David Weiss

@dweisslab.bsky.social

Professor of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine. Director, Emory Antibiotic Resistance Center

Bacteria in our BRAINS??! We observed translocation of bacteria from the gut to the brain via the vagus nerve. This occurred after high fat diet, or without dietary changes in mouse models of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and autism. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Translocation of bacteria from the gut to the brain in mice

Recent studies link gut dysbiosis to neurological disease, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. This study shows that a high-fat diet increases gut permeability and enables bacterial transloc...

journals.plos.org

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity – Microbiota & Cancer Biology 🚨 (@LSU) Moreira Lab seeks for enthusiastic postdoc to study microbiota–host interactions in oncology, with focus on 16S rRNA analysis, in vivo. PhD in microbiology/molecular/cell bio/oncology. Competitive salary w/exc.benefits. DM, w/CV and 3refs.

Excited to announce the upcoming 2026 Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity GRC and GRS meeting taking place July 12 - 17, 2026 at Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. This meeting will be chaired by yours truly and co-chaired by @sunnyshinlab.bsky.social www.grc.org/microbial-to...

2026 Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity Conference GRC

The 2026 Gordon Research Conference on Microbial Toxins and Pathogenicity will be held in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire. Apply today to reserve your spot.

grc.org

We show how bacteria can adapt to B-lactam stress by increasing the copy number of "wimpy" beta-lactamases to overcome new drugs/B-lactamase inhibitors, without de novo evolution. This threatens the beta-lactam dominated antibiotic pipeline. Congrats @jakechoby.bsky.social and team! rdcu.be/euijW

Copy number flexibility facilitates heteroresistance to increasing antibiotic pressure and threatens the beta-lactam pipeline

Nature Communications - Choby et al. show that dynamic increases in the copy number of preexisting β-lactamase genes in heteroresistance enables resistance of continua of cellular...

rdcu.be

@jakechoby.bsky.social is a rockstar - I encourage students/postdocs looking for an amazing mentor and excited to investigate a new frontier in antibiotic resistance to join Jake at UNC to study heteroresistance and defeat superbugs! Congrats, Jake and team on this exciting paper.

Jake Choby@jakechoby.bsky.social · last yr.

Excited to share the work with @dweisslab.bsky.social‬ and great collaborators on how gene amplification generates dynamic heteroresistance to new beta-lactams, like cefiderocol. We hope drug developers will consider heteroresistance during antibiotic development rdcu.be/euijW

Bactericidal antibiotics release bacterial DNA that activates TLR9, while static antibiotics do not. This can profoundly impact treatment outcome. Should clinicians consider this when choosing antibiotics to prescribe? Amazing work by Julia Gross and collaboration with Iain Fraser! rdcu.be/d1Phk

Bactericidal antibiotic treatment induces damaging inflammation via TLR9 sensing of bacterial DNA

Nature Communications - The immunologic differences induced by bactericidal versus bacteriostatic antibiotics remain unclear. Gross et al. show that, in contrast to static antibiotics, cidal...

rdcu.be