Laura Suttenfield
@lcatherines.bsky.social
postdoc with @baym.lol at Harvard Medical School | UIUC, UMass Amherst alum
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
If you're interested in using pangenome graphs for comparative genomics, check out my webinar, part of EMBL-EBI's "Concepts, methods, and resources in pangenomics" series, available on-demand: www.ebi.ac.uk/training/eve...
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
www.ebi.ac.uk
November 6, 2025 at 11:40 AM
If you're interested in using pangenome graphs for comparative genomics, check out my webinar, part of EMBL-EBI's "Concepts, methods, and resources in pangenomics" series, available on-demand: www.ebi.ac.uk/training/eve...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Phage and phage defense friends! What conferences are you attending this upcoming year?
November 6, 2025 at 5:05 AM
Phage and phage defense friends! What conferences are you attending this upcoming year?
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacterial warfare is associated with virulence and antimicrobial resistance - Nature Communications
Bacteria employ a range of competition systems that deliver toxins to inhibit competing strains. This study shows that these systems are particularly important for the ecology of virulent and antibiot...
www.nature.com
November 5, 2025 at 7:32 AM
So happy to share this! Bacteriocins were first discovered over 100 years ago, but what do they actually do? We look at >1000 bacteriocin plasmids and find links to virulence and antimicrobial resistance, and frequent bacteriocin sharing in Enterobacteriaceae.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
My labmate @kevinricks.bsky.social and I decided to complete a side project during the last year of our doctorate programs, and I'm happy to say that it's finally been published in New Phytologist !! doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Signatures of local nitrogen adaptation in the Brachypodium distachyon root microbiome
Plants associate with diverse microbiomes that impact their fitness, yet the contribution of the microbiome to plant adaptation is uncertain. As plant recruitment of its microbiome can be both highl...
doi.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:13 PM
My labmate @kevinricks.bsky.social and I decided to complete a side project during the last year of our doctorate programs, and I'm happy to say that it's finally been published in New Phytologist !! doi.org/10.1111/nph....
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Carbapenem-resistance oprD mutations reshape Pseudomonas aeruginosa host-pathogen interactions during infection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684370v1
October 25, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Carbapenem-resistance oprD mutations reshape Pseudomonas aeruginosa host-pathogen interactions during infection https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.24.684370v1
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
#microsky #mevosky The UNC Chapel Hill Biology Department is hiring 2 Teaching Assistant/Associate Professors with expertise from any area of biology. Individuals with expertise in microbiology are particularly encouraged to apply. Read more and apply at unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...
Two (2) Open Rank Teaching Faculty
The Department of Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks applicants for two (2) Teaching Faculty positions to be effective July 1, 2026. These positions will be fixed-term 9-...
unc.peopleadmin.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:44 PM
#microsky #mevosky The UNC Chapel Hill Biology Department is hiring 2 Teaching Assistant/Associate Professors with expertise from any area of biology. Individuals with expertise in microbiology are particularly encouraged to apply. Read more and apply at unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/307...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Microbiology Postdoctoral Position (Please re-post)
A funded postdoctoral position in Chicago will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested, please get in touch with Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu
A funded postdoctoral position in Chicago will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested, please get in touch with Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu
October 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Microbiology Postdoctoral Position (Please re-post)
A funded postdoctoral position in Chicago will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested, please get in touch with Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu
A funded postdoctoral position in Chicago will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested, please get in touch with Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Very happy to share that I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina in January! My group will be working on environmental phage ecology and evolution, and I am recruiting for the upcoming year (more info below).
October 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Very happy to share that I will be starting as an Assistant Professor in the department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina in January! My group will be working on environmental phage ecology and evolution, and I am recruiting for the upcoming year (more info below).
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
New preprint!
Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠
Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare!
An epic effort by Rosanna Wright
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠
Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare!
An epic effort by Rosanna Wright
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Resistance mutation supply modulates the benefit of CRISPR immunity against virulent phages
Only a fraction of bacterial genomes encode CRISPR-Cas systems but the selective causes of this variation are unexplained. How naturally virulent bacteriophages (phages) select for CRISPR immunity has...
www.biorxiv.org
October 6, 2025 at 6:27 AM
New preprint!
Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠
Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare!
An epic effort by Rosanna Wright
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠
Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare!
An epic effort by Rosanna Wright
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
New entry into the Disability in Ecology and Evolution series in TREE featuring me :)
New entry into the Disability in Ecology and Evolution series in TREE featuring me :)
Disability in ecology and evolution
In this TrendsTalk series 'Disability in ecology and evolution' in Trends in Ecology
and Evolution, we will be hearing from people about their experiences being disabled
in ecology and evolution. We a...
www.cell.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:24 PM
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo...
New entry into the Disability in Ecology and Evolution series in TREE featuring me :)
New entry into the Disability in Ecology and Evolution series in TREE featuring me :)
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
I have never been jealous of a Nobel prize winner before….
October 7, 2025 at 4:45 PM
I have never been jealous of a Nobel prize winner before….
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Published in Current Biology! P. aeruginosa can use its filamentous phage to inhibit competitors but high phage production is susceptible to cheater miniphage invasion. Subsequent phage tragedy of the commons can lower bacteria and phage fitness. Link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
Preprint out! Bacteria w/ hyper-replicative filamentous phage lead to overnight emergence of cheater phages. Bacteria w/ both phages can outcompete wildtype, then rapidly lose phage via a phage Tragedy of the Commons
@shellyscrib.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
@shellyscrib.bsky.social @vscooper.micropopbio.org www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness
Many bacteria carry phage genome(s) in their chromosome (i.e., prophage), and this intertwines the fitness of the bacterium and the phage. Most Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains carry filamentous phages ...
www.biorxiv.org
October 2, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Published in Current Biology! P. aeruginosa can use its filamentous phage to inhibit competitors but high phage production is susceptible to cheater miniphage invasion. Subsequent phage tragedy of the commons can lower bacteria and phage fitness. Link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
October 2, 2025 at 3:55 PM
DYK most P. aeruginosa carry filamentous phage(s) that don't need to kill the cell to reproduce?
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
We 👉🏻@nanamikubota.bsky.social show that these Pf phages can go ROGUE.
"Filamentous cheater phages drive bacterial and phage populations to lower fitness"
🔗 authors.elsevier.com/c/1lt5I3QW8S...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
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 Laura Suttenfield
Thrilled to share our paper that just came out in PNAS!
We asked a deceptively simple question: What happens when S. aureus adapts to vancomycin, a critical first-line antibiotic?
1/5
We asked a deceptively simple question: What happens when S. aureus adapts to vancomycin, a critical first-line antibiotic?
1/5
September 27, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Thrilled to share our paper that just came out in PNAS!
We asked a deceptively simple question: What happens when S. aureus adapts to vancomycin, a critical first-line antibiotic?
1/5
We asked a deceptively simple question: What happens when S. aureus adapts to vancomycin, a critical first-line antibiotic?
1/5
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
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 Laura Suttenfield
✨Célia Souque just showcased the outcomes of the 12th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon at IMMEM XIV.
She brilliantly presented the first sneak-peek of PORT – Plasmid Outbreak Reporting Tool! 🧬
Looking forward to continuing this collaboration with PORT!
#IMMEM #Hackathon #Plasmids #ESGEM #ESGMAP
She brilliantly presented the first sneak-peek of PORT – Plasmid Outbreak Reporting Tool! 🧬
Looking forward to continuing this collaboration with PORT!
#IMMEM #Hackathon #Plasmids #ESGEM #ESGMAP
September 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
✨Célia Souque just showcased the outcomes of the 12th Microbial Bioinformatics Hackathon at IMMEM XIV.
She brilliantly presented the first sneak-peek of PORT – Plasmid Outbreak Reporting Tool! 🧬
Looking forward to continuing this collaboration with PORT!
#IMMEM #Hackathon #Plasmids #ESGEM #ESGMAP
She brilliantly presented the first sneak-peek of PORT – Plasmid Outbreak Reporting Tool! 🧬
Looking forward to continuing this collaboration with PORT!
#IMMEM #Hackathon #Plasmids #ESGEM #ESGMAP
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Does anyone know a gene in E. coli that duplicated "fairly recently", as to compare and contrast it's sequence divergence with that found in mobile elements?
#sciencesky #microsky
#sciencesky #microsky
September 15, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Does anyone know a gene in E. coli that duplicated "fairly recently", as to compare and contrast it's sequence divergence with that found in mobile elements?
#sciencesky #microsky
#sciencesky #microsky
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...
September 8, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Willing to join us @pasteur.fr for a PhD for a project on how interactions between mobile genetic elements shape bacterial adaptation? Subject to be tailored to candidates with keen interest in evolution, genomics, computational biology, microbiology. Check www.pasteur.fr/en/education...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
A One Health study of Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex plasmids shows a highly diverse and ecologically adaptable plasmidome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.14.676155v1
September 15, 2025 at 3:17 AM
A One Health study of Klebsiella pneumoniae species complex plasmids shows a highly diverse and ecologically adaptable plasmidome https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.09.14.676155v1
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
So...what would happen to the global TB epidemic if we hypothetically "eliminated" undernutrition? In this preprint, we combined estimates from our new review (doi.org/10.1093/ije/...) with population-specific BMI distributions to find out...(doi.org/10.1101/2025...)
Global, regional, and national estimates of tuberculosis incidence averted by eliminating undernutrition in adults: a modelling study
Background Current efforts to reduce global tuberculosis incidence have proved insufficient, highlighting that urgent action is needed to address underlying modifiable risk factors such as undernutrit...
doi.org
September 10, 2025 at 4:11 AM
So...what would happen to the global TB epidemic if we hypothetically "eliminated" undernutrition? In this preprint, we combined estimates from our new review (doi.org/10.1093/ije/...) with population-specific BMI distributions to find out...(doi.org/10.1101/2025...)
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
This past year, my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. On October 5th, our family will walk together as Team Kosmo at Moving Day Chicago to celebrate his strength and support everyone living with Parkinson's.
September 15, 2025 at 5:52 PM
This past year, my dad was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. On October 5th, our family will walk together as Team Kosmo at Moving Day Chicago to celebrate his strength and support everyone living with Parkinson's.
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!
September 15, 2025 at 5:26 PM
hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
Happy to see this paper finally out in @pnas.org!
#phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬
Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...
#phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬
Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...
September 8, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Happy to see this paper finally out in @pnas.org!
#phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬
Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...
#phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬
Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...
Reposted by Laura Suttenfield
For anyone who has used pling for comparing plasmids using rearrangement distances ("how many structural events apart are these plasmids"), here's how to tweak parameters, and integrate it with typing info, and the host phylogeny
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
github.com/iqbal-lab-or...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
github.com/iqbal-lab-or...
Clustering of plasmid genomes for genomic epidemiology by using rearrangement distances, with pling
Integration of plasmids into genomic epidemiology is challenging, because there are no clearly defined evolving-units (equivalent to species), and because plasmids appear to evolve as much by structur...
www.biorxiv.org
September 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
For anyone who has used pling for comparing plasmids using rearrangement distances ("how many structural events apart are these plasmids"), here's how to tweak parameters, and integrate it with typing info, and the host phylogeny
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
github.com/iqbal-lab-or...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
github.com/iqbal-lab-or...