Mat Beale
@typemat12.bsky.social
Microbial (meta)genomics researcher @sangerinstitute interested in genomic epidemiology and evolutionary dynamics of STIs/NTDs/AMR in complex samples. Views my own. https://www.sanger.ac.uk/person/beale-mathew/
Could Excel be conscious? We surveyed more than Jan 1 1900 people to find out.
Delighted to see our special issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases featuring a large number of outputs arising from the 2025 Shanghai International Syphilis Symposium & related work. Lots of great work & insights on the recent scientific progress. @typemat12.bsky.social @thelovetankcic.bsky.social
August 2026 - Volume 53 - Issue 8 : Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Discover the August 2026 issue of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Volume 53, featuring peer-reviewed articles, case studies, and the latest research findings.
ovid.com
Pleased to share our paper on low cost amplicon methods, part of a collaboration between the Sanger Institute and researchers at BRTI in Zimbabwe and NICD in South Africa www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Phylo-Plex: a phylogenetically informed, low-cost amplicon sequencing platform for deployable high-resolution genomic epidemiology - Nature Communications
Whole genome sequencing of pathogens is costly to implement, and partial sequencing sacrifices information. Here, the authors present Phylo-Plex, a method for identifying information-rich genomic regi...
nature.com
Read: 'Phylo-Plex: A phylogenetically informed, low-cost amplicon sequencing platform for deployable high-resolution genomic epidemiology' in @natcomms.nature.com here 👇 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-75002-y
Phylo-Plex: a phylogenetically informed, low-cost amplicon sequencing platform for deployable high-resolution genomic epidemiology
Nature Communications - Whole genome sequencing of pathogens is costly to implement, and partial sequencing sacrifices information. Here, the authors present Phylo-Plex, a method for identifying...
nature.com
A faster, lower-cost way to track microbes. 🦠 Researchers have developed a new platform that sequences DNA of bacteria and other harmful microbes more efficiently, making it easier to monitor outbreaks in resource-limited settings. Read more here 👇 https://bit.ly/4phwvdu
👀👇 New work on sexually transmitting Shigella (press-friendly: bit.ly/4bBarEL) From continued collaboration with @clairejenkins2.bsky.social @ukhsa.bsky.social, @pducambridge.bsky.social co-lead @hsalje.bsky.social, a talented student Julia Marshall www.linkedin.com/in/julia--ma..., and others! 🧫🧬💊
New Research The spread of sexually transmissible drug-resistant shigellosis in England: a genomic epidemiology study www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
~1/3 of Shigella cases are in MSM and rising, resistance increasingly becoming a problem. Emerging STI, in my opinion...
New Research The spread of sexually transmissible drug-resistant shigellosis in England: a genomic epidemiology study www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Very proud of this preprint out of my lab, our first (of hopefully many) host-microbe spatial transcriptomics paper. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Amazing insights into P. aeruginosa biology and chronic airway disease @cysticfibrosis.org.uk @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @asthmaandlung.org.uk
STI Prevalence Atlas A global resource that brings together prevalence data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) data.who.int/dashboards/s...
Overview
The Atlas is a first of its kind global resource that brings together prevalence data on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) collected in 2010 or later. ...
data.who.int
important knowledge for anyone who doesn't want the big AI button in rstudio: right click, wave bye. also discoverable in the "Assistant" preferences pane. #rstats
Come work @lshtm.bsky.social modelling STIs in UK & evaluation of new interventions. 3yr research fellow modelling post - feel free to get in touch to discuss. Current closing date 30th June @rozeggo.bsky.social @adamjkucharski.bsky.social @grahammedley.bsky.social @drlouisedyson.bsky.social
Job Opportunity at LSHTM: Research Fellow
The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is one of the world’s leading public health universities. Our mission is to improve health and health equity in the UK and worldwide; working i...
jobs.lshtm.ac.uk
‼️🚨Read reviews on a preprint analyzing more than 300 African Treponema pallidum genomes revealing unexpectedly high local diversity and distinct transmission patterns. rrid.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/mosfrcfr...
Reviews of: "High Diversity amongst African Treponema pallidum Genomes Provides a Window into Global Transmission Dynamics of Syphilis: A Genomic Epidemiology Study"
Reviewers: F Gonzalez-Candelas (University of Valencia) | 📗📗📗📗◻️ • T Mortimer (University of Georgia) | 📘📘📘📘📘 • A Pillay (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) | 📗📗📗📗◻️
rrid.mitpress.mit.edu
Finally a preprint for our tool DAMPA (Australiana included) that generates efficient probe panels for targeted metagenomics from pangenome graphs. Presented at ABPHM and ABACBS last year. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6...
DAMPA - accelerated and simplified design of probe panels for targeted metagenomics using pangenome graphs
Targeted metagenomics, where samples are enriched for multiple organisms of interest using oligonucleotide probes, is a highly efficient sequencing methodology that is becoming standard practice for g...
medrxiv.org
"Based on the dataset you shared, US and UK responses differ mainly in tone, intensity, and wording style, even though they express similar emotional states" New post on what happened when I got Copilot to do some data analysis: kucharski.substack.com/p/real-signa...
Real signals or artificial stereotypes?
Adventures with a cultural Copilot
kucharski.substack.com
Applications are OPEN for the 𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗘 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽! A unique opportunity to build clinical research capacity in sub-Saharan Africa through: • Academic training (MSc via LSHTM) • Hands-on research experience • Industry exposure 🗓 Deadline: 29 May 2026 🔗 www.lshtm.ac.uk/study/fees-a...
CREATIVE criteria of recruitment | LSHTM
IntroductionThe Clinical ResEArch Training fellowship with Industry involVEment (CREATIVE fellowship) is a multi-country, collaborative international clinical research capacity strengthening scheme in
lshtm.ac.uk
Oh nothing, just a peer reviewed paper my colleagues found... doi.org/10.1016/j.ma... "1 mL of the mass killing of an ethnic group was opposed to 20 mL of the skin sample and unprotected to light for 7 min." Even AI knows what's wrong here, but @elsevierconnect.bsky.social doesn't.
Pleased to share our new preprint on genomic epi of #treponema www.medrxiv.org/content/10.6... focusing on genomic diversity and transmission of #syphilis in Africa with @drmichaelmarks.bsky.social @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @thruzim.bsky.social and many others
medrxiv.org
Have you ever wondered why children starting nursery/daycare pick up so many germs? I certainly did, and with a crack team of parent-scientists/clinicians, we set out to answer that question. Is childcare a germ factory or an immune bootcamp? journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Germ factories or immune boot camps? Infection and immunity in childcare settings | Clinical Microbiology Reviews
SUMMARYChildcare outside the home is a common experience for many children in high-income countries. It is associated with an increase in the incidence of infectious diseases—not just for the child bu...
journals.asm.org
Apply by 11th May to do a PhD @lshtm.bsky.social Work with epidemiologists, social scientists & modellers to understand quality of life measures in Syphilis and develop evidence on cost-effectiveness of interventions & public health strategies. @thelovetankcic.bsky.social @joetucker.bsky.social
2026-27 NIHR UK Syphilis Research Scholarship | LSHTM
The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is pleased to invite applications for a 3-year full-time PhD studentship, starting in September 2026.The award will cover a tax-free stipend
lshtm.ac.uk
I don't think that the reviewers asking me for higher animal numbers really understand how many 40 goats are. Do you know the CHAOS that comes with dealing with 40 GOATS in an experimental setting! Mice people cannot comprehend. 3 goats alone ate a tarp, a clock, and 2 expensive accelerometers!
a group of goats standing in a grassy field looking at the camera
Alt: a group of goats running towards the camera
media.tenor.com
It's a bit last minute, but we have an RA/junior postdoc position available in my lab (closing Sunday). Please reach out if you're interested in developing and applying methods to analyse microbial genomes and metagenomes! careers.petermac.org/job/MELBOURN...
Research Assistant - Tonkin-Hill Lab
Research Assistant - Tonkin-Hill Lab
careers.petermac.org
Announcing launch of the International Syphilis Symposium Webinar Series. The series brings together clinicians, academics, public health agencies & community organisations to highlight research & public health interventions focused on syphilis. First meeting 26th March this year: Register below.
International Syphilis Symposium Webinar Series
events.zoom.us
A long time ago in a galaxy far away, there was a SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Our paper, led by @martibartfast.bsky.social a) correcting errors in 4.5 million genomes & their phylogeny b) improving representation of the Global South in public data www.nature.com/articles/s41... (thread 1/n)
Addressing pandemic-wide systematic errors in the SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny - Nature Methods
This Resource paper presents a global SARS-CoV-2 phylogenetic tree of 4,471,579 high-quality genomes consistently constructed by Viridian, an efficient amplicon-aware assembler.
nature.com
Ziplign published in JOSS. Tool to easily interactively compare two bacteria genomes. Inspired by ACT, but easier to install and use. Drag and drop files, or download using accessions. It runs blast for you. No terminal needed. github.com/martinghunt/...
Just published in JOSS: 'Ziplign: a simple-to-use interactive tool to compare bacterial genomes' https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.09004
España da un paso adelante en la lucha contra las #EnfermedadesTropicalesDesatendidas con la creación de la Coalición Española de ETD. #ISGlobal forma parte de esta iniciativa que une ciencia, sociedad civil e instituciones. 🟠 https://tinyurl.com/5v66t6yz #WorldNTDDay
MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates. Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls. www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...
MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional News
Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls
researchprofessionalnews.com