Rebecca Lowry Palmer

Amazing congratulations Simona!!!

✨I am thrilled to announce that my #ERCStG project will be funded by @erc.europa.eu. It explores how predatory bacteria interact with bacteria, which they invade and kill 🔬. I am very grateful to the ERC, the panel, reviewers, mentors, collaborators and colleagues! 🙏
#ERCStG => tiny.cc/174s001

Happy to share that our story on the bacterial archaellum was published today in @natmicrobiol.nature.com
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to the authors: @sshamphavi.bsky.social @loumollat.bsky.social @mariejoest.bsky.social Najwa Taib and @sgribaldo.bsky.social

Can Pseudomonas spp. Biocontrols help us to tackle Kiwi Canker? Isabella Frost is finding out! #PPATH2025

Pseudomonas is under attack again, with Rebecca Lowry Palmer harnessing Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus as a Biocontrol Agent Against Pseudomonas syringae in Tomato Plants. #ECPP2025 #PPATH2025

Very excited to be in Nottingham for the @bspp.bsky.social #bspp2025 giving a talk and poster presentation on my work with Bdellovibrio, plants and microbial evolution 🌱

The las and rhl QS systems have a reciprocal, synergistic, and unequal relationship. Top: Single-signal models demonstrate that the summed effects of single signals (3 oxo C12 HSL alone, red; C4 HSL alone, orange) cannot account for the maximal expression of lasI or rhlI. The upper green, flat surfaces in the plots indicate the maximum mean expression level measured across all combinations of signal concentrations while the lower semi-transparent surfaces mark the sum of single signal effects. The plotted points represent observed expression levels when C4 HSL is withheld (red) and when 3 oxo C12 HSL is withheld (yellow). Lines indicate the model predictions. Bottom: Multi-signal non-linear models capture the synergistic effects of both signals and match observed expression levels. Model estimates are shown as grid lines. Horizontal bars show the mean value of expression observed at each combination of signal concentrations. Lines extend from these mean values to the relevant grid point for clarity. Right: Data show that relationship of the las and rhl systems is reciprocal, and the multi-signal model quantifies the strength of those interactions. In particular, it reveals the contribution of both signals to the maximum fold-change in expression of both synthases. The charts in this panel summarize the contribution of 3 oxo C12 HSL (red), C4 HSL (yellow), and the synergistic combination of both (orange).

Bacterial #QuorumSensing is often assumed to follow a strict hierarchy. @brownlab.bsky.social &co find that #Pseudomonas aeruginosa instead uses a reciprocal, cooperative system that enhances responsiveness to population density & environmental changes @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/3I7DhRG

closing at the end of this week!

👏👏👏 incredible stuff

We are also hiring a 4-year postdoc to study the dynamics and evolution of mobile genetic elements in the C-fixing Icelandic host-spring microbiomes

Join our exciting multidisciplinary team funded by @ukri.org BBSRC sLoLa

www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

The most divine break in Wales with my wild ones ☀️🌊🐚

Interactions between placental Hofbauer cells and L. monocytogenes change throughout gestation Gestational changes in Hofbauer cells alter their interactions with Listeria monocytogenes.

Happy share this latest study from the team. Here we look at placental macrophage biology across pregnany and their interaction with Listeria monocytogenes.
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacteriophage infection drives loss of β-lactam resistance in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus In methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, evolution of bacteriophage resistance causes trade-offs that re-sensitize the bacteriato β-lactam antibiotics.

Charlie Mo: generic trade off in phage resistance leads to betalactam susceptibility and down-regulation of virulence genes in phage-resistant #MRSA strains #phages2025 🦠

elifesciences.org/articles/102...

Research Associate:Clifton Campus

Interested in investigating the use of bacteriocins for the treatment of urinary tract infections? Come work with me and @bugsinyourguts.bsky.social Professor Lesley Hoyles as a research associate on an exciting project funded by The Urology Foundation

vacancies.ntu.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Very proud to have our lab’s first work published in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social!

In this work, we use functional metagenomics to find phage defenses from human and soil microbiomes!

Congrats to first author @luis840alberto.bsky.social !

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

(1/3)

KpSC-ID: a multiplex real-time PCR assay for the simultaneous detection of the Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex and specific identification of Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella quasipneumoniae an... The Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex (KpSC) comprises five closely related bacterial species, namely Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella quasipneumoniae, Klebsiella variicola, Klebsiella quasivarii...

New paper alert! A real time PCR assay to detect and distinguish Klebsiella pneumonia, quasipneumoniae and variicola. @microbiologysociety.org @sylvainbrisse.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

A Phylogenetic Host‐Range Index Reveals Ecological Constraints in Phage Specialisation and Virulence Phages are typically known for having a limited host range, targeting particular strains within a bacterial species, but accurately measuring their specificity remains challenging. Factors like the g...

After many years in the making, here is our host range #phage paper with #ecology, #evolution and #biocontrol perspectives published in Molecular Ecology! @phimresearch.bsky.social‬ @inrae-pv.bsky.social‬ #PVBMT #JulianGarneau onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
These are our key findings:

R-pyocins as targeted antimicrobials against Pseudomonas aeruginosa - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - R-pyocins as targeted antimicrobials against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

More on R-pyocins here www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Do plasmids evolve faster 🐇, slower 🐢, or just like chromosomes 🧬?

In our new paper, we tackled this question using theory, simulations, bioinformatics, and experiments!

👇 Check out all the details in Paula’s thread!

Hint: 🐇 (most of the time)

A porin-like protein used by bacterial predators defines a wider lipid-trapping superfamily - Nature Communications This study reveals that an outer membrane protein from the predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus forms a pentameric assembly that traps a lipid monolayer within. This allows the discovery of two superfa...

Check out these amazing lipid-monolayer-trapping oligomeric OMPs published by @lalouxlab.bsky.social and Lovering Labs. The BAM complex in these bugs must be wild!

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

Strategies and mechanisms of contact-dependent predation in bacteria Predatory bacteria kill other bacteria to acquire nutrients. Among diverse strategies to kill and feed on prey, contact-dependent predation stands out…

#MicroSky Summer read!

Predatory bacteria kill and eat other bacteria. Their deadly actions come in many flavors, often via direct physical contact between predator &
prey 🧛

How do they do it?
Our review 📖 @coralietesseur.bsky.social @ysantin.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Allotment Sunday

My little work buddy today - poorly but there's always energy for painting and a thousand activities 🤦🏻‍♀️😬🎨

Fresh from peer review a new and improved version of @taoranfu.bsky.social’s paper out today in @asm.org mSystems
journals.asm.org/eprint/8NWNW...

Exciting opportunities to join me in this research will be coming soon! If you're passionate about understanding microbial evolution & tackling antimicrobial resistance, keep an eye out or feel free to get in touch. 🔬🧬 🍄 #AMR #Microbiology #Evolution

Interested in working on Mucorales adaptation? Thanks to new funding from @wellcometrust.bsky.social, we will have two postdoc and a technician positions advertised very soon! if interested, please get in touch for more information.

Go Team! Deeply honoured that the MERMan lab reps won an @manchester.ac.uk‬ "FMBH heroes" award - thanks ‪@fbmh-uom.bsky.social‬ and @mermanchester.bsky.social for nominating us ❤️❤️❤️

A porin-like protein used by bacterial predators defines a wider lipid-trapping superfamily Nature Communications - This study reveals that an outer membrane protein from the predator Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus forms a pentameric assembly that traps a lipid monolayer within. This allows...

Learning from bacterial predators on porin-like proteins that trap lipids at rdcu.be/euXWk! Amazing insights by Rebecca J. Parr & Andrew L. Lovering @unibirmingham.bsky.social, and @lalouxlab.bsky.social,‬ as well as all collaborators including Liz Sockett. #MicroSky #predatoryBacteria #porins

Allllll the allotment flowers are coming out. Yes one is a potato flower, but aren't they amazing (top left)!?

Dr Colin Brown, deputy director at the UK Health Security Agency, responsible for AMR, said: “Phage therapy truly has the potential to transform the way we treat bacterial infections, especially as resistance to antibiotics grows. At UKHSA, we’re developing new ways to help increase phage therapy use and research, including a bacteriophage collection where scientists can both access and deposit phages. In time, we hope solutions like phage therapy can become a first-line treatment option.”

The MHRA today released new guidance for #Phage therapy in the UK. This will provide direction for scientists and researchers working to make this treatment a reality for patients. 🔬 🧪

🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...