Will Smith

Here’s the latest preprint from my work on evolved resistance to Type VI Secretion system (T6SS) weaponry, funded by a @wellcometrust.bsky.social Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship. So happy to see this out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@joshuasweitz.bsky.social

Will Smith reposted

Carl T. Bergstrom

@carlbergstrom.com

Your monthly reminder that if you're using ChatGPT to do your science, you're failing your colleagues, community, and all of us. Here, ChatGPT makes up data and presents it as the real thing — then apologizes when confronted.

Will Smith reposted

Joshua Weitz

Happy World Phage Day to all who celebrate... ... delighted to share new work led by Jacopo Marchi, Chadiga Khalek & joint w/Remy Chait on stable coexistence of phage with migrating bacteria driven by the forces of infection, lysis, and chemotaxis. A 🧵 at the interface between known & unknown.

science.orgStable coexistence and transport of lytic phage infections with migrating bacterial hostsBacteriophages (phages), viruses that exclusively infect bacteria, coexist with their bacterial hosts across diverse environments at densities exceeding 107 per milliliter in marine surface waters, 10...

Will Smith reposted

Zamin Iqbal

@zaminiqbal.bsky.social

Monster thread on bacteria/phage

Joshua Weitz@joshuasweitz.bsky.social

So excited by this project! Congratulations Tanda Qi on a really great seminar and thanks to @BBSRC @EPSRC FutureBRH for funding our work ❤️

MERMan Research Group (University of Manchester)@mermanchester.bsky.social

🧫 Last week at MERMan, we explored how engineering can help advance antimicrobial research! 🧬 Tanda Qi presented research on engineering E. coli for the safe and efficient production of tailocins. A big thank you to @microbesng.bsky.social for sponsoring the refreshments! 👏

willsmithlab.comNew vacancies opening! - SMITH lab @ Manchester UniversityDelighted to announce that the lab is recruiting! Bacteria poison prey and rivals using a diverse arsenal of weaponised toxins, spanning a huge diversity of molecular and interaction lengthscales. But...

🫵 Are you interested in modelling microbial warfare and its evolution? 🖥️ 🧠 🦠 ⚔️ We have a full PhD Scholarship to offer to a UK student. Come join me, @coytelab.bsky.social & Tucker Gillman at @mermanchester.bsky.social! 🚨 Deadline approaching - Nov 1st. 🚨 willsmithlab.com/2026/10/06/n...

Will Smith reposted

Emmanuele Severi

@emmseveri.bsky.social

#phage #phagesky #microsky Run, run as fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgscience.org

Will Smith reposted

Katie Spoon

@kspoon.bsky.social

Replying to @kspoon.bsky.social

We wanted to understand why academics leave their jobs (doi.org/10.1126/scia...). We asked: “Tell us your story: what needs/needed to be different about your position?” I thought we would get a few hundred responses and I’d learn a bit more about the context of academic retention for myself.

doi.orgGender and retention patterns among U.S. facultyWomen faculty are more likely to leave their jobs than men, most often due to workplace climate, rather than work-life balance.

Will Smith reposted

Tung Le

@tunglejic.bsky.social

🚨PhD opportunity alert!!! Come work with us on this new cool NERC DTP PhD project Investigate How Bacterial Hosts Control Domesticated Viral Machines to Drive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Marine Environments. Retweet = nice. Thank you!!! aries-dtp.ac.uk/studentships...

aries-dtp.ac.ukInvestigate How Bacterial Hosts Control Domesticated Viral Machines to Drive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Marine Environments? | AriesProfessor Tung Le, John Innes Centre – contact me Professor Jonathan Todd, Quadram Institute & UEA Dr Ngat Tran, John Innes Centre Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a major driver of bacterial…

Will Smith reposted

Carolin Wendling

@ccwendling.bsky.social

Proud PI-moment - well deserved Lavisha

New Concepts in Prokaryotic Virus-Host Interaction@spp2330.bsky.social

Lavisha Parab receiving the FEMS microLife poster award for her outstanding poster presentation on “Need for speed: early lysogen formation following rapid lysis drives temperate phages persistence”. Congratulations! @lavishaparab.bsky.social @femsjournals.bsky.social

@dannagifford.bsky.social

🚨 We're recruiting! 🚨 Are you interested in antimicrobials and their evolution? Join Me, @coytelab.bsky.social and Tucker Gillman as we build a "silicon colosseum" to model their advantages in bacterial communities! Do share with anyone who might be interested :) willsmithlab.com/2026/10/06/n...

Will Smith reposted

Danna Gifford

📣 New preprint: We looked at population survival and recovery of the thermophilic archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarius at near-boiling temperatures—conditions that occur in its environmental niche. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

@humollidorentina.bsky.social

Will Smith reposted

Dorentina Humolli

Very happy to share that HIDEN-SEQ is now out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

biorxiv.orgEngineering the Pseudomonas aeruginosa virus-isolation host viPAO1 reveals how host genetic barriers shape recoverable phage diversityCultured phage collections provide essential access to viral biology, but they capture only a small and biased fraction of natural phage diversity. Key barriers to diverse phage isolation are likely t...

Diving into the microverse today! Really looking forward to this wonderful showcase of @manchester.ac.uk MICROBIOLOGY! 🦠🧫💡💊🫀🌤️ Huge thanks @atmicroverse.bsky.social and particularly @flanagella.bsky.social for setting this up

Will Smith reposted

Anna Olina

@annaolina.bsky.social

22 Sept

Excited to share this part of my research as a part of @multidefence.bsky.social: meet viPAO1 - the very best Pseudomonas strain for phage research😉 Also check out our temperate phage collection featuring PAnicatthedisco, PAthetic and some other new fun names🎉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Will Smith reposted

Julia Frunzke

@frunzkelab.bsky.social

22 Sept

Finally!! 🥳 "A consensus-based guideline for personalized bacteriophage therapy" www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.spektrum.de/news/leitlin... @spp2330.bsky.social

spektrum.deInfektionen: Leitlinie zur PhagentherapieFür wen eignet sich eine Phagentherapie?

Will Smith reposted

Ellinor Alseth

@ellinoralseth.bsky.social

11 Sept

What a Friday, finally seeing this published in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social! We hope this will be of interest to anyone working in the bacterial immune system field (or microbiology in general), and who wants an evolutionary take on it 🦠🧫 Open Access link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1nllx,L%7E...

Ellinor Alseth@ellinoralseth.bsky.social

When is an antiphage mechanism an evolved defence adaptation? This question has been on my mind for so long, because despite the field’s rapid progress there is currently no widely agreed framework in place to answer it. So @brownlab.bsky.social and I wrote this, and I'm happy to share the preprint!

ecoevorxiv.orgThe bacterial immune system: identifying evolved defense adaptations

Will Smith reposted

Microbiology Society

@microbiologysociety.org

11 Aug

Interested in exploring the world of biotics? Join Julie A. K. McDonald from Imperial College London at the Biotic Control of Bacteria meeting in Nottingham. Explore next-generation control methods for bacterial pathogens and more. Register by 17 August: https://microb.io/4w3BQHG 🦠 #MGen

4 Aug

#Manchester #MEEhubs26 Day 2 is on! Fantastic talks from @olimeacock.bsky.social @melissalawson.bsky.social @evokait.bsky.social on microbial community interactions with keynote by @dundee.ac.uk's Prof. Sarah Coulthurst 🦠↔️🦠

3 Aug

#MEEHubs is go! So excited to hear about the latest in Microbial Ecology and Evolution Research at @manchester.ac.uk and worldwide ❤️

21 July

I'm not crying, you're crying ❤️🦠

pbfcomics.comWelcome to the FellowshipThe Perry Bible Fellowship

21 July

Credit: the inimitable PBF pbfcomics.com

Will Smith reposted

Tracy Palmer

@proftracypalmer.bsky.social

24 June

Check out our latest T7SS toxin story. These reverse toxins aren’t as rare as we thought!

bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social

A novel reverse lipase toxin substrate of the Staphylococcus aureus type VII secretion system https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.22.733114v1

Will Smith reposted

See-Yeun Ting 陳詩允

@seeyeunting.bsky.social

17 June

Excited to share our new preprint on a question that has puzzled us for a long time: How can the bacterial nano-weapon, type VI secretion system (T6SS), load and deliver so many antibacterial toxins that are completely different in structure and function? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

doi.orgEmergent competition resolves the paradox of stable microbial mutualisms

Will Smith reposted

Sara Mitri

@saramitri.bsky.social

16 June

Eye-opening work by @olimeacock.bsky.social (former postdoc, now PI in Sheffield). He presents an exact mapping from steady-state consumer-resource to generalized Lotka-Volterra models, revealing that cross-feeding can lead to competition for other limiting resources. Feedback pls!

Oliver Meacock@olimeacock.bsky.social

New preprint from @saramitri.bsky.social and me: tinyurl.com/3dsjnm4d The headline result - we derive a general way to connect mechanistic ecosystem models to the gLV equation. This reveals that strengthening cooperative mechanisms can make effective gLV interactions increasingly competitive. Weird!

13 June

Thanks to all the folks who came to see @mermanchester.bsky.social at @manchester.ac.uk Universally Manchester Festival! We had a blast, send us pics of your petris ❤️

MERMan Research Group (University of Manchester)@mermanchester.bsky.social

We’re at the Universally Manchester Festival today with colonies to count, bacteria to infect with phage & your very own microbes to create! 🧫 @socialresponuom.bsky.social

5 June

It's arrived!!!! #LTEE

Will Smith reposted

Will Ratcliff

@wcratcliff.bsky.social

8 May

It's funny how we stigmatize being wrong in science. There's nothing better in science than being wrong and getting to change your mind about something. Any day you were wrong is a day you get to learn something new!

Will Smith reposted

Microbiology Society

@microbiologysociety.org

4 May

Registration is open for the Biotic Control of Bacteria meeting, hosted by MGen Deputy Editor-in-Chief Dr Conor Meehan. Explore innovative approaches to controlling bacterial growth and network with leading researchers in the field. Find out more: https://microb.io/3Qv6k5B

meehubs2026.oa-event.comHome

20 Apr

MEEHubs26 abstract deadline has been extended to April 26th. Come showcase your awesome Microbiology w. scientists worldwide! meehubs2026.oa-event.com 🦠 What: awesome conference in microbial ecology and evolution, with hubs around the world 🦠 Where: Sunny* Manchester 🦠 When: 3rd-5th August 2026

app.oxfordabstracts.comOxford Abstracts

17 Apr

🚨 Calling all microbiologists! 🚨 The MEEHubs abstract submission deadline (19/04) is fast approaching. Come showcase your science!! Submission portal is here: app.oxfordabstracts.com/auth?redirec...

27 Mar

It was a huge pleasure to welcome my former mentor, @unimelb.edu.au 's Prof James Osborne, to @mermanchester.bsky.social this week! Here I am seconds after having embarrassingly dropped several of my cryos on the floor

23 Mar

Outstanding MathBio seminar by @olimeacock.bsky.social today at @manchester.ac.uk! Thanks Carl Whitfield and @mermanchester.bsky.social members for great chats Oli has developed beautiful eco theory on how microbes interact via environmental change 1/2

23 Mar

If pan-resistance were easy, the T6SS wouldn’t be a good weapon, and bacteria would tend to lose it. Instead: toxin-specific resistance appears to be evolutionarily more accessible in our system, enabling attackers to circumvent competitors’ resistances by combining or switching effectors.

It's been a long journey getting this out, but a hugely rewarding one too! Huge thank you to @atejadaarranz.bsky.social, @basler-lab.bsky.social , @raveentank.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social and the fabulous @mermanchester.bsky.social supergroup for all your help!

academic.oup.comCollective protection against the type VI secretion system in bacteriaAbstractBacteria commonly face attacks from other strains using the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which acts like a molecular speargun to stab and intox

This specificity was a surprising result: past work has shown that there are several ways in which T6SS attacks can be physically blocked (including by slimy biofilm matrices! academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...), which ought to disable *any* kind of toxin secretion. 🦠🦠🦠

So, the fact that we didn’t we see these “pan-resistance” mechanisms evolve in our E. coli helps to explain why so many gram-negative bacteria continue to use the T6SS, along with diverse toxin arsenals.

What’s really cool 🧊🧊🧊, however, is that we see resistance trade-offs arising between different types of T6SS toxin. When the lipase-evolved E. coli are confronted with a different toxin, targeting their call wall, they are actually fare worse than the ancestral strain 😱:

This is just one example, but it highlights a fascinating pattern: evolved resistance against one toxin typically isn’t very helpful against other toxin types.

When we look instead at E. coli cells that have adapted to lipase attacks, the rate of permeabilisation is much lower – i.e. we see strong lipase resistance at the single-cell scale:

Genetic analyses show us that this resistance arises via loss of specific transporters, such as dctA and sstT, found in the E. coli inner membrane (how?? we still don’t know!)

*In fact*, in some cases it can even make things worse. Here’s what happens when ancestral E. coli (green) is attacked by A. baylyi bacteria (red), secreting a membrane-degrading lipase via the T6SS: [VIDEO TIME!!]

Over the 30m timelapse, we see lots E. coli cells turning cyan (SYTOX+), showing that lipase attacks have critically damaged their cell membranes. 🧀🧀🧀

In collaboration with the @basler-lab.bsky.social, and T6SS superstar @atejadaarranz.bsky.social, we probed how E. coli bacteria evolve when confronted with cell wall- and membrane-targeting toxins secreted via the T6SS.

We've found something really cool 🧊: while it’s fairly easy to evolve resistance to T6SS attacks involving only one toxin, this resistance is generally toxin-specific: it doesn’t generally help bacteria if they’re confronted with a different toxin type.

T6SSs are molecular syringes that allow bacteria to inject a diverse array of toxins into rival cells. I’m interested in how gut microbes, like E. coli, adapt to these attacks. If E. coli evolve resistance to one T6SS toxin, does that grant resistance to other types of T6SS attack?

@brockhurstlab.bsky.social

18 Mar

🚨 Calling all UK microbiologists 🚨- MEEHubs Registration is now OPEN! Come join our hub at ☀️ @manchester.ac.uk ☀️

MEEhubs@meehubs.bsky.social

MEEHubs2026 registration and abstract submission is now online! 🚨🦠✨ Join us Aug 3 - 5, 2026 at one of the 7 hubs or online. We are incredibly excited about our lineup of speakers, and hope that you submit an abstract to contribute too! More information and registration links at: meehubs.org

meehubs.orgHome

Will Smith reposted

Michael Brockhurst

20 Feb

How does treatment induced antibiotic resistance happen in real-world infections? We analysed 25k Pseudomonas isolates from 180 patients in a clinical trial to find out! TLDR: The ecological and evolutionary paths are surprisingly diverse & complex even in patients receiving identical treatment…

Matthew J Shepherd@matthewjshepherd.bsky.social

🚨 New pre-print! 🚨 In the largest study of its kind to-date, we investigate the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms driving within-patient evolution of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Read here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... , and follow along with this thread, discussing our findings (1/21)