@ulischwarzlinek
Structural Biologist at the University of St Andrews. Host:pathogen interactions. Gram-positive bacteria (mainly Streptococcus pyogenes) and Rift Valley fever phlebovirus. cryoEM (novice), NMR (veteran), XRC.
Frederick's @frederickreinhart.bsky.social paper on E. faecalis egress from host cells following intracellular replication is now up at #PLOS Pathogens. 😎 Check it out! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...
🚨 We’re hiring – MRC-funded Postdoc (3 yrs)
Research Fellow to investigate how mobile genetic elements interact in Staphylococcus aureus and shape gene transfer and pathogenicity.
University of St Andrews
Closes 31 March 2026
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQR250/r...
Enquiries: afh22@st-andrews.ac.uk
Insights into how #Staph aureus adapts to the bovine host by unlocking nutrients from the dairy niche. Great work by Amy Pickering, Jamie Gorzynski and others in the group. Bacterial metabolic remodeling by convergent evolution after a host switch.|Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Photo of snowdrops with distinctive green markings giving rise to a grumpy phenotype.
Hopeful pessimism.
Still 2 weeks left to apply for this position.
This was a big collaborative effort by Marta Wojnowska @uniofstandrews.bsky.social and Takeaki Wajima with Anna Norrby-Teglund @ki.se, Richard Farndale @cambiochem.bsky.social and many others. As always, thank you @elife.bsky.social for the very positive and constructive publishing experience.
The M3:collagen interaction results in enhanced #biofilm, common in #iGAS infections. Our M3 protein fragment inhibited collagen-induced biofilm. More work is needed to reveal the role of collagen binding for pathogenesis, e.g. in the induction of collagen auto-antibodies in rheumatic fever.
In our M3:collagen peptide complex (PDB 8p6j) the T-fold neatly complements the shape of triple helices, explaining how M3 would tightly anchor bacteria to collagens. The binding registers differ in the two sites present on M3, in line with the lack of specificity observed in our binding screens.
Grey-scale image of a protein shown in cartoon representation. Two alpha helices (shown as spring-like ribbons) are intertwined to form a T-shape. A sign-post labeled "To cell wall: 50 nm" points down.
Our crystal structure (PDB 8p6k) shows the M3 hypervariable region forms a novel, well-defined fold, a triple-helical bundle presented on a dimeric coiled coil stem. There’s a minimalistic elegance to this symmetrical T-shaped topology.
M proteins are coiled-coil fibrils covering #StrepA. Their N-terminal regions, presented away from the bacterial surface, are hypervariable. For the >200 M protein variants, these regions are generally predicted to form coiled coils or lack tertiary structure. However, M3 is different.
emm3 type #StrepA bacteria are highly prevalent, frequently causing severe streptococcal diseases such as invasive soft tissue infections #iGAS or rheumatic heart disease. Their dominant surface protein is M3 which, among other things, allows the bacteria to bind tightly to collagens.
About time to post about our recent paper on the interaction of the group A #streptococcus #StrepA M3 protein with collagen. Took over a decade to get here. I always thought it mad to embark on structural work with collagens. Or M proteins, for that matter. elifesciences.org/articles/105...
⌛Registration deadline for Strep GBI 2026 is March 6. ⌛
Join us for cutting-edge research focused on crucial aspects of Streptococcal biology.
Registration/abstracts
👉 pay.durham.ac.uk/event-durham..
⏳ Deadline Abstracts: Feb 27
📌 Durham, March 30/31
🌐 strepgbi.wixsite.com/strep-gbi
Lots of PhD opportunities for UK + international students involving my lab. Topics relate to metals & microbiology.
First up: TonB-dependent receptors in commensal Neisseria in my lab at Durham, with @kjosts.bsky.social and @mattbashton.bsky.social.
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Aurora borealis over a village cemetery. Bright purple and green, partially cloudy night sky with tombstones and a tree in the foreground.
Aurora borealis over a village cemetery. Bright purple and green, partially cloudy night sky with tombstones and a church in the foreground.
Aurora borealis over a village cemetery. Red and bright green, partially cloudy night sky with some stars, tombstones in the foreground.
Beautiful (slightly enhanced) evening in the East Neuk.
Strep GBI 2026 is open. Join ECRs and experts to highlight cutting-edge research focused on crucial aspects of Streptococcal biology.
Registration/abstracts
👉 pay.durham.ac.uk/event-durham...
⏳ Deadline Feb 13
📌 Durham
🗓️ March 30/31 2026.
🌐 strepgbi.wixsite.com/strep-gbi.
📣 What is the impact of expanded antibiotic prophylaxis during an iGAS surge? Read it in our new publication: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
By expanding antibiotic prophylaxis to household contacts of all iGAS patients, secondary household infections were reduced by 83%.
The #StrepA upsurge of 2022/23 was dominated by emm1; the high mortality associated with emm1 is alarming.
What is more alarming is that those who die, sadly die quickly esp children ; blaming any single person for a strep A death is not sensible.
academic.oup.com/cid/advance-...
savethevetschool.co.uk Colleagues, please lend us your support. The University wants to close down the vet school despite being ranked educationally above school average and smashing the REF because they want our land and vet education is too expensive.
We will announce a #postdoc opening in January. Cryo-ET and virus replication. If you're interested you can DM or email me already now. More info will follow!
Join our Streptococcus focused meeting: Strep GBI 2026. Keynote from Matthew Sullivan
@drsull.bsky.social
"A Cu-rious mechanism that protects Strep B from copper poisoning"
📌 Durham, March 30-31
🌐 strepgbi.wixsite.com/strep-gbi.
Registration/abstracts
👉 pay.durham.ac.uk/event-durham.
Become my colleague at CSSB! Hannover Medical School is recruiting a W1 Professor in Systems Virology (m/f/d), based at CSSB Hamburg. Focus: system-wide analysis of virus–virus & virus–host interaction networks. tinyurl.com/msh2449a #Virology #SystemsVirology #AcademicJobs
A white virus snowflake paper cut-out held in front of the face of a girl.
A white virus snowflake paper cut-out held in front of the face of a boy.
Hours of fun, thank you @socialinfluenza.bsky.social
‘Tis the saison. A medium difficulty one to start.
A great read! Fleming's discovery of the antibacterial properties of Penicillium mould cannot have happened as he described.
@kevinsblake.bsky.social rounds up the evidence.
Spoiler: no sign of foul play, but certainly the canonical story is almost certainly distorted.
Out today, we can now multiplex receptor mapping at synapses thanks to a dimeric gold nanoparticle label optimized by Hoyoung that's distinguishable from monomers!
Dimeric gold nanoparticles enable multiplexed labeling in cryoelectron tomography | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Excited to share our first look at Enterococcus faecium infection biology: diabetic wounds are complex, and E. faecium persists despite early immune responses. In diabetic mice, it shows impaired clearance + sustained neutrophil recruitment, worsening healing.
Strep GBI 2026 registration is open. Join us for Streptococcus focused research. Keynote from Tom Parks @tom-parks.bsky.social "Streptococcus pyogenes - lessons from the host"
📌 Durham, March 30-31
🌐 strepgbi.wixsite.com/strep-gbi.
Registration/abstracts
👉 pay.durham.ac.uk/event-durham.
A recent update on Rapua, the initiate focused on accelerating Strep A vaccine development in Aotearoa New Zealand www.uniservices.co.nz/news/researc...
Happy to see our latest work online. Here we present a new method for microsecond time-resolved cryo-EM based on jet vitrification! Details in the 🧵 below... we hope you enjoy reading! (Hint, there's some fun videos...) #cryoEM #structuralbiology
