Sign in

Aaron Weimann

@aweimann.bsky.social
185 followers 320 following 5 posts

Researcher at Uni Cambridge working on bacterial evolution and AI

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Gemma Murray @gemmamurray.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I’m hiring two postdocs to join my group at UCL, both funded for 3 years, to investigate how commensal bacteria contribute to the evolution and spread of antimicrobial resistance in pathogens. Please share! Links below 👇 www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSU266/r... www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DSU268/r...
01421
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I’m at ECCB 2026 this week! I’ll be presenting my new eukaryote pangenome simulator, PansimNuc (github.com/samhorsfield...), at Poster C-G.38 on Wednesday 2nd September - drop by if you’re interested in modelling pangenome evolution! @eccb-europe.bsky.social
github.com
GitHub - samhorsfield96/PansimNuc: A nucleotide-level pangenome simulator.
A nucleotide-level pangenome simulator. Contribute to samhorsfield96/PansimNuc development by creating an account on GitHub.
042
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Stegle Lab @steglelab.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
📢 Deadline extended! The application deadline for our MOPITAS Autumn School on Spatial Transcriptomics Data Analysis, taking place October 12-14th in Copenhagen, has been pushed to August 16th. This is a great chance to sharpen your expertise in data science and multi-omics analysis. Register now!
111
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Medicine at Cambridge @medcambridge.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Upcoming seminar: 🎓Professor Ari Molofsky @arimolofskylab.bsky.social, Tissue Immunology Research Lab, @ucsanfrancisco.bsky.social 📢‘Barrier immune niches during microbial colonization and infection’ 📅1-2 PM, Thu 16 July 📍Max Perutz Lecture Theatre, @mrclmb.ac.uk @cambridgebiocampus.bsky.social
133
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Unfortunately, due to data storage restrictions, we have had to remove the individual SPIRE and mOTUs gene predictions datasets from HuggingFace. However, this data is still available in BacCorpus, with deduplicated gene predictions huggingface.co/collections/...
huggingface.co
BacCorpus - a AllTheBacteria Collection
A dataset of diverse bacterial genomes across habitats. Includes deduplicated genomes, proteins and intergenic sequences.
041
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Gerry Tonkin-Hill @gerrythill.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Happy to share the latest work from Zunair Khurram, a PhD student in our lab! Zunair has developed a new method, MxSure, to infer within-host substitution rates and transmission thresholds from longitudinal isolate and metagenomic sequencing data. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
MxSure: a mixture model for inferring within-host substitution rates and transmission SNP thresholds
Quantifying short-term evolutionary rates of microbial genomes is essential for understanding the processes that shape within-host evolution and for establishing thresholds needed to track transmissio...
1169
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 16/06/2026
We've been looking at how to compare and cluster large numbers of genomes, such as those in large isolate databases such as AllTheBacteria, and metagenome assemblies (e.g. SPIRE, MGnify). On a combined dataset of 5.6 million assemblies, we can now cluster/dereplicate everything in under a day!
13111
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Disrupting phage liquid crystalline droplets restores antibiotic susceptibility in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms out in @plosbiology.org by @abultarafder.bsky.social and team. Exciting collaboration with @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social @pearce-maths.bsky.social and others
14215
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
PLOS Biology @plosbiology.org · 08/06/2026
#Biofilm matrices containing filamentous phages help #Pseudomonas aeruginosa tolerate antibiotics. @abultarafder.bsky.social @tbharat-lab.bsky.social &co show that #nanobody disruption of #phage Pf4 #LiquidCrystalline droplets restores #antibiotic susceptibility @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4xkd6Mw
Top: Nanobody binders are potent inhibitors of Pf4 liquid crystalline droplet formation and disrupt preformed droplets. Cryo-ET of Pf4 liquid crystalline droplets incubated with Nb43. Tomographic slice of a Pf4 liquid crystalline droplet specimen incubated with (left) 0.1 μM and (right) 1 μM Nb43. Bottom: Schematic representation of nanobody action in abolishing antibiotic tolerance of P. aeruginosa biofilms. In untreated biofilms (left), cells show increased antibiotic tolerance due to Pf4 liquid crystalline droplets formed by depletion attraction in the biofilm EPS matrix, where encapsulated cells are protected by an antibiotic diffusion block. In nanobody treated biofilms, patchy binding of nanobody to Pf4 filaments reduces depletion attraction between the filaments preventing liquid crystalline droplet formation and encapsulation of cells, leading to increased antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria within the biofilm.
1118
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Rob Edwards @linsalrob.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
If you do any work with DNA sequencing at some point, you need to assemble the reads. Usually, we just use the contigs, but that ignores important evidence from your data, so @vijinim.bsky.social wrote agtools to explore the assembly graph and learn more! academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
academic.oup.com
agtools: a software framework to manipulate assembly graphs
AbstractMotivation. Assembly graphs are a fundamental data structure used by genome and metagenome assemblers to represent sequences and their overlap info
0206
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 06/05/2026
New work on using transformers (using gene order) for tasks in genomic epidemiology: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We trained BART models (w/ extended context windows) on E.coli and S.pneumo from AllTheBacteria and tested if the model could find new strains, insertions (blaCTX-M) and co-selection
Embeddings of gene order from PanBART model
13011
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Rob Edwards @linsalrob.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Want to find #prophage in your #bacteria genomes? We built PhiSpy a long time ago, and now we've created a new web page for it: linsalrob.github.io/PhiSpyWeb/ Best of all, the data never leaves your computer! #phage #phagesky
linsalrob.github.io
PhiSpyWeb – Browser-based Prophage Prediction
Browser-based prophage prediction using PhiSpy, Pyodide, and WebAssembly
06827
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Our new preprint is out! We train a transformer on gene order and gene content of bacterial pathogens, applying it to a range of epidemiological and evolutionary analyses (1/8) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
12612
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 27/03/2026
We have two paid internships available in our group starting this summer, suitable for master's / pre-PhD students: - Protein structure search - Promoter variation For full details and how to apply see: www.bacpop.org/jobs/
bacpop.org
Jobs
Working with us
01516
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Rebecca A. Gladstone @becctococcus.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Now published! 'Identification of transporter-dependent capsular loci associated with the invasive potential of Escherichia coli' www.nature.com/articles/s41... insights below.....
nature.com
12414
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Medicine at Cambridge @medcambridge.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Upcoming seminar: 🎓Professor Susanne Häußler, Head of Department of Molecular Bacteriology @helmholtzhzi.bsky.social 📢‘Functional Genomics in the Opportunistic Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa’ 📅 4-5 PM, Thu 26 Mar 📍JCBC @cambridgebiocampus.bsky.social buff.ly/9PtbIn8 #CITIID
143
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 18/03/2026
I did my PhD on bacterial meningitis, finding whether there are genetic factors which make meningitis more likely. Wrote down some initial thoughts on the current outbreak in Kent: johnlees.me/posts/menb-o... I tried to think of factors and their likelihood to explain why this is happening now
johnlees.me
menB outbreak in Kent -- initial thoughts
A cluster of meningitis cases is currently dominating the UK news. At least five of the cases have been confirmed as serotype B (menB), from what I can tell the others have not yet been analysed. My P...
33817
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sebastian Schmidt @tsbschm.bsky.social · 25/02/2026
The Microbe Atlas database paper is *finally* published! Out in @cellpress.bsky.social today: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
sciencedirect.com
The MicrobeAtlas database: Global trends and insights into Earth’s microbial ecosystems
Environmental DNA sequencing has revolutionized our understanding of microbial diversity and ecology. Microbiomes have now been sequenced across the e…
3237
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Wendy Figueroa @wfigueroac3.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Excited to share our latest paper c/w @jrpenades.bsky.social @jrossfitz.bsky.social et al! We found that S. aureus lineages have different pangenome structures driven by HGT, with horizontally-acquired defence systems (T1RM) being major drivers of lineage emergence 👇 www.cell.com/cell-reports...
cell.com
Bacterial defense systems and host ecology drive the evolution of intra-species lineages
Staphylococcus aureus lineages vary widely in the frequency of gene exchange and the diversity of genome content. Gorzynski and Harling-Lee et al. show that both host ecology and the horizontal acquis...
081
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Dinesh Aggarwal @drdaggarwal.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Come join our team! Exciting opportunity for a clinical research fellow, ST1-ST7, to contribute to a novel Staphylococcus aureus human challenge model Deadline: 23 Feb 2026 Post start: up to Sept 2026 www.imperial.ac.uk/jobs/search-...
imperial.ac.uk
Description
Please note that job descriptions are not exhaustive, and you may be asked to take on additional duties that align with the key responsibilities ment...
121
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Stegle Lab @steglelab.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Working on trans-eQTL mapping with population-scale scRNA-seq? Meet LIVI, our latest framework that enables efficient trans-eQTL mapping at single-cell resolution across cohorts of hundreds to thousands of donors. Preprint: doi.org/10.64898/202... Summary in the 🧵 below by @danaivagiaki.bsky.social
doi.org
0114
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Alexandre Almeida @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
Excited to share the newest paper from our team, where we uncovered a potential role of the uncultured gut #microbiome in health: www.cell.com/cell-host-mi.... Out now in @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social @cellpress.bsky.social. With Ana C. da Silva, Jacob Lapkin, Qi Yin and Efrat Muller.
cell.com
Meta-analysis of the uncultured gut microbiome across 11,115 global metagenomes reveals a candidate signature of health
Silva et al. perform a global analysis of over 11,000 gut microbiomes and reveal that uncultured bacteria are key markers of gut health. The uncultured genus CAG-170 is strongly linked to low gut dysb...
3169
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
VPD Heart & Lung Research Institute @vpd-hlri.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
🎥 Professor @andresfloto.bsky.social on new funding from: @wellcometrust.bsky.social @gatesfoundation.bsky.social @novonordisk.bsky.social and how VPD-HLRI research is helping reshape antibiotic discovery in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Read more: 🔗 bit.ly/4rJy6c2
0104
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 09/02/2026
How do bacterial pangenomes evolve, what controls their dynamics, why do they exist? Fitting a mechanistic model to 450 species from allthebacteria.org suggesting fast vs slow gene exchange (i.e. amount of MGEs) is a major differentiating factor, correlated with phylogeny rather than lifestyle
Proportion of fast genes, as a trait mapped on the bacteria-wide phylogeny
17132
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Super excited to announce the release of gene and intergenic region annotation from the largest bacterial genome and MAG datasets available, including AllTheBacteria, GTDB, SPIRE, HRGM, mOTUs and MGnify - dereplicated and available from HuggingFace huggingface.co/AllTheBacteria
huggingface.co
Hugging Face – The AI community building the future.
We’re on a journey to advance and democratize artificial intelligence through open source and open science.
21613
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Lucas Boeck @lucboeck.bsky.social · 12/01/2026
Our first lab paper is out. Large-scale testing of antimicrobial lethality at single-cell resolution predicts mycobacterial infection outcomes. From single cells to patients, across tuberculosis and M. abscessus. 👉 doi.org/10.1038/s415... 👇 Thread
doi.org
Client Challenge
1197
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Zannah Salter @zannahdu.bsky.social · 12/12/2025
Official Statement: Cambridge University, Department of Veterinary Medicine, 12/12/2025 "The decision to recommend the closure of what the Times Higher Education Supplement ranks as the best undergraduate veterinary course in the world has come as a bolt from the blue." [1] #SaveTheVetSchool
114
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Daniel Podlesny @podlesny.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
We're excited to release metaTraits.embl.de! 🦠 Interactively explore 140+ 𝗺𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗵𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘁𝘆𝗽𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘁𝘀, harmonized & integrated from culture-derived collections 🔬 & genome-based predictions 🧬 for >2M MAGs & genomes. Publication at NAR: doi.org/10.1093/nar/... @narjournal.bsky.social #microsky 🧵 1/8
13929
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Josie Bryant @josiebryant.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Really pleased to share the first paper to come out of the lab. We found that hospital patients were frequently colonised with P. aeruginosa and that the same clone was shared between the gut and the lung. The phylogenies indicate that the clones moved from lung->gut www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
High frequency body site translocation of nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa - Nature Communications
Here, the authors report within-host diversity and body site translocation dynamics in hospital samples of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and reveal that body site sharing was likely due to within-patient tra...
26433
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Ewan Harrison @ewanharrison.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
Great to share the latest work from our group and collaborators. First CARRIAGE study paper led by @drdaggarwal.bsky.social and the heroic efforts of Katie Bellis and Beth Blane in the lab plus all the team at @cambridge-ceu.bsky.social Huge thanks goes to the 22,000 participants of the study
11112
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Medicine at Cambridge @medcambridge.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
Bacteria can control what enters their cells, balancing energy and blocking antibiotics. New study in @natmicrobiol.nature.com uncovers this hidden mechanism of drug resistance: buff.ly/s3YIwyK @andresfloto.bsky.social @vpd-hlri.bsky.social @unibas.ch
1117
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 19/11/2025
Happy to share our new AMR resource which has phenotypic AMR (usually MIC data) collected from publications and databases. This is paired with assemblies and annotations We're excited for users who might train new models, find phenotype/genotype mismatches, or any other use
16236
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Tanmay Bharat @tbharat-lab.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers Review article published in @natrevmicro.nature.com with @bupbuse.bsky.social, Andriko von Kügelgen and @vikramalva.bsky.social. S-layers are everywhere! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology
Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...
38732
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
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...
ebi.ac.uk
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
Pangenome graphs as a new paradigm in comparative genomics -
11610
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sebastian Schmidt @tsbschm.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Great to see this finally published! Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples now out in @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
academic.oup.com
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
Abstract. Metagenomic sequencing enables the in-depth study of microbes and their functions in humans, animals, and the environment. While sequencing data
15738
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 15/10/2025
We are running a hackathon at EBI in Feb: biomics.bacpop.org If you are at EMBL, ETH Zurich, GRC or GIMM working on a biological problem in data science or programming, consider putting a project forwards!
biomics.bacpop.org
BIOMICS hackathon at EMBL-EBI
Hackathon held in Hinxton 2026
054
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Fabrice Jean-Pierre @fabricejpierre.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
To all my Pseudomonas aficionados: The 2026 International Pseudomonas Conference will take place on December 13-17, 2026 in Faridabad (close to New Delhi), India. Check it out! #microsky pseudomonas.io/home
pseudomonas.io
home
042
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Gonzalo Parra @gonzaparra.bsky.social · 02/10/2025
🚀 As first official act, we are hiring! 🎓 We’re looking for a PhD student to work at the interface of computational biophysics, machine learning & human mutations. 📌 FPI fellowship, 4 years fully funded! More information here: www.bsc.es/join-us/job-...
2169
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Sam Horsfield @samuelhorsfield.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
A new ggCaller version is out! v1.4 includes tweaks to improve efficiency, outputs Panaroo-friendly GFFs, and enables iterative gene calling; if you have already called a gene set, you can now add more genomes either one by one or in batches github.com/bacpop/ggCal...
github.com
GitHub - bacpop/ggCaller: Bifrost graph gene caller.
Bifrost graph gene caller. Contribute to bacpop/ggCaller development by creating an account on GitHub.
1117
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 17/09/2025
The EMBL PhD programme is open until 13th October (entry ~Sep 2026): www.embl.org/about/info/e... We have three positions in microbial genomics at EMBL-EBI, including one in my group. Please do apply, or if you know anyone that would be interested pass on to them
embl.org
EMBL International PhD Programme – Unique in the world and waiting for you!
11939
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
AnniZLab: [🦠, 🧬 , ✨] @annizlab.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
QuickVariants 🦠🧬🧪- a genetic variant identification tool developed for microbes, now on Bioconda! 🚀 • 9× faster median speed vs bcftools • Higher accuracy for both SNPs & indels bioconda.github.io/recipes/quic... bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.... #microsky #microbiomesky
bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com
Fast and accurate variant identification tool for sequencing-based studies - BMC Biology
Background Accurate identification of genetic variants, such as point mutations and insertions/deletions (indels), is crucial for various genetic studies into epidemic tracking, population genetics, a...
0145
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
John Lees @johnlees.bacpop.org · 15/08/2025
My PhD student @leonielorenz.bsky.social (with Eva Geissen) has made this nice (free) online course to introduce mathematical modelling for biology: www.ebi.ac.uk/training/onl... Including both molecular and epidemiological examples
ebi.ac.uk
Mathematical modelling for biologists - Modelling concepts in biological research
Mathematical modelling for biologists - Modelling concepts in biological research
611357
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Maria Letizia Di Martino @mldm.bsky.social · 12/06/2025
Thrilled to share our work is finally out at @natgenet.nature.com ! rdcu.be/eqGgf Combining a scalable human gut organoid model with TraDIS and statistical modeling, we mapped how Shigella colonizes the intestine at genome-wide resolution.
rdcu.be
A scalable gut epithelial organoid model reveals the genome-wide colonization landscape of a human-adapted pathogen
Nature Genetics - A genome-wide screen using human gut epithelial organoids combined with transposon-directed insertion sequencing identifies over 100 Shigella flexneri genes required for...
2114
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Maciek Wiatrak @macwiatrak.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
💥 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
39159
Aaron Weimann @aweimann.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Check out Maciek's tweetorial for Bacformer with links to code, tutorials and blog post: bsky.app/profile/macw...
041
Aaron Weimann @aweimann.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
New pre-print up introducing our bacterial protein language model Bacformer, creating a unified representation of entire bacterial genomes led by @macwiatrak.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
A contextualised protein language model reveals the functional syntax of bacterial evolution
Bacteria have evolved a vast diversity of functions and behaviours which are currently incompletely understood and poorly predicted from DNA sequence alone. To understand the syntax of bacterial evolu...
041
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Stegle Lab @steglelab.bsky.social · 19/07/2025
This year, our lab has a great representation at the ISMB/ECCB 2025 conference in Liverpool! Every day at the conference, you’ll have the chance to hear at least one talk or explore a poster by one of our incredible lab members. More details below. 👇
174
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Kate Baker @ksbakes.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
Defence Systems are so hot right now 🔥 🔥 🔥 so check out our latest preprint to see how DSes contribute to niche adaptation, interact with each other, and drive accessory genome interactions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa 1/n www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Defence systems drive accessory genome interactions in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
As well as undergoing mutational selection, bacterial genomes are shaped by a complex evolutionary interplay among diverse accessory genome elements (AGEs). In this study we define AGEs as encompassin...
26927
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
Josie Bryant @josiebryant.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Happy to share the first preprint from my lab. Great work by Lewis Fisher and collaboration with Jukka Corander www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
High frequency body site translocation of nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important nosocomial pathogen which can cause serious infections across diverse anatomic locations. Infections can spread within an individual to different body sites, but...
12317
Reposted by Aaron Weimann
VPD Heart & Lung Research Institute @vpd-hlri.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Please do take a look to see how @vpd-hlri.bsky.social’s @andresfloto.bsky.social, co-director of the Cambridge Centre for AI in Medicine, is using AI to improve health. www.cam.ac.uk/opinion-ai-a...
cam.ac.uk
Opinion: AI can transform health and medicine
AI has the potential to transform health and medicine. It won't be straightforward, but if we get it right, the benefits could be enormous. Andres Floto, Mihaela van der Schaar and Eoin McKinney expla...
022