iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

If there is a thread to read and a paper to dive into, this is it.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

you went to play golf and didnt invite me! unbelievable...

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Friday 30 October 2026 Notre Dame Fischer Hall, 1-4 Suffolk St, London SW1Y 4HG sites.nd.edu/cosacademics... Ivo Gomperts Boneca, Mayland Chang, Christian Melander, Nathaniel Martin, David Roper, Christopher Schofield, Tanja Schneider, James Spencer,

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Prof Paula Salgado @pssalgado.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

I signed an Open Letter to @ukri.org in defense of @diamondlightsource.bsky.social funding. It's an internationally leading facility, any cuts to its funding, from operations to staff will have disastrous consequences to #UKscience. Pls sign & share! openletter.earth/open-letter-...

openletter.earth

Open Letter in Response to Funding Pressures Affecting Diamond Light Source

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

And I quote and concur from the article in question: “Bollocks, I respond!”

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

New customer service area set up for when my grant writing assistant comes to the office.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

At the GRC Bacterial Cell Surface conference at the Univerity of Southern Maine in Portland, Ma. My speaker “assignment” was to organise the biennial football (soccer) match. Great fun, great community, fantastic science @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Upside: Currently onboard an @virginatlantic.bsky.social flight to Atlanta with free starlink WiFi thought the flight. Downside I have no excuse to get out of doing my UG marking online …. Boooooo

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I will spare their reputation publicly but a few days later I played golf in the afternoon at a local GC with two legal cannabis farmers. Compare and contrast …

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 18/05/2026

At a recent GRC I was more perturbed by the stationing of an armed campus security guard to prevent attendees, under threat of arrest from committing the heinous crime of walking downstairs from the poster event with a glass of wine or beer to discuss science.

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Jonathan Slater @jonathanslater.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Always make friends with dogs.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

Exactly, even it the intention is to allow an ECR to acru data for a larger fellowship bid, in reality that needs to be successful within 18months else they will be little better off. If lots of these fellowship were available that may have some sensible feed through but that requires a track route

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Deeply concerning behaviour and approach on these by BBSRC et al. If I understand, these early independence fellowships are for 3 year, effectively a postdoc period. I think this need rethinking from the POV of the applicants and their career development.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I would have linked to hear that talk !

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Premiership level Dad joke, the force is with you …

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Timely given the uk structural biology community event last Tuesday at the Wellcome collection, discussing future developments and funding @walshdls.bsky.social

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Timely given the uk structural biology community event last Tuesday at the Wellcome collection, discussing future developments and funding @walshdls.bsky.social

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Alan McNally @alanmcn1.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

E. coli ST131 is becoming carbapenem resistant. I suspect as CTX-M moves onto the chromosome and the F plasmid is lost facilitating acquisition of carbapenemase plasmids. No good can come of this

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

Funnily enough, proposals that constitute world class science are not random in their design, composition and intent. Could someone whose a grown up take charge please?

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Excellent news! Should be helpful with yesterday I trust ….

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Tb cell envelope people take note of this from Christine Hardy at UC Irvine. Beautiful structure and interesting interaction. www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

science.org

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

They certainly didn’t communicate well and in this instance there was a separate MMR and CP vaccine that the nurse had to mix prior to administration so not scenario (a). trust in sci, med & vac in particular has been damaged by politics and poor scientific explanation in the pandemic IMO.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

No, the row was because my GD had just recovered from chickenpox and there was no logical explanation provided for adding the separate CP vaccine to the MMR.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

My daughter recently went to get my 14 month old granddaughter the MMR. The nurse insisted that it be delivered as a mix with chickenpox vaccine as per NHS policy. Daughter said GD had just had chicken pox so no need… A polite row ensued. Several appointments later, GP agreed.

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George O'Toole (he/him/his) @geiselbiofilm.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

JB Editor's Choice: Khuntia, Nandicoori et al. describe a toolkit for the molecular analysis of mycobacteria. They created 32 modular integrative & 8 episomal E. coli-mycobacterium shuttle vectors, including tools to make tagged proteins. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... @asm.org #JBacteriology

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

A few weeks ago I attended what turned to to be the last meeting of the MRC IIB board. All the other responsive mode boards went as well. Don’t recall a Nature article on that 🤔

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

The world has been volatile and mental for some time IMO.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Thanks, I will tell my wife as she goes there on business soon

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

call me simple if you like but this all sounds like a software issue and let face it, the people going through an airport with a boarding pass they have bought in advance, CCTV imaged & checked against databases 50 times before they even get to e-gate, are not the issue....

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Then in a sensible world, holders of qualifying e-passports, especially in Europe would be treated equally you would hope.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

do you use an e-gate when you come back to the UK?

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Paul Hoskisson 🧫 🦠🐸 @paulhoskisson.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

Come and study for a PhD with us on antibiotic-producing Streptomyces, trying to understand the roles of primary metabolic enzymes with additional cellular roles - Details below - please repost www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

findaphd.com

Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde on FindAPhD.com

PhD Project - Primary metabolic enzymes in antibiotic-producing Streptomyces bacteria, but not as we know them! at University of Strathclyde, listed on FindAPhD.com

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

if scientists get into politics on bluesky it will become twitter in no time.

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I think Dan is describing my precision defensive manoeuvres as seasoned right back in the team. Presumably no space in the test to mention my Beckham-esk deep crosses into the opposition box. @mrcdtpbiomed.bsky.social @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Congrats to Charis Thompson in my lab and joint student with @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social who has just won the 2026 Dr Mrytle Pridgeon Scholarship! @warwicklifesci.bsky.social

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Last Friday Phill Stansfeld & I played host to Dr Shu Sin Chng from National University of Singapore on his latest research in Gram negative bacterial membrane biogenesis, a core aspect of joint interests relevant to discovery of next generation antibiotics and combating the rise of AMR

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

And what a visual treat the A14 is on the way there…

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UK Research and Innovation @ukri.org · 20/03/2026

STFC’s Executive Chair, Professor Michele Dougherty, was at the University of Bath where we held the next in a series of regional engagement events on UKRI's new strategy. In this video, she shares key insights from the conversation with stakeholders from across the South West: youtu.be/WSMCONGipjM

youtu.be

Insights from our South West regional engagement event I Professor Michele Dougherty

YouTube video by UK Research and Innovation

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Kumaran Ramamurthi @ramamurthilab.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

@felixrl.bsky.social reported that PcdA mediates orthogonal cell division in #Staphylococcus aureus: www.nature.com/articles/s41.... But what’s the point? Well, forming staphylococcal abscess communities to evade host immune responses requires this mode of division: www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

nature.com

PcdA promotes orthogonal division plane selection in Staphylococcus aureus - Nature Microbiology

PcdA interacts with DivIVA and FtsZ, promoting Z-ring formation and division plane selection in Staphylococcus aureus, which increases virulence in mice and reduces sensitivity to cell-wall-targeting ...

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davidroper2.bsky.social @davidroper2.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

All you need is “how much??” and you will bean honorary Yorkshireman!

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Séamus Holden 🔬🦠🧫 @seamusholden.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

Neat paper from Schwille lab. They demonstrate constriction of synthetic vesicles using important components of the bacterial cell division machinery, FtsZ and FtsN. They induce strong constriction of Z-rings in vesicles just by adding the cytoplasmic domain of FtsN www.nature.com/articles/s41...

nature.com

Optimizing spatial organization of FtsZ rings for large-scale constriction in synthetic cells - Nature Communications

Spatially regulated membrane constriction is an important milestone in reconstituting minimal cell division. Here the authors engineer a truncated system where the cytosolic domain of FtsN forms large...

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