I signed an Open Letter to @ukri.org in defense of @diamondlightsource.bsky.social funding. It's an internationally leading facility, any cuts to its funding, from operations to staff will have disastrous consequences to #UKscience. Pls sign & share! openletter.earth/open-letter-...

🚨 New in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! We reveal how the antibiotic target PBP1b fortifies the E.coli division site against osmotic rupture. Proud this was completed in our independent labs @dmf-unil.bsky.social, with @avettiger.bsky.social. Congratulations to all authors! 🦠❄️🔬 #teamtomo bit.ly/3SCbOg1 👇

The penicillin-binding protein PBP1b fortifies the Escherichia coli division site against osmotic rupture - Nature Microbiology

A specific isoform of PBP1b functions independently of the activator protein, LpoB, to drive generation of a wedge-like peptidoglycan structure that strengthens the division site in Escherichia coli.

doi.org

New customer service area set up for when my grant writing assistant comes to the office.

At the GRC Bacterial Cell Surface conference at the Univerity of Southern Maine in Portland, Ma. My speaker “assignment” was to organise the biennial football (soccer) match. Great fun, great community, fantastic science @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

Upside: Currently onboard an @virginatlantic.bsky.social flight to Atlanta with free starlink WiFi thought the flight. Downside I have no excuse to get out of doing my UG marking online …. Boooooo

Always make friends with dogs.

Timely given the uk structural biology community event last Tuesday at the Wellcome collection, discussing future developments and funding @walshdls.bsky.social

Tanmay Bharat@tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Applications and prospects of cryo-electron tomography in drug discovery and understanding disease Review article by @camilaclemente.bsky.social in our lab www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Applications and prospects of cryo-electron tomography in drug discovery and understanding disease Review article by @camilaclemente.bsky.social in our lab www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Applications and prospects of cryo-electron tomography in drug discovery and understanding disease

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is emerging as a transformative tool for structural biology. Unlike methods based on purified molecules, cryo-ET en…

sciencedirect.com

E. coli ST131 is becoming carbapenem resistant. I suspect as CTX-M moves onto the chromosome and the F plasmid is lost facilitating acquisition of carbapenemase plasmids. No good can come of this

The Lancet Microbe@lancetmicrobe.bsky.social · 3mo ago

New research article Emergence of carbapenemase-producing #Escherichia coli in acute care hospitals in 32 European countries (the CCRE survey) www.thelancet.com/journals/lan... #IDSky #ClinMicro #AMR #Ecoli #OpenAccess #OA

Funnily enough, proposals that constitute world class science are not random in their design, composition and intent. Could someone whose a grown up take charge please?

Research Professional News@resprofnews.bsky.social · 3mo ago

UKRI urged to be ‘transparent’ after adopting grant lotteries. Funder’s quiet introduction of randomisation option across opportunities prompts questions, plus support for “innovative” action. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...

Tb cell envelope people take note of this from Christine Hardy at UC Irvine. Beautiful structure and interesting interaction. www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

It is with great sadness that we announce J. Craig Venter has died. 🧪🧬 www.jcvi.org/media-center...

J. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer and founder of JCVI and Diploid Genomics, Inc., dies at 79

La Jolla, California—April 29, 2026—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced that J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder, board...

jcvi.org

The past, present and future of de novo protein design www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The past, present and future of de novo protein design - Nature

A Review of de novo protein design highlights key methodological advances and achievements, current challenges and future applications.

nature.com

JB Editor's Choice: Khuntia, Nandicoori et al. describe a toolkit for the molecular analysis of mycobacteria. They created 32 modular integrative & 8 episomal E. coli-mycobacterium shuttle vectors, including tools to make tagged proteins. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriology

A few weeks ago I attended what turned to to be the last meeting of the MRC IIB board. All the other responsive mode boards went as well. Don’t recall a Nature article on that 🤔

Nature@nature.com · 3mo ago

All 22 members of the board that advises and oversees the US National Science Foundation (NSF), a leading funder of basic science, were fired on 24 April without explanation. go.nature.com/42tkCGv

Come and study for a PhD with us on antibiotic-producing Streptomyces, trying to understand the roles of primary metabolic enzymes with additional cellular roles - Details below - please repost www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde, listed on FindAPhD.com

findaphd.com

I think Dan is describing my precision defensive manoeuvres as seasoned right back in the team. Presumably no space in the test to mention my Beckham-esk deep crosses into the opposition box. @mrcdtpbiomed.bsky.social @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

Congrats to Charis Thompson in my lab and joint student with @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social who has just won the 2026 Dr Mrytle Pridgeon Scholarship! @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

Last Friday Phill Stansfeld & I played host to Dr Shu Sin Chng from National University of Singapore on his latest research in Gram negative bacterial membrane biogenesis, a core aspect of joint interests relevant to discovery of next generation antibiotics and combating the rise of AMR

STFC’s Executive Chair, Professor Michele Dougherty, was at the University of Bath where we held the next in a series of regional engagement events on UKRI's new strategy. In this video, she shares key insights from the conversation with stakeholders from across the South West: youtu.be/WSMCONGipjM

Insights from our South West regional engagement event I Professor Michele Dougherty

YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

youtu.be

@felixrl.bsky.social reported that PcdA mediates orthogonal cell division in #Staphylococcus aureus: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... But what’s the point? Well, forming staphylococcal abscess communities to evade host immune responses requires this mode of division: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

PcdA promotes orthogonal division plane selection in Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Microbiology

PcdA interacts with DivIVA and FtsZ, promoting Z-ring formation and division plane selection in Staphylococcus aureus, which increases virulence in mice and reduces sensitivity to cell-wall-targeting ...

nature.com

Neat paper from Schwille lab. They demonstrate constriction of synthetic vesicles using important components of the bacterial cell division machinery, FtsZ and FtsN. They induce strong constriction of Z-rings in vesicles just by adding the cytoplasmic domain of FtsN www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Optimizing spatial organization of FtsZ rings for large-scale constriction in synthetic cells - Nature Communications

Spatially regulated membrane constriction is an important milestone in reconstituting minimal cell division. Here the authors engineer a truncated system where the cytosolic domain of FtsN forms large...

nature.com

I've written a review on what I think is an extremely exciting direction in cryo-EM: Cryo-EM of endogenous membrane proteins in their native lipid bilayer Open access in Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics: doi.org/10.1017/S003...

😮👀 Streptococcus mitis bacteriocins drive contact-dependent lysis of S. pneumoniae facilitating transformation in multispecies environments | mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Streptococcus mitis bacteriocins drive contact-dependent lysis of S. pneumoniae facilitating transformation in multispecies environments | mBio

Many streptococci are naturally competent, acquiring environmental DNA through transformation. This includes pathogens like Streptococcus pneumoniae and commensals like Streptococcus mitis, which can exchange genetic material through horizontal gene transfer (HGT). For example, S. mitis can acquire pneumococcal capsules, leading to its misidentification in polymicrobial samples such as those obtained from the upper respiratory tract. Understanding the drivers of HGT between these species is therefore critical. Here, we characterize a competence-induced bacteriocin cluster in S. mitis. These bacteriocins lyse pneumococci, promoting DNA release and enhancing gene transfer in dual-species biofilms. Our findings uncover a mechanism by which competence-associated predation promotes interspecies HGT, shaping the evolution and epidemiology of streptococcal populations.

journals.asm.org

We had the 2 year anniversary and strategic advisory board for our BBSRC sLoLa on bacterial cell shape this week. Many thanks to Profs Miguel Valvano, Mariana Pinho and Dr Pam Brown for their feedback!

'Vallance said the Medical Research Council would reopen its calls in May, at which point the council would set out “the totality” of its funding' www.researchprofessional.com/news-article...

Nature research paper: Convergent MurJ flippase inhibition by phage lysis proteins go.nature.com/4aAWHKb

Convergent MurJ flippase inhibition by phage lysis proteins - Nature

A common mechanism of inhibition of the essential lipid II flippase MurJ by three distinct phage-encoded single-gene lysis proteins provides insights into potential new targets for antimicrobial development.

go.nature.com

25 years ago today I started as a lecturer at Warwick, may have got the hang of it now. Mostly… But always supported by Mrs Emma Roper.

Oh really?, Nothing to do with a track record of high impact publications, major long term funding and the patience of a saint to get those things, along with a large dollop of single minded, focused almost blinkered determination then?

Times Higher Education (THE)@timeshighered.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Becoming a professor at a UK university is dependent on training high volumes of PhD students rather than delivering outstanding supervision, a report suggests. @jgro-the.bsky.social writes #EduSky #AcademicSky ow.ly/eFjW50Yl5FT

He’s official now, just needs a lab coat and H&S induction …