iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

I know it's going to be a quiet afternoon when Pip has been swimming

Pip the yellow Labrador asleep with her head on a grey cushion

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

I've never been so happy to see rain!

Our slightly soggy back garden. In the foreground are wet pudding stones and a wooden chair. Behind this is some very parched grass and a few large plants in front of a wooden fence

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Reviewing 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

A sleeping yellow Labrador with her head resting on my right hip and her nose just touching the edge of a silver laptop visible on the foreground of the picture.

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Reviewing 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

Selfie of Rob sitting on a low-backed couch with yellow Labrador Pip lying across his shoulders on the back of the couch.

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

My 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

Black and tan Cavalier King Charles, Toby, asleep on the wooden floor under our dining room table

Yellow Labrador Pip asleep on our dining room wooden floor. Her head is resting on the edge of a blue rug and there's a pink dressing on her right front leg - she has a broken toe

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

How's your evening going? I'm drawing!

Schematic showing a contractile bacteriophage binding to a bacterial cell envelope and contacting. The envelope is gram positive with an orange coloured S-layer on the surface

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Quick 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!!!

Flat tire on my car with a large hole in the sidewall

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

There is not enough coffee in the verse....

A large stack of exam papers awaiting marking.

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I'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

Me and Johann Peltier standing on the side ofa canal in Leiden, the Netherlands. It's dark and the lights from bars are reflecting off the water

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

One 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

Yellow Labrador Pip lying on a blue vinyl floor in our vet's waiting room. She is pictured from above with her front paws in front of her. Her right paw is noticeable bigger than the left

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Synchronised sleeping! Our dogs really aren't enjoying the hot spell

Black and Tan cavalier king Charles spaniel Toby sleep in a brown leather armchair. Yellow Labrador Pip is asleep on the ground in the bay window behind the chair.

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Finally we generated a set of knock-in plasmids, including 12 with genetic barcodes that allow the C. difficile genome to be tagged with a 9bp sequence that allows unambiguous identification in sequencing datasets

Figure 4 from https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001665 - showing the use of genetic barcodes to distinguish strains in mixed populations during competitive growth in vitro or in the mouse gut

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

To the cloned gene you can add a number of different tags for purification, Western blot detection and fluorescence microscopy - His, HA, StrepTag, mCherry, mScarlet, SNAP, CLIP

Figure 2 from https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001665 - showingWestern blot detection of 3xHA and 6xHis tagged proteins, and purification of a StrepTagged protein

Figure 3 from https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001665 - showing fluorescence microscopy of C. difficile and C. sporogenes expressing a range of red fluorescent fusions

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

We have created a set of modular plasmids with a selection of 10 constitutive and 2 inducible promoters - all of which have been benchmarked in C. difficile, C. sporogenes and C saccharoperbutylacetonicum

Figure 1 from https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001665 - showing promoter activity from a panel of constitutive and inducible promoters in three Clostridia species

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Our puppy turned 1 today. I think I managed to tire her out on a muddy walk!

Yellow Labrador Pip asleep with her head on my shoulder. Just visible is the grey wet robe she's wearing

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Been 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 🤣

Mr4 sitting beside me on the couch. He's watching a video on his tablet and Labrador puppy Pip is asleep beside him

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

And this is how it ends - 30kg lapdog. We'll both sleep well tonight

Pip wearing a very fetching grey bathrobe, asleep in my lap

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

A quick mental health break before the final grant submission push. Never too cold for a dip if you're a Labrador!

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Some Lego fun with Mr4 on New Year's Eve!

Mr4 leaning on a Lego manual, assembling a small truck transmission. In the background on the table is a partially built truck cab and a plate of grapes

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Eventful Thursday! Pip cut her paw on something in our house, leading to a quick trip to the vets for some super glue. So she's had to come into the office with me. Apologies to everyone I've talked to today for the barking Labrador in the background!

Labrador puppy Pip wearing her very fetching green and orange harness, sitting on a green carpet in my office with some wooden drawers in the background. On her front right paw is a bandage covered with a green rubber boot

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Congratulations to the new Dr @bexx-menday.bsky.social! And huge thanks to fantastic examiners Peter Rosenthal and Ellie Harrison

Dr Becky Menday cutting a three level sponge cake. On the table are many bottles of bubbly

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

3. Predicting pathogen evolution: using experimental evolution to understand the impact of phage therapy on Clostridioides difficile Led by Ellie Harrison. Experimental evolution and phage! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

1. Characterising the role of the dual-function VanT in C. difficile vancomycin resistance. A collaboration between our group in @molmicrosheffield.bsky.social and the groups of @gavinhthomas.bsky.social and Marjan van der Woude at the University of York www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

A simplified version of Figure 4 from our paper https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3002741 describing the evolution of vancomycin resistance in C. difficile. The shows phase contract and fluorescence microscopy images of a wild type and a vancomycin resistant C. difficile. In the fluorescence channel can be seen vancomycin -bodipy binding to the mid-cells of wild type cells but this labelling is absent in the resistant bacteria

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Thanks to @abigailroberts.bsky.social for organising the party and taking photos!

Anne with her supervisors - William (Mack) Durham and me!

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

And just like that PhD student number 9 has finished! Congratulations Dr @anneswilliams.bsky.social and huge thanks to @claireyt.bsky.social and Laurence Wilson for acting as examiners. In the chaos yesterday I didn't get a photo so instead here's a drawing of our puppy by multi-talented Dr Williams

A drawing of yellow Labrador puppy Pip sitting on grass and with a purple giant microbe C. diff beside her

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

Nesting habits of a 60lb Labrador puppy. So well camouflaged I almost didn't see her....

Pip the Labrador puppy on our couch. She has made a nest for herself among the cushions.

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Making the most of a few days off before I have to get back to the day job! I think I've finally found the puppy's limit

Yellow Labrador puppy Pip in the woods looking into a small stream flowing down a steep hill. The steam is actually artificial, the last remaining sign of a mill today used to stand on this site

A close up of Pip's face - she looks very happy

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

There are definite benefits to living on the edge of the Peak District. 5 min walk from our front door we reach the edge of the woods and after that the only limit is my legs. Today's mission was to clear my head and tire out the puppy

A shallow river running through a forest. A yellow Labrador puppy is just about visible, having just come out of the water

Pip, a yellow Labrador puppy, standing on a rocky path through the forest. She is looking expectantly at the camera waiting for a treat

Pip resting her chin on a rough cut stone wall with a small waterfall in the background

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 06/09/2025

Saturday morning Lego fun with Mr4!

Mr4, in a green and white horizontal stripey t-shirt, sitting at a low wooden table, looking at the instruction book for a Lego police car. The Lego pieces are spread out on the table in front of him

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

I don't think I'm going to be allowed to move from this spot for a while

Selfie of Rob and Pip. Pip is a 7 month old yellow Labrador puppy

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

Our French hosts really outdid themselves with the venue for last night's #ClostPath2025 congress dinner. A fantastic night, a fantastic week of science and now just two years to wait to do it all again in Rio

A view of the Eiffel Tower at night taken from a boat on the river Seine. The tower is brightly lit gold and a search light extends from the top

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Lab on tour - the wonderful #ClostPath2025 organisers have arranged great walking tours. Guess where we are?

@lilia-elle.bsky.social, @funnirudh.bsky.social and Rob somewhere in Paris

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Rob Fagan @robfagan.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

The posters are done so we're officially ready for #ClostPath2025 @pasteur.fr next week. Now all I have to do is submit a programme grant and 3 PhD studentship applications and I'll be good to go too!