#NatMicroPicks More than just pumps? 🦠💊 Bacterial efflux pumps not only block drug entry but also disrupt intracellular drug–target interactions by preventing repeated drug rebinding #MicroSky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Say hi to Rundy everyone! We rescued him as a stray from Cyprus through a charity. He’s the sweetest boy! 🥰

Loved being @ox.ac.uk last wk for OxBacNet & seeing so many past @imibirmingham.bsky.social friends! Presented @microbesng.bsky.social's poster: “To long read or not to long read” showing how ONT long-read sequencing outperforms Illumina for plasmid de novo assembly & #AMR gene detection #MicroSky

I find that I always have to fight harder for a fair/higher salary, compared to my friends in industry. That shouldn’t be the case. I trained hard for many years and should be paid accordingly.

The coolest finding of my PhD is finally out! E. coli has a 7th RND pump that is present in phylogroups B2/D/E/F but absent in A/B1/C. As a result EefABC has been absent in all K-12 RND studies! Co-authored by the very talented Dr. Lizzy Darby. @jessicamablair.bsky.social doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

New paper just out in Microbial Genomics @microbiologysociety.org! As always, a great team effort! Well done all. 🤩 @imibirmingham.bsky.social @hannahpugh.bsky.social @leahburgess.bsky.social @alanmcn1.bsky.social @astimeosa.bsky.social

My first corresponding author research paper is now out in Microbiology (@microbiologysociety.org) Here, we show that the role of the major efflux pump AcrAB-TolC can differ between two widely used strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae. www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

New paper alert! Acr/Tol efflux has strain-specific roles in physiology in Klebsiella pneumoniae. @microbiologysociety.org @ilyasalav.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

it’s a sign 🥲

So proud of the lab for its achievements - Thank you to the Pettenkofer foundation for recognising our contributions - here’s to some more bacterial effector related fun in the future! @dunnschool.bsky.social

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... My first corresponding author paper is now out in MMBR @asm.org! In this review, @csdetweiler.bsky.social and I assess the evidence for RND efflux pumps as virulence determinants in Gram-negative bacteria.

Really excited to say that we have been awarded a BBSRC sLola! Really looking forward to kick off this project with such a fantastic team! @webberma.bsky.social @overtonlab.bsky.social @bugsinblood.bsky.social Sara Jabbari, Dong-Hyun Kim @imibirmingham.bsky.social www.ukri.org/news/powerin...

Did you know food-derived natural products may reveal how antimicrobial resistance plasmids spread in Enterobacterales? Celebrate World Food Day by reflecting on how our diet affects the world. Read more in Microbiology: doi.org/10.1099/mic.... #MicrobioJ #WorldFoodDay

New PhDs in my lab starting 2026! Funded projects as part of the MIBTP centre (funded by BBSRC) now open for applications: warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa... Are you interested in biofilms? We have a couple of projects - looking at the links between energy metabolism and biofilms - and electricity!

Job opportunity in my lab! We're looking for a post-doc to come join us for an exciting project exploring the evolution of #AMR and #hypervirulence in #klebsiella. Please share!! @unibirmingham.bsky.social Details: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV067/r...

Strain-dependent contribution of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump to Klebsiella pneumoniae physiology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678718v1

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... New preprint of my first corresponding author research paper! This is the result of my master students and some lovely collaborators! ☺️

My nose must be riddled with S. aureus then 🫠

This #PeerReviewWeek, I would like to thank the single reviewer who is holding up editorial decisions!

guess I should be glad my hair isn’t falling out yet

‘good things come to those who wait’ as I say while refreshing the peer review portal page 🥰

stringy 🧶

honestly same l

Which section of a paper do you hate writing the most and why is it the ‘Discussion’?

waiting for peer review reports in the summer

will be enjoying me 1.4% pay uplift, thank you @ucea.bsky.social 🥰

First corresponding author manuscript submitted! 😬🤞

being sick with the cold in the summer is so weak 🙃

Bought an Integra pipetboy and it came with a switch blade 🤔

Has anyone done Klebsiella pneumoniae survival assay in the presence of LL-37? I’ve read several papers, but they all use different media! 😭

Why are UK universities so hesitant to pay researchers a fair salary?

I am ecstatic to announce that I’ve been awarded a @wellcometrust.bsky.social Early Career Award! I couldn’t have done it without everyone who helped me along the way! I will join @dunnschool.bsky.social to do some exciting science on efflux pumps for the next 5 years!

I cook when I’m sad, so here’s Marry Me Chicken Meatballs

once again, i’m waiting for a career defining decision. might finally quit academia and become financially stable 😎

www.nature.com/articles/s41... I had to dig through the supplementary tables, but it is nice to see that AcrAB-TolC is also important for C. rodentium colonisation of mice.

me when I have to do the slightest bit of bioinformatics

feel like I’m at a crossroads with my future

academia

Is it always the case that when you come out of a fellowship interview, you feel worthless?

pov: you have to practice for your fellowship interview but it’s a Saturday night

me at my early career award interview next week

Good to see an efflux inhibitor with in vivo data 😄

BBSRC fellowships are now open! If anyone is interested in applying to work in my team on Efflux and/or AMR mechanisms @imibirmingham.bsky.social then drop me a line! www.ukri.org/opportunity/...

Two lovely efflux papers just out in npjAMR! 1. Everything you ever wanted to know about TolC from @geocox44.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s44... and 2. Everything you ever wanted to know about efflux regulation in Acinetobacter www.nature.com/articles/s44.... Lovely stuff!

Happy 60th Birthday TolC! rdcu.be/d7sMp

one thing that irks me about academia is that people don’t acknowledge that luck plays a bigger role than we care to admit

In academia, we don’t say ‘I hate you’, we say ‘On this occasion...'

Thank you to the chairs @ronanmccarthy.bsky.social and @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social for giving me the opportunity to present some of my postdoc work at the BSAC ARM Workshop.

Very excited to be co-chairing the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotheraphy Antibiotic Resistance and Mechanisms conference with @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social Looking forward to 2 days of great talks and networking @kateduncan.bsky.social @craigmaclean.bsky.social @catrinm.bsky.social

Grant bodies talk a big game about funding AMR. Yet, just this year my AMR- and virulence-related fellowship was rejected even though it was within the fundable quartile✨