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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · 1d

They’re amazing!

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Sofia Hauck @shauck.bsky.social · 1d

It’s always a good day when my interests overlap! @contamclub.bsky.social would love this.

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 1d

Elin Thomas, UK textile artist who uses embroidery/crochet to create unique work resembling petri dishes and bacteria spores #womensart

Photo looking down on four petri dishes, neatly arranged, with what resembles bacteria and mould growing inside created with crochet and embroidery

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · 2d

Now published! 🎉🧫🍜

doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

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christoph_STCmicrobeblog @christophstc.bsky.social · 17d

marcel duchamp goes @contamclub.bsky.social 😄

Great art on Bluesky @art.feediverse.org · 17d

Disks Bearing Spirals, 1923 #marcelduchamp #opart

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Tatiana Dimitriu @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social · Sep 2

only a microbiologist can be happy she left home in a rush three weeks ago and did not empty her tea mug @contamclub.bsky.social

Photo of the bottom of a mug covered in fungal contamination, in blue-gray tones with some blue and white more distinct outgrowths

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Aug 9

Noodlococcus was the contaminant we discovered on August 9th 2019, leading to the creation of ContamClub as a celebration of interesting contams! 🦠

Investigation of Noodlococcus resulted in some interesting findings about the Kocuria genus. Full story available as a preprint ⤵️

Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

🚨 Very excited to finally say… 🚨

The story of Noodlococcus - the contaminant that started ContamClub - is available to read 📖🍜🦠

Check it out ➡️ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

1/15 🧵

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Aug 9

How about some rice noodles? 🍜

Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Aug 9

Happy Noodlococcus day to all those who celebrate! 🍜🧫🦠

We’re in 3 different continents now but all celebrating the 6th anniversary of the discovery of our noodle-y friend by eating some delicious noodles @prob91.bsky.social @biostan.bsky.social @gemccallum.bsky.social

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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · Jul 31

A great paper!

Do I win a prize for spotting Noodlococcus in Fig 1? @jpjhall.bsky.social @gemccallum.bsky.social

Greg McCallum @gemccallum.bsky.social · Jul 30

Delighted to have this review out with @jpjhall.bsky.social!

We discuss the risk of transmission of antimicrobial resistance in the hospital sink drain microbiome, highlight studies providing evidence of transfer, and consider strategies to mitigate these risks 🪠🦠

doi.org/10.1038/s442...

The hospital sink drain microbiome as a melting pot for AMR transmission to nosocomial pathogens - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance

npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - The hospital sink drain microbiome as a melting pot for AMR transmission to nosocomial pathogens

doi.org

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Animalcules @bacteriophile.bsky.social · Aug 2

Cool looking colonies...
@contamclub.bsky.social

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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · Jul 17

Here is Rob Moran's account, a fantastic researcher in the field of plasmid genomics and evolution (and @contamclub.bsky.social), so a highly recommended follow.

Dr Ross McInnes @roscobacterium.bsky.social · Jul 17

As is @prob91.bsky.social

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O Tino Quintela @amor-plantonico.bsky.social · Jul 4

@contamclub.bsky.social

Maruchan @maruchan.bsky.social · Jul 4

quando te venderem bolo com aqueles bombons em cima e disserem que é trufado, recusem. a verdadeira trufa é um fungo

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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · Jul 2

Great photo for July on the @contamclub.bsky.social calendar

A Petri dish with a blue agar and a large yellow fungal colony growing on it

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Institute of Microbiology and Infection @imibirmingham.bsky.social · Jul 1

Day 2 of IMI Summer school 2025 kicks off with some funky images from @contamclub.bsky.social and Mathematical modelling of an infectious disease with Rowland Seymour 🦠🦠🤢🤢

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Tasha Sturm @tasturm1.bsky.social · Jun 29

#DescribeThatMicrobe Summer labs are in full swing as are demo plates with handprints! #Microbiology #SciComm @contamclub.bsky.social

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

15/15 We’re so glad to finally have this out there, it has been a fun side project for us alongside our research since we discovered Noodlococcus in 2019

Hope you enjoy reading! Check it out at ⤵️
doi.org/10.1101/2025...

The Kocurious case of Noodlococcus: genomic insights into Kocuria rhizophila from characterisation of a laboratory contaminant

The laboratory contaminant Noodlococcus was named for its coccoid cells and unusual colony morphology, which resembled a pile of noodles. Along with laboratory characterisation and electron microscopy...

doi.org

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

14/15 All of these results came about from investigating a cool-looking contaminant. The Noodlococcus genome and our large-scale genomic evaluation can serve as a baseline for future studies into the distribution, diversity, and evolution of this ubiquitous species 🦠

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

13/15 The oldest strain in the K. pseudorhizophila strain was first isolated by William A. Randall in a 1949 publication, so we suggest that an appropriate species name for the K. pseudorhizophila clade would be Kocuria randallii

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

12/15 The lack of indication that these strains are genetically distinct from the reference genome for K. rhizophila may lead to conflicting results and inaccurate conclusions

For example, this product is derived from a strain present in the K. pseudorhizophila clade ⤵️

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

11/15 Distinguishing these clades has important implications for the use of K. rhizophila strains as controls in research and industry

There are several strains available in culture collections, with some located in the true K. rhizophila clade and some in K. pseudorhizophila 😵‍💫

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

10/15 Pan-fried noodles: pangenomic analysis of K. rhizophila showed clear clade-specific distinctions, adding weight to the argument that they should be separate species 🍳

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

9/15 All other Kocuria species had inter-species ANI values inline with the typical threshold of >95%. Splitting the two clades into separate species would maintain taxonomic consistency within the genus

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

8/15 Type strain TA68 and Noodlococcus were located in the same clade, which represents the true K. rhizophila

Other commonly used reference strains were located in the other clade, which we called “K. pseudorhizophila” 🥸

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

7/15 When comparing all K. rhizophila genomes, we found that they clustered into two distinct clades 🤔

This was also indicated when calculating average nucleotide identities (ANIs), a common way of comparing genetic similarity (see heatmap)

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Contamination Club @contamclub.bsky.social · Jun 2

6/15 We conducted a comparative, phylogenetic, and pangenomic examination of all 257 publicly available Kocuria genomes. The results were interesting! 🔍

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