Highlights from our recent participation!

Members of the Multi-Defence Consortium presented both talks and posters on phage defence systems — showcasing exciting progress across the field.

Great discussions, great science, and we’re excited to share more soon!
#MicroEvo25

Great to get together in Manchester last week for our consortium’s annual meeting – halfway through our 5-year collaboration! Inspiring discussions, exciting updates, and lots of ideas ahead. Excited for what’s next! 💡🔬🤝 #Science #Microbiology #TeamScience

Critically evaluating the relative importance of phage in shaping microbial community composition The ubiquity of bacteriophages (phages) and the major evolutionary and ecological impacts they can have on their microbial hosts has resulted in phages often cited as key drivers shaping microbial com...

Hello new phage phollowers!

I am shamelessly self-promoting mine and Angus Buckling's relatively new review "Critically evaluating the relative importance of phage in shaping microbial community composition"

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics - 2025 meeting

This meeting will be great!

Abstract submission open now

See you 26-27 Nov in Liverpool

microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

West African–South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae encodes multiple distinct phage defence systems - Nature Microbiology The West African–South American lineage of Vibrio cholerae contains multiple distinct anti-phage defence systems that provide resistance to various phage families, including vibriophage ICP1, a key pr...

🚨 Out now!

West African South American pandemic Vibrio cholerae encodes multiple distinct phage defence systems

#MicroSky 🦠 #Phage @mblokesch.bsky.social

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

First paper from the MultiDefence consortium reviewing what we know about multi-layered genome defences in bacteria. Supported by BBSRC sLoLa led by Edze Westra. Aleksei Agapov did a great job pulling it all together! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Hi! I’ve just started a PhD investigating bacterial defence systems with @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social Please can I be added?

The T-series bacteriophages are reductionist models that continue to shape the field - Nature Microbiology Jeremy Barr discusses how he began studying bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series phages and how they have shaped the field.

🚨Jeremy Barr discusses how he began studying #bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series #phages, and how they have shaped the field.

#MicroSky #PhageSky

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

... and don't miss the opportunity to meet @jeremyjbarr.bsky.social and other great speakers at the upcoming Seeon Conference in June ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ www.dghm.org/seeon/

Defence systems drive accessory genome interactions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa As well as undergoing mutational selection, bacterial genomes are shaped by a complex evolutionary interplay among diverse accessory genome elements (AGEs). In this study we define AGEs as encompassin...

Defence Systems are so hot right now 🔥 🔥 🔥 so check out our latest preprint to see how DSes contribute to niche adaptation, interact with each other, and drive accessory genome interactions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1/n
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A very warm welcome to Jasmine Thomas-Campbell - PhD student with @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social and Prof. Edze Westra; and to @taoranfu.bsky.social - PDRA with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social who have recently joined our Multidefence team 🥳 Looking forward to working together!!

Not a bad train journey reading this absolutely brilliant book by Tom Ireland. It perfectly illustrates the history, current situation and future of phage therapy! Finding some PhD motivation which is always nice 🥼📖

Highly recommend to anyone who wants to understand phages more!

We also have a couple of poster presentations today 255 from @drramabht.bsky.social, 282 from @anna-k-richmond.bsky.social, 062 from Meg Llewellyn and 068 from Jasmine Thomas-Campbell. All cool stuff about defence systems!

Phage vs Phage from @annaolina.bsky.social at #Microbio25. Fantastic talk!

@brockhurstlab.bsky.social giving a talk about eco-evolutionary mechanisms of AMR in the AMR session at #Microbio25

Another poster not to miss @microbiologysociety.org annual conference, @jasminetc2000.bsky.social is presenting her first year PhD work on Determining the regulation of the MADS defence system #Microbio25 🧪

Hi @bsky.app, First post! Thought it would be best to introduce myself! I’m a PhD student at the University of Bath studying the regulatory control of bacterial defence systems. I am a BBSRC SWBio funded student working within the project remit of a larger BBSRC sLoLa grant- MultiDefence.