Tiago Costa
@tcostalab.bsky.social
Associate Professor and Group Leader @Imperial College London https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/t.costa We study the architecture and function of molecular machines that drive antimicrobial resistance (AMR) dissemination and virulence.
We have reflect on how AI could reshape scientific reasoning and discovery - not by replacing scientists, but by helping us escape our own biases, expand the hypothesis space, and consider mechanisms we might never have imagined. 🔗https://sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1097276526004661
Online Now: Escaping our own biases: AI, scientific reasoning, and discovery in molecular biology Online now:
Escaping our own biases: AI, scientific reasoning, and discovery in molecular biology
Artificial intelligence may transform molecular biology not by always providing the correct answer, but by exploring mechanistic possibilities unconstrained by the assumptions that shape expert thinking. Its greatest contribution may be exposing the intellectual blind spots of scientists, while experimental validation remains the ultimate arbiter of truth.
dlvr.it
📢 We are recruiting! I’m looking for a Research Associate in Structural Biology to join my lab at Imperial College London to study horizontal gene transfer using cryo-EM, biochemistry and microbiology. Please share with interested candidates! Apply: shorturl.at/gmJGS
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
imperial.ac.uk
Our new study reveals how bacterial toxins are physically captured through a sequential, concentration-dependent assembly mechanism before secretion via the T6SS. Fantastic collaboration with @fillouxlab.bsky.social. Congrats Patricia & Ambre for leading this work. Paper here: shorturl.at/O31Vn
Molecular basis of type VI secretion system effector loading - Nature Microbiology
Structural analysis reveals that the type VI secretion system effector cargo is enclosed within hexameric Hcp3 rings that form sequentially to enable effector loading and delivery by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa H3-type VI secretion system.
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Out Now! Molecular basis of type VI secretion system effector loading #MicroSky
Molecular basis of type VI secretion system effector loading
Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02363-xStructural analysis reveals that the type VI secretion system effector cargo is enclosed within hexameric Hcp3 rings that form sequentially to enable effector loading and delivery by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa H3-type VI secretion system.
go.nature.com
This paper started as an idea @albertomarina.bsky.social had many years ago… which of course means he was right all along 😄. Some of us just needed a few years (and a lot of experiments) to catch up. Grateful (and slightly humbled) to be part of this. Thanks Alberto! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Phages communicate across species to shape microbial ecosystems
Gallego-del-Sol et al. show that arbitrium-coding phages can sense non-cognate peptide signals from other phages to regulate lysis-lysogeny decisions. This crosstalk affects lysis-lysogeny outcomes of...
cell.com
Please RT:📢We are hiring a Post-Doc in Structural Biology to join our multidisciplinary team. Project: study molecular mechanisms of horizontal gene transfer using cryo-EM and integrative structural biology. Apply: shorturl.at/ecrVL #StructuralBiology #CryoEM #Postdoc
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
shorturl.at
🚨 PhD Opportunity in my lab🚨 Harnessing Phage Satellites for Next-Generation Biological Crop Protection 🗓 Deadline: 12 Jan 🔗 Apply: tinyurl.com/425x8ahj 🔗 Project : tinyurl.com/22uanm86 Interested in Structural Microbiology, Phage Biology & SynBio - Apply Now!
Grantham PhD opportunities
The Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment invites PhD applications that support projects in some of our priority research areas. In...
tinyurl.com
🚨 PhD Opportunity in my lab🚨 Harnessing Phage Satellites for Next-Generation Biological Crop Protection 🗓 Deadline: 12 Jan 🔗 Apply: tinyurl.com/425x8ahj 🔗 Project : tinyurl.com/22uanm86 Interested in Structural Microbiology, Phage Biology & SynBio - Apply Now!
Grantham PhD opportunities
The Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment invites PhD applications that support projects in some of our priority research areas. In...
tinyurl.com
New paper just out from #OurImperial @tcostalab.bsky.social The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain - Nature Communications
Adherent-invasive strains of E. coli are commonly isolated from patients with Crohn’s disease. Here, the authors show that an AIEC harbours a hybrid Type IV secretion system (T4SS) that mediates pilin...
nature.com
"It's less like pressing a button for an answer and more like mentoring a junior colleague—asking the right questions, pushing back on shallow reasoning, and nudging the system toward sharper insights."
Google's AI Co-Scientist Is Changing the Face of Scientific Research
Google's AI co-scientist is proving itself more than a novelty. In two biology studies, it generated exciting ideas that could have taken years of lab work to uncover.
spectrum.ieee.org
Imperial researchers have discovered how ‘pirate phages’ hijack other viruses to break into bacteria, sharing new genetic material for dangerous traits. This discovery that could be harnessed to tackle #AMR Read more ⬇️ www.imperial.ac.uk/news/268213/...
Thrilled to share that two of our papers with @jrpenades.bsky.social & GoogleDeepMind are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social 1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3 2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @imperiallifesci.bsky.social
New study shows how bacteria evolved powered-up propellers www.imperial.ac.uk/news/265473/... ... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New study shows how bacteria evolved powered-up propellers | Imperial News | Imperial College London
Dr Morgan Beeby’s lab has discovered how some flagella - tiny ‘tail’ propellers used by bacteria for swimming - evolved to be more powerful.
imperial.ac.uk
Honored to have been chosen for this year’s GlaxoSmithKline Award from @biochemsoc.bsky.social. A big thank you to lab members past and present @imperialsci.bsky.social and @erc.europa.eu @cruk-si.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social for supporting our work.
Biochemical Society@biochemsoc.bsky.social · 2y agoThe 2026 GlaxoSmithKline Award goes to Doryen Bubeck! Internationally recognised, @doryenbubeck.bsky.social's pioneering research in structural immunology has laid a foundation for future treatments targeting immune-mediated diseases and infectious pathogens.
Check out our own Tiago Costa @tcostalab.bsky.social talking about Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... Exciting stuff!
BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, AI in Science: Promise and Peril
Google has launched a new AI tool called Co-Scientist. How good is it?
bbc.co.uk
You can listen to Jose Penades @jrpenades.bsky.social interview about #phages and Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here: (go to 2:34:15) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
Today - 20/02/2025 - BBC Sounds
News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.
bbc.co.uk
Emma Denham@gingermicrobe.bsky.social · 2y agoSuper cool to hear Jose Penades talking about his new work using Google AI-co-scientist research.google/blog/acceler... this morning on #radio4 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... chimeric infective phage particles!
With @jrpenades.bsky.social, we challenged Google AI co-scientist to generate hypotheses. In just 2 days, it recapitulated our unpublished, experimentally confirmed mechanism for how cf-PICIs spread between bacterial species! @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3byyaeh2
AI mirrors experimental science to uncover a novel mechanism of gene transfer crucial to bacterial evolution
AI models have been proposed for hypothesis generation, but testing their ability to drive high-impact research is challenging, since an AI-generated hypothesis can take decades to validate. Here, we ...
tinyurl.com
An unreleased AI system by Google designed to assist researchers has the potential to "supercharge science." Dr Tiago Dias da Costa and other Imperial researchers were the first to test it, and say it replicated ten years of work in just two days. www.imperial.ac.uk/news/261293/...
Google’s AI co-scientist could enhance research, say Imperial researchers | Imperial News | Imperial College London
An unreleased system designed to assist researchers has the potential to “supercharge science”, according to Imperial researchers.
imperial.ac.uk
New work from the lab with @jrpenades.bsky.social! We discovered a biological entity that spreads among different bacterial species by hijacking tails from various phages. This finding has major translational applications due to its broad host range. More news soon! shorturl.at/kRJqE
Chimeric infective particles expand species boundaries in phage inducible chromosomal island mobilization
Some mobile genetic elements spread among unrelated bacterial species through unknown mechanisms. Recently, we discovered that identical capsid-forming phage-inducible chromosomal islands (cf-PICIs), ...
shorturl.at
Huge congratulations to our Head of Life Sciences Prof Dan Davis @dandavis101.bsky.social who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours list! 🎖️ Dan receives an MBE for his services to science communication. #OurImperial Read more 🔽 imperial.ac.uk/news/259480/...
Great to see this paper published on Cpx signalling, LPS remodelling and colistin resistance. It is always a pleasure to work with my collaborators and friends @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @tcostalab.bsky.social @lukeallsopp.bsky.social and Gerald Larrouy Maumus. Check at doi.org/10.1038/s442...
Cpx-signalling in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis modulates Lipid-A remodelling and resistance to last-resort antimicrobials - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance
npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - Cpx-signalling in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis modulates Lipid-A remodelling and resistance to last-resort antimicrobials
doi.org