How does treatment induced antibiotic resistance happen in real-world infections? We analysed 25k Pseudomonas isolates from 180 patients in a clinical trial to find out! TLDR: The ecological and evolutionary paths are surprisingly diverse & complex even in patients receiving identical treatment…
20.02.2026 16:31 — 👍 84 🔁 41 💬 3 📌 3
Happy 38th birthday to the #LTEE!
#BOTD in 1988.
Keep on evolving!
#science #evolution #microbiology
The good: Mutants lacking oxidative damage repair, double-strand break repair, or transcription-coupled were strongly suppressed.
The bad: MMR hypermutators were able to rapidly adapt to antibiotic-genotoxin combinations
The ugly: for you to decide.
www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_good_t...
Genotoxins are often used in chemotherapy to create genomic instability in tumour populations. Guided by this idea, we tested the ability of genotoxin-antibiotic combinations to suppress E.coli populations in high throughput experimental evolution models
23.02.2026 09:09 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 0
New #AMR pre-print
Combining antibiotics with genotoxins can efficiently suppress bacterial in high throughput experimental models.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Fun collaboration with Nassos Typas lab led by @mulkern.bsky.social
🧵 New preprint! Our 4-lab team evolved Streptococcus pneumoniae in antibiotic-treated mice of varying immune states and discovered something surprising: bacteria rarely evolved resistance. Instead, they found a different way to survive — by rewiring RNA turnover.
🔗 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New preprint!
Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠
Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare!
An epic effort by Rosanna Wright
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Finally... expect more to come from my lab later in the year on the benefits of conjugative systems!
20.02.2026 08:41 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
This work was only possible thanks to Will's amazing statistical skills and the rich NORMS datasets that have been generated by Jukka Corander and co at the Norwegian BSI consortium!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
This paper challenges established ideas about the role of conjugation in plasmid population biology, and it shows that interesting insights can be gained from thinking about plasmids as a community instead of focusing on pairwise bacteria-plasmids associations.
20.02.2026 08:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0In this network structure, mobilizable plasmids can exploit multiple conjugative partners, allowing them to transfer to a wide range of bacterial hosts.
20.02.2026 08:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Why are mobilizable plasmids widely disseminated? Plasmids form association networks consisting of an inner-core of tightly connected mobilizable plasmids that are connected to an outer cloud of conjugative plasmids.
20.02.2026 08:41 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
New pre-print with @wtmatlock.bsky.social!!!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
What shapes the distribution of plasmids across bacteria? Our paper shows that conjugative plasmids actually have a very narrow distribution compared to mobilizable plasmids. Conjugative systems restrict plasmid transfer!
🚨 New preprint 🚨
How promiscuous really are conjugative plasmids, and what does that mean for plasmid co-occurrence?
A pleasure to collaborate with @craigmaclean.bsky.social on the first paper of my fellowship!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
It feels like this is a story we have all heard before
13.01.2026 21:09 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
A four-year postdoc focusing on "plant growth-promoting bacteriophages" available in my group. Skills in metaviromics and metagenomics essential. Application deadline: 2.2.2026. For more info, see the link.
29.12.2025 06:28 — 👍 30 🔁 35 💬 1 📌 0
We've come full circle! I began my postdoctoral career by identifying the peptidyl deformylase gene. Today, we show that half of bacterial species harbor multiple PDF genes (up to 7, for always a single Met-tRNA transformylase), and while the role of these PDFs ... academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
12.12.2025 08:57 — 👍 32 🔁 18 💬 2 📌 1The NSERC model is outdated, underfunded, and completely unfair. I would replace it with a more competitive model that rewards outstanding researchers and strongly incentivises PIs and institutions to do research that creates societal benefits and drives economic growth.
12.12.2025 09:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Finally, I hope that this investment is the start of a major overhaul of science in Canada, and just a time-limited shot in the arm. Canada needs to invest more in its domestic researchers and research programs.
12.12.2025 09:48 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0. The only thing that I question is whether more money should be invested in ECRs as opposed to chairs. Innovation is about playing the long game, and my view is that ECRs offer better long-term value for money.
12.12.2025 09:48 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Good news for Canada and Canadian science. It is the right time to aggressively target top international and expatriate scientific talent. Although I am a blue skies scientist, I think that it is right to focus on research with societal and economic impact ... www.canada.ca/en/innovatio...
12.12.2025 09:48 — 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 1Just wrote my last grant review of 2025. UKRI: if you ask me to review another grant next week I will give it a 0 out of principle!
11.12.2025 21:14 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Back in Oxford, but still buzzing with excitement from #MicroEvo25 ! Great science, friendly and relaxed atmosphere, and a brilliant opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues.
Liverpool is a good place for scientific meetings.
Thanks Alan!
28.11.2025 17:39 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Next up: Chance and Necessity by Jacques Monod.
25.11.2025 19:27 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0What would Jacob make of the reductionist approaches that have come to dominate microbiology?
25.11.2025 19:27 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Just finished reading this amazing history of biology by #massivelegendofscience Francois Jacob. Some of the evolutionary biology and microbiology is outdated, but the perspective is compelling and the breadth of scientific scholarship is amazing.
25.11.2025 19:27 — 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
Hot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟♂️
Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
This paper gives an interesting example of in vivo fitness effects of resistance and helps to explain why mgrB mutation is the dominant mechanism of Colistin resistance in Klebs!
06.11.2025 12:13 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0