You know how bakers make croissants? This is like if croissants made bakers

Photo of a framed photo showing LGBT+ coloured agar plates arranged in the orders of the lgbt+ flag. There is also a bonus mug on the left of the image; the mug has text in Irish on it indicating my love of cake.

Inspired by @prideinmicro.bsky.social ‘s EDI Prize lecture at #microbio26, I’ve added a bit of LBGTQIA+ flare to my office to signal allyship and hopefully indicate that ours is an inclusive space. 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️

Night view of Belfast city with illuminated historic building and light trails promoting the Annual Conference 2026 at ICC Belfast, April 13-16.

Annual Conference 2026 begins today!

We’re delighted to open this year’s event—start by reading the welcome blog from Professor Gordon Dougan, FRS: https://microb.io/4bUkwMH #Microbio26

Hello Belfast 👋 🌞 ready for #Microbio26

Phage receptor prediction from genome sequencing alone. Bacterial receptor (blue) interacting with phage proteins (purple) is shown here

📣Huge preprint 🔔
Today we share something our group has been working toward for a long time, led by @lucasmoriniere.bsky.social We asked can we predict which receptor a phage targets from its genome sequence alone? For most phages, we couldn’t. So Lucas set out to do something I had only dreamed of.

How diverse is bacterial immunity ?

We report in @science.org how language models allowed us to predict 2.4M antiphage proteins spanning >23K novel potential systems.
👏 @emordret.bsky.social, @alexhv.bsky.social & al doi.org/10.1126/scie...

Explore them here defensefinder.mdmlab.fr/wiki/refseq_...

Protease-Controlled Prophage Activation in Staphylococcus aureus: New Mechanisms Driving Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence at University of St Andrews on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Protease-Controlled Prophage Activation in Staphylococcus aureus: New Mechanisms Driving Antimicrobial Resistance and Virulence at University of St Andrews, listed on FindAPhD.com

📢 Funded PhD in molecular microbiology & phage biology

How do bacterial stress responses control prophage activation and horizontal gene transfer?

Join us at St Andrews to dissect Clp protease–mediated regulation in Staphylococcus aureus.

Apply:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Bloodstream-associated Salmonella Typhimurium and Enteritidis iNTS pathovariants hyper-replicate in human macrophages www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01...

Can someone pinpoint if there is a Pseudomonas putida (e.g. KT2442) database where we can find out which lab has certain deletion mutants and/or report strains?

Coming from the B.subtilis field with #SubtiWiki containing all these info, it is difficult to find all available mutants in the papers

Fellowship application unsuccessful! First of many I am sure. Might be worth looking to leave Liverpool - if anyone in my network is looking for lecturers/junior group leaders. Hit me up. Virology, informatics, sequencing, RNA mods etc. 🦠🧬🧑‍💻

Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Microbial metal-head: the integrated roles of metal homeostasis in host-pathogen interaction at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD position available in our team to study how UPEC exploits metals to successfully colonise the host gut. Cool collaboration with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @banzhaflab.bsky.social Please share and get in touch for more details

Postdoctoral position - Synthetic Biology / Bacterial Immunity - Research The Bikard lab at Institut Pasteur in Paris is seeking to hire postdoctoral researchers. We are investigating bacteria / bacteriophages interactions, and the genetic innovation that happens at this in...

🚨 Hiring Alert! 🚨My lab at Institut Pasteur is recruiting several Postdocs! We have exciting open projects in: 🦠 Synthetic Biology and🛡️ Bacterial Immunity. Come do great science with us in the middle of Paris! 🇫🇷🥐 research.pasteur.fr/en/job/postd...

Ecological ubiquity and phylogeny drive nestedness in phages–bacteria networks and shape the bacterial defensome Author summary Viruses that infect bacteria, known as phages, are part of microbial communities and influence the abundance, diversity, and traits of their hosts. In an agriculture-related context, th...

#microsky #phagesky #phage
At last! Great to see this one out: journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

Here, we discovered a nested phage-bacteria network despite their high genetic and ecological diversity. Kudos to everyone involved, especially @chloe-feltin.bsky.social !
@phimresearch.bsky.social

#MicroSky #EvoBio #EvoSky #MevoSky

Environment-dependent evolution drives divergent adaptive strategies and parasite dynamics in a minimal community Prophages, phage genomes integrated into bacterial chromosomes, are widespread, yet, the extent to which these resident parasites contribute to host fitness and shape evolutionary trajectories, partic...

Preprint alert📢! 
Ever wondered how much bacterial parasites influence evolutionary outcomes of their host?
➡️ We co-evolved two bacterial strains in conditions in which the costs and benefits of prophage carriage varied

Here is what we found. 
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

#MicroSky #PhageSky
🧵

Virome Analysis Viruses are omnipresent and the most abundant biological entities on the planet. They play a critical role in shaping the ecology and evolution of all life forms. This chapter provides methods to perf...

I'm proud to share the latest methods work from my group. Led by @revathykri.bsky.social we wrote a book chapter on how we process and analyse viromes.

Thanks to co-authors @rikhaagmans.bsky.social @ryancook94.bsky.social & Alise Ponsero

link.springer.com/protocol/10....

More repressors 😅🔥

An unprecedented DNA recognition–mimicry switch governs induction in arbitrium phages Temperate phages integrate multiple information sources to regulate lysis-lysogeny transitions. SPBeta-like phages use arbitrium signalling and DNA damage to control repressor activity during lytic in...

Excited to share our latest work with @albertomarina.bsky.social and @avigdoreldar.bsky.social labs, where we decipher the mechanism by which SPβ-like phages sense the SOS response to control the lysis–lysogeny switch. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

It was really great to meet you @vivekmutalik.bsky.social !

High-throughput DNA extraction from soil: experiences? best kits? best tools? If you had a decent chunk of money to throw at it, what system would you set up to make it fast and high quality? 🌾 🧪 🔬 🦠

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.

Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.

A thread 1/8

Collage with headshots of ten individuals with a message announcing 'Prize Winners 2026 – Presenting at Annual Conference 2026.'

The Microbiology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our 2026 Prizes! The winners will be awarded and deliver Prize Lectures at Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast from 13–16 April. Find out more about it: microb.io/PrizeWinners.... Meet the winners below. #Microbio26

MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Liverpool on Fin... PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resistant zombies: how drug-resistance plasmids manipulate the behaviour of the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa at University of Li...

🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟‍♂️

Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Theres still time to apply for our PhD project on UPEC/immune cell interactions. Deadline December 4th

A person gestures while discussing a research poster with another attendee at a conference, with text announcing the Microbiology Society Annual Conference 2026 in Belfast, UK, from 13–16 April.

Final call! Abstract submissions for Annual Conference 2026 close at 23:59 GMT tonight. Submit your work and join us in Belfast: microb.io/AC26Abstracts #Microbio26

Salmonella multimutants enable efficient identification of SPI-2 effector protein function in gut inflammation and systemic colonization - Nature Communications Intracellular Salmonella enterica uses a type III secretion system to secrete more than 30 effector proteins into host cells. Here, Newson et al. generate six mutant strains deficient in different set...

Excited to share our latest work, where we create Salmonella mutants deficient for cohorts of SPI-2 T3SS effectors. These strains can be used to efficiently identify particular effectors that contribute to SPI-2 phenotypes doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Intracellular Salmonella hijacks the mitochondrial citrate carrier to evade host oxidative defenses - Nature Communications In this study, the authors show that Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium co-opts the host mitochondrial citrate carrier (CIC) to regulate the redox state of its vacuole, facilitating intracellular...

Intracellular Salmonella hijacks the mitochondrial citrate carrier to evade host oxidative defenses
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Night view of Belfast City Hall illuminated with colourful lights, promoting abstract submission closing for Annual Conference 2026 at ICC Belfast from April 13-16.

One week to go! Abstract submissions for Annual Conference 2026 close at 23:59 GMT on Tuesday 11 November. If you study microbes, there’s a home for your work at #Microbio26
Submit your work to one of >20 available sessions at: microb.io/AC26Abstracts

CVR PhD student Emma Davies stood left of a bright blue Microbiology Society banner with her Early Career Microbiologist of the Year certificate, with Microbiology PhD student Phoebe Crossley stood right of the banner with her third place certificate.

🆕 | @uofgsii.bsky.social postgrad researchers have taken top honours in the @microbiologysociety.org Sir Howard Dalton Early Career Microbiologist of the Year competition.

Emma Davies (@cvrinfo.bsky.social) was named winner, with Phoebe Crossley (Microbiology) 3rd.

🔗 www.gla.ac.uk/schools/infe...

Excited to see the fantastic work you all do on this project!