Simon Butterworth
@simon-butterworth.bsky.social
Postdoc in the Lourido lab at Whitehead Institute investigating Toxoplasma host-pathogen interactions
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
Our paper has finally graduated from pre-print to peer-reviewed, pretty much unscathed, and is out now! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
The essential host genome for Cryptosporidium survival exposes metabolic dependencies that can be leveraged for treatment
An arrayed microscopy-based CRISPR screen revealed host genes affecting multiple infection
phenotypes of the intracellular parasite Cryptosporidium. Hits in the host cholesterol
biosynthesis pathway a...
www.cell.com
July 24, 2025 at 2:08 PM
Our paper has finally graduated from pre-print to peer-reviewed, pretty much unscathed, and is out now! www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
What happens when the parasite that causes malaria in humans experiences fever-induced heat stress in its host red blood cell?
Check out David Jones' PhD work now on BioRxiv
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out David Jones' PhD work now on BioRxiv
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org
June 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
What happens when the parasite that causes malaria in humans experiences fever-induced heat stress in its host red blood cell?
Check out David Jones' PhD work now on BioRxiv
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Check out David Jones' PhD work now on BioRxiv
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
May 22, 2025 at 6:21 PM
Excited to announce our paper on ancient Borrelia genomes is finally out! 🦠💀We document the evolutionary history of louse-borne relapsing fever, published today in @science.org with @lucyvandorp.bsky.social and @pontus-skoglund.bsky.social #aDNA 🏺🧪🧬
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Main findings and paper below: 🧵⬇️
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
Crick researchers have uncovered how the intestinal Cryptosporidium parasite uses a protein to alter its host’s gut environment, enabling the parasite to survive and replicate.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...
Researchers uncover how intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium alters host cells
Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute have shown that the Cryptosporidium parasite exports a protein into infected intestinal cells, altering the gut environment and enabling the parasite to surv...
www.crick.ac.uk
April 29, 2025 at 2:37 PM
Crick researchers have uncovered how the intestinal Cryptosporidium parasite uses a protein to alter its host’s gut environment, enabling the parasite to survive and replicate.
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...
www.crick.ac.uk/news/2025-04...
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
A common virulence factor that protects Toxoplasma (and probably related parasites) from clearance in genetically diverse murine hosts. A heroic CRISPR screening effort from @fratorelli.bsky.social with some help from colleagues. Thanks to anonymous reviewers for some good suggestions.
1/2
1/2
🎉 Finally online 🎉 GRA12, the first identified common virulence factor across Toxoplasma strains and murine subspecies! Check this improved manuscript after reviewers’ helpful suggestions www.nature.com/articles/s41...
GRA12 is a common virulence factor across Toxoplasma gondii strains and mouse subspecies - Nature Communications
CRISPR screens reveal Toxoplasma’s GRA12 as a strain- and mouse species-transcendent virulence factor. GRA12 protects parasites from IFNγ-activated macrophage clearance and parasitophorous vacuole col...
www.nature.com
April 17, 2025 at 6:00 PM
A common virulence factor that protects Toxoplasma (and probably related parasites) from clearance in genetically diverse murine hosts. A heroic CRISPR screening effort from @fratorelli.bsky.social with some help from colleagues. Thanks to anonymous reviewers for some good suggestions.
1/2
1/2
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
🎉 Finally online 🎉 GRA12, the first identified common virulence factor across Toxoplasma strains and murine subspecies! Check this improved manuscript after reviewers’ helpful suggestions www.nature.com/articles/s41...
GRA12 is a common virulence factor across Toxoplasma gondii strains and mouse subspecies - Nature Communications
CRISPR screens reveal Toxoplasma’s GRA12 as a strain- and mouse species-transcendent virulence factor. GRA12 protects parasites from IFNγ-activated macrophage clearance and parasitophorous vacuole col...
www.nature.com
April 16, 2025 at 9:57 AM
🎉 Finally online 🎉 GRA12, the first identified common virulence factor across Toxoplasma strains and murine subspecies! Check this improved manuscript after reviewers’ helpful suggestions www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
Rumors are true! I joined the very welcoming @jennyrohn.bsky.social lab at UCL to dive into 3D organoids, persistent bugs and GAG layer! Exciting times ahead ✨
February 6, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Rumors are true! I joined the very welcoming @jennyrohn.bsky.social lab at UCL to dive into 3D organoids, persistent bugs and GAG layer! Exciting times ahead ✨
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
This image shows cultured human cells called fibroblasts in purple, infected with a kind of parasite called Toxoplasma gondii.
#microscopy 🧪🔬
Image credit: @simon-butterworth.bsky.social
#microscopy 🧪🔬
Image credit: @simon-butterworth.bsky.social
February 5, 2025 at 10:12 AM
This image shows cultured human cells called fibroblasts in purple, infected with a kind of parasite called Toxoplasma gondii.
#microscopy 🧪🔬
Image credit: @simon-butterworth.bsky.social
#microscopy 🧪🔬
Image credit: @simon-butterworth.bsky.social
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
The hypothesis for this work was formed when we expectedly observed some Toxoplasma mutants with known fitness defects not showing defects in in vivo CRISPR screens. The results indicate that CRISPR screens can miss important virulence factors through paracine effects that function in the host.
In Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite infamous for manipulating the behaviour of its hosts that infects an estimated ⅓ of humans, genetic defects are rescued if co-infected with normal parasites, thanks to supportive secreted proteins.
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
December 16, 2024 at 10:47 AM
The hypothesis for this work was formed when we expectedly observed some Toxoplasma mutants with known fitness defects not showing defects in in vivo CRISPR screens. The results indicate that CRISPR screens can miss important virulence factors through paracine effects that function in the host.
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
In Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite infamous for manipulating the behaviour of its hosts that infects an estimated ⅓ of humans, genetic defects are rescued if co-infected with normal parasites, thanks to supportive secreted proteins.
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
December 15, 2024 at 9:21 AM
In Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite infamous for manipulating the behaviour of its hosts that infects an estimated ⅓ of humans, genetic defects are rescued if co-infected with normal parasites, thanks to supportive secreted proteins.
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
https://buff.ly/3BtpD86
Reposted by Simon Butterworth
Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence…
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 23, 2024 at 1:29 PM
Cryptosporidium is an important public health threat, and it deserves better genetic tools to study it! Here we’ve developed a targeted in vivo CRISPR genetic screen to identify parasite genes required for survival and virulence…
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...