Meaghan Castledine

Hello new phage phollowers! I am shamelessly self-promoting mine and Angus Buckling's relatively new review "Critically evaluating the relative importance of phage in shaping microbial community composition" www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Excited to share our new preprint where we ask: How does temp alter susceptibility to kanamycin, selection and spread of resistance in E. coli with the plasmids R1 and RP4. tl;dr AMR @ high temp is due to higher growth rates and susceptibility, increasing selection. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Beth Dobbin ran for GB in the Olympics in 2021. Since getting #severeME after covid and glandular fever, she spends 22 hours in bed a day. Soph was a competitive u18 synchronised swimmer and boxed throughout Uni. She hasn't left bed for >1.5 years and she cannot speak. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athlet...

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...

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (gw4biomed.ac.uk/how-does-tem...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky **Please share** the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

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...

Please share! We are looking for a PhD student excited about gene transfer, and tackling Antimicrobial Resistance in Klebsiella pneumoniae. 🧬 More details & applications on funder website by 21st Oct 👇🏻 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

🦠Fully funded PhD project with myself, Angus Buckling, Jo Lello and Phil Mitchelmore🦠 How should we design phage therapeutics for bacterial co-infections? How do interactions between pathogens affect treatment efficacy? Please get in touch if you have any Qs 💃 shorturl.at/39Xea

New paper out: Beyond nutrient concentration: A call for uptake in mycorrhizal research under drought A collab with Bo Tang, CAS. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

New paper by @sarahkwalsh.bsky.social looking at phage-bacteria interactions across a diverse panel of 64 Staph isolates in an insect host model - "Detectable effects of bacterial phylogeny on virulence but not phage efficacy in an in vivo Galleria mellonella model" doi.org/10.1093/isme...

8th August was severe ME day. The government and NHS still do not know its prevalence in the UK with no real plan to work it out. Meanwhile sufferers like Soph sink deeper into the darkness of their rooms. #severeME #pwME #MECFS 10/08/2026 Severe ME day padpadpadpad.netlify.app/posts/caring...

How do macrophage and bacteriophage interactions change over ecological and evolutionary timescales? We find that macrophages initially decrease the efficacy of phage on bacteria populations, but this effect diminishes as bacteria establish and evolve phage resistance. doi.org/10.1093/isme...

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!

Short-term antagonism between bacteriophages and macrophages decreases with bacteria-phage coevolution #ISMEJournal by @mcastd.bsky.social et al with Angus Buckling academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

The last piece of work from my PhD has been accepted for publication - feels very strange but cathartic to be moving that folder out of my 'active projects' file path 🥲

A four-year postdoc focusing on "plant growth-promoting bacteriophages" available in my group. Skills in metaviromics and metagenomics essential. Application deadline: 2.2.2026. For more info, see the link.

Very happy to say I will be starting a NERC Independent Research Fellowship in April with the University of Exeter 🥳 This 5-year project will be looking at how environmental conditions determine the impact of phage on microbial communities 🧫🦠 Thank you to the lovely ppl who helped along the way!

Thank you everyone who has donated so far! This will be closing at the end of the month so still time to enter for a chance to name a phage! This is open worldwide with all currency conversions accounted for. For GBP it is £2 an entry and all funds go directly to The Cystic Fibrosis Trust 💚

So much of this article is full of hope then, "About 43% of respondents had experienced some form of discrimination or harassment.. in around four out of ten bullying cases, a student reported bullying by their supervisor." We need safeguards in place to stop this from happening.

Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness Pseudomonas aeruginosa VS Pf phage @currentbiology.bsky.social by @nanamikubota.bsky.social, @shellyscrib.bsky.social and @vscooper.micropopbio.org www.cell.com/current-biol... #PhageSky

I have an MRC-funded PhD project available (www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...) on how warming will change the problem of AMR. Join a small and friendly group (padpadpadpad.netlify.app/about) in (sometimes) sunny Cornwall. 🧪🦠 #microsky Please share the ad below with anyone who may be interested.

PhD fellowship in biofilm-phage interactions - with Mette Burmølle at University of Copenhagen 🇩🇰 deadline 1 October 2025 employment.ku.dk/faculty?show... #phagesky #microsky

Now peer-reviewed, improved and published in @microbiologysociety.org Microbiology - thanks to editor and reviewers! www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...

In case you are wondering how you can enrich your science classes by using our educational resources - for primary and secondary schools alike. In English, Welsh, Irish and Gaelic. #ScienceIsFun 🦠🧫🔬🧑🏼‍🔬

Don’t miss the inaugural Conference on Bacteriophages: Biology, Dynamics, and Therapeutics, October 12–14, 2025, in Washington, DC. A 2.5-day program of invited talks, symposia, workshops, and abstracts will highlight the latest advances. For more info: bit.ly/3JUKLYL

PhD opportunity, please share: We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA. All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...

New preprint reveals bacteria can't just collect all resistance genes like Pokemon cards. We found mutually exclusive evolutionary pathways to multidrug resistance in E. coli & P. aeruginosa - some resistance mechanisms actively prevent others from coexisting www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others Please share & get in touch if interested! tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3

Apply if you want to work with the nicest phage person ever!

📝New preprint! We investigated how spatial structure affects cooperation between phages, combining mathematical modelling and experiments. A short thread 🧶

Want to name a real virus? I have recently discovered 9 new phages which now need names! To enter, you simply need to donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust on my JustGiving page (£2 = 1 entry) and share your email with me on donation (see link info). Please share 💚 www.justgiving.com/page/meaghan-c-1

✍️ We had a great time writing this Spotlight article on one of our favorite topics: how phages interact with each other! 🦠 From cooperation to competition, phage-phage interactions reveal a fascinating layer of microbial life that’s often overlooked. A piece crafted by the talented Josie Elliott!

It’s really important for EDI that ECRs and PIs can have open, empathetic discussions about feedback and behaviour, without intimidation. Respect from lab members comes from being able to challenge negative behaviour, and being listened to without discussions becoming a competition.

From bench to big boss: mitigating the widening gap between PI and lab Laboratory dynamics can change as the age and experience of the principal investigator increase. But there are ways to combat this. Read our piece in Nature, with @sprekeler.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Our new paper on experimental evolution in wild tree-holes -Eco-evolutionary robustness of wild bacterial communities to experimental perturbation #ISMEJournal @duhitasant.bsky.social Tom Smith Edgar Wong Juli Cohen @kayla-king.bsky.social Tom Bell academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Please share! 🦠 Workshop on Phage Therapy in Liverpool on 25th November organised by Stineke van Houte, @jojofoth.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social, & Edze Westra. Limited FREE tickets & more info here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/vanhoutelab/... #MicroSky

Experimental evolution in an era of molecular manipulation #ExperimentalEvolution #evolution #evoSky www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do macrophages influence the evolution of phage resistance? We show that macrophages reduce the efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail 🦠, resulting in greater bacteria population densities which, in-turn, facilitate greater rates of phage resistance. Pre-print 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Fresh from peer review a new and improved version of @taoranfu.bsky.social’s paper out today in @asm.org mSystems journals.asm.org/eprint/8NWNW...

Really exciting work! And comforting it supports our recent in vitro work that macrophages are “bad” for phage therapy ❤️

Beautiful new review paper in preprint bridging microbial ecology and classic ecology led by Maggie Vogel, @olimeacock.bsky.social and @annasophieweiss.bsky.social, also by @juliensluneau.bsky.social and @lambdapp.bsky.social from our lab (not me :)) ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v...

I'm super happy to share this preprint on ‘Distribution of capsule and O types in #Klebsiella pneumoniae causing neonatal sepsis in Africa and South Asia: meta-analysis of genome-predicted serotype prevalence and potential vaccine coverage’ doi.org/10.1101/2025...

New phage therapy publication!🦠 #phagesky We analysed an MRSA phage therapy case study, assessing how predictions made in vitro differed when using one (standard practice) or multiple bacteria isolates from the patient. Collaborative work: Exeter and Queen Astrid hospital doi.org/10.1093/jamb...

this paper is also the spiritual predecessor of this paper 👇 where we looked deeper into the causes and consequences of phage-resistance associated increases in Variovorax densities 👀 academic.oup.com/femsec/artic...

How do multiple coexisting bacteria and phages (co)evolve? Well... they don't (or do so much less! In this paper we tracked bacteria-phage (co)evolution in monoculture (individual bacteria-phage pairs) or in polyculture (all three pairs) over 6 weeks. Read more here👇 doi.org/10.1099/mic....

The MHRA today released new guidance for #Phage therapy in the UK. This will provide direction for scientists and researchers working to make this treatment a reality for patients. 🔬 🧪 🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

Mystique is here! When I started my position at @cmdi.bsky.social there were no readily available phage against my A. baumannii focal strain. The solution? Finding my own phage ofc. Mystique is a broad host range Acinetobacter phage, and I'm thrilled to see this work out today #PhageSky 🧪🦠

Our new preprint by @nanamikubota.bsky.social shows that P. aeruginosa, and likely many other bacteria carrying filamentous prophages (like V. parahaemolyticus), risk being exploited by these phages in a runaway process that reduces fitness of both host and virus. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... 🧵

To all enjoying #MicroBio25 remember: all @microbiologysociety.org events rely on our journals - every paper pays 4x travel grants! Make 2025 when you submit a paper to a MicroSoc journal www.microbiologyresearch.org $0 OA for Publish+Read institutions www.microbiologyresearch.org/publish-and-...

Thank you for hosting @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social and @citizenphage.bsky.social Great updates on global status of phage therapy and how to bring this into the UK. Feel very lucky to have had the chance to attend!