 2 months ago
Hello Bluesky! Does Nₑ really explain mutation rate (μ) or genome size (GS) in vertebrates? We find the apparent Nₑ–μ link in Bergeron et al. (2023) is a “back-door” path via generation time, and GS is decoupled from both Nₑ and life-history traits.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
#evobio
#PNAS
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Danna Gifford
Barbara Tschirren
about 2 months ago
Join us for 4 days of cutting-edge Evolutionary Ecology research in beautiful Cornwall! 👇
#ExE2026
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Danna Gifford
Stu West
about 2 months ago
Comparative analysis across 5,678 insect species shows that, when you control for phylogenetic bias, eusociality has not evolved at a faster rate in haplodiploid species.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
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Danna Gifford
PLOS Biology
about 2 months ago
#DeepMutationalScanning
(DMS) experiments are limited by gene size due to library complexity & costs.
@christianlandry.bsky.social
&co develop an efficient & cost-effective barcoded cloning strategy for plasmid-based DMS libraries that enables study of large genes
@plosbiology.org
🧪
plos.io/4abhyUf
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Danna Gifford
Creative Manchester
about 2 months ago
Researchers at the University of Manchester: Join the Platforms teams for ‘Interdisciplinary &’, a series of four workshops modelling different networking methods to foster collaboration and showcase excellence in interdisciplinary research. Find out more:
https://ow.ly/wh6Y50Y5WX5
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Danna Gifford
EvolDir
about 2 months ago
Aarhus University is seeking a Tenure-Track Assistant/Associate Professor in Bioinformatics/Co…
https://nat.au.dk/en/about-the-faculty/vacant-positions-and-career/job/tenure-track-assistant-professor-associate-professor-in-bioinformatics-and-or-computational-biology-at-aarhus-university-denmark
#job
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Tenure-Track Assistant Professor / Associate Professor in Bioinformatics and/or Computational Biology at Aarhus University, Denmark - Vacancy at Aarhus University
Vacancy at Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics - BiRC - Bioinformatics Research Center, Aarhus University
https://nat.au.dk/en/about-the-faculty/vacant-positions-and-career/job/tenure-track-assistant-professor-associate-professor-in-bioinformatics-and-or-computational-biology-at-aarhus-university-denmark
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Michael Brockhurst
about 2 months ago
Exciting new PhD programme CODE-M Control and Design of Engineered Microbial Systems
@officialuom.bsky.social
Projects now advertised! Ours is on division of labour & horizontal gene transfer in microbial communities
@biotechdixon.bsky.social
@coytelab.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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(CODE M) How do Division of Labour and Gene Mobility Impact Microbial Bioremediation? at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (CODE M) How do Division of Labour and Gene Mobility Impact Microbial Bioremediation? at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/code-m-how-do-division-of-labour-and-gene-mobility-impact-microbial-bioremediation/?p194435
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Danna Gifford
Victor de Lorenzo (CNB, Madrid)
about 2 months ago
Feel like doing a SynBio PhD in Spain? Check this offer, many fellowships available 👉🏻
lifehub.csic.es/synbio-cofund/
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New round of PhD studentships in microbial engineering, including one with me on engineering non-canonical DNA mismatch repair into E. coli 🦠🧬
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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about 2 months ago
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Danna Gifford
Michael Brockhurst
about 2 months ago
New PDRA position with
@knightjar.bsky.social
@coytelab.bsky.social
& me Community assembly processes in soil microbiomes with focus on bioinformatics and computational modelling of data from field and lab experiments
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
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'Research Associate in Microbiome Ecology:Manchester
We wish to appoint a PostDoctoral Research Associate to an exciting project exploring the assembly, stability and function of microbial decomposer communities.
https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=34316
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Danna Gifford
STCmicrobeblog
2 months ago
#ProtistsOnSky
no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...
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Danna Gifford
MERMan Research Group (University of Manchester)
2 months ago
This week's seminar featured two talks.
@normanvanrhijn.bsky.social
talked about fungal pathogens, and
@taoranfu.bsky.social
discussed population-level defence systems in bacteria. Huge thanks to
@microbesng.bsky.social
for the snacks!
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Danna Gifford
Alasdair Hubbard
2 months ago
🔔Collabator Alert🔔 I’m putting together a project on UTIs and the urogenital microbiome and am looking for a collaborator with solid metagenomic sequencing/analysis experience. If you’d be interested in joining the work, I’d love to talk
#MicroSky
#UTISky
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Danna Gifford
apreston243.bsky.social
2 months ago
New primer alert! Microbial primer discussing 'ancientbiotics': the search for 'new' antimicrobials from ancient remedies.
@microbiologysociety.org
@friendlymicrobe.bsky.social
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
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Microbial Primer: Ancientbiotics – making modern antimicrobials from historical infection remedies
The modern antibiotic era began in the early twentieth century, but humans have long used materials from the natural world to attempt to treat the symptoms of infection. In this primer, we will discus...
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001642#
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Danna Gifford
Microbiology Society
2 months ago
Only 2 weeks left to apply for the Microbiology journal's Editorial Board. Contribute to high-quality research and engage with the scientific community. Find out more and apply by February 16:
https://microb.io/4qKdgJ6
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<i>Microbiology</i> Editors: Call for expressions of interest
https://microb.io/4qKdgJ6
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Danna Gifford
Applied Microbiology International
2 months ago
Nominations are now open for the 2026 Horizon Awards 🏆 Do you know someone driving real impact in applied microbiology — from public health and policy to food security, D&I, or the environment? Nominate them now:
https://appliedmicrobiology.org/advocacy-policy/horizon-awards.html
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Danna Gifford
Chris Knight
2 months ago
We're Hiring! We're looking for a postdoc with bioinformatics/modelling skills to join us in an exciting microbiome ecology project in Manchester (deadline 1st March)
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
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'Research Associate in Microbiome Ecology:Manchester
We wish to appoint a PostDoctoral Research Associate to an exciting project exploring the assembly, stability and function of microbial decomposer communities.
https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=34316
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Danna Gifford
George O'Toole (he/him/his)
2 months ago
A must read! The constant and often irrational renaming of microbes is out of control, and bad for microbiology and microbiologists.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
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The disputed identity of Pseudomonas putida KT2440: when taxonomists rename your favorite microbe | mBio
Names matter; they are not mere labels. They operate as anchors of memory, social coordinates, and references of collective identity. When a name becomes established through long-term use and broad ad...
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.03390-25
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Danna Gifford
Buzz Baum
2 months ago
A reminder to sign up for the 2026 EMBO archaeal meeting im Cambridge:
meetings.embo.org/event/26-arc...
. Registration is open. We are looking forward to hosting you!
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Molecular Biology of Archaea: Life Through the Prism of Archaea
In 1977, Woese and colleagues revealed Archaea as a distinct domain of life. Building on this insight, the discovery of Asgard archaea has strengthened the view that many hallmarks of eukaryotic cell…
https://meetings.embo.org/event/26-archaea
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Charles Winterhalter
2 months ago
E. coli is the leading bacterium causing death from AMR infections worldwide. If you'd like to explore approaches to exploit the DNA damage response as alternative antimicrobial, please apply to the following PhD studentship available in my lab starting October 2026:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Exploiting the bacterial DNA damage response as an alternative antimicrobial at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Exploiting the bacterial DNA damage response as an alternative antimicrobial at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/exploiting-the-bacterial-dna-damage-response-as-an-alternative-antimicrobial/?p193793
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Danna Gifford
Noah Houpt
2 months ago
Interested in eco-evolutionary feedbacks? Microbial experimental evolution? Pleiotropy? Filamentous phages?? Check out our latest preprint, now up on BioRxiv!
biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
For a quick summary, peep the thread below...🧵 (1/10)
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https://biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.21.699487v1
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Danna Gifford
Chris Creevey
2 months ago
Last chance to apply for our funded PhD opportunity. w. Prof. Fredric Coulon @ Cranfield University. This will investigate expansion of ML models for AMR phenotype detection to agriculture settings to create a sensor-ready hit list. Detail here:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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From Genomic Context to Sensor Design: Computational Identification of AMR Biomarkers in Agriculture (project at Queen's University Belfast) at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - From Genomic Context to Sensor Design: Computational Identification of AMR Biomarkers in Agriculture (project at Queen's University Belfast) at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD....
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/from-genomic-context-to-sensor-design-computational-identification-of-amr-biomarkers-in-agriculture-project-at-queen-s-university-belfast/?p192848
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Danna Gifford
James Connolly
2 months ago
PhD position available in our team to study how UPEC exploits metals to successfully colonise the host gut. Cool collaboration with
@thecopperdoctor.bsky.social
and
@banzhaflab.bsky.social
Please share and get in touch for more details
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Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com
https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/microbial-metal-head-the-integrated-roles-of-metal-homeostasis-in-host-pathogen-interaction/?p193729
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Danna Gifford
Richard Lenski
3 months ago
Looking for something new to integrate into an
#evolution
or
#microbiology
course? Useful for lectures, labs, homework? Have a look at our STEPS program, which simulates bacterial evolution, including the
#LTEE
. Easy web-based interface & lab manual w/ exercises to help develop students' intuition.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Danna Gifford
MPI for Evolutionary Biology
2 months ago
Expressions of interest: Director at MPI EvolBio (f/m/d) — We invite expressions of interest from distinguished scientists in evolutionary biology with a bold, long-term research vision that complements our Institute. More information:
www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Dire...
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Directors
https://www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Directors
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Danna Gifford
Professor Mary J O'Connell
3 months ago
Interested in pangenomics ? This paper just out from Alan Beavan (not on socials),
@blackpassiflora.bsky.social
and
@jomcinerney.bsky.social
is a must:
doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
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PanForest: predicting genes in genomes using random forests
AbstractMotivation. The presence or absence of some genes in a genome can influence whether other genes are likely to be present or absent. Understanding t
https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/btag005
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