3rd Microbial Evolution Network Ireland meeting 2026 Microbial Evolution Network Ireland meeting, at Trinity College Dublin

Just over two weeks left to register for MENI 2026! A !!free!! microbial evolution meeting in Ireland with some fantastic keynote speakers @jpjhall.bsky.social @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @tweethinking.bsky.social #Evolution #microbes

www.eventbrite.com/e/3rd-microb...

I also decided to give it a go to write this up in a way that's accessible without a strict scientific background: davvi36.wordpress.com/2026/02/20/p...

MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social and @tweethinking.bsky.social join us as keynote speakers this year. miniurl.com/MENI

Jamie Hall on stage speaking about the importance of publishing for the community.

Conferences like #microevo25 are possible because of the community publishing with @microbiologysociety.org

Intracellular competition shapes plasmid population dynamics From populations of multicellular organisms to selfish genetic elements, conflicts between levels of biological organization are central to evolution. Plasmids are extrachromosomal, self-replicating g...

Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Aww, thanks Dave!

🗣️Please pass on to anybody who might be interested, and get in touch if you have any questions!

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...

Genomic correlates of tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae Abstract. Phage-derived bacteriocins, also referred to as tailocins, are structures encoded by bacterial genomes and deployed into the extracellular enviro

Here’s published version of our manuscript using GWAS to investigate tailocin sensitivity in Pseudomonas syringae. TL:DR pretty clear LPS is tailocin receptor but also that P.syringae often completely swaps out its entire O antigen biosynth pathway w/ recombination

academic.oup.com/g3journal/ad...

New preprint with my HFSP collaborators. Network structures for bacterial and plasmid interactions determine community structure and evolvability: doi.org/10.32942/X21...

😆 Indeed! Now just wait till we publish our research on the effects of ketchup residues on drain trap mobile genetic element transmission (aka sauce-sink-source-sink plasmid transfer dynamics)

It was great fun writing this review with @gemccallum.bsky.social , even if our conclusions are rather scary. Lots of important pathogen evolution must be occurring outside of the infection context...

🚨 Reminder! You have just over two weeks to submit an abstract, if you want to present at the @microbiologysociety.org meeting "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics" in Liverpool in November! #microsky 🦠🧫🔬

Concerted genome expansion of heritable symbionts in an insect host Maternally transmitted symbionts represent important components of arthropod biology, acting as both beneficial partners and as reproductive parasites. Their strict vertical transmission greatly reduc...

New preprint ex @bolinabug.bsky.social (+ @daisukekageyama.bsky.social & @scottishwormboy.bsky.social) on the pronounced secondary expansion of Spiroplasma and Rickettsia genomes in lacewings doi.org/10.1101/2025... #symbiosky 1/2

Happy to finally have this out! It has been a fun side-project that we’ve been slowly working on for a while 🍜

I think it has turned out as a nice story, and demonstrates some important issues with historic taxonomic classifications in genome databases. All from investigating a contaminant! ⤵️

🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨

The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠

Check it out ➡️ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

1/15 🧵

It’s worth zooming in on the picture of the thesis hat — there is some incredible detail!

Congratulations to Vicki for successfully defending her thesis yesterday!

PhD viva passed!!! 🥳 🍻 Thank you to Liam Shaw and Stephen Cornell for assessing and for a very enjoyable discussion! Thank you to @jpjhall.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison and Calvin Dytham for being an amazing supervisory team throughout my PhD 😁

Mobile integrons encode phage defense systems Integrons are bacterial genetic elements that capture, stockpile, and modulate the expression of genes encoded in integron cassettes. Mobile integrons (MIs) are borne on plasmids, acting as a vehicle ...

🧪
Finally out after peer review, our work showing that "Mobile #Integrons carry Phage Defense Systems" is now published in Science 🎉

Short 🧵
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Our updated lab website is live!
We’ve kicked off a new project and a new look with it.

Take a look and let us know what you think! 👉 plasmidlab.es

Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics 2025

You're quite right, that link no longer seems to be working. Try this one, or navigate Events --> Society Events and Meetings microbiologysociety.org/event/societ....

‼️Update! Abstract submission is now open for the 2025 Liverpool UK @microbiologysociety.org meeting on "Understanding and predicting microbial evolutionary dynamics”! Deadline July 7th #microsky 🧪🧫🦠 microbiologysociety.org/event/societ...

Do restriction-modification systems shape plasmid sequence composition? A group of plasmid-aficionados, led by Liam Shaw, started to explore this during the 2023 @embo.org Workshop on Plasmids in Trieste. Happy to have contributed to this work and be part of such a great team!

Indirect Prompt Injection: Generative AI’s Greatest Security Flaw

Every time I have a conversation about AI in a journal publishing context and I mention indirect prompt injection, I'm met with blank expressions. People really need to read up on this.

cetas.turing.ac.uk/publications...

Congratulations Modupeh!! 🥳🙌🏻

Prize Medal 2025 winner, Professor Richard Lenski, presents their lecture on "Dynamics and Repeatability in a Long-Term Experiment with Bacteria" at #Microbio25. It begins at 18:30 BST. Read more about their work: microb.io/PrizeWinner2...

Preprint below has been a long time coming, here just in time for #microbio25 ! (if the train wifi lets me)
With @andrewmatthews.bsky.social
#MicroSky
🧵

Congratulations, Louise! 🎉

Thanks again for making Annual Conference 2025 such a success! Want to join us in 2026? Submit an article to our journals by June 30th for a chance to win your registration, whilst supporting us as a not-for-profit. Find out more here: microb.io/3o6DvhI