Tatum Mortimer

Comparing Strategies to Introduce Two New Antibiotics for Gonorrhea: A Modeling Study Introduction Drug resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae is an urgent public health threat. The anticipated approval of two new antimicrobials for gonorrhea prompts the need for evidence-based rollout st...

⚠️ New preprint ⚠️: Two new antibiotics are likely coming for gonorrhea 💊. How should we deploy them in the US to minimize drug resistance? @kroster.bsky.social @dhelekal.bsky.social Eva Rumpler @yhgrad.bsky.social [1/10]
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Use of antibiotic to reduce STIs appears to be fueling some antibiotic resistance, research shows The use of the antibiotic doxycycline to reduce STIs appears to be fueling some antibiotic resistance, according to new research.

Using doxycycline after unprotected sex — doxy PEP — is effective at reducing some sexually transmitted infections in some people. But new research suggests is probably also driving development of resistance to tetracycline antibiotics in some bacteria. www.statnews.com/2025/07/09/d...

Now out in NEJM. Kudos to @dhelekal.bsky.social and @tatumdmortimer.bsky.social : www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/...

The Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center at UGA is looking for an avian microbiologist (open rank, tenure-track position) to lead the bacteriology/mycology diagnostic section! Find out more about the position and apply here: www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/437...

ECR Data Visualisation Workshop Please complete this application to attend the Data Viz workshop. This event will be held at the 2025 STI & HIV World Congress in Montreal, Canada on Wednesday, July 30th from 11:30-13:30. Effective...

If you are an early career research attending @stihiv2025.org and interested in learning more about data visualization in R, @odileharrison.bsky.social , Sim Dabee, and I are organizing a workshop during the conference (11:30am-1:30pm on Wednesday). Register here: forms.gle/e4UL1NG62PUD...

RFK Jr. moves on vaccines could have broad ramifications for public health, says expert | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Yonatan Grad, professor of immunology and infectious diseases, comments on the potential impact of recent decisions related to vaccines made by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr...

Dr. Yonatan Grad @yhgrad.bsky.social, Professor of immunology and infectious diseases comments on the potential impact of recent decisions related to vaccines made by Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Read it here at bit.ly/3T2KPqX

I got the opportunity to speak with Science about my individual research fellowship being terminated. I was awarded the NSF GRFP before I chose Harvard for graduate school, but I still got cut. I study how we can improve treatments for a common antibiotic resistant bacteria, so this is sad to see

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!

In this preprint, we consider the explanations for the observed drop in gonorrhea incidence in the US and the evidence needed to evaluate them.

A critical takeaway: without the CDC data & monitoring, we're unlikely to know. Those huge cuts to the CDC undermine efficient, effective healthcare.

New preprint. After years of increases, gonorrhea diagnosis rates dropped in the US in 2022 and 2023. While the news is promising, understanding WHY is key to sustaining progress.
dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/427...

I'm a current Harvard graduate student and I found out today that I had my NSF GRFP terminated without notification. I was awarded this individual research fellowship before even choosing Harvard as my graduate school

FimX regulates type IV pilus localization via the Pil-Chp chemosensory system in Acinetobacter baylyi Type IV pili (T4P) are widespread dynamic appendages required for diverse prokaryotic behaviors including twitching motility, biofilm formation, and DNA uptake leading to natural transformation. Altho...

Excited to share the newest preprint from the lab for my first post! Driven by @tayellisonwrites.bsky.social and @ianyyen.bsky.social with Lynne Howell we show the protein FimX has diverged in function away from regulating pilus extension to instead regulate pilus localization in A. baylyi

Excited to share the first beta release of AMRrules at #ABPHM! (Poster 42 tonight)
interpretamr.github.io/AMRrules

With nearly all of Harvard Chan School’s direct federal grants terminated, we are relying on philanthropy to power our research and support our educational programs. Every gift, regardless of size, advances our vision of health, dignity, and justice for every human. Support our work: hsph.me/whygive

A screenshot of the termination notice showing "Outstanding Investigator Grants"

A screenshot of the termination notice with "This award is terminated effective the date of this award, due to unsafe antisemitic actions that suggest the institution lacks concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students." highlighted

Yesterday, the NIH R35 “Outstanding Investigator” grant to fund scientists in my lab studying antibiotic resistance was terminated for reasons not related to the content of the science, or any actions taken by me or members of my lab

Are you able to mentor a summer student and have a good project that can be virtually administered, sign up to be an NSURP mentor today! If you can't, hit that share button please and thank you! #NoLabNoProblem #NSURP
uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Our preprint and much other work was only possible because of data generated by the CDC STD lab, which was shuttered in the HHS layoffs last week. This is a huge blow to efforts to monitor resistance, guide clinical care, & inform policy www.statnews.com/2025/04/05/c... @helenbranswell.bsky.social

(1/10) New preprint: Expansion of tetM-carrying Neisseria gonorrhoeae in the US, 2018-2024; Link: www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

NSURP.org National Summer Undergraduate Research Project

Although we are not federally funded for this summer, WE WILL STILL RUN The National Summer Undergraduate Research Project (NSURP) in 2025. We remain committed to the work that needs to be done and will continue to meet people where they are. 1/4 nsurp.org

Some of the most talented people I know have joined, or were about to join, the EIS. This is an immense loss.

microGWAS: a computational pipeline to perform large-scale bacterial genome-wide association studies Identifying genetic variants associated with bacterial phenotypes, such as virulence, host preference and antimicrobial resistance, has great potential for a better understanding of the mechanisms inv...

Our paper describing the microGWAS pipeline was published yesterday in Microbial Genomics. Lots of fixes and additions to the code/documentation since the preprint, including a hard to reproduce bug that only showed up in a specific HPC 🥵

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

Quantifying the impact of antibiotic use and genetic determinants of resistance on bacterial lineage dynamics The dynamics of antimicrobial resistance in bacteria are informed by the fitness advantages conferred by genetic determinants of resistance in the presence of antibiotic pressure and the potential fit...

How do changes in antibiotic use, various pathways to resistance, multiple drug resistance, and more come together to shape the success and failure of bacterial lineages in a real-world epidemic? #AMR #microsky
A preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
(1/15)

Call your senators! Do it today! It's better than wallowing

The origin and evolution of the gonococcal beta-lactamase plasmid, and implications for public health Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a leading cause of sexually transmitted infection (STI) and a priority AMR pathogen. Two narrow host range plasmids, p bla and pConj, have contributed to ending penicillin and...

A hitchhiker’s guide to the gonococcal population: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Incredibly excited to share that our manuscript was just published in @nature.com ! What a way to start the new year! 🎉
https://buff.ly/4gyYCzx

We present phylowave, a framework that enables to learn the fitness dynamics of pathogens from phylogenies.

🧵 A thread... 1/n
#IDSky #IDModelling

Certain sublineages of antimicrobial resistant bacteria dominate the surveillance landscape, but what causes them to become resistant? Check out our latest work in Shigella to find out and/or read the thread below www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.27.24316207v2
1/n

Estimating the undetected burden of infections and the likelihood of strain persistence of drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious public health threat. Neisseria gonorrhoeae has developed resistance to all antibiotics recommended for treatment and reports of reduced susceptibility to c...

New preprint: Drug resistant gonorrhea is a big public health problem. Resistance to ceftriaxone, the last approved antibiotic, is spreading globally. When we first detect one of these very resistant isolates, how many undetected cases are there likely to be? www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

The Effect of Repeated Mass Drug Administration on the Transmission of Yaws: A Genomic Epidemiology Study Background: Yaws, a neglected tropical disease caused by Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue, has evaded eradication, in part due to a high proportion of asymptomatic cases. A cluster-randomised tr...

Pleased to share this preprint on Yaws transmission dynamics following mass azithromycin administration, led by Amber Barton www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Following MDA campaign, we sequenced >half of infections, showing recrudescence driven by existing lineages & persistence linked to key SNPs.

Ad for postdoc position

Hi BlueSky friends!

Postdoc(s) available in my lab!

Multiple projects on how bacterial genomic and functional diversity impacts microbial interactions & disease. 🦠🧫

See www.thelewinlab.com/join-us/post... for more information.

Please RT & share.

#Postdoc #Microbiology #OralMicro #VaginalMicro

New research article in The Lancet Microbe

Effects of #doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis for prevention of sexually transmitted infections on #gonorrhoea prevalence and antimicrobial resistance among men who have sex with men in the USA: a modelling study

www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...