Rhys White
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rhystwhite.bsky.social
Rhys White
@rhystwhite.bsky.social
3.5K followers 1.3K following 150 posts
Scientist | Turning #Genomics into intelligence | Tracking pathogen evolution, diversity, & spread | Welsh expat in New Zealand | Formerly The University of Queensland
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rhystwhite.bsky.social
Rhys White @rhystwhite.bsky.social · Nov 27
Kia ora koutou! 👋

I’ve put together a starter pack of amazing people working in #Genomics across Aotearoa New Zealand.

If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

go.bsky.app/KhMbQxK
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Genomics isn’t just solving #Outbreaks, it’s stopping them before they escalate

HOT take from @natrevmicro.nature.com: If you only sequence #MDR outbreaks, you’re already late. Consider susceptible strains & #Plasmids

#GenomicSurveillance #InfectionControl

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
#IDSky
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November 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
⚠️ What is measles (Te mate karawaka)?
A HIGHLY contagious virus that spreads through the air. People are infectious before the rash shows

Learn more 👉 info.health.nz/conditions-t...

😷💉 #Measles #MMR #VaccinesWork #Aotearoa #PublicHealth
WHO and UNICEF South Pacific graphic on yellow background. Text: measles is serious and spreading quickly; vaccination best protects you, your family, and community. Three raised hands of different skin tones.
November 3, 2025 at 12:29 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Measles in #NZ
Check locations & what to do👉 info.health.nz/conditions-t...

Symptoms or exposure?
☎️Call Healthline 0800 611 116

Not immune? Get MMR (2 doses, 1 month apart)

Book👉 app.bookmyvaccine.health.nz

#Measles #MMR #VaccinesWork #Aotearoa #PublicHealth
November 2, 2025 at 11:49 PM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
🚨New paper out!

Why does Staphylococcus aureus ST1 dominate in BOTH people🧑‍⚕️ & cows🐄 in New Zealand… but rarely elsewhere?

Our latest comparative genomics study unpacks this mystery👇

📄 doi.org/10.1128/msph...

@asm.org

#AMR #Genomics #OneHealth

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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Comparative genomics of endemic Staphylococcus aureus ST1 in New Zealand | mSphere
This study presents a comprehensive genomic analysis of S. aureus ST1, a lineage that is unusually dominant in both bovine and human populations in New Zealand. Leveraging New Zealand’s geographical i...
doi.org
September 29, 2025 at 8:42 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
🚨Call for abstracts

#OneHealth Aotearoa Symposium 2025

📍Wellington + online
🗓️2–3 Dec 2025

Submit an abstract by 30 Sept

Themes: #AMR, #Zoonoses, #HealthEquity, #TeAoMāori, #ClimateHealth & more

More info👉 onehealth.org.nz/one-health-a...

📩one.health@otago.ac.nz

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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One Health Aotearoa Symposium 2025 - One Health Aotearoa
Our 11th annual symposium will be held on 2-3 December 2025 at the University of Otago, Wellington campus and online. Registrations will open soon! Venue Information Nordmeyer Lecture Theatre – Univer...
onehealth.org.nz
September 11, 2025 at 7:51 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Honoured to present this at #MicroSeq2025💙

This work reflects contributions from MANY colleagues across institutions & I'm grateful for the opportunity to share it

Published in @microbiologysociety.org:
doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

Also in @aunz.theconversation.com:
theconversation.com/antibiotic-u...
September 4, 2025 at 2:08 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
New Zealand’s prescribing habits likely helped create a homegrown #MRSA 🇳🇿🧬💊

Now ‘AK3’ has been detected overseas

Our recent study shows how it evolved & how #Genomics can help reduce the impact of the next ‘superbug’

#AMR is an issue for everyone
#SciComm

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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aunz.theconversation.com The Conversation AUNZ @aunz.theconversation.com · Aug 18
Over-subscription of a topical antibiotic likely led to the emergence of a superbug which is now the leading cause of resistant infections.
Antibiotic use likely fuelled the rise of a ‘superbug’ in NZ – genomics offers a defence against the next threat
theconversation.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:01 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
💥How New Zealand's previous 'go-to' #Antibiotic fuelled the rise of a home-grown #MRSA superbug

By the 2010s, AK3 took the lead as NZ’s top #MRSA strain, fuelled by years of high fusidic acid use
#AntibioticResistance #PublicHealth

doi.org/10.1099/mgen...

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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20 years later: unravelling the genomic success of New Zealand’s home-grown AK3 community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) represents a significant public health challenge. In New Zealand, the community-associated MRSA sequence type (ST)5, carrying the staphylococcal cass...
doi.org
August 12, 2025 at 4:59 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Peer-reviewed evidence that @nanoporetech.com & #DoradoCorrect (HERRO) can resolve a NICU #MRSA outbreak to SNV precision - no short reads needed (so long as adequate n50 read lengths are met)

Fast, decentralised, clinically useful

🔗 doi.org/10.1016/j.jh...

#Genomics #PHFScience #InfectionControl
Redirecting
doi.org
August 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Rhys White
ruamicro.bsky.social
Absolutely delighted to share the labs latest work. We identify and characterise two pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic EHEC and Citrobacter.
Convergent evolution of distinct D-ribulose utilisation pathways in attaching and effacing pathogens - Nature Communications
Cottam et al. identify distinct pathways for D-ribulose utilisation in pathogenic Escherichia coli and Citrobacter rodentium, providing mechanistic details and suggesting convergent evolution towards ...
www.nature.com
July 30, 2025 at 9:24 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Out & #OpenAccess

📌Community outbreak of OXA-48–producing Escherichia coli linked to food premises, New Zealand, 2018-2022

doi.org/10.3201/eid3...

Thanks to folks across NZ who helped investigate & respond
#AMR #PublicHealth #Genomics #Epidemiology #Scicomm
🧵

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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Community Outbreak of OXA-48–Producing <em>Escherichia coli</em> Linked to Food Premises, New Zealand, 2018–2022
Outbreak of OXA-48–Producing <em>E. coli</em>, New Zealand
doi.org
July 11, 2025 at 2:52 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
One patient, two samples

Weeks apart, E. faecium picked up vancomycin resistance

By sequencing vancomycin-susceptible strains on-site, we caught this early & avoided unnecessary, disruptive interventions #Genomics

Proud to share at #nanoporeconf!
@nanoporetech.com

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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May 21, 2025 at 5:27 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Attending #ESCMIDGlobal & curious about community-associated CPE?
Craig Thornley is presenting today on a prolonged OXA-48-producing E. coli cluster in New Zealand, with genomic evidence supporting community & hospital transmission. See poster E0434 #ESCMIDGlobal2025

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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April 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Hospital infections are a problem & 'go-to' methods have limits. We trailed @nanoporetech.com in outbreak detection & response

📌Implementing nanopore sequencing in a clinical laboratory: a social systems case study | NZ J Med Lab Sci

issuu.com/sharontozer/...

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#AcademicSky
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NZJMLS V.79 N0. 1 March 2025
New Zealand Journal of Medical Laboratory Science. Volume 79, Number 1, March 2025
issuu.com
March 6, 2025 at 8:50 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
📌The need for speed: ultra-rapid high-resolution outbreak analysis in a front-line hospital microbiology laboratory |@medrxivpreprint

See how hospital labs can analyse outbreaks fast - no on-site #Bioinformatics needed, cutting delays

doi.org/10.1101/2025...

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#AcademicSky
#MicroSky
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The need for speed: ultra-rapid high-resolution outbreak analysis in a front-line hospital microbiology laboratory
Many hospital laboratories have technical capacity to perform whole-genome sequencing but lack bioinformatic expertise to analyse sequence data. Sending isolates to reference laboratories creates dela...
doi.org
February 13, 2025 at 9:30 PM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
K. variicola can be misID as K. pneumoniae. Our #OpenAccess paper reports an NICU #Outbreak

📌The rapid detection of a neonatal unit outbreak of a wild-type Klebsiella variicola using decentralized Oxford Nanopore sequencing

doi.org/10.1186/s137...

@nanoporetech.com

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#AcademicSky
#Microsky
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The rapid detection of a neonatal unit outbreak of a wild-type Klebsiella variicola using decentralized Oxford Nanopore sequencing - Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control
Background Klebsiella variicola has been implicated in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) outbreaks previously and can be misidentified as Klebsiella pneumoniae. An increased incidence of K. pneumoni...
doi.org
February 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
Reposted by Rhys White
duckswabber.bsky.social
Amazing work by the NZ MPI team - the full genome from the HPAI H7N6 detection is now available on GISAID.

Further information on the impacts and control actions can be found here:
bit.ly/4iy3O8n
Situation update H7N6 bird flu detection Otago – 4 December 2024 | NZ Government
Biosecurity New Zealand is taking further action today to stamp out a high pathogenic strain of avian influenza, H7N6, detected on a commercial egg farm in rural Otago. "Work started this morning to h...
bit.ly
December 4, 2024 at 6:08 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Kia ora koutou! 👋

I’ve put together a starter pack of amazing people working in #Genomics across Aotearoa New Zealand.

If I’ve missed anyone, please let me know!

go.bsky.app/KhMbQxK
November 27, 2024 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Rhys White
jlsteenwyk.bsky.social
NEW Publication!😄

Here, we show how #PhyKIT — a broadly applicable toolkit for #phylogenomics — can be used to construct phylogenomic data matrices (& quantify biases therein), detect anomalies in predicted orthology, calculate gene-gene coevolution, & more!

🔗: tinyurl.com/yc5ja4xz
November 25, 2024 at 5:25 PM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Day 6 of @who.int World #AntimicrobialAwarenessWeek: AMR isn't just a global crisis—it has local consequences🌏
It’s not just about humans. #AMR affects animals, the environment & everything in between.
To truly understand AMR, we need to see how these 3 are connected #OneHealth #WAAW🧵👇🧪 #WAAW2024
November 23, 2024 at 8:39 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Day 5 of the @who.int World #AntimicrobialAwarenessWeek. We've covered what #AntibioticResistance is & how it spreads. But how do bacteria resist #Antibiotics? From modifying drug targets to producing enzymes that break down antibiotics, here are some common #AMR mechanisms🧵🧪 #WAAW #WAAW2024
November 22, 2024 at 3:52 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Day 4 of the @who.int World #AntimicrobialAwarenessWeek: Composite transposons are another way #AntimicrobialResistance genes spread. These ‘jumping genes’ move resistance genes within & between bacterial DNA, increasing bacterial resistance to #Antibiotics! 🧵👇 #WAAW2024 #AMR 🧪
November 21, 2024 at 4:28 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
Day 3 of the @who-global.bsky.social World #AntimicrobialAwarenessWeek: Did you know that viruses called phages can also spread #AntimicrobialResistance? A phage can infect bacteria & can sometimes transfer #AMR genes between them. Let’s see how! 🧵👇 🧪 #WAAW2024
November 20, 2024 at 3:10 AM
rhystwhite.bsky.social
It's day 2 of the @who-global.bsky.social World #AntimicrobialAwarenessWeek: How does #AntimicrobialResistance spread between bacteria? Let’s explore how #plasmids, tiny DNA molecules, can transfer resistance genes across bacteria—even different species in some cases! 🧵👇 🧪 #WAAW #AMR
November 19, 2024 at 8:47 AM