Rob Fagan

New preprint from us! The latest part of our C. difficile vancomycin resistance story. We identified a new two-component system (VnrRS) that can control expression of the vanG pathway - just needs one amino acid change @buddlejess.bsky.social @brockhurstlab.bsky.social @claireyt.bsky.social

Go to your camera and search ‘boat’ and post one that you like. Oh so many, but it has to be this one

Our latest preprint on bacterial spore assembly. A novel assembly normally associated with non-biological crystal growth. Evidence for convergent evolution in the construction of highly robust spore outer envelopes. @robfagan.bsky.social @abigailroberts.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Well that's fucking terrifying

I know it's going to be a quiet afternoon when Pip has been swimming

Wow. In a previously unknown toxin-antitoxin system (RelS-RelI) the RelS toxin halts bacterial growth by cleaving 16S rRNA at a unique site in the anti-Shine-Dalgarno region. Beautiful use of comparative genomics at the species level, powerful. @oneyrolles.bsky.social Makarova & Genevaux.

I've never been so happy to see rain!

Reviewing a paper one handed. Pip had her first visit to a new doggy daycare today and I think it's safe to say she enjoyed herself

Unpacking the last few boxes after our house move and found the central heating controller from our old house. Oops. Off to the post office in the morning....

If I were accused of plagiarism, I can guarantee that no-one outside of my department, and maybe a very narrow slice of the microbiology community, would know or care. I wonder what the difference is?

Why supercomplexes? 🌱☀️🦠 🚨New 3 year Postdoc opportunity 🚨 A BBSRC sponsored project using single molecule AFM to interrogate ephemeral interactions between ET proteins in respiration and photosynthesis Join our diverse team and Apply here: sheffield.ac.uk/photosynthes...

As generative AI is increasingly encroaching into our everyday, this article pulled together a lot of the ethical, environmental, and cognitive concerns that I’ve been worrying about and discussing with my peers recently. thewaxdrip.substack.com/p/the-age-of...

Reviewing a paper and I seem to have acquired a 30kg scarf! Apologies to the editor and authors for the typos but my scarf keeps kicking my elbow when she's dreaming

Little boys are hilarious. Mr5 made a new friend at holiday club today - apparently they played together all day. Me: What's your new friend's name? Mr5: Don't know, didn't ask...

The latest from us as part of a special issue on S-layers organised by @tbharat-lab.bsky.social S-layers make ideal phage receptors but present another barrier that must be overcome to deliver the genome into the cytoplasm. We know very little about phage that can do this!

House moves always start feeling very real when solicitors ask for large sums of money!

My dogs are not impressed by the UK weather at the moment. One benefit of our very old house is that the uninsulated floor is nice and cold

How's your evening going? I'm drawing!

New preprint from the lab led by Alex Dobrila! We show that butyrate-dependent toxin release in C. difficile is mediated by a broadly-conserved endolysin (EndD), which is under the control of the sporulation sigma factor SigK. Excited to share this story! 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Quick trip to the vet this morning on the way to work. Tire blowout after I clipped a kerb parking. 4 hours later and I'm waiting for the RAC to come back with my wheel. Argh I have so much marking to do!!!

There is not enough coffee in the verse....

I'm really lucky that 21 years ago I decided to start working on C. difficile. Just back from a great @3cdf.bsky.social meeting organised by @smitslab.bsky.social in Leiden. We have the best community - I don't have competitors, I have friends all over the world @johann-i2bc.bsky.social

The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below)

One of these paws is not like the other - poor pup has a broken toe. Waiting for the ortho's opinion but looks like a surgical fix needed

Planes, trains and automobiles. En route to Leiden for @3cdf.bsky.social - see you all in a few hours

Synchronised sleeping! Our dogs really aren't enjoying the hot spell

Oh FFS...

Moving house over the summer and really hoping our new place handles heat better than our 1905 brick terrace. It was 35C in our 4 year old's bedroom last night and only slightly colder in the other bedrooms. I can't justify AC for a few days a year but sorely tempted

I have come to the conclusion that I detest editorial manager even more than I hate Researchfish (*not even a real fish*). As an author, a reviewer and an editor it is the worst imaginable platform with absolutely no redeeming features

Paper accepted 5min after resubmission - that's an editor who's on the ball

Just a boy and his dog

Academia is such a rollercoaster. Right now I'm on a high and I'm going to savour this moment and celebrate with our group. It won't always be like this but the memory of the wins keeps us going through the rest

Ah, another day another game of "is it a cold or is it hay fever?"

#microsky Tour de force from the @pmoyniha.bsky.social @lislowe.bsky.social & @proftracypalmer.bsky.social labs on the Type VII secretion in Mycobacteria 🎉👏👏👏 Mine was a minuscule contribution, flattered to feature. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Just one day to go until the JMM seminar with Dr Robert Fagan! Be sure to catch their discussion on ‘Clostridioides difficile - an evolving AMR threat’. Register here: https://microb.io/4l58vI6 #JMM

Oh that is sad news. RIP Jeff

Find the hot-off-the-press plasmids here! www.addgene.org/browse/artic...