Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 5hI know it's going to be a quiet afternoon when Pip has been swimming 010
Reposted by Rob FaganLuiz Pedro Carvalho, PhD @luizcarvalholab.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Wow. In a previously unknown toxin-antitoxin system (RelS-RelI) the RelS toxin halts bacterial growth by cleaving 16S rRNA at a unique site in the anti-Shine-Dalgarno region. Beautiful use of comparative genomics at the species level, powerful. @oneyrolles.bsky.social Makarova & Genevaux. 1134
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 18/08/2026Reviewing a paper one handed. Pip had her first visit to a new doggy daycare today and I think it's safe to say she enjoyed herself 030
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Unpacking the last few boxes after our house move and found the central heating controller from our old house. Oops. Off to the post office in the morning.... 030
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 15/08/2026If I were accused of plagiarism, I can guarantee that no-one outside of my department, and maybe a very narrow slice of the microbiology community, would know or care. I wonder what the difference is? 0130
Reposted by Rob FaganMatt Johnson @profmattjohnson.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Why supercomplexes? 🌱☀️🦠 🚨New 3 year Postdoc opportunity 🚨 A BBSRC sponsored project using single molecule AFM to interrogate ephemeral interactions between ET proteins in respiration and photosynthesis Join our diverse team and Apply here: sheffield.ac.uk/photosynthes...sheffield.ac.ukBBSRC Sponsored Postdoc Position 01010
Reposted by Rob FaganAbigail Roberts @abigailroberts.bsky.social · 09/08/2026As generative AI is increasingly encroaching into our everyday, this article pulled together a lot of the ethical, environmental, and cognitive concerns that I’ve been worrying about and discussing with my peers recently. thewaxdrip.substack.com/p/the-age-of...thewaxdrip.substack.comThe Age of Almost Intelligence“If you cross the river, a great empire will be destroyed.” 121
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Reviewing a paper and I seem to have acquired a 30kg scarf! Apologies to the editor and authors for the typos but my scarf keeps kicking my elbow when she's dreaming 030
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Little boys are hilarious. Mr5 made a new friend at holiday club today - apparently they played together all day. Me: What's your new friend's name? Mr5: Don't know, didn't ask... 120
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 26/07/2026The latest from us as part of a special issue on S-layers organised by @tbharat-lab.bsky.social S-layers make ideal phage receptors but present another barrier that must be overcome to deliver the genome into the cytoplasm. We know very little about phage that can do this! 072
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Selling a house has got to be one of the most stressful things you can do. We're in a small chain but with about £2M on the line everyone is jittery and it might all fall apart over the weekend 140
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 13/07/2026House moves always start feeling very real when solicitors ask for large sums of money! 020
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/07/2026My dogs are not impressed by the UK weather at the moment. One benefit of our very old house is that the uninsulated floor is nice and cold 030
Reposted by Rob FaganDrew Hryckowian @a-hryckowian.bsky.social · 24/06/2026New preprint from the lab led by Alex Dobrila! We show that butyrate-dependent toxin release in C. difficile is mediated by a broadly-conserved endolysin (EndD), which is under the control of the sporulation sigma factor SigK. Excited to share this story! 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.orgEndD mediates butyrate-dependent toxin release in Clostridioides difficileClostridioides difficile is an urgent threat to human health. Current treatments for C. difficile infections (CDIs) are antibiotics and microbiome restoration therapy (MRT) for recurrent cases. Howeve... 396
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 24/06/2026Is it a review? Is it a research article? We started out writing a review for IUCrJ CryoEM special issue but then we had to include our new data and reanalysed data sets of our previously published phage structure 130
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026Quick trip to the vet this morning on the way to work. Tire blowout after I clipped a kerb parking. 4 hours later and I'm waiting for the RAC to come back with my wheel. Argh I have so much marking to do!!! 010
Reposted by Rob FaganNate O @nateo.bsky.social · 09/06/2026This is a scandal equivalent of a hypothetical situation wherein the Chair of the UK EHRC followed neo-Nazi accounts and ‘race realists’, but the UK media won’t touch it because trans people in the UK are considered to be a minority that must be oppressed and subjugated by the state 2381138
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 06/06/2026I'm really lucky that 21 years ago I decided to start working on C. difficile. Just back from a great @3cdf.bsky.social meeting organised by @smitslab.bsky.social in Leiden. We have the best community - I don't have competitors, I have friends all over the world @johann-i2bc.bsky.social 190
Reposted by Rob FaganReese Richardson @reeserichardson.bsky.social · 05/06/2026The Thermo Fisher situation keeps getting worse. We've now collected 450+ problematic images presented as verification data in TF's antibody catalog. This includes: 🖌️ Dozens more images with duplications or painting 🖨️ Hundreds of blots that all share the same background (behold slideshow below) 18590366
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026One of these paws is not like the other - poor pup has a broken toe. Waiting for the ortho's opinion but looks like a surgical fix needed 000
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026Planes, trains and automobiles. En route to Leiden for @3cdf.bsky.social - see you all in a few hours 020
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 31/05/2026Synchronised sleeping! Our dogs really aren't enjoying the hot spell 020
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Moving house over the summer and really hoping our new place handles heat better than our 1905 brick terrace. It was 35C in our 4 year old's bedroom last night and only slightly colder in the other bedrooms. I can't justify AC for a few days a year but sorely tempted 110
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 13/05/2026I have come to the conclusion that I detest editorial manager even more than I hate Researchfish (*not even a real fish*). As an author, a reviewer and an editor it is the worst imaginable platform with absolutely no redeeming features 140
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/05/2026Paper accepted 5min after resubmission - that's an editor who's on the ball 2110
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 27/04/2026Academia is such a rollercoaster. Right now I'm on a high and I'm going to savour this moment and celebrate with our group. It won't always be like this but the memory of the wins keeps us going through the rest 1180
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 15/04/2026Ah, another day another game of "is it a cold or is it hay fever?" 020
Reposted by Rob FaganEmmanuele Severi @emmseveri.bsky.social · 27/03/2026#microsky Tour de force from the @pmoyniha.bsky.social @lislowe.bsky.social & @proftracypalmer.bsky.social labs on the Type VII secretion in Mycobacteria 🎉👏👏👏 Mine was a minuscule contribution, flattered to feature. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...biorxiv.org 071
Reposted by Rob FaganMicrobiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 26/03/2026Just one day to go until the JMM seminar with Dr Robert Fagan! Be sure to catch their discussion on ‘Clostridioides difficile - an evolving AMR threat’. Register here: microb.io/4l58vI6 #JMM 112
Reposted by Rob FaganAddgene @addgene.bsky.social · 20/02/2026Find the hot-off-the-press plasmids here! www.addgene.org/browse/artic... 053
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 19/02/2026New paper from us. If you're interested in genetic manipulation of Clostridia, we have a few new tools for you! 36 new plasmids - all available from @addgene.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... #microskymicrobiologyresearch.orgA set of genetic tools for use in Clostridioides difficile and related speciesThe Clostridia are a phylogenetically diverse group of anaerobic, spore-forming bacteria that include species of medical, veterinary and industrial importance. The last two decades have seen major adv... 13013
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 13/02/2026media.tenor.coma man is making a funny face while sitting at a table in a restaurant .Alt: Scene from Firefly with Malcolm looking gobsmacked 030
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Our puppy turned 1 today. I think I managed to tire her out on a muddy walk! 2301
Reposted by Rob FaganOmg. WTF is Happening? @lalahaenzy.bsky.social · 05/02/2026Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue 5783267314029
Reposted by Rob FaganAlan Goddard @alangoddard.bsky.social · 04/02/2026Colleagues of mine @naomilpollock.bsky.social and @alice-rothnie.bsky.social are at a BBSRC event today and have been told that the RM call is paused, until maybe March, to allow them to transition to a open call rather than 3 deadlines a year. Nice that this is widely communicated 😉 462
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 02/02/2026I know what they're getting at with the "could put jobs at risk" but can we focus on the immediate impact? Each suspended round at MRC and BBSRC means about 80 fewer postdoc jobs and the retrospective cuts at MRC add another 30 or so 3107
Reposted by Rob FaganAlasdair Hubbard @dralhubb.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Leaks everywhere and finally we get an official statement, one that somehow manages to say a lot while; No timelines. No clarity. No acknowledgement of impact on ECRs whose careers depend UKRI funding. “Later this year” isn’t a plan. And the sector deserves better than reassurance without detail. 12616
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Finally comms from UKRI - on a Sunday evening. No mention of the hundreds of ECRs who will see their careers ended by these decisions and notably no explanation for MRC retrospectively applying cuts and wasting all the work that went into writing, reviewing and scoring applications - £millions 11213
Reposted by Rob FaganWiep Klaas Smits (ExpBac/CMAT) @smitslab.bsky.social · 31/01/2026Dynamic DnaA–DnaB interactions at oriC coordinate the loading and coupled translocation of two DnaB helicases for bidirectional replication url: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...academic.oup.comDynamic DnaA–DnaB interactions at oriC coordinate the loading and coupled translocation of two DnaB helicases for bidirectional replicationAbstract. Bidirectional replication is a conserved principle requiring coordinated translocation of the two replicative helicases loaded at the origin. In 0176
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 30/01/2026Appalling news for the biosciences in the UK. I have three grants under review at the moment so the last week since I heard these rumours have been a definite career low point. Shifting priorities (read political interference) are bad enough www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-r...researchprofessionalnews.comMRC instructs grant review boards to slash funding rates - Research Professional NewsBoards asked to recommend just three applications for funding, as BBSRC also suspends calls 264
Reposted by Rob FaganIan Sudbery @iansudbery.bsky.social · 23/01/2026I'm seeing relatively little chatter or outcry about what is happening at the MRC, the UK's biomedical research funder. Before Christmas MRC paused the acceptance of many of its grants, including the standard applicant-led research grant. There has been no public information on what is happening 🧵 41421
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026Been working flat out since Christmas so decided to take today off. Afternoon plans out the window after a call from Mr4's school. Never work with children or animals 🤣 010
Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/01/2026A quick mental health break before the final grant submission push. Never too cold for a dip if you're a Labrador! 3311
Reposted by Rob Faganshauna @goldengateblond.bsky.social · 31/12/2025orcas have the chance to do the funniest thing 33396142679