Alex Loy

A novel North Sea ammonia-oxidizing archaeon Nitrosarchaeum marinum leverages a high abundance of transport systems to grow over a wide salinity range Isolation and characterization of a novel North Sea ammonia oxidizing archaeon, Nitrosarchaeum marinum T12, reveals an adaptation to a broad salinity under

Long in the making, great to see the study on line at @femsmicro.org A novel North Sea ammonia-oxidizing archaeon Nitrosarchaeum marinum leverages a high abundance of transport systems to grow over a wide salinity range. #microbiology @ribesresearch.bsky.social academic.oup.com/femsec/artic...

One of my favorite papers of past few years!

Our new preprint introduces #kineochelins, a new group of #siderophores produced by the Antarctic soil actinomycete 🦠🔬🧫 #Actinokineospora sp. UV203

Kudos to the amazing Stanislava Králová & a fantastic team of collaborators 🤩
#microbiomesky

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Kineochelins - a novel group of siderophores from an Antarctic bacterium www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #jcampubs

Cell cycle dysregulation of globally important SAR11 bacteria resulting from environmental perturbation - Nature Microbiology Without key cell cycle control genes, SAR11 cells experience aneuploidy and growth inhibition when exposed to changes in nutrients, carbon sources or temperature stress, a vulnerability that may repre...

Our latest. Led by the very talented @ahoiching.bsky.social

Cell cycle dysregulation of globally important SAR11 bacteria resulting from environmental perturbation www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs 🌊

Baby-to-baby strain transmission shapes the developing gut microbiome - Nature A metagenomic survey of babies attending the first year of nursery detected extensive baby-to-baby microbial strain transmission, pointing to social interactions in infancy as crucial drivers of infan...

🥁 NEW

Our study on infant gut microbiome and #straintransmission is now published in @nature.com:

doi.org/10.1038/s415...

1/10

PhD studentships available through our BBSRC-funded doctoral programme.

🦠🧫💻 Contact me if you're interested in using bioinformatics/lab-based approaches with cultivated and uncultivated bacteria of the human microbiome, to identify and characterize novel enzymes with potential biotech applications.

🍻

Phylogeny and ecology of MCR-encoding archaea

New paper out in Current Opinion in Microbiology: MCR-encoding (potentially methanogenic) Thermoproteota are widespread and transcriptionally active in diverse anoxic ecosystems! @dr-zj.bsky.social, Matthew Kellom & @emileyeloe-fadrosh.bsky.social. Funded by DOE BER program. tinyurl.com/2fsyxswj 🦠🧪

Call is open!

...and would be happy if you apply with an exciting project in #microbiome research #microbial ecology that intersects with our research (e.g. ecology and evolution of microbial #sulfur metabolism, ecophysiology of environmental and host-associated microbiomes).

careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e...

📢 20 postdoctoral positions (full-time, 4 years) for outstanding female scientists 👩‍🔬 🔬 @univie.ac.at

The E-STEEM programme call opens January 7th, 2026 and closes March 3rd, 2026.
careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e...

I participate as a host...

Happy to post our latest paper:
doi.org/10.1111/1751...

Biases accumulate with age, so it is essential to begin teaching critical thinking as early as possible. The problems are HOW, given the complexity of its theory, and IN WHAT EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT? The solutions we propose in this paper are...

...and would be happy if you apply with an exciting project in #microbiome research #microbial ecology that intersects with our research (e.g. ecology and evolution of microbial #sulfur metabolism, ecophysiology of environmental and host-associated microbiomes).

careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e...

📢 20 postdoctoral positions (full-time, 4 years) for outstanding female scientists 👩‍🔬 🔬 @univie.ac.at

The E-STEEM programme call opens January 7th, 2026 and closes March 3rd, 2026.
careers.univie.ac.at/en/postdoc/e...

I participate as a host...

Associations between gut microbiota and personality traits: insights from a captive common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) colony | Microbiology Spectrum This study provides valuable insights into the intricate relationship between gut microbiota and host personality traits, using captive common marmosets as a model. By controlling for diet and housing conditions, it probes key host factors such as personality, age, sex, and social group membership, offering a robust framework for understanding microbiome-host interactions. The discovery of specific microbial taxa associated with personality traits, particularly the enrichment of sulfite-reducing genera in more avoidant individuals, underscores the potential of the gut microbiome to reflect or be associated with personality differences. These findings advance our understanding of microbiome-host dynamics and pave the way for future research on the mechanistic links between behavior and gut microbiota in other animal models and across broader ecological contexts.

📢 Our new article, co-first authored by Dr. Huimin Ye and myself, entitled “Associations between gut microbiota and personality traits: insights from a captive common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) colony” has just come out in Microbiology Spectrum. 🥳

journals.asm.org/doi/full/10....

A thread.

Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria Surprise discovery could pave the way for new treatments against drug-resistant infections.

Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Enteropathogenic bacteria evade ROCK-driven epithelial cell extrusion - Nature The bacterial ubiquitin ligase NleL evades host defence mechanisms both by inhibiting pyroptosis and by preventing infected intestinal epithelial cells from being extruded into the lumen and expelled ...

Check out our new publication, a collaboration with Giovanni Luchetti and Vishva Dixit @ Genentech.
We show that the E.coli effector NleL inhibits intestinal epithelial cell extrusion after #inflammasome activation via degrading the kinases ROCK1 and 2!!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Explainer 1/8

Activity-targeted metaproteomics uncovers rare syntrophic bacteria central to anaerobic community metabolism - Nature Microbiology An approach combining BONCAT, stable isotope probing and metaproteomics showcases the hidden metabolic interconnectivity of microorganisms within an anaerobic digestion community.

OUT NOW Activity-targeted metaproteomics uncovers rare syntrophic bacteria central to anaerobic community metabolism by @ryanziels.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

GTDB release 10: a complete and systematic taxonomy for 715 230 bacterial and 17 245 archaeal genomes Abstract. The Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB; https://gtdb.ecogenomic.org) provides a phylogenetically consistent and rank normalized genome-based taxonomy

Our @narjournal.bsky.social manuscript is out! It explores the growth of the GTDB (gtdb.ecogenomic.org) since its inception, as well as updates to the website, methodology, policies, and major taxonomic and nomenclatural changes over the past three years.

academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...

Podcast: Der Meeresboden - Mikroorganismen am Grund des Ozeans Ein Teelöffel voll Schlamm vom Meeresgrund enthält rund eine Milliarde Bakterien, Tausende verschiedener Arten. Kaum bekannt, aber faszinierend und wichtig für den Kohlenstoffkreislauf der Erde. Ein ...

A teaspoon of seafloor mud contains about a billion bacteria!

In IQ – Wissenschaft und Forschung-podcast of #Bayern2, Alexander Loy (@loyteam.bsky.social) talks about the hidden microbial world.

Listen here:🔗 www.ardaudiothek.de/episode/urn:...

The bacterial schizorhodopsins: novel light-driven inward proton pumps from Antarctic Minisyncoccota (Patescibacteria) and cyanobacteria, with implications for the proton-pumping mechanism www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

2 Postdoc vacancies: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT

Experimental:
🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, omics, biogeochem

Modelling:
🖥️ Bioenergetics, thermodynamics, ecological, biogeochem

☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply by 30 Sept

Ten microbiology organizations have come together to develop a global strategy to integrate microbial science into climate solutions. ISME is proud to stand alongside these partners in shaping this roadmap.
Read more: isme-microbes.org/microbes-wit...
#MicrobialEcology #ClimateAction

The University of Vienna celebrates its Tenure Track professors. 🌍 With a new international symposium #univie highlights the importance of #TenureTrack as a catalyst for change and a vital path for research excellence. 🤝
More about it here: ⤵️
www.univie.ac.at/en/news/deta...

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/...

Klimaforschung in Kanada Warum macht man eigentlich Feldforschung in Kanada? Was treibt uns Forscher*innen dazu, mit Bären- und Mosquitospray bewaffnet, bei jedem Wetter in Wäldern oder Mooren zu graben? Warum nehmen wir schm...

Von Wien nach Kanada: #Permafrost und heiße Quellen ❄️♨️
Warum macht man eigentlich #Feldforschung in #Kanada? 🔍 Was treibt uns Forscher*innen dazu, mit Bären- und Mosquitospray bewaffnet, bei jedem Wetter in Wäldern oder #Mooren zu graben? 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬
Erfahre mehr darüber in der #Rudolphina: ⤵️

Iron-respiring microbes could have a role in sulfur cycling A species of bacteria grows when both ferrihydrite and sulfide are present, but not when either is absent.

Nice summary from Songcan & Marc 🙏 on our discovery of a new microbial energy metabolism 🦠 🧫 ⚡ 🔌

Microbial Iron oxide respiration coupled to Sulfide Oxidation (MISO)

@nature.com Research Briefing 😍 doi.org/10.1038/d415...

📰 Original paper www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#microsky #microbiomesky

We are hiring: Full Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry of Metals Human activities are driving rapid environmental change on a global scale, with pollutants playing a critical role in pushing planetary systems beyond safe limits. These changes have profound conseque...

Deadline approaching on Sept 17! We are hiring a Full Professor of Environmental Biogeochemistry of Metals at #CeMESS at the University of Vienna.

Learn more: 🔗 edge.univie.ac.at/news-talks/n...

@edge-vienna.bsky.social @univie.ac.at #EnvironmentalBiochemistry

We are hiring: Full Professor of Soil Ecosystems and Global Change Soil ecosystems form the foundation of planetary health and play a critical role in climate feedback mechanisms. However, they are also vulnerable to the impacts of global change.

One week to go! Apply by Sept 17 for the Full Professor position in Soil Ecosystems and Global Change at #CeMESS at the University of Vienna.

More info: 🔗 ter.univie.ac.at/news-talks/n...

@univie.ac.at #SoilEcosystems #WeAreHiring