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Reposted by Siân Owen

Craig MacLean @craigmaclean.bsky.social · 4h

New pre-print www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social!
#phagesky#microsky

Trade-offs between phage resistance and conjugative ability shape the ecological and evolutionary response of a multidrug resistance plasmid to plasmid-dependent phage

Phage therapy is a promising alternative to antibiotics to treat multidrug resistant infections. Plasmid dependent phages (PDPs) are particularly attractive as therapeutics because they can both kill ...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Nanami Kubota @nanamikubota.bsky.social · 6d

Published in Current Biology! P. aeruginosa can use its filamentous phage to inhibit competitors but high phage production is susceptible to cheater miniphage invasion. Subsequent phage tragedy of the commons can lower bacteria and phage fitness. Link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...

Nanami Kubota @nanamikubota.bsky.social · Apr 2

Preprint out! Bacteria w/ hyper-replicative filamentous phage lead to overnight emergence of cheater phages. Bacteria w/ both phages can outcompete wildtype, then rapidly lose phage via a phage Tragedy of the Commons
@shellyscrib.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org 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

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Michael Boucher @mjboucher.bsky.social · 12d

Small side-project from my postdoctoral work with @hitenmadhani.bsky.social. We found that blasticidin S can select for Cryptococcus transformants, and made CRISPR-compatible plasmids for other existing markers. Now 7 dominant genetic selection methods in total!

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

CRISPR/Cas9-compatible plasmids enabling seven dominant genetic selection methods for the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans | Microbiology Spectrum

Cryptococcus neoformans is the top-ranked World Health Organization priority fungal pathogen due to its widespread distribution and inadequate treatment options. Additionally, as a basidiomycete yeast...

journals.asm.org

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Zamin Iqbal @zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 13d

Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
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Joe Bondy-Denomy @jbdsf.bsky.social · 13d

Our Department of Microbiology & Immunology at UCSF is running a faculty search this year for a new Assistant Professor! Please see the ad below for details. Searching for a great colleague, mentor, and scientist!
aprecruit.ucsf.edu/JPF05807

Microbiology and Immunology – Faculty Position (Ladder Rank) – Assistant Professor

University of California, San Francisco is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.ucsf.edu

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Reposted by Siân Owen

The New York Times @nytimes.com · 14d

Health officials are investigating whether the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya is circulating in New York after a woman tested positive on Long Island in a preliminary screening. The last time the debilitating disease was known to have been transmitted locally in the U.S. was about a decade ago.

Mosquito-Borne Illness Rarely Seen in U.S. Is Suspected on Long Island

Chikungunya, which is endemic in parts of South America, Africa and Asia, may be the cause of a woman’s illness.

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Louise Roer @louiseroer.bsky.social · 20d

✨Célia Souque just showcased the outcomes of the 12th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon at IMMEM XIV.

She brilliantly presented the first sneak-peek of PORT – Plasmid Outbreak Reporting Tool! 🧬
Looking forward to continuing this collaboration with PORT!

#IMMEM #Hackathon #Plasmids #ESGEM #ESGMAP

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Sep 4

Woo! Congrats Jens 😀

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Aug 30

Thanks Christoph! Knew I had read another great piece about her recently

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Aug 28

An inspiring read!
academic.oup.com/genetics/adv...
A beautiful historical perspective on Ester Lederberg's legacy from @ccwendling.bsky.social & @zacharybailey.bsky.social

Pioneer of bacterial genetics: the legacy of Esther Miriam Lederberg

Abstract. Esther Miriam Lederberg's brilliant scientific lifework, from the discovery of phage lambda, bacterial conjugation, and replica plating, provided

academic.oup.com

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Aug 27

The 2024 rankings of bacterial threats

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Susie Grigson @susiegriggo.bsky.social · Jul 30

🚨 New preprint 🚨

My phage annotation tool, Phynteny, finally has a preprint and a brand new version powered by a cool AI transformer architecture and protein language models! #phagesky

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

Synteny-aware functional annotation of bacteriophage genomes with Phynteny

Accurate genome annotation is fundamental to decoding viral diversity and understanding bacteriophage biology; yet, the majority of bacteriophage genes remain functionally uncharacterised. Bacteriopha...

www.biorxiv.org

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Kevin Forsberg @kvnforsberg.bsky.social · Jul 29

Very proud to have our lab’s first work published in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social!

In this work, we use functional metagenomics to find phage defenses from human and soil microbiomes!

Congrats to first author @luis840alberto.bsky.social !

www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jul 25

Still open for applications! We are looking for prospective new faculty doing exciting research in virology or any vector borne diseases

Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jun 3

The Wadsworth Center is expanding it's research focus on #virology /vector-borne diseases!
www.asmcareerconnections.org/job/research-scientist-5-g-31/78488664/
This is a unicorn assistant prof equivalent position with 12-month hard money salary and no teaching commitments (!)
Reposts appreciated 🙏

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Michael Boucher @mjboucher.bsky.social · Jul 24

Our work to functionally map the Cryptococcus genome is now "officially" out in Cell!

Hiten Madhani @hitenmadhani.bsky.social · Jul 24

In today's issue of Cell-->if you are looking for a good distraction from the news (who isn't), check it out!
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Phenotypic landscape of an invasive fungal pathogen reveals its unique biology

The construction and high-precision fitness profiling of a C. neoformans knockout library reveals a high-resolution functional map of its genome and allowed for the identification of fungal analogs of...

www.cell.com

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jul 24

Woohoo! Congrats @aleciarokes.bsky.social 🥳

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Vaughn Cooper @vscooper.micropopbio.org · Jul 24

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Kröger Lab @kroegerlab.bsky.social · Jul 14

Latest preprint from our lab describing a new 2-plasmid system to investigate sRNAs-target molecule interactions in A. baumannii.

bioRxiv Microbiology @biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · Jul 12

Development of two compatible plasmids to assess sRNA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation in Acinetobacter baumannii https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.11.664372v1

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jul 6

Right should have clarified, evidence here suggests that uncoating occurs along the length of the pilus. I always assumed it occurred only at the base of the pilus

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jul 6

Whoa, F-pilus dependent phage MS2 whips off it's capsid before entry into the cell?? www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... "Extracellular uncoating of bacteriophage MS2" #phagesky

Extracellular uncoating of bacteriophage MS2

In the early stages of infection of its host, Escherichia coli, bacteriophage MS2 sheds its icosahedral protein capsid, after which the single-strande…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Melanie Blokesch @mblokesch.bsky.social · Jun 28

Had a fabulous day at the Wadsworth Center in Albany yesterday 🤩 Very impressive place to do science plus everybody is so kind 🤗

Thanks so much Sian @sianowen.bsky.social and Tom Bartlett for the kind invitation 🤩. Glad to see your new labs started so well.

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Amelia McKitterick @amelia-mckitterick.bsky.social · Jun 24

I'm pleased to announce that I will be starting my lab as an Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School in August! My group will study phages that infect corynebacteria and mycobacteria to understand bacterial cell envelope assembly and phage gene function. Website and more info to come soon!

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Siân Owen @sianowen.bsky.social · Jun 3

The Wadsworth Center is expanding it's research focus on #virology /vector-borne diseases!
www.asmcareerconnections.org/job/research-scientist-5-g-31/78488664/
This is a unicorn assistant prof equivalent position with 12-month hard money salary and no teaching commitments (!)
Reposts appreciated 🙏

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Current Biology @currentbiology.bsky.social · Jun 12

The scope of #fungi #biodiversity is only beginning to be fathomed.

Every day almost ten new species are described. 🍄🤯

David Hibbett László Nagy and Henrik Nilsson introduce the fungal tree of life. www.cell.com/current-biol...

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Reposted by Siân Owen

Michael Boucher @mjboucher.bsky.social · Jun 11

My postdoctoral work with @hitenmadhani.bsky.social is now online at @cp-cell.bsky.social! We profiled the fitness of >4300 Cryptococcus neoformans deletion strains in >140 conditions, identifying unexpected mammalian-like biology and drivers of fungal pathogenesis.

www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Phenotypic landscape of an invasive fungal pathogen reveals its unique biology

The construction and high-precision fitness profiling of a C. neoformans knockout library reveals a high-resolution functional map of its genome and allowed for the identification of fungal analogs of...

www.cell.com

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