Brian Stevenson Ph.D. spirochete lab

Announcing MMPC 2025

On the way to Midwest Microbial Pathogenesis Conference 2025, in St Charles, Illinois!
Hosted by Loyola University Chicago
#MMPC2025
#MicroSky

www.mmpconference2025.com

And a second colleague!

A colleague will be in touch with you soon!

Hi Mark, note that the person who responded to your message has a different user name. Likely a scammer

Freakin’ cool anti-anti-phage mechanism!
#MicroSky

#MicroSky

From the publication: Fig 7. The mechanism to change the expression vmp cassette in B. miyamotoi. The expression vmp cassette on the lp4 plasmid is altered by the conversion of the expression locus segment, in which the expression locus segment is replaced by a duplicated segment of other plasmids carrying the cluster of archival silent cassettes (lp5, lp6, and lp10.1). The replacing segment starts from one of the silent cassette and ends at the right end of the plasmid; thus the first silent cassette on the replacing segment is expressed after conversion. As the lengths of the replacing segment are variable (ranged from 6.9 kb to 15.3 kb in the reisolates analyzed in this study), leading to the change in the length of lp4. Although the molecular mechanism underlying the conversion of the expression locus segment is not known, it appears that the clustering of vmp cassettes and their tail-to-head cassette organization in each cluster allow the effective switching of the expression vmp cassette by the conversion of long plasmid segment. Notable structural features of vmp-encoding plasmids and vmp cassettes on these plasmids are the sequence conservation of the right ends of the lp4, lp5, lp6, and lp10.1 plasmids and the presence of UHS-like sequences around the start codon of vmp genes. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying the conversion of the expression locus segment, it will be necessary to analyze the roles of these elements as well as identify the enzyme(s) involving the conversion.

Antigenic variation is caused by long plasmid segment conversion in a hard tick-borne relapsing fever Borrelia miyamotoi

important new paper by Takeuchi, Gotoh, Hayashi, Kawabata, and Takano

journals.plos.org/plospathogen...

#MicroSky

Proposing a subgenus Borreliella In 2014, it was proposed (validly published in 2015) that the genus Borrelia be divided into two genera, with a new genus Borreliella holding species …

Restoration of the genus name "Borrelia" to Lyme spirochetes, while creating subgenera Borreliella subgen. nov. and Borrelia subgen. nov.

#MicroSky

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
(open access)

The second half of the paper discusses bacteria that would be inside the ticks, ie what I would consider to be the true “microbiome”.
But the first half spends a lot of text and graphics on bacteria that were on the outside surface, and largely irrelevant to the biology of the ticks. Disappointing

Unfortunately, these "microbiomes" include bacteria that happened to be on the outside surfaces of the ticks!
From the paper: Ticks were "surface sterilized" with "two successive washes of 70% ethanol, 30 s each".
That might have killed some surface bacteria, but wouldn't have eliminated their DNA!

At the Gala Dinner of the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis and other Tick-Borne Diseases, Ljubljana, Slovenia with collaborators Peter Kraiczy & Claudia Hammerschmidt, and lab members Amy Bowman, Brandon Jutras & Cat Brissette

Sept. 29, 2010
Gala Dinner of the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis and other Tick-Borne Diseases, Ljubljana, Slovenia
with collaborators Peter Kraiczy & Claudia Hammerschmidt, and lab members Amy Bowman, Brandon Jutras & Cat Brissette
@brissettelab.bsky.social
@jutraslab.bsky.social

Pair of rolling dice Source unknown

Submitted yet another grant proposal today, for a foundation, to be reviewed next month.
That’s 5 grant proposals in play for review before year’s end.

Cutter's 1878 patent application

Image from the patent application

Images from Cutter's 1878 patent application

Top view of a Cutter's Box for Vaccine Material

Bottom view of a Cutter's Box for Vaccine Material

Cutter's Box for Vaccine Material measures approximately 7/8 inches , 2.2 cm, in diameter

Inside of a Cutter's Box for Vaccine Material

Cutter's 1878 patented "Box for Vaccine Matter".
For carrying and protecting smallpox scabs, which were to be used for vaccinations.
#MicroSky

images from my collection

A reminder that levels of intracellular signals are controlled by both synthesis and degradation

#MicroSky

Poster of the England Women’s Rugby World Cup team

A break from my usual science posts.
Brilliant rugby today, England dominated Canada 33-13.

Thank you, we will reach out soon

Exciting and inspiring work on regulating changes in bacterial chromosome structure.
Suspect that this underlies a phenomenon we see upon CRISPRi knockdown of an NAP.
Would love to discuss collaboration with someone experienced in Hi-C

#MicroSky

University and department surplus for as much equipment and supplies as possible. Ask around. I inherited many boxes of glassware when I started 27 years ago, and would love for a junior faculty member to take all of this stuff off my hands!

I shared this a few days ago:

"Thrill"
The best-ever description of spirochete movement, likening the bacteria's flexing to a shiver down the spine when feeling thrilled.
R.C. Rosenberger, 1908, "The spirochaete found in syphilis", Am J Med Sci

"Disgusting" or not is in the eye of the beholder. IMHO, these little buggers have a lot to teach us about how microbes evade and manipulate our immune systems. As well as how to survive in two radically different types of hosts (vertebrates and ticks), and how to efficiently move between them

We used to give takehome tests in our graduate level micro class at UK. Last year, every student used AI to answer their tests. Never again. Only in-class tests from now on.
Damn shame that we can’t trust our own graduate students 😡

Clemson fires 2 professors, Coastal Carolina fires 1 employee over social media posts • SC Daily Gazette Clemson fired two professors for inappropriate social media posts related to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

scdailygazette.com/briefs/clems...

Clemson fires 2 professors, Coastal Carolina fires 1 employee over social media posts • SC Daily Gazette Clemson fired two professors for inappropriate social media posts related to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

2 from Clemson

scdailygazette.com/briefs/clems...

Noticed that the paper was published 6 years ago. Explains why this didn’t sound like news to me.

The American Journal of the Medical Sciences

URL for Rosenberger's paper:
books.google.com/books?id=SW0...

Except from 1908 report: "The most common movement described by the parasite was bending of the whole organism backward and forward; or what may be described as quite a marked vibratory thrill."

"Thrill"
The best-ever description of spirochete movement, likening the bacteria's flexing to a shiver down the spine when feeling thrilled.
R.C. Rosenberger, 1908, "The spirochaete found in syphilis", Am J Med Sci

#MicroSky 🦠🧫🔬

Bacterial two-hybrid systems evolved: innovations for protein-protein interaction research
#MicroSky 🦠

Button, reads “I love CDC”

Supporting CDC scientists, who were blocked by the government from attending and presenting at the International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Diseases.