Ilyas Alav

Email inbox screenshot showing a message from Expedia with an airplane icon. It suggests, "Ilyas, you need a vacation," offering recommendations.

it’s a sign 🥲

As a 30 year old, taxes and student loan repayments have completely evaporated my will to live 😭

So proud of the lab for its achievements - Thank you to the Pettenkofer foundation for recognising our contributions - here’s to some more bacterial effector related fun in the future! @dunnschool.bsky.social

Despite the lack of understanding of what their exact roles are in bacterial virulence, inhibiting their function appears to be a feasible anti-virulence strategy. We hope this will catalyse interest in targeting RND efflux pumps to mitigate both bacterial AMR and virulence.

Beyond antibiotic resistance: evidence for resistance-nodulation-division (RND) efflux pumps as virulence determinants | Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews SUMMARYEarly in evolution, cells acquired the ability to use energy to export waste and toxic products against a concentration gradient. In Gram-negative bacteria, the resistance-nodulation-cell divis...

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
My first corresponding author paper is now out in MMBR @asm.org! In this review, @csdetweiler.bsky.social and I assess the evidence for RND efflux pumps as virulence determinants in Gram-negative bacteria.

Powering team science to unlock life’s secrets Four world-class teams awarded major BBSRC sLoLa grants to push the frontiers of discovery in microbiology, photosynthesis, gene regulation and quantum biology.

Really excited to say that we have been awarded a BBSRC sLola! Really looking forward to kick off this project with such a fantastic team! @webberma.bsky.social @overtonlab.bsky.social @bugsinblood.bsky.social Sara Jabbari, Dong-Hyun Kim @imibirmingham.bsky.social www.ukri.org/news/powerin...

Congratulations Bex! 🎉

Natural products from food sources can alter the spread of antimicrobial resistance plasmids in Enterobacterales Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to global public health. Notably, resistance to carbapenem and extended-spectrum β-lactam antibiotics in Gram-negative bacteria is a major…

Did you know food-derived natural products may reveal how antimicrobial resistance plasmids spread in Enterobacterales? Celebrate World Food Day by reflecting on how our diet affects the world. Read more in Microbiology: doi.org/10.1099/mic.... #MicrobioJ #WorldFoodDay

New PhDs in my lab starting 2026!
Funded projects as part of the MIBTP centre (funded by BBSRC) now open for applications: warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

Are you interested in biofilms? We have a couple of projects - looking at the links between energy metabolism and biofilms - and electricity!

Research Fellow at University of Birmingham Apply now for the Research Fellow role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

Job opportunity in my lab! We're looking for a post-doc to come join us for an exciting project exploring the evolution of #AMR and #hypervirulence in #klebsiella. Please share!! @unibirmingham.bsky.social Details: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV067/r...

Strain-dependent contribution of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump to Klebsiella pneumoniae physiology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.26.678718v1

Strain-dependent contribution of the AcrAB-TolC efflux pump to Klebsiella pneumoniae physiology Klebsiella pneumoniae is a prominent opportunistic pathogen increasingly associated with multidrug resistance and virulence. One of the main mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in K. pneumoniae is ...

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
New preprint of my first corresponding author research paper! This is the result of my master students and some lovely collaborators! ☺️

My nose must be riddled with S. aureus then 🫠

attTn7 downstream of the glmS gene. Phenotypically neutral as per the literature and my own experience.

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This #PeerReviewWeek, I would like to thank the single reviewer who is holding up editorial decisions!

guess I should be glad my hair isn’t falling out yet

‘good things come to those who wait’ as I say while refreshing the peer review portal page 🥰

stringy 🧶

honestly same l

Which section of a paper do you hate writing the most and why is it the ‘Discussion’?

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waiting for peer review reports in the summer

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will be enjoying me 1.4% pay uplift, thank you @ucea.bsky.social 🥰

First corresponding author manuscript submitted! 😬🤞

being sick with the cold in the summer is so weak 🙃

Bought an Integra pipetboy and it came with a switch blade 🤔

Only if everyone posted rejections too!

Now to find a UV source for sterilisation 😬

Thank you! 😍

Has anyone done Klebsiella pneumoniae survival assay in the presence of LL-37? I’ve read several papers, but they all use different media! 😭