Meaghan Castledine

Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness Kubota et al. show that bacteria can use their filamentous phage to outcompete other bacteria, but increased phage production enables the evolution of cheater miniphages with truncated genomes. Miniph...

Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness

Pseudomonas aeruginosa VS Pf phage

@currentbiology.bsky.social by @nanamikubota.bsky.social, @shellyscrib.bsky.social and @vscooper.micropopbio.org

www.cell.com/current-biol...

#PhageSky

A teal flyer for a PhD opportunity to investigate how warming may change antimicrobial resistance. The project will use experiments on Klebsiella bacteria to answer questions about how temperature affects their response to antibiotics, plasmid transfer, and fitness costs. The research involves microbiology lab work, bioinformatics, and mathematical modeling. The flyer includes contact details for Dr. Daniel Padfield and the logos of the sponsoring institutions.

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky

Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

PhD fellowship in biofilm-phage interactions

PhD fellowship in biofilm-phage interactions - with Mette Burmølle at University of Copenhagen 🇩🇰
deadline 1 October 2025

employment.ku.dk/faculty?show...

#phagesky #microsky

Agree with this - this is prophage activity I’ve seen on streaks of one of our species

Now peer-reviewed, improved and published in @microbiologysociety.org Microbiology - thanks to editor and reviewers!

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

Teacher's Corner — Superbugs - The microbial world in, on and around us

In case you are wondering how you can enrich your science classes by using our educational resources - for primary and secondary schools alike.

In English, Welsh, Irish and Gaelic.

#ScienceIsFun

🦠🧫🔬🧑🏼‍🔬

QR code link to conference described in post above (link also in post)

Don’t miss the inaugural Conference on Bacteriophages: Biology, Dynamics, and Therapeutics, October 12–14, 2025, in Washington, DC. A 2.5-day program of invited talks, symposia, workshops, and abstracts will highlight the latest advances. For more info: bit.ly/3JUKLYL

PhD opportunity, please share:

We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA.
All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

Genomic constraints shape the evolution of alternative routes to drug resistance in prokaryotes Background Variation within the prokaryotic pangenome is not random, and natural selection that favours particular combinations of genes appears to dominate over random drift. What is less clear is wh...

New preprint reveals bacteria can't just collect all resistance genes like Pokemon cards.
We found mutually exclusive evolutionary pathways to multidrug resistance in E. coli & P. aeruginosa - some resistance mechanisms actively prevent others from coexisting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Research Associate in Microbiome Ecology:Oxford Road

A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others

Please share & get in touch if interested!

tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3

Apply if you want to work with the nicest phage person ever!

📝New preprint!

We investigated how spatial structure affects cooperation between phages, combining mathematical modelling and experiments.

A short thread 🧶

Thank you! And non-uk currency totally fine - will use an R script to convert, work out entries and draw random winners 💙 (will just need ppl to manually convert if they use the gform instead to enter)

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

✍️ We had a great time writing this Spotlight article on one of our favorite topics: how phages interact with each other! 🦠
From cooperation to competition, phage-phage interactions reveal a fascinating layer of microbial life that’s often overlooked.
A piece crafted by the talented Josie Elliott!

It’s really important for EDI that ECRs and PIs can have open, empathetic discussions about feedback and behaviour, without intimidation.

Respect from lab members comes from being able to challenge negative behaviour, and being listened to without discussions becoming a competition.

A to do list from the article in Nature

From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab

Laboratory dynamics can change as the age and experience of the principal investigator increase. But there are ways to combat this.

Read our piece in Nature, with @sprekeler.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation Abstract. Most knowledge about bacterial evolution and ecological interactions comes from laboratory studies. One difference between the wild and most labo

Our new paper on experimental evolution in wild tree-holes -Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation

#ISMEJournal
@duhitasant.bsky.social Tom Smith Edgar Wong Juli Cohen
@kayla-king.bsky.social
Tom Bell

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Conference flyer, all info is on link too

Please share! 🦠
Workshop on Phage Therapy in Liverpool on 25th November organised by Stineke van Houte, @jojofoth.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social, & Edze Westra.

Limited FREE tickets & more info here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/vanhoutelab/...

#MicroSky

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation - Nature Reviews Genetics In this Review, Ascensao and Desai discuss how methodological advances in genotype and phenotype manipulation are transforming experimental evolution approaches and providing new insights into the und...

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation
#ExperimentalEvolution #evolution #evoSky

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

Antagonism between bacteriophages and macrophages decreases efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail and increases bacteriophage resistance Phage therapy, the use of viruses that infect bacteria (bacteriophages), is a promising complement to antibiotics during the antimicrobial resistance crisis, but treatment success is very variable. Ev...

How do macrophages influence the evolution of phage resistance?

We show that macrophages reduce the efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail 🦠, resulting in greater bacteria population densities which, in-turn, facilitate greater rates of phage resistance.

Pre-print 👇
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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...

Really exciting work! And comforting it supports our recent in vitro work that macrophages are “bad” for phage therapy ❤️

Beautiful new review paper in preprint bridging microbial ecology and classic ecology led by Maggie Vogel, @olimeacock.bsky.social and @annasophieweiss.bsky.social, also by @juliensluneau.bsky.social and @lambdapp.bsky.social from our lab (not me :)) ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

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...

New phage therapy publication!🦠 #phagesky

We analysed an MRSA phage therapy case study, assessing how predictions made in vitro differed when using one (standard practice) or multiple bacteria isolates from the patient.

Collaborative work: Exeter and Queen Astrid hospital

doi.org/10.1093/jamb...

this paper is also the spiritual predecessor of this paper 👇 where we looked deeper into the causes and consequences of phage-resistance associated increases in Variovorax densities 👀 academic.oup.com/femsec/artic...

How do multiple coexisting bacteria and phages (co)evolve? Well... they don't (or do so much less!

In this paper we tracked bacteria-phage (co)evolution in monoculture (individual bacteria-phage pairs) or in polyculture (all three pairs) over 6 weeks. Read more here👇
doi.org/10.1099/mic....

The immunity to phage problem very much depends on route of administration - intravenous, yes much more likely (tho unknown how long that lasts). But if you are a CF sufferer and receiving nebulised phage therapy then immunity is much less likely (and are a key group who will need multiple rounds).

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...