New preprint, revealing contrasting means of VSG expression in two African trypanosomes; great collaboration with @keithrmatthews.bsky.social Liam Morrison and other valued colleagues @janemunday.bsky.social @scotomorph.bsky.social @marquescata.bsky.social tinyurl.com/3n8b9pwv

Trypanosoma congolense Variant Surface Glycoprotein gene expression occurs in the absence of monoallelic transcription control

Antigenic variation is a very widespread process for pathogen evasion of mammalian adaptive immunity, involving the continuous change of exposed antigens. In many single-celled pathogens, antigen expr...

tinyurl.com

New work on T. brucei antigenic variation in cows and homologous recombination mutants, great collaboration with @keithrmatthews.bsky.social Liam Morrison and others. Big effort by Steve Larcombe @janemunday.bsky.social @goldrieve.bsky.social @scotomorph.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Restricted expression site use and extreme genome diversification drives trypanosome antigenic variation in chronic bovine infections

Trypanosoma brucei exploits an extreme form of antigenic variation to escape the mammalian immune response. This involves the progressive expression of antigenically distinct variant surface glycoprot...

biorxiv.org

I don't post much on here these days, but sad to say we lost our fabulous dog Gilbert today at 16 years old. Despite many years of attempted science outreach for our parasite work, it was Gilbert who broke through with a feature in BBC Science magazine. He always stole the limelight.

doi.org/10.7554/eLif... A further great collaboration with @allshire-lab.bsky.social !

We have a 3+ year post doc available in our lab to study trypanosome transmission and virulence. Combined wet lab and bioinformatics expertise preferred. Please apply via the HR link (elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...). Find out more about us in the link below.

The Matthews Lab | Biology

The Matthews Lab

biology.ed.ac.uk

Please consider applying for a post doc in our lab if you have bioinformatics and wet lab skills, and are interested in parasites! elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Exploring the chromatin proteome of Trypanosoma brucei repetitive elements (telomeres, centromeres, 70bp repeats, 177bp repeats) using TALEs. Another great collaboration with @allshire-lab.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

Defining the chromatin-associated protein landscapes on Trypanosoma brucei repetitive elements using synthetic TALE proteins

Kinetoplastids, such as Trypansoma brucei, are eukaryotes that likely separated from the main lineage at an exceptionally early point in evolution. Consequently, many aspects of kinetoplastid biology ...

biorxiv.org

I'm very pleased to have two lab positions open this week, to join our team looking at immune regulation in infection and co-infection. We're especially interested in tissue-based immunity, cytokine regulation and immune metabolism. Join us! Postdoc (3y) and research technician (12mo) posts open.

Not the Oscars, but super proud of daughter #1s video editing for the Glasgow fashion show

We've previously looked at the developmental biology of trypanosome infections in mice, but parastaemias are unnaturally high in mice compared to cattle. Read what happens in cattle when blood parasitaemias are low and so quorum sensing may be limited... www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Trypanosoma brucei cattle infections contain cryptic transmission-adapted bloodstream forms at low parasitaemia

Tsetse-transmitted Trypanosoma parasites infect a wide host range and cause Human African Trypanosomiasis and Animal African Trypanosomosis in sub-Saharan Africa. The primary hosts of Trypanosoma bruc...

biorxiv.org

Really interesting day discussing impacts of climate change on vector borne diseases workshop today. Lots of great science and discussion about exciting projects to take forwards. @keithrmatthews.bsky.social #reecelab @roslininstitute.bsky.social @amypedersen.bsky.social

Having played a small part in a manuscript to be published in the journal 'Bioinformatics' I was interested to read the inaugural article about the journal from founding editor Rob Beynon in 1985. Worth a read (I hope OA) to see how things move on. academic.oup.com/bioinformati...

CABIOS EDITORIAL

R.J. Beynon; CABIOS EDITORIAL, Bioinformatics, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1 January 1985, Pages 1, https://doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/1.1.1

academic.oup.com

As the world marks Neglected Tropical Diseases Day, researchers from @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social are collaborating with the #RoyalSocietyofEdinburgh and #UnitingtoCombatNeglectedTropicalDiseases to host a free, public exhibition 31 Jan - 4 Feb. Get tickets now! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/amplifying...

Amplifying affected voices: neglected tropical diseases | Free exhibition

A powerful exhibition to mark World Neglected Tropical Disease Day.

eventbrite.co.uk

Breakfast with colleagues at a conference when you’ve just received mixed reviews on your latest paper

The Institute kindly provided us with a new board to display our papers. Only a selection, but each one of them brought back such strong memories of the people involved, their effort, the setbacks, the battles with referees and final celebration. Important not to forget the stories behind any paper!

I’ve been enjoying the Apple Intelligence summaries of iMessages. But it gave me a fright when we were planning a trip to my mother-in-law’s and not sure whether to take some lunch as she hadn’t phoned to confirm. The AI message from my wife flashed up as “mum unresponsive, not taking food”

How SPPIRIT is transforming early career profiles in Parasitology in Scotland www.cell.com/action/showP...

Many thanks to the @siegel-lab.bsky.social, to our collaborators @allshire-lab.bsky.social and @keithrmatthews.bsky.social,and to the funding agencies that supported this project.

Congratulations to all at the Siegel group - Christmas comes (a little) early! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Inter-chromosomal transcription hubs shape the 3D genome architecture of African trypanosomes - Nature Communications

Decoding the role of inter-chromosomal DNA-DNA interactions remains challenging. Here, the authors use Micro-C to study the T. brucei genome architecture at high resolution and reveal an intricate net...

nature.com

Genes linked to deadly parasites’ spread beyond Africa identified. Parasites that cause the deadly illness known as sleeping sickness can spread beyond their native Africa as a result of mutations to key genes. @keithrmatthews.bsky.social @goldrieve.bsky.social Full article: shorturl.at/9jlGS

Excited to share our work on life cycle simplification (monomorphism) in Trypanosoma brucei in Nature Comms @natureportfolio.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Mechanisms of life cycle simplification in African trypanosomes - Nature Communications

African trypanosomes can reduce their requirement for tsetse fly transmission, allowing an expanded geographical range. Here, molecular analyses of field and laboratory selected lines has identified a...

nature.com

What good way to start with Bluesky! Delighted to share our paper on how non-tsetse transmitted trypanosomes lose the ability to make stumpy forms (and adapt to the monomorphic life style) and so can spread outside Africa. A great reward after years of hard work from Guy Oldrieve ! rdcu.be/d13YK

Mechanisms of life cycle simplification in African trypanosomes

Nature Communications - African trypanosomes can reduce their requirement for tsetse fly transmission, allowing an expanded geographical range. Here, molecular analyses of field and laboratory...

rdcu.be

Here’s my spreadsheet of starter packs (>80!) related to broadly ‘mechanistic biology’ plus some intriguing extras Complete with collective nouns I’ve been tracking these but now can’t keep up Hope it’s helpful 2/2 docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

@mjafreeman.bsky.social's BlueSky starter packs for 'mechanistic' biologists

docs.google.com