Did you know that the NHS offers free latent TB infection testing and treatment to people at greatest risk of TB? As at you GP surgery or find out more at www.thetruthabouttb.org. Prevention is better than cure. #worldtbday2026 #worldtbday

Predicting pyrazinamide resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a graph convolutional network - BMC Microbiology BMC Microbiology - Pyrazinamide is an important first-line antibiotic for treating tuberculosis, with resistance primarily driven by mutations in the pncA gene. Traditional machine learning models...

Using graph neural networks and protein structural data, we’ve also shown how deep learning can improve prediction of pyrazinamide resistance — highlighting the potential of structure-aware models to tackle complex antimicrobial resistance challenges.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Compensatory mutations are associated with increased in vitro growth in resistant clinical samples of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Mutations in Mycobacterium tuberculosis associated with resistance to antibiotics often come with a fitness cost for the bacteria. Resistance to the first-line drug rifampicin leads to lower competiti...

We’ve explored compensatory mutations that can restore bacterial fitness in resistant strains, helping explain how resistant TB continues to spread — and reinforcing the urgency of better diagnostics and stewardship.
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

An improved catalogue for whole-genome sequencing prediction of bedaquiline resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a reproducible algorithmic approach Bedaquiline (BDQ) has only been approved for use for just over a decade and is a key drug for treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; however, rising levels of resistance threaten to reduce its eff...

Our work on bedaquiline resistance (catomatic) provides a reproducible way to construct catalogues of resistance-associated variants — critical for protecting one of the key drugs used to treat MDR-TB.
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Characterizing the performance of an antibiotic resistance prediction tool, gnomonicus, using a diverse test set of 2,663 Mycobacterium tuberculosis samples Tuberculosis remains a global health problem. Making it easier and quicker to identify which antibiotics an infection is likely to be susceptible to will be a key part of the solution. Whilst whole-ge...

We’ve developed tools like gnomonicus, which translate genomic data into actionable resistance predictions using the WHO catalogue, achieving >95% sensitivity and specificity for two key first-line drugs.
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Our recent preprint shows that Oxford Nanopore sequencing, combined with improved DNA extraction and amplification, can deliver rapid and reliable genomic characterisation directly from clinical cultures — helping move toward real-time TB diagnostics.
Read more: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

On #WorldTBDay, it’s important to reflect on the scale of the challenge we’re facing.
In 2024 alone, tuberculosis (TB) caused 1.23 million deaths worldwide, remaining the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, according to WHO

@ndm.ox.ac.uk

Since 2017 the CRyPTIC project collected and collated 53,897 clinical TB samples with genetics and drug susceptibility testing data.

You can download the datasets via crypticproject.info and v4.0.0 will appear later this year.

#WorldTBDay @modmedmicro.bsky.social

Bash the Bug at ATOM Festival: Dancing, Germs, and the Challenge of Antimicrobial Resistance!

We had a fantastic time this weekend at ATOM Festival in Abingdon, bringing microbiology to life with our Bash the Bug public engagement activities.

It was fantastic to see so many people getting involved, asking great questions, and learning about microbiology in the sunshine. Thanks to everyone who came to say hello, and to our brilliant team for all their enthusiasm!

#BashTheBug #Microbiology #PublicOutreach #ATOMFestival

We had a brilliant time this weekend at ATOM Festival in Abingdon! ☀️🦠

We brought along our favourite interactive activities to help people learn about antimicrobial resistance #AMR, including our dance mat game where you fight germs with antibiotics, and we tested everyone’s handwashing skills!

1/ A child in a lab coat holding a stick with a sweet on it. Text reads: ‘Spark curiosity this British Science Week’. Download free teaching resources at e-bug.eu’

2/ A close-up of hands glowing green against a dark blue background. Text reads: ‘what if every surface showed glowing fingerprints? Download free teaching resources at e-bug.eu’

3/ A close-up of a blue and white capsule with nothing inside it. Text reads: ‘what if antibiotics stopped working? Download free teaching resources at e-bug.eu’

4/ A blue background with white text reading ‘at e-bug.eu every week is science week’

Science is everywhere: in our bodies, our food, our classrooms.

This #BritishScienceWeek, meet e-Bug: UKHSA's free health education programme, which helps teachers bring infection science to life from early years to KS3.

Curious? Find out more at 🔗 https://www.e-bug.eu/british-science-week

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 👩‍🔬

Proud to work alongside the scientists in our #microbiology lab whose work in antimicrobial resistance, public health and diagnostics has real-world impact!

#WomenInScience #AMR #PublicHealth @medsci.ox.ac.uk @ox.ac.uk @oxfordbrc.bsky.social

MMM has an exciting UNIQ+ project running this summer -apply now!

Bacteria, microplastics & resistance — what’s the connection?

#Microplastics are everywhere, even in hospitals. But what happens when bacteria stick to them? Come and find out!

@afswinkels.bsky.social @nstoesser.bsky.social

Happy our preprint is out🦠:

"Evaluation of an Oxford Nanopore sequencing workflow for mycobacteria from primary MGIT culture"

We developed and tested a workflow for long-read sequencing of #mycobacteria, including optimising DNA extraction and assessing how #ONT performs compared with #Illumina.

Our project "Sardinia’s Invisible Marine Microbiome" is one of six 2026 #PartArt4OW participatory art initiatives! Excited to do this with the brilliant @annadumitriu.bsky.social (image credit), Sardinian scientists, citizens of Alghero, and colleagues in @modmedmicro.bsky.social @bashthebug.net

What is UNIQplus? | University of Oxford The UNIQplus programmeThe UNIQplus programme is aimed at supporting talented undergraduates from under-represented groups, who would find continuing into postgraduate study a challenge for reasons

Univ of Oxford UNIQ+ scheme applications open: 7-week research internship this Summer www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g.... Lots of projects - one in our lab on microplastics & AMR & hospital environments at @modmedmicro.bsky.social led by Aram Swinkels www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g... (Clin Med 04). Join us!

Nanopore adaptive sampling for bacterial identification from periprosthetic joint replacement tissue Metagenomic approaches to the diagnosis of prosthetic joint infections promise more accurate and more rapid diagnosis. However, the high host DNA to bacterial DNA ratio is a challenge. Nanopore adapti...

Read the full paper here: tinyurl.com/2a5z6tt8

🔬 New blog post!

Infections after joint replacement are serious, and identifying the bacteria quickly is crucial for patient care. We explain our research into metagenomic sequencing—reading all DNA in a sample to identify bacteria without needing lab growth.

👉 tinyurl.com/mrh8ukha

#AMR #Genomics

Characterizing the performance of an antibiotic resistance prediction tool, gnomonicus, using a diverse test set of 2,663 Mycobacterium tuberculosis samples Tuberculosis remains a global health problem. Making it easier and quicker to identify which antibiotics an infection is likely to be susceptible to will be a key part of the solution. Whilst whole-ge...

Our paper is out in Microbial Genomics! 🧬

We evaluate gnomonicus, an open-source AMR prediction tool, using 2,663 Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomes—showing how WGS can deliver faster, scalable TB resistance predictions.

Read the full paper here🔗 bit.ly/4iZepd1

#TB #AMR #Genomics

Diagnosing infected replacement hip or knee joints

When patients suffer infections related to replaced knee or hip joints, medical teams need to know which bacteria are causing the problem. A promising new method called metagenomic sequencing reads all the DNA in a sample and can identify bacteria…

Plant sale for Oxford Hospitals Charity Last week the MMM Unit held a plant sale to raise some money for Oxford Hospitals Charity. The work had started some weeks before with lots of propagation of spider plants and sourcing of paper coffee pots (so we didn't have to buy any plastic pots). The stall was staffed all day -- by Katie Hopkins and Valentina Pennetta in the photo -- and a grand total of £212 was raised. It's the first year we've run an event like this and the team are already looking forward to next year!

Plant sale for Oxford Hospitals Charity

Last week the MMM Unit held a plant sale to raise some money for Oxford Hospitals Charity. The work had started some weeks before with lots of propagation of spider plants and sourcing of paper coffee pots (so we didn't have to buy any plastic pots). The…

Our team wore blue for World Antimicrobial Awareness Week 2025💙

Research into how resistance emerges, spreads and can be prevented is vital. Our group works to understand these processes and develop better tools to detect, monitor and combat antimicrobial resistance.

#WAAW @oxfordbrc.bsky.social

Dr Bernadette Young talking about Fluoroquinolones

You can listen to our very own Dr Bernadette Young talking about fluoroquinolones -- these are a very valuable and widely-used class of antibiotics -- on Episode 32 of the Communicable podcast. This prestigious podcast is published by the European…

Follow us to find out more about antimicrobial resistance this World Antimicrobial Awareness Week!

#WAAW #WAAW2025 #AMR @oxfordbrc.bsky.social

An infographic stating that between now and 2050, 39.1 million people globally will die from infections attributed to antimicrobial resistance. This number is equivalent to over half the current UK population.

An infographic stating that taking your full course of antibiotics can help reduce antimicrobial resistance and save lives.

Why is antimicrobial awareness important?

Antimicrobial resistant infections are rising. In the next 25 years an estimated 39.1 million people globally will die from infections with antimicrobial resistance.

So what can you do to help? Something as simple as finishing your course of antibiotics!

Credit: Nicola Fawcett, Chris Wood, Oxford Medical Illustration (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International – CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). 💙

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi & parasites change over time - leading to medicines being less effective against them.
Here you see bacteria growing and antibiotics (the small discs) which kill the bacteria...unless they are resistant!
#WAAW #AMR @oxfordbrc.bsky.social

Bash The Bug (@BashTheBug) / X Bash The Bug (@BashTheBug) / X

Are you interested in infections, the micro-organisms that cause them and antimicrobial resistance? So are @bashthebug.net and they're looking for new members to join their patient & public group. More info: bashthebug.net/lay-represen... Deadline 27 Nov @ouhospitals.bsky.social @medsci.ox.ac.uk

🔔🔔Post-doc in microbial genomics with @modmedmicro.bsky.social🧬 - deadline tomorrow! Big genomic and clinical datasets to play with, friendly and very multidisciplinary team!

my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...