James Mason

Fantastic. Very clever.

Interdisciplinary scientists at King's are using highly powerful magnets to drive new discoveries.🧲

The state of the art #NuclearMagneticResonance (#NMR) machine enables researchers to see what cannot be seen with the naked eye, at the atomic level.

#ScienceAtKings @kingslsm.bsky.social

Synthetic opioids may have caused hundreds more UK deaths than thought Study find nitazenes, which are up to 500 times stronger than heroin, can degrade significantly in portmortem blood samples

Deaths due to synthetic opioids nitazenes could have been underreported by as much as a third.

New research by @kingslsm.bsky.social sheds light on the UK’s growing opioid problem.

www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

So Starmer, a man who never met Epstein but made a bad appointment, might resign. But Trump, his closest friend, fellow sex abuser and coverer-upper of his crimes, is going nowhere.

That’s how it works, isn’t it?

It was massively oversubscribed. Over 17,000 applications and more than 60% up on last year.

Chef’s kiss for the Alt text for the one on the bottom right.

Dear John, very much enjoy your reporting across different platforms. Perhaps this is the week (again?) to ask why the club is still on X and does not have an official presence on here?

Winners announced for the 2026 King's Engaged Research Awards | King's College London Staff, students and community partners have celebrated public and community engagement at the King’s Engaged Research Awards ceremony.

Researchers across King’s are making a profound impact on society – locally, nationally and across the world.

The King’s Engaged Research Awards, held at the King’s Great Hall, celebrated this remarkable impact. ⬇️

www.kcl.ac.uk/news/winners...

The One King’s Impact Fund is open for applications!

🌍 Open to students and staff at King's, the fund offers £25k–£50k to support projects tackling local and global challenges.

💡 Turn bold ideas into real-world impact.

Apply by 1 April: www.kcl.ac.uk/impact/fund

Rogers 104th or something on the spreadsheet.

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

Come work with me!!! Opportunity for a Senior Scientist to join our wonderful, friendly and productive team at UKHSA, Porton Down. Working as part of our Phage and Open Innovation Teams. Closing date 10th Dec. #job #microsky Please share with your networks :D www.healthjobsuk.com/job/UK/Londo...

Metabolic control of porin permeability influences antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli - Nature Microbiology The permeability of bacterial porins is dynamically regulated by periplasmic proton and potassium concentrations, altering antibiotic resistance.

#NewResearch

The permeability of bacterial porins is dynamically regulated by periplasmic proton and potassium concentrations, altering antibiotic resistance.

#MicroSky #AMR 🦠 @andresfloto.bsky.social

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

PhD opportunity in my lab: exploring how commensals and pathogens build biofilm communities on endotracheal (ventilator) tubes. Microbial ecology, medical microbiology and fancy imaging! Co-supervised with the fabulous Saskia Bakker and Jeremy Webb warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa... #MicroSky

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.

What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure. A really informative article, perfect for a weekend coffee read. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Great name!

Maybe, but I suspect ChatGPT is also making drafting an application easier.

Think ChatGPT is also playing a role here.

Metagenomics testing: From PhD project to the ICU A new diagnostic test that can detect a broad range of microorganisms in a single sample and give same-day results has been shown to improve the diagnosis and treatment of patients with…

What if ICU doctors could diagnose infections in hours, not days?

A new test, developed from a PhD project at King's, now makes this possible.🔬

🔗 www.kcl.ac.uk/metagenomics...

Now published! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Very nice collaboration with Hoogenboom ( @ucl.ac.uk ) and Bonev ( @uniofnottingham.bsky.social ) labs.

Exciting to see what impact will come from this in how all cause lung injuries are treated in the future.

King’s are doing the drug testing so some of my colleagues from the 4th floor might be there but I know quite a few people who couldn’t get tickets. Will be amazing to have Twickenham full for this.

It is a hot ticket! No joy in the ballot ☹️

If you are UK-based and working on any aspect of microbiomes (human, plant, insect, soil, animal, ...), please do sign up to Microbiome-Net for details of networking, funding and training opportunities.

forms.office.com/pages/respon...

Please share my 1 min video on the importance of maintaining NIH funding of infectious diseases and drug discovery research vs rising antibiotic resistance

Drastic budget cuts harm our health and imperil the next generation of scientists

More @UCSanDiego “Behind Every Breakthrough” bit.ly/3FlXQs3

A gut sense for a microbial pattern regulates feeding - Nature A study reveals a gut–brain sensory pathway through which the microbial component flagellin activates neuropod cells in the colon to signal the brain and reduce feeding in mice.

Impressive paper in 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦

Describes a new sensory modality: "𝙉𝙀𝙐𝙍𝙊𝘽𝙄𝙊𝙏𝙄𝘾 𝙎𝙀𝙉𝙎𝙀"

Links bacterial flagellin to appetite control

Gut-Brain Circuit: flagellin activates TLR5 on PYY+ neuropod cells that synapse onto vagal neurons → feeding suppressed independent of microbiota, immunity, or metabolism

If high quality treatment is provided to everyone with bacterial infections + innovative new antibiotics funded ...

By 2050:

Health costs ⬇️ $97 billion
The economy ⬆️ $960 billion
Generated health benefits 🟰 $680 billion to countries

Return on Investment 🟰 28 to 1

www.cgdev.org/publication/...

Rapid impedance-based Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (iFAST) of Enterobacterales in urinary tract infections Evidence-based antibiotic prescribing for urinary tract infections (UTIs) would increase treatment success and improve antibiotic stewardship. Current…

It is time to improve diagnostics of Urinary Tract Infections! We developed a new technology that can work out which antibiotic would be best suited to treat UTIs in <five hours rather than the >40 hours that it currently takes.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This will have the opposite outcome to that intended as prices will rise as they are coupled to what people can borrow. All that happens, for those that do buy, is the proportion of take home covering repayments increases. This causes a structural problem that feeds into so many other areas.

Very nice Victor!