Noémie Matthey

Oh yes that would be fun, in tiny version to display on shelves or on a desk. I can totally imagine it. Maybe one day I'll buy a 3D printer 🤪

Yes, I was inspired by that as I was listening to an audiobook that is a sort of retelling of Romeo and Juliet ☺️

#inktober day 16 with Blunder

Here I was rather inspired by a happy accident.

In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin from a moldy Petri dish in his lab.

But did you know that the mold most likely came from a mycologist, C. J. La Touche, who worked one floor below?

#microbesky #sciart

#inktober day 15 with Ragged

It made me thought about the ragged edges observed on swarming motility plates.

Swarming bacteria form beautiful patterns, worth of an art exhibition 🖼️

#microbesky #sciart #inktober2025

#inktober day 13 with Drink

Microorganisms are essentials for fermentation in various products including beer, wine, kefir or kombucha.

With some friends we've already brewed our own beer, but lately I've become a huge fan of water kefir (especially with ginger).

#inktober2025 #microbesky #sciart

🤤 It looks very good !

Ouuuh I actually did not think about that Banksy artwork, with the hidden shredding mechanism into the frame.

It would have been fun to use that as an inspiration for this drawing 🤔

Oh wow they look so cool 😄 !! Thank you so much for sharing this, Christoph. They do look like fusili (or rotini). Now I'm hungry and I want to know more about Rugositalea oryzae 😂

#Inktober days 11 + 12 with Sting & Shredded

Phages invade bacteria. Some bacteria fight back, cutting the phage DNA into small fragments with restriction enzymes.

These "scissors", which are part of RMS, can degrade foreign DNA, while leaving the bacteria's own DNA unharmed.

#microbesky #sciart

#Inktober days 8 and 9 combined - Reckless & Heavy

The reckless use of antibiotics in humans, animals and plants is the main driver in the development of antimicrobial resistance pathogens.

As one of the top global threats, AMR places a heavy burden on public health.

#inktober2025 #microbesky

#inktober day 7 - Starfish

Did you know that there are bacteria, called Stella vacuolata, with a star-shape ?

When autumn begins, they're usually two different mindests:
- Those who are already looking forward to the winter holidays 🎄
- And the fall lovers 🎃

#inktober2025 #sciart #microbesky

Day 4, Claw. Phages don't really have claws, but they do have tail fibres that recognise receptors on host cells and clamp on, allowing phage particles to infect their hosts. #drawtober #SciArt #Phagesky

Day 5, Moon. The physical structures of phages are often compared to the shape and landing action of a lunar lander, with tail fibres reminiscent of the landing struts, to gently settle on the surface of its host. #Drawtober #SciArt #Phagesky

Day 6, Sacrifice/Cry. Individual bacterium can sacrifice themselves to prevent phages reproducing and save the rest of the bacterial community. They can also send out quorum sensing messages to warn other bacteria. #Drawtober #SciArt #Phagesky

A black and white cartoon of lactobacillus on a mottled pinky yellow splashy background. The bacillus is peaceful, wearing a headband and decorated with hippie style flowers, stars and peace signs

A Microbiology Society branded version of a black and white cartoon of lactobacillus on a mottled pinky yellow splashy background. The bacillus is peaceful, wearing a headband and decorated with hippie style flowers, stars and peace signs. The quote is 'As they are probiotic strains, I love them from the gut of my heart! - Hiral Raval, BioGeneVersity, India.

Lactobacillus, what a #LittleLegend !
Part of our gut and vaginal microbiome, this microbe is one of the most widely used #probiotics to treat diarrhoea and eczema. Thanks to Hiral Raval, a @microbiologysociety.org champion, for suggesting I draw this for #InternationalMicroorganismDay
🐡🧪🧫#scicomm

#inktober day 6 with #Pierce

I am a day late, but the prompt for yesterday inspired me more than the one of today.

I could not resist drawing a specific nanoweapon called the type 6 secretion system.
In some bacteria like Vibrio cholerae, it is firing at random...

So the unexpected can happen.

#inktober day 5 with Deer

That one was tricky.

When a deer or any organism dies, microbes begin the decomposition process, returning nutrients to the soil.

#inktober2025 #sciart

#inktober day 4 with Murky

They are some places where you expect murky water (or rather medium) and some places where you don't.

Poor little guy 🐟

#inktober2025 #sciart

Black and white ink drawing of an agar filled petri dish with black spots or plaques covering the surface. One of these plaques is surrounded by a circle, connected by dotted lines to a larger magnified circle showing a lawn of bacteria punctured by a circlar hole with 7 smaller bacteriophages inside

Day 3, Soft. Soft agar is used to visualise phages - plaque assay: bacteria infected with phages are mixed with soft agar, poured over an agar plate. A bacterial lawn grows & plaques appear - as phages infect bacteria, multiply, kill & repeat to form an expanding hole. #drawtober #SciArt #Phagesky

#inktober day 3 with #Crown

And here is our 👑 Queen B (Queen Bacterium) : E. coli

It is a ubiquitous bacterium.
It is the "lab rat" of microbiology.
And it is also a common resident of our gut.

Which bacterium would you have named as our Queen B?

#inktober2025 #sciart

#inktober day 2 with #Weave

Cyanobacteria form interwoven patterns.

The micrographs from paper by J. Cammann et al, in Nat. Comm. Physics (2024) inspired me.

Today was less about googly eyes and more about focusing on the feel of my pens. Having fun by playing with different brush and pen sizes.

Your message is so nice Mark ☺️ thank you, and sure would be happy to! And by the way, I cannot see the message @bstevensonlab.bsky.social is mentioning (I guess I was blocked)... Scammer are creative 🥲

It helps (and at least I could modify it on the Instagram post)! Even in my native langage I tend to do these kind of mistakes 🤭

😅 oh no, I did not see that and have added "one of" at the end without realising it will go from singular to plural. I cannot modify the post 🥲

It's #Inktober once more, time to grab some pen and paper. Will you join?

The first prompt is #Mustache, and this distinguished gentlebacterium is using one of its flagellum as a mustache.

#inktober2025 #inktoberday1 #sciart

The latest Preprint of the @justinecollier.bsky.social lab is out there ! I am so happy to share about my major work done on one of the two cytosine methyltransferases present in Caulobacter crescentus.

First coloured page of the colouring book called 'coloured bacteria from A to Z' by Sarah Wettstadt and Noémie Matthey. The first bacterium is Agrobacterium tumefaciens

Zoom of the previous picture showing the Agrobacterium tumefaciens bacterium and a plant with a tumor as this bacterium can cause this disease in plant

I am trying to adopt a new routine on Sundays, which consists in taking some time for myself and to enjoy some creative activities including colouring our colouring book (#BacterialWorld @drsarahwettstadt.bsky.social).

For the first letter/drawing of the book, I chose to only use my fav colour!

😍😊 Thank you so much. I have a goal to share more in here 💪

✨ We’re doing a #GIVEAWAY to celebrate #WorldBookDay &
#InternationalWomensDay 📚👩‍🔬

Win a wonderful #microbiology colouring book by 2 fabulous women @noemiematthey.bsky.social & @drsarahwettstadt.bsky.social 🦠🎨

To enter:
- Follow us
- Like
- Repost this

Winner chosen at random 10/03/25 #MicroSky

📚✨ Happy #WorldBookDay! ✨📚

What better way to celebrate than with a book giveaway?

We are gifting one lucky winner a Microbiology colouring book by @noemiematthey.bsky.social & @drsarahwettstadt.bsky.social

Winner announced on 10/03/25 – get your entries in! 🎉
#MicroSky