Ewan Harrison
@ewanharrison.bsky.social
280 followers 470 following 5 posts
Microbiologist at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and University of Cambridge.
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Reposted by Ewan Harrison
sangerinstitute.bsky.social
Samples from 1917 have helped identify the genetic culprits responsible for the spread of treatment-resistant infections 🔎

By mapping plasmid evolution since the pre-antibiotic era, experts found that a minority of plasmids cause most of the multidrug resistance in the world 🧵
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
pathoplexus.org
📢Today Pathoplexus announces the inclusion of 2 new viral pathogens: RSV (A & B) and HMPV.

These respiratory viruses cause a serious health burden, particularly in infants & the vulnerable, & Pathoplexus aims to support sequence sharing to improve understanding & response.

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Screenshot of the homepage of Pathoplexus, showing tiles to navigate to the supported pathogens CCHF, Ebola Sudan, Ebola Zaire, HMPV, Mpox, RSV-A, RSV-B, and West Nile virus.
ewanharrison.bsky.social
Happy to share our first preprint looking at the nasal microbiome in ~1000 healthy adults from the CARRIAGE study of 20,000 healthy blood donors to understand nasal colonisation by Staphylococcus aureus. Ten years in the making! doi.org/10.21203/rs....
The nasal microbiome redefines Staphylococcus aureus colonisation
Staphylococcus aureus colonises the nose in humans, with individuals defined as persistent, intermittent or non-carriers. Unlike the gut microbiome, the nasal microbiome has not been studied in large ...
doi.org
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
kakape.bsky.social
There were more than 125,000 measles cases in the WHO European region in 2024 - the highest number since 1997!
38 deaths have been reported so far, every single one of them preventable.

Worth remembering this also as we report on the measles outbreak in the US.
🧪 #IDsky
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
kgandersen.bsky.social
Weeks ago I highlighted the false balance of “if only scientists could communicate better”.

One OpEd writer kindly reached out to me and I want to share my main response to them because I find it remarkable that people still can’t see what we are now all seeing has been under way for years.

🧵👇
ewanharrison.bsky.social
Overall, the data identifies a number of new genes and metabolic pathways likely to be critical in S. aureus colonisation (its primary lifestyle) that now require further investigation.
ewanharrison.bsky.social
We reveal that genes involved in nitrogen metabolism showed the strongest signal of adaption. As well as antibiotic resistance, riboflavin biosynthesis and quorum sensing regulation (amongst others).
ewanharrison.bsky.social
To understand the selective pressures that S. aureus experiences during colonisation, we analysed ~7000 S. aureus genomes from ~1500 individuals to identify protein altering mutations that were enriched.
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
ksbakes.bsky.social
Certain sublineages of antimicrobial resistant bacteria dominate the surveillance landscape, but what causes them to become resistant? Check out our latest work in Shigella to find out and/or read the thread below www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.10.27.24316207v2
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Reposted by Ewan Harrison
josiebryant.bsky.social
Frustrating - I reviewed a paper that was highly problematic, mainly in scientific rigour undermining most of the conclusions, so I recommend Reject. However the editor decides to Revise presumably due to the more positive comments from reviewer 2... /1
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
pathoplexus.org
Today Pathoplexus announces the inclusion of a new viral pathogen: mpox (previously known as monkeypox).

Within the context of the current mpox outbreaks and ongoing health concerns, Pathoplexus aims to support sequence sharing to improve both understanding and response.

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Reposted by Ewan Harrison
oshuwilson.bsky.social
UK PhD stipends have not been increasing in line with the national minimum wage, and since the generous COVID increase haven’t even bothered to be anchored against an inflation metric. I’m lucky enough to have a spouse to support me but in what world is this not a barrier to entry for others?
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
marakat.bsky.social
last couple days to apply (for free! from anywhere in the world!) to the Sanger 2025 PhD Programme — Deadline: 28th November 2024 (09:00 GMT)

For more info, visit www.sanger.ac.uk/about/study/...
Reposted by Ewan Harrison
drjasislam.bsky.social
First @bsky.app post! Great session today #FISHIS about the importance of learning from the pandemic for the future. Thanks @hisinfection.bsky.social @marionkoopmans.bsky.social @ewanharrison.bsky.social