Lilly Cummins

It was a pleasure to write this with input from PhD students @evehallett.bsky.social and Priyanshu from the @sheppardlab.bsky.social

Epistasis and co-adaptation in bacterial genome evolution Nature Reviews Genetics - Bacterial genome evolution is shaped by epistasis, which can constrain or promote specific evolutionary paths. The authors review how integrating the effects of epistatic...

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years thinking about genome evolution and how recent research revealing complex gene-gene interactions has complicated traditional ‘gene-centric’ genomic approaches to evolution. So here is a review that consolidates these thoughts!

rdcu.be/e6pHY

Are you, or do you know, a masters/undergrad looking to take part in a cool research project in bird behaviour, in a lovely field site? Look no further! 👇
(pls share!)

MENI is back! Join us in Dublin this August 2026 for our 3rd Meeting for Microbial Evolution in Ireland. We are delighted to have @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social @drrebeccajhall.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social and @tweethinking.bsky.social join us as keynote speakers this year. miniurl.com/MENI

I am delighted to share our pre-print on a LIN code system for C. jejuni and C. coli 🎊

A great initiative supporting women in microbiology! #microsky

🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.

Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠

3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...

Annual Conference 2026 Industry opportunities

Microbial pangenomics is reshaping our understanding of microbial diversity. Reaching new frontiers of an open and evolving discipline, hear the latest insights at Annual Conference 2026. Registration is open: microb.io/AC26Register #Microbio26

The first preprint from @izziepotterill.bsky.social PhD. A clone within ST131 clade C with a totally unique capsule region.

We're pleased to announce the annual IOI Early Career Researcher Conference will be held on 20 March 2026 at Saïd Business School, Oxford.

A conference for early career researchers, designed by early career researchers.

Register for your free place now:
www.ineosoxford.ox.ac.uk/event/ioi-ea...

The ContamCalendar 2026 will likely be the final calendar we make, so we wanted it to be a great one.

The new design folds out to be A3, perfect for displaying the beautiful microbes inside 😍

Also full of microbe-related days throughout the year 📆🦠🧫🍄

💥CONTAM CALENDAR GIVEAWAY💥

Here's your chance to win a ContamCalendar 2026! 🗓️🍄🦠

Just follow @contamclub.bsky.social and repost this post to enter the competition

Winner will be randomly selected from Bluesky or Twitter on Wednesday @ 6pm UTC

‼️🚨🗓️ CONTAMCALENDAR 2026 🗓️🚨‼️

Excited to say the ContamCalendar is back for its fifth edition! We’ve created a fresh new design, folding out for an A3 monthly spread. It’s our best yet, we hope you’ll love it 🗓️🦠🧫🍄

Get yours here ➡️ www.contam.club ⬅️

Look out for an exciting announcement later…. 👀 #ContamCalendar

Identification and response to a putatively hypervirulent, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae ST395 hospital outbreak in the UK Here, we describe a putatively hypervirulent, carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (hv-CRKP) outbreak. Nanopore sequencing guided the infection prevention and control (IPC) responses during the ...

Our latest is out tonight in @microbiologysociety.org MGen. Using long read seq to ID and then control hospital transmission of a CRKp we believe shows genomic and clinical signs of hypervirulence

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

HUGE congrats Dr Hall 👏

Brilliant day having a project meeting with @sheppardlab.bsky.social and @lillycummins.bsky.social today on our BBSRC project. I still love my research even if I get less time on it now.

Just submitted my abstracts. Make sure to pop yours in 📝

What makes PhD students happy? Good supervision Supervisors who invest in positive mentoring relationships with their PhD candidates also reap the benefits for their own research.

So much of this article is full of hope then,

"About 43% of respondents had experienced some form of discrimination or harassment.. in around four out of ten bullying cases, a student reported bullying by their supervisor."

We need safeguards in place to stop this from happening.

External Event Grant Login to apply

External Event Grant awards of up to £750 are available for eligible members as a contribution towards the costs of registration, travel, and accommodation to attend an event beginning in the period 01 Jan – 30 April 2026. Apply now before the deadline 01 Nov at 23:59 GMT: microb.io/ExternalEven...

Illustration promoting the Education and Outreach Network Winter Conference, featuring scientific icons. The event will take place online on 7 November 2025 and is free to attend.

Join us online for the Education and Outreach Network Winter Conference on 7 November 2025. Attendance is free, and registration remains open until 4 November 2025 at 23:59 GMT. Register now: Link in bio

Reclaiming microbiology: scientists as community members and advocacy leaders Microbiology Society journals contain high-quality research papers and topical review articles. We are a not-for-profit publisher and we support and invest in the microbiology community, to the…

To celebrate Black in Micro Week, the @blackinmicro.bsky.social have published a new commentary, Reclaiming Microbiology: Scientists as Community Members & Advocacy Leaders. Read the article: doi.org/10.1099/mgen... #MGen #BiM2025

Reclaiming microbiology: scientists as community members and advocacy leaders Microbiology Society journals contain high-quality research papers and topical review articles. We are a not-for-profit publisher and we support and invest in the microbiology community, to the benefi...

To celebrate and support the great @blackinmicro.bsky.social initiative and what joining could mean for you, please take a look through the commentary in Microbial Genomics @microbiologysociety.org hot off the press today! #MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 💻🧬🧪🦠 www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

📣 Reminder of the below fully-funded PhD studentships in exposome immunology! Projects interfacing with other areas (e.g. the human microbiome) are also on offer. Please reach out if you have any questions.

Applications due 2 Dec 2025 📣

Note it in your calendars! Aug 3-5, 2026. Excited to bring back MEEHubs to a hub near you (Switzerland, USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Ukraine, or virtual only)‼️

After being with the journal since its very inception, the time has come for me to step back from Microbial Genomics. This is a wonderful opportunity to have a leadership role in one of the leading journals for microbial genomics research

microbiologysociety.org/news/society...

Photograph taken from within a seated audience showing a screen with ‘EARLY CAREER MICROBIOLOGIST OF THE YEAR TALK FINAL’

Great science-filled afternoon at @microbiologysociety.org HQ watching finalists present at the Early Career Microbiologist of the Year Finals! All the speakers gave fantastic talks on a wide variety of subjects 🦠🧫🔬

Outreach and Engagement Grant Eligible members can apply for up to £1000 to support relevant science outreach or public engagement initiatives that engage new audiences in the art and science in any aspect of microbiology.…

Applications for Outreach and Engagement grant are closing tomorrow at 23.59 BST. Members can apply for up to £1000 to support relevant science outreach or public engagement initiatives. Check your eligibility and apply now: microb.io/OutreachandE....

Our fantastic @sheppardlab.bsky.social DPhil student Madison Goforth gives us a global overview of Campylobacter source attribution and the spread of AMR 🌎💊🌎 #CampyUK2025 @microbiologysociety.org @ineosoxford.bsky.social @biology.ox.ac.uk