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Ben Temperton

@btemperton.bsky.social
47 followers 22 following 53 posts

Associate Professor of Microbiology at the University of Exeter. Proudly Canadian.

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Reposted by Ben Temperton
Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
How do we fix this mess?
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 16/09/2025
Sounds like delivering on press reform would also be key if we want to protect democracy!
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
Labour's cowardice in the face of extremism iandunt.substack.com/p/labours-co...
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 29/08/2025
I see frog-face, 'man of the people commodities trader' Farage is also making an appearance. Hope someone asks him whether he's happy that the Brexit he orchestrated cost the UK £140bn, knocked 5% of GDP and made common folk £2k poorer per year.
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The Gold Lab @the-gold-lab.bsky.social · 28/08/2025
We are recruiting 2 postdocs to work on bacterial motility using a combination of cryoEM, FLM and MD. An exciting collaboration with Kirsty Wan @micromotility.bsky.social Wolfram Moebius @wolframmoebius.bsky.social and Daniel Kattnig. Please see links in the thread below!
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David Sünderhauf @davvi36.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Please share! 🦠 Workshop on Phage Therapy in Liverpool on 25th November organised by Stineke van Houte, @jojofoth.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social, & Edze Westra. Limited FREE tickets & more info here: sites.exeter.ac.uk/vanhoutelab/... #MicroSky
Conference flyer, all info is on link too
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Rob Edwards @linsalrob.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
🌟 Exciting news! We’re launching three fully-funded postdoc positions for "New Horizons for Synthetic Phages” Join us in tackling antimicrobial resistance with cutting-edge synthetic biology + AI bioinformatics. Based at Flinders Uni in vibrant Adelaide. 👇 Read on for details! #Phage
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Meaghan Castledine @mcastd.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
How do macrophages influence the evolution of phage resistance? We show that macrophages reduce the efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail 🦠, resulting in greater bacteria population densities which, in-turn, facilitate greater rates of phage resistance. Pre-print 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Antagonism between bacteriophages and macrophages decreases efficacy of a bacteriophage cocktail and increases bacteriophage resistance
Phage therapy, the use of viruses that infect bacteria (bacteriophages), is a promising complement to antibiotics during the antimicrobial resistance crisis, but treatment success is very variable. Ev...
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 24/06/2025
so well deserved!
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
you'd think given the UK is led by a lawyer, we would have more respect for international law.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
It's going to be a *very* stern letter.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
The UK was already behind other countries such as Australia, Belgium, USA, Portugal in recognising and facilitating use of non-GMP phages in salvage therapy. I worry things have just been made worse either intentionally (with no supporting evidence), or unintentionally through choice of language.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
People are dying now from drug-resistant bacterial infections that phages could treat. Case studies have shown them to be safe and effective time and time again, and in very few of these case studies were GMP-certified phages used. www.mdpi.com/2079-6382/11...
mdpi.com
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
If the route of using safe, but non-GMP phages in the UK has indeed been closed, one can only hope that the Government accelerates its commitment to consider the case for the development of a UK-based GMP facility to support phage innovators questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-ques...
questions-statements.parliament.uk
Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament
Information from UK Parliament on written questions & answers, written statements and daily reports.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
In their report, the SITC stated "Regulators should address these issues at pace. The MHRA should consider using a ‘magistral monograph’, as is the case in Belgium, to allow non-GMP phages to be produced in the UK to an acceptable standard for compassionate cases."
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
It really feels like a regressive move that runs counter to the recognised need for phage therapeutics as outlined by the Commons SITC Select Committee (who tasked the MHRA with providing clear guidance) publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5804/cm...
publications.parliament.uk
The antimicrobial potential of bacteriophages - Science, Innovation and Technology CommitteeUK ParliamentDownload iconShare icon
Report by the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology Committee, with recommendations to government
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
So, even if they are just stating their original position, without further clarification, I fear the MHRA has just made it harder to access phage therapy in the UK, and it wasn't exactly easy before www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10...
telegraph.co.uk
First World War superbug treatment could save NHS millions – but is blocked by red tape
Little-known experimental procedure could help thousands of patients who are otherwise out of options
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Regardless of which interpretation is correct, the likely outcome is that without prior knowledge of the MHRA's position on GMP-like phages being OK to import, the wording of the new guidance very much sounds like 'you can only import GMP phages'.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
An alternative interpretation, is that the use of the phrase 'GMP expectations' rather than 'GMP certified' is deliberate and simply clarifies the previous view of the MHRA that imported phage products, didn't have to be GMP certified, but did have to be made under GMP-like processes.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
If this is interpreted as phages 'must be GMP certified'. then we can no longer use phages from Belgium, closing a viable (but still challenging!) route to access phages for salvage therapy.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
However, section 4.1.2 of the new guidance states "Medicines imported into the UK as unlicensed medicines would be expected to comply with GMP expectations like unlicensed medicines manufactured in the UK."
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Belgium do not make phages under GMP, but they are made in a highly-controlled, GMP-like process. Previously this was deemed sufficient by the MHRA to accept them as of suitable quality for clinical use, and to approve use in UK salvage therapy.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
There are no GMP certified phage manufacturers in the UK, so we were reliant on importing phages (usually from QAMH in Belgium). Section 5 of Guidance note 14 allowed this. Importantly section 5 does not stipulate GMP manufacture, but does require MHRA sign-off and assessment of quality.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
This is how phages could be used in theory in the UK before. Unlicensed specials made in the UK needed to be manufactured to GMP standard by a GMP certified manufacturer (section 4 of Guidance Note 14) assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/645e19...
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
On the whole, the purpose of the document appears to be to provide clarity of the existing position, rather than alter the regulation in the UK to make phages more accessible. As an example, it refers to Guidance Note 14 for the supply of unlicensed specials for information.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
At long last, the MHRA have released their much promised guidance document for phage therapeutics in the UK: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/683ed3... Early impression is it's either as hard as it was to access phage therapeutics, or they've closed the door on the one route we did have.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
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PhageExe @phagexe.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
If you want to improve promiscuity and yield of Pseudomonas aeruginosa for production of phages, start by taking out its restriction modification system: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Eliminating the type I restriction endonuclease from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 for optimised phage isolation
Phage therapy is a promising treatment for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections. Due to their high host specificity, phages must be matched to the target clinical strains. Efficiently identifying ...
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Suspect a major reason for this is institutional insistence on MTAs to protect imaginary IP associated with natural phages. Cue six months of intermittent wrangling between lawyers.
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Carla Denyer @carladenyer.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
When will Starmer learn that no matter how good his Nigel Farage impression gets, it won't save him from wipeout at the hands of Reform? Here's another idea - how about doing the work that's needed to actually make people's lives better? 🧵
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
Wouldn't be surprised to learn that we sold them the weapons they dropped, because "growth".
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 07/05/2025
TANK vs TESLA "We've crushed fascism before and we'll crush it again" - ⁠WW2 veteran Ken, 98, in the tank
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SusanHR 🇨🇦 @susanrankin.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
I hope we deserve this beautiful piece by Journalist Victor Kravchuk, writing from the Ukraine: #cdnpolitics #canadasky
“I'VE NEVER WALKED YOUR STREETS. Never seen your beautiful lakes. I don't really know your provinces, your debates, or your daily worries. But this morning, from a war zone half a world away, I was reading about your election. And for the first time in days, I exhaled. A small, almost invisible breath. Relief. Because what you chose is not just a leader. You, my Canadian friends, you chose goodness in a collapsing world. And you saved more than just your country. You saved a piece of hope for all of us.”
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
In the case of patients with no remaining options, we need more flexible systems. The risk to these patients of using non-GMP phages is demonstrably minimal, but the risk posed by no access to phage therapeutics is guaranteed poorer health outcomes.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Currently this kind of trial to gather critical data informing the best way to use phages for salvage therapy could not be done in the UK, or many other EU countries (excluding Belgium and Portugal), due to the requirement for phages to be GMP-certified for clinical use
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Perhaps the biggest take-home right now is this was all done with phages manufactured in a carefully controlled way, but not in a process certified as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP).
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
4. Evolution by the bacteria to avoid the phages came at a cost of reduced virulence and/or increased sensitivity to antibiotics. 5. Combinations of phages (cocktails) and individual phages were both effective.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
There are some important take-homes from this paper: 1. Nebulisation of phages was well tolerated 2. All patients showed an improvement in lung function 3. Bacterial counts remained lower 30 days post treatment
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Great paper out by Ben Chan, Jon Koff and co at Yale highlighting compassionate use of phage therapy in nine patients with CF with multi-drug resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Personalized inhaled bacteriophage therapy for treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis - Nature Medicine
A novel personalized phage therapy strategy that selects phages for a predicted evolutionary trade-off may represent a viable alternative approach for the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria...
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KaminskiMed @kaminskimed.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
A phage therapy using naturally occurring bacteryophages that not only kill but also selects for less resistant bacteria, shows promise in Cystic Fibrosis patients infected with drug resistant Pseudomonas. Kudos Dr. Chen, Stanley, Turner and Koff!!! #ScienceMatters www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Personalized inhaled bacteriophage therapy for treatment of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa in cystic fibrosis - Nature Medicine
A novel personalized phage therapy strategy that selects phages for a predicted evolutionary trade-off may represent a viable alternative approach for the treatment of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria...
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Ulf R. Dahle @ulfdahle.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
Outdated approval model slows access to phage therapy, which doesn’t fit the "one-size-fits-all" drug process. We need flexible guidelines to be prepared to deploy phages when we need them. #AMR #InfectiousDisease www.independent.org/article/2025...
independent.org
FDA Regulation in the Age of Superbugs: News Article – Independent Institute
In a 2014 report, a committee formed to study antimicrobial resistance warned that superbugs would soon kill more people every year than cancer. These
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PhageExe @phagexe.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Remy Chait's super-cool paper on phage lasers is now up on Biorxiv. A beautiful collaboration between modelling and experimental work, driven by passionate curiosity about unusual features Remy observed on some spot assays. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Stable coexistence and transport of lytic phage infections with migrating bacterial hosts
Bacteriophages (phages), viruses that exclusively infect bacterial hosts, are the most abundant living entities across diverse environments, coexisting with their bacterial hosts at densities exceedin...
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Sadly not surprising. Let's accelerate access to phages that will help protect our existing arsenal of antimicrobials and buy us some time to develop new ones.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
How to boost your citations to insane levels: forbetterscience.com/2025/04/15/a...
forbetterscience.com
An unethical guide to 100.000 citations
“”A number of leading researchers have published their research contributions at this Journal among them Zhanhu Guo, Zhanhu Guo, Zhanhu Guo,….”
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Bravo Mark Carney. Maintenant vient le plus dur : montrer au monde que la politique progressiste peut servir les intérêts du peuple en s’attaquant aux inégalités qui alimentent le populisme.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
I'm starting to wonder whether economics and astrology have roughly the same degree of evidence to support decision making.
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I don't know how I missed this story: scienceintegritydigest.com/2024/02/15/t...
scienceintegritydigest.com
The rat with the big balls and the enormous penis – how Frontiers published a paper with botched AI-generated images
A review article with some obviously fake and non-scientific illustrations created by Artificial Intelligence (AI) was the talk on X (Twitter) today. The figures in the paper were generated by the …
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 02/04/2025
PM Starmer offers “peace in our time” tax cuts to megarich US tech companies, while cutting benefits to UK’s poorest to balance the books. Do. Better. Labour. This is not what we voted for. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
theguardian.com
Starmer offers big US tech firms tax cuts in return for lower Trump tariffs
Exclusive: UK willing to placate Trump with lower digital services tax rate also encompassing non-US companies
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
In 2023-2024, 122.6 million people were forcibly displaced. That's 1 in 67 of every person on Earth. www.unhcr.org/about-unhcr/...
unhcr.org
Figures at a glance | UNHCR
At least 122.6 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of June 2024. View the latest statistics and graphs of the number of refugees and other people forced to flee.
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Led By Donkeys @ledbydonkeys.org · 28/03/2025
We took over the giant screen at Farage’s big rally in Birmingham
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Ben Temperton @btemperton.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Never has this seemed so relevant in the modern era
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