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Will Smith

@willpjsmith.bsky.social
371 followers 725 following 85 posts

I love science! I study toxin interactions in microbes. Dad of two @wellcometrust Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow | All views my own | he/him | 🏳️‍🌈 Lab website: willsmithlab.com

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Reposted by Will Smith
Dorentina Humolli @humollidorentina.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Very happy to share that HIDEN-SEQ is now out in @natmicrobiol.nature.com! Using this technique, we recapitulated decades of established phage genetics and uncovered new gene functions, including previously unknown anti-defense factors against several defense systems. www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Diving into the microverse today! Really looking forward to this wonderful showcase of @manchester.ac.uk MICROBIOLOGY! 🦠🧫💡💊🫀🌤️ Huge thanks @atmicroverse.bsky.social and particularly @flanagella.bsky.social for setting this up
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Anna Olina @annaolina.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Excited to share this part of my research as a part of @multidefence.bsky.social: meet viPAO1 - the very best Pseudomonas strain for phage research😉 Also check out our temperate phage collection featuring PAnicatthedisco, PAthetic and some other new fun names🎉 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
Engineering the Pseudomonas aeruginosa virus-isolation host viPAO1 reveals how host genetic barriers shape recoverable phage diversity
Cultured phage collections provide essential access to viral biology, but they capture only a small and biased fraction of natural phage diversity. Key barriers to diverse phage isolation are likely t...
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Reposted by Will Smith
Julia Frunzke @frunzkelab.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Finally!! 🥳 "A consensus-based guideline for personalized bacteriophage therapy" www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.spektrum.de/news/leitlin... @spp2330.bsky.social
spektrum.de
Infektionen: Leitlinie zur Phagentherapie
Für wen eignet sich eine Phagentherapie?
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Reposted by Will Smith
Ellinor Alseth @ellinoralseth.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
What a Friday, finally seeing this published in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social! We hope this will be of interest to anyone working in the bacterial immune system field (or microbiology in general), and who wants an evolutionary take on it 🦠🧫 Open Access link: authors.elsevier.com/a/1nllx,L%7E...
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Reposted by Will Smith
Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 11/08/2026
Interested in exploring the world of biotics? Join Julie A. K. McDonald from Imperial College London at the Biotic Control of Bacteria meeting in Nottingham. Explore next-generation control methods for bacterial pathogens and more. Register by 17 August: microb.io/4w3BQHG 🦠 #MGen
Poster for Biotic Control of Bacteria event at Nottingham Trent University on 8 September 2026 with registration open notice.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Thanks for coming @fgyapong.bsky.social and congratulations on your prize-winning Poster! 🏆 Awesome science, awesome story 🐟
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Thanks for joining Whelan lab, you guys are fab :-)
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Thanks so much for contributing @evokait.bsky.social!
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
#Manchester #MEEhubs26 Day 2 is on! Fantastic talks from @olimeacock.bsky.social @melissalawson.bsky.social @evokait.bsky.social on microbial community interactions with keynote by @dundee.ac.uk's Prof. Sarah Coulthurst 🦠↔️🦠
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Thanks Bex, delighted you can join!
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Thanks Freya - really glad you're enjoying! Great Qs btw
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
#MEEHubs is go! So excited to hear about the latest in Microbial Ecology and Evolution Research at @manchester.ac.uk and worldwide ❤️
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Credit: the inimitable PBF pbfcomics.com
pbfcomics.com
Welcome to the Fellowship
The Perry Bible Fellowship
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I'm not crying, you're crying ❤️🦠
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Reposted by Will Smith
Tracy Palmer @proftracypalmer.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Check out our latest T7SS toxin story. These reverse toxins aren’t as rare as we thought!
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See-Yeun Ting 陳詩允 @seeyeunting.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Excited to share our new preprint on a question that has puzzled us for a long time: How can the bacterial nano-weapon, type VI secretion system (T6SS), load and deliver so many antibacterial toxins that are completely different in structure and function? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Sara Mitri @saramitri.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Eye-opening work by @olimeacock.bsky.social (former postdoc, now PI in Sheffield). He presents an exact mapping from steady-state consumer-resource to generalized Lotka-Volterra models, revealing that cross-feeding can lead to competition for other limiting resources. Feedback pls!
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Thanks to all the folks who came to see @mermanchester.bsky.social at @manchester.ac.uk Universally Manchester Festival! We had a blast, send us pics of your petris ❤️
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
It's arrived!!!! #LTEE
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Reposted by Will Smith
Will Ratcliff @wcratcliff.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
It's funny how we stigmatize being wrong in science. There's nothing better in science than being wrong and getting to change your mind about something. Any day you were wrong is a day you get to learn something new!
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Reposted by Will Smith
Microbiology Society @microbiologysociety.org · 04/05/2026
Registration is open for the Biotic Control of Bacteria meeting, hosted by MGen Deputy Editor-in-Chief Dr Conor Meehan. Explore innovative approaches to controlling bacterial growth and network with leading researchers in the field. Find out more: microb.io/3Qv6k5B
Conference announcement for Biotic Control of Bacteria at Nottingham Trent University on 8 September 2026 with registration open.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
MEEHubs26 abstract deadline has been extended to April 26th. Come showcase your awesome Microbiology w. scientists worldwide! meehubs2026.oa-event.com 🦠 What: awesome conference in microbial ecology and evolution, with hubs around the world 🦠 Where: Sunny* Manchester 🦠 When: 3rd-5th August 2026
meehubs2026.oa-event.com
Home
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
🚨 Calling all microbiologists! 🚨 The MEEHubs abstract submission deadline (19/04) is fast approaching. Come showcase your science!! Submission portal is here: app.oxfordabstracts.com/auth?redirec...
app.oxfordabstracts.com
Oxford Abstracts
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
It was a huge pleasure to welcome my former mentor, @unimelb.edu.au 's Prof James Osborne, to @mermanchester.bsky.social this week! Here I am seconds after having embarrassingly dropped several of my cryos on the floor
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Read more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Outstanding MathBio seminar by @olimeacock.bsky.social today at @manchester.ac.uk! Thanks Carl Whitfield and @mermanchester.bsky.social members for great chats Oli has developed beautiful eco theory on how microbes interact via environmental change 1/2
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Thanks Patricia!
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Thanks Ben, it means a lot! Keen to hear what you think
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
It's been a long journey getting this out, but a hugely rewarding one too! Huge thank you to @atejadaarranz.bsky.social, @basler-lab.bsky.social , @raveentank.bsky.social, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social and the fabulous @mermanchester.bsky.social supergroup for all your help!
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
If pan-resistance were easy, the T6SS wouldn’t be a good weapon, and bacteria would tend to lose it. Instead: toxin-specific resistance appears to be evolutionarily more accessible in our system, enabling attackers to circumvent competitors’ resistances by combining or switching effectors.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
So, the fact that we didn’t we see these “pan-resistance” mechanisms evolve in our E. coli helps to explain why so many gram-negative bacteria continue to use the T6SS, along with diverse toxin arsenals.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This specificity was a surprising result: past work has shown that there are several ways in which T6SS attacks can be physically blocked (including by slimy biofilm matrices! academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...), which ought to disable *any* kind of toxin secretion. 🦠🦠🦠
academic.oup.com
Collective protection against the type VI secretion system in bacteria
AbstractBacteria commonly face attacks from other strains using the type VI secretion system (T6SS), which acts like a molecular speargun to stab and intox
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This is just one example, but it highlights a fascinating pattern: evolved resistance against one toxin typically isn’t very helpful against other toxin types.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
What’s really cool 🧊🧊🧊, however, is that we see resistance trade-offs arising between different types of T6SS toxin. When the lipase-evolved E. coli are confronted with a different toxin, targeting their call wall, they are actually fare worse than the ancestral strain 😱:
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Genetic analyses show us that this resistance arises via loss of specific transporters, such as dctA and sstT, found in the E. coli inner membrane (how?? we still don’t know!)
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
When we look instead at E. coli cells that have adapted to lipase attacks, the rate of permeabilisation is much lower – i.e. we see strong lipase resistance at the single-cell scale:
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Over the 30m timelapse, we see lots E. coli cells turning cyan (SYTOX+), showing that lipase attacks have critically damaged their cell membranes. 🧀🧀🧀
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
*In fact*, in some cases it can even make things worse. Here’s what happens when ancestral E. coli (green) is attacked by A. baylyi bacteria (red), secreting a membrane-degrading lipase via the T6SS: [VIDEO TIME!!]
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
We've found something really cool 🧊: while it’s fairly easy to evolve resistance to T6SS attacks involving only one toxin, this resistance is generally toxin-specific: it doesn’t generally help bacteria if they’re confronted with a different toxin type.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
In collaboration with the @basler-lab.bsky.social, and T6SS superstar @atejadaarranz.bsky.social, we probed how E. coli bacteria evolve when confronted with cell wall- and membrane-targeting toxins secreted via the T6SS.
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
T6SSs are molecular syringes that allow bacteria to inject a diverse array of toxins into rival cells. I’m interested in how gut microbes, like E. coli, adapt to these attacks. If E. coli evolve resistance to one T6SS toxin, does that grant resistance to other types of T6SS attack?
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Here’s the latest preprint from my work on evolved resistance to Type VI Secretion system (T6SS) weaponry, funded by a @wellcometrust.bsky.social Sir Henry Wellcome Fellowship. So happy to see this out! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
biorxiv.org
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
🚨 Calling all UK microbiologists 🚨- MEEHubs Registration is now OPEN! Come join our hub at ☀️ @manchester.ac.uk ☀️
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Reposted by Will Smith
Michael Brockhurst @brockhurstlab.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
How does treatment induced antibiotic resistance happen in real-world infections? We analysed 25k Pseudomonas isolates from 180 patients in a clinical trial to find out! TLDR: The ecological and evolutionary paths are surprisingly diverse & complex even in patients receiving identical treatment…
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Reposted by Will Smith
Michael Brockhurst @brockhurstlab.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
New preprint! Ever wondered why only a fraction of genomes encode CRISPR immunity? 🧬 🦠 Turns out CRISPR is rarely beneficial against virulent phages, being most beneficial against those for which resistance mutations are rare! An epic effort by Rosanna Wright www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Resistance mutation supply modulates the benefit of CRISPR immunity against virulent phages
Only a fraction of bacterial genomes encode CRISPR-Cas systems but the selective causes of this variation are unexplained. How naturally virulent bacteriophages (phages) select for CRISPR immunity has...
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
🚨 PhD Studentship available! 🚨 We're hiring a UK student to start in Oct '26 via the BBSRC CODEM scheme. Full studentship plus £10k top-up PA. Study the mysterious ZOMBIE PHAGES 🧟 🦠 with our fabulous @mermanchester.bsky.social and @uommib.bsky.social communities! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
(CODE M) Losing your head: how do bacterial viruses evolve into anti-competitor weapons? at The University of Manchester on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - (CODE M) Losing your head: how do bacterial viruses evolve into anti-competitor weapons? at The University of Manchester, listed on FindAPhD.com
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Congratulations also to MERMan's new Bicentenary Fellows, Dr. @matthewjshepherd.bsky.social and Dr. Ryan R Cochrane! Names on doors!!! 🎉 @mermanchester.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk
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Will Smith @willpjsmith.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
Huge congratulations to @mermanchester.bsky.social 's latest graduate, Dr. Rana Alruthaya, who passed her PhD viva today! Well done Rana!
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