Ken Timmis
@kentimmis.bsky.social
Favourite colour: gambas de Sóller/Dénia
Favourite food: gambas de Sóller/Dénia
Favourite animal/metaorganism: gambas de Sóller/Dénia
Favourite food: gambas de Sóller/Dénia
Favourite animal/metaorganism: gambas de Sóller/Dénia
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Harnessing Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds for Crop Protection: Scientific Discovery, Bridging Ecological Function and On-Farm Application
@microbiotech.bsky.social Opinion by Katharina Belt et al
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
@microbiotech.bsky.social Opinion by Katharina Belt et al
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Harnessing Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds for Crop Protection: Scientific Discovery, Bridging Ecological Function and On‐Farm Application
This opinion article highlights how microbial VOCs can support sustainable crop protection and outlines the ecological, analytical and translational challenges that currently limit their field applic...
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 9, 2026 at 1:59 PM
Harnessing Microbial Volatile Organic Compounds for Crop Protection: Scientific Discovery, Bridging Ecological Function and On-Farm Application
@microbiotech.bsky.social Opinion by Katharina Belt et al
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
@microbiotech.bsky.social Opinion by Katharina Belt et al
enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
👍
Thanks for the shout-out, Ken!
February 9, 2026 at 11:32 PM
👍
Reposted by Ken Timmis
I am thrilled to share with you the outcome of the first collaboration with Albesa-Jove's lab (albesalab.org), in which we characterised the molecular mechanisms underlying the binding of a T6SS adaptor-effector pair in P. putida, Tap3–Tke5. (🧵1/9). Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s443...
January 14, 2026 at 11:38 AM
I am thrilled to share with you the outcome of the first collaboration with Albesa-Jove's lab (albesalab.org), in which we characterised the molecular mechanisms underlying the binding of a T6SS adaptor-effector pair in P. putida, Tap3–Tke5. (🧵1/9). Read the full paper here: doi.org/10.1038/s443...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#MicroSky: ENVIRON BIOTECH: Selenium detox meets green nanotech. Stenotrophomonas converts toxic Se oxyanions into antimicrobial selenium nanoparticles with strain-specific killing mechanisms. Biogenic SeNPs are eco-friendly, broad-spectrum antimicrobials. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
February 5, 2026 at 11:00 AM
#MicroSky: ENVIRON BIOTECH: Selenium detox meets green nanotech. Stenotrophomonas converts toxic Se oxyanions into antimicrobial selenium nanoparticles with strain-specific killing mechanisms. Biogenic SeNPs are eco-friendly, broad-spectrum antimicrobials. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Excited to share a new PhD thesis from my student and soon Dr @vmaull.bsky.social on synthetic ecosystems, preventing tipping points, and a new concept: emergent bioengineering. Very proud of this achievement, and thankful to @sfiscience.bsky.social, where many of these ideas came to life.
February 6, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Excited to share a new PhD thesis from my student and soon Dr @vmaull.bsky.social on synthetic ecosystems, preventing tipping points, and a new concept: emergent bioengineering. Very proud of this achievement, and thankful to @sfiscience.bsky.social, where many of these ideas came to life.
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin discuss one of most interesting questions in the field connecting bacterial and animal immunity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The paradox of immune systems conservation between prokaryotes and eukaryotes - Nature Reviews Microbiology
The widespread prokaryotic immune systems, in particular restriction–modification, CRISPR–Cas and defensive toxin–antitoxin systems, are absent in eukaryotes, whereas relatively rare ones, such as Arg...
www.nature.com
February 6, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Aude Bernheim @audeber.bsky.social and Eugene Koonin discuss one of most interesting questions in the field connecting bacterial and animal immunity!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)
February 6, 2026 at 10:42 PM
a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)
glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#FungiFriends 'village bench lichen' 😅
There are over 18,000 types of lichen in existence. My personal favourite is ‘village bench lichen’, which devotes its entire existence selflessly to gradually making communal public seating more furry and comfortable.
February 6, 2026 at 11:18 PM
#FungiFriends 'village bench lichen' 😅
1/2
Nice review! The subsurface will also be the place where life continues after the coming surface biosphere extinction, and the source of new life on future planet Earth
@emilruff.bsky.social,
@emvidal.bsky.social,
@drbradbrad.bsky.social
@geobiomaggie.bsky.social,
@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
Nice review! The subsurface will also be the place where life continues after the coming surface biosphere extinction, and the source of new life on future planet Earth
@emilruff.bsky.social,
@emvidal.bsky.social,
@drbradbrad.bsky.social
@geobiomaggie.bsky.social,
@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
February 8, 2026 at 9:28 AM
1/2
Nice review! The subsurface will also be the place where life continues after the coming surface biosphere extinction, and the source of new life on future planet Earth
@emilruff.bsky.social,
@emvidal.bsky.social,
@drbradbrad.bsky.social
@geobiomaggie.bsky.social,
@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
Nice review! The subsurface will also be the place where life continues after the coming surface biosphere extinction, and the source of new life on future planet Earth
@emilruff.bsky.social,
@emvidal.bsky.social,
@drbradbrad.bsky.social
@geobiomaggie.bsky.social,
@stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Stop Meeting Students Where They Are
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
What I learned when I finally started assigning the hard reading again.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... | @theatlantic.com
Wonderful editorial on teaching critical thinking through microbiology by Lara Amorim: Teaching critical and systems thinking early: building the cognitive infrastructure for informed judgment and responsible citizenship | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Teaching critical and systems thinking early: building the cognitive infrastructure for informed judgment and responsible citizenship | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
Schools increasingly ask students to make sense of high-volume information, contested
claims, and complex real-world problems. Yet, many learners are trained to accumulate
facts without learning the r...
journals.asm.org
February 2, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Wonderful editorial on teaching critical thinking through microbiology by Lara Amorim: Teaching critical and systems thinking early: building the cognitive infrastructure for informed judgment and responsible citizenship | Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
New paper out in PNAS!!! 🎉
Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution?
🧵 Dive into the story
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution?
🧵 Dive into the story
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Plasmid mutation rates scale with copy number | PNAS
Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA molecules that spread by horizontal transfer and
shape bacterial evolution. Plasmids are typically present at mul...
www.pnas.org
January 27, 2026 at 12:02 PM
New paper out in PNAS!!! 🎉
Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution?
🧵 Dive into the story
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Do more plasmid copies mean faster evolution?
🧵 Dive into the story
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Our new paper, out today! We resurrected ancient nitrogenases first used by life on Earth 3 billion years ago. We combined synthetic biology and geology & validated their chemical #biosignature in rocks that helps reveal ancient life on Earth!(and beyond!)
Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Link: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Resurrected nitrogenases recapitulate canonical N-isotope biosignatures over two billion years - Nature Communications
The study shows that nitrogenase enzymes have maintained stable isotope signatures over billions of years, revealing how ancient microbes shaped Earth’s nitrogen cycle and offering a new experimental ...
www.nature.com
February 1, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Reposted by Ken Timmis
🧪🧬 'An Evolutionary Story of Agency', an #OpenAccess book, exposes the role of "agency" in the history of life. Explores how life has made its way on our planet with forms of agency as diverse as those shown by bacteria, plants or animals. bit.ly/4ahuBmV #evolution @julipereto.bsky.social
January 30, 2026 at 5:30 PM
🧪🧬 'An Evolutionary Story of Agency', an #OpenAccess book, exposes the role of "agency" in the history of life. Explores how life has made its way on our planet with forms of agency as diverse as those shown by bacteria, plants or animals. bit.ly/4ahuBmV #evolution @julipereto.bsky.social
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Predatory vibes from @pensoft.net — click a link to decline a review and you’re forced to create an account—purely to pump user metrics.
Declining a review should not require registration. Commercially driven #predatorypublishing plain and simple.
#sciencecrisis
Declining a review should not require registration. Commercially driven #predatorypublishing plain and simple.
#sciencecrisis
January 30, 2026 at 9:48 AM
Predatory vibes from @pensoft.net — click a link to decline a review and you’re forced to create an account—purely to pump user metrics.
Declining a review should not require registration. Commercially driven #predatorypublishing plain and simple.
#sciencecrisis
Declining a review should not require registration. Commercially driven #predatorypublishing plain and simple.
#sciencecrisis
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#MicroSky: Microbial Literacy: In a world of cascading, human-made crises & information overload, better decisions are urgent. Critical thinking, taught early & practiced widely, is our best defense against bias, misinformation, and self-harm to society and planet. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
January 30, 2026 at 11:01 AM
#MicroSky: Microbial Literacy: In a world of cascading, human-made crises & information overload, better decisions are urgent. Critical thinking, taught early & practiced widely, is our best defense against bias, misinformation, and self-harm to society and planet. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Spoke to Shleagh Fogarty yesterday sbout why the Chancellor is wrong: our “student loan” system is not remotely fair. It’s regressive and embedding inter and intra generational wealth inequality. It’s not a loan system, it’s a bad grad tax in all but name.
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
Student loans are 'fair', says Rachel Reeves, amid backlash | LBC
YouTube video by LBC
youtu.be
January 29, 2026 at 7:41 AM
Spoke to Shleagh Fogarty yesterday sbout why the Chancellor is wrong: our “student loan” system is not remotely fair. It’s regressive and embedding inter and intra generational wealth inequality. It’s not a loan system, it’s a bad grad tax in all but name.
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
youtu.be/uOC6Arrf2us?...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#MicroSky: Plasmid vectors still underpin molecular biology, but convenience shouldn’t trump design. De Lorenzo & Martínez revisit copy number, selection & stability, and explores modular AI-assisted vector design for robust synthetic biology across the microbial world. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
January 29, 2026 at 11:00 AM
#MicroSky: Plasmid vectors still underpin molecular biology, but convenience shouldn’t trump design. De Lorenzo & Martínez revisit copy number, selection & stability, and explores modular AI-assisted vector design for robust synthetic biology across the microbial world. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Happy new year to all, with this last reading for 2025:
Role of #Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the #Anthropocene
@mikrobiokosmos.bsky.social @hosmic.bsky.social
url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Role of #Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the #Anthropocene
@mikrobiokosmos.bsky.social @hosmic.bsky.social
url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
The Role of Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the Anthropocene
Fernando Baquero, Roberto Kolter, Kenneth Timmis; The Role of Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the Anthropocene, microLife, , uqaf044, https://doi.o
academic.oup.com
December 28, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Happy new year to all, with this last reading for 2025:
Role of #Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the #Anthropocene
@mikrobiokosmos.bsky.social @hosmic.bsky.social
url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Role of #Microbiology in Balancing Nature During the #Anthropocene
@mikrobiokosmos.bsky.social @hosmic.bsky.social
url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
Yellowstone’s colors aren’t just minerals. They’re living microbes. Heat-loving bacteria and archaea form bands as water cools, each pigment tuned to temperature and light. What looks like abstract art is a thriving ecosystem shaped by extreme heat and chemistry.
January 26, 2026 at 8:48 PM
Yellowstone’s colors aren’t just minerals. They’re living microbes. Heat-loving bacteria and archaea form bands as water cools, each pigment tuned to temperature and light. What looks like abstract art is a thriving ecosystem shaped by extreme heat and chemistry.
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#MicroSky: ONE HEALTH: Choudhury et al engineered Lactococcus lactis to deliver antimicrobial peptides that selectively target Fusobacterium nucleatum, a key driver of colorectal cancer, reducing biofilms & preserving gut microbiome diversity. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
January 28, 2026 at 11:00 AM
#MicroSky: ONE HEALTH: Choudhury et al engineered Lactococcus lactis to deliver antimicrobial peptides that selectively target Fusobacterium nucleatum, a key driver of colorectal cancer, reducing biofilms & preserving gut microbiome diversity. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
Reposted by Ken Timmis
#MicroSky: BE SOCIAL: Science Fun Day outreach for primary pupils in Essex boosted enjoyment of science, interest in science careers, and understanding of why microbes matter, showing how hands-on engagement can inspire future scientists. Don’t miss Archer et al. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
January 26, 2026 at 11:00 AM
#MicroSky: BE SOCIAL: Science Fun Day outreach for primary pupils in Essex boosted enjoyment of science, interest in science careers, and understanding of why microbes matter, showing how hands-on engagement can inspire future scientists. Don’t miss Archer et al. doi.org/10.1111/1751...
For those interested in the original pioneering work of Juan Luis Ramos on exploration of evolutionary potential of transcription factors and its exploitation to design new phenotypes, see Ramos 1986, 1987, 1990; Abril 1989; Michan 1992
@taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @alanrice.ie
@taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @alanrice.ie
Transcription Factor Promiscuity Drives Regulatory Rewiring and Evolvability in Gene Networks in Bacteria
(=Pseudomonas fluorescens)
Advanced Science, perspective by @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social & @alanrice.ie
Uni Bath's 60th anniversary special issue
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
(=Pseudomonas fluorescens)
Advanced Science, perspective by @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social & @alanrice.ie
Uni Bath's 60th anniversary special issue
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Transcription Factor Promiscuity Drives Regulatory Rewiring and Evolvability in Gene Networks in Bacteria
This special issue marking the University of Bath's 60th anniversary offers an opportunity to reflect on nearly a decade of research into the evolution of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from members....
advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
January 25, 2026 at 1:12 PM
For those interested in the original pioneering work of Juan Luis Ramos on exploration of evolutionary potential of transcription factors and its exploitation to design new phenotypes, see Ramos 1986, 1987, 1990; Abril 1989; Michan 1992
@taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @alanrice.ie
@taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @alanrice.ie