Lucy Crouch

Our group has a PhD position available in 'The vaginal microbiota – understanding how this microbial community forms'.
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

There are also many other amazing projects to choose between from other groups, so check out the MIBTP website!

Excited to share our @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social led by Magda showing how Bif has co-evolved with different animal hosts 🐒🐭🐷🐦

Key takeaways:
🔹 Host ancestry + diet shape Bif evolution
🔹 Mammals enriched for carb-busting enzymes
🔹 Untapped diversity in non-human hosts = new probiotic potential

...opportunities always popping up across the College and wider Institute. Definitely get in touch with our HoD Prof Joan Geoghegan if you are interested

I should also say, from a personal perspective, being in the Department of MIM is lovely - I have great colleagues and I find it to be a very positive environment. We have great grant writing support from each other and from the grant submission team. There are also loads of exciting...

Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics at University of Birmingham Recruiting now: Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics on jobs.ac.uk. Click for details and explore more academic job opportunities on the top job board

There is a new position open in the Department of Microbes, Infection and Microbiomes! This is for someone in the area of microbial genomics 🧬 Please re-post and send to people, thank you!
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOO184/a...

We screened several uncharacterised putative PNGases and discovered PNGaseL has very broad activity against N-glycans from mammalian, insect and plant-derived proteins. This enzyme has fantastic practical applications and is on sale at our industrial partner Ludger www.ludger.com/product-cata...

PNGaseL from Flavobacterium akiainvivens targets a diverse range of N-glycan structures | Royal Society Open Science Peptide:N-glycosidases (PNGases) are used by a wide range of organisms to remove N-glycan structures from proteins for use as either nutrients or in glycoprotein processing. PNGaseF is the most well-characterized enzyme of this family and is widely used ...

New paper! The characterisation of PNGaseL published in The Royal Society Open Science New Talent Collection. This paper describes a successful bioprospecting-to-commercialisation project royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #glycotime @cassiebakshani.bsky.social

Research Associate in Microbiome Ecology:Oxford Road

A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others

Please share & get in touch if interested!

tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3

Petition to extend The HAF Programme Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to urge you to extend the Government’s support for the provision of meals and activities, for children and young people during school holidays, through to the next...

Feeding Britain is circulating a petition to urge the Government to extend the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme during the school holidays in England through to the next general election.

Please do sign and circulate the petition:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Thanks Alex! we will consider your comments

Mechanism of high-mannose N-glycan breakdown and metabolism by Bifidobacterium longum - Nature Chemical Biology The human gut Bifidobacterium longum can use host N-glycans as carbon and energy sources via a specific and cooperative multienzymatic system.

Hi Chris, for B.bifidum I can't see any putative high-mannose breakdown CAZymes, but other species do have these. There has been a characterisation in B. longum.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

We also generated a model for host glycan breakdown for Bifidobacterium bifidum based on this and previously published works.

The structure reveals a C-shaped pocket that likely accommodates peptides and modelling of peptides into this pocket supports this hypothesis.

Biochemical characterisation revealed that this enzyme has a preference for N-glycans attached to peptides rather than denatured or native proteins, which suggests that microbes with these enzymes target these types of glycoproteins for use as a nutrient source.

Here we describe the first structure of a PNGaseA superfamily member. This structure has the canonical PNGase two β-sandwich catalytic module (pink/gold), but also a large unique β-sheet cradle (silver).

PNGaseA-mediated N-glycan stripping from peptides by infant-derived Bifidobacterium bifidum N-glycans are highly common sources of nutrition for human colonic-dwelling bacteria. These microbes have evolved a several methods to remove N-glycans from proteins; herein we describe the biochemica...

New Pre-print! “PNGaseA-mediated N-glycan stripping from peptides by infant-derived Bifidobacterium bifidum”. This is the first manuscript from the Bifidobacterium and breast milk project🍼🤱👶in collaboration with van Sinderen and Lovering groups
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

New paper from Andy Lovering's group defining pentameric porin-like superstructures in Gram-negative bacteria 🦠@unibirmingham.bsky.social @imibirmingham.bsky.social

The latest publication from our lab!

The famous "glomalin" from arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is not a protein but a polysaccharide from AM fungi, so we renamed it "glomalose". Glomalin-related proteins are bacterial proteins stuck in this glomalose.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

If you would like to buy some from Ludger:
www.ludger.com/product-cata...

PNGaseL from Flavobacterium akiainvivens targets a diverse range of N-glycan structures PNGases are used by a wide range of organisms to remove N-glycan structures from proteins for use as either nutrients or in glycoprotein processing. PNGaseF is the most well-characterised enzyme of th...

Very pleased to present the next pre-print from our lab #glycotime We showcase PNGaseL from Flavobacterium akiainvivens that we hope will be a useful tool for the glyco community 🍬🧪👩‍🔬 Special shout out to @cassiebakshani.bsky.social and Paulina (Ludger)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thanks very much Jose! I can't take credit for the title, it was an idea of one of the other amazing supervisors 😆

The Last of Us: Developing a Genomic Epidemiology Toolkit for Fungal Outbreaks at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - The Last of Us: Developing a Genomic Epidemiology Toolkit for Fungal Outbreaks at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com

🍄The Last of Us - NIHR HPRU PhD opportunity🍄 Very exciting project on developing a genomic epidemiology toolkit for fungal outbreaks with @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social @drjorhodes.com @scalene.bsky.social and the Mycological Reference Lab Bristol www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs.

Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng
Custom Lab Hardware
Turn Key Genetic Design

Please repost for reach 💚

Molecular Battlefield: Microbes, Mutations & Medical Frontiers Life’s smallest players spark its biggest challenges—and breakthroughs. From decoding how infant gut bacteria thrive on human milk, to battling antibiotic-…

Our lovely project student Sophia Hill is taking part in Pint of Science @pintofscience.uk this year! 21st May 7.30 pm The Night Owl Digbeth 🧪👩‍🔬 @unibirmingham.bsky.social
pintofscience.co.uk/event/molecu...

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/h...

A Dietary Fiber-Deprived Gut Microbiota Degrades the Colonic Mucus Barrier and Enhances Pathogen Susceptibility Regular consumption of dietary fiber helps prevent erosion of the intestinal mucus barrier by the gut microbiome, blunting pathogen infection and reducing the incidence of colitis.

There's an explanation towards the end of the article. In low fibre diets, the colonic microbiota must turn to mucin to survive. This leads to thinner mucus layers #inmice I would recommend many of Mahesh Desai's papers www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Leah Burgess has joined the group this week #glycobiology 🍬
@leahburgess.bsky.social Leah will be exploring Clostridium perfringens CAZyme activity against host glycans also supervised by @halllab.bsky.social

This mucus-loving gut bacteria is important for health – here’s how to keep it happy Akkermansia muciniphila is a friendly bacteria which is linked to good immune function.

How to keep mucus-loving gut bacteria happy, in my new article with @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/this-mucus-l...

PhD position available: Stable enzyme technologies for a sustainable bioeconomy Application deadline April 17th 2025! In brief: We have a PhD position available in our group, ideally to start in the autumn of 2025. Email Lauren with questions. Full details below. You must appl…

I'm recruiting a PhD student - details on the project and how to apply at this link 🤓
stockholmcazyme.com/2025/03/21/p...