Ellie Jameson
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elliejameson.bsky.social
Ellie Jameson
@elliejameson.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.5K following 170 posts
Lecturer at Bangor University. Environmental virologist, working on phages. Scientific illustrator. Shop: http://redbubble.com/people/Jellie Website: https://elliejameson.wordpress.com YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNM-pdh9jd
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elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 31, Costume. Phage-inducible chromosomal islands (PICIs) use the proteins of incoming phage that infect the they inhabit. These phage proteins allow the PICI to package its own DNA and infect a new host. www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
Black and white cartoon of a collection of DNA wearing a phage costume, the half-face mask is tied at the back with string and the tail is held together with string and tape, it is being looked at by a slightly confused and annoyed phage with a larger head than the mask
October 31, 2025 at 8:13 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 30, Pumpkin. This is Qbeta a bacteriophage that looks a bit pumpkin-like. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink drawing of phage Qbeta, shaded with stippling
October 30, 2025 at 9:01 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 29, Promise. Phages are highly specific and target certain bacterial hosts. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white cartoon of a gun sights, with three concentric circles and crosshairs with a scared bacteria in the centre with wide staring eyes and an "o" for a mouth, it has flagella sticking out at all angles, the central part of the sights is the outline of a phages and the tail goes to the outer circle.
October 29, 2025 at 9:04 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 28, Tree. Phylogenetic trees are graphical representations of the relationships between biological organisms. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white cartoon of a creepy twisted tree with no leaves, there are different types of phages with eyes at the end of the branches
October 28, 2025 at 8:55 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 27, Bones. Spooky Halloween podovirus. Inspired by all the plastic Halloween skeletons of things that don't have skeletons (phages have no real bones, they are just protein-wrapped nucleic acids). #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white cartoon of a bacteriophage made up of bones, with a grinning skull.
October 27, 2025 at 9:09 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 26, Give. This virus of bacteriophage Zamilon virophage, might benefit the bacteria (or not). Virophage infect viruses, in particular the giant DNA virus family Mimiviridae. #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink drawing of a hexagonal viral particle with a faint, pale 5-point star shaded with stippling.
October 26, 2025 at 8:14 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 25, Gluttony. Phages need a host, but tens of phages on one host is too much! #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a coccoidal bacterial cell covered in small siphoviruses with eyes. The bacterium looks horrified with tired eyes and a drooping mouth
October 25, 2025 at 9:02 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 24, Magic. Finding something new in science feels like magic at times. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink cartoon of a test tube filled with liquid that contains phages with eyes, above the liquid are a few bubbles and star shapes
October 24, 2025 at 8:31 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 23, Conflict. Bacteria have phage defence systems to prevent them being infected, or phages replicating inside them, however some phages also have anti phage defence systems. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white cartoon of an angry looking bacteria with a pair of scissors and a phage tying a ribbon around the scissors.
October 23, 2025 at 8:19 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 22, GOAT. The most iconic (if not the greatest phage of all time) in terms of looks are myovirus like phages. They look like a lunar lander and are instantly recognisable as a virus. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink drawing of a myovirus, with polyhedral capsid, collar, tail and long articulated tail fibres
October 22, 2025 at 10:39 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Happy World Phage Day! Tiny viruses have mighty roles, shaping our environment and life on Earth. Phages maintain microbial community stability, impact primary production, nutrient cycle and pathogen virulence. We can also use phages in phage therapy to combat bacterial infections. #PhageSky
Black and white ink illustration of a myovirus in a steampunk style
October 22, 2025 at 10:24 AM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 21, Secret. Prophages hidden within bacteria can confer genetic gifts on their host and protect them from further phage infection. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink cartoon of a bacteria with eyes and a mouth. In the first image on the left the bacteria looks shocked as a phage lands on its back, in the second image the bacteria looks pleased as a phage inside uses scissors to get rid of the phage on the bacteria's back
October 21, 2025 at 8:25 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 20, Chain. Food chains may inspire images of oceans or savannahs with sharp-toothed top predators, but microbial food chains can be more simple. In this sink-trap are a few bacteria and phages interacting: growing, dying and release nutrients for the next generation. #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a U-bend sink trap filled with water and populated with a few enormous bacteria and phages. The bacteria are a mix of sausage and spherical shapes with eyes and mouths smiling for the most part, some are suprised or worried where they have spotted a phage. The phage have eyes but no mouths.
October 20, 2025 at 5:21 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 19, Time. Bacteria have an internal clock that aligns with a 24 hour day. #Drawtober #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a bacterial cell with eyes and a small smiling mouth covered in cilia, inside the bacteria there is an alarm clock that is vibrating.
October 19, 2025 at 3:46 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 18, Bubble. One defence that bacteria have against phages is to produce extra cellular vesicles that act as decoys to which phages become irreversibly bound. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink cartoon of a phage with eyes trying to shake off a "bubble" from one of its tail fibres
October 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 17, Teeth. Phages may be able to infect and kill bacteria, but the bacteria are not defenceless and have evolved many varied phage defence systems to prevent infection, death or protect the bacterial community. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink cartoon of a bacterial cell with angry face complete with angry scowling eyes and a massive wide snarling mouth filled with what looks like teeth made of smile ribbons, it is staring at a small scared phage that is bending over backwards
October 17, 2025 at 4:25 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 16, Glass. Many bacterial and phages are grown in glassware, such as this conical flask. #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink drawing of a fairly realistic conical flask half full with liquid. In the liquid are a around 18 oversized bacillus bacteria different distances away (so that they appear different sizes) and 7 phages, similarly at different distances away.
October 16, 2025 at 8:49 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 15, Comfort. Phages are safe and protected away from UV light, heat and denaturing chemicals. Maybe they just need comfort of blankets and hot drinks to survive the autumn. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink cartoon of phages that have icosahedral heads and two dots for eyes, one is hiding in a tea cup, one has a take-away coffee balanced on its head and a third is wrapped in a blanket, in the middle is a siphovirus-like phage out in the open it looks worried as small droplets shoot out from its head
October 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 14, Clock 4/4. The release of new cyanophages is timed with dusk. At the end of the day infected cells are now full of new phages.
Black and white ink cartoon there is a yawning sun slipping below the sea, below the waves is a very sick and stretched cyanobacteria full of phages, there is a stopwatch in the top right corner of the panel ticking down Black and white ink cartoon with four panels, three contain drawings and the fourth is empty. Three of them show the sea with the sun first asleep and just visible over the waves in the top right, then with eyes open and fire haloing it, but still the lower portion behind the waves, in the third it is in the centre above the waves no longer hidden, in the final panel the sleepy sun is yawning and dipping below the waves on the left side of the panel. Under the waves are 2 phages, firstly alone, then there is a cyanobacteria in the second panel smiling at the sun whilst one phage looks panicked, in the third panel some of the sun's rays go into the sea hitting a phage that is limp with crosses for eyes, the cyanobacteria looks shocked as a second phage lands on its underside. The phage that survived looks shocked as its friend is no more, while in the final panel the cyanobacteria is now full of new phages and there is a stopwatch ticking down in the top right corner of the panel.
October 14, 2025 at 7:00 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 13, Loss 3/4. One of the phages finds a host, while the other losses out and perishes... #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a smiling firey sun shining down on the sea. some of the sun's rays go into the sea hitting a phage that is limp with crosses for eyes, the cyanobacteria looks shocked as a second phage lands on its underside. The phage that survived looks shocked as its friend is no more Black and white ink cartoon with four panels, three contain drawings and the fourth is empty. Three of them show the sea with the sun first asleep and just visible over the waves in the top right, then with eyes open and fire haloing it, but still the lower portion behind the waves, in the thrid it is in the centre above the waves no longer hidden. under the waves are 2 phages, firstly alone, then there is a cyanobacteria in the second panel smiling at the sun whilst one phage looks panicked, in the third panel some of the sun's rays go into the sea hitting a phage that is limp with crosses for eyes, the cyanobacteria looks shocked as a second phage lands on its underside. The phage that survived looks shocked as its friend is no more.
October 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 12, Fire, 2/4. As the sun rises so do the UV levels that can destroy phages. The race is on to find a host! #Drawtober #PhageSky #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a smiling sun with a firey halo rising above the surface of the sea dropping its sleep cap, there is a smiling cyanobacteria gazing up at the sun while the two phages look concerned. Black and white ink cartoon with two panels. In the first panel a sleepy sun peeks over the waves wearing a sleep cap, two phages float in the sea below. In the second panel a smiling sun with a firey halo rising above the surface of the sea dropping its sleep cap, there is a smiling cyanobacteria gazing up at the sun while the two phages look concerned.
October 12, 2025 at 8:20 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 11, Drink, 1/4. Drink might be a bit of a stretch, just floating in the sea! This is the first of four panels and the story of these oceanic cyanophage. They were released into the world at dusk and now dawn approaches... #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white comic panel of the sea with a cartoon sun peeping over the surface with both eyes still shut wearing a sleep cap. In the sea are two phages floating on their sides next to each other
October 11, 2025 at 8:38 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 10, Giant. Acanthamoeba polyphaga Mimivirus (APMV). the star-shaped feature appears on one side of the virus particle and is linked to a special pentameric vertex and capsomers are arranged at slightly offset angles doi.org/10.1371/jour....
Black and white ink drawing of a virus in a fairly realistic style of an electron microscopy image. The virus is a large slightly rounded hexagon with a star shape on the side facing you. the hexagonal shape is surrounded by dense hairs that stick straight out from the hexagon. The words "Giant virus" are written underneath
October 10, 2025 at 9:29 PM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 9, Baking/breath. Wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria hard at work making sourdough! #Drawtober #SciArt
Black and white ink cartoon of a slice of sourdough with yeast cells and bacterial cells that have eyes and mouths. The yeast cells are exhaling bubbles into the bread.
October 10, 2025 at 6:06 AM
elliejameson.bsky.social
Day 8, Wings. Phages are so small and light they do not need wings and can be spread through the air and in rain. #Drawtober #SciArt #PhageSky
Black and white ink drawing of a dragonfly flying directly towards the viewer. The head and body is that of a phage, with only the wings of a dragonfly
October 8, 2025 at 8:25 PM