Jeremy Barr

Jeremy Barr

@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

Bacteriophage biologist and enthusiast. Associate Professor at the School of Biological Sciences, Monash University.

1.5K followers137 following29 posts

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Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

- Temperate phage biology is HARD. We cant using traditional PFU plating (due to superinfection immunity), most isolates were poly-lysogens, equipment required is expensive and technically limiting, and the methods to study these phage had not been developed.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

Im really excited for this work as it sets up a platform for us to study, characterise, and eventually determine what impacts temperate phages may have on the human gut microbiome. Future work may even allow us to manipulate the gut using these unique viruses.

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Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

A couple of highlights from the paper: - We find >100 new bacteriophages, many of which had never been isolated before and we're only 'discovered' through metagenomic sequencing approaches.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

- We test ten diverse induction agents, and the most surprising one was that human cellular lysis products were strong inducers of temperate phages, suggestive of a mechanistic link between gastrointestinal cell lysis/inflammation and the gut virome.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

This was a really challenging study where we attempted to characterise the biology of hundreds of temperate bacteriophages from the human gut - in the lab! This required anaerobic chambers to grow the gut bacteria, entirely new methods to induce and study the bacteriophages.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

This hospital-specific phage cocktail can be replicated across many institutions and pathogens, and we hope it will improve treatment outcomes for patients suffering from these multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

In this work, we developed, for the first time, a phage cocktail personalised to a hospital's multidrug-resistant pathogen profile. This product, which we call Entelli-02, offers a frontline treatment option against Enterobacter infections that are resistant to most antibiotics.

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Thomas Clavel
@tclavel.bsky.social

... and don't miss the opportunity to meet @jeremyjbarr.bsky.social and other great speakers at the upcoming Seeon Conference in June ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ www.dghm.org/seeon/

dghm.orgSeeon - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und MikrobiologieMicrobiota, Probiotics and Host      → Flyer 17th Seeon Conference Registration (click here for registration) The steering committee of the “Microbiota, Probiotics and Host”- group warmly invites you ...
Jeremy Barr@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

The T-series bacteriophages have impacted my career and are microbes our lab's research continues to use as model organisms. You can read more as part of @natmicrobiol.nature.com 'Microbes Matter' series below: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comThe T-series bacteriophages are reductionist models that continue to shape the field - Nature MicrobiologyJeremy Barr discusses how he began studying bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series phages and how they have shaped the field.
Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

The T-series bacteriophages have impacted my career and are microbes our lab's research continues to use as model organisms. You can read more as part of @natmicrobiol.nature.com 'Microbes Matter' series below: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comThe T-series bacteriophages are reductionist models that continue to shape the field - Nature MicrobiologyJeremy Barr discusses how he began studying bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series phages and how they have shaped the field.

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Nature Microbiology
@natmicrobiol.nature.com

🚨Jeremy Barr discusses how he began studying #bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series #phages, and how they have shaped the field. #MicroSky #PhageSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.comThe T-series bacteriophages are reductionist models that continue to shape the field - Nature MicrobiologyJeremy Barr discusses how he began studying bacteriophages, the historic use of the T-series phages and how they have shaped the field.

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Nonia Pariente
@npariente.bsky.social

📣📣Are you looking for a postdoc? 📣📣 Does a EU or Horizon Europe assoc country (eg UK, S Korea) seem like a good destination? These fellowships a great funding option for anyone in the 🌎 👀 Check them out - next call opens 8 May 🧪 👨‍🔬👩‍🔬 marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/post...

marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.euPostdoctoral FellowshipsThe information provided on this page is a summary of the main rules and requirements for Postdoctoral Fellowships (PFs) and who can apply for them.

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Viruses of Microbes 2024
@vom2024.bsky.social

Did you know that VoM is heading down under? 🌏🦘 Join us for the Viruses of Microbes (VoM) Conference, set against the stunning backdrop of Cairns, QLD - July 15-19th, 2024 🏝️ Follow us for news & updates! 📅 #VoM2024

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Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

Placing this conclusion more broadly - our field is on the precipice of increased application of phages to human patients in an attempt to combat superbug infections. Our work suggests we should remove our blinders to explore potential symbiotic phage-mammalian interactions.

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Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

Once these phages are internalised, a proportion of them are likely degraded and metabolised by the cell. From a macromolecular stance, phages are condensed packets of nucleotides wrapped in a protein shell. Thus, they may provide an exogenous source of key nutrients.

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Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

Next, we used extensive antibody microarrays from Kinexus, consisting of >1000 antibodies targeting broad cellular pathways Phage treatment to cells induced broad and extensive protein-phosphorylation events leading to increases in cellular metabolism, growth and proliferation

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

We then confirmed these phenomena using a cell proliferation assay. In vitro mammalian cells treated with phage broadly showed an increase in their proliferation over 72 hours, which correlated with a prolonged G0/G1 cell cycle growth phase.

Jeremy Barr
@jeremyjbarr.bsky.social

We first show that the application of purified T4 phage across three mammalian cell lines led to rapid uptake and internalisation, but importantly, did not trigger a pro-inflammatory response. This suggests that cells carefully traffick and process phage particles.

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