Three UK research councils suspend funding opportunities Temporary block on grant applications by MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC heightens concerns over funding cuts

Three UK research councils suspend funding opportunities
“Temporary block on grant applications by MRC, BBSRC and EPSRC heightens concerns over funding cuts”

Can confirm, supervisory team is great ;)

Excellent PhD project for your consideration - DM or email @dralhubb.bsky.social for more info!

Plasmids are small, mobile DNA elements that enable bacteria to exchange genetic material, including genes for antibiotic resistance.
We study these genetic vehicles with the aim to uncover how they facilitate the emergence and persistence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens.

#AntibioticResistance

Thanks @fnobrega.bsky.social for an excellent first talk of talks at @mgeworkshop.bsky.social ... Very well-run event!

Fluorescent microscopy image of donor cells (shown in green) and recipient cells (shown in dark blue). Light blue cells are transconjugants. Transconjugants are only next to donor cells.

Cool paper showing 🦠 recipient response to #plasmid conjugation

Capsule blocks conjugation, preventing MPF between donor:recipient. However, conjugation exploits recipient strain heterogeneity of capsule thickness, conjugating to cells with less capsule

#MicroSky 🧪

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

On our way to @mgeworkshop.bsky.social for @lotox.bsky.social to present later. Looking forward to some amazing talks! @arom-ntu.bsky.social #mgeworkshop

I am Honoured to have received the 2nd Prize at NTU's ⭐️ STAR (Science & Tech Annual Research) Conference!
Special thanks to my supervisors @conmeehan.bsky.social @blackpassiflora.bsky.social and collaborators @danwhiley.bsky.social @Kate Cox for the incredible support.
@arom-ntu.bsky.social

Almost ready for #MGEworkshop - my first time presenting, not just at an event but 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 as I'm barely 9 months into my #PhD But I'm reminding myself of the words of my favourite fictional scientist #WalterBishop #Fringe #ADHD #WomeninSTEM #MolMicro

This is one of the coolest things I've seen in plasmid biology for a while. Excellent stuff.

pKJK5 vs RP4 cartoon sketch on plasmid competition

I *finally* get to share our work on plasmid competition– super proud to now have this on bioRxiv:

CRISPR-Cas is beneficial in plasmid competition, but limited by competitor toxin-antitoxin activity when horizontally transferred

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

1/6 👇

RNA-guided nucleases enable a gene drive of insertion sequences in plasmids Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and the interactions between them are a major source of evolutionary innovation. Insertion sequences, the simplest MGEs usually encoding only the necessary genes for tra...

cool preprint from a few months back: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Really intriguing IS strategy to become fixed in plasmids, where the IS cuts up any plasmid that doesn't contain the insertion sequence

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New preprint on E. coli's intimin protein from Oslo, Tübingen & @arom-ntu.bsky.social

MGE Workshop

🧬 Thrilled to announce that I'll be speaking at the 3rd Annual MGE Workshop. If molecular mayhem is your jam, join me and explore "From Stability to Chaos: The Role of MGEs in an Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli Outbreak”

#MGEWorkshop2025 #MGE #UKScience #PhDLife #MolMicro
#FirstYearPhD

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
🧵

🚨New publication🚨
We show that K. Pneumoniae bacteriophages can be incorporated into alginate to create an antibiofilm matrix effective against clinical K. pneumoniae strains
academic.oup.com/jambio/artic...

Conjugative transfer inhibition of IncA and IncC plasmids by pervasive SGI1-like elements via relaxosome assembly interference Broad-host-range IncA and IncC conjugative plasmids propagate multidrug resistance in bacteria and mobilize chromosomal resistance islands, including Salmonella Genomic Island 1 (SGI1) across genera. ...

It's incredible that a resistance integrative and mobilizable element can spread while also holding back their helper plasmids with such a clever trick!

From @vincentburrus.bsky.social lab

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The second great paper concerns the discovery in Eva Top's group that an enigmatic protein encoded by IncP-1beta plasmids modulates the IncP-1 circuitry in E. coli to make the plasmid a burden in this host: Elg et al recently accepted in Molecular Biology and Evolution doi.org/10.1093/molb...

KorB switching from DNA-sliding clamp to repressor mediates long-range gene silencing in a multi-drug resistance plasmid - Nature Microbiology Structural and single-molecule analyses show the CTPase, KorB, is a sliding DNA clamp that interacts with a clamp-locking protein KorA to inhibit gene expression over distances of more than 1 kb in th...

It is a privilege to be an author on two great plasmid papers already this year. The first was McLean et al in Nature Microbiology focused on KorB and the discovery that it is a CTPase by Yung Le's group at the John Innes Institute in Norwich. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

And in a clash, we have @c-cornbill.bsky.social from Warwick (supervisor @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social) talking about the variability in AMR evolution in different host mimicking media in the "AMR - Mechanism and Regulation" (2/5)

And finally, last talk of the day is
... me! I'll be talking in the "Urogenetial Microbes in Health and Disease" at 17:00 where I will go through our preliminary project looking at where AMR genes/strains/species potentially come from during treatment (5/5) #microbio25.

Come see them all!!

@danwhiley.bsky.social who will be speaking on Helicobacter suis in UK farmed pigs and retail meat products. Really interesting work! (15:30) (4/5)

Then later this afternoon we have a double bill in the "Exploring Hidden Threats" session with Kate Cox (MBiol student with @conmeehan.bsky.social) talking about creating a molecular epi framework for M. Leprae (15:15) followed by.. (3/5)

Come see @aurelianachilengue.bsky.social speak about doing molly epi for M. tuberculosis without the need for a reference genome (e.g. H37Rv) this afternoon at poster 049! #microsoc25

Today's the day for the majority of the @arom-ntu.bsky.social talks at #Microbio25. First up we have Chantelle Endley who will be talking about cell cycle control regulator cdc25 in yeast in the "Genetics and Genomics" forum (12:30). (1/5)

We ALSO have multiple @arom-ntu.bsky.social posters today at #microbio25 ! (1/3)

Stealth plasmids: rapid evolution of deleted plasmids can displace antibiotic resistance plasmids under selection for horizontal transmission. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.03....

Genetic and phenotypic analysis of the virulence plasmid of a non-Shigatoxigenic enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak strain Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O104:H4 is best known for causing a worldwide outbreak in 2011 due to the acquisition of a Shiga-like toxin alongside traditional enteroaggregative virulence traits;...

Congratulations to PhD students Rachel and Lottie, and MRes student Martyna on their publication with @mcvickermicro.bsky.social! #microsky

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Phylogenetic groups and extraintestinal virulence genes of inflow Escherichia coli entering a municipal drinking water treatment facility (St. Paul, MN, USA) Extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli (ExPEC), a leading cause of urinary tract infections, sepsis and neonatal meningitis, circulates between diverse hosts and the environment. Consequently, id...

New paper alert. Characterisation of ExPEC E. coli entering drinking water treatment plant, with potential for community-wide dissemination. @microbiologysociety.org www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Genomic and phenotypic characterization of staphylococci isolated from the skin of non-human primates The growth of wildlife tourism coupled with continued deforestation has resulted in increased contact between non-human primates (NHPs) and humans. Such events may promote the transmission of potentia...

New paper alert! New paper alert! Insight, including genomic analyses, in to Staphylococcal diversity on NHP skin. @microbiologysociety.org @davidnegus.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Genetic and phenotypic analysis of the virulence plasmid of a non-Shigatoxigenic enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O104:H4 outbreak strain Enteroaggregative Escherichia coli O104:H4 is best known for causing a worldwide outbreak in 2011 due to the acquisition of a Shiga-like toxin alongside traditional enteroaggregative virulence traits;...

New paper alert! New paper alert. Experimental determination of the traits conferred by the pAA virulence plasmid in an 0104:H4 enteroaggregative E. coli. @microbiologysociety.org @mcvickermicro.bsky.social
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...