Casey Theriot

How a Better Bile Acid Could Keep C. diff at Bay

news.cvm.ncsu.edu/how-a-better...

A Mouse Model of C. diff at NC State is Helping Scientists Around the World Develop Better Antibiotics

Some nice press from a recent international collaboration with researchers from Leiden University.
news.cvm.ncsu.edu/a-mouse-mode...

Nearly 1,000 people have registered so far! Don't miss out!

Really fun collaboration with Roman Melnyk from The Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute and Peter Dosa from University of Minnesota, making synthetic bile acids to be gut-restricted prevents C. difficile infection in a preclinical mouse model

Structure-guided design of a synthetic bile acid that inhibits Clostridioides difficile TcdB toxin - Nature Microbiology A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated Clostridioides difficile infection in mice.

#NewResearch

A bile acid-bound structure of toxin TcdB revealed the mechanism of inhibition and guided the design of a synthetic bile acid that alleviated C. difficile infection in mice.

#MicroSky 🦠💊

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

Really nice work driven by postdocs Dr. Gancz in my lab and Dr. Zhang in Baker @erinbakerims.bsky.social lab at UNC, looking at novel lipids and how they might play a role in restoring colonization resistance against C. difficile in patients with rCDI post FMT.
www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-7...

Leids ‘superantibioticum’ houdt met lage dosis gevaarlijke darmbacterie in bedwang Het in Leiden ontwikkelde antibioticum EVG7 slaagt erin om met een minimale dosis de gevaarlijke darmbacterie C. difficile te bestrijden. Bovendien komt de bacterie minder gemakkelijk terug, wat bij b...

Leids ‘superantibioticum’ houdt met lage dosis gevaarlijke darmbacterie in bedwang www.universiteitleiden.nl/nieuws/2025/...

Experimental glycopeptide antibiotic EVG7 prevents recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection by sparing members of the Lachnospiraceae family - Nature Communications Treatment of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) with vancomycin is associated with high relapse rates. In this study, the experimental glycopeptide antibiotic EVG7 was found to effectively treat CDI without relapse in a murine model of recurrent CDI.

New paper alert! In this work, published in @natcomms.nature.com we show that a new antibiotic is effective against (r)CDI. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Experimental glycopeptide antibiotic EVG7 prevents recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection by sparing members of the Lachnospiraceae family - Nature Communications Treatment of Clostridioides difficile infections (CDI) with vancomycin is associated with high relapse rates. In this study, the experimental glycopeptide antibiotic EVG7 was found to effectively treat CDI without relapse in a murine model of recurrent CDI.

Really nice collaboration with the Martin and Smits labs at Leiden University Netherlands, designing and testing novel antimicrobials that target C. difficile but spare members of the microbiota, including Lachnospiraceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

About Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research & Education (SPIRE) SPIRE’s Mission: 1) To provide scholars with both high quality research training and the opportunity to develop research based teaching skills that will inspire students across the sciences 2) To promote effective teaching and research partnerships between research intensive institutions and partner institutions with a large population of underrepresented students The four major components of the SPIRE Postdoctoral Fellowship Program include: Research Teaching Professional Development Additional Opportunities

Cool Postdoc opportunity alert! UNC SPIRE (Seeding Postdoctoral Innovators in Research & Education)-it provides scholars with both high quality research training & the opportunity to develop research based teaching skills that will inspire students across the sciences 1/n
spire.unc.edu/program-info/

NIH whistleblower details clash over childhood vaccines with Trump administration: "We became inconvenient" A former NIH official says she was removed after clashes over vaccines, accusing RFK Jr. and his deputies of posing "a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."

"We became inconvenient".

If you believe that keeping your head down and being quiet will spare you from this fate, you are mistaken. This will be all of us.

Department members sit at a very long table in the hallway eating a pre-Thanksgiving potluck feast.

Faculty search announcement 2025: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Microbiology at UT Southwestern. We seek candidates working in microbial pathogenesis (some preference may be given to bacterial pathogens). Come join our community! (1/5) www.utsouthwestern.edu/departments/...

The best of both worlds with awesome speakers that will focus on how the microbiome affects ecosystems at a mechanistic level. Can’t wait for this meeting.

A federal agency - which controls an enormous amount of money - is breaking the law to hide its decisions from you and avoid accountability.

Hey OMB, see you in court.

I have thought on it and prayed about it, and I have decided: I am running to be the next U.S. Senator from North Carolina.

Thank you Senator Tillis! NC folks drop him an email or make a call and thank him

We’ve known for months now that Vought was illegally impounding funds with the goals of rescissions. Better late than never for GOP Senators to politely ask that he stop breaking the law.

Enterococcus faecalis modulates phase variation in Clostridioides difficile https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.24.666506v1

I am so excited about this meeting. I will cover the discovery of 10,000s new metabolites, including an entirely new class of molecules. Looking forward to hearing and discussing your science on microbiome metabolites and metabolism.

Probiotics Can Help or Hinder Gut Recovery After Antibiotic Treatment

New paper is out from our lab showing that some probiotics can accelerate and prolong the return of colonization resistance to C. difficile after antibiotics.
news.ncsu.edu/2025/07/prob...

Join us in Banff, CAN January 19-22 for the Keystone meeting on Microbiome Metabolism and Metabolites! Early scholarship deadline is September 23!

100+ UNC research projects lose federal funding UNC-Chapel Hill is navigating a significant $126 million reduction in federal grant funding compared to last fiscal year.

Thanks to WRAL for documenting the tremendous impact of the Trump administration efforts to end important research grants
www.wral.com/news/local/u...

We are looking for a new postdoctoral fellow to join our team at NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine, near Research Triangle Park. If you are interested please DM me and or also apply here: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/219...

Economic loss due to NIH budget cuts by congressional district, scienceimpacts.org/fy26

The #SCIMaP team announces a major update: an analysis of the economic impacts of the White House's NIH FY26 budget.

Bottom-line, we estimate $46B in total economic loss, 202K lost jobs, and impacts in communities nationwide.

Interactive map and shareable report:
scienceimpacts.org/fy26

a 🧵

We are looking for a new postdoctoral fellow to join our team at NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine, near Research Triangle Park. If you are interested please DM me and or also apply here: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/219...

Incredible work, JP!

#McClintockLetters

The microbiome diversifies long- to short-chain fatty acid-derived N-acyl lipids Mass spectrometry data mining tools enabled the creation of an MS/MS spectral library containing hundreds of N-acyl lipids, including conjugates with short-chain fatty acids. This resource enabled the...

If you have ever wondered what might happen to short chain fatty acids made by the microbiome. Here is a large class of metabolites and how they link to biology. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Jay Bhattacharya & Russ Vought are taking $566 million in NIH funding from my state (we are #2 in terminated grants)

The impact will be truly horrific, but these 2 men will rejoice 😡

Bhattacharya took $129 million from Duke’s HIV vaccine development efforts: www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025... 🤬

All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!