Don't be shy to take on a little two-week side project. These five months will be the most precious three years of your academic journey.

Wonderful to have @pmoyniha.bsky.social from Western University, Canada (hosted by @lislowe.bsky.social) giving a @mhd-newcastle.bsky.social seminar @medicalsciencesncl.bsky.social @newcastleuni.bsky.social #mycobacterium #tb #cellwalls

Unbelievably proud of the work that everyone has put into this paper. Really grateful for such fab colleagues! Mycobacteria continue to be (subjectively) the most interesting bacteria 🤭

Very cool to see Type VII toxins involved in competition. Even more exciting avenues for the T7SS field!

Yes the lucky thing is it only affects mycobacterial cell wall polysaccharides so it’s easy to express in E. coli

*an arabinanase, obviously. Love a typo

And a big shout out to Kieran Bowran whose bioinformatics analysis suggests there are multiple toxins out there

Lots more to keep us busy for years to come thanks Kieran! 🙏

A GH with an immunity protein that binds with nM affinity and looks like this 🤩. Bacteria are always surprising us

We've been we've been working on this for quite a while now (hopefully published soon). Grateful to @proftracypalmer.bsky.social for concinving me & @lislowe.bsky.social that mycobacteria produce inter-bacterial toxins. Team science, led by @sambenedict5.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We’ve been sciencing! M abscessus makes a arabinanase toxin to chop up the cell wall of competitor mycobacteria! #glycotime 🦠 thanks to @wellcometrust.bsky.social for the funding that makes this collaborative work possible! Also Sam’s structures are 😍 and Jean-Lou did some lovely biochem

I’m at @lislowe.bsky.social 🫡

How can we tap into the enormous functional diversity of microbes on this planet?

Join us at EMBL Heidelberg (8–10 Dec 2026) to learn about ongoing efforts to decode gene function and organisation in human gut microbes, and present your science.

Plasmids are available now! "A universal protein ladder for standardisation of diverse FRET assays"
www.addgene.org/browse/artic...

PhD scholarship within biotechnology (296538) | Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) Job title: PhD scholarship within biotechnology (296538), Employer: Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Deadline: Friday, April 3, 2026

PhD position available in our lab at NMBU in 🇳🇴 with focus on proteomics, enzyme discovery, applied enzymology and a touch of microbiology🐟🧪🧬💻🦠 Deadline for applying: April 04, 2026. RTs highly appreciated. For details, see the link below 👇
www.jobbnorge.no/en/available...

Bacteriocin biophysics: From protein-protein interaction models to navigators of the bacterial cell envelope Bacteriocins are toxins deployed by bacteria to kill their competitors. Here, I reflect on my laboratory’s work on protein bacteriocins and their immunity proteins from Gram-negative bacteria. We unco...

A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends.

www.jbc.org/article/S002...

Cartoon representing the mycobacterial oxidative phosphorylation system, including cytochromes, NDH-2, and ATP synthase. Taken from Figure 1 of the article.

#Microbiology

The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear

Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works

@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR

http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W

I know what they're getting at with the "could put jobs at risk" but can we focus on the immediate impact? Each suspended round at MRC and BBSRC means about 80 fewer postdoc jobs and the retrospective cuts at MRC add another 30 or so

TAKE A THOUSAND NAKED PICTURES OF YOURSELF NOW. YOU MAY CURRENTLY THINK, "ON I'M TOO SPOOKY OR "NORODY WANTS TO SEE THESE TINY BOOBIES" BUT BEUEVE ME ONE DAY YOU WILL LOOK AT THOSE PICTURES WITH MUCH KINDER EYES AND SAY "DEAR GOD, I WAS A BEAUTIFUL THING! MORA ROSE

With much love RIP Catherine O'Hara.

A partially frozen Hudson River

Hudson Freeze #glycotime www.theguardian.com/us-news/vide...

That is such a niche joke and I love it

I am completely baffled by the total lack of any action or any evidence of speaking out from our scientific ‘leaders’. We’re in a void of information and the consequences are potentially catastrophic- especially as it looks like BBSRC are following suit.

Yeah that’s why I said partly on the mrc website. Bbsrc is just rumours for the time being

🤷‍♀️

Partly rumours partly in the mrc website

Not 100% confirmed for bbsrc

Characterising antibacterial toxins in the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Characterising antibacterial toxins in the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

www.findaphd.com/phds/project... interested in bacterial antagonism? PhD opportunity in our team, see below. Please repost!

Bbsrc and mrc grant apps paused until future notice

Research Fellow - Department of Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes - 106849 - Grade 7 To create and contribute to the creation of knowledge by undertaking a specified range of activities as part of an Investigator project funded by Wellcome, focusing on understanding microbial and diet...

Happy New Year – new role! 🎉

We’re looking for a PostDoc to join us in @halllab.bsky.social @unibirmingham.bsky.social.

Full-time, fixed-term to March 2028. Note tight closing date: 11 Jan 2026. CV + cover letter (submit via portal).

Further details 👇

edzz.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Same to you Luiz, hope you have a fab Christmas!