Applications are officially OPEN for the 2027 Gordon Research Conference on Multidrug Efflux Systems.
📅 When: March 21–26, 2027
📍 Where: Ventura, California
🔗 Apply here: www.grc.org/multi-drug-e...
#GRC #MultidrugEfflux
I really enjoyed working on this project during my postdoc in @bucknerlab.bsky.social' lab. It was also a pleasure to work with Parisa and Ayesha who made substantial contributions to the paper.
However, we found that not all nucleoside analogues reduced plasmid transfer. While most of them had no effect, some promoted conjugation under the tested conditions (4/4)
RNA-seq pointed to species-specific effects: impaired motility/flagellar gene expression in E. coli, and altered DNA damage response plus methionine metabolism in K. pneumoniae (3/4)
Mechanistically, azidothymidine reduced plasmid transfer without acting through membrane disruption or ROS. The effects were species-specific and much more interesting than a simple screening hit (2/4)
My main postdoc paper is now out in @natureportfolio.nature.com npj Antimicrobials and Resistance! www.nature.com/articles/s44.... Using flow cytometry, we show that the nucleoside analogues azidothymidine, didanosine, stavudine, and trifluridine reduced transfer of AMR plasmids pCT and pKpQIL (1/3)
He was a stray when they found him, but I assume German Shepherd mixed with Belgian Malinois perhaps? Very energetic and bitey 😂
Meet Rundy! We adopted him back in January and he’s already taken over my life! 😃🥰
And the preprint is out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
We compared plasmid conjugation in liquid and on solid across 13 AMR plasmids with different types of conjugative pili.
I thought finding reviewers was the major bottleneck when submitting a paper, but now it seems journals struggle to find willing and able editors too...
A picture of a clear night sky dotted with many stars.
Starry night in Leamington Spa ✨
Hi Tim, for now, i’m not interested in the kinetics. I just want to see whether there is a difference in intercellular accumulation between different strains. So I think fixation should hopefully work. Fingers crossed 🤞🏼
It’s a a cationic antimicrobial peptide, which makes me worry about the membrane integrity :/
Hi Adam, I would like to label my cells with SYTO84 and measure intracellular accumulation of a FITC-conjugated compound
Does anyone have experience with fixing Salmonella cells prior to flow cytometry as my current institution does not run BSL-2 organisms in their flow machines.
I need to measure intracellular dye accumulation, but worried about the effects of fixation on membrane permeability/integrity #academicsky
Headshot of Jeff Cole
We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Professor Jeff Cole, a long-standing member who held many positions in the Society. Jeff was elected an Honorary Member in 2011. You can read his full obituary here: microb.io/46xYzkz
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years thinking about genome evolution and how recent research revealing complex gene-gene interactions has complicated traditional ‘gene-centric’ genomic approaches to evolution. So here is a review that consolidates these thoughts!
rdcu.be/e6pHY
I am deeply saddened by Jeff's passing. Jeff lived and breathed microbiology, and was still very much part of the microbiology community in @imibirmingham.bsky.social until a few weeks ago. He was supportive to students and staff and will be sorely missed by many, here in Birmingham and elsewhere
What really annoys me is that numerous grants and papers probably relied on this paper and now it’s all likely for naught. 😡 Such a waste of money and resources.
#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/...
Picture of a dog laying on a patch of grass.
Picture of a dog sitting and looking at the camera.
Picture of a dog laying down and sleeping on a tiled floor.
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
Huge thanks to Kiran for juggling this alongside another project, and to Charlotte and Archie, our excellent master’s students, for their hard work. Special thanks to @babs-c.bsky.social for cell culture support, and to the Microbiology journal staff for a smooth publication process.
