Jason Wilson
@jasonwils.bsky.social
BBSRC Discovery Fellow | #CryoEM 🔬 | S-layers - Bacteriocins - Phages - GTAs | He/Him
http://mstdn.science/@JasonSWilson
http://mstdn.science/@JasonSWilson
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Would have been good to have added an apology for the lack of comms so far this year, particularly for those that submitted grants to UKRI applicant-led funding streams in Sept 2025, as these are highly unlikely to be funded (www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...)
MRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional News
Boards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls
www.researchprofessionalnews.com
February 1, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Would have been good to have added an apology for the lack of comms so far this year, particularly for those that submitted grants to UKRI applicant-led funding streams in Sept 2025, as these are highly unlikely to be funded (www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...)
Reposted by Jason Wilson
We need to be shouting about the effects of this on junior researchers from the roofs, writing to our MPs. We are risking a "missing generation" of researchers.
February 1, 2026 at 9:41 AM
We need to be shouting about the effects of this on junior researchers from the roofs, writing to our MPs. We are risking a "missing generation" of researchers.
It was great to play a part in this study, using all of the work on alphaproteobacterial GTAs to help inform and identify key tell-tale patterns of GTAs in the human gut microbiome. I'm sure there will be many great followup studies on these fascinating particles.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Large-scale capsid-mediated mobilisation of bacterial genomic DNA in the gut microbiome - Nature Communications
Here, the authors show that packaging of bacterial DNA by phage-like particles is widespread in the gut microbiome, with activity of gene transfer agents being prominent in Oscillospiraceae and Rumino...
www.nature.com
February 2, 2026 at 10:15 AM
It was great to play a part in this study, using all of the work on alphaproteobacterial GTAs to help inform and identify key tell-tale patterns of GTAs in the human gut microbiome. I'm sure there will be many great followup studies on these fascinating particles.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
We identified a new type of what seems to be a gene transfer agent in the most abundant gut microbe. Long read sequencing was the key here, as it showed suspiciously many 4kb and 8kb reads, which fits the smallest T=3 shrinked and T=3 regular capsids. And indeed, GTAs! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Large-scale capsid-mediated mobilisation of bacterial genomic DNA in the gut microbiome - Nature Communications
Here, the authors show that packaging of bacterial DNA by phage-like particles is widespread in the gut microbiome, with activity of gene transfer agents being prominent in Oscillospiraceae and Rumino...
www.nature.com
February 2, 2026 at 9:25 AM
We identified a new type of what seems to be a gene transfer agent in the most abundant gut microbe. Long read sequencing was the key here, as it showed suspiciously many 4kb and 8kb reads, which fits the smallest T=3 shrinked and T=3 regular capsids. And indeed, GTAs! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
🚨Last chance to apply for two PhD projects in my lab, applying structural biology and single molecule biophysics to investigate gene expression in RNA viruses: www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...
www.findaphd.com
January 6, 2026 at 3:56 PM
🚨Last chance to apply for two PhD projects in my lab, applying structural biology and single molecule biophysics to investigate gene expression in RNA viruses: www.findaphd.com/phds/?Keywor...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Our paper with @robfagan.bsky.social @jasonwils.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier on #phage has been included in this year's LSA special collection.
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...
Cell Biology 2025
We are pleased to present a special collection of cell biology research that most captivated readers of LSA over the past year. These articles offer exciting new perspectives on how cells carry out ba...
www.life-science-alliance.org
December 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Our paper with @robfagan.bsky.social @jasonwils.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier on #phage has been included in this year's LSA special collection.
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/cell...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
#OpenCloning is a an Open Source alternative to SnapGene/Benchling that supports automation and integration with other software
✅ Free
🔓 Open Source
🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene
🤖 Can be automated with python
👨🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers!
👉 Check it out at opencloning.org
✅ Free
🔓 Open Source
🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene
🤖 Can be automated with python
👨🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers!
👉 Check it out at opencloning.org
November 24, 2025 at 4:57 PM
#OpenCloning is a an Open Source alternative to SnapGene/Benchling that supports automation and integration with other software
✅ Free
🔓 Open Source
🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene
🤖 Can be automated with python
👨🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers!
👉 Check it out at opencloning.org
✅ Free
🔓 Open Source
🧬 More cloning methods than SnapGene
🤖 Can be automated with python
👨🔬 Built by a researcher — for researchers!
👉 Check it out at opencloning.org
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Thrilled to share the core of my PhD work, now published in NAR!
This project was a true collaborative effort across multiple teams, and it was a joy to bring it to life.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, and especially to @fnobrega.bsky.social for the incredible support and guidance 🙏🏻
🧵1/5
This project was a true collaborative effort across multiple teams, and it was a joy to bring it to life.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, and especially to @fnobrega.bsky.social for the incredible support and guidance 🙏🏻
🧵1/5
⭐ NAR Breakthrough! ⭐
A community-driven collection uniting 52 phages, 74 Klebsiella isolates, and extensive genomic + phenotypic data — all freely available at klebphacol.org.
🧬 Learn more: doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
@fnobrega.bsky.social @danielarothschild.bsky.social #antimicrobialresistance
A community-driven collection uniting 52 phages, 74 Klebsiella isolates, and extensive genomic + phenotypic data — all freely available at klebphacol.org.
🧬 Learn more: doi.org/10.1093/nar/...
@fnobrega.bsky.social @danielarothschild.bsky.social #antimicrobialresistance
November 22, 2025 at 6:12 PM
Thrilled to share the core of my PhD work, now published in NAR!
This project was a true collaborative effort across multiple teams, and it was a joy to bring it to life.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, and especially to @fnobrega.bsky.social for the incredible support and guidance 🙏🏻
🧵1/5
This project was a true collaborative effort across multiple teams, and it was a joy to bring it to life.
Huge thanks to everyone involved, and especially to @fnobrega.bsky.social for the incredible support and guidance 🙏🏻
🧵1/5
Outstanding work that will surely help shed light on 'Viral Dark Matter' - Huge congrats to all authors!
🚨Preprint alert - this is a big one! We transfer the revolutionary power of TnSeq to bacteriophages.
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
Our HIDEN-SEQ links the "dark matter" genes of your favorite phage to any selectable phenotype, guiding the path from fun observations to molecular mechanisms.
A thread 1/8
November 21, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Outstanding work that will surely help shed light on 'Viral Dark Matter' - Huge congrats to all authors!
📣 Fully funded PhD opportunity - CryoEM, Phage Biology & Structural Mechanisms
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
YBDTP – BBSRC Yorkshire Bioscience Doctoral Training Partnership
yorkshirebiosciencedtp.ac.uk
November 21, 2025 at 9:34 AM
📣 Fully funded PhD opportunity - CryoEM, Phage Biology & Structural Mechanisms
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
University of Sheffield, UK | Start Oct 2026
We’re looking for a motivated student to uncover how bacteriophage proteins shut down drug-resistant Enterococcus bacteria.
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Fantastic paper by James Bean and colleagues on phage Bas63 - this has been one of the first phages I ever isolated just for fun as a PhD student (in 2012!). It's #2 on this plate of Rhine river water on an E.coli K-12 lawn....
How it started /// How it's going
How it started /// How it's going
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Fantastic paper by James Bean and colleagues on phage Bas63 - this has been one of the first phages I ever isolated just for fun as a PhD student (in 2012!). It's #2 on this plate of Rhine river water on an E.coli K-12 lawn....
How it started /// How it's going
How it started /// How it's going
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Congrats all authors, very unusual and intriguing enzyme, with many more stories to come
Congrats all authors, very unusual and intriguing enzyme, with many more stories to come
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum
Abstract. Plasmodium falciparum is a eukaryotic pathogen responsible for the majority of malaria-related fatalities. Plasmodium belongs to the phylum Apico
academic.oup.com
October 17, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Congrats all authors, very unusual and intriguing enzyme, with many more stories to come
Congrats all authors, very unusual and intriguing enzyme, with many more stories to come
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Beautiful CryoEM work by our University of Sheffield colleagues @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum
Abstract. Plasmodium falciparum is a eukaryotic pathogen responsible for the majority of malaria-related fatalities. Plasmodium belongs to the phylum Apico
academic.oup.com
October 17, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Beautiful CryoEM work by our University of Sheffield colleagues @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Structural basis of multitasking by the apicoplast DNA polymerase from Plasmodium falciparum url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
🚨Exciting #Postdoc opportunity in the Fogg & Antson labs: 3-year post based @biologyatyork.bsky.social to explore the #StructuralBiology & mechanism of viral DNA-packaging motors using cutting-edge #Cryo-EM, biophysical and molecular approaches. Apply by 9th Oct at bit.ly/3Iz3bOu #ScienceJobs
Jobs - The University of York
bit.ly
September 23, 2025 at 11:49 AM
🚨Exciting #Postdoc opportunity in the Fogg & Antson labs: 3-year post based @biologyatyork.bsky.social to explore the #StructuralBiology & mechanism of viral DNA-packaging motors using cutting-edge #Cryo-EM, biophysical and molecular approaches. Apply by 9th Oct at bit.ly/3Iz3bOu #ScienceJobs
Reposted by Jason Wilson
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
August 5, 2025 at 12:45 PM
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
Had a great time talking at @mgeworkshop.bsky.social last week and meeting some great people. Looking forward to cool science and collaborations to come.
June 26, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Had a great time talking at @mgeworkshop.bsky.social last week and meeting some great people. Looking forward to cool science and collaborations to come.
Reposted by Jason Wilson
Reposted by Jason Wilson
www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...
We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!
@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social
We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!
@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social
Fighting bacteria with viruses: Important step to treating antibiotic resistant infections
New insights into a ‘friendly virus’ that could pave the way for cutting edge treatments for the potentially fatal superbug C.diff have been uncovered by University of Sheffield scientists.
www.sheffield.ac.uk
March 28, 2025 at 2:03 PM
www.sheffield.ac.uk/biosciences/...
We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!
@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social
We have just solved the first structure of an S-layer penetrating C. difficile phage in both pre- and post-infection conformations. It is most curious!
@jasonwils.bsky.social @robfagan.bsky.social
New paper alert 🚨
We determined the structure of phiCD508, a 225 nm tailed myovirus #phage infecting clinical strains of C. difficile, using #cryoEM.
Thrilled to see this finally out at @lsajournal.org .
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
We determined the structure of phiCD508, a 225 nm tailed myovirus #phage infecting clinical strains of C. difficile, using #cryoEM.
Thrilled to see this finally out at @lsajournal.org .
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
March 27, 2025 at 10:54 AM
New paper alert 🚨
We determined the structure of phiCD508, a 225 nm tailed myovirus #phage infecting clinical strains of C. difficile, using #cryoEM.
Thrilled to see this finally out at @lsajournal.org .
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
We determined the structure of phiCD508, a 225 nm tailed myovirus #phage infecting clinical strains of C. difficile, using #cryoEM.
Thrilled to see this finally out at @lsajournal.org .
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
New paper alert 🚨
We've solved the complete structure of a C. difficile-infecting phage using cryo-EM, in both extended and contracted conformations - published today in Life Science Alliance
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
We've solved the complete structure of a C. difficile-infecting phage using cryo-EM, in both extended and contracted conformations - published today in Life Science Alliance
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
Molecular mechanism of bacteriophage contraction structure of an S-layer–penetrating bacteriophage
The molecular details of phage tail contraction and bacterial cell envelope penetration remain poorly understood and are completely unknown for phages infecting bacteria enveloped by proteinaceous S-l...
www.life-science-alliance.org
March 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
New paper alert 🚨
We've solved the complete structure of a C. difficile-infecting phage using cryo-EM, in both extended and contracted conformations - published today in Life Science Alliance
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
We've solved the complete structure of a C. difficile-infecting phage using cryo-EM, in both extended and contracted conformations - published today in Life Science Alliance
www.life-science-alliance.org/content/8/6/...
Reposted by Jason Wilson
It's been a really fun project, led by @jasonwils.bsky.social in collaboration with @perbullough.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier at the Université de Sherbrooke
March 26, 2025 at 2:21 PM
It's been a really fun project, led by @jasonwils.bsky.social in collaboration with @perbullough.bsky.social and Louis-Charles Fortier at the Université de Sherbrooke
Reposted by Jason Wilson
🚨We are hiring! A MRC-funded PDRA position to study novel anti-phage systems & their evolutionary dynamics in P. aeruginosa, in collaboration with @friendlymicrobe. If you are passionate about phage-bacteria interactions & evolution, apply now ! tinyurl.com/bddz4z44
January 24, 2025 at 12:07 PM
🚨We are hiring! A MRC-funded PDRA position to study novel anti-phage systems & their evolutionary dynamics in P. aeruginosa, in collaboration with @friendlymicrobe. If you are passionate about phage-bacteria interactions & evolution, apply now ! tinyurl.com/bddz4z44
Reposted by Jason Wilson
It’s often overlooked but TB remains the world’s worst single-agent infectious killer- drug resistance is growing and current drug regimens have awful side effects
December 5, 2024 at 10:16 PM
It’s often overlooked but TB remains the world’s worst single-agent infectious killer- drug resistance is growing and current drug regimens have awful side effects
Great to be back on Ava the Arctica at @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social, with a passable first grid prep also!
November 28, 2024 at 3:59 PM
Great to be back on Ava the Arctica at @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social, with a passable first grid prep also!
Really missed the sense of daily discovery of new papers and tools you used to get on the other place. Moved over a few days ago and already finding so much, and exactly what I've been looking for!
Sharing new tools made by Artyom Egorov in my group!
1) loVis4u sensitively compares & visualises #phage or #plasmid seqs with beautiful vector graphics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
2) iLund4u finds diversity hotspots/islands encoding eg virulence/ defence systems www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
1) loVis4u sensitively compares & visualises #phage or #plasmid seqs with beautiful vector graphics www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
2) iLund4u finds diversity hotspots/islands encoding eg virulence/ defence systems www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 23, 2024 at 12:48 PM
Really missed the sense of daily discovery of new papers and tools you used to get on the other place. Moved over a few days ago and already finding so much, and exactly what I've been looking for!