OxBacNet – a networking group, linking bacteriologists working in Oxford.
Organised by Judith Armitage (Dept. of Biochemistry, judith.armitage@bioch.ox.ac.uk) and Philip Poole (Dept.of Biology, philip.poole@biology.ox.ac.uk), we aim to have three meetings a year, held on Wednesday afternoon of fourth week each term. There will be research talks by senior and junior scientists (either by Zoom or ‘in person’ meetings), and when held in the Dept. of Biology, followed by opportunities for networking (and pizza!)
If you would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact alison.east@biology.ox.ac.uk
OxBacNet is grateful for the support of Oxford’s Bacteriology Project Leaders.
OxBacNet Symposium – Trinity Term
17th May 2023 – all welcome!
To be held in: Large Lecture Theatre, Dept. of Biology (SPR), South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3RB
Previous meetings:
Jan 2023 (Hilary)
| 08:55 – 09:00 | Welcome – Christoph Tang (Dunn School of Pathology) | ||||||
| Session 1 | Chairs: Judy Armitage & Martin Jahn | ||||||
| 09:00 – 09:30 | Evolutionary ecology of CRISPR and anti-CRISPR phages Stineke van Houte (University of Exeter) | ||||||
| 09:30 – 09:45 | Ecological interactions in the human gut microbiome Xuedan Wang (Foster lab, Dept. of Biology) | ||||||
| 09:45 – 10:00 | Microscopic dissection of E. coli Tol-Pal function Joanna Szczepaniak (Kleanthous lab, Dept. of Biochemistry) | ||||||
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Nasopharyngeal competition dynamics are likely to be altered following vaccine introduction: bacteriocin prevalence and diversity among Icelandic and Kenyan pneumococci Angela Brueggemann (Nuffield Dept. of Population Health) | ||||||
| 10:15 – 10:30 | Cellular immune dysfunction in response to bacteria in diabetes Barbara Kronsteiner-Dobramysl (Dunachie lab, Nuffield Dept. of Medicine) | ||||||
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Tea & Coffee break | ||||||
| Session 2 | Chairs: Colin Kleanthous & Tanuka Sen | ||||||
| 11:00 – 11:15 | Novel antibody-peptide conjugate against multi-drug resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae Hayley Lavender (Tang lab, Dunn School of Pathology) | ||||||
| 11:15 – 11:30 | ADP-ribosylation signalling and toxin-antitoxin systems Ivan Ahel (Dunn School of Pathology) | ||||||
| 11:30 – 11:45 | Evolutionary drivers of Antimicrobial resistance Craig MacLean (Dept. of Biology) | ||||||
| 11:45 – 12:00 | Predicting antibiotic resistance in tuberculosis de novo using protein structure-based machine learning and free energy calculations Phil Fowler (Nuffield Dept. of Medicine) | ||||||
| 12:00 – 12:15 | Discovery of a novel iminosugar glycosidase inhibitor and its biosynthesis in Pseudomonas syringae Nattapong Sanguankiattichai (Preston lab, Dept. of Biology) | ||||||
| 12:15 – 12:30 | The global burden and surveillance of AMR research in the IOI Chioma Achi (Ineos Oxford Institute) | ||||||
| 12:30 – 14:00 | Lunch | ||||||
| Session 3 | Chairs: Christoph Tang & Lulu Liu | ||||||
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Using immunity to manipulate the microbial ecology of the intestine Emma Slack (ETH, Zurich) | ||||||
| 14:30 – 14:45 | Deep learning/single cell phenotyping for rapid AMR detection Piers Turner (Kapanidis lab, Dept. of Physics) | ||||||
| 14:45 – 15:00 | A vaccine for melioidosis Susanna Dunachie (Nuffield Dept. of Medicine) | ||||||
| 15:00 – 17:00 | Posters, Tea/Coffee | ||||||
| Session 4 | Chairs: Ashleigh Griffin & Jo Szczepaniak | ||||||
| 17:00 – 17:15 | Engineering Bacteria (SimCells) for Therapy Yutong Yin (Dept. of Engineering Science) | ||||||
| 17:15 – 17:30 | Bacterial genome-wide association studies: from comparative genomics to gene function Sam Sheppard (Dept. of Biology) | ||||||
| 17:30 – 17:45 | Direct observation of transcription reaction cycles in vivo using single-particle tracking at the minute timescale Oliver Pambos (Kapanidis lab, Dept. of Physics) | ||||||
| 19.20 – | Dinner at Hertford College, Catte Street | ||||||
Nov 2022 (Michaelmas)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Biology) |
| 2pm | David Sauer (Centre for Medicines Discovery) The DASS family of carboxylate transporters |
| 2.30pm | Colin Kleanthous (Dept. of Biochemistry) Organisational principles of the bacterial outer membrane |
| 3pm | Hee-Jeon Hong (Brookes University) Actinomycetes: bacteria with important biotech applications |
| 3.30pm | TEA BREAK in the Common Room, Dept. of Biology (SPR) |
| 4pm | Future Meeting Announcement: Christoph Tang (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology) |
| 4.05pm | Raphael Ledermann (Dept. of Biology) Polyamines are crucial for maintaining nitrogen-fixing bacteroids |
| 4.20pm | Saifur Rahman (Dept. of Biology) A One Health approach to understanding Klebsiella pneumoniae virulence and antimicrobial resistance from Bangladesh |
| 4.35pm | Sean Booth (Dept. of Biology) Bows and swords: why bacteria carry short and long-range weapon |
| 4.50pm | Connor Sharp (Dept. of Biology) Colicin Plasmid Diversity: From ColA – ColZ |
| 5.05pm | Erik Bakkeren (Dept. of Biology) Principles of microbiota-mediated protection against bacterial gut pathogens |
| 5.20pm | Jad Sassine (Dept. of Biochemistry) CTD cleavage by CcpA permits faster substrate release in T9SS |
| 5.35pm | Beer and Pizza in the Common Room, Dept. of Biology (SPR) |
May 2022 (Trinity)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Georgia Isom, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology georgia.isom@path.ox.ac.uk Lipid transport for the bacterial outer membrane through periplasmic-spanning tunnels and bridges |
| 2.30pm | Matthew Stracy, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology mathew.stracy@path.ox.ac.uk Minimizing treatment-induced emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacterial infections |
| 3pm | Jani Bolla, Dept. of Plant Sciences jani.bolla@plants.ox.ac.ukPeptidoglycan biosynthesis is driven by lipid transfer along enzyme-substrate affinity gradients |
| 3.30pm | TEA BREAK in the Common Room, Dept. of Plant Sciences |
| 4pm | Chloe Cassaro, Dept. of Biochemistry chloe.cassaro@dtc.ox.ac.uk Imaging bacterial stress responses to DNA-damaging antibacterial agents |
| 4.15pm | Isidro Abreu, Dept. of Plant Sciences isidro.abreu@plants.ox.ac.uk Ironing out Fe homeostasis in nitrogen-fixing endosymbiotic rhizobia |
| 4.30pm | India Brough, The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, india.brough@ndorms.ox.ac.uk Commensal microbiota drive systemic inflammatory arthritis |
| 4.45pm | Rebecca Jeffery, The Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, rebecca.jeffery@kennedy.ox.ac.uk Understanding host-bacterial and bacterial-bacterial interactions that support intestinal inflammation |
| 5pm | Patrick Inns, Dept. of Biochemistry patrick.inns@bioch.ox.ac.uk The organisation and dynamics of major Escherichia coli outer membrane components |
| 5.15pm | Yanan Zhu, STRUBI yanan.zhu@strubi.ox.ac.uk In situ structure of Particulate Methane Monooxygenase (pMMO) arrays in native methanotrophs |
| 5.30pm | Beer and Pizza in the Common Room, Dept. of Plant Sciences |
November 2021 (Michaelmas, by Zoom)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Raphael Ledermann, Dept. of Plant Sciences raphael.ledermann@plants.ox.ac.uk Polyamine-mediated acid tolerance is critical for bacteroid functioning. |
| 2.15pm | Syma Khalid, Dept. of Biochemistry syma.khalid@bioch.ox.ac.uk What can we learn about bacterial membranes from computer simulations? |
| 2.45pm | Jani Bolla, Dept. of Plant Sciences jani.bolla@plants.ox.ac.uk Towards a mechanistic understanding of Gram-negative bacterial cell envelope biogenesis. |
| 3.15pm | Gideon Mamou, Dept. of Biochemistry gideon.mamou@bioch.ox.ac.uk Peptidoglycan maturation shapes outer membrane protein biogenesis in E. coli. |
| 3.30pm | TEA BREAK |
| 4pm | Jacob Palmer, Dept. of Zoology jacob.palmer@zoo.ox.ac.uk The evolution of spectrum in antibiotics and bacteriocins. |
| 4.15pm | Owain Bryant, Dept. of Biochemistry owain.bryant@bioch.ox.ac.ukStructural studies of the TatBC complex of the twin-arginine protein transport system. |
| 4.30pm | Ravinash Krisha Kumar, Dept. of Chemistry ravinash.krishnakumar@chem.ox.ac.uk Bacterial competition in 3D-printed structured communities. |
| 4.45pm | Wearn Xin (Edeline) Yee, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology wearn.yee@merton.ox.ac.uk Resistance movement: Determining genetic factors impacting mobility of AMR plasmids in Neisseria gonorrhoeae. |
| 5pm | Divya Choudhary, Dept. of Biochemistry divya.choudhary@some.ox.ac.uk Spatio-temporal variation of oxidative stress response in E. coli. |
| 5.15pm | Jan Boehning, Sir William Dunn School of Pathologyjan.boehning@lincoln.ox.ac.uk The structure of TasA fibres in Bacillus subtilis biofilms. |
May 2021 (Trinity, by Zoom)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Richard Berry, Dept. of Physics richard.berry@physics.ox.ac.uk Single-molecule investigations of the mechanism of the bacterial flagellar motor |
| 2.30pm | Liisa Veerus, Dept. of Zoology liisaveerus@gmail.com Evolutionary Implications of Reproductive Tract Microbiota in a Polygynandrous Host, the Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) |
| 2.45pm | Carolin Schulte, Dept. of Plant Sciences/Dept. of Engineering Science carolin.schulte@keble.ox.ac.uk Metabolic control of nitrogen fixation in the rhizobium-legume symbioses |
| 3pm | TEA BREAK |
| 3.15pm | Pedro Moura Alves, Ludwig Cancer Institute pedro.mouraalves@ludwig.ox.ac.uk Spying on bacterial communication: AhR senses bacterial quorum and impacts on host defense mechanisms |
| 3.45pm | Hafez El Sayyed, Dept. of Physics hafez.elsayyed@physics.ox.ac.uk Studying NusG function in live bacteria using single-molecule tracking. |
| 4pm | Saran Davies, Dept. of Zoology saran.davies@jesus.ox.ac.ukPseudomonas aeruginosa Persister Cell Proportion is Highest During Exponential Growth |
| 4.15pm | Melissa Webby, Dept. of Biochemistry melissa.webby@bioch.ox.ac.ukOuter Membrane Protein Organisation in E. coli: What is the molecular basis of supramolecular island formation? |
| 4.30pm | Susan Black, STRUBI suzi@strubi.ox.ac.uk Mechanosensitive channels in E. coli |
February 2021 (Hilary, by Zoom)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Tim Walsh, Dept. of Zoology timothy.walsh@zoo.ox.ac.ukCOVID versus AMR – lessons we can learn |
| 2.30pm | Ronelle Roth, Dept. of Plant Sciences ronelle.roth@plants.ox.ac.uk Maintaining good relations: siRNA-mediated regulation of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in tomato |
| 3pm | TEA BREAK |
| 3.15pm | Charlotte Melia, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology charlotte.melia@path.ox.ac.uk In situ cryo-EM of Pseudomonas aeruginosa cell-cell junctions reveals a target for bacterial biofilm inhibition |
| 3.30pm | Laura Clark, Dept. of Plant Sciences laura.clark@plants.ox.ac.ukWhere should I invest my resources? How host plants regulate interactions with bacterial symbionts |
| 3.45pm | Harrison Steel, Dept. of Engineering Science harrison.steel@eng.ox.ac.uk Developing robotic tools that enable real-time control of biological experimentation |
| 4pm | Nathalie Reichmann, Dept. of Biochemistry nathalie.reichmann@bioch.ox.ac.uk Complement-mediated killing: a bacterium’s point of view |
No meetings were held in Trinity term 2020 or Michaelmas term 2020 due to COVID-19.
February 2020 (Hilary)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Tanmay Bharat Sir William Dunn School of Pathology tanmay.bharat@path.ox.ac.uk Structural cell biology of prokaryotic surface layer proteins |
| 2.30pm | Pedro Moura Alves Ludwig Cancer Institute pedro.mouraalves@ludwig.ox.ac.uk Spying on bacterial quorum: infection dynamics under surveillance by the host AhR |
| 3pm | Paulo Bettencourt The Jenner Institute paulo.bettencourt@ndm.ox.ac.uk Identification of peptides presented by MHC for vaccines against tuberculosis |
| 3.30pm | Tea |
| 4pm | Chair: Judy Armitage (Dept. of Biochemistry) |
| 4pm | Sarah Hollingshead Sir William Dunn School of Pathology sarah.hollingshead@path.ox.ac.uk How to hold on to your plasmid |
| 4.15pm | Keith Cassidy Dept. of Biochemistry/STRUBI ckcassidy1@gmail.comStructure and dynamics of the E. coli chemotaxis core signalling complex |
| 4.30pm | Andrzej Tkacz Dept. of Plant Sciences andrzej.tkacz@plants.ox.ac.uk A holistic approach to the plant microbiome |
| 4.45pm | Abul Tarafder Sir William Dunn School of Pathology abul.tarafder@path.ox.ac.uk Phage liquid crystalline droplets encapsulate and protect bacteria |
| 5pm | New Starter Session: Lois Ogunlana Dept. of Zoology lois.ogunlana@balliol.ox.ac.uk Investigating the fitness effects of mobile colistin resistance genes |
| 5.15pm | New Starter Session: Anna Dewar Dept. of Zoology anna.dewar@wolfson.ox.ac.uk A comparative approach to understanding selection on extracellular secretion |
| 5.30pm | Pizza and beer in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
May 2019 (Trinity)
| 2pm | Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) |
| 2pm | Kayla King kayla.king@zoo.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Zoology) Killers and protectors: rapid microbial evolution across the parasitism-mutualism continuum |
| 2.30pm | Valentine Legage valentine.lagage@bioch.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Biochemistry) Bacterial mutation dynamics in response to oxidative stress |
| 3pm | Tim Haskett tim.haskett@plants.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) Controlling plant-microbe interactions with rhizopine signalling |
| 3.30pm | TEA in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room (area at the back reserved for us) |
| 4pm | Chair: Judy Armitage (Dept. of Biochemistry) |
| 4pm | Elisa Granato elisa.granato@zoo.ox.ac.uk (Dept. Of Zoology) Counter-attack at any cost: self-lysis in bacterial warfare |
| 4.30pm | Rafael Da Silva Custodio rafael.dasilvacustodio@path.ox.ac.uk (Dunn School of Pathology) Commensal Neisseria utilises a Type VI secretion system to kill N. meningitidis |
| 5pm | Oliver Meacock oliver.meacock@balliol.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Zoology) The tortoise and the hare: how collective behaviours within bacterial biofilms select for cells that move more slowly |
| 5.15pm | New Starter Session: Reza Rohani reza.rohani@eng.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Engineering) Vibrio natriegens as a chassis for synthetic biology |
| 5.30pm | Pizza and beer in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
February 2019 (Hilary)
| 2pm | Chair: Colin Kleanthous (Dept. of Biochemistry) |
| 2pm | Rut Caballido-López rut.carballido-lopez@inra.fr (Micalis Institute, Paris) Shaping bacteria: dynamics and morphogenetic function of actin-like MreB proteins |
| 2.30pm | Jim Naismith naismith@strubi.ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) Making hard molecules using bacterial enzymes |
| 3pm | Carmen Sanchez-Cañizares carmen.sanchez-canizares@plants.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Plant Sciences) Control of bacterial nitrogen and carbon metabolism by a PTS-regulated switch |
| 3.30pm | TEA in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room (area at the back reserved for us) |
| Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) | |
| 4pm | Sandip Kumarsandip.kumar@bioch.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Biochemistry) Imaging organization in the Escherichia coli outer membrane |
| 4.30pm | Helen Alexanderhelen.alexander@zoo.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Zoology) Stochastic bacterial population dynamics prevent the emergence of antibiotic resistance |
| 5pm | Beatriz Jorrínbeatriz.jorrin@plants.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Plant Sciences) Broad host range tool to label synthetic bacterial communities |
| 5.20pm | Pizza and beer in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
October 2018 (Michaelmas)
| 2pm | Judy Armitage (Dept. of Biochemistry) Short introduction/announcements |
| Chair: Ruth Cohen Khait (Dept. of Biochemistry) | |
| 2.10pm | Peijun Zhang peijun@strubi.ox.ac.uk(STRUBI) Tales of Bacterial Chemosensory Arrays |
| 2.40pm | Hee-Jeon Hong hee-jeon.hong@brookes.ac.uk (Dept. of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes)Functional Genomics of Bioactive Secondary Metabolites in Actinomycetes |
| 3.10pm | Paul Rutten paul.rutten@biodtp.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Plant Sciences) How does oxygen regulation prepare Rhizobium for life in nodules? |
| 3.25pm | Catherine Fan catherine.fan@wolfson.ox.ac.uk (IBME) Zombie Cells: a novel chassis for synthetic biology |
| 3.40pm | TEA in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room (area at the back reserved for us) |
| Chair: Judy Armitage (Dept. of Biochemistry) | |
| 4.10pm | Keith Jolley keith.jolley@zoo.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Zoology) Open-access bacterial population genomics: PubMLST and the BIGSdb genomics platform |
| 4.25pm | Jamie Wheeler james.wheeler@linacre.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Zoology) How do bacteria navigate through developing biofilms? |
| 4.40pm | Stephan Uphoff stephan.uphoff@bioch.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Biochemistry) Imaging real-time dynamics of mutagenesis in single cells |
| 5.10pm | Takuya Machida takuya.machida@chem.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Chemistry) Tunicamycin analogues for developing new class of antibiotics |
| 5.25pm | Nattapong Sanguankiattichai nattapong.sanguankiattichai@biodtp.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) Pseudomonas syringae produces an inhibitor of plant defence-related b-galactosidase |
| 5.40pm | Pizza and beer in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
May 2018 (Trinity)
| Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) | |
| 2pm | Wei Huang wei.huang@eng.ox.ac.uk(Dept. of Engineering) From single cell to synthetic biology |
| 2.30pm | Colin Kleanthous colin.kleanthous@bioch.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Biochemistry) Spatiotemporal organization of the bacterial outer membrane and its consequences |
| 3pm | Susan Lea susan.lea@path.ox.ac.uk(Dunn School of Pathology) Using structure to dissect function in bacteria-host interactions |
| 3.30pm | TEA in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
| Chair: Emma Sadler (Dept. of Biochemistry) | |
| 4pm | Marcela Mendoza-Suárez marcela.mendozasuarez@plants.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) Identifying competitive and effective rhizobial strains: Getting to the root of the problem |
| 4.15pm | Alex Orlek alex.orlek@wolfson.ox.ac.uk (Nuffield Department of Medicine) An in silico tool for comparative analysis of bacterial plasmids using high-throughput sequencing data |
| 4.30pm | Ana Cehovin ana.cehovin@path.ox.ac.uk (Dunn School of Pathology) Novel Neisseria gonorrhoeae lineages with high prevalence of resistance plasmids: implications for plasmid maintenance |
| 4.45pm | Rachel Wheatley rachel.wheatley@univ.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) Fitness determinants in Rhizobium-legume symbioses |
| 5pm | Frederic Lauber frederic.lauber@bioch.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Biochemistry) and Justin Deme justin.deme@path.ox.ac.uk (Dunn School of Pathology) Structural studies of bacterial secretion systems |
| 5.30pm | Pizza and beer in Dept. of Plant Sciences Common Room |
Feb 2018 (Hilary)
| Chair: Philip Poole (Dept. of Plant Sciences) | |
| 2pm | Renier van der Hoorn renier.vanderhoorn@plants.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) Molecular dialogs at the plant-pathogen interface |
| 2.30pm | Christoph Tang christoph.tang@path.ox.ac.uk (Dunn School of Pathology) Title TBC |
| 3.pm | Ian Thompson ian.thompson@eng.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Engineering) Engineering Microbial Communities |
| 3.30pm | TEA in Plant Sciences Dept. Common Room |
| Chair: Beatriz Jorrín (Dept. of Plant Sciences) | |
| 4pm | Lindsay Baker lindsay@strubi.ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) Native Membrane Structural Biology: A hybrid approach to study bacterial membrane proteins across resolutions in their native environment |
| 4.15pm | Vinoy Ramachandran vinoy.ramachandran@plants.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Plant Sciences) How rhizobia attach to and colonise legume roots |
| 4.30pm | Jun Fan jun.fan@physics.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Physics) Super-resolution imaging of transcription organisation in different physiological states |
| 4.45pm | Daniel Unterweger daniel.unterweger@zoo.ox.ac.uk (Dept. of Zoology) Bacterial warfare during chronic infection |
| 5pm | Marie-Louise Francis (Dept. of Biochemistry) marie-louise.francis@stx.ox.ac.uk Colicin translocation through the E. coli cell envelope |
| 5.15pm | Paulo Bettencourt paulo.bettencourt@ndm.ox.ac.uk (The Jenner Institute) Identification of Mycobacterial Antigens Presented by MHC Molecules from Infected Macrophages using Mass Spectrometry |
| 5.35pm | Pizza and beer in Plant Sciences Dept. Common Room |
Rhizosphere 