Barbara Clough

Host AAA-ATPase VCP/p97 lyses ubiquitinated intracellular bacteria as an innate antimicrobial defence - Nature Microbiology Host AAA-ATPase VCP/p97 binds and extracts ubiquitinated proteins from the bacterial cell membrane causing bacterial lysis and death to confer cell-autonomous protection against infection.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Human giant GTPase GVIN1 forms an antimicrobial coatomer around the intracellular bacterial pathogen Burkholderia thailandensis Several human pathogens exploit the kinetic forces generated by polymerizing actin to power their intracellular motility. Human cell-autonomous immune responses activated by the cytokine interferon-ga...

Exciting work from neighbor Jörn Coers at Duke identifying a new class of host defense GTPases. Out of a genetic screen they identify the human Giant GTPase GVIN1 (previously annotated as a human pseudogene) in coatomer-based restriction of Burkholderia motility. 1808 aas long!

Glad the NHS pulled all the stops out for you! Hope you're ok and get better soon

Cell-autonomous innate immunity by proteasome-derived defence peptides - Nature Proteasomal degradation of cellular proteins generate defence peptides constitutively and in response to bacterial infection. Such peptides might provide a source of natural antibiotics that...

Fantastic new paper out @nature.com! @merbllab.bsky.social discovers proteasome-derived peptides that function as a defence against bacterial infections. I'm not an immunologist but even I can tell that this finding has huge implications for new therapeutic interventions!

👉 go.nature.com/43k1a0H

Interrogating the genus Yersinia to define the rules of lipopolysaccharide lipid A structure associated with pathogenicity. Pathogen recognition by the immune system relies on germline-encoded pathogen recognition receptors which identify conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) such as the lipid A section ...

Delighted to share our last pre print -this one close to my heart- We set to define the rules of lipid A associated with virulence by interrogating the genus Yersinia. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Clinical isolates of antimicrobial resistant Enterobacter species can persist in human macrophages without replication and overt cellular cytotoxicity This study underscores the capacity of antibiotic-resistant Enterobacter clinical isolates to persist in macrophages without significantly alerting the inn

I'm excited to share our latest research on Enterobacter's infection biology in the Journal of Infectious Diseases (tinyurl.com/bcxmn8nc), showing that antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacter species can persist in human macrophages without replication, causing minimal cytotoxicity.

100+ years of phase variation: the premier bacterial bet-hedging phenomenon Stochastic, reversible switches in the expression of Salmonella flagella variants were first described by Andrewes in 1922. Termed phase variation (PV), subsequent research found that this phenomenon ...

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

🎉 Our March issue is live! Read it here:

nature.com/nrmicro/volumes/23/issues/3

🌍 Human impacts on subsurface microbial communities

🦠 Akkermansia muciniphila

🦟 Next-generation treatment options for P. falciparum malaria

🔍 Examining the healthy human microbiome concept

Cell biology of host-pathogen interactions Microbial infections lead to drastic changes in the architecture and metabolism of the host cell. The inaugural FEBS EMBO Cell Biology of Host-Pathogen Interaction Advanced Course explores the mechan…

Host and pathogen aficionados:
Join us in Blois!- registration deadline 1st March- Please RP-
meetings.embo.org/event/24-hos...

Are you interested in bacterial pathogen physiology 🧫 and their interactions with our tissues during infections?

Alex and I wrote about how organoids + microbiology offer a powerful, tractable way to decode these interactions. Check it out! 👇

🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s443...

@embojournal.org  #MicroSky

PhD student recruitment 2025 PhD recruitment is now open!

Our spring round of PhD recruitment is now open!

We’re looking for researchers of any nationality with backgrounds in biological or biomedical sciences, physics, chemistry, maths or computer science.

Find out more and apply by midday, 19 March:

www.crick.ac.uk/careers-stud...

A novel bacteria parasitizing archaea 13 February 2025

Researchers have isolated an ultrasmall bacterium belonging to a large phylogenetic group that includes various lineages of uncultivated bacteria — the CPR. Read the press release on the research, published in #IJSEM, here https://microb.io/4hBcCt6 🔬