Augustinas Silale
@augustsilale.bsky.social
Structural biology, membrane proteins, microbiology. Postdoc. Newcastle upon Tyne. 🧪🧫❄️🔬🇱🇹🏳️🌈
Pinned
Structure of a distinct β-barrel assembly machinery complex in the Bacteroidota - Nature Microbiology
Structural and functional characterization of the β-barrel assembly machinery complex in Bacteroidota reveals a distinct, seven-component complex with a large extracellular domain that may enable β-barrel–surface lipoprotein complex assembly.
doi.org
Our paper on the Bacteroidota BAM complex is out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! With @madejmar.bsky.social
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
I am excited to share our new preprint on our structural and biochemical analyses of human methionine synthase (MTR). This was the hard work of Douglas Ferreira who carried out this research as a significant part of his PhD. #CryoEM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Structural insights into cobalamin loading and reactivation of human methionine synthase
Human methionine synthase (MTR) is an essential enzyme of one carbon metabolism. Consisting of a catalytic N-half and a cobalamin binding C-half, MTR utilises this intricate organometallic cofactor in...
www.biorxiv.org
November 11, 2025 at 12:48 PM
I am excited to share our new preprint on our structural and biochemical analyses of human methionine synthase (MTR). This was the hard work of Douglas Ferreira who carried out this research as a significant part of his PhD. #CryoEM www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 7, 2025 at 10:44 AM
An Asgard archaeon with internal membrane compartments
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Brilliant study led by @fmacleod.bsky.social and Andriko von Kügelgen. Tight collaboration with @buzzbaum.bsky.social and lab. Congrats to all authors!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Next up Dr Francesca Mazzotta from Max Plank with some beautiful structures of peptide nanofibrils
November 7, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Next up Dr Francesca Mazzotta from Max Plank with some beautiful structures of peptide nanofibrils
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Lovely to have 5 “generations” of #Salgadolab PhD students together at #ccp4north! In chronological order: @adamcrawshaw.bsky.social, Paola Lanzoni-Mangutchi, @vic0210.bsky.social, Ellie Rockliff and @pav2601.bsky.social. #proudPI
November 7, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Lovely to have 5 “generations” of #Salgadolab PhD students together at #ccp4north! In chronological order: @adamcrawshaw.bsky.social, Paola Lanzoni-Mangutchi, @vic0210.bsky.social, Ellie Rockliff and @pav2601.bsky.social. #proudPI
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Dive into our November issue featuring:
🪆nested archaeal symbioses
🌱microbiota driven drought responses in plants
🏗️ BAM complex in Bacteroidota
💨microbial fermentative growth in the gut
🍸hospital-specific phage therapy cocktail
and much more..!
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...
🪆nested archaeal symbioses
🌱microbiota driven drought responses in plants
🏗️ BAM complex in Bacteroidota
💨microbial fermentative growth in the gut
🍸hospital-specific phage therapy cocktail
and much more..!
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...
November 3, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Dive into our November issue featuring:
🪆nested archaeal symbioses
🌱microbiota driven drought responses in plants
🏗️ BAM complex in Bacteroidota
💨microbial fermentative growth in the gut
🍸hospital-specific phage therapy cocktail
and much more..!
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...
🪆nested archaeal symbioses
🌱microbiota driven drought responses in plants
🏗️ BAM complex in Bacteroidota
💨microbial fermentative growth in the gut
🍸hospital-specific phage therapy cocktail
and much more..!
www.nature.com/nmicrobiol/v...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
If you are interested in researching how drug resistant bacteria evade killing by our immune system, them this PhD project is for you. Come join the our team at Newcastle, in collaboration with University of Liverpool, and lead research at the interface of microbiology, immunology and metabolomics.
MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Hiding in plain sight: How multi-drug resistant pathogens evade detection and killing by human neutrophils at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Hiding in plain sight: How multi-drug resistant pathogens evade detection and killing by human neutrophils at Newcastle University, listed on Fin...
www.findaphd.com
November 2, 2025 at 8:22 PM
If you are interested in researching how drug resistant bacteria evade killing by our immune system, them this PhD project is for you. Come join the our team at Newcastle, in collaboration with University of Liverpool, and lead research at the interface of microbiology, immunology and metabolomics.
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Want to find ways to combat TB? Check out this PhD position 👇
November 2, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Want to find ways to combat TB? Check out this PhD position 👇
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Want to work within a multidisciplinary group to combat antifungal resistance in Candida spp? Fully-funded MRC PhD studentship in collaboration with @nclfungalgroup.bsky.social and Francesco Del Carratore on the mode of action of a new class of antifungal drugs. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Targeting thioredoxin reductase to combat antifungal resistance in Candida spp. at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Targeting thioredoxin reductase to combat antifungal resistance in Candida spp. at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Want to work within a multidisciplinary group to combat antifungal resistance in Candida spp? Fully-funded MRC PhD studentship in collaboration with @nclfungalgroup.bsky.social and Francesco Del Carratore on the mode of action of a new class of antifungal drugs. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Interested in a PhD at the intersection of biophysics and microbiology?
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Molecular mechanism of slow growth and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using single-molecule microscopy at Newcastle University on FindAPhD....
PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Molecular mechanism of slow growth and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using single-molecule microscopy at Newcastle Universit...
www.findaphd.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Interested in a PhD at the intersection of biophysics and microbiology?
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Apply for this MRC-funded opportunity at Newcastle University to do cutting-edge microscopy in Mycobacterium tuberculosis! 🔬🦠
Closing 4 Dec!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Prospective PhD Students!
The MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Projects are now online.. lots of exciting opportunities to join us here in Newcastle.
Take a look 👀
www.findaphd.com/phds/mrc-dim...
The MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Projects are now online.. lots of exciting opportunities to join us here in Newcastle.
Take a look 👀
www.findaphd.com/phds/mrc-dim...
Newcastle University, MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships - 21 PhDs Listed
FindAPhD. Search Funded PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships at Newcastle University, MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership.
www.findaphd.com
November 2, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Prospective PhD Students!
The MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Projects are now online.. lots of exciting opportunities to join us here in Newcastle.
Take a look 👀
www.findaphd.com/phds/mrc-dim...
The MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership PhD Projects are now online.. lots of exciting opportunities to join us here in Newcastle.
Take a look 👀
www.findaphd.com/phds/mrc-dim...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
If you’re interested in metals, microbes and maths 🤘 - please check out this PhD on the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @blindmath.bsky.social Denis Patterson and myself, you’d be based in Durham & be part of a vibrant interdisciplinary research group
We're advertising a PhD at the intersection of mathematical ecology, metallobiology, and microbiology to study the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @kateduncan.bsky.social and Denis Patterson. Come join us in lovely Durham!
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
When nutrients turn toxic: how metals shape microbial coexistence
iapetus.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
If you’re interested in metals, microbes and maths 🤘 - please check out this PhD on the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @blindmath.bsky.social Denis Patterson and myself, you’d be based in Durham & be part of a vibrant interdisciplinary research group
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Please RT. Post-doc opportunity alert! 💥 closing 10th December.. Come join our team (www.thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems.
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
October 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Please RT. Post-doc opportunity alert! 💥 closing 10th December.. Come join our team (www.thelowlab.org) at Imperial, London, working on the structure and mechanism of bacterial secretion systems.
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
For more details and to apply please see
www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026.
Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.
Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...
Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.
Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...
Independent Research Fellowships Leading to Tenured Faculty Positions | John Innes Centre
The John Innes Centre (JIC), is a world leading centre of excellence in plant and microbial sciences based on the Norwich Research Park, UK. We are inviting applications from outstanding researchers…
www.jic.ac.uk
October 3, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Shortlisted candidates will be invited to give a seminar at the Fellows Conference, which will be held on 10 March 2026.
Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.
Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...
Candidates who win Fellowships will be offered a Tenure Track Group Leader position from the outset, initially for 5 years.
Find out more: www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Looking forward to the Grand Opening of the Northern Eye Imaging facility on 5th November at the Frederick Douglass Centre, Newcastle. Register now nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccpem-tfs-ne... for the latest #structuralbiology and #cryoem in the region, to see the new Tundra cryo-TEM and lots more!
October 21, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Looking forward to the Grand Opening of the Northern Eye Imaging facility on 5th November at the Frederick Douglass Centre, Newcastle. Register now nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccpem-tfs-ne... for the latest #structuralbiology and #cryoem in the region, to see the new Tundra cryo-TEM and lots more!
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
We’ve kept registrations open till the end of this week so get your last minute applications in for posters and talks!
The CCP4 Northern Structural Biology Meeting is back again in Newcastle 6-7th November 2025. If you are a structural biologist/biochemist in the North of the UK please register and submit abstracts by this Friday 17th.
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk
October 20, 2025 at 5:03 PM
We’ve kept registrations open till the end of this week so get your last minute applications in for posters and talks!
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
The CCP4 Northern Structural Biology Meeting is back again in Newcastle 6-7th November 2025. If you are a structural biologist/biochemist in the North of the UK please register and submit abstracts by this Friday 17th.
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk
October 14, 2025 at 4:58 AM
The CCP4 Northern Structural Biology Meeting is back again in Newcastle 6-7th November 2025. If you are a structural biologist/biochemist in the North of the UK please register and submit abstracts by this Friday 17th.
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
nusbf.ncl.ac.uk/ccp4-norther...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Prof Quinn telling us about her novel findings on bacterial type-VI secretion mediated killing of fungi. @mhd-newcastle.bsky.social @nclfungalgroup.bsky.social #Candida2025
October 8, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Prof Quinn telling us about her novel findings on bacterial type-VI secretion mediated killing of fungi. @mhd-newcastle.bsky.social @nclfungalgroup.bsky.social #Candida2025
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Check it out! A proper team effort from past and present group members and a great collaboration with @sergemostowylab.bsky.social
The Staphylococcus aureus LXG-domain toxins EsxX and SAR0287 do not promote virulence in a zebrafish larval infection model https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.04.680436v1
October 5, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Check it out! A proper team effort from past and present group members and a great collaboration with @sergemostowylab.bsky.social
Our paper on the Bacteroidota BAM complex is out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! With @madejmar.bsky.social
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Structure of a distinct β-barrel assembly machinery complex in the Bacteroidota - Nature Microbiology
Structural and functional characterization of the β-barrel assembly machinery complex in Bacteroidota reveals a distinct, seven-component complex with a large extracellular domain that may enable β-barrel–surface lipoprotein complex assembly.
doi.org
October 2, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Our paper on the Bacteroidota BAM complex is out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! With @madejmar.bsky.social
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
We found that BAM in Bacteroides and Porphyromonas gingivalis has a distinct architecture from BAM in Proteobacteria.
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Spending some time collecting memories of Harry today 🥺 - this is when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. If anyone in the #glycotime universe has pictures or memories of Harry Gilbert they want to share please send them my way 💚
September 29, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Spending some time collecting memories of Harry today 🥺 - this is when he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. If anyone in the #glycotime universe has pictures or memories of Harry Gilbert they want to share please send them my way 💚
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Now we are on Bluesky, over the next couple of days we would like to introduce some of the MHD groups on Bluesky who you can follow for more research updates. Or check out our handy MHD starter pack 😀
go.bsky.app/SoVnvW3
go.bsky.app/SoVnvW3
September 22, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Now we are on Bluesky, over the next couple of days we would like to introduce some of the MHD groups on Bluesky who you can follow for more research updates. Or check out our handy MHD starter pack 😀
go.bsky.app/SoVnvW3
go.bsky.app/SoVnvW3
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.
A Protein Antibiotic Inhibits the BAM Complex to Kill Without Cell Entry
Many antibiotics are ineffective against Gram-negative pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa because they cannot penetrate the bacterial outer membrane. Here, we show that protein antibiotics calle...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 9:29 AM
The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria blocks many antibiotics. Our latest work reveals that L-type pyocins bypass this barrier by inactivating the BAM complex, killing Pseudomonas aeruginosa without entering the cell, providing a new blueprint for beating antibiotic resistance.
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes.
@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes
Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena
academic.oup.com
September 17, 2025 at 10:17 AM
Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes.
@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
@nfrk92.bsky.social
@narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Reposted by Augustinas Silale
Really excited to share my first paper from the Whitney lab, alongside an amazing grad student, Polina. Here we identify a chaperone family required for the folding of a central domain of T7SS toxins, and solve the structure of the chaperone-toxin complex. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
A widespread family of molecular chaperones promotes the intracellular stability of type VIIb secretion system–exported toxins | PNAS
To survive in highly competitive environments, bacteria use specialized secretion
systems to deliver antibacterial toxins into neighboring cells, t...
www.pnas.org
September 15, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Really excited to share my first paper from the Whitney lab, alongside an amazing grad student, Polina. Here we identify a chaperone family required for the folding of a central domain of T7SS toxins, and solve the structure of the chaperone-toxin complex. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...