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Freya Harrison

@friendlymicrobe.bsky.social

3.2K followers 800 following 5.3K posts

Reader (Associate Professor) in Microbiology at the University of Warwick, UK. Biofilm, chronic infection and ancientbiotics.

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · Dec 13

The lab now has a YouTube channel to collate videos of the team talking science: www.youtube.com/@BreakingBio...

Harrison Lab @ University of Warwick, UK

We are a team of microbiologists working at the University of Warwick, UK.

www.youtube.com

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 37m

Could drones deliver defibrillators to patients in cardiac arrest? warwick.ac.uk/news/pressre...

Drones could soon respond to cardiac arrests

warwick.ac.uk

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 1d

@aaroncurtismicro.bsky.social adapted our ex-vivo pig lung infection model to conduct dual host-pathogen proteomics in response to Aspergillus infection - he’s a finalist in @microbiologysociety.org young microbiologist of the year #MicroSky www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/...

A man in front of a display screen, showing images of Aspergillus growing on sections of lung tissue.

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 1d

Very nice talk from @emmanuelkuffo15.bsky.social speaking about his hunt for Strep. suis phage at the @microbiologysociety.org young microbiologist of the year finals - and there's a pre-print up! #MicroSky

J.O.K.Emmanuel🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @emmanuelkuffo15.bsky.social · Jan 9

The original plan was to isolate >50 phage-host combos (I naively thought this would be the straightforward bit of the project—it wasn’t). Eventually we got 2 phages tripling the number of genome-sequenced, in vitro characterised Strep. suis phages! Read about Bonnie & Clyde👇🏿

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 1d

#MicroSky

Giusy Mariano @giusym1990.bsky.social · 6d

🚨PhD Opportunity Alert🚨 Join me, @suzieh.bsky.social and @walllabuoglasgow.bsky.social to investigate how environment shapes anti-phage defences & prophage–prophage conflict in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Apply here:
www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 1d

The vaginal microbiome is super interesting - is there another body site where a healthy microbiome = a low-diversity microbiome? @phoebecrossley.bsky.social talk about her research at @microbiologysociety.org young microbiologist of the year finals microbiologysociety.org/blog/meet-ea... #MicroSky

Meet Early Career Microbiologist of the Year talk finalist: Phoebe Crossley

This year, the Microbiology Society is awarding <a href="https://microbiologysociety.org/grants-prizes/all-prizes-and-competitions-/early-career-microbiologist-year.html?_gl=1*1t02973*_up*MQ..*_g...

microbiologysociety.org

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 3d

#MicroSky

Paul Hoskisson 🧫 🦠🐸 @paulhoskisson.bsky.social · 8d

Come and work with me and @ariannebabina.bsky.social on #Streptomyces evolution and antibiotic production

Origins of a tangled bank: Adaptation and evolution in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces

www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...

please repost

University of Glasgow - Postgraduate study - Centres for Doctoral Training - NorthWest Biosciences - Our Projects - Underpinning Bioscience - Paul A Hoskisson

www.gla.ac.uk

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Reposted by Freya Harrison

Daniel Padfield @padpadpadpad.bsky.social · 22d

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.

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.

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Reposted by Freya Harrison

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 9d

Spooky season approaches, so I'm going to repost some of my Halloween comics from years past.

A four panel comic called Happy Halloween From The Birds. In panel 1, a pileated woodpecker has pecked its huge gaping rectangular holes in a pumpkin. In panel 2, a yellow-bellied sapsucker has pecked a face using its standard rows of small holes. In panel 3, a satin bowerbird has carved a pumpkin into a bower and placed its favorite blue candies all around it. In panel 4, a loggerhead shrike has impaled mini pumpkins on a fence's metal spikes and is saying "fight me."

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 10d

Ha! Not seen Horse and Every Little Helps before, they’re awesome 💜

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 11d

We are ready for Caturday.

A close-up of two sleepy cats, resting their heads together.

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 11d

What are the chances that the breakthrough all-killing phage cocktail will come from the ball pool in a kids’ soft play area?

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Reposted by Freya Harrison

Quadram Institute @quadraminstitute.bsky.social · 12d

⏰ Closing soon! We’re looking for a Metagenomics Research Scientist to join the Laboratory of Dr Falk Hildebrand to study diet impact on the gastrointestinal microbiome.

💷 £37,500 - £42,000
🗓️ Apply by 30 September 2025
➡️ buff.ly/5gJxZIP

An illustration of a network with the text "Metagenomics Research Scientist, to join Falk Hildebrand's group to study the diet impact on the gastrointestinal microbiome. Salary: £37,500 to £42,000, Contract length: 2.5 years, Apply by 30 September 2025"

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 12d

When your PhD student sends you a request for help with an error message and you get a sneak preview of a very nice biofilm they've grown 💜 @c-cornbill.bsky.social #MicroSky

A computer screen showing light microscope image acquisition software. There is a Gram-stained tissue section on the screen, with a dense bacterial biofilm on one surface. It is partly covered by an error message.

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 13d

It’s either an LLM or an unqualified human.

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 13d

Some journals, including reputable ones, don’t provide the level of copyediting and typesetting that they used to. I suspect this one has simply found the cheapest provider and this is the result. I’d have raised hell once I saw the hatchet job they’d perpetrated, if it was my own paper.

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 13d

If it’s not LLM-generated, then this particular publisher has employed a proofreader who can’t write clear, professional English. It’s… not good.

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 13d

Oh, I’d have gone nuclear on them already, including naming and shaming on here. My colleague is being little more reserved at present 😄

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 14d

A colleague received proofs of an accepted manuscript, and the "proofing process" clearly involved running the text through ChatGPT. Their voice has been erased, and errors introduced. This is from a supposedly reputable publisher. Anyone else been put through this particular form of hell? #MicroSky

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Reposted by Freya Harrison

Ramon Garcia Maset @microberamon.bsky.social · 14d

🎉 Super happy to finally share our new paper in ACS Biomacromolecules!
We used AFM & neutron reflectometry to study how two SNAPs (synthetic nanoengineered antimicrobial polymers) disrupt P. aeruginosa membranes.
🔗 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
#SNAPs #AFM #NeutronReflectometry #AMR

Assessing the Mechanism of Action of Synthetic Nanoengineered Antimicrobial Polymers against the Bacterial Membrane of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

The lack of appropriate antimicrobials to tackle multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria poses an escalating threat to modern medicine. Addressing this urgent issue, we have recently developed synt...

pubs.acs.org

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · 15d

Another paper from @microberamon.bsky.social's PhD 🦠 Two structural variants of an AMP-inspired antimicrobial polymer have different effects on P. aeruginosa. One kills with a bang, the other with a whimper pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #MicroSky @sebperrier.bsky.social @alexiahapeshi.bsky.social

A cartoon showing a Gram-negative bacterium exposed to two variants of a polymer. A triblock structure causes formation of multiple small pores in the outer membrane. A diblock structure causes large pores in both outer and inner membranes, and cell lysis.

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Reposted by Freya Harrison

Jane Langdale 🌱 🌾 @janelangdale.bsky.social · 23d

Come and join us in our new home - great colleagues and brand new facilities

Oxford Biology @biology.ox.ac.uk · 23d

Oxford Biology is growing 📢

We’re appointing 3 Associate Professors in:
🌱 Plant Sciences
🦉 Animal Behaviour
🔬 Molecular Cell Biology

3 fields. 3 opportunities. One new home for Oxford Biology.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41S2Tc7
Apply now 👉 bit.ly/488CNW3

Photo showing the inside atrium of the new Life and Mind Building

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · Sep 5

Can’t stop feeling for this terrrified little guy 💜 (Source: www.cell.com/trends/immun...)

A diagram of cell viral infection pathways. Two intracellular viral particle and an organelle give one infected cell the appearance of a screaming face.

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · Sep 5

On my way to UCL to join their MSc Infection & Immunity students' research symposium - looking forward to a day of hearing about their dissertation projects. Jobs like this feel like a minibreak, I get to spend a day listening to new and interesting research.

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · Sep 4

#MicroSky

Quadram Institute @quadraminstitute.bsky.social · Sep 4

⏰ Closing soon! We’re looking for a Research Scientist to work on an exciting project focused on the fungal organism Candida albicans, a major component of the human microbiome.

💷 £37,500 to £45,350
🗓️ Apply by 7 September 2025
➡️ buff.ly/nirXc8A

A photo of a hand holding a petri dish with candida albicans and the text, "Research Scientist to work on a project focused on the fungal organism Candida albicans, a major component of the human microbiome, Salary: £37,500 to £45,350, Contract length: 5 years, Apply by 7 September 2025"

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Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · Sep 4

Utterly dehumanising. If the end goal is to reduce numbers of people waiting in the immigration system, then employ more staff to process asylum/visa applications quickly & efficiently. This is is useless violence (to borrow a phrase of Primo Levi's that seems very appropriate).

Craig Winstanley @cwinstan.bsky.social · Sep 4

Don’t know why it’s deleted. Referring to this story www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Robert Jenrick says UK asylum seekers should be held in ‘rudimentary prisons’

Shadow justice minister, seen as nurturing Tory leadership hopes, criticises Reform’s immigration plans as too weak