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Tanmay Bharat

@tbharat-lab.bsky.social

MRC-LMB #cryoET #biofilms #S-layers #antibiotics https://www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/groups/bharat/

53 Posts1391 Follower583 Folgt
Rob Fagan@robfagan.bsky.social · last wk.

The latest from us as part of a special issue on S-layers organised by @tbharat-lab.bsky.social S-layers make ideal phage receptors but present another barrier that must be overcome to deliver the genome into the cytoplasm. We know very little about phage that can do this!

@perbullough.bsky.social · last wk.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Our latest paper on C. difficile phage/S-layer interactions with thanks to @robfagan.bsky.social @jasonwils.bsky.social for all their hard work on this.

Admirable Women@admirablewomen.bsky.social · 2w ago

Chemist & X-ray crystallographer Rosalind Franklin's meticulous research was instrumental in uncovering DNA's molecular structure. Most famous for her role in the DNA double helix discovery, her work also revolutionized our understanding of viruses & coal. She was born #OTD in 1920. #WomenInSTEM 🧵

A classic, black-and-white studio portrait of a young Dr. Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958), the pioneering British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose data was foundational to uncovering the double-helix structure of DNA. Captured from the chest up, Franklin sits in a three-quarter pose, her body angled slightly toward the left while her gaze directly meets the viewer. She possesses a calm, intelligent, and subtly enigmatic expression, with her dark hair neatly parted on the side and styled back away from her face. She wears a dark, long-sleeved button-down blouse with structured shoulders, a sharp collar, and fabric buttons down the front placket. The background is a soft, minimalist studio gradient of neutral grays that creates a gentle vignette effect, casting a soft light on the right side of her face. The composition is clean, formal, and balanced, evoking a mood of quiet determination, dignity, and brilliant intellectual poise characteristic of the early 20th-century scientific vanguard.
Helen Branswell 🇨🇦@helenbranswell.bsky.social · last mo.

Have you ever seen this iconic image of the Ebola virus, from the first known outbreak in DRC in 1976? An electron microscopic image, it was captured by #CDC 's Fred Murphy, a virological giant and a very kind interviewee. He died yesterday. He will be missed, but his scientific legacy lives on.

Bild
Tanmay Bharat@tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Disrupting phage liquid crystalline droplets restores antibiotic susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms out in @plosbiology.org by @abultarafder.bsky.social and team. Exciting collaboration with @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social @pearce-maths.bsky.social and others

PLOS Biology@plosbiology.org · 2mo ago

#Biofilm matrices containing filamentous phages help #Pseudomonas aeruginosa tolerate antibiotics. @abultarafder.bsky.social @tbharat-lab.bsky.social &co show that #nanobody disruption of #phage Pf4 #LiquidCrystalline droplets restores #antibiotic susceptibility @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4xkd6Mw

Top: Nanobody binders are potent inhibitors of Pf4 liquid crystalline droplet formation and disrupt preformed droplets. Cryo-ET of Pf4 liquid crystalline droplets incubated with Nb43. Tomographic slice of a Pf4 liquid crystalline droplet specimen incubated with (left) 0.1 μM and (right) 1 μM Nb43. Bottom: Schematic representation of nanobody action in abolishing antibiotic tolerance of P. aeruginosa biofilms. In untreated biofilms (left), cells show increased antibiotic tolerance due to Pf4 liquid crystalline droplets formed by depletion attraction in the biofilm EPS matrix, where encapsulated cells are protected by an antibiotic diffusion block. In nanobody treated biofilms, patchy binding of nanobody to Pf4 filaments reduces depletion attraction between the filaments preventing liquid crystalline droplet formation and encapsulation of cells, leading to increased antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria within the biofilm.
Tanmay Bharat@tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Applications and prospects of cryo-electron tomography in drug discovery and understanding disease Review article by @camilaclemente.bsky.social in our lab www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Applications and prospects of cryo-electron tomography in drug discovery and understanding disease

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is emerging as a transformative tool for structural biology. Unlike methods based on purified molecules, cryo-ET en…

sciencedirect.com

Tanmay Bharat@tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Interaction of Pf4 tactoids with bacteria and synthetic colloidal rods Important biophysical measurements on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilm-related phage Pf4 by Dirk Aarts laboratory with @abultarafder.bsky.social link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Interaction of Pf4 tactoids with bacteria and synthetic colloidal rods - European Biophysics Journal

We investigated the interaction of liquid crystal droplets, formed by a phase separating system of elongated virus particles and polymer with rod-like impurities. The virus particles were Pf4, which w...

link.springer.com

Tanmay Bharat@tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Oxygen gradients reshape cross-feeding through emergent spatial organization of gut commensal bacteria www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Use of isotope labels and cryo-CLEM-FIB-SIMS to study microbial communities by Hannah Ochner. Collaboration with @kiranrpatil.bsky.social @jmghigolab.bsky.social

Oxygen gradients reshape cross-feeding through emergent spatial organization of gut commensal bacteria

Microbial interactions unfold within environments structured by physical transport and chemical gradients. Yet most mechanistic studies rely on well-mixed systems that mask the reciprocal influences of environmental heterogeneity on metabolism and ecology. Here, we investigate how the physical environment modulates the interaction between the gut commensal Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Escherichia coli . In anoxic liquid culture, cell-resolved isotope imaging and genetic perturbations reveal exploitative cross-feeding, where E. coli consumes diffusible sugars released by B . thetaiotaomicron during starch degradation. When exposed to intestinal-like oxygen gradients in microfluidics, the interaction is restructured by spatial organization. The species self-organize into complementary niches: E. coli locally depletes sugars and oxygen, thereby expanding the anoxic niche required by B. thetaiotaomicron . A reactive transport model confirms that this organization arises from coupled feedback between physical transport and metabolic reaction rates. Together, our results reveal how physical structure and chemical gradients convert an exploitative cross-feeding interaction into a dynamic niche-construction process that generates emergent spatial organization and stabilizes coexistence. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.

biorxiv.org

Biochemical Society@biochemsoc.bsky.social · 4mo ago

A leader in the cell biology of signalling, the 2027 Centenary Award is presented to Matthew Freeman in recognition of his pioneering discoveries into the biological significance and mechanisms of rhomboid intramembrane proteases and pseudoprotease and unwavering commitment to mentorship!

The Biochemical Society 2027 Centenary Award presented to Professor Matthew Freeman from University of Oxford, UK.
Stephan Kamrad@skamrad.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Check out our new paper applying fast DIA proteomics to bacterial co-cultures at scale. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @kiranrpatil.bsky.social

Interspecies interactions drive bacterial proteome reorganization and emergent metabolism - Nature Ecology & Evolution

An analysis of the responses of 15 diverse human gut bacteria in more than 100 pairwise co-cultures reveals extensive remodelling of the bacterial proteome and metabolome in response to the presence o...

nature.com

Joe Greener@jgreener64.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Check out our pre-print, where we train a protein and small molecule force field from scratch with a graph neural network. We show comparable performance to existing, manually-tuned force fields on a range of tasks including binding free energy prediction. (1/4) arxiv.org/abs/2603.16770

Training a force field for proteins and small molecules from scratch

Force fields for molecular dynamics are usually developed manually, limiting their transferability and making systematic exploration of functional forms challenging. We developed a graph neural networ...

arxiv.org

Matthew Freeman@mjafreeman.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Interested in one of the top jobs in European biology? @embo.org has opened a call for its next Director, to succeed Fiona Watt Really spectacular opportunity! Spread the word... www.embo.org/features/emb...

EMBO starts search for its next Director – Features – EMBO

The process to appoint the next EMBO Director is underway. The incoming Director will take office in February 2028, succeeding Fiona Watt, who has led the organization since January 2022

embo.org

Lori Passmore@lapassmore.bsky.social · 5mo ago

We are excited to be recruiting a new tenure track group leader in the Structural Studies Division at MRC LMB! It is an amazing place to start your own lab. @mrclmb.bsky.social Please get in touch if you have any questions. www.nature.com/naturecareer...

Research Group Leader Tenure Track - Structural Studies - LMB 2775 - Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (GB) job with MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) | 12854636

Research Group Leader Tenure Track Starting Salary £67,979 to £76,868 per annum MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK The MRC Laborato...

nature.com

Sjors Scheres@sjorsscheres.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Please spread the word: the Structural Studies Division @mrclmb.bsky.social is looking for a new tenure-track, independent group leader with an exciting plan in any area of Structural (Molecular & Cell) biology, in discovery biology and/or methods development. 🥳 mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

Sjors Scheres@sjorsscheres.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Please spread the word: the Structural Studies Division @mrclmb.bsky.social is looking for a new tenure-track, independent group leader with an exciting plan in any area of Structural (Molecular & Cell) biology, in discovery biology and/or methods development. 🥳 mrc.tal.net/vx/mobile-0/...

Research Group Leader Tenure Track - Structural Studies - LMB 2775 - Medical Research Council

Location: Cambridge. Vacancy: Research Group Leader Tenure Track - Structural Studies - LMB 2775. Closing Date: 16/03/2026, 23:55

mrc.tal.net