Tosin Q. Orababa

Excited to have been selected as an Infection Science Awardee for 2025 by the Microbiology Society. Looking forward to presenting my research at this year’s Federation of Infection Science Conference in Bournemouth.

Photo of Oluwatosin Orababa - Finalist of the 2025 Infection Science Award

🎉 Congratulations to Oluwatosin Orababa @tosinorababa.bsky.social, one of the winners of our 2025 Infection Science Award! 🦠👏
Get to know them in our new interview: microb.io/3XFyCui

#InfectionScience #Microbiology #ResearchSpotlight

Excited to have been selected as an Infection Science Awardee for 2025 by the Microbiology Society. Looking forward to presenting my research at this year’s Federation of Infection Science Conference in Bournemouth.

A man and a woman standing behind a table. On the table is a microscope showing an image of biofilm-infected tissue, a robotic ventilator and various items of lab equipment.

Here’s @tosinorababa.bsky.social & @nreddy.bsky.social showing the ways we grow bacteria in the lab to simulate conditions in an infected patient - we have models of #CysticFibrosis lung, endotracheal tube & chronic wound, all compliant with efforts to reduce & replace animals in research.

Excited to share that I passed my PhD viva today. Many thanks to my Supervisors (@friendlymicrobe.bsky.social and @correlab.bsky.social) and examiners (@antoniasagona.bsky.social and Dr Cassandra Quave), and to all members of the Harrison lab 😊.

A group of people at a restaurant table

#PhDone! Congratulations to Dr @tosinorababa.bsky.social, who passed his viva today 🎉

Low concentrations of tetrasodium EDTA cause significant killing of biofilm-associated P. aeruginosa in high validity models of chronic wound and CF lung infections but not in a model of endotracheal tube colonisation Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a pathogen notorious for its antimicrobial resistance and is currently classified as a high-priority pathogen for which new drugs are needed. Tetrasodium EDTA (tEDTA) is one of the new antimicrobial compounds that have been shown to have good antibacterial and antibiofilm efficacy against P. aeruginosa. Due to the diversity and highly drug-tolerant nature of P. aeruginosa biofilms in different infection environments, it is important to carry out pre-clinical testing of new antibiofilm agents against this pathogen in media and models that accurately mimic diverse infection environments. In this study, we used different high validity media and biofilm models that mimic chronic wounds, endotracheal tubes, and cystic fibrosis lung infections to assess the efficacy of tEDTA against P. aeruginosa biofilms. We report that different infection environments influence the susceptibility of both planktonic and biofilm forms of P. aeruginosa to tEDTA. The highest tolerance to tEDTA was observed in the media and biofilm model that mimics the endotracheal tube environment. In conclusion, we show that although different infection environments influence the efficacy of tEDTA against P. aeruginosa biofilms, it has good potential for use as an alternative antimicrobial in treating P. aeruginosa-associated biofilm infections. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

Low doses of tEDTA kill P. aeruginosa in models of chronic wound and CF lung #biofilm, but not in a model of endotracheal tube colonisation: preprint from a project led by @tosinorababa.bsky.social and implemented by a crack team of PhD students! #MicroSky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Lovely work by @c-cornbill.bsky.social @kadeayomikun.bsky.social @nreddy.bsky.social @microbescience.bsky.social @tosinorababa.bsky.social, pooling their skills with lung, wound and endotracheal tube models to explore the potential of tetrasodium EDTA in different infection contexts #MicroSky

A flyer with a dark blue and black gradient background, with faint microbes decorating it. At the top, yellow text reads "Call for Judges". Underneath white text reads "do you want to appraise presentations for the early career research symposium? Sign up to support microbiology's rising stars!"

Grab a friend & sign-up today #BlackInMicro is looking for judges! If you have experience evaluating scientific presentations or a PhD, we need you :) Sign up: tinyurl.com/BIMW25-ECR or see link in bio

Black in Micro Week 2025 Early Career Research Symposium held on October 15, 2025, from 9 AM to 12 PM EST. Presenters include Katelyn Nicole Ward, Larisa Chila Kiki, Mallory Evans, Savannah Nicole Lewis, Enycé Fairbanks, and Khadijat Oluwapelumi Adefaye. It features six research presentations by early career scientists from various universities, covering topics such as drug repositioning for fungal infections, bacteriophage adaptation to silver ions, inflammasome responses to LPS, NK cell dynamics in malaria, organoid modeling of bacterial toxins, and protein disorder in Hepatitis E virus.

Early Career Research Symposium featuring Aureliana Filomena Chambal Chilengue, Hassan Abbas, Nazik Elmekki, Immaculata Chika Ede, Audrey Randall, and Justin Durunyamunwu. Topics include tuberculosis transmission analysis using reference-free clustering, gut microbiota comparisons in ulcerative colitis, fitness determinants of Phocaeicola vulgatus, wound biofilm modeling, the role of Parabacteroides distasonis in type I diabetes, and microvascular modeling in dengue virus research.

Early Career Research Symposium showcasing presenters howcasing presenters Nadia Holness, Deus Kamya, Trinity Moore, Caitlin Wiafe-Kwakye, Drea Darby, and Teni Shosanya. Topics include the role of Staphylococcus aureus in skin inflammation, the impact of Candida albicans on oral epithelial cells, the role of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron in gut inflammation, the effect of Enterococcus faecalis on colorectal cancer, the influence of Streptococcus pneumoniae on lung immunity, and the use of Escherichia coli in synthetic biology applications.

Early Career Research Symposium with additional presenters. Presenters include Katelyn Nicole Ward, Larisa Chila Kiki, Mallory Evans, Savannah Nicole Lewis, Enycé Fairbanks, and Khadijat Oluwapelumi Adefaye. It features six research presentations by early career scientists from various universities, covering topics such as drug repositioning for fungal infections, bacteriophage adaptation to silver ions, inflammasome responses to LPS, NK cell dynamics in malaria, organoid modeling of bacterial toxins, and protein disorder in Hepatitis E virus.

We ❤️ amplifying the work of #BlackInMicro Early Career scientists. Join us and Pre-register today: linktr.ee/BlackInMicro or To donate to help keep #BlackInMicro alive: tinyurl.com/GiveBiM (all links in bio)

Society Events Grant Funds are available to support eligible members attending the Society Annual Conference or one other Society meeting per year.

Society Event Grant – applications for funding to attend 2025 Annual meeting in Ireland are closing tomorrow at 23:59 BST. Check your eligibility and apply now: microb.io/SocietyEvent....

Advertising celebrating the 80th Anniversary of the Microbiology Society and inviting delegates to Get Involved with the organisation

We're proud of our community and its impact over the last 80 years. Help us continue to amplify our members’ voices and advance the understanding of microbiology in tackling global challenges. Get involved with the Society - microb.io/Get-Involved

New paper! Dual proteomics of Aspergillus fumigatus #infection of ex vivo pig lung. Aaron Curtis & Kevin Kavanagh at Maynooth used fresh (immediately post-slaughter) lungs to show changes in fungal metabolism and host tissue remodelling over 96 hours #MicroSky www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Proteomic characterization of Aspergillus fumigatus – host interactions using the ex-vivo pig lung (EVPL) model Aspergillus fumigatus is an opportunistic fungal pathogen of the human airway that can cause a variety of chronic infections, typically in the context of pre-existing lung damage. The interaction o...

Delighted to share our latest publication from @medmycology.bsky.social adapting the EVPL model to study A. fumigatus virulence, made possible through collaboration with @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social. Many thanks to @researchireland.ie for funding this work

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The influence of different SCFM media on the growth of four laboratory H. influenzae strains. Laboratory H. influenzae strains were grown in either SCFM1, SCFM2 or SCFM2.SA alone or supplemented with either FBS or NAD and haemin. (a) Carrying capacity and (b) growth rate were calculated from three independent experiments (demonstrated by different shapes), with the mean and sd shown by the solid circle. Significance was defined as P≤0.05.

Optimizing synthetic cystic fibrosis sputum media for growth of non-typeable Haemophilus influenzae. Find out more in #AccessMicro:
doi.org/10.1099/acmi...

Screen capture of the journal club article - title: A xanthone-derived antibiotic with a multifaceted mode of action. Authors: Oluwatosin Orababa and Dr. Raphael P. Galleh.

Check out the latest Amplifying Diverse Voices journal club article written by BMA members Oluwatosin Orababa and Dr. Raphael P. Galleh!

www.nature.com/artic...

#BlackInMicro #AMR #antibiotics #JournalClub

On the left is a table covered with plants, books and other items used in medieval medicine. On the right is a lifesize cardboard cutout of a medieval woman.

A woman stands behind a table, with books and materials related to medieval writing and alchemy.

A man stands in front of boards displaying research posters.

Yesterday, Warwick held a public festival of arts & culture. @tosinorababa.bsky.social, Erin Connelly and I had an excellent day talking about historical medicine, alchemy and the modern-day science we’re doing as part of the #Ancientbiotics collaboration. #SciComm

I had fun talking to people about my PhD research and how we are trying to link the past with the future of biofilm treatment. It was a great experience.

And in a clash, we have @c-cornbill.bsky.social from Warwick (supervisor @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social) talking about the variability in AMR evolution in different host mimicking media in the "AMR - Mechanism and Regulation" (2/5)

Had a great time presenting my research and networking at the first ever Minoritised Life Scientist Future Forum in Birmingham. Exciting experience. #MLSFF

Tosin is in the final year of his PhD with me, working on antibacterial natural products and historical infection remedies #MicroSky

I can't be at #Microbio25, but so far @c-cornbill.bsky.social and @tosinorababa.bsky.social have represented the lab by talking about their PhD research on AMR evolution and antibacterial natural products, respectively :D

Had a great time presenting my research and networking at the first ever Minoritised Life Scientist Future Forum in Birmingham. Exciting experience. #MLSFF

Why does Acinetobacter lwoffii not become resistant to antibiotics? at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Why does Acinetobacter lwoffii not become resistant to antibiotics? at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com

Another PhD opportunity in the team! This time its an exciting collaboration with @halllab.bsky.social and @kimhardie.bsky.social looking at why not all bacteria become resistant! www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Deadline 10th Jan and open to Uk and overseas! Pls repost!

This is now open to international students as well, so please share even wider! Deadline is 14th Feb. Anyone interested please get in touch, happy to chat with anyone about this project.

#AMR #MicroSky

Does anyone know of small grants schemes that a PhD student could apply to in order to cover sequencing costs? Looking for ~£4k. #MicroSky

😁😂

University of Southampton Professor in Microbial Biofilms - NBIC The University of Southampton have an exciting opportunity available for an Associate Professor or Professor in Microbial Biofilms.

Job – Associate Professor/Professor in Microbial Biofilms, University of Southampton #MicroSky biofilms.ac.uk/university-o...

I’m recruiting a social scientist for my work on UTIs and #AMR in the community in Uganda. The advert is here: jobs.sgul.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx.... Please do reach out if you’d like to discuss anything 🙂.