David Negus

Congratulations to Mia Horton and Yashwani Malik who collected all the data during their MRes projects!

What we found:
• Two novel phages, Sm10b_1 and Sm12, isolated from rivers
• Both show broad activity against clinical Serratia strains
• Sm10b_1 belongs to a new genus
• In wax‑moth larvae, phage treatment increased survival from 0% → 67% for S. marcescens and 7% → 70% for S. odorifera infections

Characterization of two novel bacteriophages infecting clinical isolates of Serratia spp. and therapeutic efficacy in a Galleria mellonella model of infection AbstractAims. This study aimed to isolate virulent bacteriophages (phages) with the capacity to lyse clinical strains belonging to the genus Serratia. Furt

🚨 New Research Alert!
Our team has discovered two new bacteriophages that target Serratia spp.—a major cause of hospital‑associated infections and a growing antibiotic‑resistance threat.
📄 Open‑access article in Journal of Applied Microbiology: doi.org/10.1093/jambio/lxag011

🧬 Free @microbesng.bsky.social PopUp ECR symposium 🧬

UK-based MRes or PhD student, research assistant or postdoc working on microbial genomics or metagenomics?

Present your work and/or chair a session, plus excellent keynote speakers: @halllab.bsky.social and @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social.

#MNGPopUp

Timely too - it was Esther Lederberg's birthday a few days ago

🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.

Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.

A thread 1/8

@bugsinyourguts.bsky.social

Phenotype–genotype discordance in antimicrobial resistance profiles of Gram-negative uropathogens recovered from catheter-associated urinary tract infections in Egypt AbstractObjectives. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are among the most common healthcare-associated infections in low- and middle-inc

Delighted for @mohamedeladawy.bsky.social on the publication of the "big one" from his PhD work.

- Largest genome-based study on uropathogens in Egypt.
- AMR genes for Pseudomonas, and those associated with meropenem poorly understood.
- Prediction databases need better curation.
#UTIsky #microsky

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...

Wow, 17,000 applications!
marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/news/msca-po...

You have to love Belgium. A country built on beers, bikes and bacteriophage.

Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics at University of Birmingham Apply now for the Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

We have a position for an Assist Prof in Microbial Genomics in our School of III.

Hod Joan Geoghegan will be happy to field questions if you are interested. No specific area of microbial genomics preferred so please do consider it

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOO184/a...

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...

Hope there's a melon bar

Distribution of capsule and O types in Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae causes ~20% of sepsis in neonates, with ~40% crude mortality. A vaccine administered to pregnant women, protecting against 70% of K. pneumoniae infections, could aver...

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Host interactions of bioactive molecules produced by Klebsiella spp Abstract Klebsiella spp. are early colonisers and commensals of human skin, oral, nasal, throat and gut microbiotas, but are also opportunistic pathogens. Much of our information on these bacteria is ...

Great to see the typeset version of this invited review out.

Covers pretty much everything we know about metabolites/peptides produced by Klebsiella spp. and how they interact with the host. #microsky #microbiomesky @microbiotaandhost.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1530/MAH-...

Fantastic collaboration with talented post-doc Hala Ali and PhD student Carlos Valdivia. Special thanks to @pilardomingoc.bsky.social for letting us have Carlos visit our lab and contribute to this work! #microsky

🚨New publication🚨
We show that K. Pneumoniae bacteriophages can be incorporated into alginate to create an antibiofilm matrix effective against clinical K. pneumoniae strains
academic.oup.com/jambio/artic...

Very pleased to see this review out on host interactions of bioactive molecules produced by Klebsiella spp. #MicroSky

New preprint from @mohamedeladawy.bsky.social

This represents the main body of work from Mohamed's thesis. He's carried out the largest study, to date, on G-ve (11 different genera) CAUTI-associated bacteria in Egypt. #UTIsky #Microsky #AMR

It's been a pleasure to supervise Mohamed's PhD studies.

Weberviruses are gut-associated phages that infect Klebsiella spp. Abstract. Weberviruses are bacteriophages (phages) that can infect and lyse clinically relevant, multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains of Klebsiella. They are

New paper from me and @davidnegus.bsky.social. We've trebled the number of authenticated webervirus genomes, and show that low-quality virome MAGs are to be avoided in comparative analyses.

academic.oup.com/femsec/advan...

Two ERC-funded postdoc positions available in the team - one here and second to follow - please repost! jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastl...

Genomic and phenotypic characterization of staphylococci isolated from the skin of non-human primates The growth of wildlife tourism coupled with continued deforestation has resulted in increased contact between non-human primates (NHPs) and humans. Such events may promote the transmission of potentia...

Congratulations to Caitlin Wildsmith on the second paper from her PhD with @davidnegus.bsky.social! #microsky

We had a few weberviruses isolated and lots of K. pneumoniae strains/genomes but hadn't done anything with them. COVID lockdown meant Sam needed to change the focus of his PhD for a while. This is the result.

Nice collaboration with @davidnegus.bsky.social and @halllab.bsky.social, among others.

Genomic and phenotypic characterization of staphylococci isolated from the skin of non-human primates The growth of wildlife tourism coupled with continued deforestation has resulted in increased contact between non-human primates (NHPs) and humans. Such events may promote the transmission of potentia...

New paper alert! New paper alert! Insight, including genomic analyses, in to Staphylococcal diversity on NHP skin. @microbiologysociety.org @davidnegus.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...