Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Josie Elliott

@josie-e.bsky.social

710 followers 530 following 36 posts

Postdoc studying evolutionary microbiology with phage and pseudomonas at MMSB Lyon, France with Anne Chevallereau in the MEEP group (She/Her)

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Reposted by Josie Elliott

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

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 5

Thank you Zamin!

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Anne Chevallereau @annechevallereau.bsky.social · Sep 4

🎉🧪 The MEEP lab @mmsb.cnrs.fr celebrates its first anniversary!

A year of experiments, caffeine-fueled late nights, and nerdy excitement. 🚀🔬

I'm very grateful to the team of amazing #WomenInScience who joined this incredible journey
@josie-e.bsky.social
Clarisse Plantady and Elodie Kenck.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Thanks Ellinor, I'm happy to have my CRISPR child released out into the world!

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Huge thank you to the lovely co-authors who made this work possible @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social Edze Westra @bridgetwatson.bsky.social @pinkpetri.bsky.social @gretelwaugh.bsky.social and Yueyi Cai

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

This nutrient dependent efficacy of CRISPR-Cas interference on phage was a really cool finding and potentially opens up bigger questions about what we might be missing when we screen phage and defence systems in only optimal growth conditions.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

We ran all our initial tests in optimal high nutrient conditions. However, when we re-tested some of our CRISPR-impervious phage again in low nutrient conditions we found that two of these phages could no longer resist CRISPR defences, allowing the bacteria to grow unaffected by phage lysis!

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Interestingly we found that CRISPR worked great against a variety of temperate and virulent phages across a range of infection metrics. However, a few phages were resistant to CRISPR, some which made sense (jumbo phage) and others not.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Once integrated into the P. aeruginosa genome the synthetic CRISPR-Cas system worked great against plasmids, so we turned our system against a panel of phage to see if, when given targeting spacers, we could find patterns as to what phages CRISPR does and doesn’t work against.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Because I put restriction sites around all parts of the CRISPR-Cas genes, including the spacers, it made it simple to swap out the spacers with cheap primers before integrating the whole system back into the genome of P. aeruginosa, thus allowing us to target this system against any phage we wanted.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

We were interested into diving deeper on understanding how useful CRISPR-Cas systems are to the bacteria that carry or acquire them. So at the start of my PhD I spent many hours creating a synthetic, minimal, modular version of the type IF CRISPR-Cas system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Sep 4

Can CRISPR-Cas systems target any phage? Yes, no, it depends? What does it depend on? The second paper from my PhD came out today in a special issue of Phil Trans B on the ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems
doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

Phage susceptibility to a minimal, modular synthetic CRISPR-Cas system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is nutrient dependent | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

CRISPR-Cas systems can provide adaptive, heritable immunity to their prokaryotic hosts against invading genetic material such as phages. It is clear that the importance of acquiring CRISPR-Cas immunit...

Reposted by Josie Elliott

David Sünderhauf @davvi36.bsky.social · Sep 2

PhD opportunity, please share:

We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA.
All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

Developing CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials to tackle antibiotic resistance spread in Klebsiella pneumoniae - GW4 BioMed MRC DTP

Project Code MRCIIAR26Ex van Houte Project Type Wet lab Research Theme Infection, Immunity, Antimicrobial Resistance and Repair Project Summary Download Summary Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a ...

gw4biomed.ac.uk

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Meaghan Castledine @mcastd.bsky.social · Aug 5

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

Reposted by Josie Elliott

lenabue.bsky.social @lenabue.bsky.social · Jun 4

Honored to have our paper featured in the Spotlight of @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social
by authors @josie-e.bsky.social & @annechevallereau.bsky.social

Thank you for making our work more accessible and highlighting its relevance!
www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/fulltext/S0966-842X%2825%2900158-1

Fast phages outcompete by depleting host resources

In nature, phages frequently coinfect bacteria, leading to inter-species competition. Furthermore, phage therapy often involves using a cocktail of different species to circumvent bacterial resistance...

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Anne Chevallereau @annechevallereau.bsky.social · Jun 4

✍️ We had a great time writing this Spotlight article on one of our favorite topics: how phages interact with each other! 🦠
From cooperation to competition, phage-phage interactions reveal a fascinating layer of microbial life that’s often overlooked.
A piece crafted by the talented Josie Elliott!

lenabue.bsky.social @lenabue.bsky.social · Jun 4

Honored to have our paper featured in the Spotlight of @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social
by authors @josie-e.bsky.social & @annechevallereau.bsky.social

Thank you for making our work more accessible and highlighting its relevance!
www.cell.com/trends/microbiology/fulltext/S0966-842X%2825%2900158-1

Fast phages outcompete by depleting host resources

In nature, phages frequently coinfect bacteria, leading to inter-species competition. Furthermore, phage therapy often involves using a cocktail of different species to circumvent bacterial resistance...

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Apr 13

Had a great time in Paris at the EMBO workshop on the immune system of bacteria, thank you to all the organisers. Conferences in cool cities are also the perfect opportunities to go to other awesome places like Fontainebleau and try some outdoor bouldering

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Apr 2

Such a cool story! So exciting to see it out after seeing your talk on it ☺️

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Alexander Harms @aharms485.bsky.social · Apr 2

Fantastic new preprint of Vaughn Cooper's lab @vscooper.micropopbio.org - filamentous phages can get cancer and it's contagious. 🔥👇🏼

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness

Many bacteria carry phage genome(s) in their chromosome (i.e., prophage), and this intertwines the fitness of the bacterium and the phage. Most Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains carry filamentous phages ...

www.biorxiv.org

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Apr 1

Best of luck with your next adventure!!

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Michael Fischbach @mfgrp.bsky.social · Dec 11

Today we report that an engineered skin bacterium, swabbed gently on the head of a mouse, can unleash a potent antibody response against a pathogen. Could lead to topical vaccines that are applied in a cream. @djenetbousbaine.bsky.social led the charge... @natureportfolio.bsky.social 1/55

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Dec 6

New job announcement: Since wrapping up my PhD at Bath Uni, I have crossed the channel and am settling in as a postdoc in the Molecular Ecology and Evolution of Phages group of @annechevallereau.bsky.social in Lyon France 🇫🇷. Very excited for the next few years of phage-based-fun!

Reposted by Josie Elliott

Evelien Adriaenssens @evelienadri.bsky.social · Nov 15

Please share:
I'm looking for a #phage enthusiast PhD student to join my team on a funded project part of the Norwich Research Park DTP.
Application deadline 25/11.
biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk/projects/bac...

CC: @quadraminstitute.bsky.social

Bacteriophage-based biocontrol of pathogens in the food chain | Doctoral Training Partnership

ADRIAENSSENS_Q25DTP…

biodtp.norwichresearchpark.ac.uk

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Oct 23

Thanks Alice! ☺️☺️☺️

Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · Oct 23

Thanks David, especially for all the free accomodation haha