Tiago Costa
@tcostalab.bsky.social
Associate Professor and Group Leader @Imperial College London
https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/t.costa
We study the architecture and function of molecular machines that drive antimicrobial resistance (AMR) dissemination and virulence.
https://profiles.imperial.ac.uk/t.costa
We study the architecture and function of molecular machines that drive antimicrobial resistance (AMR) dissemination and virulence.
Reposted by Tiago Costa
New paper just out from #OurImperial @tcostalab.bsky.social
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain - Nature Communications
Adherent-invasive strains of E. coli are commonly isolated from patients with Crohn’s disease. Here, the authors show that an AIEC harbours a hybrid Type IV secretion system (T4SS) that mediates pilin...
www.nature.com
October 20, 2025 at 6:38 PM
New paper just out from #OurImperial @tcostalab.bsky.social
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The assembly of a hybrid type IV secretion system by a Crohn’s disease-associated Escherichia coli strain.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tiago Costa
"It's less like pressing a button for an answer and more like mentoring a junior colleague—asking the right questions, pushing back on shallow reasoning, and nudging the system toward sharper insights."
Google's AI Co-Scientist Is Changing the Face of Scientific Research
Google's AI co-scientist is proving itself more than a novelty. In two biology studies, it generated exciting ideas that could have taken years of lab work to uncover.
spectrum.ieee.org
September 25, 2025 at 3:01 PM
"It's less like pressing a button for an answer and more like mentoring a junior colleague—asking the right questions, pushing back on shallow reasoning, and nudging the system toward sharper insights."
Reposted by Tiago Costa
Imperial researchers have discovered how ‘pirate phages’ hijack other viruses to break into bacteria, sharing new genetic material for dangerous traits.
This discovery that could be harnessed to tackle #AMR
Read more ⬇️
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/268213/...
This discovery that could be harnessed to tackle #AMR
Read more ⬇️
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/268213/...
September 11, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Imperial researchers have discovered how ‘pirate phages’ hijack other viruses to break into bacteria, sharing new genetic material for dangerous traits.
This discovery that could be harnessed to tackle #AMR
Read more ⬇️
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/268213/...
This discovery that could be harnessed to tackle #AMR
Read more ⬇️
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/268213/...
Thrilled to share that two of our papers with @jrpenades.bsky.social & GoogleDeepMind
are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social
1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3
2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@imperiallifesci.bsky.social
are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social
1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3
2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@imperiallifesci.bsky.social
September 9, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Thrilled to share that two of our papers with @jrpenades.bsky.social & GoogleDeepMind
are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social
1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3
2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@imperiallifesci.bsky.social
are now out in @cellpress.bsky.social
1️⃣Microbial piracy: tinyurl.com/yvf6t3b3
2️⃣AI co-scientist mirrors experimental science: tinyurl.com/2dym92kj
@imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
@imperiallifesci.bsky.social
Reposted by Tiago Costa
New study shows how bacteria evolved powered-up propellers www.imperial.ac.uk/news/265473/... ... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
New study shows how bacteria evolved powered-up propellers | Imperial News | Imperial College London
Dr Morgan Beeby’s lab has discovered how some flagella - tiny ‘tail’ propellers used by bacteria for swimming - evolved to be more powerful.
www.imperial.ac.uk
July 1, 2025 at 11:08 AM
New study shows how bacteria evolved powered-up propellers www.imperial.ac.uk/news/265473/... ... www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Tiago Costa
Honored to have been chosen for this year’s GlaxoSmithKline Award from @biochemsoc.bsky.social. A big thank you to lab members past and present @imperialsci.bsky.social and @erc.europa.eu @cruk-si.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social for supporting our work.
The 2026 GlaxoSmithKline Award goes to Doryen Bubeck! Internationally recognised, @doryenbubeck.bsky.social's pioneering research in structural immunology has laid a foundation for future treatments targeting immune-mediated diseases and infectious pathogens.
April 8, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Honored to have been chosen for this year’s GlaxoSmithKline Award from @biochemsoc.bsky.social. A big thank you to lab members past and present @imperialsci.bsky.social and @erc.europa.eu @cruk-si.bsky.social @wellcometrust.bsky.social for supporting our work.
Reposted by Tiago Costa
Check out our own Tiago Costa @tcostalab.bsky.social talking about Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Exciting stuff!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Exciting stuff!
BBC Radio 4 - BBC Inside Science, AI in Science: Promise and Peril
Google has launched a new AI tool called Co-Scientist. How good is it?
www.bbc.co.uk
February 27, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Check out our own Tiago Costa @tcostalab.bsky.social talking about Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here:
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Exciting stuff!
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Exciting stuff!
Reposted by Tiago Costa
You can listen to Jose Penades @jrpenades.bsky.social interview about #phages and Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here:
(go to 2:34:15)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
(go to 2:34:15)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
February 20, 2025 at 9:14 PM
You can listen to Jose Penades @jrpenades.bsky.social interview about #phages and Google's 'AI Co-scientist' on BBC Radio 4 here:
(go to 2:34:15)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
(go to 2:34:15)
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
With @jrpenades.bsky.social, we challenged Google AI co-scientist to generate hypotheses. In just 2 days, it recapitulated our unpublished, experimentally confirmed mechanism for how cf-PICIs spread between bacterial species! @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3byyaeh2
tinyurl.com/3byyaeh2
AI mirrors experimental science to uncover a novel mechanism of gene transfer crucial to bacterial evolution
AI models have been proposed for hypothesis generation, but testing their ability to drive high-impact research is challenging, since an AI-generated hypothesis can take decades to validate. Here, we ...
tinyurl.com
February 20, 2025 at 1:24 PM
With @jrpenades.bsky.social, we challenged Google AI co-scientist to generate hypotheses. In just 2 days, it recapitulated our unpublished, experimentally confirmed mechanism for how cf-PICIs spread between bacterial species! @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social
tinyurl.com/3byyaeh2
tinyurl.com/3byyaeh2
Reposted by Tiago Costa
An unreleased AI system by Google designed to assist researchers has the potential to "supercharge science."
Dr Tiago Dias da Costa and other Imperial researchers were the first to test it, and say it replicated ten years of work in just two days.
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/261293/...
Dr Tiago Dias da Costa and other Imperial researchers were the first to test it, and say it replicated ten years of work in just two days.
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/261293/...
Google’s AI co-scientist could enhance research, say Imperial researchers | Imperial News | Imperial College London
An unreleased system designed to assist researchers has the potential to “supercharge science”, according to Imperial researchers.
www.imperial.ac.uk
February 20, 2025 at 12:17 PM
An unreleased AI system by Google designed to assist researchers has the potential to "supercharge science."
Dr Tiago Dias da Costa and other Imperial researchers were the first to test it, and say it replicated ten years of work in just two days.
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/261293/...
Dr Tiago Dias da Costa and other Imperial researchers were the first to test it, and say it replicated ten years of work in just two days.
www.imperial.ac.uk/news/261293/...
New work from the lab with @jrpenades.bsky.social! We discovered a biological entity that spreads among different bacterial species by hijacking tails from various phages. This finding has major translational applications due to its broad host range. More news soon!
shorturl.at/kRJqE
shorturl.at/kRJqE
Chimeric infective particles expand species boundaries in phage inducible chromosomal island mobilization
Some mobile genetic elements spread among unrelated bacterial species through unknown mechanisms. Recently, we discovered that identical capsid-forming phage-inducible chromosomal islands (cf-PICIs), ...
shorturl.at
February 12, 2025 at 11:50 AM
New work from the lab with @jrpenades.bsky.social! We discovered a biological entity that spreads among different bacterial species by hijacking tails from various phages. This finding has major translational applications due to its broad host range. More news soon!
shorturl.at/kRJqE
shorturl.at/kRJqE
Reposted by Tiago Costa
Huge congratulations to our Head of Life Sciences Prof Dan Davis @dandavis101.bsky.social
who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours list! 🎖️
Dan receives an MBE for his services to science communication.
#OurImperial
Read more 🔽
imperial.ac.uk/news/259480/...
who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours list! 🎖️
Dan receives an MBE for his services to science communication.
#OurImperial
Read more 🔽
imperial.ac.uk/news/259480/...
December 31, 2024 at 9:38 AM
Huge congratulations to our Head of Life Sciences Prof Dan Davis @dandavis101.bsky.social
who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours list! 🎖️
Dan receives an MBE for his services to science communication.
#OurImperial
Read more 🔽
imperial.ac.uk/news/259480/...
who has been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours list! 🎖️
Dan receives an MBE for his services to science communication.
#OurImperial
Read more 🔽
imperial.ac.uk/news/259480/...
Reposted by Tiago Costa
Great to see this paper published on Cpx signalling, LPS remodelling and colistin resistance. It is always a pleasure to work with my collaborators and friends @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @tcostalab.bsky.social @lukeallsopp.bsky.social and Gerald Larrouy Maumus.
Check at doi.org/10.1038/s442...
Check at doi.org/10.1038/s442...
Cpx-signalling in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis modulates Lipid-A remodelling and resistance to last-resort antimicrobials - npj Antimicrobials and Resistance
npj Antimicrobials and Resistance - Cpx-signalling in Yersinia pseudotuberculosis modulates Lipid-A remodelling and resistance to last-resort antimicrobials
doi.org
December 18, 2024 at 12:55 AM
Great to see this paper published on Cpx signalling, LPS remodelling and colistin resistance. It is always a pleasure to work with my collaborators and friends @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social @tcostalab.bsky.social @lukeallsopp.bsky.social and Gerald Larrouy Maumus.
Check at doi.org/10.1038/s442...
Check at doi.org/10.1038/s442...