The School of Biosciences at University of Birmingham is recruiting FIVE Assistant/Associate Profs in areas including fungal biology, plant science and bioengineering. Full details below 🍄🌾🧬🧫
I think I’d nominate The Imagined Village - they’re a music project that brings different musical traditions from immigrant cultures together with English folk music, to re-set and re-tell stories. Here’s their version of Cold Haily Rainy Night youtu.be/D8Yn5rFkaw4?...
“Patriotism is about giving a shit about your country / England isn’t just something that is but something we can continually make.” - Billy Bragg / Kojo Koram. A Very English Chat will tell the story of England in 50 objects, combatting divisive political narratives. www.averyenglishchat.org.uk
Our wall of women in STEM for international women’s day is growing! Set up by the @warwicklifesci.bsky.social & @warwickmed.bsky.social women’s health group and growing organically
We found the same - weak biofilms that can stand up to prep for light microscopy would completely disappear with SEM prep.
Aha…
@edrybicki.bsky.social I’ll have to hunt that one out! The cryoSEM is all thanks to Chris Parmenter @uonnmrc.bsky.social and Saskia Bakker, who leads Warwick’s cryoEM facility - sadly neither are on bkuesky.
#MicroSky
Thanks! Just checked and this locus fits into profile 7 in Table 2 upreg from day 1 to day 2, then down again by day 7 - you can find the details in the supplementary Excel file.
In the standard SEM image, aggregates of bacterial cells with no visible matrix sit on top of a network of collagen fibrils. In the cryo image, interconnected aggregates are covered with a smooth coat of matrix, and no collagen is visible - it is under the aggregates, and the only tissue structures visible are patches of elastin fibres.
If you check out my lab's recent work, you'll notice how much biofilm structure is destroyed by dehydration & vacuum during standard scanning electron microscopy. These are both images of P. aeruginosa PA14 #biofilm on pig lung tissue at 48h p.i: using cryoSEM retains the biofilm matrix. #MicroSky
This work was led by the fabulous Niamh Harrington during her PhD, and as part of it she supervised @freyaallen.bsky.social so she could contribute to the bioinformatics analysis as part of her MBio. Electron microscopy was contributed by @microberamon.bsky.social #MicroSky
The main pattern over this period was changes in expression of loci associated with central metabolism, notably sulphur metabolism - poss. reflecting a shift to anaerobic respiration, but this needs more work (& oxygen electrodes that don't shatter on the gentlest contact with cartilage 😭) #MicroSky
We previously showed increased expression of some canonical AMR determinants in the model vs. in vitro at 2 days p.i. We found antibiotic tolerance increased from 2 to 7 days p.i., but this was not associated with further increased in expression of the same genes. #MicroSky
A four-panel figure showing scanning electron micrographs of Pseudomonas biofilm on the surface of pig lung tissue. Aggregates of bacteria sit on top of a network of collagen fibrils, with some bacterial cells penetrating the collagen mesh.
Paper out! We used RNAseq to track changes in P. aeruginosa gene expression over 7 days of #biofilm infection in our #CysticFibrosis lung model. www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #MicroSky (1/n)
This is genius. I bet Kevin loves it too.
Close-up of a black and white abstract pattern of microbes with colourful coral-like shapes in blue, pink, green, and purple accents.
Society Champion, Eliza_coli has designed Multicoloured Microbes colouring sheets which provide a fun microbiome-themed activity for outreach work. Society members can now access these, alongside a host of other resources:
https://microb.io/3N9ESZP
*Knowing where to find* information relevant to your field of study is a central pillar of academic competency, and one of the skills a PhD imparts (although by no means confined to those with PhDs). Academics aren't just people who know stuff and have written stuff - they know where to find stuff.
The fabulous Cassandra Quave invited on to her Foodie Pharmacology podcast to talk about our #ancientbiotics and #biofilm research - there are audio (www.podbean.com/media/share/...) and video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCs2...) versions available #MicroSky #SciComm
🔔Seminar Opportunity🔔
We're looking for (self)recommendations for a Postdoc who is working in the area of AMR (any area, any discipline) to give an online seminar in May.
Reply, DM or email me, there will more opportunities in the future as well so will be good to have a list.
#MicroSky #AMR
Come do a PhD with me and @trevor-lithgow.bsky.social at @monashuniversity.bsky.social ! We’re at the leading edge of pathogen biology using cutting edge Cryo-EM and AI-driven genetic screens to uncover the mysteries of outer membrane biology. Reach out to me for a chat!
macsys.org/phd-scholars...
Hey #Microsky, time to celebrate your amazing female colleagues, students and mentors for #IWD2026! Nominate an inspiring woman whose research, teaching, innovation, or community leadership deserves recognition! @femsmicro.org crm.fems-microbiology.org/ssp/internat...
I've been repeatedly doing this for reviewer assignments in an unfamiliar editorial system... the "remove" and "invite" boxes are each where I expect the other to be.
No
We’ve already had one MP murdered because of what she stood for after abuse from the right
We’ve also had another murdered for another reason while he was holding his surgery
it was as smooth or rocky as a mormal mainline train - I found the motion really soothing 😄 Bed and duvet were super comfortable.
A reflection of a well-lit coffee shop counter in the dark window of an amusement arcade. The unlit Amusements sign is visible, superimposed on the glass cases of pastries.
Looking forward to a day in Glasgow talking bacteria with colleagues - just off the sleeper train, caffeinating and becoming vaguely human again. Here’s an arty coffee shop reflection in the drizzle
Recurrent and chronic UTIs have a huge impact on patient's quality of life and is an area of research which is often overlooked and understudied. There are massive gaps in our understanding which we can fill to... (1/3)
See all images in this post and that follow for the top 10!
#MicroSky #UTISky
NEW
How Palantir captured the Ministry of Defence
How a close read of public domain documents show how MoD was commercially colonised by Palantir
By me, at FT
www.ft.com/content/5207...
Read the whole thread, too.
This goes on next week’s reading list! #MicroSky (and cc to @c-cornbill.bsky.social 🙂)
Also cars with no touchscreens. I’ll be off to shout at a (the) cloud now.
