Excited to share our new paper out today in @science.org 🎉 We show that HGT via natural competence drives diversification of chromosomal integrons in V. cholerae 🤩 Below a 🧵 on key findings incl. background on natural competence in V. cholerae 1/ #microsky #phagesky www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We are really interested in #phages that use the type IV pilus as receptors, and the ways in which bacteria - like #Pseudomonas - try to escape those phages without crippling themselves permanently in the process. healthsci.mcmaster.ca/hiding-in-pl... @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

New paper showing how tailed #phages recognize diverse #Pseudomonas #T4P! Outstanding work by PhD candidate Ikram Qaderi, building on work started a decade ago during my sabbatical in the McArthur lab and in collaboration with the Guarné lab, now at #McGill. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

Cracked, but still there: the glass ceiling persists for senior women in science www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Cracked, but still there: the glass ceiling persists for senior women in science

To mark International Women’s Day on 8 March, Mangala Srinivas reminds junior colleagues that career success won’t protect you from gender-based bias.

nature.com

New paper alert! Outstanding work by PhD candidate Nathan Roberge, great collab with the Ellison and Maxwell labs. #Pseudomonas #phage DMS3 encodes Aqs1, an inhibitor of #T4P assembly ATPase PilB, but how it binds and leads to loss of function was unknown. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social

Correction on the start time - NOON EDT! Clearly I'm not awake because of the recent switch to daylight savings time.

Lori L. Burrows@dr-lori-burrows.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Join us online tomorrow 11am EDT to catch PhD candidate Veronica Tran talking about work from her recently accepted mBio paper on #Pseudmonas mutants selected by type IV pilus-targeting #phages! @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social

Join us online tomorrow 11am EDT to catch PhD candidate Veronica Tran talking about work from her recently accepted mBio paper on #Pseudmonas mutants selected by type IV pilus-targeting #phages! @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social

🧵 Proud to present a tour de force by postdoc @gregbwhitfield.bsky.social solving the mystery of how bacterial Tad pili can extend and retract with a single motor ATPase. Great collaboration with Lynne Howell, @dr-lori-burrows.bsky.social, @ianyyen.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Beautiful, now I can retire 😁

Alex Merz 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇺🇦@merz.bsky.social · 6mo ago

🧵 After years out of the field, I and my lab are again working on bacterial type IV pili. We have just posted our first preprints, and I'm excited to share what we have discovered. This shows Neisseria gonorrheae bacteria infecting a human epithelical cell. Here, you can see the pili in red. 1/

Happy International Day for Women and Girls in Science! @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social

Summer REU in biofilms! Pls share. www.binghamton.edu/centers/biof...

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) | Biofilm Research Center | Binghamton University

binghamton.edu

Are you trying to kill #MRSA? The Burrows & the Pinho labs are too, and we found that an old anti-inflammatory compound can resensitize it to pen G and other beta lactams in a wall teichoic acid-dependent way, but unlike other WTA adjuvants. @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Now available - PhD student Veronica Tran reviews the importance of identifying & reporting #phage receptors to build better therapeutic cocktails with diverse #bacteriophages for tough pathogens like #Pseudomonas journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10.... @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social

The report, issued Tuesday by the Council of Canadian Academies, takes a comprehensive look at the state of science and technology in Canada – the first such assessment since 2018. At its focus is the role that research and development plays in economic growth across the country.

Canada’s research and scientific spending is declining relative to other nations, report says

Low rate of R&D investment plays key role in productivity crisis, according to Council of Canadian Academies

theglobeandmail.com

New paper alert! PhD candidate Veronica Tran asked what types of resistance mutations were selected in #Pseudomonas by type IV pilus-specific #phages & whether they were reversible, Qs relevant to #phagetherapy - she got some interesting answers! Read the paper here: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

New paper alert! We used our fav technique, genetic suppression, to understand how FimX controls function of the T4P PilB motor ATPase in Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Great collab with the Ellison lab at U Georgia who helped with some fancy microscopy to capture pilus dynamics! doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Twitching motility suppressors reveal a role for FimX in type IV pilus extension dynamics

Author summary Type IV pili enable Pseudomonas aeruginosa to attach to surfaces, move (twitch), and form biofilms. Pilus extension is powered by the motor protein PilB, which is regulated by other fac...

doi.org

New paper! Specific PilA and PilY1 sequences make PilU dispensable for T4P-dependent twitching motility in P. aeruginosa. However, most suppressors still had high cAMP levels from loss of PilU, showing that motility and surface sensing responses can be uncoupled.🧐 ⏩ journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Separation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility and surface-sensing responses | mBio

The ability of bacteria to sense and respond to contact with surfaces is important for triggering changes in secondary messenger levels and gene expression, leading to the formation of biofilms and in...

journals.asm.org

@knutdrescher.bsky.social is advertising a PhD position in their group in Basel 🇨🇭 with a focus on bacterial biofilms Application deadline: 14 November 2025 www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/open-positio...

Such a fun project & massive team effort. We sampled tree cores my 1st yr of grad school then took a year to figure out how to grind wood… ! But we were amazed to find such a complex & unexpected ecosystem inside trees. And we’ve just scratched the surface! We explored 150 trees— 3 trillion to go!

Nature Microbiology@natmicrobiol.nature.com · 12mo ago

#NatMicroPicks Hidden microbial world in trees🌳 Living wood hosts trillions of bacteria making trees a complex ecosystems with major roles in forest health and function. #PlantMicro #MicroSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Zip "prevents internalization and destruction of newly released phage progeny, a phenomenon that we call the anti-Kronos effect after the Greek god who consumed his offspring. Zip activity promotes the accumulation of free phages in bacterial lysogen communities, thereby enhancing viral spread."

BejaLabTechnion@bejalab.bsky.social · last yr.

Prophages block cell surface receptors to preserve their viral progeny www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New paper alert! PhD candidate Nathan Roberge is studying regulation of the #T4P assembly ATPase PilB and identified suppressors of FimX with enhanced motility. Where did they map? Find out here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Twitching motility suppressors reveal a role for FimX in type IV pilus extension dynamics

In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, retractable protein filaments called type IV pili (T4P) facilitate surface adherence, sensing, and directional movement known as twitching motility. T4P are necessary for th...

biorxiv.org

Lovely work by @ianyyen.bsky.social and @gregwhitfield99.bsky.social on the bifunctional ATPase that powers assembly and disassembly of #T4cP type IV pili! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Conformational changes in the motor ATPase CpaF facilitate a rotary mechanism of Tad pilus assembly - Nature Communications

The bacterial Tad pilus extends and retracts using a single bifunctional ATPase CpaF. Here, the authors employ cryo-EM, fluorescent microscopy, and AlphaFold modelling to propose how a rotary mechanis...

nature.com

Nifty - circular pilins! Cryo-EM structure of the conjugation H-pilus reveals the cyclic nature of the TrhA pilin | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

While I watch chaotic dismantling efforts in the name of efficiency: 'Few humans on their deathbed have celebrated their achievement of “Inbox Zero.”' www.forkingpaths.co/p/against-op...

Against Optimization

We are bombarded by messages telling us to worship the gods of efficiency and optimization, life hacking our way to prosperity. It's a trap. Resilience is a smarter, sturdier goal.

forkingpaths.co

If I was 30 years younger...awesome lab!

Dr. Dawn Bowdish@msmacrophage.bsky.social · 2y ago

Would you like to do a post-doc in the Bowdish lab? Interested in human immunology? Want to discover age-related differences in immune responses to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 vaccinations and infections? Check us out! (Please share broadly)👩‍🔬🧪 #immunosky #IDsky www.bowdish.ca www.bowdish.ca/lab/wp-conte...

Please repost!!!!! Abstraction submission for the next Great Wall Symposium is now open! Come to Sicily in September and learn the latest on bacterial cell wall biology. thegreatwall-symposium.org/abstract-sub...

Great week at BLAST XVIII in Cancún - terrific science and conversations with smart people, plus no polar vortex!

Distribution of the four type VI secretion systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and classification of their core and accessory effectors @naturecomms.bsky.social from Daniel Unterweger www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Distribution of the four type VI secretion systems in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and classification of their core and accessory effectors - Nature Communications

Populations of a single bacterial species can possess a great diversity of type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) and secreted effectors. Here, Habich et al. apply molecular population genetics to the T6SS...

nature.com

Confirmed speakers for the next Great Wall Symposium is coming along! thegreatwall-symposium.org/program/ Abstracts will open next week 15th so start thinking! September 15-17th, Catania, Sicily Its a Microbiological opportunity you cant refuse!