Ben Pascoe
benizao.bsky.social
Ben Pascoe
@benizao.bsky.social
Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford using genomics to investigate the global spread and evolution of bacterial pathogens.

Science | Sport | Music
Pinned
I’ve been dabbling with different writing styles to make “behind the paper” type posts a bit more interesting…

pascoelab.com/news-and-blog
PascoeLab
Welcome to Pascoe Lab global Pathogen Genomics & evolution
pascoelab.com
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
New PhD position in my lab at @uniofbath.bsky.social (with both @tweethinking.bsky.social & Dr Bethan Littleford-Colquhoun)!
We're looking for someone keen on bioinformatics and microbiome evolution.
Important info below on eligibility & URSA competition funding👇
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
The overlapping microbiome: ecology, function and resilience beyond species boundaries at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The overlapping microbiome: ecology, function and resilience beyond species boundaries at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 12, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Ben Pascoe @benizao.bsky.social @sheppardlab.bsky.social shining a light on C. coli - although less common than C. jejuni, it has higher levels of AMR. His work in Peru highlights the importance of this pathogen in LMICs due constant exposure with backyard livestock and antibiotic use 🇵🇪 #CampyUK2025
September 25, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
In our 80th year, we are highlighting some key discoveries in our journal archives. In 1976, Journal of Medical Microbiology took the lead in publishing research on Clostridium difficile as a pathogen - doi.org/10.1099/0022... #JMM
July 1, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Stuck. Trapped. Flattened. ‘The Weight of a Man’ is an exploration of family, love and the search to escape pressures outside our control.

📚 Read @morrislau78.bsky.social's story in our upcoming anthology. Learn more and meet all our shortlisted authors: bit.ly/4dZRhIB
June 19, 2025 at 11:31 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Keynote spotlight: We're thrilled to welcome Professor Christine Szymanski (University of Georgia) to #CampyUK2025 in Oxford!

She’ll be sharing insights into the Campylobacter glycome and its role in persistence and disease.

📅 Sept 24–25
🔗 campyuk.web.ox.ac.uk/speakers#col...
June 13, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
"It no longer exists"

The Covid Inquiry heard evidence this week that the testing infrastructure built up in 2020 has been completely dismantled.

Prof. Alan McNally: "If Sars 3 happens in December, we will be exactly where we were in January 2020"

An insult to those we lost.
May 16, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
🚨 Abstract submissions for CampyUK 2025 are now open! Join us in Oxford (24–25 Sept) to explore the latest in Campylobacter research.

🗓 Deadline: 31 July

🔗 campyuk.web.ox.ac.uk/home
#CampyUK2025 #Microbiology #AMR #OneHealth
Home
campyuk.web.ox.ac.uk
May 13, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Our latest preprint is out describing amr.watch - a platform for monitoring AMR trends from global genomics data: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... (1/6)
April 22, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Geng Zou analysed ~6.5K S. suis genomes 🐷 🦠 & identified the protective capsule 'switch' that facilitates human infection, which has implications for preventing and treating zoonotic infections.

@Lucy_Weinert @camvetschool.bsky.social

#Microbio25
April 2, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Make sure to check out the Understudied Bacterial Pathogens session tomorrow. We have a brilliant line up of speakers, including invited talks from Esh Mahenthiralingam and @sylvainbrisse.bsky.social

#Microbio25 @microbiologysociety.org

@alanmcn1.bsky.social @sheppardlab.bsky.social
March 31, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
I'll be giving a talk on LIN codes for Neisseria meningitidis today at 4pm in the Genetics & Genomics forum. Please come along and have a listen. It is such an exciting (& up and coming) area.

@microbiologysociety.org #MicroBio25
March 31, 2025 at 7:51 AM
I’ve been dabbling with different writing styles to make “behind the paper” type posts a bit more interesting…

pascoelab.com/news-and-blog
PascoeLab
Welcome to Pascoe Lab global Pathogen Genomics & evolution
pascoelab.com
March 23, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
🚨 What's new in #Campylobacter research in 2025? 🚨
Check out these groundbreaking studies shaping the field ahead of #CampyUK2025! 🦠👇
March 15, 2025 at 11:30 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
The letter contains some fascinating insight into workings of a society operated paper vs a for-profit one, and mentions figures specific to operation of MBE. Well worth a read if you're interested in academic publications landscape.
March 15, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
New paper alert 🚨 Genomic insights into extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and plasmid-borne AmpC-producing Escherichia coli transmission between humans and livestock in rural Cambodia. Incredible effort from Ebraheem Elmarghani and others for their contributions! 👏💩🧫🦠🧬
doi.org/10.1099/jmm....
Genomic insights into extended-spectrum β-lactamase- and plasmid-borne AmpC-producing Escherichia coli transmission between humans and livestock in rural Cambodia
Introduction. The global spread of extended-spectrum cephalosporinase-producing Escherichia coli (producing extended-spectrum β-lactamase or plasmid-borne AmpC, hereafter ESC-Ec) is a major public hea...
doi.org
March 14, 2025 at 7:12 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Really exciting work:
The Salmonella Colicin Col1b cannot only KILL a competing E. coli population, but also AMPLIFY metabolic contributions of susceptible bacteria by liberating β-gal…

From @nic-ler.bsky.social. @kroegerlab.bsky.social, Andrew Cameron and others ‼️

academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...
Lysis of Escherichia coli by colicin Ib contributes to bacterial cross-feeding by releasing active β-galactosidase
Abstract. The diffusible toxin ColIb produced by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium SL1344 is a potent inhibitor of Escherichia coli growth. To identi
academic.oup.com
February 23, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Our paper describing the microGWAS pipeline was published yesterday in Microbial Genomics. Lots of fixes and additions to the code/documentation since the preprint, including a hard to reproduce bug that only showed up in a specific HPC 🥵

www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
microGWAS: a computational pipeline to perform large-scale bacterial genome-wide association studies
Identifying genetic variants associated with bacterial phenotypes, such as virulence, host preference and antimicrobial resistance, has great potential for a better understanding of the mechanisms inv...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
February 12, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
🚨 We're very happy to announce the #CampyUK2025 meeting in Oxford (@ox.ac.uk), which will focus on #AMR in collaboration with @ineosoxford.bsky.social

🗓️Save the date: 24th-25th September 2025
📝Register your interest on our website: campyuk.web.ox.ac.uk
Home
Why now? Campylobacter infections are on the rise globally, with increasing levels of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) making treatment more challenging. As the world’s most common bacterial cause of gastroenteritis, Campylobacter poses a growing public health threat, yet effective interventions remain limited. There is an urgent need for research into novel and sustainable strategies to mitigate its impact—spanning genomics, surveillance, food safety, and public health interventions.
campyuk.web.ox.ac.uk
February 22, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
MicrobesNG POPUP Conference is coming to Norwich! It's a FREE #MicrobialGenomics conference 3rd Jul

ECR's submit your abstract (talk or poster) by 3rd Apr www.surveymonkey.com/r/POP_UP_NOR

Please repost!

Organised with @getgenome.bsky.social & @norwichmicro.bsky.social

#MNGPopUp #ECR #MicroSky
February 19, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Ecological insights into the microbiology of food using metagenomics and its potential surveillance applications. Published #OpenAccess and fee-free in #MGen using a #PublishAndRead agreement: https://buff.ly/40EUUxr
February 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Our perspective on the horizontal transfer of accessory chromosomes in fungi is now available in Heredity: rdcu.be/d9jOR. It may be a regulated process. Very proud of this collaborative effort with Henrik de Fine Licht (@henriklicht.bsky.social) and Remco Stam (@rstam.bsky.social)!
Horizontal transfer of accessory chromosomes in fungi – a regulated process for exchange of genetic material?
Heredity - Horizontal transfer of accessory chromosomes in fungi – a regulated process for exchange of genetic material?
rdcu.be
February 10, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
This work is phenomenally interesting, and I’m delighted to have played a very very small part in it! bsky.app/profile/keyf...
Many zoonotic diseases are believed to have emerged during prehistory, but can we actually identify their past host range using ancient DNA? In the first publication of the Key Lab we present a 4000y old Yersinia pestis genome reconstructed from domesticated sheep. 🧵 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Bronze Age Yersinia pestis genome from sheep sheds light on hosts and evolution of a prehistoric plague lineage
Most human pathogens are of zoonotic origin. Many emerged during prehistory, coinciding with domestication providing more opportunities for spillover from original host species. However, we lack direc...
www.biorxiv.org
February 11, 2025 at 12:38 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
The #PEPFAR tracker is following the real time impact of each passing day of the funding suspensions spurred by the USAID funding freeze. Although there is a waiver to allow dispersion of ART, this is not happening because clinic workers have been laid off. People are dying.
pepfarimpact.vercel.app
February 6, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
This is so remarkable!!!
Scientists have created an actual treatment for prions, the cause of Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans, chronic wasting disease in deer, & mad cow disease.

"Brainwide silencing of prion protein by AAV-mediated delivery of an engineered compact epigenetic editor". #ShareGoodNewsToo
Brainwide silencing of prion protein by AAV-mediated delivery of an engineered compact epigenetic editor
Prion disease is caused by misfolding of the prion protein (PrP) into pathogenic self-propagating conformations, leading to rapid-onset dementia and death. However, elimination of endogenous PrP halts...
www.science.org
February 5, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Ben Pascoe
Excited to share our latest research 😀: Impact of commercial gut health interventions on caecal metagenome and broiler performance. Huge thanks to Gladys Pangga for her incredible effort 👏🏼 and many others for their contributions 🧫🐔🦠🧑🏼‍🌾
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
Impact of commercial gut health interventions on caecal metagenome and broiler performance - Microbiome
Background Maintaining gut health is a persistent and unresolved challenge in the poultry industry. Given the critical role of gut health in chicken performance and welfare, there is a pressing need t...
link.springer.com
January 29, 2025 at 11:14 AM