Loss of O-antigen due to wbbL mutations is common and associated with increased mortality in Escherichia coli bloodstream infections | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Loss of O-antigen due to wbbL mutations is common and associated with increased mortality in Escherichia coli bloodstream infections

O-antigen loss in E. coli is not benign—wbbL mutations are associated with increased septic shock and higher mortality.

science.org

Kash lab at UNC is hiring a new technician (our current two are off to grad school!!) posting will go live soon, email me CV and names of references if interested.

Congratulations to MD-PhD student, Amanda Velez and all co-authors on our new PNAS paper describing how the innate immune protein calprotectin incapacitates autolysins, inducing tolerance to B-lactam antibiotics. A fun collaboration with Thomas Kehl-Fie. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Come join us in Knoxville! The Dept. of Microbiology 🧫🦠 at the University of Tennessee is hiring 2 Assistant Professors (tenure track, 9-month appt.). Microbial Drivers of Chronic Disease: apply.interfolio.com/173153Quantitative Microbe-Plant-Environment Interactions: apply.interfolio.com/173345

Delighted to share our latest paper - A host-directed adjuvant sensitizes intracellular bacterial persisters to antibiotics. Excellently led by Dr. Kuan-Yi Lu. We think it's a great proof-of-concept that altering immune cell behavior can make antibiotics work better www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A host-directed adjuvant sensitizes intracellular bacterial persisters to antibiotics - Nature Microbiology

The authors developed a screen to find compounds that modulate intracellular Staphylococcus aureus metabolism and discovered KL1, which sensitizes persisters to antibiotics by reversing host-induced tolerance.

nature.com

Looking to hire a postdoctoral associate to examine how antibiotics frequently fail in vivo and identifying new ways to make them work better. unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/306...

Excited to share the work with @dweisslab.bsky.social‬ and great collaborators on how gene amplification generates dynamic heteroresistance to new beta-lactams, like cefiderocol. We hope drug developers will consider heteroresistance during antibiotic development rdcu.be/euijW

Copy number flexibility facilitates heteroresistance to increasing antibiotic pressure and threatens the beta-lactam pipeline

Nature Communications - Choby et al. show that dynamic increases in the copy number of preexisting β-lactamase genes in heteroresistance enables resistance of continua of cellular...

rdcu.be

For our first post on Bluesky, we're excited to share our recent work published in mBio @asm.org! Led by PhD student @madeofmicrobes.bsky.social, we show that flagellar motility and interactions with the mucus environment influence Pseudomonas antibiotic tolerance. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Flagellar motility and the mucus environment influence aggregation-mediated antibiotic tolerance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in chronic lung infection | mBio

Antibiotic treatment failure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is a key driver of mortality in muco-obstructive airway diseases (MADs). The bacterial mechanisms that contribute to antibiotic toleran...

journals.asm.org

Discovery of a new class of natural antibiotics with a new mode of action to address antimicrobial resistance, a major unmet need @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social @nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A broad-spectrum lasso peptide antibiotic targeting the bacterial ribosome - Nature

A new lasso peptide antibiotic exhibits broad-spectrum activity against Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria by interfering with bacterial protein synthesis, is unaffected by common resistanc...

nature.com

Research shows: Rifaximin prophylaxis drives resistance to daptomycin, an unrelated, last-resort antibiotic Rifaximin is used for hepatic encephalopathy in liver patients at high risk for infections, including VRE treated with daptomycin. The antibiotic was thought to pose a low resistance risk

Rifaximin prophylaxis causes resistance to the last-resort antibiotic daptomycin - Nature

Rifaximin use, particularly in patients with liver cirrhosis, may be compromising the clinical use of daptomycin.

nature.com

www.nih.gov/news-events/... Nice to see our recent paper highlighted in NIH - Research Matters newsletter

Diabetes boosts antibiotic resistance in mice

Researchers found that infectious bacteria in diabetic mice rapidly evolved resistance to antibiotics.

nih.gov

Multiple faculty positions in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in association with the Center for Immunology, and the Center for Antimicrobial Resistance at Cornell University

Delighted to share our new study. A collaboration with the Thurlow lab. Antibiotic resistance rapidly emerges and thrives in diabetic mice. A worrying coming together of two major and growing health problems worldwide www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Diabetes potentiates the emergence and expansion of antibiotic resistance

Diabetic infections are a reservoir for the emergence and proliferation of antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus.

science.org

#WeekendRead! Ahn, Arthur &co show @CellHost&Microbe that pathogenic E. coli produce a metallophore that sequesters zinc in macrophages, stabilizing HIF1a & driving fibrosis in #IBD mouse models and Crohn Disease patients! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Intestinal E. coli-produced yersiniabactin promotes profibrotic macrophages in Crohn’s disease

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-associated fibrosis causes significant morbidity. Mechanisms are poorly understood but implicate the microbiota, espe…

sciencedirect.com

A new VRSA variant was found in North Carolina, raising concerns. The emergence of more VRSA variants and locations increases the risk of spread, as it expands the potential to infect different populations and environments, making it harder to control and contain. www.idse.net/Resistance-S...

Unique VRSA Strain Identified in North Carolina

The 16th confirmed case of VRSA in the United States offers new information regarding the risks posed by the drug-resistant infection.

idse.net

Worrisome During the 2022–23 school year, CDC reports DTaP vaccine coverage dropped to 92.3%; vaccine exceptions rose 10% As a pediatrician, few patients were as precarious as the infant with pertussis hospitalized for weeks in the ICU with severe apnea spells requiring repeated resuscitation

U.S. sets Thanksgiving record for whooping cough cases

At least 364 pertussis cases were reported, marking the worst Thanksgiving week on record.

cbsnews.com

How do secreted and membrane-localized enzymes get appropriately metalated? ... Bixi He and I tackled this question, with a focus on the cell envelope... Metalation of Extracytoplasmic Proteins and Bacterial Cell Envelope Homeostasis | Annual Reviews - go.shr.lc/3V0lM92

New Salmonella Persister cells Review is just out❗️ Rachel Giorgio & Sophie Helaine overview the physiology & clinical implications of antibiotic-recalcitrant Salmonella during infection - highlighting important knowledge gaps that need to be addressed… www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Antibiotic-recalcitrant Salmonella during infection - Nature Reviews Microbiology

In this Review, Giorgio and Helaine provide an overview of the physiology of antibiotic-recalcitrant Salmonella enterica during infection, discuss recent insights into the clinical implications of ant...

nature.com

Arginine Regulates the Mucoid Phenotype of Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.20.624485v1

Arginine Regulates the Mucoid Phenotype of Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.20.624485v1

Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae is associated with severe community-acquired infections. Hypervi

biorxiv.org

Research, prevention, awareness - Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections

Cluster of Excellence CMFI@cmfi.bsky.social · 2y ago

🌍 World Antimicrobial Awareness Week! 🦠 Antimicrobial resistance is a threat to global health. Misuse of antibiotics fuels resistance and makes infections harder to treat. Be part of the solution: Follow medical advice and help spread awareness! #WAAW #AMR #GoBlue #OneHealth youtu.be/_Qy3aTKiVLE

Here‘s the start of a list of some researchers on Bluesky who are working with (or who have worked with) inoculation theory, a theory of resistance to influence built on a biological inoculation/vaccine analogy, with applications in mis/disinformation, politics, health… go.bsky.app/7E6pFc4

Excited to see many in the bacterial pathogenesis community joining here in the last few weeks, so here's a Starter Pack to help make connections. Reply/DM to be added to this or future Packs. #Microsky go.bsky.app/VH64BaY

Finally, someone speaks some sense at @nytimes.com. Thank you Zeynep Tufekci. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/16/o...

Opinion | Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Could Do Almost Limitless Harm

Our public health system is imperfect, but it’s also a miracle that can be easily broken.

nytimes.com

Congratulations Lauren! Great work!

Andreas Bäumler@abaumler.bsky.social · 2y ago

Salmonella invades the ileal mucosa to trigger lysine malbsorption, creating a a wave of lysine entering the cecum. Decarboxylation of lysine buffers the cytosol to protect against short-chain fatty acids, enabling the pathogen to invade the cecal ecosystem. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Calling all microbiologists! Registration is open for the Mid-Atlantic Microbial Pathogenesis Meeting, February 2-4, 2025.! Abstract deadline is 12/8/2024, but don't wait, filling fast. Check it out at mampm.org.

MAMPM

February 2-4, 2025 Wintergreen Resort, Virginia

mampm.org

Publication Alert! Happy to share our new work published in CellReports of a collaboration with the Zychlinsky Lab (Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology). "Histone H1 kills MRSA". cell.com/cell-reports.... Enjoy!

Histone H1 kills MRSA

Marsman et al. detect histone H1 in MRSA in human abscesses and demonstrate that it kills MRSA under physiological conditions. They identify through selective evolution and a genome-wide screen that h...

cell.com