Connor Sharp
@magicmicrobe.bsky.social
Lecturer in Microbiology at the University of Reading. Interested in uncovering how bacteria fight it out and using those strategies against them
Reposted by Connor Sharp
A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends.
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
Bacteriocin biophysics: From protein-protein interaction models to navigators of the bacterial cell envelope
Bacteriocins are toxins deployed by bacteria to kill their competitors. Here, I reflect
on my laboratory’s work on protein bacteriocins and their immunity proteins from Gram-negative
bacteria. We unco...
www.jbc.org
February 2, 2026 at 12:39 PM
A gift of an article from the inimitable Colin Kleanthous as he says a moving farewell to his laboratory. A brave, unrepentant and scientifically brilliant journey is described - please have a read, friends.
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
www.jbc.org/article/S002...
What does competition for iron look like for pathogens in different environments? We had the chance to contribute to this great paper looking at Salmonella in the gut with the Cunrath Lab (UoStrasbourg). Salmonella relies on siderophore exploitation at low pH url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Salmonella relies on siderophore exploitation at low pH
Abstract. Salmonella enterica, a prominent enteric pathogen, employs sophisticated iron acquisition mechanisms to overcome host-imposed iron limitation, no
academic.oup.com
February 5, 2026 at 7:39 PM
What does competition for iron look like for pathogens in different environments? We had the chance to contribute to this great paper looking at Salmonella in the gut with the Cunrath Lab (UoStrasbourg). Salmonella relies on siderophore exploitation at low pH url: academic.oup.com/microlife/ar...
Excited to share this fully funded PhD position in my lab in collaboration with FBSDTP & @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social, focussing on how iron influences the ability of pathogens to invade the microbiome.
Advert:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Apply:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Advert:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Apply:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
research.reading.ac.uk
January 6, 2026 at 8:15 AM
Excited to share this fully funded PhD position in my lab in collaboration with FBSDTP & @rachelmwheatley.bsky.social, focussing on how iron influences the ability of pathogens to invade the microbiome.
Advert:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Apply:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Advert:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Apply:
research.reading.ac.uk/foodbiosyste...
Reposted by Connor Sharp
Proud to announce SimPhyNI, a new tool for bacterial GWAS with higher precision and scalability than existing tools. Try it out and let us know what you think!!
High Precision Binary Trait Association on Phylogenetic Trees https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.24.696407v1
January 5, 2026 at 2:55 PM
Proud to announce SimPhyNI, a new tool for bacterial GWAS with higher precision and scalability than existing tools. Try it out and let us know what you think!!
Reposted by Connor Sharp
Can we leverage bacterial competition for targeted replacement of harmful strains? Maybe! Our recent piece in @natmicrobiol.nature.com provides a theoretical framework and a set of experiments to show what it might take: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Strain displacement in microbiomes via ecological competition - Nature Microbiology
Mathematical modelling and experimental tests reveal principles that govern displacement of a resident strain by an invader in microbial communities.
www.nature.com
November 7, 2025 at 10:34 PM
Can we leverage bacterial competition for targeted replacement of harmful strains? Maybe! Our recent piece in @natmicrobiol.nature.com provides a theoretical framework and a set of experiments to show what it might take: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance - Nature Communications
Bacteria employ a range of competition systems that deliver toxins to inhibit competing strains. This study shows that these systems are particularly important for the ecology of virulent and antibiot...
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:32 AM
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Excited to join bsky and share cool research. Hopefully we will have lots of exciting lab updates coming soon!
October 30, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Excited to join bsky and share cool research. Hopefully we will have lots of exciting lab updates coming soon!