Instead of relying on discovering new antibiotics, could we program them? Promising new "programmable" antibiotics stop bacteria from making a protein they need to survive. New study by @mulkern.bsky.social in @natcomms.nature.com maps how resistance evolves to them ⬇️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A systematic identification of resistance determinants to antisense antibiotics suggests adaptation strategies dependent on the delivery peptide - Nature Communications

In this study, authors investigate the evolution of bacterial resistance to antisense peptide nucleic acid (PNA) antibiotics. They observe that this typically occurs mainly by reducing drug uptake via...

nature.com

Out now in @natcomms.nature.com: how do bacteria evolve resistance to programmable antisense antibiotics? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A systematic identification of resistance determinants to antisense antibiotics suggests adaptation strategies dependent on the delivery peptide - Nature Communications

In this study, authors investigate the evolution of bacterial resistance to antisense peptide nucleic acid (PNA) antibiotics. They observe that this typically occurs mainly by reducing drug uptake via...

nature.com

Why do some bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance more readily than others? Loved writing this one with @craigmaclean.bsky.social and Liam.

Craig MacLean@craigmaclean.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New Essay: 'Resistance potentiators: Evolutionary catalysts of antibiotic resistance' To understand the evolutionary drivers of #AMR we need to move beyond resistance genes to thinking about the ability of genomes to generate AMR variants. #microsky journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Phage constrain multidrug resistance spread #Phage #Plasmid #AMR #EvolutionaryBiology #CraigMacLeanLab The final version of our paper is out in @isme-microbes.bsky.social academic.oup.com/ismej/articl... bsky.app/profile/dani... More exciting phage and plasmid research coming soon!

Eco-evolutionary responses to plasmid-dependent phage constrain the spread of multidrug-resistance plasmids

Abstract. Phage therapy offers an alternative to antibiotics for treating multidrug-resistant infections. Plasmid-dependent phages (PDPs) are promising the

academic.oup.com

Daniel Cazares@danielcazares.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Happy to share that our latest research on the eco-evolutionary dynamics of MDR plasmids and PDPs is now out (open access vAuthor) in The ISME Journal doi.org/10.1093/isme... Here, we explored how plasmid-dependent phages (PDPs) act as a selective pressure against the spread of multidrug resistance

Excited to share this new paper from the lab: academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...! See thread below

Eco-evolutionary responses to plasmid-dependent phage constrain the spread of multidrug-resistance plasmids

Abstract. Phage therapy offers an alternative to antibiotics for treating multidrug-resistant infections. Plasmid-dependent phages (PDPs) are promising the

academic.oup.com

Really grateful to receive an MPLS Travel Award to visit Copenhagen this week. Gave talks at DTU - Technical University of Denmark and Københavns Universitet - University of Copenhagen on polyclonal P. aeruginosa interactions and got to meet some brilliant people working on AMR. Great few days!

The increased mutation rate of DNA-repair–deficient mutators accelerates resistance evolution in bacteria and cancer. In a great collaboration with @mulkern.bsky.social, we find that DNA-damaging antibiotics can turn this advantage into a liability—but only for certain genotypes.

New #AMR pre-print Combining antibiotics with genotoxins can efficiently suppress bacterial in high throughput experimental models. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Fun collaboration with Nassos Typas lab led by @mulkern.bsky.social

Cancer therapies exploit DNA repair defects to kill tumours. We asked whether the same logic could constrain antibiotic resistance evolution... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)

Still buzzing after the @microbiologysociety.org meeting on 'Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics' last week. It was great to connect with so many people who share the same type of science. Big thanks to the organisers for the opportunity to present my research too!

We are looking to fill a position for computational PhD student, focusing on the development and application of statistical genetics methods to large collections of bacterial pathogens. Have a look at the link for more info. RTs appreciated :) www.microbial-pangenomes-lab.org/2025/11/06/C...

Had a short but sweet visit to Zürich to speak at @ethz.ch. Many thanks to @phagemuffin.bsky.social and @aharms485.bsky.social!

What a month...I spent June in the US at the @cshlnews.bsky.social Advanced Bacterial Genetics course and then the GRC Molecular Mechanisms in Evolution! I met so many cool people along the way — special shoutout to my course lab partner, Max!

Hopped over to Northern Ireland last week to give a talk at @qubelfastofficial.bsky.social for their AMR seminar series. Thanks very much to @rwheatley8.bsky.social, @lindaoyama.bsky.social, and @sharonhuws.bsky.social for hosting me!

Wrapped up 2024 with the @typaslab.bsky.social in Heidelberg @embl.org, doing some evolution experiments with @stefanbassler.bsky.social. Had an incredible time and looking forward to an exciting year of science in 2025!

Stress-testing #asobiotics… @mulkern.bsky.social & @mgalactus.bsky.social from @twincore.bsky.social, in collaboration with the Vogel lab at the Helmholtz Institute Würzburg, have employed in-vitro laboratory evolution to study how different bacteria develop resistance to programmable antibiotics. 👇

Marco Galardini@mgalactus.bsky.social · 2y ago

We used in-vitro laboratory evolution to "stress test" the next generation class of antibiotics based on antisense oligos ("asobiotics"). Head over to our new preprint to find out more! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Excited to share something from my previous postdoc with @mgalactus.bsky.social, a collaboration with the lab of Jörg Vogel using lab evolution to see how different bacterial species develop resistance to programmable antibiotics:

A systematic identification of resistance determinants to antisense antibiotics suggests adaptation strategies dependent on the delivery peptide

The rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) among human pathogenic microbes is a serious threat to global health, calling for the development of novel treatment strategies. Antibiotics based on program...

biorxiv.org

Thanks to @rwheatley8.bsky.social for organising a lovely AMR & Microbiome workshop @magdalenoxford.bsky.social