Microplastics have been found to interact with the gut microbiome – here’s what health effects they might have If the gut microbiome is disturbed, it could jeopardise our gut health.

Microplastics are everywhere. They are difficult to measure in human samples but may be interacting with our gut microbiomes to increase inflammation!

Read about it in a piece I wrote for The Conversation @theconversation.com

theconversation.com/microplastic...

A drug–microbiome–drug interaction impacts co-prescribed medications for Parkinson’s disease Nature Microbiology, Published online: 06 April 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02299-2Parkinson’s disease is managed through co-treatment with levodopa and tolcapone, with tolcapone altering the microbiome to increase its capacity to metabolize levodopa, implicating the gut microbiome in drug–drug interaction.

Out Now! A drug–microbiome–drug interaction impacts co-prescribed medications for Parkinson’s disease #MicroSky

Very nice story, congratulations Chiara and everyone involved!

Human DNA levels in feces reflect gut inflammation and associate with presence of gut species in IBD patients across the age spectrum - Microbiome Background Feces represent a complex biological matrix that provides valuable information about intestinal physiology and gut microbial activity. Comprehensive fecal DNA sequencing is mostly utilized ...

Finally out! 🥂
link.springer.com/article/10.1... We used 3 different methods to profile fecal DNA and analysed how gut microbiome composition and human cell fractions define disease severity in IBD pediatric patients.
Many thanks to my supervisor Moran Yassour and our collaborators 🧵⬇️

Does an imbalanced gut microbiome worsen chronic kidney disease?

By elucidating the ecological causes for changes in the gut microbiota composition during chronic kidney disease and its consequences for disease progression we were able to answer this question.

Frederick's @frederickreinhart.bsky.social paper on E. faecalis egress from host cells following intracellular replication is now up at #PLOS Pathogens. 😎 Check it out! dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

Microbiome-produced nicotinic acid controls colon regional identity and injury susceptibility @cellcellpress.bsky.social
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex... @ophirklein.bsky.social @jeremierispal.bsky.social @ucsfhealth.bsky.social @cedarssinaihsu.bsky.social

A global survey of taxa-metabolic associations across mouse microbiome communities Yilmaz et al. provide a global atlas of murine microbiota and their species variants across many vivaria and wild colonies. By integrating strain-resolved metagenomics, metabolomics, and structural an...

Weekend read:
Global survey of mouse microbiomes—a path to strengthening collaborative science

Searchable resource of microbiome composition variability across numerous murine vivaria & wild mouse colonies w/ insights on taxa-metabolic associations.
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Imbalance in gut microbial interactions as a marker of health and disease @science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@biorxivpreprint.bsky.social A JAK-STAT-activated myeloid hub at ulceration sites underlies resistance to anti-TNF therapy in Crohn's disease
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @univ-nantes.fr

On the balance of knowledge Nature Reviews Immunology, Published online: 05 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41577-026-01276-4Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern complex systems.

ICYMI: On the balance of knowledge

On the balance of knowledge Nature Reviews Immunology - Ruslan Medzhitov shares his thoughts on the balance between generating data and developing theories in immunology, with a focus on exploring the rules that govern...

In this World View article, Ruslan Medzhitov discusses the perils of too much data and not enough theory in modern immunology
rdcu.be/e2DCZ

Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation Nature Microbiology, Published online: 26 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02241-yLarge-scale computational and in vitro analyses identify commensal type III secretion systems and substrates in the human gut microbiome that can interact with human proteins to modulate immune pathways.

Out Now! Effector–host interactome map links type III secretion systems in healthy gut microbiomes to immune modulation #MicroSky

Enterococcus faecalis-derived lactic acid suppresses macrophage activation to facilitate persistent and polymicrobial wound infections Macrophage activation is essential for innate immunity and antimicrobial defense. We show that Enterococcus faecalis suppresses macrophage activation …

Lactic acid lover? Check out @ronni.bsky.social 's new work in
@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social showing how Enterococcus faecalis-derived LA suppresses macrophage activation, in turn promoting bacterial persistence and polymicrobial wound infection in vivo.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Human genetics guides the discovery of CARD9 inhibitors with anti-inflammatory activity @cellcellpress.bsky.social @thexavierlab.bsky.social @broadinstitute.org
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Contextualizing TH17 cells in cancer - Nature Reviews Immunology T helper 17 (TH17) cells can have both pro-tumour and antitumour effects. Understanding how they are regulated by environmental and regulatory cues according to context will inform strategies to harne...

New year, new paper! Thrilled to share that our review “Contextualising TH17 cells in cancer” is out now!

Congratulations to Declan & team for a fantastic, in depth overview🥳

Go give it a read here:
doi.org/10.1038/s415...

@natrevimmunol.nature.com
@kiroxford.bsky.social

Review @natrevimmunol.nature.com @ox.ac.uk
Contextualizing TH17 cells in cancer
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A gut-secreted histidine methyltransferase enforces cross-kingdom catalytic antifungal defense Bao et al. reveal that intestinal epithelial cells secrete METTL9, a histidine methyltransferase acting as a cross-kingdom antifungal effector. By methylating the fungal zincophore PRA1, METTL9 disrup...

METTL9, a cross-kingdom antifungal effector

Intestinal epithelial cells secrete histidine methyltransferase, METTL9, that methylates fungal zincophore PRA1, disrupting zinc acquisition & limiting Candida albicans colonization and dissemination
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Association of both diet and microbiome with health markers that can inform future causal and mechanistic studies @nature.com @cibior.bsky.social @fasnicar.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Comparative Assessment of Large Language Models for Microbial Phenotype Annotation Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly used to extract knowledge from text, yet their coverage and reliability in biology remain unclear. Microbial phenotypes are especially important to assess...

New preprint out now!
Comparative Assessment of Large Language Models for Microbial Phenotype Annotation
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Eosinophils enhance granuloma-mediated control of persistent Salmonella infection in mice @natmicrobiol.nature.com @stanforduniversity.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

2025 Pettenkofer Prize awarded to Teresa Thurston - Dunn School The award by the Pettenkofer Foundation recognised Teresa’s contributions to identifying how different bacterial effectors impact the outcome of infection.

Many congratulations Teresa!

Teresa Thurston was awarded the 2025 Pettenkofer Prize, recognising her contributions to identifying how different bacterial effectors impact the outcome of infection.

www.path.ox.ac.uk/news-article...

Gut bacteria metabolize natural and synthetic steroid hormones via the reductive OsrABC pathway Jacoby et al. identify a gut bacterial pathway that reduces natural and synthetic steroid hormones, including the anti-inflammatory drug prednisolone. This microbial activity is enriched in Crohn’s di...

Gut bacterial metabolism of steroid hormones

Gut bacterial pathway involving OsrABC reduces natural & synthetic steroid hormones, including prednisolone. This microbial activity is enriched in Crohn’s disease patients & diminishes drug bioavailability
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Strain displacement in microbiomes via ecological competition - Nature Microbiology Mathematical modelling and experimental tests reveal principles that govern displacement of a resident strain by an invader in microbial communities.

#NewResearch

Strain displacement in microbiomes via ecological competition

@erikbakkeren.bsky.social

#microsky

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

A host–pathogen arms race focused on dynamic regulation of the host epithelial barrier, wherein enteropathogenic bacteria evade ROCK-driven epithelial cell extrusion @nature.com @genentech.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How exercise promotes the immune system vs cancer, working through a gut bacteria metabolite
www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Development of a GC-MS/MS method to quantify 120 gut microbiota-derived metabolites The gut microbiota produces metabolites that are important for host physiology and have critical roles in the development of diseases, such as metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer....

📍Paper alert 📍

Our new preprint is available on: chemrxiv.org/engage/chemr...

Here, we show the development of a GC-MS/MS method for the quantification of 120 compounds produced by gut bacteria, including SCFA, indols, organic acids, and amino acid derivatives.

September meant it was the Powrie labs turn to organise an institute social! We hosted “The Great Kennedy Bake Off” and had lots of tasty entries, as well as a cake decorating competition! Congratulations to our winners - Lynn for best bake and Osheen for best decorating!🍰🍪🧁
@kiroxford.bsky.social

Hydrogen sulfide production distinguishes Salmonella from close relatives, but its biological significance remains obscure. This study uncovers the secret: Salmonella uses hydrogen sulfide production as a weapon to outcompete E. coli and gain a foothold in the gut.
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence - Nature Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.

Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.