'The thing that you probably learn most, are from the mistakes that you make'
We caught up with the Prize Medal 2026 winner, Paul Williams and asked him how it feels to win the prize and have the chance to present and reflect on his career. Congratulations Paul!
Happy to share our new bioRxiv preprint:
“To Kill or not to Kill: A Conserved Trans-Intoxication Protection Factor Blocks X-T4SS-Mediated Fratricide through Interaction with VirB5”
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A new study from the @rocklabtb.bsky.social in @natmicrobiol.nature.com finds that one of the most common drug resistance mutations in #tuberculosis creates subtle metabolic weaknesses that could be exploited with future combination therapies.
🔗: https://bit.ly/3RG6wj2
@vanipande.bsky.social presenting her work at #ASMicrobe today....
Check out her recent preprint about a spontaneously inserting integral membrane protein that localized by recognizing a lipid cue
@felixrl.bsky.social presenting his work at #ASMicrobe today. His preprint follows up on his recent work on orthogonal cell division in S. aureus and reports that PcdA, the division septum placement factor, is required for forming staphylococcal abscess colonies.
Bacterial transmembrane proteins usually localize inside the cell by "finding" a pre-localized protein, but how did the 1st protein get there? @vanipande.bsky.social found a protein in #B.subtilis that localizes by recognizing a *lipid* localization cue. #Microsky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Archaea the hornets of the microbial world. Discuss.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
TLDR: Archaeon kills bacterium with secreted phospholipase. Pretty nifty way to kill bacteria if you are a microbe with a very different lipid make-up, I reckon. No need to worry about accidentally killing yourself.
How do dangerous bacteria arm themselves before attack? Scientists from NTU-SCELSE and Imperial College London uncovered a previously unknown mechanism showing how bacteria load toxins into a microscopic weapon system before firing. Nature Microbiology-> rdcu.be/fk0Bq @fillouxlab.bsky.social
Our new study reveals how bacterial toxins are physically captured through a sequential, concentration-dependent assembly mechanism before secretion via the T6SS.
Fantastic collaboration with @fillouxlab.bsky.social. Congrats Patricia & Ambre for leading this work.
Paper here: shorturl.at/O31Vn
Very happy to see the second story from my PhD out in @currentbiology.bsky.social
An exciting project where we explored the roles of secretion systems and gliding motility in predatory behavior in F. johnsoniae.
www.cell.com/current-biol...
