Tim Overton

New paper! A fun collaboration with Aneika Leney's group (@leneyms.bsky.social), looking for cyanobacteria in lake water using novel mass spectrometry approaches (and comparing with flow cytometry) pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Two Scarlet Tiger moths, iridescent black with red, orange and white spots, on a car tyre

A surprise sighting yesterday in Birmingham - two Scarlet Tiger moths on a car tyre!

Starting September 2025, closing date end of May, please contact me if you have questions / for a chat about the project!

Exciting new PhD project!

Are you interested in the microbiology of the mouth, and how we could develop new oral care products to reduce harmful bacteria while helping beneficial ones?

Fully funded by EPSRC (UK students only) and working with Colgate.

www.birmingham.ac.uk/documents/co...

Back at work now but Scotland last week was pretty good

Brilliant news! Well done Ilyas!

Chiffchaff singing outside my office window reminds me that spring is very much here.

Concert today in symphony hall - Stravinsky!

Not done a fellowship interview, but certainly most interviews I have done made me reflect on my life choices to date! (Hope it went OK)

Kaasen and Balto

The Balto statue in Central Park, New York

Seattle Star

Feb. 2, 1925: Dogs save the city of Nome, Alaska. A team of huskies races into the dipththeria-stricken city dragging a sled that carries enough antitoxin to halt the epidemic. The last leg of the heroic relay is directed by musher Gunnar Kaasen and his lead dog, Balto. 1/10

Tomorrow - playing with solihullsymphony.org.uk in Dorridge, an Opera Gala with Puccini / Wagner / Verdi et al.

A little bit of hope after a terrible week A survival guide to the next four years.

It's been a terrible week. A terrible, terrible week. The worst people on earth are full of energy and vigour, the best are defined by anxiety and self-doubt. Here are three simple rules to surviving the next four years, because by God we'll need them iandunt.substack.com/p/a-little-b...

I'm trying to listen to some new music this year, and starting alphabetically on spotify. This week's discovery - Hendrik Andriessen, father of Louis Andriessen

I find it comforting that I'm partly made up of bacteria and fungi and other little critters. My microbiota make me want to be gentle with myself, even when I'm having a bad day. How cool is it to be a planet that has the capacity to think about and even love its inhabitants?

Concert tomorrow with the Solihull Symphony Orchestra - marking Bruckner 200 with a performance of his 4th Symphony. Quite a bit for the 📯 to do!

solihullsymphony.org.uk/our-next-con...

I have three PhD studentships available currently through the MIBTP DTP warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa... on different aspects of the respiratory microbiome, interaction with mucin with @lucyicm.bsky.social, the resistome with Dr Michelle Buckner and pathobionts with @bacterioskeptic.bsky.social

New lab motto

MIBTP PhD applications are now open! There are three associated with my lab.1) infant gut microbes and human milk oligosaccharides with @halllab.bsky.social 2) respiratory microbiome nutrition with Mike Cox 3) mucus-producing organoids with Amanda Rossiter!
🧪✨

warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

Please contact me if interested!

.... and using sound to combat biofilms with Prof Paula Mendes (warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...)

I am also co-supervising projects on antibiotic accumulation in bacteria with @jessicamablair.bsky.social (warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...), virulence and AMR in Staphylococcus with
Prof Joan Geoghegan (warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa....

A project in my lab with @jessicamablair.bsky.social
seeks to understand how efflux pumps can be used to improve organic solvent tolerance in industrial processes, and how this can be balanced against energy demands. warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

New PhD projects as part of the BBSRC-funded MIBTP scheme! Fully funded and open to home and overseas students! Are you interested in bioprocesses, antimicrobial resistance, virulence, or biofilms?

Incredible graphic - the myriad of ways that bacteria defend themselves against antibiotics.

14 resistance mechanisms, summarised by Idan Yelin & Roy Kishony in Cell

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This project was great fun and very interdisciplinary - thanks for everyone's hard work!

Nanovibrational Stimulation of Escherichia coli Mitigates Surface Adhesion by Altering Cell Membrane Potential Mechanical forces shape living matter from the macro- to the microscale as both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells are force wielders and sensors. However, whereas such forces have been used to control ...

New paper! What happens when you apply vibration to bacteria? We asked this question for E. coli and revealed that attachment decreases. This response requires live cells and involves membrane potential.

pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

This project was loads of fun and a real team effort - thanks to Emily, Tosin, Alex, Pauline and Sarah - @jessicamablair.bsky.social and I are looking forward to continuing the story!

This adds to the growing story of the links between energy metabolism, physiology, and bacteria evading antibiotics and generally being troublesome.

Efflux pumps mediate changes to fundamental bacterial physiology via membrane potential | mBio We demonstrate for the first time that deactivation of efflux pumps brings about changes to gross bacterial physiology and metabolism. Rather than simply being a response to noxious substances, efflux...

New paper! Deactivating efflux pumps results in major changes to bacterial physiology. We demonstrate that knockout of the major efflux pump AcrB results in changes to membrane potential.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...