Andreas Peschel

Lovely work driven by Lizzie Ledger in the group: a new but druggable mechanism by which Staphs produce biofilm using components of human serum. First polysaccharides, then protein, then eDNA, now lipids too!

bsky.app/profile/bior...

Amazing resolution of this beautiful mechanism!
@spp2330.bsky.social

@cmfi.bsky.social continues its international conference series: come to Tübingen in 2027!

Collagen binding adhesin restricts Staphylococcus aureus skin infection - Nature Communications Staphylococcus aureus is able to evade host immune responses by expressing surface adhesins, like collagen binding adhesin (Cna). Here, the authors report the role of Cna during S. aureus skin infecti...

Cool new study suggesting that some Staphs use collagen binding to evade immunity on the skin, with a substantial trade-off in terms of bacterial load and disease severity. Congrats to the authors! #microsky

Skin androgens affect virulence of Staphylococcus aureus Nature Microbiology, Published online: 27 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02281-ySex-specific differences in susceptibility to skin infections with Staphylococcus aureus are well described. Testosterone now emerges as a direct modulator of the accessory gene regulator quorum sensing system, increasing S. aureus virulence, which both explains sex-specific differences and informs treatment strategies.

Out Now! Skin androgens affect virulence of Staphylococcus aureus #MicroSky

One of my favorite papers of past few years!

Bacterial defense systems and host ecology drive the evolution of intra-species lineages Staphylococcus aureus lineages vary widely in the frequency of gene exchange and the diversity of genome content. Gorzynski and Harling-Lee et al. show that both host ecology and the horizontal acquis...

Great work by Jamie Gorzynski and Josh-Harling-Lee from the group providing insights into the evolutionary origins of bacterial lineages. A collaboration with @jrpenades.bsky.social @wfigueroac3.bsky.social. #Staph Cell Reports www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Bacterial metabolic remodeling by convergent evolution unlocks nutrient availability after a host switch Staphylococcus aureus has undergone metabolic remodeling to adapt to the dairy niche.

Insights into how #Staph aureus adapts to the bovine host by unlocking nutrients from the dairy niche. Great work by Amy Pickering, Jamie Gorzynski and others in the group. Bacterial metabolic remodeling by convergent evolution after a host switch.|Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Bacterial metabolic remodeling by convergent evolution unlocks nutrient availability after a host switch Staphylococcus aureus has undergone metabolic remodeling to adapt to the dairy niche.

Cool new paper from Amy Pickering in Edinburgh comparing phenotypes in Staph between host species, highlighting a key role for proteolysis and peptide utilisation in bovine mastitis. Great work!

Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile | mBio Past work has seen over-representation of Staphylococcus aureus clinical isolates in genome and biology studies on staphylococci. Here, we show by a selective plating analysis of municipal wastewater ...

🫴 Staphylococcus species infected by a bacteriophage with a tail that is both curved and contractile:

👇

| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

@mbio.bsky.social @spp2330.bsky.social

Thrilled to share this study tracking Staph aureus carriage and transmission across the NICU using genomics! Work done w @pjplanet.bsky.social & @ahmedmicrobes.bsky.social and made possible by @centermicrobialmed.bsky.social.

Study co-led by the amazing @qianxuan.bsky.social & Lakshmi Srinivasan!

Super cool story from Sam Fenn. He developed a wound model where s. aureus & p. aerunginosa & c. albicans fight it out shows that copper is central to the outcome where Candida and pseudomonas take copper from human tissue to gang up on staph!

But staph being staph is as always one step ahead….

Open PhD position
Institute of Medical Microbiology, Lübeck, Germany.

I will be leading a new research group at UKSH Lübeck and we have an open PhD position starting April 2026.

Please share!

jobs.uksh.de/job/L%C3%BCb...

Join us at this year's meeting of the International Society of Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health - ISEMPH 2026 in Kiel. See: isemph.org/page-18356

New Global Consortium Aims to Transform Antibiotic Discovery to Counter the Growing AMR Crisis Philanthropic partners invest $60M to support collaborative research to accelerate the discovery of next-generation antibiotics

A win for antibiotic discovery—and for all of us.

The Gates Foundation, Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome are committing $60M to accelerate next-generation antibiotics and combat AMR.

18 projects. 17 countries. One mission.

Read here➡️ www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/media-...

🔬🦠𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘂𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗭𝗜𝗙/𝗣𝗘𝗚 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗠𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴!
We are excited to invite you to the joint Annual Meeting of DZIF & PEG: Explore how infection research is evolving in the age of antibiotic resistance, gender medicine, and precision medicine

📅 February 23–24, 2026
📍 Bonn
🔗 Register now: t1p.de/dzif-peg-2026

Metabolic reprogramming promotes Staphylococcus aureus serum resistance during bacteraemia. Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bloodstream infections causing an estimated 300,000 deaths worldwide. Using a functional genomics approach, our group previously identified that adaptation ...

The first of some rather chunky papers coming out of Sam Fenn’s work here at @uccmicrobiology.bsky.social

Here we identify and characterise yet another way S. aureus survives life in the bloodstream, but remodelling a major part of its metabolism

Dominant contribution of Asgard archaea to eukaryogenesis - Nature A survey of the reconstructed gene set of the last eukaryotic common ancestor shows a consistent link between Asgard archaea and the origin of numerous, functionally diverse eukaryotic genes, dem...

#NatMicroPicks

Asgard archaea and the origin of eukaryotes! 🦠

Eukaryotic cellular complexity evolved largely within the Asgard lineage before mitochondrial endosymbiosis and later bacterial gene acquisitions

#MicroSky

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Composition and dynamics of the adult nasal microbiome - Microbiome Background The nasal microbiome, a dynamic assemblage of commensals and opportunistic pathogens, is crucial to human health. Results Using cross-sectional data from 1,608 adults and longitudinal sampl...

Important study for researchers of the nasal microbiome 👃🦠

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Save the date, please RT:

Looking forward to an exciting International Symposium @spp2330.bsky.social "New concepts in prokaryotic virus-host interactions".

October 5-7, 2026; Harnack-Haus Berlin (Germany).

@dfg.de @hhu.de @fz-juelich.de

Congratulations to MD-PhD student, Amanda Velez and all co-authors on our new PNAS paper describing how the innate immune protein calprotectin incapacitates autolysins, inducing tolerance to B-lactam antibiotics. A fun collaboration with Thomas Kehl-Fie. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Community composition and strain identity drive metabolic competition and Staphylococcus aureus colonization resistance in Synthetic Nasal Communities The human nasal microbiome is a low-diversity ecosystem whose assembly principles and mechanisms of colonization resistance remain poorly understood. In particular, Staphylococcus aureus colonization ...

Preprint from our lab and @func-metabo-lab.bsky.social: In synthetic nasal communities a single Corynebacterium propinquum strain can exclude Staphylococcus aureus through nutrient competition. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The staphylococcal type VII secretion system protein EsxC impacts daptomycin sensitivity through controlling bacterial cell envelope integrity | Journal of Bacteriology Type VII secretion system (T7SS) has a range of functions in bacteria, including specific roles in bacterial physiology, including DNA uptake, membrane integrity, and bacterial development. In S. aure...

Final paper from my postdoc with @meeraunnikri.bsky.social. Happy me!
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Beyond mecA: a two-tiered mechanism and regulatory rewiring drive high-level ceftaroline resistance in clinical MRSA | Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a growing threat to global health, contributing to an estimated 4.95 million deaths in 2019 (1). Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is among the most persistent and clinically challenging pathogens, causing infections ranging from bacteremia and pneumonia to osteomyelitis and endocarditis in both healthcare and community settings. MRSA’s ability to evade multiple antibiotic classes, particularly β-lactams, has made it a priority pathogen for new treatment strategies.

Beyond mecA: a two-tiered mechanism and regulatory rewiring drive high-level ceftaroline resistance in clinical MRSA!

(A link between Spx and c-di-AMP 🤔)

| Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

#cdAMP

Thank you @pdersch.bsky.social and @effiebastounis.bsky.social for your presentations! A great start for @cmfi.bsky.social into 2026

#tübingen | Andreas Peschel Our opportunity to make a difference in 2026: join our Wissenschaft für Demokratie - Wir für Dich e.V. kick-off event in #Tübingen on January 13!

www.linkedin.com/posts/andrea...

Structural basis of quinone sensing by the MarR-type repressor MhqR in Staphylococcus aureus | mBio Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen that can cause life-threatening infections in humans. However, treatment options are limited due to the prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant isolates i...

🫴 Structural basis of quinone sensing by the MarR-type repressor MhqR in Staphylococcus aureus:

| mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Does this mean Santa has to move?

Find out in the latest episode of ScienceStuff: link.podtrac.com/SciStuff_NorthPole

Christmas miracle, anyone?

Paradigms for microbiome analysis in infectious and non-communicable diseases Next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics paved the way in deciphering the human gut microbiome and challenged fundamental postulates on the causal role of the microbiota for health and pathogenesis of infectious and noncommunicable diseases. To exploit the clinical relevance and potential of microbiome diagnostics and therapy, deep metagenomic sequencing with standardized, validated laboratory procedures, aiming at deciphering the microbiome at strain level and applying index-scores to allow classification of individual microbiomes as dysbiotic (associated with disease) or eubiotic (associated with health) should be implemented. By this means, metagenomically informed therapies with live biotherapeutic products, fecal microbiota transfer, pro-, pre-, or postbiotics might become a standard in personalized prevention and treatment of infectious and non-communicable diseases.

Paradigms for microbiome analysis in infectious and non-communicable diseases