I have a PhD position available on freshwater phage pollution, in terms of AMR impact and persistance of phage used in food and agriculture. #PhageSky #MicroSky www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
21.11.2025 15:55 โ ๐ 14 ๐ 17 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0@timskvortsov.bsky.social
Lecturer in Microbial Biotechnology and Bioinformatics at the School of Pharmacy, Queen's University Belfast. #Phage, microbes, genomes, computers.
I have a PhD position available on freshwater phage pollution, in terms of AMR impact and persistance of phage used in food and agriculture. #PhageSky #MicroSky www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
21.11.2025 15:55 โ ๐ 14 ๐ 17 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0ProFlex Suite output screenshot
Finally, we provide a suite of tools that allow users users to convert PDB into ProFlex, search for proteins with similar flexibility patterns in structural databases, and compare ProFlex-encoded protein sequences with each other.
13.10.2025 16:29 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0We hope that our approach will facilitate new insights into protein function and make a better use of the expanding structural atlas.
Manuscript: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
ProFlex Suite: github.com/DamianJM/pro...
#protein #dynamics #phage
Phylogenetic and similarity analysis of selected Tevenvirinae major capsid protein sequences and structures.
We analysed 15 major capsid protein sequences from Tevenvirinae phages using sequence, structutal and ProFlex comparisons and demonstrated that all tested approaches detect the underlying phylogenetic relationship and provide complementary information about the proteins.
13.10.2025 16:27 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 0Alignment of ProFlex-encoded protein sequences
Together with my very good friend and brilliant colleague Damian Magill we developed ProFlex, a protein โalphabetโ that turns protein flexibility patterns into an easy-to-compare sequences.
13.10.2025 16:27 โ ๐ 0 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0Nature Communications paper: ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐
Superb news to kick off the week! ๐ Our new paper is out today in
@natcomms.nature.com
๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฒ๐
๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ด๐๐ถ๐๐๐ถ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฑ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐บ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ป๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐น ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐๐๐ถ๐
Are you interested a fully funded PhD? We would like to understand the role phages play in well- and poorly-performing broiler flocks using AI!
Learn more here: sustain-cdt.ai/advertised-p...
Apply by Friday, 17 October @ 12:00:
This UKRI AI CDT SUSTAIN project and will be supervised by Dr Didier Devaurs and Dr Leighton Pritchard (Strathclyde), Dr Victoria Smyth (AFBI), and me.
You will learn a lot about #AI, machine learning, bioinformatics, microbiology, food production, animal health, and #phage!
Are you interested a fully funded PhD? We would like to understand the role phages play in well- and poorly-performing broiler flocks using AI!
Learn more here: sustain-cdt.ai/advertised-p...
Apply by Friday, 17 October @ 12:00:
Very interesting - but I can't seem to find the upper size limit of the payload that can be delivered this way in the paper
13.08.2025 18:04 โ ๐ 2 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0๐ Exciting news! Weโre launching three fully-funded postdoc positions for "New Horizons for Synthetic Phagesโ
Join us in tackling antimicrobial resistance with cutting-edge synthetic biology + AI bioinformatics. Based at Flinders Uni in vibrant Adelaide.
๐ Read on for details!
#Phage
I really enjoyed working on this piece about #AI in #microbiology research with @thomacillin.bsky.social We are exploring how the data and the user affect the performance of AI, discuss reasoning, and outline 5 key principles of working with AI.
#MicroSky
First official guidance on the development and use of #phage therapies in the UK has been published by MHRA!
www.gov.uk/government/n...
Massive congratulations to Darvelโs 2nd most famous microbiologist๐ฆ ๐ฌRoss Duncan ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ for passing his viva yesterday! Thanks to @tcoenye.bsky.social and Dr Deirdre Gilpin for conducting the viva, and @timskvortsov.bsky.social for chairing. Very proud supervisor #biofilms #coldplasma #pharmacyQUB
02.04.2025 19:21 โ ๐ 7 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0TEM of a phage with a top hat and a monocle. AI-generated
Thanks to #AI enhanced TEM, we can now see previously missed details of #phage morphology
27.03.2025 19:41 โ ๐ 14 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 0Extremely proud of Akash Shambharkar, who successfully defended his PhD thesis investigating #phage based approaches against CAUTIs! It was a pleasure supervising Akash with Brendan Gilmore.
Many thanks to Brian Jones and Matthew Wylie for examining, and to Sheiliza Carmali for chairing the viva!
offers a world-leading research environment and abundant opportunities for personal and professional growth in a supportive and welcoming community. Further information about the scheme can be found on Queen's University website.
www.qub.ac.uk/Research/our...
#MCSA
I am looking for a post-doctoral researcher to develop a joint application for Marie Skลodowska-Curie Fellowship 2025, focusing on #phage biology and bioinformatics.
If interested, please send me your CV and a brief outline of your research project at your earliest opportunity.
Delighted to represent our lab together with our PhD student Shauna at the NI Science Festival 2025 (@niscifest.bsky.social) and to talk about the exciting bacteriophage research we are conducting at the QUB School of Pharmacy (@qubelfastofficial.bsky.social !
#NISF25 #phage
It's Phriday! Huge thanks to our student Maria for the #phage cake - it was as delicious as it was cool looking!
31.01.2025 17:42 โ ๐ 3 ๐ 0 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0Finally, our work underscores the importance of integrating genomic data with public health measures to better prepare for future pandemics.
#SARSCoV2 #Ireland #NorthernIreland #COVID19 #SARS
Our study:
๐ฌ Demonstrates the critical role of whole genome sequencing (WGS) in identifying introduction events
๐ Explores the influence of population density, deprivation, and policy on transmission
๐ Provides aa scalable framework for tracking infectious diseases globally
Key findings:
๐ท England accounted for 57% of introductions
๐ท Introduction rates for variants were comparable, except Delta, which was higher in NI
๐ท Over 60% of introductions resulted in detection of only a single descendant
Happy to announce that our study on the introduction and spread of SARS-CoV-2 across the island of Ireland has now been published in Genome Medicine!
Using phylogenetics and geospatiotemporal analysis, we traced 4,439 #SARS-CoV-2 introductions to Ireland (2020โ2022).
If you are interested in prophages, we have a new database: Prophage-DB. Check it out and all feedback is welcome biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...
17.07.2024 05:27 โ ๐ 13 ๐ 18 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0