I also decided to give it a go to write this up in a way that's accessible without a strict scientific background: davvi36.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...
23.02.2026 09:06
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I also decided to give it a go to write this up in a way that's accessible without a strict scientific background: davvi36.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...
MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social and @tweethinking.bsky.social join us as keynote speakers this year. miniurl.com/MENI
Jamie Hall on stage speaking about the importance of publishing for the community.
Conferences like #microevo25 are possible because of the community publishing with @microbiologysociety.org
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Aww, thanks Dave!
🗣️Please pass on to anybody who might be interested, and get in touch if you have any questions!
🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟♂️
Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination
academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...
New preprint with my HFSP collaborators. Network structures for bacterial and plasmid interactions determine community structure and evolvability: doi.org/10.32942/X21...
😆 Indeed! Now just wait till we publish our research on the effects of ketchup residues on drain trap mobile genetic element transmission (aka sauce-sink-source-sink plasmid transfer dynamics)
It was great fun writing this review with @gemccallum.bsky.social , even if our conclusions are rather scary. Lots of important pathogen evolution must be occurring outside of the infection context...
🚨 Reminder! You have just over two weeks to submit an abstract, if you want to present at the @microbiologysociety.org meeting "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" in Liverpool in November! #microsky 🦠🧫🔬
New preprint ex @bolinabug.bsky.social (+ @daisukekageyama.bsky.social & @scottishwormboy.bsky.social) on the pronounced secondary expansion of Spiroplasma and Rickettsia genomes in lacewings doi.org/10.1101/2025... #symbiosky 1/2
Happy to finally have this out! It has been a fun side-project that we’ve been slowly working on for a while 🍜
I think it has turned out as a nice story, and demonstrates some important issues with historic taxonomic classifications in genome databases. All from investigating a contaminant! ⤵️
🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨
The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠
Check it out ➡️ doi.org/10.1101/2025...
1/15 🧵
It’s worth zooming in on the picture of the thesis hat — there is some incredible detail!
Congratulations to Vicki for successfully defending her thesis yesterday!
PhD viva passed!!! 🥳 🍻 Thank you to Liam Shaw and Stephen Cornell for assessing and for a very enjoyable discussion! Thank you to @jpjhall.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison and Calvin Dytham for being an amazing supervisory team throughout my PhD 😁
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Finally out after peer review, our work showing that "Mobile #Integrons carry Phage Defense Systems" is now published in Science 🎉
Short 🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Our updated lab website is live!
We’ve kicked off a new project and a new look with it.
Take a look and let us know what you think! 👉 plasmidlab.es
You're quite right, that link no longer seems to be working. Try this one, or navigate Events --> Society Events and Meetings microbiologysociety.org/event/societ....
‼️Update! Abstract submission is now open for the 2025 Liverpool UK @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics”! Deadline July 7th #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...
Do restriction-modification systems shape plasmid sequence composition? A group of plasmid-aficionados, led by Liam Shaw, started to explore this during the 2023 @embo.org Workshop on Plasmids in Trieste. Happy to have contributed to this work and be part of such a great team!
Every time I have a conversation about AI in a journal publishing context and I mention indirect prompt injection, I'm met with blank expressions. People really need to read up on this.
cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications...
Congratulations Modupeh!! 🥳🙌🏻
Prize Medal 2025 winner, Professor Richard Lenski, presents their lecture on "Dynamics and Repeatability in a Long-Term Experiment with Bacteria" at #Microbio25. It begins at 18:30 BST. Read more about their work: microb.io/PrizeWinner2...
Preprint below has been a long time coming, here just in time for #microbio25 ! (if the train wifi lets me)
With @andrewmatthews.bsky.social
#MicroSky
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Congratulations, Louise! 🎉
Thanks again for making Annual Conference 2025 such a success! Want to join us in 2026? Submit an article to our journals by June 30th for a chance to win your registration, whilst supporting us as a not-for-profit. Find out more here: microb.io/3o6DvhI
Vicki is handing in her thesis very soon and currently on the lookout for postdoc opportunities — get in touch with her if you have any leads!