Prof Cynthia Whitchurch FAA🏳️🌈
@cwhitch.bsky.social
Microbiologist, interested in alternate bacterial lifestyles - cell wall deficiency, biofilms, AMR
NTU's School of Biological Sciences is hiring faculty, Assistant Professor to Full Professor. The environment is collaborative and the start-up funding is genuinely generous. Four research areas. Campus visits 28 Sep to 2 Oct 2026. Apply here www.ntu.edu.sg/sbs/about-us...
How refreshing, a radical plan for implementing a more genuine global sustainability: ‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival: www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘An equal and habitable world is possible’: academics set out sweeping vision for planetary survival
Global report provides an alternative to climate breakdown, political extremism and economic tensions
theguardian.com
From @folterj.bsky.social et al., in @wileyonlinelibrary.bsky.social 's J. of #Microscopy | BIOMERO 2.0: End-to-end #FAIR infrastructure for #bioimaging data import, analysis, and provenance | #OpenScience #OMERO | 🧪🔬🔓 CC/ @eurobioimaging.bsky.social ⬇️ onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
BIOMERO 2.0: End‐to‐end FAIR infrastructure for bioimaging data import, analysis, and provenance
Many modern scientific discoveries rely on complex computer-based analyses. In microscopy, researchers handle large image collections, diverse software tools, and powerful computing systems. While th...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Just released! Along with our partner @microbiomedata.org, ASM is excited to announce a new online course, the Environmental Microbiome Research Certificate program. This course will help microbiologists prepare for the microbiome workforce. Register at asm.social/2VF
A great watch and something new to learn!!
SassyMetisChick@sassymetischick.bsky.social · 4mo agoI didn’t know this, did you? Amazing!
Microbial communities can harbor many species that do not coexist in pairs, yet can coexist in the full community. Here we provide the mathematical foundations of emergent coexistence, and explain why it can't be predicted from pairwise tests journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol...
"The struggle of figuring out the right analysis approach, wrestling with an unexpected result, or trying to turn a messy set of findings into a coherent story is not an obstacle to learning. It _is_ the learning". Required reading for AI in the lab: blekhman.substack.com/p/you-need-t...
You need to make AI guidelines for your lab
Here's why you should, and how to start
blekhman.substack.com
Open postdoc position in my lab on HGT and interbacterial competition. We seek candidates with a PhD in microbiology (or related fields)+ strong 1st-author publications. Curious, highly motivated, and dedicated team players ready to contribute fully are encouraged to apply. Details: tiny.cc/cz01101
Open Positions
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tiny.cc
Identification and functional insights into new phage tail-like bacteriocins targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa as new antimicrobials | Microbiology Spectrum journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... #microsky
Identification and functional insights into new phage tail-like bacteriocins targeting Pseudomonas aeruginosa as new antimicrobials | Microbiology Spectrum
The 75 Pseudomonas aeruginosa genomes from people with cystic fibrosis in the study collection included at least one phage tail-like bacteriocins (PTLB) cluster. From the 34 different PTLBs detected i...
journals.asm.org
NEW! This One Health case study explores antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a complex environmental public health issue that extends beyond clinical and agricultural settings into households, wildlife, and drinking water systems. ➡️ ncceh.ca/resources/ev... #AMR #OneHealth
You asked, we listened. Millions of AI-predicted protein complex structures are now available in the #AlphaFold Database. This spans homodimers from 20 of the most studied species, including humans, as well as the World Health Organization’s priority pathogens list. www.ebi.ac.uk/about/news/t...
Turning #penicillin into a lethal force against #bacteria again ... | #antibiotic | #antibiotictolerance | #betalactam | #cholera | By @cornelluniversity.bsky.social via @sciencex.bsky.social
Turning penicillin into a lethal force against bacteria again
When many disease-causing bacteria encounter penicillin, they are not always destroyed right away, shifting into a temporary survival state called antibiotic tolerance. This state allows them to…
phys.org
Lovely work driven by Lizzie Ledger in the group: a new but druggable mechanism by which Staphs produce biofilm using components of human serum. First polysaccharides, then protein, then eDNA, now lipids too! bsky.app/profile/bior...
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 5mo agoHuman serum triglycerides promote Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation and antibiotic tolerance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03.05.709992v1
Now out & nicely formatted in @isme-microbes.bsky.social A big analysis of ocean genomes & metagenomes co-led by former postdocs, now PIs, @gmdouglas.bsky.social & @cyanophage.bsky.social along with co-PIs @lbobay.bsky.social & Samuel Chaffron. A few highlights... 🧵 (1/n) doi.org/10.1093/isme...
Co-occurrence is associated with horizontal gene transfer across marine bacteria independent of phylogeny
Abstract. Understanding the drivers and consequences of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a key goal of microbial evolution research. Although co-occurring
doi.org
In case you missed it: our review titled "Spatial structure: shaping the ecology and evolution of microbial communities" is out! 🚨 Let me hit you with some highlights on why spatial structure matters. (and why you should care!) Sharing is appreciated 🙏 🧵👇 doi.org/10.1093/fems...
What if quorum sensing doesn’t promote biofilms - but restrains it? 🤔 New work from @harisantypas.bsky.social shows that the Fsr QS system in Enterococcus faecalis acts as a brake on biofilm formation and pathogenesis during infective endocarditis (IE). www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Loss of Fsr quorum sensing promotes biofilm formation and worsens outcomes in enterococcal infective endocarditis - Nature Communications
Infective endocarditis (IE) is an understudied biofilm-associated infection. Here, analyses of preclinical and clinical data reveal that the Fsr quorum sensing (QS) system of Enterococcus faecalis is ...
nature.com
Excited for Day 2 #AMR2026. @Fleming_Initiative and @csiro.bsky.social have put together an informative 3day program delivered by panels of international experts from across One Health sectors, stakeholders and policymakers.
Science works best when more voices are at the table. At SCELSE, 56% of our researchers are women — above the global average of 33.3%. Kudos to all the women researchers at SCELSE driving scientific excellence & impact! @cwhitch.bsky.social #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM #SCELSEImpact
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Guillaume Thibault@gthibault.bsky.social · 7mo agoWe’ve discovered how the superbug E. faecalis prevents chronic wounds from healing. It’s not a toxin. It’s metabolism. The bacteria use extracellular electron transport (EET) to electrochemically generate ROS, effectively "freezing" skin cells in place. doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aeb5297
We are a Molecular Microbiology laboratory at the Andalusian Center of Developmental Biology (CABD) in Sevilla, Spain. Our main interests are gene regulation and signal transduction in the lifestyle switch between planktonic and biofilm growth. Also see us at baclifestyle.es
I have just read Prof E. Peter Greenberg latest editorial paper, explaining why he has been working on P. aeruginosa. That is very refreshing to hear how research is also impacted by interpersonal relationships and personal events. We should hear more about it. doi.org/10.1128/jb.0...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, my model for research on quorum sensing, biofilms, and opportunistic infections | Journal of Bacteriology
With encouragement from the Journal of Bacteriology Editor in Chief, George O’Toole, I have written this short essay in a style different than Journal of Bacteriology articles on model organisms. It i...
doi.org
Prof Cynthia Whitchurch @cwhitch.bsky.social, SCELSE Research Director, is a keynote speaker at the Asia-Pacific Biofilm Conference 2026, presenting “When death becomes a biofilm”. Registration and abstract submissions are now open — join the region’s biofilm community in Melbourne.
#NatMicroPicks Peptibody mRNA therapy for AMR infections! 💉🧬 mRNA-delivered peptibody AMPs eradicate MDR pneumonia and outperform FDA-approved antibiotics while reducing inflammation #SynBio #MicroSky 🦠 @natbiotech.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Antimicrobial peptide delivery to lung as peptibody mRNA in anti-inflammatory lipids treats multidrug-resistant bacterial pneumonia - Nature Biotechnology
Antimicrobial peptides delivered to mouse lung as mRNA peptibodies eradicate multidrug-resistant pneumonia.
nature.com
#NatMicroPicks How drugs reshape the gut microbiome? 💊🦠 Screening 707 drugs in gut microbial communities reveals nutrient competition as the key driver of compositional and metabolic shifts. #MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky 🦠 www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Nutrient competition predicts gut microbiome restructuring under drug perturbations
Systematic profiling of 707 drugs on their impact on stool-derived microbial communities shows that nutrient competition explains and predicts species shifts under drug treatment and that post-drug re...
cell.com
#NatMicroPicks Editing gut microbiota in vivo! 🔧🧬🦠 MetaEdit enables precise in vivo CRISPR-based editing of native gut bacteria, integrating new pathways at single-nucleotide resolution #MicroSky #SynBio www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Metagenomic editing of commensal bacteria in vivo using CRISPR-associated transposases
Although metagenomic sequencing has revealed a rich microbial biodiversity in the mammalian gut, methods to genetically alter specific species in the microbiome are highly limited. Here, we introduce ...
science.org
