Oh really?, Nothing to do with a track record of high impact publications, major long term funding and the patience of a saint to get those things, along with a large dollop of single minded, focused almost blinkered determination then?

He’s official now, just needs a lab coat and H&S induction …

What if quorum sensing doesn’t promote biofilms - but restrains it? 🤔 New work from @harisantypas.bsky.social shows that the Fsr QS system in Enterococcus faecalis acts as a brake on biofilm formation and pathogenesis during infective endocarditis (IE). www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Since last year, I've been making a RELION GUI that supports viewing, navigating and running jobs in a way completely compatible with the original RELION pipeline. Now it's working nicely for both SPA and tomography! Please try it out - github.com/hanjinliu/hi...

“It’s a major advance, on the scale of an AlphaFold4. The problem, of course, is that we know nothing of the details.” Isomorphic Lab’s proprietary drug-discovery model is a major advance go.nature.com/4kHrHeR

Spring may be returning to my part of Leicestershire finally.

"A single nasal spray vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, as well as bacterial lung infections, and may even ease allergies, say US researchers." www.bbc.com/news/article.... #medicine

New paper from us. If you're interested in genetic manipulation of Clostridia, we have a few new tools for you! 36 new plasmids - all available from @addgene.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #microsky

🔔Pre-announcement: UKRI Proof of Concept funding. This opportunity aims to support the development of UK research into market-ready solutions. Full opportunity launches 4 March 2026. Webinars to be held on (UK time): -18 March, 2pm -25 March, 10am -14 April, 3pm 👉 www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

This is a nice one! Congratulations @carballido-lab.bsky.social et al! Nice to see you agree that this might lead to local enrichment of cell wall precursor lipids. Not easy to prove but I still think its an attractive model (to ensure high CW synthesis given low lipid II levels).

BBC computer from 40 years ago. Think how far we have come…

New in JB: Weiss, Tamayo et al. describe a very cool microbial interaction wherein Enterococcus faecalis, an opportunist found in the inflamed gut, impacts phase-variation noted by chaining & rough colony morphology of C. diff. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriology

A. baumannii is one of the most notorious multidrug-resistant pathogens, capable of forming drug-tolerant biofilms that make infections exceptionally difficult to treat. But how are these complex microbial fortresses built? Just published in Nat Comms. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41654547/

The first 13 mins was about the perilous state the European and UK chemicals industry that underpins economies, healthcare, infrastructure and our future. The last 2 about the reported headline. What is more important?

Registration is open for the 7th UK Workshop on Membrane #Proteins! Join us from 15-17 April to understand the basics of membrane protein purification using cutting edge methods. Places are limited, save £50 with our earlybird discount if you register before 15 February: ow.ly/rx0B50YbAUt

Our new paper is out on the cell wall UDP-sugar nucleotide pathways in Candida & their potential as antifungal drug targets. doi.org/10.1016/j.tc... @mrccmm.bsky.social @youngecmm.bsky.social @ecmmcandidaiv.bsky.social @ishamycology.bsky.social @youngisham.bsky.social @bsmm-meeting.bsky.social

Super cool story from Sam Fenn. He developed a wound model where s. aureus & p. aerunginosa & c. albicans fight it out shows that copper is central to the outcome where Candida and pseudomonas take copper from human tissue to gang up on staph! But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….

yep..

Preprint on the permeability of Gram+ bacterial cell wall from a few months ago. Intriguing findings, elegant methodology. Cell wall is largely impermeable to molecule sizes of mNeonGreen (27kDa) and above. How do larger secreted proteins get through? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky

'A senior leader at the UK Medical Research Council has confirmed that it expects to fund fewer grants through its applicant-led schemes than in previous years.' www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

I read this a "severe cuts to the next round in March" (consistant with other sources of info), after that we may get some more normal service later in the year I trust...

🔔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

Another step in understanding #Cdiff lyfe cycle and pathogenicity, from Aimee Shen's lab. Congratulations to all involved!

UKRI chief blames leaks as cuts ‘not well communicated’ www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ukri-ch...

A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends. www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Just trying to figure out which “bucket” this phenomical fundamental bioscience discovery fits into 🤔 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Dr Sir Ian If this statement is supposed to reassure that everything is under control, you are sadly very wrong. Strategic change needs managing to take the community with you, what’s happening now with MRC, BBSRC, STFC etc looks like panic & smells of desperation. Do better

#UKsciencefundingcrisis MRC,BBSRC,EPSRC paused researcher-led grants until Spring. This means no funds in 2026 as evaluation takes 6-9 months. Projects halted, staff, knowledge loss. We need to challenge this and the lack of info and clarity. #ScienceisVital #academicSky shorturl.at/ag03S

Serious question. My granddaughter (1 year old) started nursery on Jan 6th. So far she has had chicken pox and is now in the way back from UCHW with RSV apparently. Normal? Or did we not have this 30 years ago?

Just a thought UKRI and BBSRC, there may be another matter that is at the forefront of the community’s thoughts at this exact time….

Couldn’t possibly comment …

Nobel winner and senior scientists slam cuts to UK physics “These cuts are the inevitable consequence of the government’s choices,” Nobel winner Andre Geim tells me www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

'It’s time we had a proper debate about funding university education Changes to student loans have, in effect, privatised undergraduate teaching in England' www.ft.com/content/6143...

Update on UKRI funding situation. Summary: it is mostly bad news, and with significant uncertainties around new funding model.

Check out these tools to detect co-evolution in protein-protein interactions developed by postdoc @chrislbgraham.bsky.social Very useful as a hypothesis generator, complementing protein interaction prediction from Alphafold. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@ukri.org following the CSR announcement in December and the consequence for MRC committees last week, how about some comms from you BBSRC, MRC, NERC,EPSRC to the community to provide some clarity about funding arrangements for this year? And quickly ….

SAVE THE DATE! The next instalment of the long-running Bacterial and Archaeal Cell Division Conference will take place at www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels..., Italy from the 20th to 23rd of April 2027. Organisers: me, @s-lab.bsky.social, @awehenkel.bsky.social. More info soon. #MicroSky

I'm seeing relatively little chatter or outcry about what is happening at the MRC, the UK's biomedical research funder. Before Christmas MRC paused the acceptance of many of its grants, including the standard applicant-led research grant. There has been no public information on what is happening 🧵

Happy new year everyone, this time last year I was looking forward to some winter sun in South Africa at the @BMSV conference. That same feeling would be welcome now!

Ah ha, as I suspect: there is an unequal distribution of the contents of a celebrations tub! Bluesky do your things and help in this scientific study!

We’re excited to share our latest study that reshapes our understanding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lipid composition, with major implications for drug discovery, immunity, and vaccine development. www.nature.com/articles/s41... A thread.

Well that’s another Christmas gift! Great collaboration between Tim Dafforn at Bhm Biosciences & Phil Ireland at DSTL and the wonderful student Adam (drive cruser) Evans dx.doi.org/10.1002/pro....

Fantastic to be part of this which was published today, Dr Nic Briggs and newly minted Dr Jack Stone from my lab did the experimental works that contributed to the paper with Christophe Grangeasse and colleagues. @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

Just got word that we are a go for the Bacterial Cell Biology and Development GRS and GRC at Southern New Hampshire University! GRS will be on June 5-6, 2027 GRC will be from June 6-11, 2027 Block off your calendars Prokaryotic Cell Biologists! More details to come! Please repost!

Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea

A very - ahem - groovy talk by @georgiaisom.bsky.social: the protein YhdP spans the E. coli periplasm and transports phospholipids to the OM via a hydrophobic groove along its length. Impressive mix of computational & wet lab work www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Kate Willett pass her viva yesterday, congrats Dr Willett! Huge thanks to @robfagan.bsky.social @ @jeremykeown.bsky.social

I think young Professor Tame had a good time with us @warwicklifesci.bsky.social curtesy of an IAS professorial fellowship and is now of on the second leg in Rome. Thanks to my lab for making home feel so welcome. I may have to visit him in Rome, just to make sure he’s ok of course…