Puhar Lab

Call for abstracts - EMBO Workshop Shigella: from biology to prevention EMBO Workshop Shigella: from biology to prevention

Call for #poster #abstracts is open for the #Shigella meeting @shigellameeting.bsky.social thru Feb! Secure your spot by #registering! #ShowUsYourScience
#MicroSky #IDSky 🦠 🧫🔬

www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org/call-for-abs...

Applications for iENGAGE 2026, our online student summer research programme are open until Mach 17th. Join us for a summer of active research in Experimental Medicine.

Full info and applications:
www.qub.ac.uk/research-cen...

A public resource of 15 genomically characterized representative strains of Shigella sonnei Shigella sonnei is rapidly emerging as the dominant agent of shigellosis, an enteric disease responsible for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Whole-genome sequencing of S. so...

Well done Sydeny @sydneylmiles.bsky.social and lab teams! This set of epidemiologically chosen complete genomes will be a valuable resource for scientists working on S. sonnei!
doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

Exciting news!

Dr. Florence Niedergang, Director of Institut Cochin, will be key note speaker at the 2026 UK CellularMicrobiologyNetwork meeting!

Join us 22nd - 23rd of June in Belfast to hear about her and share your exciting work on host-pathogen interactions.

Stay tuned ! www.ukcellmicro.org

Don't miss the opportunity to discover Raphael Valdivia's great research and to connect with the community!

Shigella was the leading cause of diarrheal disease during World War One; and more than 100 years later, it continues to cause approximately 200 million cases and 216,000 deaths per year around the globe. Shigella is a leading cause of moderate to severe diarrhea in children less than five years of age in low- and middle-income nations, and significant disease occurs throughout Europe and North America due to sexual transmission, food borne and water borne outbreaks, and high incidence in homeless populations. The lack of a licensed vaccine, coupled with alarming increases in antimicrobial resistance, has led the World Health Organization to declare Shigella a priority pathogen for which research into new therapeutics are urgently needed.

🦠 EMBO Workshop Shigella: from biology to prevention

📅 April 20-24, 2026
📍 Institut Pasteur, Paris

Register now ➡️ www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org/home

@embo.org @shigellameeting.bsky.social

10 days until the deadline!

Very interesting new protective response in live (!) neutrophils against bacterial infection:

Register now for a webinar on 8 Dec at 14:30–15:30 IST where Karin Dumstrei, Head of the EMBO Fellowships Office, will introduce the EMBO Postdoctoral #Fellowships, Scientific Exchange #Grants, eligibility and selection criteria: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cc6T61BgQQ22LMxyDFaHWg 🧪

Myelotracker® Labeling Kit - Bertin Technologies Myelotracker® is an innovative fluorescent tool designed to easily identify neutrophils, key cells of the immune system, in blood and tissues. It provides researchers with a reliable solution for stud...

See our neutrophil marker, Myelotracker

www.bertin-technologies.com/product/bior...

Tomorrow is the final day to submit your work for presentation at #Microbio26 in Belfast!
Abstract submissions close at 23:59 GMT on Tuesday 11 November: microb.io/AC26Abstracts

💰We are very thankful to @kawresearch.bsky.social, @vetenskapsradet.bsky.social, SSFM, Kempe Stiftelserna, @mimsumea.bsky.social, @umeauniversitet.bsky.social, @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social, @wwiem-qub.bsky.social for support and helpful staff at @cp-cellreports.bsky.social!

Experiments 🔬were spearheaded by queen of illustrations 🎨 Sophie Tronnet (now building her group at @univ-amu.fr) with key computational work 🖥️ by Vikash Pandey in Oliver Billker’s lab, and great help from Miriam Lloret, Mario Pérez, Carlos Hernández, Niklas Söderholm, and Anders Nordström.

The response is concentration-, time-, and medium-dependent and several changes were induced by intact eATP. This implies that eATP sensing takes place at the bacterial surface. How? Some more🕵️‍♀️ detective work required there! 🔍 As always, stay tuned!

In probiotic, pathobiontic, and pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae, eATP regulates fitness and virulence factors, supporting the notion that eATP could act as intestinal site- and infection stage-dependent cue🚦in bacteria causing high eATP (Shigella, Salmonella, EPEC...) or in bystanders.

Good news for protective responses 🛡️against infection: eATP sensitises E. coli to antimicrobial peptides. Less good news for antibiotic therapy 💊: after eATP treatment, it can go either way.

And bacteria 🦠 respond to eATP, too! The response of non-pathogenic E. coli was sweeping, with 20% of the genome regulated downstream of eATP, induction of intracellular second messengers, and modulation of biofilm formation, metabolism, and cell envelope composition.

High eATP in the gut regulates inflammation and is triggered by infection.
doi.org/10.1016/j.im...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...
Since not only host cells but also gut microbes 🦠 are exposed to eATP,💡we wondered whether bacteria can respond to eATP fluctuations. Animals 🐕, plants 🌴, and fungi 🍄 do!

Tronnet et al., Cell Rep. 2025 graphical abstract: Extracellular ATP is an environmental cue in bacteria

Our first effort exploring gut bacteria-extracellular ATP interactions is published! We show that eATP rewires gene expression and physiology in harmless and pathogenic bacteria, impacting production of bioactive metabolites, antimicrobial sensitivity, and virulence. A 🧵
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Enhanced virulence and stress tolerance are signatures of epidemiologically successful Shigella sonnei
@sydneylmiles.bsky.social @katholt.bsky.social
🙏to transformative collaborative effort

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

Many thanks also to local speakers Dessi Malinova, @selindaorrqub.bsky.social, @beckiejoingram.bsky.social, Ultan Power, @josebengoechea.bsky.social, @brendangilmore.bsky.social, co-organiser @valvanom.bsky.social, and chairs @colllab.bsky.social, @gunnarns.bsky.social, and @cisneroslab.bsky.social.

We had the pleasure to host Molly Ingersoll and Nassos @typaslab.bsky.social at the Fraser Symposium in Infection Biology 2025 at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social .
The day was a delight, except for the Belfast weather (don’t trust the photo!).
Stay tuned for next year's symposium announcement!

Hope to see you in Belfast next June!

...and after a break, we've finally made it to this side!