Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols. Thread 1/n

Now peer-reviewed, improved and published in @microbiologysociety.org Microbiology - thanks to editor and reviewers! www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

So excited to share a new paper from my lab just published in Nature Communications! We showed that vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) occupied distinct intestinal niches in the antibiotic-treated intestine. doi.org/10.1038/s414... Amazing work by first author Olivia King and colleagues!

🎉 Delighted to share the first pre-print from my lab where we demonstrate that intergenic DNA repeats mediate phase variation of the mucoid phenotype in hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #klebclub

We're looking for a technician at Institut Pasteur for experimental work on satellite-phage-bacteria interactions, working directly with @jmouradesousa.bsky.social and myself in the lab of @epcrocha.bsky.social ! ANR funded. Link to the job emploi.pasteur.fr/offre-de-emp... Thx for sharing!

Phage "satellites" that produce capsids but have no genes to produce tails have puzzled scientists for a long time. These are abundant as prophages in bacteria, but it was unclear how they can infect without tails Now, Penadés & co show that they hijack tails from other phages. Incredible!

Looking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…

Thrilled to share that two of our papers with @jrpenades.bsky.social & GoogleDeepMind are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social 1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3 2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @imperiallifesci.bsky.social

Our second paper with @tcostalab.bsky.social and GoogleDeepMind reports our experience with Google’s co-scientist: remarkably, the AI independently recapitulated our experimental discovery on cf-PICIs, showcasing AI’s potential to accelerate biology. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Thrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species. @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Lots of heterogeneity in capsule production in Klebsiella and Acinetobacter. Given the pleiotropic impact of capsules, this provides opportunities for multiple types of phenotypical heterogeneity. Check @julielebris.bsky.social thread on our recent publication.

Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) could cause 10 million deaths by 2050. At PLAS-FIGHTER, we are working to change this! 🔎 We study how plasmids spread resistance to open up new avenues for future containment and diagnostic strategies. Find out more 👇 plasmidlab.es/project/ #AntibioticResistance

Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...

Thanks to the authors of this piece. I love reading about the work of inspiring pioneers in bacterial genetics. Crazy amount of discoveries! Pioneer of bacterial genetics: the legacy of Esther Miriam Lederberg academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...

Lineage-specific defence systems of pandemic Vibrio cholerae Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B by @mblokesch.bsky.social and Kim Seed royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Phage defence-system abundances vary across environments and increase with viral density Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B by @seanmeaden.bsky.social, Edze Westra and @peterfineran.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

And as a bonus — a 2nd review in the same special issue, co-authored with Kim Seed! 🧬💥 Lineage-specific defence systems of pandemic Vibrio cholerae royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... Thanks to the editors Uri Gophna, Stineke van Houte and Edze Westra for bringing this collection together.

Excited to share my latest review, now published in the Royal Society theme issue on ‘The ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems' (available OA): Defence systems encoded by core genomic islands of seventh pandemic Vibrio cholerae royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Some good stuff in here 😊

Preprint: We discovered phage proteins that sequester diverse immune signaling molecules, including cUMP, cCMP, and N7-cADPR The first viral sponges to inhibit Pycsar and type IV Thoeris Congrats to talented leading author Romi Hadary! Read her thread to learn more about our findings

Congratulations Rotem Sorek @soreklab.bsky.social on receiving the Gruber prize today in Stockholm

With over a million deaths annually linked to antibiotic resistance, tackling this crisis is urgent. At the PBE lab, we study how plasmids adapt and spread in real-world settings, such as the gut microbiota of hospitalized patients. Fighting #AntibioticResistance!

For those who love bacterial replicons, The ultimate review, from our lab, signed by the master of their evolution. ‪@val-meve.bsky.social‬ www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New paper out!

Spain is on fire. Italy, Greece, Portugal — all burning. We have had summer fires before, but never like this. This is climate breakdown in real time. It is killing people, animals, and our future. DAMN the climate deniers. DAMN those who know and could do but do NOTHING www.bbc.com/news/article...

We are also hiring a 4-year postdoc to study the dynamics and evolution of mobile genetic elements in the C-fixing Icelandic host-spring microbiomes Join our exciting multidisciplinary team funded by @ukri.org BBSRC sLoLa www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

This looks like a must read …

Here's our new broad review on the extended mobility of plasmids, about all mechanisms driving and limiting their transfer. From conjugation to conduction, phage-plasmids to hitchers, molecular to evolutionary dynamics, ecology to biotech. The state of affairs. 1/9 academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

🦠🧍‍♀️From bacterial to human immunity. We report in @science.org the discovery of a human homolog of SIR2 antiphage proteins that participates in the TLR pathway of animal innate immunity. Co-led wt @enzopoirier.bsky.social by D. Bonhomme and @hugovaysset.bsky.social www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Wow - an important component of a central human innate immune pathway was discovered based on homology to a bacterial anti-phage defense system A beautiful example showing how new knowledge on bacterial immunity translates to discoveries important for human health

There are half a million cases of invasive non-Typhoidal Salmonella (iNTS) every year and while you might know S. Typhimurim and Enteritidis, you may not have heard of S. Panama 💩 🩸 🧫 💊 Check out our latest in @lancetmicrobe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.la... and the 🧵 below to find out more 1/n

Great to see this out. The impact of antibiotics on the gut phages and what it tells us of the disruption associated with antibiotics . www.cell.com/cell-reports... Check @eugenpfeifer.bsky.social thread

A 2-year postdoc position in my lab, under the supervision of P-Alex Kaminski, on Z-DNA phages and the benefit given by ZTGC DNA and the replication machinery, with attempt to create a Z based minireplicon research.pasteur.fr/en/job/a-two...

Excited 🥳 to share our latest work on gut phages! Big thanks to @epcrocha.bsky.social, Erick D, Camille d'H, @fplazaonate.bsky.social, Quentin LB, and all others involved for support and contributions! 🙌 Out in Cell Reports @cp-cellreports.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ce... Here's what we found 🤓

Postdoc position to work at the Institut Pasteur with Alex Kaminski and Didier Mazel on Z-DNA phages ! research.pasteur.fr/en/job/a-two...

Thrilled to see our Kiwa story out today! A membrane-associated supercomplex that senses infection and blocks replication and transcription. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... Huge congratulations to Yi and Zhiying for bringing it home, to Thomas for starting us off, and to all the collaborators.

New paper with @rwheatley8.bsky.social and Cedric Lood Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy. Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...

Maybe not the most beautiful experiment in biology but certainly top ten. What are your nominees? 1/

It was an honor and a joy to receive the National Research Prize for Young (!) Researchers. The highlight? My grandma greeting the King of Spain. What a day! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQP...

🧑‍🚀💫Our July issue is now live! Read it here ⬇️ nature.com/nrmicro/volumes/23/issues/7 Inside: 🛰️Phage satellites 🧬Mobile genetic element interactions and evolution in bacteria 💊Bacterial metabolism and antimicrobial resistance 🎯SARS-CoV-2 spike ...and more!

🧬🌽 Happy Transposon Day! 🌽🧬 Today we celebrate the birthday of Barbara McClintock - scientist extraordinaire and discoverer of jumping genes. Still the only woman to have an unshared Nobel Prize in the biomedical sciences #TransposonDay2025

🥇Congratulations to David Bikard @dbikard.bsky.social on winning the EMBO Gold Medal! Well-deserved recognition for advancing synthetic biology and microbial genetics. 🔬✨ @embo.org www.embo.org/press-releas...

Check out this brand new fellowship from the Simon’s Foundation in Ecology and Evolution. Incoming grad students this year are eligible to apply. No citizenship restrictions. www.simonsfoundation.org/grant/simons...

Prophage induction - nice study, inducers other than MitC, but also that inducer concentration matters. Search for optimum needed to get highest titers ☝️ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It’s a beautiful university museum with an aim to “build empathy for other people and the natural world”. Much needed. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

A well deserved honour for Kevin Foster.

Our new paper on MGEs in Vibrio cholerae is now out in Genome Biology and Evolution @genomebiolevol.bsky.social Huge congrats to former PhD student Natália Drebes Dörr @nataliadrebesdorr.bsky.social 🎉🍾🥳 for the great work & thx to Alexandre Lemopoulos for bioinformatics support shorturl.at/0LveK

New opinion paper from the lab! www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Choose Science. Choose Europe. A new Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowships 2025 call is now open. With a budget of €404.3 million, it will support around 1,650 researchers from Europe and beyond. Apply by 10 September → europa.eu/!fBTMgF

1/ Excited to share our latest work on gene transfer agents (GTAs) in Caulobacter crescentus, led by Emma Banks in collaboration with Pavol Bardy and Mai Nguyen from York!!! See a brief thread below. shorturl.at/o6S1w