Bastien Castagner🇨🇦
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castagner.bsky.social
Bastien Castagner🇨🇦
@castagner.bsky.social
730 followers 680 following 32 posts
Associate Professor at McGill. Drug Discovery, C. difficile infection, microbiota, chemical biology, prebiotics, glycans, polyphenols, inositol phosphates. Running/biking CastagnerLab.com
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castagner.bsky.social
Calling Inositol Phosphate enthusiasts!
The free virtual international meeting on inositol phosphates across organisms - Inositol Phosphates 2026 - will take place on March 25-27, 2026. Currently accepting abstract for oral presentation until Dec. 7.
castagnerlab.com/inositol-pho...
Flyer with text: Inositol Phosphates 2026, The more, the merrier - 6th edition A virtual international meeting on inositol phosphates across organisms  · March 25-27, 2026 · Deadline for oral presentation abstract submission: December 7. https://castagnerlab.com/inositol-phosphates-2026/
November 4, 2025 at 5:32 PM
castagner.bsky.social
Continuons d'avancer! 🚲

Le REV Saint-Denis, une piste cyclable qui atteint des sommets www.lapresse.ca/dialogue/chr...
November 4, 2025 at 5:13 PM
castagner.bsky.social
New preprint on polyphenol metabolism by gut bacteria! We show that released urolithin M6 is metabolized by regioselective dehydroxylases including the novel Uxd present in a subset of Enterocloster spp. Interestingly, Uxd induction is controlled by Ucd substrates.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Schemes showing Urolithins M6 released by Gordonibacter bacteria and taken up by Entercloser and metabolized into urolitin A by its two regioselective dehydroxylases Ucd and Uxd, that are close in the genome.
August 7, 2025 at 4:56 PM
castagner.bsky.social
Such a disappointing and infuriating message from @McGill.ca President. McGill is “neutral” in geopolitical crisis and cannot comment, YET they will invest in military weapons and do business partnership with the UAE Army for instance.
Email portion that reads: Dear members of the McGill community, Many of us are watching the escalation of human suffering in Gaza with alarm. While thousands of kilometres away, many members of the McGill community are touched at a human level by the scale and impact of the crisis unfolding, which threatens to intensify over the coming days. To reiterate my past messages, McGill, as a university, must remain mindful of its academic mission and refrain from commenting or taking a position on a geopolitical crisis. That said, we will always express compassion for and extend care to our community members affected by international emergencies. If you need support, please do not hesitate to reach out. Resources are set out below. Sincerely, Deep Saini President and Vice Chancellor McGill University
May 21, 2025 at 2:32 PM
castagner.bsky.social
Molecular dynamic simulations led to a better understanding of the C. difficile toxin B (TcdB) allosteric transition induced by inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6). Useful info for drug discovery. Great work by Lauren Finn, Rebecca Cummer, and @bettinagkeller.bsky.social!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Crystal structure of the C. difficile toxin B (TcdB) showing the beta-flap in its lowered and raised conformation. The inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) is shown in the holo-raised conformation.
April 2, 2025 at 4:41 PM
castagner.bsky.social
The Inositol Phosphates international meeting will take place on March 25-27, 2026 (virtually)! Please mark your calendars and sign up below to receive email updates about registration and abstract submission! Organized with Inmaculada Couso, Martina Ried-Lasi.
castagnerlab.com/inositol-pho...
March 27, 2025 at 2:36 PM
castagner.bsky.social
In this new publication, Rebecca Cummer shows that inositol thiophosphate is a useful bioisostere of inositol hexakisphosphate (IP6) that binds more strongly to different bacterial virulence factors. In collaboration with Dr. Nagar and Dr. @bettinagkeller.bsky.social.
pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/A...
March 20, 2025 at 5:42 PM
castagner.bsky.social
New paper finally out! Reilly Pidgeon shows how the biologically active end metabolite urolithin A is produced by the microbiome from its dietary precursor derived from polyphenols. Great work featuring Sacha Mitchell and collaborator Dr. Corinne Maurice.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Scheme depicting ellagic acid being converted to urolithin C which in turn is metabolized by Enterocloster species in the gut microbiome into urolithin A, which can be absorbed. Includes a figure that shows proteomics and transcriptomics data both demonstrating the inducible ucdCFO metabolic gene cluster.
January 24, 2025 at 11:56 PM
castagner.bsky.social
New paper! We used metatranscriptomics of a human microbiome sample after a short incubation with prebiotic glycans to identify consuming bacteria. Great work by Catherine Prattico and our cool collaborators. Featuring fructans, Blautia spp., and SACCHARIS v2.
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
January 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
castagner.bsky.social
In the second paper, Olivia Lui et al. used this method to see which gut bacteria are impacted by the drug acarbose used in diabetes and montbretin A, a drug candidate now in phase I clinical trial.
November 20, 2024 at 10:29 PM
castagner.bsky.social
In 2 recent(ish) contributions published in Nat. Commun. and ACS Chem. Biol., we use FACS to sort gut bacteria that interact with fluorescent glycans in human microbiota samples.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
November 20, 2024 at 10:29 PM
castagner.bsky.social
Join the McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) for their Annual Symposium on Dec. 4. The theme "Microbiome: Decoding the Invisible World," promises an engaging lineup, including a keynote by Prof. Yasmine Belkaid, President of Institut Pasteur. www.mcgill.ca/mi4/events
November 18, 2024 at 3:10 PM
castagner.bsky.social
Join us for a World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) special Seminar (hybrid) by Dr. Mark Miller on Nov. 21st organized by the McGill AMR Centre. Registration using the QR code or at www.mcgill.ca/amrcentre
November 15, 2024 at 3:36 PM