So many amazing scientists at the @shigellameeting.bsky.social Looking forward to the keynote talks from Philippe Sansonetti and Karen Kotloff!

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/kings-r... Fantastic achievement for Laura in my lab and Jamieson in @vintorraca.bsky.social lab.

So happy that Jamieson McDonald was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to continue his work in my lab, tackling persistent Shigella infection. Congratulations also to Laura Dunn, from @tetherin.bsky.social lab for securing the same award to study HIV latency. www.kcl.ac.uk/news/kings-r...

Well done @xosematanza.bsky.social and Clements lab! Happy that I was able to contribute to this nice new publication, using TraDIS to gain insights into how Shigella sonnei can survive long-term nutrient starvation. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

A*STAR/KCL PhD scholarship available! Dream of doing cutting-edge research, travelling between continents, and becoming obsessed with modelling infections in zebrafish? My lab and @oehlerslab.org are looking for you! Project details: 👉 shorturl.at/mkt1a Catalogue page 6, project 2.1!

New research led by @vintorraca.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, in collaboration with the University of Westminster, has shed light on the diversity and characteristics of E. coli strains that drive diabetic foot infections. Read more: www.kcl.ac.uk/news/researc...

Our new article on diabetic foot–associated E. coli (DFEC) is out! We show that DFEC strains are highly diverse, frequently antimicrobial-resistant, and carry a broad range of virulence factors, highlighting their potential to cause severe complications in patients. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Well done Sydeny @sydneylmiles.bsky.social and lab teams! This set of epidemiologically chosen complete genomes will be a valuable resource for scientists working on S. sonnei! doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

Preprint from the lab! We describe for the first time the diversity of E. coli strains associated with diabetic foot infections and characterise their antimicrobial resistance and virulence factors content. www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Come and join us in Paris 2026 to talk all about Shigella!

Applications for the 2026 round of the King's College London Medical Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership (KCL MRC-DTP) in Biomedical Sciences will open on October 8th! Visit the programme website to start preparing your application! lnkd.in/ejK8-GW6 @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

Thrilled to have contributed to this new Medical Genetics and Genomics book. In Chapter 8, I discuss how nucleic acid and genome-based techniques transformed diagnostics, pathogen characterisation, patient monitoring, and tracking of infectious diseases in the population. shorturl.at/OfpQe

So happy that members of my lab, Zakia, Victor and Ziyi all had chance to show their work at the UK Cellular Microbiology meeting, and with fantastic feedback! @ukcellmicro.bsky.social

Well done Victor for the flash talk at the UK Cellular Microbiology meeting @ukcellmicro.bsky.social

First day of the UK Cellular Microbiology Network #UKCellmicro2025 in Bush House @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social Excellent organisation by @codendall.bsky.social @vintorraca.bsky.social @peterwshill.bsky.social @jwanford.bsky.social exciting science, friendly community and wonderful views

Well done Victor in giving an outstanding flash talk at the UK cell micro meeting @ukcellmicro.bsky.social

Great start of the UK cell Microbiology meeting with prof Stuart Neil's keynote. @ukcellmicro.bsky.social

@codendall.bsky.social opening up the UK Cellular Microbiology meeting!

@codendall.bsky.social opening up the UK Cellular Microbiology meeting!

Full house at the UK cellular microbiology meeting, with 120 attendees coming in!

Updates on our keynotes We’re delighted to open the meeting with Prof Stuart Neil (KCL). On Day 2, we continue with Prof Jose Bengoechea (LSHTM). Both Prof Neil and Bengoechea have been outstanding mentors throughout their careers. We hope our ECRs will take the opportunity to interact with them!

We can't wait to see you at the UK cellular microbiology meeting next Monday and Tuesday (2-3 June)! Final programme below!

Torraca lab all aligned today for our group photo!

Last talk session of the SIMS PGR symposium, focusing on inflammation. Zoe, Thomas, Rachel, Una, Katie and Zhoude presented on arthritis, NKT cells in the intestinal epithelium, kidney disease, alchool-related liver disease, T-eff modulated monocytes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

More posters on session 2 of the SIMS PGR symposium! @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

Such a diversified range of themes discussed in the immunology session of the SIMS PGR symposium. Athanasios, Maria, Alana, Hannah and Aisling discussed the roles of immune cells in congenital liver diseases, tumours, early life defence, and immunotherapy.

What a lively poster session 1 at the SIMS PGR symposium!

Well done to our speakers of the SIMS PGR Symposium session 1: Mark, Miki, James and Joseph. Fantastic talks on their work on Malaria, influenza, HBV and Nipah virus @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

Our head of school prof Leonie Taams opening up the SIMS PGR symposium! So happy to see a mix of PhD students and academics gathering together for this annual event! @taamslab.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

We are all set for the annual SIMS PGR symposium, a unique occasion to get all together and hear from our PhD trainees! Lots of beautiful posters are already all set and we look forward to the outstanding list of students' talks lined up! @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

The official registration deadline for the meeting has now passed. We have just a few more tickets left to make it a full house! If you have not registered yet, hurry up! www.ukcellmicro.org/registration... Our speakers are also all lined up. Watch this space for updates on the schedule!

🧳 Thanks to sustainable travel awards sponsored by EMBO, ECR abstract submitters (travelling by train/car to attend the UK cellular microbiology meeting) will be able to apply for travel grants - see travel page for more details. www.ukcellmicro.org/travel.html @embo.org

🏆 We are pleased to offer ECR prizes at the meeting: - 2 prizes for outstanding talks, sponsored by the Company of Biologists (Disease Models & Mechanisms and Journal of Cell Science) - 2 prizes for exceptional posters, sponsored by the FEBS Journal. @biologists.bsky.social @febsj.bsky.social

🧪 This year’s UK Cellular Microbiology Meeting is shaping up to be truly outstanding! We've received incredible abstracts from ECRs across the #UKCellMicro community! Don’t miss out on the opportunity to connect and be inspired by the latest in the field. Register now: www.ukcellmicro.org

8 days left to submit abstracts for the UK cellular microbiology meeting! Send yours today! Template and instructions here: www.ukcellmicro.org/abstracts.html

🧪 To all microbiology enthusiasts in the UK! Registrations and abstract submissions now open for the UK Cellular Microbiology Meeting 2025. Join us in London on 2nd-3rd June! www.ukcellmicro.org

🚨 URGENT: Calling all UK cellular microbiologists! 🚨 Strange flying objects have been spotted over Central London… and they look suspiciously microbial. 🦠👀 We need your expertise to investigate at the UK Cell Microbiology Meeting! www.ukcellmicro.org

Strange sights in central London! 🚨 UK Cell Micro 2025 is here! 🚨 📅 2nd-3rd June 2025 📍 King’s College London Join us for fun science, networking, and a rooftop social! 🌇🎉 💡 Submit your abstract by 10th April ukcellmicro.org

Thanks @zebrafishrock.bsky.social, you don t miss anything that happens to our community!

There are still a couple of days to apply for this PhD project. A fantastic KCL-A*STAR partnership to study bacterial persistent infections! @vintorraca.bsky.social @oehlerslab.org Project 4.1 of the project catalogue, page 10 Deadline to apply: 23rd February!

A baby starter pack waiting to grow! Join the UK cellular microbiology community!

Join us at the UK Cellular Microbiology meeting at KCL this summer! A fantastic opportunity to network and to hear research updates from our favourite UK-based Cell Micro labs! #UKCellMicro

Such a great paper showcasing the power of the zebrafish model to determine why certain lineages of a pathogen are more successful than others. Here @sydneylmiles.bsky.social tells us why Shigella sonnei lineage 3 is more successful than other lineages!

What a fantastic trio! @codendall.bsky.social, David Fear and I, at our host-microbe interactions lab practical today! Glad to hear today that the students really enjoyed the microbiology lab work we proposed!

Most Shigella sonnei experimental work relies on a 70yr old lab strain that doesn’t reflect those circulating today - we are excited to share a (soon to be) publicly available set of genomes and isolates to fill that gap! An exciting part 2 featuring our favourite fish to follow very shortly… 🐟

It was so great to share the KCL Innovative Teaching Award with @codendall.bsky.social! We did an amazing work together developing a new 'host-microbe interactions' module for BSc students. And we couldn't have done it without Dave's fantastic support!

Great opportunity for prospective PhD students! Join my lab at KCL and Stefan Oehlers lab at A*STAR to help us dissect how certain bacteria establish infections that are difficult to eradicate in vivo! Project 4.1 of the project catalogue, page 10 Deadline to apply: 23rd February!

Got anyone that you would want to banish to rainy London then sweltering Singapore with a risk of giving themselves a shigella infection? Exchange program PhD Project with me and Vincenzo Torraca on page 10 #zebrafish at @astar-idlabs.bsky.social www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy...

Celebrating the last lab meeting of the year with a hot drink and cookies. Goodbye to Teddy who has left the lab this week and welcome Sheldon who has just joined us!

Recent review on Shigella sonnei rdcu.be/d1DGx