Branko Rihtman
@cyanoney.bsky.social
Eukaryote growing prokaryotes so I can infect them with phages. 2024 BBSRC Fellow at the University of Warwick. Unapologetically leftist.
2 days left to apply for a fully funded MIBTP Phd project with me at the School of Life Sciences @warwicklifesci.bsky.social at Warwick. We will do viral functional metagenomics and other cool techniques.
Check out the details and apply in the link below
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
Check out the details and apply in the link below
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
2 days left to apply for a fully funded MIBTP Phd project with me at the School of Life Sciences @warwicklifesci.bsky.social at Warwick. We will do viral functional metagenomics and other cool techniques.
Check out the details and apply in the link below
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
Check out the details and apply in the link below
warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
I have a PhD position available on freshwater phage pollution, in terms of AMR impact and persistance of phage used in food and agriculture. #PhageSky #MicroSky www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
NERC RED-ALERT CDT: Bacteriophages as river pollutants: determining the impact of phage pollution, with focus on antimicrobial resistance. at Bangor University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - NERC RED-ALERT CDT: Bacteriophages as river pollutants: determining the impact of phage pollution, with focus on antimicrobial resistance. at Bangor University, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 21, 2025 at 3:55 PM
I have a PhD position available on freshwater phage pollution, in terms of AMR impact and persistance of phage used in food and agriculture. #PhageSky #MicroSky www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Wonderful opportunity
📣 Fully funded PhD opportunity - CryoEM, Phage Biology & Structural Mechanisms
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
YBDTP – BBSRC Yorkshire Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership
yorkshirebiosciencedtp.ac.uk
November 21, 2025 at 10:07 AM
Wonderful opportunity
Take notes UK. This is the exact playbook that Reform government will enforce if (when?) they get in power.
The administration is building a legal pathway for ad hoc grant terminations:
"if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities"
Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.
"if the agency determines that the award no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities"
Converting multiyear grants to 'at whim' coin flips will undermine the stability & leadership of American science.
Update on a significant development NIH grant terms.
On 10/1, a change to grant making regs went into effect that gives NIH more power to terminate grants for policy reasons.
But to use this power, new grant terms must include specific language. See @aniloza.bsky.social w/ the story from July.
1/
On 10/1, a change to grant making regs went into effect that gives NIH more power to terminate grants for policy reasons.
But to use this power, new grant terms must include specific language. See @aniloza.bsky.social w/ the story from July.
1/
November 20, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Take notes UK. This is the exact playbook that Reform government will enforce if (when?) they get in power.
How did we get to a point where it is ok to be cruel? It seems to be a perfectly valid policy to try and make the immigrants life as miserable as possible, it seems to be acceptable to just be cruel to the trans people... Why is cruelty suddenly not just justified but revered?
I suspect they're delaying it because its mental and unworkable - and is clearly aimed at the exclusion of trans, and gender conforming people, from society.
November 20, 2025 at 9:18 AM
How did we get to a point where it is ok to be cruel? It seems to be a perfectly valid policy to try and make the immigrants life as miserable as possible, it seems to be acceptable to just be cruel to the trans people... Why is cruelty suddenly not just justified but revered?
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
I've made a short blog post summarising currently available substitutes to GeneFrames for bacterial timelapse microscopy.
I will keep it updated with any future developments, so let me know if anything should be added.
holdenlab.github.io/blog/2025/Ge...
#microsky
I will keep it updated with any future developments, so let me know if anything should be added.
holdenlab.github.io/blog/2025/Ge...
#microsky
Alternatives to GeneFrames for bacterial timelapse microscopy | HOLDEN LAB @ WARWICK
Summary of efforts to find alternatives to GeneFrames
holdenlab.github.io
November 19, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I've made a short blog post summarising currently available substitutes to GeneFrames for bacterial timelapse microscopy.
I will keep it updated with any future developments, so let me know if anything should be added.
holdenlab.github.io/blog/2025/Ge...
#microsky
I will keep it updated with any future developments, so let me know if anything should be added.
holdenlab.github.io/blog/2025/Ge...
#microsky
Fantastic work. Functional characterisation of another viral auxiliary metabolic gene. Cyanophage interference in marine photosynthesis gets another angle.
Viral NblA proteins negatively affect oceanic cyanobacterial photosynthesis www.nature.com/articles/s41...
this project was led by @omernadel.bsky.social and is a joint work between the labs of @bejalab.bsky.social, Debbie Lindell and Oded Kleifeld from @biologytechnion.bsky.social
this project was led by @omernadel.bsky.social and is a joint work between the labs of @bejalab.bsky.social, Debbie Lindell and Oded Kleifeld from @biologytechnion.bsky.social
the sun is shining through the clouds in the sky above the ocean
ALT: the sun is shining through the clouds in the sky above the ocean
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:10 PM
Fantastic work. Functional characterisation of another viral auxiliary metabolic gene. Cyanophage interference in marine photosynthesis gets another angle.
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
Anybody tried any mScarlet3 antibodies on a western blot and got any recommendations? Cheers!
November 12, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Anybody tried any mScarlet3 antibodies on a western blot and got any recommendations? Cheers!
In a bookstore in Lisbon @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 12:59 PM
In a bookstore in Lisbon @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes
Very cool paper and method. I was looking forward to this coming out of preprint (short thread below on why)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Very cool paper and method. I was looking forward to this coming out of preprint (short thread below on why)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes - Nature Microbiology
Environmental micro-compartment genomics provides efficient and high-throughput single-particle DNA sequencing that captures overlooked members of microbial communities.
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Single-particle genomics uncovers abundant non-canonical marine viruses from nanolitre volumes
Very cool paper and method. I was looking forward to this coming out of preprint (short thread below on why)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Very cool paper and method. I was looking forward to this coming out of preprint (short thread below on why)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
I knew it would take less than a day for a tiktok dj to make something.
November 5, 2025 at 12:13 PM
I knew it would take less than a day for a tiktok dj to make something.
PSA
If your article/essay/blog post/LinkedIn post are sprinkled with emojis, bullet points (or the winning combo, emojis instead of bullet points) and those long dashes (—), I am not reading them.
I know where ChatGPT is, I can ask it myself if I want to read a machine generated opinion on RNAseq
If your article/essay/blog post/LinkedIn post are sprinkled with emojis, bullet points (or the winning combo, emojis instead of bullet points) and those long dashes (—), I am not reading them.
I know where ChatGPT is, I can ask it myself if I want to read a machine generated opinion on RNAseq
November 5, 2025 at 2:39 PM
PSA
If your article/essay/blog post/LinkedIn post are sprinkled with emojis, bullet points (or the winning combo, emojis instead of bullet points) and those long dashes (—), I am not reading them.
I know where ChatGPT is, I can ask it myself if I want to read a machine generated opinion on RNAseq
If your article/essay/blog post/LinkedIn post are sprinkled with emojis, bullet points (or the winning combo, emojis instead of bullet points) and those long dashes (—), I am not reading them.
I know where ChatGPT is, I can ask it myself if I want to read a machine generated opinion on RNAseq
Come work with me!
I am hiring a senior research technician to help me discover novel phage genes with antibiofilm properties. We will create metagenomic libraries, program robots, sequence viral metagenomes and many more fun things.
The application deadline is 02-Dec-25.
shorturl.at/GErUo
I am hiring a senior research technician to help me discover novel phage genes with antibiofilm properties. We will create metagenomic libraries, program robots, sequence viral metagenomes and many more fun things.
The application deadline is 02-Dec-25.
shorturl.at/GErUo
Senior Research Technician (111019-1125) - University of Warwick
Title: Senior Research Technician (111019-1125). Application Deadline: . Position Type: Fixed Term
shorturl.at
November 4, 2025 at 1:37 PM
Come work with me!
I am hiring a senior research technician to help me discover novel phage genes with antibiofilm properties. We will create metagenomic libraries, program robots, sequence viral metagenomes and many more fun things.
The application deadline is 02-Dec-25.
shorturl.at/GErUo
I am hiring a senior research technician to help me discover novel phage genes with antibiofilm properties. We will create metagenomic libraries, program robots, sequence viral metagenomes and many more fun things.
The application deadline is 02-Dec-25.
shorturl.at/GErUo
Check out our latest preprint in which we describe a new phage plaque sequencing pipeline which lowers the cost of sequencing by up to 10-fold while significantly shortening the time required to obtain the phage genome sequences
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Rolling out plaque-2-sequence: a single plaque sequencing approach enabling rapid, low-cost sequencing of phages directly from plaques
Rapid, accurate, and scalable sequencing of bacteriophage genomes is critical to advance phage therapy, build phage biobanks and understand phage genomic diversity. Current methods are based on sequen...
www.biorxiv.org
November 3, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Check out our latest preprint in which we describe a new phage plaque sequencing pipeline which lowers the cost of sequencing by up to 10-fold while significantly shortening the time required to obtain the phage genome sequences
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Doing RNAseq analysis on Halloween
October 30, 2025 at 11:18 AM
Doing RNAseq analysis on Halloween
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
PhD opportunity in my lab: exploring how commensals and pathogens build biofilm communities on endotracheal (ventilator) tubes. Microbial ecology, medical microbiology and fancy imaging! Co-supervised with the fabulous Saskia Bakker and Jeremy Webb warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa... #MicroSky
Dr Freya Harrison
Dr Freya Harrison
warwick.ac.uk
October 15, 2025 at 8:09 PM
PhD opportunity in my lab: exploring how commensals and pathogens build biofilm communities on endotracheal (ventilator) tubes. Microbial ecology, medical microbiology and fancy imaging! Co-supervised with the fabulous Saskia Bakker and Jeremy Webb warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa... #MicroSky
PhD project claxon!!
Interested in phage functional metagenomics? Want to learn how to program a robot?
Apply for a fully funded MIBTP PhD with myself, Rich Puxty, and @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social here at Warwick, working on viral anti-biofilm gene discovery.
Apply here:
tinyurl.com/phagegenomics
Interested in phage functional metagenomics? Want to learn how to program a robot?
Apply for a fully funded MIBTP PhD with myself, Rich Puxty, and @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social here at Warwick, working on viral anti-biofilm gene discovery.
Apply here:
tinyurl.com/phagegenomics
October 14, 2025 at 3:06 PM
PhD project claxon!!
Interested in phage functional metagenomics? Want to learn how to program a robot?
Apply for a fully funded MIBTP PhD with myself, Rich Puxty, and @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social here at Warwick, working on viral anti-biofilm gene discovery.
Apply here:
tinyurl.com/phagegenomics
Interested in phage functional metagenomics? Want to learn how to program a robot?
Apply for a fully funded MIBTP PhD with myself, Rich Puxty, and @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social here at Warwick, working on viral anti-biofilm gene discovery.
Apply here:
tinyurl.com/phagegenomics
History. It repeats itself.
My first thought was “wow I hope this guy didn’t give out his name because he could absolutely be charged” and yup, he is correct to stay anonymous.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
This man’s account is shocking. His neighbors’ situation is shocking. The entire Chicago raid is shocking.
October 11, 2025 at 10:04 AM
History. It repeats itself.
This map is really confusing
Spatio-Temporal Resolution of Microbial Functions and Taxa Associated With Cyanobacterial Harmful Algae Blooms Along a 500-Km Aquatic Continuum in the Lake Erie Watershed enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Spatio‐Temporal Resolution of Microbial Functions and Taxa Associated With Cyanobacterial Harmful Algae Blooms Along a 500‐Km Aquatic Continuum in the Lake Erie Watershed
The aquatic microbiome can influence cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms. Abundances of genes and transcripts for phosphorus acquisition, denitrification and nitrogen fixation were higher upstream, w....
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 7, 2025 at 8:22 AM
This map is really confusing
Weak and disappointing. If being a Nazi isn't enough to remove someone from the list of Fellows, what is?
"I am increasingly concerned over threats to the values that allow science to flourish." Read the full statement from the President of the Royal Society Sir Adrian Smith: royalsociety.org/news/2025/10...
A statement from the President of the Royal Society | Royal Society
A statement from the President of the Royal Society regarding threats to the values that allow science to flourish.
royalsociety.org
October 1, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Weak and disappointing. If being a Nazi isn't enough to remove someone from the list of Fellows, what is?
Fascinating! Well done, so nice to see familiar names on this publication
We've tried to take a different view at the issue of nutrient limitations-looking for the shared basis rather than for specific response. This is the result:
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Led by Hagit Zer with Stav Chen and David Rasin, in close collaboration with Miguel Hernandez–Prieto. Thanks!
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Led by Hagit Zer with Stav Chen and David Rasin, in close collaboration with Miguel Hernandez–Prieto. Thanks!
A shared basis for nutrient limitation response in cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria possess diverse regulatory mechanisms to adapt to nutrient limitation,
yet the extent to which these responses are shared across different nutrient stresses
remains unclear. Understandin...
www.jbc.org
September 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
Fascinating! Well done, so nice to see familiar names on this publication
Love my town.
✅ Labour HOLD
Yesterday's Leamington Clarendon (Warwick) council by-election result:
LAB: 30.3% (-18.7)
LDEM: 29.6% (+13.3)
REF: 16.3% (+16.3)
GRN: 12.7% (-6.2)
CON: 7.4% (-8.6)
IND: 3.8% (+3.8)
+/- 2023
andrewteale.me.uk/previews
Yesterday's Leamington Clarendon (Warwick) council by-election result:
LAB: 30.3% (-18.7)
LDEM: 29.6% (+13.3)
REF: 16.3% (+16.3)
GRN: 12.7% (-6.2)
CON: 7.4% (-8.6)
IND: 3.8% (+3.8)
+/- 2023
andrewteale.me.uk/previews
Andrew’s Previews | Andrew Teale | Substack
"All the right votes, but not necessarily in the right order". Click to read Andrew’s Previews, by Andrew Teale, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.
andrewteale.me.uk
September 20, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Love my town.
Coming soon to the UK if Reform wins...
Of all the stupid things that this regime has done, this is right up near the top. Postdoctoral researchers come to the US on H-1B visas. This will further destroy the US science enterprise. Stupid stupid stupid.
Trump administration to add $100,000 fee for H-1B visas
The Trump administration is targeting a visa widely used by tech companies and other employers to hire foreign workers.
www.cbsnews.com
September 19, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Coming soon to the UK if Reform wins...
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
We have some full length 16S data from isolates that we'd like to match to ASV-level V4-V5 microbiomes from the same samples. It's pretty messy, especially for strains with multiple copies of 16S rRNA genes.
Has anyone encountered this in their work, or in the lit? Any ideas how to approach this?
Has anyone encountered this in their work, or in the lit? Any ideas how to approach this?
September 19, 2025 at 4:15 PM
We have some full length 16S data from isolates that we'd like to match to ASV-level V4-V5 microbiomes from the same samples. It's pretty messy, especially for strains with multiple copies of 16S rRNA genes.
Has anyone encountered this in their work, or in the lit? Any ideas how to approach this?
Has anyone encountered this in their work, or in the lit? Any ideas how to approach this?
Reposted by Branko Rihtman
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of single cell bacterial FACS? Have a few technical issues due to my tiny cells. Thanks!
September 18, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of single cell bacterial FACS? Have a few technical issues due to my tiny cells. Thanks!