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Benoit Pons

@benoitjpons.bsky.social
330 followers 258 following 18 posts

Lecturer in bacterial genomics at Université de Toulouse Research in phage-bacteria co-evolution at LMGM-CBI @cbitoulouse.bsky.social he/him

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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We have now reached the maximum attendance capacity for the conference, but abstract can still be submitted until Friday 25th September!
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
As well as private partners: Greenphage, Inteliphage, Interscience and Phagenix
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The organisation was made possible thanks to the support from several public institutions: @cbitoulouse.bsky.social, @envt.bsky.social, @sfr-b2s.bsky.social, @spilf.bsky.social @sfmicrobiologie.bsky.social, the FSI of the University of Toulouse, the LMGM and the TULIP Labex
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Register & submit your abstract here: phagestoulouse.sciencesconf.org Please share with colleagues interested in phages, phage–host interactions, ecology, applications or the societal aspects of phage research. See you in Toulouse! 🦠🔬
phagestoulouse.sciencesconf.org
Phages in Toulouse - Sciencesconf.org
Sciencesconf.org
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
📢 Registration & abstract submission are open until September 25! 💶 Registration, including the gala dinner: Students/postdocs/fixed-term researchers: FREE Permanent academics: €50 excl. VAT Industry: €300 excl. VAT
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
💊 Therapy & Biotechnology with Antonia Scobie from the Royal Free Hospital 🇬🇧 👥 Social Sciences with Sabrina Green @motherofphage.bsky.social .bsky.social from UCLouvain 🇧🇪
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🦠 Phage–Host Interactions — Cellular Scale with Franklin Nobrega @fnobrega.bsky.social from the University of Southampton 🇬🇧 🌱 Ecology & Evolution — Population Scale with Anna Dragoš @annadragos.bsky.social from the University of Ljubljana 🇸🇮
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
The conference will cover 5 major themes, from the molecular scale to societal issues, each of them being introduced by an international speaker: 🔬 Structure & Assembly — Molecular Scale with Marion Schuller @schullerm.bsky.social from Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry 🇩🇪
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
🧬Phages in Toulouse — November 18–20, 2026! 🦠 We are delighted to announce the next edition of Phages.fr congress, Phages in Toulouse, bringing together the phage research community for 3 days of talks, presentations & scientific discussions! 📍 Toulouse, France 📅 Nov. 18–20
phages.fr
Réseau Bactériophage France
Bienvenue sur le site du réseau “Phages.fr” Le réseau “Phages.fr” regroupe des scientifiques qui travaillent sur les thématiques incluant les bactériophages dont l’étude des structures, interactions moléculaires & cellulaires, écologie & évolution, thérapie phagique et biocontrôle en santé humaine, végétale & animale et industrie ainsi que des Sciences humaines et sociales. Ces scientifiques appartiennent à différents instituts publics français de recherche tels que CNRS (principal financeur), INRAE, INSERM, ANSES, Institut Pasteur mais aussi de nombreuses universités (Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nancy, Paris, etc) et hôpitaux, avec aussi la participation de membres d’entreprises.
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Ellinor Alseth @ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
It's finally published! What a journey @brownlab.bsky.social and I have been on with this one (ask me about it over a pint 🍻). Super excited to be able to say that it's finally out in Trends (author gift link to follow)! 🦠🧫 #phagesky
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Tuta @tuta.com · 31/08/2026
If you have a Gmail account, you need to read this. Google's AI now scans your emails and attachments, bank statements, tax files, medical letters, all of it. It turned on by default, and there's a class-action lawsuit over how. Here are 5 moves to shut it off, the switch is hidden in two places:
Image of Sundar Pichai and the Gmail logo
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
🌟 Very proud of the newest Dr. in the team , Dr. @julielebris.bsky.social 👩‍🎓! She brilliantly defended her PhD last Friday @pasteur.fr Excellent thesis in terms of output & quality! Thanks to the jury @lucyweinert.bsky.social @sylvainbrisse.bsky.social @edfeil.bsky.social Maria Halima Laaberki
The big moment
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
🔬🦠 Comment #Klebsiella parvient-elle à changer de capsule aussi fréquemment pour mieux s’adapter à son environnement ? Les travaux de @julielebris.bsky.social mis à la une par @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social 👏 -avec @epcrocha.bsky.social #MicroSky @cbitoulouse.bsky.social
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Ellinor Alseth @ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
When is an antiphage mechanism an evolved defence adaptation? This question has been on my mind for so long, because despite the field’s rapid progress there is currently no widely agreed framework in place to answer it. So @brownlab.bsky.social and I wrote this, and I'm happy to share the preprint!
ecoevorxiv.org
The bacterial immune system: identifying evolved defense adaptations
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
So happy to see this finally published in @plosbiology.org! This is the first chapter of @julielebris.bsky.social PhD thesis demonstrating how capsules are exchanged by plug-and-play dynamics w/ @epcrocha.bsky.social #microsky @klebclub.bsky.social Link below- Check out her 🧵 for more details!
doi.org
Plug-and-play evolution of the Klebsiella pneumoniae capsule locus enables serotype exchange across genetic backgrounds
How complex multi-gene systems evolve across genetic backgrounds without disruptive epistasis remains unclear, particularly in highly exchangeable loci such as the capsule of Klebsiella pneumoniae. Th...
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Today we were thrilled to host @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social at @cbitoulouse.bsky.social @cnrsbiologie.bsky.social She discussed factors contributing to plasmid spread (defense systems, environmental factors…) - with @benoitjpons.bsky.social
Hosting of Tatiana’s scientific talk  @ CBI touliuse
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 15/01/2026
My team at @cbitoulouse.bsky.social is recruiting a postdoc #bioinformatics with solid experience in metagenomic analyses. Interest in evolution, ecology & MGEs is important. The offer stands until the perfect candidate is found, and it could be you 🫵 🔁 🙏 #microSky #phagesky #UTIsky @cnrs.fr
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Preprint alert📢! 
Ever wondered how much bacterial parasites influence evolutionary outcomes of their host? ➡️ We co-evolved two bacterial strains in conditions in which the costs and benefits of prophage carriage varied Here is what we found. 
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 
#MicroSky #PhageSky 🧵
biorxiv.org
Environment-dependent evolution drives divergent adaptive strategies and parasite dynamics in a minimal community
Prophages, phage genomes integrated into bacterial chromosomes, are widespread, yet, the extent to which these resident parasites contribute to host fitness and shape evolutionary trajectories, partic...
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Overall, we conclude that while CRISPR-immunity prevents bacteria from dying at high phage doses, a subpopulation undergoes SOS-response mediated growth defects and elongation. Conversely, surface-based resistant bacteria do not, thus favouring this type of resistance at high phage dose.
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Finally, we used flux cytometry to confirm that the elongated phenotype was linked with SOS response induction.
Flow cytometry graph showing that a subpopulation of CRISPR-immune bacteria is elongated and fluorescent (thus showing a SOS response activation) while surface-based resistant bacteria are homogeneously non-elongated non-fluorescent.
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
However, we noticed some heterogeneity in the population, with some CRISPR-immune bacteria stalling and suffering from elongation, particularly at high phage doses, which is consistent with this second hypothesis
Cumulative probability of division curves. Surface-based resistant bacteria are not affected by the presence of phage and the median time between two division is the same for all treatments. CRISPR-resistant bacteria median division time is slightly increased at low phage dose and significantly increased at high phage doseMicrofluidics image displaying bacteria of several different sizes. The one on the right hand side is elongated (8 times longer than a bacteria that just completed division)
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
We then tested our second hypothesis, that CRISPR-immune bacteria were displayed growth defects compared to surface-based resistant bacteria at high phage doses. We did not observe a significant difference in growth rate at the whole population level.
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Our first hypothesis was that at high phage dose, surface-based resistance offered more protection than CRISPR-immunity. However, we showed that both types of defences offer a similar, almost perfect protection against phages regardless of the phage dose.
Survival curves showing that both CRISPR-immune and surface-based resistant bacteria do not die from phage, regardless of the dose used
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
While CRISPR-Cas system inability to fully prevent phage gene expression seemed to play a role, it was still unclear what was causing the apparent CRISPR-Cas fitness cost at high phage doses. Here we investigated two hypotheses by using a microfluidics set-up to follow single bacteria in microscopy.
Typical image from a microfluidics experiment. One large channel at the bottom is linked to several tiny perpendicular channels in which bacteria are growing
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Pseudomonas aeruginosa can choose between CRISPR-Cas immunity and resistance through surface receptor mutation to evade their phages foes. Previous work from the lab had shown that the choice depends on the strength of phage selection pressure, with CRISPR-immunity being favoured at low phage dose.
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
How do bacteria choose what type of defences to use against phages? We explored that question in the last paper I worked on as a postdoc at the Uni of Exeter @uniofexeteresi.bsky.social with Stineke van Houte, Stefano Pagliara and Edze Westra (not on Bluesky) doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
doi.org
Phage provoke growth delays and SOS response induction despite CRISPR-Cas protection | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Bacteria evolve resistance against their phage foes with a wide range of resistance strategies whose costs and benefits depend on the level of protection they confer and on the costs for maintainance....
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Josie Elliott @josie-e.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
Can CRISPR-Cas systems target any phage? Yes, no, it depends? What does it depend on? The second paper from my PhD came out today in a special issue of Phil Trans B on the ecology and evolution of bacterial immune systems doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
doi.org
Phage susceptibility to a minimal, modular synthetic CRISPR-Cas system in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is nutrient dependent | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
CRISPR-Cas systems can provide adaptive, heritable immunity to their prokaryotic hosts against invading genetic material such as phages. It is clear that the importance of acquiring CRISPR-Cas immunit...
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David Sünderhauf @davvi36.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
PhD opportunity, please share: We are looking for a prospective PhD student to start in October 2026 who is excited about bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae), how they interact, and how they exchange DNA. All details can be found on the funder website 👉 gw4biomed.ac.uk/developing-c...
gw4biomed.ac.uk
Developing CRISPR-Cas antimicrobials to tackle antibiotic resistance spread in Klebsiella pneumoniae - GW4 BioMed MRC DTP
Project Code MRCIIAR26Ex van Houte Project Type Wet lab Research Theme Infection, Immunity, Antimicrobial Resistance and Repair Project Summary Download Summary Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a ...
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
The team is growing fast! 🎉 Congratulations to Léa Masson on receiving a PhD fellowship from the BSB doctoral school @universitetoulouse.bsky.social 👏 The PhD will be co-supervised by @benoitjpons.bsky.social and myself - @cbitoulouse.bsky.social #PhD #Microbiology #Klebsiella
Lab picture - June 2025
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Benoit Pons @benoitjpons.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Thanks a lot for your insightful presentation! That was great to have you here in Toulouse! You're most welcome to visit us again anytime 😀
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Anne Chevallereau @annechevallereau.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Had an amazing time at @cbitoulouse.bsky.social! Stimulating discussions, insightful questions, and always a joy to reconnect with old friends and colleagues! Thanks for the invitation @benoitjpons.bsky.social @olayarendueles.bsky.social
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Great talk today @cbitoulouse.bsky.social from @annechevallereau.bsky.social- on the importance of surface receptors in phage adsorption and of intracellular phage defense mechanisms - and the relative importance of each of them in shaping phage host range &productive phage infection 🦠
Presentation of Anne Chevallereau
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Micah G. Allen @micahgallen.com · 02/12/2024
Would you like to see @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social add a share to blue sky button?! I know I would! Share this post to let @richardsever.bsky.social @erictopol.bsky.social and others at bioarxiv know!
A screenshot of a paper on bioarxiv illustrating the lack of blue sky share button!
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Sean Meaden @seanmeaden.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Looking for a PhD in phage ecology, metagenomics and defence systems? We have a fully funded PhD opportunity to join us at the University of York with great collaborators. See here for more info: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
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Olaya Rendueles @olayarendueles.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Lovely day @ CBI with our newest team members already working hard in our brand new lab. Check out the incredible #BlueSky in #Toulouse #MicroSky
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Tatiana Dimitriu @tatianadimitriu.bsky.social · 31/05/2024
I'm recruiting a Research Technician to work on plasmid transmission and antimicrobial resistance in St Andrews, to start in October. Deadline for applications is 19 June. Please share! www.vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...
vacancies.st-andrews.ac.uk
Research Assistant - AR2992DM
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Sean Meaden @seanmeaden.bsky.social · 11/01/2024
Just out in The ISME Journal, a paper from my time in the Westra lab. We find that the extent of phage exposure shapes subsequent resistance dynamics over longer timescales (up to 30 days). And huge thanks to first authors @bridgetwatson.bsky.social and Loris for mammoth experiments!
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