To thwart pathogens, researchers are giving beneficial microbes what they really want University of California San Diego researchers have developed a new tool for understanding and modifying any microbiome, including the human microbiome. The approach, called Microbial Interaction and ...

phys.org/news/2026-04...

A great watch and something new to learn!!

Microbial communities can harbor many species that do not coexist in pairs, yet can coexist in the full community. Here we provide the mathematical foundations of emergent coexistence, and explain why it can't be predicted from pairwise tests journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...

You need to make AI guidelines for your lab Here's why you should, and how to start

"The struggle of figuring out the right analysis approach, wrestling with an unexpected result, or trying to turn a messy set of findings into a coherent story is not an obstacle to learning. It _is_ the learning".

Required reading for AI in the lab:

blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...

Open Positions -

Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications.
Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101

Identification and functional insights into new phage tail-like bacteriocins targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa as new antimicrobials | Microbiology Spectrum journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

#microsky

NEW! This One Health case study explores antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a complex environmental public health issue that extends beyond clinical and agricultural settings into households, wildlife, and drinking water systems. ➡️ ncceh.ca/resources/ev...
#AMR #OneHealth

You asked, we listened. Millions of AI-predicted protein complex structures are now available in the #AlphaFold Database.

This spans homodimers from 20 of the most studied species, including humans, as well as the World Health Organization’s priority pathogens list.

www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...

Turning penicillin into a lethal force against bacteria again When many disease-causing bacteria encounter penicillin, they are not always destroyed right away, shifting into a temporary survival state called antibiotic tolerance. This state allows them to…

Turning #penicillin into a lethal force against #bacteria again ...

| #antibiotic | #antibiotictolerance | #betalactam | #cholera | By @cornelluniversity.bsky.social via @sciencex.bsky.social

Lovely work driven by Lizzie Ledger in the group: a new but druggable mechanism by which Staphs produce biofilm using components of human serum. First polysaccharides, then protein, then eDNA, now lipids too!

bsky.app/profile/bior...

Co-occurrence is associated with horizontal gene transfer across marine bacteria independent of phylogeny Abstract. Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring

Now out & nicely formatted in @isme-microbes.bsky.social

A big analysis of ocean genomes & metagenomes co-led by former postdocs, now PIs, @gmdouglas.bsky.social & @cyanophage.bsky.social along with co-PIs @lbobay.bsky.social & Samuel Chaffron.

A few highlights... 🧵 (1/n)

doi.org/10.1093/isme...

In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨

Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!)

Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇

doi.org/10.1093/fems...

Loss of Fsr quorum sensing promotes biofilm formation and worsens outcomes in enterococcal infective endocarditis - Nature Communications Infective endocarditis (IE) is an understudied biofilm-associated infection. Here, analyses of preclinical and clinical data reveal that the Fsr quorum sensing (QS) system of Enterococcus faecalis is ...

What if quorum sensing doesn’t promote biofilms - but restrains it? 🤔

New work from @harisantypas.bsky.social shows that the Fsr QS system in Enterococcus faecalis acts as a brake on biofilm formation and pathogenesis during infective endocarditis (IE).

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#microsky #antimicrobialresistance

A major takeaway from Day 1 of #AMR2026 is that we need to increase public and investor awareness. I like the suggestion to reframe AMR in accessible language (without acronyms) that conveys the enormity of the problem:
“Deadly infections for which there is no cure” has immediate impact!

Excited for Day 2 #AMR2026. @Fleming_Initiative and @csiro.bsky.social have put together an informative 3day program delivered by panels of international experts from across One Health sectors, stakeholders and policymakers.

Science works best when more voices are at the table. At SCELSE, 56% of our researchers are women — above the global average of 33.3%. Kudos to all the women researchers at SCELSE driving scientific excellence & impact!
@cwhitch.bsky.social #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM #SCELSEImpact

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The 5 stages of the ‘enshittification’ of academic publishing Academic publishing now shows the same decline that has hit social media and online marketplaces.

theconversation.com/the-5-stages...

#Sciencesky

The Truth Physics Can No Longer Ignore The fundamental nature of living things challenges assumptions that physicists have held for centuries.

New vistas to explore. I like it!

#chances2learn #complexity #sayNotoReductionism

#Microsky #Sciencesky 🧪🧫

We are a Molecular Microbiology laboratory at the Andalusian Center of Developmental Biology (CABD) in Sevilla, Spain. Our main interests are gene regulation and signal transduction in the lifestyle switch between planktonic and biofilm growth. Also see us at baclifestyle.es

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, my model for research on quorum sensing, biofilms, and opportunistic infections | Journal of Bacteriology With encouragement from the Journal of Bacteriology Editor in Chief, George O’Toole, I have written this short essay in a style different than Journal of Bacteriology articles on model organisms. It i...

I have just read Prof E. Peter Greenberg latest editorial paper, explaining why he has been working on P. aeruginosa.

That is very refreshing to hear how research is also impacted by interpersonal relationships and personal events.

We should hear more about it.

doi.org/10.1128/jb.0...

Prof Cynthia Whitchurch @cwhitch.bsky.social, SCELSE Research Director, is a keynote speaker at the Asia-Pacific Biofilm Conference 2026, presenting “When death becomes a biofilm”. Registration and abstract submissions are now open — join the region’s biofilm community in Melbourne.

Antimicrobial peptide delivery to lung as peptibody mRNA in anti-inflammatory lipids treats multidrug-resistant bacterial pneumonia - Nature Biotechnology Antimicrobial peptides delivered to mouse lung as mRNA peptibodies eradicate multidrug-resistant pneumonia.

#NatMicroPicks

Peptibody mRNA therapy for AMR infections! 💉🧬

mRNA-delivered peptibody AMPs eradicate MDR pneumonia and outperform FDA-approved antibiotics while reducing inflammation

#SynBio #MicroSky 🦠 @natbiotech.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Nutrient competition predicts gut microbiome restructuring under drug perturbations Systematic profiling of 707 drugs on their impact on stool-derived microbial communities shows that nutrient competition explains and predicts species shifts under drug treatment and that post-drug re...

#NatMicroPicks

How drugs reshape the gut microbiome? 💊🦠

Screening 707 drugs in gut microbial communities reveals nutrient competition as the key driver of compositional and metabolic shifts.

#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...

#NatMicroPicks

Editing gut microbiota in vivo! 🔧🧬🦠

MetaEdit enables precise in vivo CRISPR-based editing of native gut bacteria, integrating new pathways at single-nucleotide resolution

#MicroSky #SynBio

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

I believe that by understanding how and why bacteria adopt different lifestyles we will identify opportunities for developing innovative approaches to outsmart superbugs and help tackle AMR.

Woman standing in front of a slide describing why antimicrobial resistance and antibiotic access is an urgent threat to human sustainability

Fortuitous timing for my NTU-SBS seminar to land in World Antimicrobial Awareness Week #WAAW. I took the opportunity to showcase our research into alternate bacterial lifestyles and how we are leveraging this understanding to develop innovative approaches to combat AMR
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@scelse.bsky.social