Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
@conmeehan.bsky.social
Researching WGS/Epi/Taxonomy of pathogenic mycobacteria and evo of microbiomes. Irish-born, Nottingham-working. Call me Conchúr if you can pronounce it. He/They
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/science-technology/conor-meehan
https://www.ntu.ac.uk/staff-profiles/science-technology/conor-meehan
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
Apart from the AI junk part… the notion that one should not offer a potential mechanistic explanation for an observation, without first spending years & (unavailable) $$ trying to test possibilities before sharing the observation with others (who may be better equipped to investigate the mechanism)…
Nature suggests you use their "Manuscript Adviser" bot to get advice before submitting
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
I uploaded the classic Watson & Crick paper about DNA structure, and the Adviser had this to say about one of the greatest paper endings of the century:
November 3, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Apart from the AI junk part… the notion that one should not offer a potential mechanistic explanation for an observation, without first spending years & (unavailable) $$ trying to test possibilities before sharing the observation with others (who may be better equipped to investigate the mechanism)…
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
If you’re interested in metals, microbes and maths 🤘 - please check out this PhD on the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @blindmath.bsky.social Denis Patterson and myself, you’d be based in Durham & be part of a vibrant interdisciplinary research group
We're advertising a PhD at the intersection of mathematical ecology, metallobiology, and microbiology to study the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @kateduncan.bsky.social and Denis Patterson. Come join us in lovely Durham!
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...
When nutrients turn toxic: how metals shape microbial coexistence
iapetus.ac.uk
October 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
If you’re interested in metals, microbes and maths 🤘 - please check out this PhD on the impact of metals on microbial communities with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social @blindmath.bsky.social Denis Patterson and myself, you’d be based in Durham & be part of a vibrant interdisciplinary research group
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
With sessions on global antimicrobial healthcare, drug/resistance mechanisms, bacterial vaccines & immunotherapy, and antimicrobial combinations & interactions. @conmeehan.bsky.social & I have enjoyed putting the schedule together, hope to see lots of you in Birmingham next month! #MicroSky
October 21, 2025 at 8:02 AM
With sessions on global antimicrobial healthcare, drug/resistance mechanisms, bacterial vaccines & immunotherapy, and antimicrobial combinations & interactions. @conmeehan.bsky.social & I have enjoyed putting the schedule together, hope to see lots of you in Birmingham next month! #MicroSky
Hands down my favorite conference for meeting people in my field and hearing great science (and I don't just say thay cause I no co-chair). Come join us next month!
Join us in Birmingham for the annual BSAC #AntibioticResistance & Mechanisms workshop - excellent talks and it’s designed to make conversation & networking between attendees easy #MicroSky bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
Antibiotic Resistance and Mechanisms (ARM) Workshop for Researchers 2025 - The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
bsac.org.uk
October 21, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Hands down my favorite conference for meeting people in my field and hearing great science (and I don't just say thay cause I no co-chair). Come join us next month!
I'm trying to do some background reading on Hep C virus for a lecture. My first port of call tends to be 'Nature Disease Primers' to begin. So I find this one: www.nature.com/articles/nrd...
Why write a primer, which I assume you want people far and wide to read, and then have it behind a paywall???
Why write a primer, which I assume you want people far and wide to read, and then have it behind a paywall???
Hepatitis C virus infection - Nature Reviews Disease Primers
Hepatitis C virus infection can cause acute and chronic hepatitis C, which are both characterized by inflammation of the liver. In this Primer, Manns et al. describe the latest developments against th...
www.nature.com
October 16, 2025 at 10:26 AM
I'm trying to do some background reading on Hep C virus for a lecture. My first port of call tends to be 'Nature Disease Primers' to begin. So I find this one: www.nature.com/articles/nrd...
Why write a primer, which I assume you want people far and wide to read, and then have it behind a paywall???
Why write a primer, which I assume you want people far and wide to read, and then have it behind a paywall???
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
After a short website glitch, the applications are now open again - three #PhD opportunities; featuring (in no particular order) #Klebsiella, #protists, #biofilms, #microscopy, #bioinformatics, #mosquitoes, #midges and #microbiomes, see below!
#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky #ProtistsOnSky #evobio 💻🧬🧪🦠🦟🔬
#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky #ProtistsOnSky #evobio 💻🧬🧪🦠🦟🔬
October 15, 2025 at 5:38 AM
After a short website glitch, the applications are now open again - three #PhD opportunities; featuring (in no particular order) #Klebsiella, #protists, #biofilms, #microscopy, #bioinformatics, #mosquitoes, #midges and #microbiomes, see below!
#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky #ProtistsOnSky #evobio 💻🧬🧪🦠🦟🔬
#MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky #ProtistsOnSky #evobio 💻🧬🧪🦠🦟🔬
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
Reminder: no one is safe until everyone is safe. And Americans are now significantly less safe
They have fired the staff of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers, who are disease detectives that respond to outbreaks around the world.
I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.
I cannot emphasize enough how dangerous it is to dismantle our disease surveillance infrastructure.
October 11, 2025 at 6:48 PM
Reminder: no one is safe until everyone is safe. And Americans are now significantly less safe
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
Statistics in the era of AI
How do we mentor, teach, and do stats when AI can do so much of the work?
scienceforeveryone.science
October 9, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Y'all. I just got ChatGPT to do everything in R for this manuscript. I mean EVERYTHING. And it's all legit and reproducible. I'm shook.
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
How are we mentoring our trainees in statistics now? Who needs to learn coding in R line by line, and who doesn't?
scienceforeveryone.science/statistics-i...
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
A reminder that the PhD program for EMBL is open for winter recruitment round. If you want to understand life at a molecular level and have a quantitative science (you don't have to have done biology - we love our mathematicians/physcists/chemists!) apply www.embl.org/about/info/e...
Application – EMBL International PhD Programme
www.embl.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:51 AM
A reminder that the PhD program for EMBL is open for winter recruitment round. If you want to understand life at a molecular level and have a quantitative science (you don't have to have done biology - we love our mathematicians/physcists/chemists!) apply www.embl.org/about/info/e...
The deadline for abstracts for the BSAC Antibiotic Resistance and Mechanisms workshop in November is closing October 10th. Come join us for a packed 2-day programme in Birmingham!
bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
Antibiotic Resistance and Mechanisms (ARM) Workshop for Researchers 2025 - The British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy
bsac.org.uk
October 7, 2025 at 9:20 AM
The deadline for abstracts for the BSAC Antibiotic Resistance and Mechanisms workshop in November is closing October 10th. Come join us for a packed 2-day programme in Birmingham!
bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
BBSRC Fellowships 2025 Triage Outcome Decisions were today. 277 applications, 42 put through to peer review and interview. A fellow I was supporting didn't get selected and BBSRC now offer *no feedback*.
Months of work and not a single iota of feedback for the applicant. Honestly, disgraceful.
Months of work and not a single iota of feedback for the applicant. Honestly, disgraceful.
October 1, 2025 at 1:28 PM
BBSRC Fellowships 2025 Triage Outcome Decisions were today. 277 applications, 42 put through to peer review and interview. A fellow I was supporting didn't get selected and BBSRC now offer *no feedback*.
Months of work and not a single iota of feedback for the applicant. Honestly, disgraceful.
Months of work and not a single iota of feedback for the applicant. Honestly, disgraceful.
For those interested in taxonomy/nomenclature, a nice paper on the use of sub-genus rank to 'resolve' taxonomy/naming disputes (like we saw in Mycobacterium recently)
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Leveraging the subgenus category to address monophyletic genus over-splitting: illustration with recently proposed Mycobacteriales genera
Three related circumstances are affecting the stability of prokaryotic taxonomy and nomenclature, with significant implications in the field of pathogenic micro-organisms: (i) the subjective applicati...
www.microbiologyresearch.org
September 29, 2025 at 12:35 PM
For those interested in taxonomy/nomenclature, a nice paper on the use of sub-genus rank to 'resolve' taxonomy/naming disputes (like we saw in Mycobacterium recently)
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour...
Equitable data sharing is paramount, and this article outlines a framework for fairly attributing datasets to authors. Would be great to see this widely implicated!
It was great being part of the consortium led by @lhug.bsky.social @alexjprobst.bsky.social and others.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was great being part of the consortium led by @lhug.bsky.social @alexjprobst.bsky.social and others.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
September 26, 2025 at 11:16 AM
Equitable data sharing is paramount, and this article outlines a framework for fairly attributing datasets to authors. Would be great to see this widely implicated!
It was great being part of the consortium led by @lhug.bsky.social @alexjprobst.bsky.social and others.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
It was great being part of the consortium led by @lhug.bsky.social @alexjprobst.bsky.social and others.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
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
Our paper on the pangenome of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex is now out in its final form (version of record) in eLife! elifesciences.org/articles/97870
The Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex pangenome is small and shaped by sub-lineage-specific regions of difference
The accessory genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is small, but differences in gene content are found both between and within lineages.
elifesciences.org
September 5, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Our paper on the pangenome of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex is now out in its final form (version of record) in eLife! elifesciences.org/articles/97870
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
I reread this over and over again and this absolutely breaks my brain
Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature
In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...
www.nature.com
September 4, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I reread this over and over again and this absolutely breaks my brain
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
That's correct! Read the full details about #Microbio26 attendance rates here - microb.io/425T0Yc
We will also be offering grants for the event. Applications for the Society Events Grant will open on 12 December 2025 and close on 2 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.
We will also be offering grants for the event. Applications for the Society Events Grant will open on 12 December 2025 and close on 2 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.
September 3, 2025 at 1:58 PM
That's correct! Read the full details about #Microbio26 attendance rates here - microb.io/425T0Yc
We will also be offering grants for the event. Applications for the Society Events Grant will open on 12 December 2025 and close on 2 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.
We will also be offering grants for the event. Applications for the Society Events Grant will open on 12 December 2025 and close on 2 January 2026 at 23:59 GMT.
The @microbiologysociety.org conference next year will have a 2 day attendance rate again! So happy with this, especially as this year I can only make 2-3 days.
September 3, 2025 at 11:40 AM
The @microbiologysociety.org conference next year will have a 2 day attendance rate again! So happy with this, especially as this year I can only make 2-3 days.
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
I went to work on my lecture over some ramen and the server asked if I worked in healthcare, because she’s a cancer bioinformatician who can’t find a job and is in now in tenuous visa territory. I’m so sad and angry about this country, and it keeps hitting me at the moments I don’t expect it
August 30, 2025 at 9:28 PM
I went to work on my lecture over some ramen and the server asked if I worked in healthcare, because she’s a cancer bioinformatician who can’t find a job and is in now in tenuous visa territory. I’m so sad and angry about this country, and it keeps hitting me at the moments I don’t expect it
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
Dr. Emilyn Costa Conceição, a remarkable Brazilian-African scientist, is making waves in the field of genomics with a purpose-driven approach. From the Amazon to Africa, she advocates for the importance of diverse voices in science. Read more about ceri.org.za/news/?token=...
August 10, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Dr. Emilyn Costa Conceição, a remarkable Brazilian-African scientist, is making waves in the field of genomics with a purpose-driven approach. From the Amazon to Africa, she advocates for the importance of diverse voices in science. Read more about ceri.org.za/news/?token=...
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
VACANCY - We’re recruiting for a visionary group leader to lead fundamental research on Discovery Plant Science as part of our vibrant research community
Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
August 9, 2025 at 5:15 PM
VACANCY - We’re recruiting for a visionary group leader to lead fundamental research on Discovery Plant Science as part of our vibrant research community
Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
Successful candidate will be offered a six-year tenure-track position with the opportunity to apply for tenure:
www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...
Reposted by Conor (Conchúr) Meehan
🚨 New preprint 🚨
My phage annotation tool, Phynteny, finally has a preprint and a brand new version powered by a cool AI transformer architecture and protein language models! #phagesky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
My phage annotation tool, Phynteny, finally has a preprint and a brand new version powered by a cool AI transformer architecture and protein language models! #phagesky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Synteny-aware functional annotation of bacteriophage genomes with Phynteny
Accurate genome annotation is fundamental to decoding viral diversity and understanding bacteriophage biology; yet, the majority of bacteriophage genes remain functionally uncharacterised. Bacteriopha...
www.biorxiv.org
July 30, 2025 at 6:01 AM
🚨 New preprint 🚨
My phage annotation tool, Phynteny, finally has a preprint and a brand new version powered by a cool AI transformer architecture and protein language models! #phagesky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
My phage annotation tool, Phynteny, finally has a preprint and a brand new version powered by a cool AI transformer architecture and protein language models! #phagesky
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Submitted a Welcome Trust Discovery grant yesterday. Probably biggest application I've ever done with a great team of collaborators. Proud of this at least, no matter what happens next.
Is anyone needs me I'll be joining my cat Nebula in this pose.
Is anyone needs me I'll be joining my cat Nebula in this pose.
July 30, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Submitted a Welcome Trust Discovery grant yesterday. Probably biggest application I've ever done with a great team of collaborators. Proud of this at least, no matter what happens next.
Is anyone needs me I'll be joining my cat Nebula in this pose.
Is anyone needs me I'll be joining my cat Nebula in this pose.
Some guidance and overview of current data on Doxy-PEP for STI control
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
July 1, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Some guidance and overview of current data on Doxy-PEP for STI control
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Great presentation from Xenia at #esm2025 supported by @micronorman.bsky.social and @tlillebaek.bsky.social and others on decades of NTM isolates from patients and how it changes over those years.
June 23, 2025 at 11:13 AM
Great presentation from Xenia at #esm2025 supported by @micronorman.bsky.social and @tlillebaek.bsky.social and others on decades of NTM isolates from patients and how it changes over those years.