Lucy Crouch

Lucy Crouch

@lucyicm.bsky.social

🦠Scientist 🧪loves gut microbes and CAZymes. Sir Henry Dale fellow at the IMI, University of Birmingham.

1.2K followers1.9K following40 posts

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

Great talks from PhD students this week at #PASS2026 and many congratulations to the organisers on putting together a fantastic conference. Very proud of Sara Çakaj for speaking about her hard work🌟

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

💎MRC AIM PhD advert💎 Uncharted territory - the Akkermansia muciniphila import system. Liang Wu, David Tourigny, and I are looking for someone to work on how A. muciniphila imports mucin. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

findaphd.comUncharted territory - the Akkermansia muciniphila import system at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.comPhD Project - Uncharted territory - the Akkermansia muciniphila import system at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com

Lucy Crouch reposted

Rebecca J Hall
@drrebeccajhall.bsky.social

Absolutely delighted to have been awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship! I will be moving to the University of Manchester @mermanchester.bsky.social to research early endosymbiont evolution #microsky #symbiosky

The Royal Society@royalsociety.org

Meet the new cohort of exceptional researchers who have been awarded more than £83 million worth of early career fellowships by the Royal Society, working on research spanning the sciences: #RSGrants: https://bit.ly/49jMkKx

bit.lyExceptional researchers awarded early career fellowships worth more than £83 million | Royal SocietyA new cohort of exceptional researchers at have been awarded funding through the Royal Society’s early career schemes, the University Research Fellowship (URF), Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (DHF) and Ne...

Lucy Crouch reposted

Hall Lab
@halllab.bsky.social

Excited to share our @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social led by Magda showing how Bif has co-evolved with different animal hosts 🐒🐭🐷🐦 Key takeaways: 🔹 Host ancestry + diet shape Bif evolution 🔹 Mammals enriched for carb-busting enzymes 🔹 Untapped diversity in non-human hosts = new probiotic potential

Cell Host & Microbe@cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social

Bifido adaptations across hosts @halllab.bsky.social survey insects, reptiles, birds & mammals to uncover how Bifidobacterium adapts to hosts. Bifidobacterium & host exhibit strong co-phylogenetic associations, driven by vertical transmission & dietary selection www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

cell.comHost-specific microbiome and genomic signatures in Bifidobacterium reveal co-evolutionary and functional adaptations across diverse animal hostsBifidobacterium are beneficial members of the microbiota across animal hosts. Kujawska et al. demonstrate that bifidobacteria have likely co-evolved more closely with mammals, particularly primates, a...
Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

I should also say, from a personal perspective, being in the Department of MIM is lovely - I have great colleagues and I find it to be a very positive environment. We have great grant writing support from each other and from the grant submission team. There are also loads of exciting...

Lucy Crouch reposted

Nigel Brown
@nigel-brown.bsky.social

Feeding Britain is circulating a petition to urge the Government to extend the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme during the school holidays in England through to the next general election. Please do sign and circulate the petition: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

docs.google.comPetition to extend The HAF ProgrammeDear Prime Minister, We are writing to urge you to extend the Government’s support for the provision of meals and activities, for children and young people during school holidays, through to the next...
Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

New Pre-print! “PNGaseA-mediated N-glycan stripping from peptides by infant-derived Bifidobacterium bifidum”. This is the first manuscript from the Bifidobacterium and breast milk project🍼🤱👶in collaboration with van Sinderen and Lovering groups www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgPNGaseA-mediated N-glycan stripping from peptides by infant-derived Bifidobacterium bifidumN-glycans are highly common sources of nutrition for human colonic-dwelling bacteria. These microbes have evolved a several methods to remove N-glycans from proteins; herein we describe the biochemica...
Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

Here we describe the first structure of a PNGaseA superfamily member. This structure has the canonical PNGase two β-sandwich catalytic module (pink/gold), but also a large unique β-sheet cradle (silver).

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

Biochemical characterisation revealed that this enzyme has a preference for N-glycans attached to peptides rather than denatured or native proteins, which suggests that microbes with these enzymes target these types of glycoproteins for use as a nutrient source.

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

🍄The Last of Us - NIHR HPRU PhD opportunity🍄 Very exciting project on developing a genomic epidemiology toolkit for fungal outbreaks with @mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social @drjorhodes.com @scalene.bsky.social and the Mycological Reference Lab Bristol www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

findaphd.comThe Last of Us: Developing a Genomic Epidemiology Toolkit for Fungal Outbreaks at University of Birmingham on FindAPhD.comPhD Project - The Last of Us: Developing a Genomic Epidemiology Toolkit for Fungal Outbreaks at University of Birmingham, listed on FindAPhD.com

Lucy Crouch reposted

Sebastian S. Cocioba
@atinygreencell.bsky.social

I got hit by some rather sudden and extreme financial hardship so if anyone is in need of remote wetlab contract research, strictly BSL1, do let me know. Currently scrambling for gigs. Plant, Bacterial, Archaeal Non-model Bioeng Custom Lab Hardware Turn Key Genetic Design Please repost for reach 💚

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

Our lovely project student Sophia Hill is taking part in Pint of Science @pintofscience.uk this year! 21st May 7.30 pm The Night Owl Digbeth 🧪👩‍🔬 @unibirmingham.bsky.social pintofscience.co.uk/event/molecu...

pintofscience.co.ukMolecular Battlefield: Microbes, Mutations & Medical FrontiersLife’s smallest players spark its biggest challenges—and breakthroughs. From decoding how infant gut bacteria thrive on human milk, to battling antibiotic-…
Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/h...

independent.co.ukAn unusual gut bacteria can help prevent obesity. But how do you keep it happy?Researchers have known for years that this friendly bacteria is associated with good health
Lucy Crouch@lucyicm.bsky.social

How to keep mucus-loving gut bacteria happy, in my new article with @uk.theconversation.com theconversation.com/this-mucus-l...

theconversation.comThis mucus-loving gut bacteria is important for health – here’s how to keep it happyAkkermansia muciniphila is a friendly bacteria which is linked to good immune function.
Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

PhD position available! The aim is to develop New Generation Prebiotics by incorporating microbiome research 🧫and biomaterials engineering 💊 with Rich Horniblow and Zhibing Zhang. www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr...

birmingham.ac.uk125th Anniversary Scholarships for Black British Researchers - University of BirminghamThis new scholarship scheme will fund up to 10 talented Black students who want to pursue a postgraduate research degree in Autumn 2025.

Lucy Crouch reposted

Leonhard Möckl
@lmoeckl.bsky.social

ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS🍬🍬🍬 For the first time, we are able to image the molecular architecture of the glycocalyx at Ångström resolution. A dream come true! Read the preprint: biorxiv.org/content/10.110… And find our tweetorial below! #glycotime

biorxiv.orgbiorxiv.org
Luciano A. Masullo@lumasullo.bsky.social

ÅNGSTRÖM-RESOLUTION IMAGING OF CELL-SURFACE GLYCANS 🧬🎨🍬 The glycocalyx, our cells' sugar coat, holds secrets in immunology, cancer, viral infections, and more. Visualizing its molecular architecture was impossible… until now. #glycotime #microscopy www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Lucy Crouch reposted

Hall Lab
@halllab.bsky.social

1/ 🚨 New preprint alert! 🚨 We’re thrilled to share our latest work exploring microbiome & genomic #Bifidobacterium co-evolutionary & functional signatures across diverse animal hosts. This has been a long time coming, & huge credit to Magda for her incredible hard work as first author! 🐾✨👇

doi.orgHost-specific microbiome and genomic signatures in Bifidobacterium reveal co-evolutionary and functional adaptations across diverse animal hostsAnimal hosts harbour divergent microbiota, including various Bifidobacterium species and strains, yet their evolutionary relationships, and functional adaptions remain understudied. By integrating tax...

Lucy Crouch reposted

Nicole Wheeler
@nwheeler443.bsky.social

Thrilled we are now able to share our investigation into whether new AI protein design tools can fool DNA synthesis screening! 🥳 A great collaboration between Microsoft, the DNA synthesis industry and DNA screening providers to answer a pressing question in #AIsafety www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

biorxiv.orgToward AI-Resilient Screening of Nucleic Acid Synthesis Orders: Process, Results, and RecommendationsFast-moving advances in AI-assisted protein engineering are enabling breakthroughs in the life sciences that promise numerous beneficial applications. At the same time, these new capabilities are crea...

Lucy Crouch reposted

Megan McDonald
@mcdonaldmeganc.bsky.social

HI old friends! Finally took the leap here to say I have several open positions going in my lab at the moment (and more to come). 1) PhD studentship in collaboration with the Royal Horticultural Society (genomics) 2) Biochemistry Postdoc to understand how Starships move Check out the links below!

Lucy Crouch
@lucyicm.bsky.social

We also have a industry-linked PhD position on Bacteroides and host glycans that will be advertised soon #glycotime🍭 The IMI is an amazing environment with lovely PIs doing loads of cool science, so please apply if you see a project you're interested in 🥼🧪

Lucy Crouch@lucyicm.bsky.social

MIBTP PhD applications are now open! There are three associated with my lab.1) infant gut microbes and human milk oligosaccharides with @halllab.bsky.social 2) respiratory microbiome nutrition with Mike Cox 3) mucus-producing organoids with Amanda Rossiter! 🧪✨ warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fa...

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