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Willem van Schaik @wvschaik.bsky.social · 1d

Published today!

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

A labour of love in the group, led by @gemccallum.bsky.social @biostan.bsky.social @prob91.bsky.social

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

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

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

www.microbiologyresearch.org

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Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Aga Gambus @agagambus.bsky.social · 1d

We are looking for a senior technician (can undertake PhD) at Uni of Birmingham (UK) to study chromatin replication and ubiquitylation using Xenopus egg extract. Deadline 28/10/25. Get in touch with me or @m-saponaro.bsky.social for informal inquiries. Please share.
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOW912/s...

Senior Research Technician at University of Birmingham

Explore an exciting academic career as a Senior Research Technician. Don't miss out on other academic jobs. Click to apply and explore more opportunities.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · 1d

That's data from a study from an @imperialnhli.bsky.social study with the Busselton Health Study pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34425308/ All bacteria were down in total numbers, but Streptococcus species were more resilient and clinging on. We don't yet know why.

Airway microbial communities, smoking and asthma in a general population sample - PubMed

The study was funded by the Asmarley Trust and a Wellcome Joint Senior Investigator Award to WOCC and MFM (WT096964MA and WT097117MA). The Busselton Healthy Ageing Study is supported by the Government...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · 1d

Really pleased to be involved with this study, we're going to lend our respiratory microbiome expertise to see what the impact of vaping is like. With smoking, the respiratory microbiome is already altered _before_ some people develop COPD - the dysbiosis has already happened.

UK Research and Innovation @ukri.org · 1d

A first-of-its-kind project supported by MRC and led by @unibirmingham.bsky.social will study the long-term impact of vaping on lung health.

Researchers will examine the biological effects of vaping on lung cells, immune cells, and the airway microbiome.

More: www.ukri.org/news/first-o...

First-of-its-kind study on impact of vaping on respiratory health

The University of Birmingham will lead a £1.55 million MRC-funded project to unravel long-term vaping risks and benefits on lung health for smokers.

www.ukri.org

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Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Michelle Buckner @bucknerlab.bsky.social · 6d

Job opportunity in my lab! We're looking for a post-doc to come join us for an exciting project exploring the evolution of #AMR and #hypervirulence in #klebsiella. Please share!! @unibirmingham.bsky.social Details: www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DOV067/r...

Research Fellow at University of Birmingham

Apply now for the Research Fellow role on jobs.ac.uk - the leading job board for higher education jobs. View details.

www.jobs.ac.uk

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Jul 22

I don't know - I'm hoping an annual and I suspect if we do a good job it will be and if we don't...make the most out of this one! :D

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Jul 21

Be thAIR or be squAIR

(My second entry into the organising committee pun competition. A winner there I think).

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Jul 21

We've got human challenge models, in vitro models, microbiome and metagenomic diagnostics, interactions between bugs and immune system, single cell, spatial transcriptomics and it is ALL respiratory

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Jul 21

Early notice of NEW Wellcome Conference -
AIR 2026: Genomic and Systems Approaches to Respiratory Infection, Microbiomes and Immunity 11th-13th February, sign up below for notifications

coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/our-events/c...

It's immunulogy AND it's microbiology 🫁

Conferences

coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org

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Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Kylie Belchamber @kylie.belchamber.com · Jun 24

Congratulations to Dr Sandhu!! Our first PhD student @resp-micro.bsky.social Operation Rainbow Unicorn is complete!! Thanks to examiners Karl Staples and Amanda Rossiter 🦄

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Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Lucy Evans 🧫🦠👩🏻‍🔬 @biolucy.bsky.social · May 24

Fabulous Brum Pride parade with the also fabulous @resp-micro.bsky.social #microsky 🧪🧫🏳️‍🌈

Lucy (mid 20s white woman) holding a sign saying 'spread love' with a Petri dish on it containing heart shaped colonies, next to Mike (bearded white man) wearing a trans ally shirt and holding a rainbow flag.

Lucy holding her soread love sign with an asexual flag draped over her back.

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Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Freya Harrison @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social · May 21

Why should microbiologists working on #CysticFibrosis study Haemophilus influenzae? @phoebesilva.bsky.social explains all for @amiposts.bsky.social www.the-microbiologist.com/features/the... #MicroSky

The rise of the early cystic fibrosis lung coloniser, Haemophilus influenzae

With the increasing availability of modulator therapies for people with cystic fibrosis, end-stage infection with Pseudomonas aeruginosa is becoming less common. But are we going to see a rise in the ...

www.the-microbiologist.com

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 21

Very happy to take informal enquiries to find out more, and interested in diverse skills, background and experience. There will also be other opportunities for PhDs funded by the HPRU so keep an eye out for those too.

Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 21

It's supervised by a scientists, a clinical academic with expertise in ICU and respiratory, a clinical microbiologist and antimicrobial stewardship lead and a leader in applying and implementing public health metagenomics so there's real breadth of expertise to tap into

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 21

The project includes hands-on training in metagenomics and applying this to samples so you can fundamentally understand the process from the start, but moves to data analysis and crucially interpretation - what does this data mean for the patient and how can we apply it routinely in healthcare?

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 21

We have a funded PhD opportunity to start this year for an exciting collaborative project with UKHSA as part of the Health Protection Research Unit in Public Health Genomics www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The question is "how do we use metagenomic data for the best clinical outcomes?"

Integrating metagenomics into respiratory clinical healthcare pathways – forest, trees, needles and haystacks in metagenomic data. at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Integrating metagenomics into respiratory clinical healthcare pathways – forest, trees, needles and haystacks in metagenomic data. at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.c...

www.findaphd.com

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 8

It is always difficult marching with an organisation and even sometimes in a particular Pride march (the little local ones are always my favourite) as you can't agree with all their policies and actions. For me this year representation overrules those qualms.

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 8

We will be taking part in Birmingham Pride again this year and joining the march amongst university colleagues. My personal feeling is representation is more important than ever and that my aim is for this research group to be safe for all LGBTQIA+ people 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · May 8

I put it at the end as a test to see how many people got that far in the email 😇

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Apr 22

(and yes Azithromycin mechanism of action unhelpful here as might be anti-inflammatory too, but later work from the authors of that trial demonstrated an impact of the antibiotic on the bugs directly).

Anyway cool paper and diagnosis of infection before prescription could have enormous benefits.

Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Apr 22

The link here is effectively between childhood asthma and diagnostic free *empirical* antibiotic treatment. In clinical trials pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC... antibiotics have also been shown to reduce the length of asthma episodes, so there's more to this than "antibiotics bad".

Azithromycin for episodes with asthma-like symptoms in young children aged 1–3 years: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Bacteria and viruses are equally associated with the risk of acute episodes of asthma-like symptoms in young children, suggesting antibiotics as a potential treatment for such episodes. We aimed to as...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Apr 22

What's *really* needed to advance this work is better diagnostics of childhood infections - there'll be no identification of organism in most of these cases, so we can't push the link further to causal. No discrimination between virus and bacteria even.

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Apr 22

Got family sending me this, which is a good sign that it's been picked up generally! gizmodo.com/scientists-u... it demonstrates how powerful electronic health records are doi.org/10.1093/infd... the link isn't new however, amongst others ISAAC showed this in 2004 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15020566/

Scientists Uncover Unexpected Link to Childhood Asthma

In a study of over one million kids, researchers found that early antibiotic use was linked to higher rates of asthma.

gizmodo.com

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Respiratory Microbiomes @resp-micro.bsky.social · Apr 10

That's all rather sensible!

Reposted by Respiratory Microbiomes

Cameron Thrash @jcamthrash.bsky.social · Apr 10

A blueprint for contemporary studies of microbiomes microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #jcampubs

A blueprint for contemporary studies of microbiomes - Microbiome

This editorial piece co-authored by the Senior Editors at Microbiome aims to highlight current challenges in the field of environmental and host-associated microbiome research. We also take the opport...

microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com

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