Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jay Hinton @jayhinton.bsky.social · 1d

📈 Reported cases of non-typhoidal Salmonella in England rose by 17% — from 8,872 in 2023 to 10,388 in 2024.

Main culprits are S. Enteritidis (up 17%) and S. Typhimurium (up 15%), the most common reported serovars

www.gov.uk/government/p...

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Jay Hinton @jayhinton.bsky.social · 19d

Welcome to Liverpool Tanya ❗️

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Prof Tanya Parish @proftanya13.bsky.social · 21d

My news is that I will be joining the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine! I'm very excited to join an organization that shares my passion for improving global health, at the same time I'm sad to leave all of the wonderful colleagues here at SCRI who I've enjoyed working with over the past ~6y 🦠🧪

LSTM welcomes three leading global health therapeutics experts with support from UKRI

Dr Jeremy Burrows, Professor Tanya Parish, and Dr Ami Patel will bring unique expertise in medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, vaccinology and antibody-based therapeutics into LSTM, enhancing its

www.lstmed.ac.uk

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Christina Faherty @christinafaher1.bsky.social · 20d

Registration & abstract submissions are open for the #Shigella meeting! Travel grants available too! All are welcomed, whether you are active in #Shigella research or interested in the 21st century perspective on this formidable pathogen! 🦠 🧫 #Microsky
www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org/home

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Eliza_coli @eliza-coli.bsky.social · 20d

The @microbiologysociety.org champions got together and talked about their fave #microbes on international microorganism day.

So I did a few more portraits of the little legends!

I will hopefully repost them all with alt text over the next few weeks

#sciart #microsky 🧪

Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 21d

It’s International Microorganism Day! We asked the Society’s Champions to tell us about their favourite microbes and, our Champion, Eliza Wolfson, has created some fun illustrations to show you a bit more of their character! @eliza-coli.bsky.social @femsmicro.org #InternationalMicroorganismDay

A series of cartoons and quotes of the following microbes: Rhizobium, Cyanobacteria, Campylobacter, Bacillus subtilis, Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella, Naegleria fowleri, Burkholderia cenocepacia, Solirubrobacter, Curvularia, Candida auris, Lactobacillus, Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans, Aspergilius, Pestalotiopsis microspora.

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Dutchscientist (the real one) @dutchscientist.bsky.social · 21d

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
It is out! Our paper from the PhD work of Huijun Long, constructing and analysing metabolic models of Avian Pathogenic E. coli ( #APEC ) in Mgen @microbiologysociety.org

With @jaimehat.bsky.social and @roblaragione.bsky.social #microsky #idsky

Use of genome-scale metabolic reconstructions of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) phylogroups for the identification of lineage-specific metabolic pathways

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are a genetically diverse pathotype primarily associated with extra-intestinal infections in birds. APEC lineages are predicted to have unique metabolic capabi...

www.microbiologyresearch.org

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Asaf Levy @asaflevylab.bsky.social · 25d

On this week, 40 years ago, my friend Ralph Isberg, then a postdoc with Stan Falkow, reported the discovery of the 1st invasin gene in @nature.com "We report here the identification of a single genetic locus from this organism (Y. pseudotuberculosis) that is sufficient to convert the innocuous

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Alice Maestri @alicemaestri.bsky.social · 26d

We're looking for a technician at Institut Pasteur for experimental work on satellite-phage-bacteria interactions, working directly with @jmouradesousa.bsky.social and myself in the lab of @epcrocha.bsky.social ! ANR funded.

Link to the job emploi.pasteur.fr/offre-de-emp...
Thx for sharing!

INSTITUT PASTEUR - Technicien de recherche Microbiologie H/F

emploi.pasteur.fr

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Quadram Institute @quadraminstitute.bsky.social · 29d

✅ Live in England? 📍

✅ Are several members of your family willing to give a stool sample? 👪

You can take part in our PEARL-AGE study understanding how microbes are shared within families.

➡️ buff.ly/3B9QJkh

@earlhaminst.bsky.social

A family of six gathered around an island in a kitchen with food on it.

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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 29d

Crisis at England universities created by successive govts.

Freeze on student fees
Real cuts in govt grants
Harder to enrol foreign students
Home student numbers falling
£267bn student debt
Real wage cuts
40% of universities in trouble.

Local economies decline with university decline

The Guardian view on university finances: stop chipping away at a crumbling system | Editorial

Editorial: Economic and academic activity are bound up together. Charging international students more for less will not fix deep-seated problems

www.theguardian.com

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AnniZLab: [🦠, 🧬 , ✨] @annizlab.bsky.social · Sep 9

A plasmid golden ratio? 🧬
Plasmid copy number ≈ 2.5% of chromosome size—consistent across bacterial species!
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... @jerorb.bsky.social
🧪 #microbesky

a Scatter plots showing the correlation between plasmid size (x-axis) and PCN (y-axis) for the analysed genera. Each point represents the median PCN and plasmid size for each PTU, and error bars indicate the standard deviation from the median. Grey lines represent ordinary least squares regression, with the surrounding shaded area indicating 95% confidence intervals. The scaling factor or slope, k, is indicated on each panel. b Distribution of total DNA load per plasmid (x-axis) relative to chromosome size per genus (y-axis). The DNA load of each plasmid is calculated by multiplying the plasmid size by the copy number and then expressed as a proportion relative to the chromosome size. The point inside the box marks the median. The upper and lower hinges correspond to the 25th and 75th percentiles, and whiskers extend to 1.5 times the interquartile range. Only Escherichia and Salmonella significantly differ from All; Kruskal–Wallis test followed by Dunn’s test for pairwise multiple comparisons p < 10−4; effect size = 0.006. c Relative plasmid DNA load observed (%) (x-axis) and expected (y-axis) per cell. The y-axis indicates the expected plasmid DNA load (%) inside a cell when it contains one plasmid (1n), two plasmids (2n), and so on. This expected data has been calculated by generating a sequence from 1 to 9 multiplied by the median of the DNA load per plasmid (2.49%). Each green point represents a single genome, and the black points are the median for each category. Shading indicates interquartile ranges. Pearson’s p value and coefficient are shown for the correlation between expected and observed plasmid DNA.

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Mariana Byndloss @maribyndloss.bsky.social · Sep 5

Honored to have received the 2026 ASM Award for Early Career Basic Research. This award is also a recognition of my phenomenal trainees and their hard work. Thank you to the mentors that have supported my career and those who have nominated me for this award.

asm.org/press-releas...

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Gavin Thomas (he/him) @gavinhthomas.bsky.social · Sep 2

Delighted with our new paper on a novel itaconate transporter in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, led by Javeria and Reyme. @ybri-uoy.bsky.social @javeriamehboob.bsky.social @bethkw.bsky.social A duplicated transporter on its way to itaconate selectivity
portlandpress.com/biochemj/art...

Itaconate utilisation by the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa requires uptake via the IctPQM TRAP transporter

Pseudomonas aeruginosa PA01 is one of the major causes of disease persistence and mortality in patients with lung pathologies, relying on various host metabolites as carbon and energy sources for grow...

portlandpress.com

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Gavin Thomas (he/him) @gavinhthomas.bsky.social · Sep 2

This was a slow burn being a side project of a side project - started with chats with @jayhinton.bsky.social about itaconate in Salmonella and then picked up a my PhD students & undergraduate project students working together to finish a cool story - what a team!

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Camila Valenzuela, PhD @kamovalenz.bsky.social · Sep 4

Focusing on something other than Salmonella for a minute, because my wife’s paper is just out and it is AMAZING! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congrats to all the authors, great work from the @dfachinetti.bsky.social @naltemose.bsky.social labs!

DNA methylation influences human centromere positioning and function - Nature Genetics

Genome-wide and targeted perturbation of DNA methylation at centromeres affects CENP-A positioning and centromere structure, resulting in aneuploidy and reduced cell viability.

www.nature.com

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Dave Meredith @davemeredith.bsky.social · Sep 4

Eurasian Jay for #ThursJay

Photographed at Brown Moss Nature Reserve near Whitchurch, Shropshire on #Kodachrome in the mid-1980s.

#EastCoastKin #PhotoHour #birds #birdphotography #nature #wildlife

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Jessica Blair @jessicamablair.bsky.social · Sep 4

Assistant Prof post in bacterial genomics @unibirmingham.bsky.social Come and join us!!

@imibirmingham.bsky.social
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOO184/a...

Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics at University of Birmingham

Looking for a new job opportunity in academia? Check out this job opening for a Assistant Professor (Research and Education) in Bacterial Genomics on jobs.ac.uk!

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · Aug 31

Bacteriophages against Salmonella enterica: challenges and opportunities

#phage #phagesky

www.frontiersin.org/journals/bio...

Frontiers | Bacteriophages against Salmonella enterica: challenges and opportunities

Salmonella spp. is the most common pathogen transmitted to humans through contaminated water and food. Due to its ability to infect both animals and humans, ...

www.frontiersin.org

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Ferric Fang, MD @fangferric.bsky.social · Aug 31

“Don’t trust the experts” is an absurd thing to say because we all have to trust experts in many aspects of daily life. The real questions are what defines an expert, how do you recognize them, how to distinguish them from crackpots, and what to do when expert opinions disagree.

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Aug 31

This text is quoted accurately.

It is also a clarifying lie. Totalitarian governments know that normal people do not have time or resources to research every health, economic, or security issue.

Their project of attacking all expertise is a project of seizing trust & thus power for themselves.

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Andreas Bäumler @abaumler.bsky.social · Aug 30

Genetic Evidence of Yersinia pestis from the First Pandemic www.mdpi.com/3429378 #mdpigenes

www.mdpi.com

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Nature Reviews Microbiology @natrevmicro.nature.com · Aug 13

New online! Clinical metagenomics for diagnosis and surveillance of viral pathogens

Clinical metagenomics for diagnosis and surveillance of viral pathogens

Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 13 August 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01223-5Metagenomics approaches are being increasingly used for the diagnosis of viral infections, outbreak investigation, and new and emerging pathogen surveillance. This Review highlights sequencing approaches and technologies, discusses their applications in diagnostics, surveillance and virus discovery, and outlines future perspectives for the field.

www.nature.com

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Eliza_coli @eliza-coli.bsky.social · Sep 10

A new pathogen portrait: Serratia marcescens... which is opportunistic and likes to hang out in hospitals. Find out more about Serratia here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serrati...

I'm looking for friendlier microbes to draw from time to time too - do let me know if any occur to you!
🐡🧪🔬

Cartoon of a rod shaped bacterium, wearing a spotty shower cap, holding a towel. Flagella are falling out of the shower cap and its expression is one of tired watchful waiting. The writing spells the bacterium's name, Serratia marcescens. The background is light, with mottled pink and blue abstract textures.

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Pedro Escoll @pescoll.bsky.social · May 16

New pre-print in the lab! Beautiful work by Francisco Garcia-Rodriguez in collab with @kamovalenz.bsky.social
and @joaquinbernal.bsky.social : when macrophages are provided with specific nutrients, Salmonella can bypass its requirement of the T3SS to replicate, a process that occurs within the SCV

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · May 16

Provision of Preferred Nutrients to Macrophages Enables Salmonella to Replicate Intracellularly Without Relying on Type III Secretion Systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.653970v1

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Andreas Bäumler @abaumler.bsky.social · Aug 9

A Salmonella T3SS-2 mutant grows fine in spleen macrophages, contradicting tissue culture dogma (PMID: 23236281). This observation was largely ignored, but adding certain carbon sources rescues growth in cultured macrophages, hinting that T3SS-2 may be doing something entirely different in vivo.

Pedro Escoll @pescoll.bsky.social · May 16

New pre-print in the lab! Beautiful work by Francisco Garcia-Rodriguez in collab with @kamovalenz.bsky.social
and @joaquinbernal.bsky.social : when macrophages are provided with specific nutrients, Salmonella can bypass its requirement of the T3SS to replicate, a process that occurs within the SCV

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · May 16

Provision of Preferred Nutrients to Macrophages Enables Salmonella to Replicate Intracellularly Without Relying on Type III Secretion Systems https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.05.15.653970v1

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Vivek Mutalik @vivekmutalik.bsky.social · Aug 7

#phage #phagesky #microsky

academic.oup.com/nar/article/...

Unlocking genetic potential: harnessing phage for targeted mutagenesis in phage-assisted evolution

Abstract. A critical challenge in DNA library genesis for evolution systems is avoiding off-target mutations, which can introduce undesirable changes elsew

academic.oup.com

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