Bob Leung
@bobpmleung.bsky.social
Pok Man Leung 梁博聞 | Microbiologist | BSc @hkust | Ph.D @MonashBDI | ARC DECRA Fellow and Group Leader @MonashUni
The ARC's new grant scheme table, in case you don't want to read through the details (which are here: www.arc.gov.au/system/files...)
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 2w agoThe ARC has released their new set of grant schemes ▶️ www.arc.gov.au/news-and-pub... Before implementing them, they’re now going to “consult with the sector”. Hopefully genuinely, not just with a few disengaged DVCRs. In the meantime, there’ll be another round of Discovery Projects (DP28).
Drought drives elevated antibiotic resistance across soils @natmicrobiol.nature.com from Dianne Newman with @hannahjeckel.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Drought drives elevated antibiotic resistance across soils - Nature Microbiology
Drought conditions in soil systems lead to elevated concentrations of natural antibiotics, as well as the enrichment of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, highlighting a link between climate and the...
nature.com
Aerobic syngas conversion: opportunities, challenges, and solutions www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our work is published today: ‘Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor’. This was a huge effort lead by @katyappler.bsky.social. Extremely grateful to have been a part of this amazing project! 😊🦠🧬 Links: www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.growkudos.com/publications... New work with @ckarakoc.bsky.social and @shoestrapped.bsky.social in @pnas.org
The hidden energy cost of cellular dormancy
Many organisms survive harsh environments by switching into special survival modes. Some bacteria do this by forming spores—dormant, highly resilient cells that can persist for years or even centuries...
growkudos.com
New online! Tree bark microbiota in climate-active gas cycling
Tree bark microbiota in climate-active gas cycling
Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 23 January 2026; doi:10.1038/s41579-026-01281-3This study reports that the tree bark microbial community actively modulates fluxes of climate-active gases and volatile organic compounds, and may mediate global atmospheric gas cycling.
dlvr.it
Fantastic new paper from @the-de-lab.bsky.social showing how the CMV m11 protein drives immune evasion by blocking CD44-dependent, FRC-mediated DC migration in the spleen, ultimately dampening antiviral CD8⁺ T cell priming @monashuniversity.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Fibroblastic reticular cells direct the initiation of T cell responses via CD44 - Nature
CD44 expressed by fibroblastic reticular cells in secondary lymphoid organs regulates trafficking of dendritic cells, and thus has an essential role in the priming of T cells and the adaptive immune r...
nature.com
How do new soils develop after glaciers vanish? ❄️🧬🦠🏔️ The first microbial colonisers use flexible chemoautotrophic strategies to overcome nutrient scarcity, including scavenging H2, CO and CH4 from the air! ⛅ Led by Francesco Ricci, Sean Bay @greening.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Metabolically flexible microorganisms rapidly establish glacial foreland ecosystems - Nature Communications
An enduring question in ecology is how new ecosystems form. Studying retreating glaciers, this study shows that life’s first foothold in these new environments is not established by photosynthetic org...
nature.com
📢 DSMZ is hiring! We are looking for a Scientific Lead for the SILVA Database, a key tool for understanding microbes and biodiversity. Learn more and apply: tinyurl.com/y973v547 #HiringNow #ScienceJobs #Microbiology #ResearchCareers @dsmzd3.bsky.social
Our revised manuscript is up on BioRxiv and is coming soon to an ASM journal in your neighborhood. We show that metabolome & transcriptome profiles are frozen in desiccated Arthrobacter and that water vapor induces resuscitation. Happy to answer any Qs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Transcriptional and metabolic stasis define desiccation-induced dormancy in the soil bacterium Arthrobacter sp. AZCC_0090 until water vapor initiates resuscitation
Microbes inhabiting soils experience periodic water deprivation. The effects of desiccation on DNA, protein, and membrane integrity are well-described. However, the effects of drying and rehydration o...
biorxiv.org
(1/8) 🚨Thrilled to share our new research, now published on the cover of @science.org ! 🌳🦠 We discovered that tree #Bark — largely regarded as inert — hosts vast #Microbial communities that actively interact with the atmosphere. 🧵👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
The ARC’s processes are back to being farcical, @jasonclaremp.bsky.social You advocated for a streamlined, efficient, faster ARC, but all that progress has been undone. How can they claim to fund “innovation” with more than a year between initial proposal & outcomes? It should be 6 months, not 16!
ARC Tracker@arc-tracker.bsky.social · 7mo ago⁉️The ARC has delayed outcomes of ALL grants 1–4 months & increased scheduled outcome windows from 2 weeks to 3 months! This reverses 4 years of progress in providing greater certainty & ability to plan for researchers, their families & unis. Their excuse? Security checks under new ARC legislation👇
⁉️The ARC has delayed outcomes of ALL grants 1–4 months & increased scheduled outcome windows from 2 weeks to 3 months! This reverses 4 years of progress in providing greater certainty & ability to plan for researchers, their families & unis. Their excuse? Security checks under new ARC legislation👇
Turns out, each tree hosts trillions of bacteria in its bark, and these bacteria 'eat' certain gases right out of the air: methane, carbon monoxide, and especially hydrogen. This is important info because hydrogen helps methane persist longer in the atmosphere. theconversation.com/we-discovere...
We discovered microbes in bark ‘eat’ climate gases. This will change the way we think about trees - Southern Cross University
Tree bark microbes quietly “eat” climate‑warming gases, revealing a hidden way trees clean the air and reshaping how we think about forests.
scu.edu.au
Bark microbiota modulate climate-active gas fluxes in Australian forests | Science www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Bark microbiota modulate climate-active gas fluxes in Australian forests
Recent studies suggest that microbes inhabit tree bark, yet little is known about their identities, functions, and environmental roles. Here we reveal, through gene-centric and genome-resolved metagen...
science.org
New research reveals that paperbarks, among other trees, host abundant, specialized, and metabolically active bark-dwelling microbial communities that modulate climatically relevant gases, including methane, hydrogen, and carbon monoxide. Learn more this week in Science: https://scim.ag/4bp9hgl
In this week’s @science.org cover article, we discover tree bark is a hidden habitat for abundant, diverse, and specialized microbial life that actively regulate our climate 🦠. Bark isn't just an inert armor of tree but an active interface for climate and biodiversity www.science.org/eprint/7H9PX...
Bark microbiota modulate climate-active gas fluxes in Australian forests
Recent studies suggest that microbes inhabit tree bark, yet little is known about their identities, functions, and environmental roles. Here we reveal, through gene-centric and genome-resolved metagen...
science.org
A quick microbio present before the holidays 🎁 >150 years after their first description, filamentous "Crenothrix bacteria" are now in stable laboratory culture! In our pre-print, we probe the unique physiology & ecology of the "lacustrine" group of these enigmatic methane-oxidizing microbes... 1/2
Isolation of Crenothrix bacteria reveals the distinct ecophysiologies of filamentous methanotrophs and adaptations to redox stress
At the dawn of modern microbiology, Cohn observed abundant filamentous bacteria in drinking water wells that he named Crenothrix polyspora. Subsequent research has revealed the methanotrophic metaboli...
doi.org
“Cultivation of Methanonezhaarchaeia, the third class of methanogens within the phylum Thermoproteota” by @kohtzarchaeota.bsky.social, Sylvia Nupp, and myself is out in Science Advances. 90% enriched culture of a methyl-dismutating thermoproteotal methanogen. #Microsky 🧪 tinyurl.com/bdcc3uzs
Cultivation of Methanonezhaarchaeia, the third class of methanogens within the phylum Thermoproteota
The cultivation of a group of methanogens illuminates their metabolic diversity and the evolution of archaea.
science.org
New #PrePrint by #PhD @jodittmann.bsky.social open for discussion on @egubg.bsky.social investigating the question: 'Are #GhostForests a substantial source of #Methane from #Reservoirs?' 👻🪵 👇 egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/20...
📢 Extra, extra: our collaborative study on trace gas oxidizers in a warmer soil is out as a preprint www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Big thanks to @thanh0109.bsky.social @bobpmleung.bsky.social @wutkowska.bsky.social @andreasrichter.bsky.social @mathildebio.bsky.social @greening.bsky.social ...
Soil trace gas oxidizers divergently respond to short- and long-term warming
The upland soil microbiome is dominated by aerobic bacteria that oxidize atmospheric trace gases, including CO, H2, and CH4. As a result, soils are the largest biological sink for these climate-active...
biorxiv.org
New preprint: Methyl co-enzme M reductase encoding (potentially methanogenic) Thermoproteota are widespread and transcriptionally active in diverse anoxic ecosystems! @dr-zj.bsky.social, Matthew Kollom & @emileyeloe-fadrosh.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/... Funded by the DOE BER program.
Very excited to share the latest work from our lab, which was published today in Nature! nature.com/articles/s41... PhD graduate and now post-doc Sofia Dahlman, along with co-senior author Sam Forster from The Hudson and other researchers from our lab and others.
Isolation, engineering and ecology of temperate phages from the human gut - Nature
Human host-associated cellular products may act as induction agents for bacteriophages.
nature.com
The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.
A Protein Antibiotic Inhibits the BAM Complex to Kill Without Cell Entry
Many antibiotics are ineffective against Gram-negative pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa because they cannot penetrate the bacterial outer membrane. Here, we show that protein antibiotics calle...
biorxiv.org
Carbon monoxide metabolism in freshwater anaerobic methanotrophic archaea https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.16.676500v1
📢 PLEASE RT! ❄️ M2 Masters Internship: Metagenomic analysis of microbial cold adaptation in the cryosphere 🧬 Compile & curate ice nucleation & cold-adaptation protein database 🖥️ Build HMM profiles 🦠 Analyze existing metagenomic data using HMMs ☀️ Marseille, France Apply by 15 Oct
2 Postdoc vacancies: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere @erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA 📢 PLEASE RT Experimental: 🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, omics, biogeochem Modelling: 🖥️ Bioenergetics, thermodynamics, ecological, biogeochem ☀️ Marseille, France ‼️ Apply by 30 Sept
🧪 🥼 🥽 Looking for tools to answer questions related to energy and infrastructure security? Now's your chance to apply for an investigator role at Berkeley Lab's @jgi.doe.gov. Apply today! ⬇️ Deadline: September 9 Please share!
Joint Genome Institute@jgi.doe.gov · 12mo agoAre YOU a researcher in need of genomics tools to answer questions related to energy & infrastructure security? 🖥️🧬 If you haven’t led a project w/the JGI, now is your chance! Deadline SEPT. 9: jointgeno.me/CSPnewPI Learn more in our Proposal FAQ: jgi.doe.gov/work-with-us... @axelvisel.bsky.social
“Isolation of a new methanotroph belonging to Mycobacterium” is now out! Awesome work by my former postdoc Hiromi Kambara, who led this project all the way. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
First isolation of a methanotrophic Mycobacterium reveals ammonia- and pH-tolerant methane oxidation | Applied and Environmental Microbiology
Methane is a significant contributor to climate change (27 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide), and the largest biological sink is methane-oxidizing bacteria: methanotrophs. Alt...
journals.asm.org
