Re-upping this: For those of you having new students in the lab, I have curated a YouTube playlist on molecular biology: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis... I usually have my students watch it before I show them how to do it in the lab.

Academic Lead for REF2021. Many thanks to everyone and wishing you all the best for the future!

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.

In our new article, we show how P. aeruginosa, a major cause of chronic respiratory infections in #cysticfibrosis (CF), uses the Type VI Secretion System #T6SS and specific #toxins to eliminate competing bacteria www.cell.com/cell-reports... #cryoEM @dshatskiy.bsky.social @jakecolautti.bsky.social

Microgeography of staphyloccoci in human tissue explains antibiotic failure https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.12.675782v1

Excited to share our @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social led by Magda showing how Bif has co-evolved with different animal hosts 🐒🐭🐷🐦 Key takeaways: 🔹 Host ancestry + diet shape Bif evolution 🔹 Mammals enriched for carb-busting enzymes 🔹 Untapped diversity in non-human hosts = new probiotic potential

Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species. @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Our second paper with @tcostalab.bsky.social and GoogleDeepMind reports our experience with Google’s co-scientist: remarkably, the AI independently recapitulated our experimental discovery on cf-PICIs, showcasing AI’s potential to accelerate biology. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Harnessing the anti-phage defense system DarTG for single-base editing in human cells - an impressive method developed by Chase Beisel and colleagues

I am so glad to see our paper on two nationwide healthcare-associated outbreaks of Burkholderia cepacia complex linked to product contamination in the UK and Ireland, 2010–2023, is finally published. The UKHSA team has exhibited great resilience in the delivery of this work. doi.org/10.1017/ice....

So excited our antibiotic potentiation story is out 🤩 Led by the extraordinary @manonlang.bsky.social with @fox-science.bsky.social & @amazeld.bsky.social +amazing collaborators @immunobladder.bsky.social @imaneelmeouche.bsky.social 🦠 We believe it can make a difference in #AMR infections!

ICYMI, from Tom Richards, Stefano Pagliara et al, on how extant homochirality might have arisen "we demonstrate that both membranes select for d-ribose and d-deoxyribose sugars while the hybrid membrane uniquely selects for a reduced alphabet of l-amino acids." journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

We have a position for an Assist Prof in Microbial Genomics in our School of III. Hod Joan Geoghegan will be happy to field questions if you are interested. No specific area of microbial genomics preferred so please do consider it www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOO184/a...

Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.

Bit under the weather today, so stayed at home to write a paper…..instead I’ve made an image of a Lego bacterial outer membrane.

A good way to think about institutional research culture!

The 2024 rankings of bacterial threats

New preprint from the lab, in collaboration with Ed Tate, Nate Traaseth and many others! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New preprint from us! The latest part of our C. difficile vancomycin resistance story. We identified a new two-component system (VnrRS) that can control expression of the vanG pathway - just needs one amino acid change @buddlejess.bsky.social @brockhurstlab.bsky.social @claireyt.bsky.social

A new methods paper from us, this time with a focus on reliable monitoring membrane potential and cell lysis at different growth stages and cell densities. Also, note the surprisingly high level of background lysis in seemingly healthy B. subtilis cultures. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New paper out!

Overwhelming majorities of Americans support autonomy for universities and maintaining or increasing current levels of research funding. That's "university" research. The numbers would be even more skewed if the question was about medical, cancer, space, or hurricane prediction research.

I’m not as good about this as I should be, but tremendous thank yous to the researchers that suggest alternate reviewers if they themselves can’t review a manuscript

We're hiring for a Head of Department to lead one of Europe’s largest and most impactful centres for infectious disease research — right here at @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social. We're looking for a strategic leader with vision and drive. Apply by 15 September👇

If you ever find yourself needing evidence for ‘Plasmids are just as common in microbes without resistance genes,’ we’ve got you covered! Check our new paper, out today: www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Please share my 1 min video on the importance of maintaining NIH funding of infectious diseases and drug discovery research vs rising antibiotic resistance Drastic budget cuts harm our health and imperil the next generation of scientists More @UCSanDiego “Behind Every Breakthrough” bit.ly/3FlXQs3

I've found that one of the best ways to resist attacks on science is to continue doing science. To that end, here's my new preprint studying the differences between type ii topoisomerases, some of the best targets for antibacterials, to help guide the development of new and better antibacterials 🧪

Good that these issues about cancelling mRNA vaccine research in US are being discussed in public on a large platform like BBC. Good explanation article here - balanced but overriding conclusion is clearly that this is not a smart move at all! #COVID19 #vaccines #RFKJr

"Evidence is growing that some HIV-infected infants, if given antiretroviral drugs early in life, are able to suppress their viral loads to undetectable levels and then come off the medicine." www.wired.com/story/the-fi...

mRNA tech is some of the coolest, most powerful, most promising scifi shit humans are currently doing. They are being investigated to help with cancers, autoimmune diseases, M.S., stroke recovery, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and high cholesterol.

📢Our review of the impact of bacterial purine synthesis on antibiotic tolerance and resistance expression is now out! A lot of food for thought and contrasting data from E. coli and S. aureus... 🤔 Read it here: rdcu.be/ezfQ7

Polymyxin heteroresistance in Klebsiella oxytoca https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.08.01.668101v1

Job ads for TWO postdoctoral positions available in our group are now online. Deadline August 25th. 🧪Immunologists, apply in link below. 🍄Microbiologists- please follow link in next post. edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Microbiology job link: edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

This opportunity is still open but closing at the end of July!

Come and be my boss! Head of Department of Infectious Disease @imperialinfect.bsky.social @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...

New pre-print from my lab! Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense. E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!! #microsky#AMR#phage www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....

How are bacterial transport machineries regulated by external cues? @brochadolab.bsky.social &co identify environmental chemicals that regulate #transporter transcription, identifying the TF Rob as a key modulator of #EffluxPump expression in #Ecoli #AMR @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/46pUM9Q

Huge congratulations to IMI's Prof Robin May @robinmay9.bsky.social who has been appointed as UKHSA's @ukhsa.bsky.social Interim Chief Scientific Officer - excellent choice! 🎉 www.gov.uk/government/n...

"Closure of the Fleming Fund risks undermining UK leadership on AMR." BSAC is seeking urgent clarification from the Government regarding the UK’s future leadership on antimicrobial resistance (#AMR), following reports that the Fleming Fund – the UK’s flagship global AMR programme – is set to close.

UK aid cuts to the Fleming Fund threaten global progress against AMR. We urge the UK Government to restore long-term support for AMR surveillance in LMICs. Find out more in our news story: microb.io/45fIq1R

Mutations in fusA lead to drug bound ribosome inactivation and prevent error cluster fomation upon aminoglycoside treatment, limiting proteotoxic stress and further aminoglycoside uptake #ribosome #rnasky #microsky #amr www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Are you a UK-based PhD student passionate about #AMR and infectious disease policy? Do you have an interest in public health, environmental health, or the intersection of animal and human health? Applications for BSAC's Parliamentary Internship Programme. Please help us spread the word!

🔬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

#NatMicroPicks Tracking the gut microbiome evolution 🦠 A big data analysis of gut microbiome of kids from infancy to 8 years of age. #MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Exciting fundamental discovery! Early embryos fight bacteria WITHOUT immune cells Zebrafish, mouse, and human embryos use epithelial cells (trophoectoderm)—not immune cells—to engulf and destroy 𝘌. 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘪 and 𝘚. 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴 Hoijman Lab Barcelona 🇪🇸 𝘊𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘦 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Super excited to share our latest work revealing impt of protein-lipid interactions for the pri fn of the Tol-Pal complex in maintaining outer memb lipid homeostasis in E. coli! Huge discovery by Nadege Lim in collab @pstansfeld.bsky.social @robincorey.bsky.social 1/7 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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...

@weeboont.bsky.social talked about our lab's recent preprint where we report AsmA superfamily proteins, believed to be phospholipid transporters, localizing to cell poles in E. coli. Really interesting observations, with impt implications for OM assembly! Read it 👇! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

“No nation can keep pace in the race for global leadership in innovation by politicizing its universities,” argues @drmichaelharris.bsky.social in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/45a97GB