In case you are wondering how you can enrich your science classes by using our educational resources - for primary and secondary schools alike. In English, Welsh, Irish and Gaelic. #ScienceIsFun 🦠🧫🔬🧑🏼‍🔬

Don’t miss the inaugural Conference on Bacteriophages: Biology, Dynamics, and Therapeutics, October 12–14, 2025, in Washington, DC. A 2.5-day program of invited talks, symposia, workshops, and abstracts will highlight the latest advances. For more info: bit.ly/3JUKLYL

PhD opportunity, please share: We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA. All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

New preprint reveals bacteria can't just collect all resistance genes like Pokemon cards. We found mutually exclusive evolutionary pathways to multidrug resistance in E. coli & P. aeruginosa - some resistance mechanisms actively prevent others from coexisting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others Please share & get in touch if interested! tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3

Apply if you want to work with the nicest phage person ever!

📝New preprint! We investigated how spatial structure affects cooperation between phages, combining mathematical modelling and experiments. A short thread 🧶

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

✍️ We had a great time writing this Spotlight article on one of our favorite topics: how phages interact with each other! 🦠 From cooperation to competition, phage-phage interactions reveal a fascinating layer of microbial life that’s often overlooked. A piece crafted by the talented Josie Elliott!

It’s really important for EDI that ECRs and PIs can have open, empathetic discussions about feedback and behaviour, without intimidation. Respect from lab members comes from being able to challenge negative behaviour, and being listened to without discussions becoming a competition.

From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab Laboratory dynamics can change as the age and experience of the principal investigator increase. But there are ways to combat this. Read our piece in Nature, with @sprekeler.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Our new paper on experimental evolution in wild tree-holes -Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation #ISMEJournal @duhitasant.bsky.social Tom Smith Edgar Wong Juli Cohen @kayla-king.bsky.social Tom Bell academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Please share! 🦠 Workshop on Phage Therapy in Liverpool on 25th November organised by Stineke van Houte, @jojofoth.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social, & Edze Westra. Limited FREE tickets & more info here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/vanhoutelab/... #MicroSky

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation #ExperimentalEvolution #evolution #evoSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do macrophages influence the evolution of phage resistance? We show that macrophages reduce the efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail 🦠, resulting in greater bacteria population densities which, in-turn, facilitate greater rates of phage resistance. Pre-print 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fresh from peer review a new and improved version of @taoranfu.bsky.social’s paper out today in @asm.org mSystems journals.asm.org/eprint/8NWNW...

Really exciting work! And comforting it supports our recent in vitro work that macrophages are “bad” for phage therapy ❤️

Beautiful new review paper in preprint bridging microbial ecology and classic ecology led by Maggie Vogel, @olimeacock.bsky.social and @annasophieweiss.bsky.social, also by @juliensluneau.bsky.social and @lambdapp.bsky.social from our lab (not me :)) ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

New phage therapy publication!🦠 #phagesky We analysed an MRSA phage therapy case study, assessing how predictions made in vitro differed when using one (standard practice) or multiple bacteria isolates from the patient. Collaborative work: Exeter and Queen Astrid hospital doi.org/10.1093/jamb...

this paper is also the spiritual predecessor of this paper 👇 where we looked deeper into the causes and consequences of phage-resistance associated increases in Variovorax densities 👀 academic.oup.com/femsec/artic...

How do multiple coexisting bacteria and phages (co)evolve? Well... they don't (or do so much less! In this paper we tracked bacteria-phage (co)evolution in monoculture (individual bacteria-phage pairs) or in polyculture (all three pairs) over 6 weeks. Read more here👇 doi.org/10.1099/mic....

The MHRA today released new guidance for #Phage therapy in the UK. This will provide direction for scientists and researchers working to make this treatment a reality for patients. 🔬 🧪 🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Mystique is here! When I started my position at @cmdi.bsky.social there were no readily available phage against my A. baumannii focal strain. The solution? Finding my own phage ofc. Mystique is a broad host range Acinetobacter phage, and I'm thrilled to see this work out today #PhageSky 🧪🦠

Our new preprint by @nanamikubota.bsky.social shows that P. aeruginosa, and likely many other bacteria carrying filamentous prophages (like V. parahaemolyticus), risk being exploited by these phages in a runaway process that reduces fitness of both host and virus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

To all enjoying #MicroBio25 remember: all @microbiologysociety.org events rely on our journals - every paper pays 4x travel grants! Make 2025 when you submit a paper to a MicroSoc journal www.microbiologyresearch.org $0 OA for Publish+Read institutions www.microbiologyresearch.org/publish-and-...

Thank you for hosting @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social and @citizenphage.bsky.social Great updates on global status of phage therapy and how to bring this into the UK. Feel very lucky to have had the chance to attend!

New phage publication! 🦠 Phage resistance increased host density instead of imposing costs (the more common consequence)! This effect then had impacts on the structure of a three-species microbial community. @padpadpadpad.bsky.social, Rai Lewis & Angus Buckling. doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Reposting below for #InternationalWomensDay one of the few threads I rescued when clearing out my twitter account. I posted that exactly 3 years ago, and Ukraine is in the news again so … 🧵

Meaghan with another paper! I have tried a new extension in Quarto for showing the results. Scrollytelling. Work in progress but works pretty well. padpadpadpad.netlify.app/publications...

Community stability is usually assessed by invading single species from rare and measuring relative fitness. However does this hold up when multiple species invade from rare? We test this using our super stable microbial community 👇🏻

A very progressive statement from NERC 👇 Moving simply for the sake of moving has been a career dealbreaker for the loss of connections. I have had an anxiety disorder since the age of 6 and I heavily rely on having a strong support network to succeed academically and manage my mental health.

I have just submitted a manuscript which was from my masters (5 years ago) - if I hadn't of been 'stupid' and completely misunderstood what experiment my supervisor wanted me to do it currently wouldn't exist 😅 at the time I felt very stupid, but has actually yielded interesting results 🤞

In case you missed it: @matthewjshepherd.bsky.social surveyed the clinical literature to reveal how #AMR evolves within patients, why eco/evo mechanisms vary among infections, & what we can do better to improve treatments www.nature.com/articles/s41... #MicroSky

Really interesting findings on bacteria-phage gut coexistence! "Adaptations in gut Bacteroidales facilitate stable co-existence with their lytic bacteriophages" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Science takes time - a lot of time. Time that is more and more difficult to make available because of increased workloads. Time that exceeds the temporary contracts of postdocs and PhDs. I'll illustrate this using our paper published in Nature yesterday. 🧵 (1/x) www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Important new paper on spike protein and long covid neurosciencenews.com/long-covid-s...

Soil microbiomes show consistent and predictable responses to extreme events We’re out in Nature !! doi.org/ntzk Very exciting for my first bluesky post! – it’s been a long haul by an excellent team from across Europe, led by @frantecol.bsky.social

Looking for a PhD in phage ecology, metagenomics and defence systems? We have a fully funded PhD opportunity to join us at the University of York with great collaborators. See here for more info: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Officially the oldest consumable I’ve found while working here - this went out of date when I was learning what atoms were 🥲

Sometimes you just have to persevere through negative reviews. Reviewers, please be kind :) #methodsmatter bit.ly/gs2-scholar

Here, a summary of our previous work revealing evolution in action in #Chornobyl frogs. 🧪 #EvoBio theconversation.com/chernobyl-bl... (and the paper here onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....)

Ever thought that only tailed phages really matter? Our latest paper reveals that non-Caudoviricetes prophages could be more important than you'd expect. Curious? Read more here: academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

A year of funding applications summarised - Wellcome ECR Fellowship - rejected - BBSRC Fellowship - rejected (but big thank yous to 2/3 of my reviewers who were incredibly kind in their support for the project) - BES Small Research Grant - awarded 🥳 time for phages and coalescence 👀

I couldn't find one, so I decided to put together a starter pack of folk working on the evolutionary ecology of host-pathogen interactions, eco-immunology, or similar. I know I've missed many (sorry) so please share and let me know if you want to be added (or removed). go.bsky.app/QvrnjHS

Hello new phage phollowers! I am shamelessly self-promoting mine and Angus Buckling's relatively new review "Critically evaluating the relative importance of phage in shaping microbial community composition" www.cell.com/trends/micro...

I am really enjoying the surge of people to bluesky but still kind of missing the VERY early career group of people! (Aging in academia is a funny thing) - I went ahead and made this starter pack go.bsky.app/Jq8YaQM - if you would like to be removed/added please let me know

'Tis the season ... of UK research fellowship interviews! Here are some tips & tricks to help you prepare - featuring a list of 100(!) common Q&A questions elisagranato.com/how-to-apply...

I am hiring! PhD studentship available through the SWbio DTP. The interested student will investigate the evolution of innate immune signalling in a model species group. Infection biology & #Drosophila genetics combined! #ImmunoSky #AcademicSky More info: mahansonresearch.weebly.com/blog/phd-stu...

And this. Finally someone did the global pop structure of clinical Pseudomomas. Brilliant paper www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...