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James Marsh

@jmarsh.bsky.social
3.2K followers 1.2K following 191 posts

Group Leader navigating microbiome genetics & engineering @ Max Planck in Tübingen, Germany. Rarely late. ☕️🎧🇦🇺🎥

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Reposted by James Marsh
James McInerney @jomcinerney.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
A short piece about what "the pangenome" is and is not. open.substack.com/pub/profmcin...
open.substack.com
The Pangenome Is Not a Parts List
The pangenome is the total genetic repertoire of a group of organisms. It is a property of populations, maintained by evolutionary processes.
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Sebastian S. Cocioba @atinygreencell.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
This is actually shaping up to be a really aesthetically pleasing plasmid editor. Amazing what you can do without leaving the terminal. Love seeing the github say 100% Python. Looks like I'll be able to make the May 24th deadline after all!
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Anahid (Ana) @anahidam.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
Looking for a #postdoc outside the US, focusing on gut microbiome, AMR dynamics & phage-bacteria interactions. Bridging wet lab and computational approaches🦠👩‍💻. Hartmann Lab, Northwestern University, defending late 2026. Boosts appreciated 🙏🧫🧪 #microbiome #metagenomics #MicroSky
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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
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Dr Kathleen Millen @neurodevkathy.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
🤯🤯🤯 Prime editing + Gibson assembly =Prime Assembly at decent efficiency. Genome engineering technology is advancing so fast. Very exciting! Congratulations to all!
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indbiochalmers.bsky.social @indbiochalmers.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Porter and coworkers present a new set of tools and workflow to transfer large genetic loci, such as PULs, into genetically tractable Bacteroides strains. Read more: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... #PULs #Bacteroides #Polysaccharides #Loci #GeneTransfer
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Seth Shipman @seth-shipman.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Out now in Nature Biotechnology! Alejandro González-Delgado and a fantastic team of collaborators worked across nine labs to get retron recombineering up-and-running in fifteen bacterial species. Molecular parts on addgene: www.addgene.org/browse/artic... Happy editing!
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Mehrad Hamidian @mehrad-hamidian.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Out now: Variations in plasmid transfer in Acinetobacter baumannii: insights from epigenetics, strain properties, and experimental conditions | Microbiology Spectrum journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
journals.asm.org
Variations in plasmid transfer in Acinetobacter baumannii: insights from epigenetics, strain properties, and experimental conditions | Microbiology Spectrum
Plasmid-mediated gene transfer is one of the major drivers of antibiotic resistance in Acinetobacter baumannii; however, plasmid transfer protocols remain inconsistent and strain-dependent. By assessi...
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Reposted by James Marsh
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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Anahid (Ana) @anahidam.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Calling all bacterial geneticists 🧫 Anyone done allelic exchange with sacB counter-selection in Pseudomonas aeruginosa? I'm hitting a wall and would love to connect with people who've been through this. #MicroSky #Pseudomonas #bacterialgenetics #microbiology
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Thomas Gorochowski @chofski.bsky.social · 07/10/2025
🛠️New tool from the lab! #SHARK🦈: a new strain to support complex cloning of transient R6K expression plasmids – perfect for genome engineering. Work led by the talented Shivang Joshi and all strains and strain assembly tools enroute to Addgene. #synbio doi.org/10.1101/2025...
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Dan Portik @dportik.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
New pre-print from the Banfield lab, highlighting an interesting case of 1.5Mb megaplasmids found in human gut. Plasmid genomes were resolved using #PacBio HiFi sequencing with hifiasm-meta for #metagenome assembly. Host association was detected using epigenetic signals. doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org
Megaplasmids associate with Escherichia coli and other Enterobacteriaceae
Humans and animals are ubiquitously colonized by Enterobacteriaceae , a bacterial family that contains both commensals and clinically significant pathogens. Here, we report Enterobacteriaceae megaplas...
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Ryan Wick @rrwick.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
Happy to share that the paper describing Autocycler is now 100% up: doi.org/10.1093/bioi... (1/3)
doi.org
Autocycler: long-read consensus assembly for bacterial genomes
AbstractMotivation. Long-read sequencing enables complete bacterial genome assemblies, but individual assemblers are imperfect and often produce sequence-l
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Rauf Salamzade @raufs.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
And for those interested in creating figures - you can also feed zol results into cgcg to create network-graph visuals: bsky.app/profile/rauf...
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Agathe couturier @agathe-couturier.bsky.social · 17/09/2025
Exclusion systems, far from slowing down plasmid spread, are in fact essential to preserve host cell viability and thereby ensure the successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and antibiotic resistance genes. @nfrk92.bsky.social @narjournal.bsky.social academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
academic.oup.com
Exclusion systems preserve host cell homeostasis and fitness, ensuring successful dissemination of conjugative plasmids and associated resistance genes
Abstract. Plasmid conjugation is a major driver of antibiotic resistance dissemination in bacteria. In addition to genes required for transfer and maintena
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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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James Marsh @jmarsh.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
There's still time to get your abstracts in for this year's International Conference on Microbiome Engineering conference in Antwerp! We extended the deadline to September 15th. #microsky #microbiomesky
Conference flyer for the 2025 International Conference on Microbiome Engineering. Lists the session topics and organizing committee.
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Kaitlin Schaal @evokait.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Plasmids can be lost from a bacterial community even under positive environmental selection: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org
Species interactions determine plasmid persistence in a 3-member bacterial community
Microbial communities are shaped by complex forces, including interspecies interactions and the effects of mobile genetic elements such as plasmids. How these forces interact to affect community respo...
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Sorek Lab @soreklab.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Preprint: De-novo design of proteins that inhibit bacterial defenses Our approach allows silencing defense systems of choice. We show how this approach enables programming of “untransformable” bacteria, and how it can enhance phage therapy applications Congrats Jeremy Garb! tinyurl.com/Syttt 🧵
biorxiv.org
Synthetically designed anti-defense proteins overcome barriers to bacterial transformation and phage infection
Bacterial defense systems present considerable barriers to both phage infection and plasmid transformation. These systems target mobile genetic elements, limiting the efficacy of bacteriophage-based t...
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Asaf Levy @asaflevylab.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
Our new paper is online in Genome Biology: "Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes" genomebiology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....
genomebiology.biomedcentral.com
Plasmids, prophages, and defense systems are depleted from plant microbiota genomes - Genome Biology
Plant-associated bacteria significantly impact plant growth and health. Understanding how bacterial genomes adapt to plants can provide insights into their growth promotion and virulence functions. He...
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Javier Santoyo @jsantoyo.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
SVbyEye: A visual tool to characterize structural variation among whole-genome assemblies. #StructuralVariants #SVs #Visualization #WholeGenome #Assemblies #Bioinformmatics academic.oup.com/bioinformati...
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George Bouras @gbouras13.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Autocycler, the automated successor to Trycycler from @rrwick.bsky.social has a pre-print out - overall, pretty awesome performance (and is very easy to use) github.com/rrwick/Autoc...
biorxiv.org
Autocycler: long-read consensus assembly for bacterial genomes
Motivation: Long-read sequencing enables complete bacterial genome assemblies, but individual assemblers are imperfect and often produce sequence-level and structural errors. Consensus assembly using ...
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Christine Moissl-Eichinger @chmoei.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
🚨 New publication: We describe a novel, cultivated #Archaea species from the human microbiome: #Methanobrevibacter intestini sp. nov. ! www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #Microbiome #GutMicrobiota #NewSpecies #archaeasky #microbiomesky
microbiologyresearch.org
Expanding the cultivable human archaeome: Methanobrevibacter intestini sp. nov. and strain Methanobrevibacter smithii ‘GRAZ-2’ from human faeces
Two mesophilic, hydrogenotrophic methanogens, WWM1085 and M. smithii GRAZ-2, were isolated from human faecal samples. WWM1085 was isolated from an individual in the United States and represents a nove...
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Nature Microbiology @natmicrobiol.nature.com · 27/03/2025
OUT NOW: Inducible transposon mutagenesis identifies bacterial fitness determinants during infection in mice #microsky 🧪 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Inducible transposon mutagenesis identifies bacterial fitness determinants during infection in mice - Nature Microbiology
InducTn-seq, a method for inducible mutagenesis followed by transposon insertion site sequencing, enables temporal control of transposition to bypass population bottlenecks and enable the quantificati...
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Maxence Lejars @mlejars.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Happy to share our genetic toolkit designed to make your gene editing (life) easier, faster and very efficient! Also suitable to build saturated chromosomal variant libraries using oligo-recombineering with extra short homology arms! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
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James Marsh @jmarsh.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
I've been waiting for someone to do this: Phase variation via DNA methylation enables gut bacteria to adapt to environmental changes by regulating gene expression and enhancing phenotypic diversity. #microbiome www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Epigenetic phase variation in the gut microbiome enhances bacterial adaptation
The human gut microbiome within the gastrointestinal tract continuously adapts to variations in diet, medications, and host physiology. A central strategy for genetic adaptation is epigenetic phase va...
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MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · 12/12/2024
(Part 4 of 5) Available PhD projects in Biology! Start your career in ground-breaking research with Gal Ofir & Christian Rödelsperger from the MPI Biology Tübingen. Apply by: 27 Jan. www.phd.tuebingen.mp... #imprs #graduateprogram #maxplanck #phd #phdlife #phdposition #phdpositiongermany #biology
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Prof. Ruth Ley FRS @microbiome.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Thanks to great colleagues including @jweir.bsky.social at the @maxplanckcampus.bsky.social 🦠🧫
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Bork Group at EMBL Heidelberg @borklab.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
In a great collaboration with @typaslab.bsky.social, @lisamaierlab.bsky.social and @biocs.bsky.social found that 24% of the tested human-targeted drugs inhibit the growth of gut commensal bacteria. "Extensive impact of non-antibiotic drugs on human gut bacteria" (2018) www.nature.com/artic...
nature.com
Extensive impact of non-antibiotic drugs on human gut bacteria
Nature - Some non-antibiotic drugs have been associated with changes in gut microbiome composition, but the extent of this phenomenon is unknown. Athanasios Typas and colleagues screened more than...
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Prof Cynthia Whitchurch FAA🏳️‍🌈 @cwhitch.bsky.social · 02/12/2024
I'm recruiting! I'm looking for a motivated postdoctoral scientist to join my new team at SCELSE in Singapore. The role will explore various aspects of how #eDNA is produced and utilised in #Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms. #Microsky #phagesky #Science ntu.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers/job/...
ntu.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com
Research Fellow (eDNA in Biofilms)
The Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) is a unique interdisciplinary Research Centre of Excellence (RCE), funded by National Research Foundation, Ministry of Educati...
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Patrick Veiga @patrickveiga.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
Just landed here from Twitter/X! 🚀 Time to rebuild my followers/following list. If u’re into microbiome science like me, let’s connect and grow a refreshed community! 🔁 Please RT & ❤️ this post so we can gather all the microbiome enthusiasts and scientists in one place. #MicrobiomeScience #Networking
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Amanda Alker @atp-alker.bsky.social · 30/11/2024
🚨 The Alker Lab is starting at the University of Rhode Island in early 2025 and we will be hiring! 🚨 If you are interested in marine microbiology, bacterial genetics and/or symbiosis, please consider reaching out! Repost to help spread the word 🪸🧪🧬🌊
The Alker lab at the University of Rhode Island is hiring (students, postdocs and lab staff)! We use cutting edge tools in microbiology to investigate marine animal symbioses. Email or DM for further inquiries
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Lizbeth Sayavedra @lizsayavedra.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
Our brand-new paper in #GutMicrobes reveals how Bilophila wadsworthia and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron interact in the gut, driving H₂S production & metabolic shifts with potential links to inflammation & disease. #GutHealth Check it out: doi.org/10.1080/1949...
doi.org
Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron enhances H2S production in Bilophila wadsworthia
Sulfate- and sulfite-reducing bacteria (SRB) are a group of strict anaerobes found within the human gut. Bilophila wadsworthia, a sulfite-reducing bacterium which produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S) fr...
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Mike Jetten @msmjetten.bsky.social · 29/11/2024
#Methanogens dominate #methanotrophs and act as a #methane source in aquaculture pond sediments doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...
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James Marsh @jmarsh.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
Interesting look at gut strain-level dynamics: The human gut has low strain variation compared to other environments and has a limited capacity for strain richness. #microbiome www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Gut microbiota strain richness is species specific and affects engraftment - Nature
Strain richness of gut microbiota ecosystems is a key characteristic underpinning engraftment in faecal microbiota transplantation, and could improve the design of defined live biotherapeuti...
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Falk Hildebrand @bioinf.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Why are some microbes are better (gastrointestinal) commensals? Join for a Postdoc 19+12 months to investigate bacterial & fungal evolution in the human gut in a novel family cohort, using 3rd gen seq, metagenomics. Application deadline is 1st Dec: t.co/FE8tyW3Q3K
t.co
http://buff.ly/3YBeBp7
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James Marsh @jmarsh.bsky.social · 28/11/2024
A very cool app to compare a list of microbes with microbial signatures in BugSigDB and Bugphyzz 🧫 #microbiome
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Anne Grießhammer @ghammeranne.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
I wanted to share our beautiful synthetic gut community Com20, highlighting my favourites 🧪cutie little R. intestinalis shaped like a banana 🧫big boss C. perfringens needs privacy around its rods 🧪E. ramosum showing it’s spores @lisamaierlab.bsky.social #microbiome #MicrobiomeSky #microscopy
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Henrik M. Roager @hroager.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
Today we publish an (in my opinion) important paper in @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social 🍾 showing that gut physiology and environment are factors explaining substantial variations in human gut #microbiome composition and #metabolism🦠 Fantastic work Procházková et al. 👏 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Gut physiology and environment explain variations in human gut microbiome composition and metabolism - Nature Microbiology
An observational longitudinal clinical trial, incorporating a SmartPill and metabolomics, reveals the role of host factors in shaping the gut microbiome in healthy human adults.
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Prof Danny Altmann @daltmann.bsky.social · 27/11/2024
www.nature.com/articles/s41... My friend @chrischirp.bsky.social pointed out I can't just lazily paste links to a paper of interest without any explanation! We all buy into gut microbiota shaping immune populations and programmes, but this study adds huge granularity, by anatomical region and subset
nature.com
Spatially restricted immune and microbiota-driven adaptation of the gut - Nature
Intestinal regionalization is characterized by robust and resilient structural cell states and the intestine can adapt to environmental stress in a spatially controlled manner through crosstalk betwee...
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MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory @mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Congratulations to our most recent doctors: Veysi Piskobulu and Mikel Martinez. We wish you all the best in the next step of your career! 🎓 🎉 To find out more about our PhD Program, visit lnkd.in/eMNXc3_M
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Anna S. Weiss @annasophieweiss.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
My friend & colleague @micsysecolab.bsky.social Matthias has written this extremely insightful and fascinating perspective on bacterial collective metabolism, out now in @naturemicrobiol.bsky.social. So happy to see this out & super excited for proteome allocation! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
A framework for understanding collective microbiome metabolism - Nature Microbiology
This Perspective explores why microbiome members perform partial metabolism of substrates and suggests that proteome efficiency is a driver of collective microbiome metabolism.
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Samuel Aroney @aroneys.bsky.social · 26/11/2024
Excited to share “Bin Chicken”, substantially improving genome recovery through rational metagenomic assembly. Applied to public 🌍 metagenomes, it recovered 24,000 novel species 🦠, including 6 novel phyla. doi.org/10.1101/2024... @wwood @rhysnewell @CMR_QUT 🧵1/6
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Elin Videvall @elinvidevall.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Hi all, I am back again on blue sky after some time of dwindling Twitter engagement. My group studies #microbiomes of wild animals, we have exciting projects in mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians. We are based at Uppsala University, Sweden. @animecol-uu.bsky.social www.videvall.com
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Kat Toropova @kattoropova.bsky.social · 24/11/2024
Sign of the times, no more bluebird on the biorxiv engagement tab..
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Daniela Barillà @danielabarilla.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
📢 Interested in chromosomes and microbes thriving at the edge of life?PhD project in York-UK on chromosome segregation in #Archaea. Supervised by me, @Steve Quinn & @georgerheath.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project... Open to Applicants Worldwide! 📅 January 6, 2025 #microsky #archaeasky
Diagram showing archaeal cells containing two chromosomes bound by proteins prior to cell division.
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Miss Salmonella @misssalmonella.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
The PLSDB 2025 update: enhanced annotations and improved functionality for comprehensive #plasmid research #plasmidLovers academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
academic.oup.com
The PLSDB 2025 update: enhanced annotations and improved functionality for comprehensive plasmid research
Abstract. Plasmids are extrachromosomal DNA molecules in bacteria and archaea, playing critical roles in horizontal gene transfer, antibiotic resistance, a
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Hilary Browne @hilarybrowne.bsky.social · 02/11/2024
I am hiring a Research Assistant microbiologist! We are new, expanding research group in the School of Microbiology, UCC and APC Microbiome Ireland in Cork studying anaerobic gut bacteria. Deadline for applications 29th November. Apply here: ore.ucc.ie Job ID: 081111
ore.ucc.ie
University College Cork Vacancies
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Hannah Brown 🧂🦠🔬 @hannjbrown.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
🚨 New paper alert! 🚨 MinD is famously known for positioning FtsZ at mid-cell in bacteria In our study, myself and @iduggin.bsky.social found that MinD homologues in Haloferax volcanii influence the localisation of CetZ1, a homologue of FtsZ and tubulin #Archaeasky #Microsky
url.au.m.mimecastprotect.com
Frontiers | MinD proteins regulate CetZ1 localization in Haloferax volcanii
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James Marsh @jmarsh.bsky.social · 22/11/2024
Honored to be part of a collaborative team receiving funding to genetically engineer methanogens in ruminants for reducing carbon emissions. We're now seeking multiple postdocs in the USA, Germany, and New Zealand - apply via the link! docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... 🧫🧪 #ArchaeaSky #MicrobiomeSky
Call for expressions of interest for post doc positions in various locations worldwide to genetically engineer methanogens. The letterhead includes a large brown cow.
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