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roop-dhillon.bsky.social
@roop-dhillon.bsky.social
PhD Student | University of Birmingham | Archaea Enjoyer | Microbiomes
Reposted
Marvellous Minoan clay vessels made by creative potters on the island of Crete during the Aegean Bronze Age around 3,500 years ago! 🤩

Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology
October 11, 2025 at 11:05 AM
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This week, Dr. Laura Weyrich, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the paleo oral microbiome! We will learn if our ancestors had the same kind of resident microbes as we do.
@markowenmartin.bsky.social @lauraweyrich.bsky.social
Matters Microbial #108: Neanderthal Oral Health, Ancient Bacteria and DNA
YouTube video by MicrobeTV
youtu.be
September 19, 2025 at 2:08 PM
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Would you expect that Bacteria use an archaellum for swimming? We didn't, but we found that some Chloroflexota do! Find the story here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

A little thread below 1/n
Horizontal gene transfer of the functional archaellum machinery to Bacteria
Motility in Archaea is driven by a nanomachinery called the archaellum. So far, archaella have been exclusively described for the archaeal domain; however, a recent study reported the presence of arch...
www.biorxiv.org
February 3, 2025 at 10:09 AM
Excited to present my work at poster #82 at #EESMicrobiome today! Come round and talk RNA viruses with me
September 18, 2025 at 9:02 AM
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☀️ Good morning from Day 3 of #EESMicrobiome 🦠

☕🥨 Fuelled by coffee and pretzels, we’re starting strong with Session 4: Microbiome–host interactions in health and disease.

🎤 'Understanding gut-to-host communication to prevent cardiovascular disease' by @fzmarques.bsky.social (Monash University)
September 18, 2025 at 7:40 AM
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Welcome to the EMBO | EMBL Symposium ‘The human microbiome’ 🦠🙌🏼
With a growing crowd on site, it is time for the opening remarks – #EESMicrobiome Day 1, let’s go! 🤩
September 16, 2025 at 2:39 PM
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Happy to see this paper finally out in @pnas.org!

#phage #microbiology #MicroSky #VirEvol 🦠 🧫 🔬

Gift link: www.pnas.org/eprint/YYDZ9...
September 8, 2025 at 7:51 PM
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This study describes the oldest microbial DNA ever sequenced

go.nature.com/4nfIzcU
A mammoth toothache: bacterial community discovered in mouth of ancient mammal
Genetic-sequencing techniques have uncovered the oldest host-associated microbial DNA ever recorded — inside samples of teeth and bones from woolly and steppe mammoths.
go.nature.com
September 5, 2025 at 12:23 PM
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Interesting paper.

Authors ruled out contamination; are not claiming 'blood microbiome', but rather 'DNA remnants'

'Blood-borne immune cells carry low biomass DNA remnants of microbes in patients with colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease'

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
Blood-borne immune cells carry low biomass DNA remnants of microbes in patients with colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease
The involvement of the intestinal microbiome in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colorectal cancer (CRC), is well-established. Bacteria interact with immune cells at sites o...
www.tandfonline.com
July 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
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New BBC article on fungal infections in which we are quoted:
www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...
Our body is a mosaic of fungi. Some scientists think they could be influencing our brain
The fungi within our bodies may have a much greater effect on our health than we've long given them credit for.
www.bbc.co.uk
July 22, 2025 at 6:44 AM
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In a couple of days, my grad student Stavros Trimmer will present his new Asgard archaea culture at the GRC Archaea. He named it Skadiarchaeum after Skadi, the Norse goddess of skiing and hunting. Cartoon of Skadi based on cryoET, which was performed together with with @florianwollweber.bsky.social
July 19, 2025 at 4:16 PM
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Meanwhile the news.

To learn more about antibiotic-resistant superbugs visit our educational website or come to our pop-up shop in Cardiff.
Superbugs could kill millions more and cost $2tn a year by 2050, models show
Exclusive: Research on burden of antibiotic resistance for 122 countries predicts dire economic and health outcomes
www.theguardian.com
July 21, 2025 at 7:25 AM
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💥 Excited to introduce Bacformer 🦠 - the first foundation model for bacterial genomics. Bacformer represents genomes as sequences of ordered proteins, learning the “grammar” of how genes are arranged, interact and evolve.

Preprint 📝: biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🧵 1/n
July 21, 2025 at 9:56 AM
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“GlycoCaging” uses gut bacteria to activate drugs for inflammatory bowel disease.

Learn more in a new #SciencePerspective: scim.ag/4ltfMk8
A caged drug enables precision delivery
“GlycoCaging” uses gut bacteria to activate drugs for inflammatory bowel disease
scim.ag
July 7, 2025 at 1:31 PM
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Leveraging longitudinal data from 194 infants across the first 18 months of life, researchers show that microbial genes encoding neuroactive compounds are associated with visual cortical neurodevelopment. Read the article in #mBio: asm.social/2uo
July 7, 2025 at 4:37 PM
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#MicrobiologyMonday: Pseudomonas aeruginosa releases a surfactant that displaces Klebsiella pneumoniae from solid surfaces. By pushing K. pneumoniae away, the detergent allows P. aeruginosa to better compete for limited iron. Learn more in #mBio: asm.social/2sH
June 16, 2025 at 5:57 PM
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Half way through the IMI Summer school 2025 starts with a fantastic Q&A panel with our own UoB students and Postdocs and @wvschaik.bsky.social giving a great talk on AMR & Phages 🦠🦠
July 2, 2025 at 12:30 PM
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How does your diet impact the microbiome? Let's find out...🦠🦠
July 2, 2025 at 2:05 PM
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Some exciting results from the IMI Summer school experiments 🧪🧫🔬
July 3, 2025 at 1:55 PM
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Excited to announce the EMBO Conference: Molecular Biology of Archaea (MBoA) 2026!
Join us in Cambridge, UK, from 6–10 July 2026 for the only international meeting dedicated entirely to Archaea.
April 22, 2025 at 8:26 AM
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A 1.0 release for Sandpiper. 700,000 microbial community profiles (3x the last version, 4.7 Pbp metaG), searchable via the @ace-gtdb.bsky.social R226 taxonomy that just dropped. MetaGs are going exponential, but we are still nowhere near a MAG for all species. sandpiper.qut.edu.au #microsky 🧬🖥️ 1/2
April 17, 2025 at 11:06 AM
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I am raising money for Cancer Research UK by walking 23 miles in the Kiltwalk Mighty Stride on the 27th of April. Any donations would be greatly appreciated! www.justgiving.com/page/ross-mc...
Ross's fundraiser for Cancer Research UK
Help Ross McInnes raise money to support Cancer Research UK
www.justgiving.com
April 17, 2025 at 8:16 AM
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How do microbial metabolites influence host physiology? They hop on the circulation line, obvs... (WIP)
#sciart #microsky 🧪
April 17, 2025 at 8:19 AM