Will Matlock
@wtmatlock.bsky.social
Wellcome Early-Career Award Fellow @milnerevolution.bsky.social working on plasmid evolution and ecology (he/him) 🏳️⚧️🇵🇸
Formerly @biology.ox.ac.uk and @modmedmicro.bsky.social
Formerly @biology.ox.ac.uk and @modmedmicro.bsky.social
Pinned
Will Matlock
@wtmatlock.bsky.social
· Sep 30
Now published in @natcomms.nature.com 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
Reposted by Will Matlock
If you're interested, click on www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g... - Life and Medical Sciences, Clinical Medicine 04!
February 9, 2026 at 5:29 PM
If you're interested, click on www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/g... - Life and Medical Sciences, Clinical Medicine 04!
Reposted by Will Matlock
Neisseria gonorrhoeae carries an unusually large number of restriction–modification systems (up to 16!), many of which are phase-variable. How does this affect plasmid transmission in gonococci? doi.org/10.64898/202...
doi.org
January 13, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Neisseria gonorrhoeae carries an unusually large number of restriction–modification systems (up to 16!), many of which are phase-variable. How does this affect plasmid transmission in gonococci? doi.org/10.64898/202...
Reposted by Will Matlock
🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Job profile
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk
January 5, 2026 at 10:00 AM
🔊 Job Opportunity: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Bacterial Evolution.
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Looking to recruit a postdoc to join a UKRI FLF-funded project on antibiotic resistance evolution in the microbiome 🦠
3 years funding, deadline 26th Jan, please share!
hrwebapp.qub.ac.uk/tlive_webrec...
Excited to share some new work on plasmid host specificity and co-occurrence!
🧬Are we getting closer to understanding plasmid evolution?
Join this exciting talk, as the @escmid.bsky.social ESGMAP web symposium series continues.
💥 Dr. William Matlock presents "Models of plasmid evolution"
📅 Dec 3, 12:00-13:00 CET
🔗 Registration required (link in comments)
#ESGMAP #Plasmid
Join this exciting talk, as the @escmid.bsky.social ESGMAP web symposium series continues.
💥 Dr. William Matlock presents "Models of plasmid evolution"
📅 Dec 3, 12:00-13:00 CET
🔗 Registration required (link in comments)
#ESGMAP #Plasmid
November 28, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Excited to share some new work on plasmid host specificity and co-occurrence!
Delighted to have played a small part in this great study from colleagues in CaPES: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Plasmid dynamics driving carbapenemase gene dissemination in healthcare environments: a nationwide analysis of closed Enterobacterales genomes - Nature Communications
Plasmid-mediated transmission plays a significant role in the spread of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales. Here, analyzing 1,115 carbapenemase-producing plasmids from Singapore, the authors sugges...
doi.org
October 29, 2025 at 9:57 AM
Delighted to have played a small part in this great study from colleagues in CaPES: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
Reposted by Will Matlock
There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... The supervisory team also includes @anja1.bsky.social @phil-donoghue.bsky.social and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)
The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - The genomic basis of symbiotic integration at University of Bath, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM
There's a PhD position now available with me in Bath, on the evolution of symbiosis. www.findaphd.com/phds/project.... The supervisory team also includes @anja1.bsky.social @phil-donoghue.bsky.social and others. NB, this is open both to UK-based students *and* to international students :)
Reposted by Will Matlock
We have a fully funded PhD studentship available @modmedmicro.bsky.social in Oxford to work on a really cool project looking at population heterogeneity in bloodstream infections www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/study/dphil-... Please spread the word/get in touch if you'd like to chat.
DPhil project themes
www.ndm.ox.ac.uk
October 8, 2025 at 7:11 PM
We have a fully funded PhD studentship available @modmedmicro.bsky.social in Oxford to work on a really cool project looking at population heterogeneity in bloodstream infections www.ndm.ox.ac.uk/study/dphil-... Please spread the word/get in touch if you'd like to chat.
Please feel free to message me with any questions! ☺️
New ERC funded computational postdoc position in my lab! We are looking for someone who will study the genomics of bacterial evolution using samples from experimental evolution and clinical trials. Lots of opportunities for interesting and fun collaboration!
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
October 8, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Please feel free to message me with any questions! ☺️
Reposted by Will Matlock
🔊 Fully-funded 4yr PhD studentship with the NWB DTP, working on novel regulators of bacterial nitrogen metabolism 🦠
Primary supervisor: @ariannebabina.bsky.social (University of Glasgow)
Co-supervisors: myself (Queen’s Belfast)+ Dónal Wall (Glasgow)
🌟 please share 🌟
www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
Primary supervisor: @ariannebabina.bsky.social (University of Glasgow)
Co-supervisors: myself (Queen’s Belfast)+ Dónal Wall (Glasgow)
🌟 please share 🌟
www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
University of Glasgow - Postgraduate study - Centres for Doctoral Training - NorthWest Biosciences - Our Projects - Underpinning Bioscience - Arianne Babina
www.gla.ac.uk
October 1, 2025 at 6:06 AM
🔊 Fully-funded 4yr PhD studentship with the NWB DTP, working on novel regulators of bacterial nitrogen metabolism 🦠
Primary supervisor: @ariannebabina.bsky.social (University of Glasgow)
Co-supervisors: myself (Queen’s Belfast)+ Dónal Wall (Glasgow)
🌟 please share 🌟
www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
Primary supervisor: @ariannebabina.bsky.social (University of Glasgow)
Co-supervisors: myself (Queen’s Belfast)+ Dónal Wall (Glasgow)
🌟 please share 🌟
www.gla.ac.uk/postgraduate...
Reposted by Will Matlock
Come and work with Nicole Stoesser and I in Oxford with the fantastic team @modmedmicro.bsky.social - great opportunity for a postdoc in microbial genomics to do some creative research with great datasets as part of our HPRU.
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Job Details
my.corehr.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Come and work with Nicole Stoesser and I in Oxford with the fantastic team @modmedmicro.bsky.social - great opportunity for a postdoc in microbial genomics to do some creative research with great datasets as part of our HPRU.
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
Now published in @natcomms.nature.com 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
September 30, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Now published in @natcomms.nature.com 🎉
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
With Gillian Rodger, @nstoesser.bsky.social, @samlipworth.bsky.social, @stat-sarah.bsky.social, and many others!
Reposted by Will Matlock
Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n
Thread 1/n
September 25, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Delighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols.
Thread 1/n
Thread 1/n
Reposted by Will Matlock
New pre-print from my lab!
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense.
E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!!
#microsky#AMR#phage
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense.
E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!!
#microsky#AMR#phage
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance genes and phage defense systems in E. coli
Phage therapy has been proposed as an alternative to antibiotics to treat resistant infections. However, we have a limited understanding of how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) associate with bacter...
www.biorxiv.org
July 29, 2025 at 1:28 PM
New pre-print from my lab!
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense.
E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!!
#microsky#AMR#phage
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense.
E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!!
#microsky#AMR#phage
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
Reposted by Will Matlock
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance genes and phage defense systems in E. coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666796v1
July 28, 2025 at 4:32 AM
Plasmids link antibiotic resistance genes and phage defense systems in E. coli https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.25.666796v1
Reposted by Will Matlock
New Comment—Reinforcing social safety for transgender and non-binary communities amidst global legislative threats tinyurl.com/v3jvjzs5
Reinforcing social safety for transgender and non-binary communities amidst global legislative threats
In 2017, we called for multisector public health initiatives to address discrimination
and violence against transgender and non-binary communities, offering tangible recommendations
for protecting the...
tinyurl.com
June 12, 2025 at 1:13 PM
New Comment—Reinforcing social safety for transgender and non-binary communities amidst global legislative threats tinyurl.com/v3jvjzs5
Reposted by Will Matlock
Delighted to see this paper from danderson123.bsky.social 's PhD out. We have been building tools for AMR gene detection for over a decade now, but multicopy genes remain challenging. Dan shows that with a gene-space de Bruijn graph and long reads, you can do well
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
May 19, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Delighted to see this paper from danderson123.bsky.social 's PhD out. We have been building tools for AMR gene detection for over a decade now, but multicopy genes remain challenging. Dan shows that with a gene-space de Bruijn graph and long reads, you can do well
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Will Matlock
That was fun: 2 days of bacterial genome evolution in beautiful Bath
Ta @edfeil.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
Great to see @craigmaclean.bsky.social @wtmatlock.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @zaminiqbal.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @jomcinerney.bsky.social &co
Ta @edfeil.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
Great to see @craigmaclean.bsky.social @wtmatlock.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @zaminiqbal.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @jomcinerney.bsky.social &co
May 14, 2025 at 4:24 PM
That was fun: 2 days of bacterial genome evolution in beautiful Bath
Ta @edfeil.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
Great to see @craigmaclean.bsky.social @wtmatlock.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @zaminiqbal.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @jomcinerney.bsky.social &co
Ta @edfeil.bsky.social @eseb.bsky.social
Great to see @craigmaclean.bsky.social @wtmatlock.bsky.social @jpjhall.bsky.social @taylorlabgroup.bsky.social @zaminiqbal.bsky.social @epcrocha.bsky.social @jomcinerney.bsky.social &co
Reposted by Will Matlock
The leading region of many conjugative plasmids is depleted in restriction-modification targets https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.03.647016v1
April 4, 2025 at 2:17 AM
The leading region of many conjugative plasmids is depleted in restriction-modification targets https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.04.03.647016v1
Reposted by Will Matlock
Deadline in ‼️3 weeks‼️ for this project with me & @paulhoskisson.bsky.social 🦠 🧫
Funded PhD project now open via NorthWest Bio DTP - Space invaders: genetic and metabolic factors underpinning successful pathogen invasion into microbial communities 🦠
Project description: shorturl.at/RmMeR
How to apply: shorturl.at/JOtaH
🌟 Applications now open with a deadline of January 6th 🌟
Project description: shorturl.at/RmMeR
How to apply: shorturl.at/JOtaH
🌟 Applications now open with a deadline of January 6th 🌟
December 13, 2024 at 5:08 PM
Deadline in ‼️3 weeks‼️ for this project with me & @paulhoskisson.bsky.social 🦠 🧫
Reposted by Will Matlock
Reposted by Will Matlock
🆕New in @plosbiology.bsky.social: we show compensatory mutations make plasmids play Rock-Paper-Scissors and turn conjugation into a weapon🛡️💫✂️🦠
w/Rosanna Wright, Jamie Wood, @mbottery.bsky.social, @kmudz.bsky.social, @scottishwormboy.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison & @brockhurstlab.bsky.social #MicroSky
w/Rosanna Wright, Jamie Wood, @mbottery.bsky.social, @kmudz.bsky.social, @scottishwormboy.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison & @brockhurstlab.bsky.social #MicroSky
A chromosomal mutation is superior to a plasmid-encoded mutation for plasmid fitness cost compensation
Plasmids spread important traits in microbiomes but impose fitness costs on their hosts. This study of the ecological consequences of plasmid-bacterial compensatory evolution reveals benefits to bacte...
journals.plos.org
December 3, 2024 at 9:45 AM
🆕New in @plosbiology.bsky.social: we show compensatory mutations make plasmids play Rock-Paper-Scissors and turn conjugation into a weapon🛡️💫✂️🦠
w/Rosanna Wright, Jamie Wood, @mbottery.bsky.social, @kmudz.bsky.social, @scottishwormboy.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison & @brockhurstlab.bsky.social #MicroSky
w/Rosanna Wright, Jamie Wood, @mbottery.bsky.social, @kmudz.bsky.social, @scottishwormboy.bsky.social, Ellie Harrison & @brockhurstlab.bsky.social #MicroSky
Reposted by Will Matlock
Latest data from AllTheBacteria described in our updated preprint. All illumina WGS bacterial+archaeal sequence data to Aug 2024 consistently assembled, QC, and now AMR profiling. That's 2.4 million genomes. Gene annotations almost done , coming next. Please use!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
AllTheBacteria - all bacterial genomes assembled, available and searchable
The bacterial sequence data publicly available at the global DNA archives is a vast source of information on the evolution of bacteria and their mobile elements. However, most of it is either unassemb...
www.biorxiv.org
November 15, 2024 at 6:59 PM
Latest data from AllTheBacteria described in our updated preprint. All illumina WGS bacterial+archaeal sequence data to Aug 2024 consistently assembled, QC, and now AMR profiling. That's 2.4 million genomes. Gene annotations almost done , coming next. Please use!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Will Matlock
Our paper on identifying novel origins of transfer by conjugation is out! One can now expand the known oriTs from 1% to 80% in species like Acinetobacter baumannii. This contributes to unravel hitcher plasmid mobility beyond model elements. #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Expanding the diversity of origin of transfer-containing sequences in mobilizable plasmids - Nature Microbiology
Characterization of known plasmid oriT features facilitates identification of 21 oriT-containing sequence families which, alongside candidate sequence validation, expands our understanding of plasmid ...
www.nature.com
November 11, 2024 at 8:18 AM
Our paper on identifying novel origins of transfer by conjugation is out! One can now expand the known oriTs from 1% to 80% in species like Acinetobacter baumannii. This contributes to unravel hitcher plasmid mobility beyond model elements. #microsky www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Will Matlock
Use it or lose it: Unless we publish papers in our society owned and published journals they will cease to be, along with all the conferences and meetings the proceeds support. Microbiology Society publishes many excellent journals, all edited by experts. #microsky www.microbiologyresearch.org
Microbiology Society
Microbiology Society journals contain high-quality research papers and topical review articles. We are a not-for-profit publisher and we support and invest in the microbiology community, to the benefi...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
November 2, 2024 at 2:37 PM
Use it or lose it: Unless we publish papers in our society owned and published journals they will cease to be, along with all the conferences and meetings the proceeds support. Microbiology Society publishes many excellent journals, all edited by experts. #microsky www.microbiologyresearch.org
Cool!
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.06.622277v1
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.06.622277v1
Bacteria have evolved a diverse array of mechanisms to inhibit and kill competitors, commonly known
www.biorxiv.org
November 9, 2024 at 9:57 AM
Cool!