Had a great week at #PSM2025 - excellent science, great organisation, and super friendly people. Really enjoyed presenting our work on the oak microbiome and leaving here with lots of ideas for future work and collaborations. Thanks @vcarryon.bsky.social & team for organising @microsos.bsky.social

A pause on the live posts from @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social as he is on stage giving the next presentation at #PSM2025 on single species and community living of Bacillus on plants @microsos.bsky.social

Thank you, Dirk-Jan! We indeed enjoyed it with our Birmingham-Leiden collaboration group! (Not tapas but restaurant part) -with @marccamb.bsky.social @jamesemcdonald.bsky.social @xinmingxu.bsky.social and María Negre Rodríguez

@vcarryon.bsky.social opening #PSM2025

Great to be at #PMS2025 in Malaga. Looking forward to 5 days of science and giving a presentation on our group’s work on Thursday (session 4)

New paper: Dried soil bacteria enter dormancy with "frozen" RNA & metabolite profiles—but water vapor alone can wake them up! #Microbiology #SoilScience #Dormancy #ClimateChange #MicroSky

Have research, results, or ideas to share with the microbial ecology community? Don’t miss your chance to present it at #MMEG2025 - abstract submissions close 2 November! 📨 Submit your abstract: appliedmicrobiology.org/ems-event-ca...

Really Nice work by @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social and colleagues

MMEG is coming to @unibirmingham.bsky.social in December - look out for some exciting announcements about the programme in the next few weeks! Abstract submission and registration is open 👇🏻

Save the Date: #MMEG2025 is coming to Birmingham! Join us on 15–16 December 2025 for the 31st edition of MMEG. This year's event is your chance to: 🔬 Share your research 🤝 Connect with peers 🦠 Discover the latest in molecular microbial ecology Register now: appliedmicrobiology.org/ems-event-ca...

New preprint from the lab by Adele Pioppi on her #NNF_INTERACT project Successive cultivation under drought selects for specific microbiome members in the wheat rhizosphere www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵 New preprint alert! From the Future Oak project, led by @cenococcum.bsky.social Landscape-scale impacts of environment and disease on the tree microbiome 🌳🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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...

Our newest title, Microbiology Outlooks is now open to submissions! If you have a review, perspective, or commentary to contribute, submit to this forward-looking journal covering all areas of microbiology research: microb.io/Mout. #NewJournal #Mout

Check out our new preprint on @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social

See how phi3T phage shifts Bacillus subtilis cell shape in the absence of SPbeta prophage and alters its fitness - our new publication in @commsbio.nature.com from group of @annadragos.bsky.social together with @bramkamplab.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Go and check out the pre-print of the landscape-scale tree microbiome study from the Future Oak project. Huge amounts of efforts and talent went into this work, with a pinch of "this is crazy, but we can do it". Well done @jamesemcdonald.bsky.social @cenococcum.bsky.social et al. Thread below 👇

🧵 New preprint alert! From the Future Oak project, led by @cenococcum.bsky.social Landscape-scale impacts of environment and disease on the tree microbiome 🌳🦠 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Had a great day out with the team at Black County Museum yesterday. Lucky to work with such a great group of scientists and people 🌞🍦 @g-thomas.bsky.social @alejandra1909.bsky.social @sophie-e-powell.bsky.social @alexanderwoodley.bsky.social @marccamb.bsky.social @bpettifor.bsky.social

Really exciting and important tree microbiome paper published in @nature.com ‘A diverse and distinct microbiome inside living trees’ 👏 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Really pleased to be involved in this exciting project led by @hendrikschaefer.bsky.social !

Wonderful day @bangoruniversity.bsky.social Huge congratulations to Dr. @alejandra1909.bsky.social for passing her viva with minor corrections. Thanks to Carrie Brady and @mojganrabiey.bsky.social for examining and George Turner for chairing. Look out for some cool papers in the near future!

See our review on SynComs for tree microbiome engineering by @marccamb.bsky.social @xinmingxu.bsky.social @sofiaifgomes.bsky.social @jamesemcdonald.bsky.social seed grant between @imibirmingham.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social & @unileiden.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New #openaccess opinion piece, the first of our brilliant collaboration with @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social @sofiaifgomes.bsky.social @xinmingxu.bsky.social & @marccamb.bsky.social - thanks to @unibirmingham.bsky.social and @unileiden.bsky.social for funding! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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...

Always a great day at @unibirmingham.bsky.social graduation. Congratulations to all of the School of Biosciences 2025 graduates - and great to see Becca get her degree after being an excellent project student in our lab this year 👏

If you’re at #2025ISMPMI, drop by @alejandra1909.bsky.social ‘s poster. Some really cool results on pathogen suppression using syncoms in trees

Final talk of today’s symposium. @rosasanchezlucas.bsky.social presents work from Estrella Luna-Diez’s lab on tree defences @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social #BhamLeidenpartnership

Really nice talk on developing synthetic microbial communities for plant growth (with a fantastic title slide!) by @xinmingxu.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social #BhamLeidenpartnership

@dmvinchirav.bsky.social and Vanja Milenkovic present some really excited findings on metabolites associated with drought stress and disease in oak @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social #BhamLeidenpartnership

Next up, Rachel Calder presents her PhD research on the impact of elevated CO2 on forest soil fungal communities #BIFoR @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social #BhamLeidenpartnership

@evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social presenting his group’s work on Bacillus - Pseudomonas interactions. A really comprehensive body of work on the influence of metabolites on the outcome of interactions @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social

We are holding a mini symposium on plant-microbe interactions @unibirmingham.bsky.social today as part of our strategic partnership with @unileiden.bsky.social - exciting talks by Alice Gauthey and @sofiaifgomes.bsky.social

Bartje in Birmingham discussing on microbiomes and potential collaborations - a visit supported by a Birmingham-Leiden collaborative seed grant with @jamesemcdonald.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social @unileiden.bsky.social @leidenscience.bsky.social #BartjeAroundTheWorld

Nice hilltop walk to end the day after finalising a grant submission and a paper acceptance #treehealth

Fascinating talk by @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social at today’s @imibirmingham.bsky.social seminar. Really cool work on discovery of ancientbiotics for biofilm treatment.

Having a great week in the USA visiting forests across different states to discuss forest health and forest product production. Next stop Louisiana … @imibirmingham.bsky.social #BIFoR

Come and work with me! The Nature Micro team is expanding and we're looking for someone to champion microbial ecology, plant micro & related areas for the journal Knowledge of microbial ecology/plant micro is desirable but we're open to applications from all microbiologists Link below 👇

Applications are now open for positions on our Advisory Council, Committees, Divisions, and Members Panel. Increase your professional development and networking opportunities while getting more involved with the Society's community: microb.io/GovernanceVacancies2025

The UK Molecular Microbial Ecology Group (MMEG) meeting is on bluesky @mmeg2025.bsky.social - give us a follow! News of this year’s meeting to be held at The University of Birmingham to follow soon…

I am a bit late, but very proud of the achievements of Dr. Hussain who was my first co-supervised PhD researcher and brilliantly passed his viva. Well done Usman for processing thousands of samples to bring some fascinating insights on the resilience of oak tree microbiomes.

Big congratulations to Dr. Usman Hussain on his successful PhD defence yesterday! A tour-de-force in abiotic impacts on the oak microbiota. Thanks to Corinne Whitby and Alex Papadopulos and co- supervisors @marccamb.bsky.social and Amy Ellison

First up at 9am today at #Microbio25 is Prof Lindsay Hall @halllab.bsky.social winner of the Peter Wildy prize, the award recognises excellence in science communication, outreach and engagement in the field of microbiology – congrats Lindsay 🎉

So glad to be here at #microbio25 ! Very important opening words: “publishing 1 paper with us allows 4 students to attend this AC for free” #publishforthecommunity

Thanks for the excellent hospitality and discussions @evolvedbiofilm.bsky.social @sofiaifgomes.bsky.social and colleagues - look forward to hosting you @imibirmingham.bsky.social soon

@jamesemcdonald.bsky.social and @marccamb.bsky.social from @imibirmingham.bsky.social visiting us at #LeidenBiology for discussing collaborations, so we organized a Mini Symposium on plant-microbe research, with @dinglab.bsky.social, Salma Balazadeh, & @kostasgeo.bsky.social from IBL

It’s important to normalise setbacks in research. This week we had another grant rejection. It’s always disappointing, but also an opportunity to learn, grow and refine your strategy for the future.

☎️ Calling #MEvoSky ☎️ 2x 5-year research associate / research assistant positions in experimental evolution ERC-funded project: How do mobile genetic elements and defence systems shape bacterial genome evolution? Join the friendly and exciting @mermanchester.bsky.social community in Manchester!

@imibirmingham.bsky.social starter pack has dropped 👇🏻

Great to end the week with a paper accepted in Environmental Microbiome 😀