7 years to the day that I started in @proftracypalmer.bsky.social’s lab I am leaving for pastures new in Ben Berks’s lab at Oxford Biochemistry! It’s a very sad goodbye but onto exciting new things!

Excited to share our new study! Great fun working again with my good friend @stephenrgarrett.bsky.social — always a highlight! Huge thanks to fantastic co-authors @samkaytucker.bsky.social, @drandyjroe.bsky.social and our star technician Vojtech Pavelka. academic.oup.com/nargab/artic...

We are back, soon! The secrets of bacterial cell envelopes' our free online seminar series is due to resume in January 2026 after a long break. Hosted by Georgina Benn and Syma Khalid- supported by the Microbiology Society. More details soon. @microbiologysociety.org Please spread the word

Happy to share our latest T6SS review: nature.com/articles/s41... Thank you, Jan, Danny (@dannyjamesward.bsky.social), Joana (@joanampereira.bsky.social), as well as reviewers and editors @natrevmicro.nature.com!

Theres still time to apply for our PhD project on UPEC/immune cell interactions. Deadline December 4th

"Postdoc in the job market"

Happy to share our latest NAR paper on Rel toxins targeting M. tuberculosis anti-SD region, with Tim Blower’s team (@durham.ac.uk @nebiolabs.bsky.social) and Laurent Falquet Thanks to FRM @frm-officiel.bsky.social and CNRS @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article-...

🚨 PhD Opportunity 🚨 Interested in microbiology, phages & water security? Join me and Prof Cindy Smith to test phages as a sustainable alternative to chlorine in drinking-water biofilters. Metagenomics, phage discovery & ecology — all in one exciting project! Apply: www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...

Our article on a 🛠️ molecular toolbox 🛠️ in predatory bacterium 🦁🦠 Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus is published in PLOS Genetics (=> tiny.cc/6wuu001). 🎉 This supports the research on this bacterial predator-prey system & future bioengineering efforts. #MicroSky #SyntheticBiology #PredatoryBacteria

New paper alert! DNA replication and repair conflicts lead to cell death in gram positive bacteria, possible new targets for novel antimicrobials. @microbiologysociety.org @winterhalterlab.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Looking for a PhD opportunity in Microbiology? Consider joining one of the UK's leading microbiology research clusters at Newcastle University. See the thread for MRC DTP studentships currently advertised. @medicalsciencesncl.bsky.social @sagencl.bsky.social @cbcb-newcastle.bsky.social #microsky

We are very much looking forward to the Grand Opening of the Northern Eye Imaging facility tomorrow! Follow us here for all the news coming from NUSBF!

We’ve kept registrations open till the end of this week so get your last minute applications in for posters and talks!

Still time to sign up and submit and abstract for this year’s CCP4 Northern Structural Biology Meeting. This is a really nice meeting and great opportunity for ECRs to present their work ✨ nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...

The CCP4 Northern Structural Biology Meeting is back again in Newcastle 6-7th November 2025. If you are a structural biologist/biochemist in the North of the UK please register and submit abstracts by this Friday 17th. nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...

🧐Checkout our preprint revealing the stepwise firing💥 mechanism of a Contractile Injection System @xujwet.bsky.social&@chipericson.bsky.social trapped the complex by structure-guided engineering🧪 in multiple intermediate states and imaged them by multimodal #cryoEM❄️🔬 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I’m Chloe, I am part of the Connolly lab and I study how the role of two-component systems differs between types of E.coli”

Hi, I’m Natalia Łoś from Dr Dave Bolam’s lab. I’m currently going into the third year of my PhD working on dietary fibre degradation by the members of the human gut microbiota 😊 Follow Natalia here : @natalia-los.bsky.social

In MHD we are lucky enough to have an amazing group PhD Students and Research Associates. We’ve recently got some new representatives and would like give them the opportunity to introduce themselves here. First up our two representatives for the PhD student community:

Check it out! A proper team effort from past and present group members and a great collaboration with @sergemostowylab.bsky.social

VACANCY - Independent research fellowships leading to tenured positions We’re inviting applications from outstanding researchers who either hold, or wish to apply for, Independent Research Fellowships. APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10 November 2025 Click here to apply: jic.link/Fellows

We think this much larger BAM enables biogenesis of outer membrane β-barrel and surface-exposed lipoprotein complexes, which are a hallmark of the Bacteroidota.

Berks and @smlea.bsky.social labs also found yet a different BAM architecture in Flavobacterium johnsoniae, another member of Bacteroidota. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Our paper on the Bacteroidota BAM complex is out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! With @madejmar.bsky.social We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Great opportunity to do a PhD with Giusy and co in Glasgow!

Nice to see our summer student Niamh who did a great job in the lab this year supported by a Vacation Studentship! @proftracypalmer.bsky.social

Exciting postdoc opportunity with a fab PI in beautiful Basel

PPE51 is one of the best candidates to form a MOM transport channel. However, our data indicate that it is not that simple. PPE51 mutations in Mmarinum (4 close homologs) indeed reduce the growth on glycerol & glucose, but also highly increase permeability.. and no, we do not fully understand this

Last introduction for the today.. Dr Kesha Josts @kjosts.bsky.social The Josts lab are working on the mechanisms of iron transport in bacterial pathogens, with a focus on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. www.ncl.ac.uk/cbcb/staff/p...

Next introducing Dr Alessandra Dantas. The Dantas group is interested in stress responses, antifungal resistance and in understanding the molecular mechanisms driving fungal adaptation to environmental stressors. @alesdantas.bsky.social www.ncl.ac.uk/dental/about...

@jmarlesw.bsky.social is a structural biochemist. His group are interested in how bacteria sense and respond to their environment. Jon is Academic Lead for our Electron Microscopy Facility and is excited for our new Tundra microscope to be up and running. www.marles-wright-lab.org

Now we are on Bluesky, over the next couple of days we would like to introduce some of the MHD groups on Bluesky who you can follow for more research updates. Or check out our handy MHD starter pack 😀 go.bsky.app/SoVnvW3

Next up, @nickj-dent-res.bsky.social His group is interested in all aspects of oral biofilms and how they contribute to oral health and disease. They look at adhesion and colonisation of surfaces, intermicrobial interactions and the role of the biofilm matrix. blogs.ncl.ac.uk/nickjakubovi...

The Quinn group are interested in stress-sensing and signalling mechanisms in human pathogenic fungi and their importance in virulence. They are also interested anti-fungal mechanisms mediated by the bacterial type-vi secretion system. 👉 @nclfungalgroup.bsky.social www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-scie...

The Palmer group are interested in the mechanisms bacteria use to compete with one another during colonisation. Her group are focused on the type vii secretion system and the toxins it exports. Follow @proftracypalmer.bsky.social for more insights. www.ncl.ac.uk/medical-scie...

Really excited to share my first paper from the Whitney lab, alongside an amazing grad student, Polina. Here we identify a chaperone family required for the folding of a central domain of T7SS toxins, and solve the structure of the chaperone-toxin complex. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Absolutely delighted to share the labs latest work. We identify and characterise two pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic EHEC and Citrobacter.

#NewResearch 🚨Out now In situ sub-nanometre structure of the Campylobacter jejuni flagellar motor revealing the periplasmic scaffold and basis for torque generation @beebylab.bsky.social #MicroSky🦠🧫 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The peer-reviewed version of our article on the flagellum filament assembly is out! A masterpiece from duo extraordinaire Kailin and Rosa, and an incredibly productive collaboration with Marc Erhardt and Morgan Beeby.

Learning from bacterial predators on porin-like proteins that trap lipids at rdcu.be/euXWk! Amazing insights by Rebecca J. Parr & Andrew L. Lovering @unibirmingham.bsky.social, and @lalouxlab.bsky.social,‬ as well as all collaborators including Liz Sockett. #MicroSky #predatoryBacteria #porins

Excited to share the newest preprint from the lab for my first post! Driven by @tayellisonwrites.bsky.social and @ianyyen.bsky.social with Lynne Howell we show the protein FimX has diverged in function away from regulating pilus extension to instead regulate pilus localization in A. baylyi

Skin mycobiota-mediated antagonism against Staphylococcus aureus through a modified fatty acid @currentbiology.bsky.social by @caitlinkowa.bsky.social et al www.cell.com/current-biol...

Lifestyle switch and competitive mode for Serratia marcescens. Great work from the Coulthurst lab #T6SS. Check @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social and rb.gy/l6l4ag

I’m thrilled to finally share this preprint! It contains a WOW Cryo-EM structure (likely one of the strongest protein fibers known to man 🤯), but we’ve also untangled its biological function: a novel type of virulence factor💀! www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-6...

1/ Happy to share our latest preprint on modulating gene expression and protein secretion in predatory bacterium Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. #MicroSky #SyntheticBiology #PredatoryBacteria Short thread below. (📑 Preprint at: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...)

🛠️Toolbox 🛠️ out to modulate gene expression & protein secretion in a predatory bacterium. 📑Preprint from my group below. Many thanks to L. Mihajlovic @ljmihajlovic.bsky.social, L. Hofacker, F. Lindner, P. Jayakumar & A. Diepold @diepold-lab.bsky.social! #MicroSky #SyntheticBiology #PredatoryBacteria

Job alert 🦠🧪: We are looking for a postdoc (and PhD candidate!) to join our team at UCLouvain/de Duve institute in Brussels, Belgium. You will work on our ERC Starting Grant project aimed at characterizing cell cycle regulation in S. pneumoniae. More information here: dewachterlab.com/join-us/.

It was a really nice experience to give a talk at Northumbria University! Very happy to get to present our work on Zorya systems for the first time - A huge thank you to @emmseveri.bsky.social and (not on bluesky?) Ciarán Kelly and Darren Smith for the invitation!

This is how you murder collaborative global health research 👇🏾 www.statnews.com/2025/05/01/n...

Finally in peer-reviewed form: Mapping the ultrastructural topology of the corynebacterial cell surface. @bupbuse.bsky.social @vikramalva.bsky.social Please also see concurrent beautiful work from @adriasogues.bsky.social and Han Remaut.