Craig MacLean
Scientist working on antibiotic resistance, evolution, and mobile genetic elements. Prof at U.Oxford and Fellow of All Souls College
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanA four-year postdoc focusing on "plant growth-promoting bacteriophages" available in my group. Skills in metaviromics and metagenomics essential. Application deadline: 2.2.2026. For more info, see the link.
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanWe've come full circle! I began my postdoctoral career by identifying the peptidyl deformylase gene. Today, we show that half of bacterial species harbor multiple PDF genes (up to 7, for always a single Met-tRNA transformylase), and while the role of these PDFs ... academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...
- Good news for Canada and Canadian science. It is the right time to aggressively target top international and expatriate scientific talent. Although I am a blue skies scientist, I think that it is right to focus on research with societal and economic impact ... www.canada.ca/en/innovatio...
- Just wrote my last grant review of 2025. UKRI: if you ask me to review another grant next week I will give it a 0 out of principle!
- Back in Oxford, but still buzzing with excitement from #MicroEvo25 ! Great science, friendly and relaxed atmosphere, and a brilliant opportunity to catch up with friends and colleagues. Liverpool is a good place for scientific meetings.
- Just finished reading this amazing history of biology by #massivelegendofscience Francois Jacob. Some of the evolutionary biology and microbiology is outdated, but the perspective is compelling and the breadth of scientific scholarship is amazing.
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanHot off the press! Our latest paper led by @fernpizza.bsky.social, understanding how plasmids evolve inside cells. These small, self-replicating DNA circles live inside bacteria and carry antibiotic resistance genes, but also compete with one another to replicate. 1/ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
- Reposted by Craig MacLean🚨#PhD studentship opportunity! Plasmids provide bacteria with antimicrobial resistance, but do they have more fundamental effects on behaviour? 🧫🦠💫🧟♂️ Apply for a 4y funded MRC DiMeN position with me and Jamie Wheeler @livuni-ives.bsky.social www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- New paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Klebs can evolve resistance to Colistin through mgrB mutation or by acquiring the mcr-1 gene. Both routes have similar fitness costs against a bacterial competitor, but mgrB mutations are associated with enhanced virulence.
- I can't wait for the day that I see a paper entitled "One health papers on AMR are a major source of AMR"
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanOur review is out in Nature Reviews Genetics! rdcu.be/d5AY2 We show how phylogeny-based methods can resolve the problem of non-independence in genomic datasets. These methods must be considered an essential part of the comparative genomics toolkit. @lauriebelch.bsky.social @stuwest.bsky.social
- New pre-print: Plasmid dependent phage effectively eliminate AMR bacteria and block plasmid transmission in the chicken gut microbiome Fun collaboration with Tao He lab (JAAS) and @brockhurstlab.bsky.social lab (Manchester) #phagesky#microsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanDNA from Napoleon’s 1812 army identifies the pathogens likely responsible for the army’s demise during their Russian retreat. www.cell.com/current-biol... Nicolás Rascovan & colleagues @currentbiology.bsky.social
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanThree Bicentenary research fellowships on offer at @officialuom.bsky.social @fbmh-uom.bsky.social for exceptional ECRs with <3y postdoc experience 3yrs salary + £30k pa research expenses Do you have a great idea & want to join @mermanchester.bsky.social? www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/research/sup...
- New pre-print www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social! #phagesky#microsky
- Our key finding is that complex trade-offs between conjugative ability and PDP resistance shape the response of the RP4 plasmid to the PRD1 phage. The mutations that drive PRD1 adaptation in the lab are common in IncP plasmids, suggesting that PDBs impose an important constraint on plasmid transfer
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- Interesting job opportunity: duunitori.fi/tyopaikat/ty...
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- New pre-print Competition between phage constrains adaptation to thermal fluctuating temperatures. More work led by Sam Greenrod in collaboration with @kayla-king.bsky.social lab. #Phagesky#Microsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanPrecisely calling mutations across hundreds of bacterial isolates has been hard, requiring manual filtering and expertise. Until now, using AccuSNV. Herui Liao trained an ML model based on our previous meticulously called SNVs. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- New pre-print: Eco-evolutionary responses of phage to different thermal regimes. Great work led by Sam Greenrod and fun collaboration with Kayla King's lab. 1/2 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanDelighted to see our paper studying the evolution of plasmids over the last 100 years, now out! Years of work by Adrian Cazares, also Nick Thomson @sangerinstitute.bsky.social - this version much improved over the preprint. Final version should be open access, apols. Thread 1/n
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- New ERC funded computational postdoc position in my lab! We are looking for someone who will study the genomics of bacterial evolution using samples from experimental evolution and clinical trials. Lots of opportunities for interesting and fun collaboration! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanLooking for a new approach to studying or eliminating phages? Check out our study introducing anti-phage ASOs (antisense oligos) out in @Nature today. nature.com/articles/s4158…
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanOur second paper with @tcostalab.bsky.social and GoogleDeepMind reports our experience with Google’s co-scientist: remarkably, the AI independently recapitulated our experimental discovery on cf-PICIs, showcasing AI’s potential to accelerate biology. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanThrilled to share our two latest papers with the @tcostalab.bsky.social lab! In the first, we uncover a new mechanism of satellite transfer: cf-PICIs hijack tails from diverse phages to spread across species. @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
- This looks like a must read …
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanWe are also hiring a 4-year postdoc to study the dynamics and evolution of mobile genetic elements in the C-fixing Icelandic host-spring microbiomes Join our exciting multidisciplinary team funded by @ukri.org BBSRC sLoLa www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
A new 4 year PostDoc position in our lab! Modeling + experiments to explore dynamics of carbon fixing hot-spring microbiomes. Part of an exciting multidisciplinary team with Sophie Nixon, @brockhurstlab.bsky.social & others Please share & get in touch if interested! tinyurl.com/e7j7bha3
- New pre-print from my lab! Plasmids link antibiotic resistance and phage defense. E.coli plasmids are hotspots for both antibiotic resistance and phage defense. Phage therapy has the potential to accidentally select for antibiotic resistance!!! #microsky#AMR#phage www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1....
- This project is a team effort led by Weronika Slesak and the start of a new line of research in my group! Hopefully this will be a good summer read if you are looking for a short paper with a sense of foreboding.
- Reposted by Craig MacLean🚨🚨New paper out in @natcomms.nature.com!! Come for the first large-scale analysis of plasmid copy number across species, stay for one of the most intriguing results of my lab: universal scaling laws in plasmid biology! 📈🧬 👉 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- New paper with @rwheatley8.bsky.social and Cedric Lood Actual title: Chromosomal capture of beneficial genes drives plasmids towards ecological redundancy. Sensationalist title: Plasmids carry useless genes academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
- We measured the abundance of beneficial genes on Rhizobium plasmids + chromosomeusing a brilliant in vivo fitness data set generated by the Poole lab led by the brilliant @rwheatley8.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanIt was an honor and a joy to receive the National Research Prize for Young (!) Researchers. The highlight? My grandma greeting the King of Spain. What a day! www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSQP...
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- I want to echo @sheldonbirds.bsky.social important point. I give Oxford Biology top marks for how they have supported me through difficult times.
- Reposted by Craig MacLeanI think I have been fortunate to work in an institution (and a department) that has been led by people who saw the importance of enabling flexibility between work and personal life. It was crucial when we faced a major personal family challenge some years ago, and remains a core principle
- In his #ParentCarerScientist case study, Professor Ben Sheldon FRS talks about navigating crises at home and at work, and why it's important for leaders to set an example when it comes to balancing work with caring responsibilities: #CarersWeek #AndAScientist royalsociety.org/about-us/who...
- Dear @sanmillan.bsky.social: I found some fermented sauerkraut at the back of my fridge today that I opened about 3 weeks ago. The package says to eat within 3 days of opening, but it doesn't smell like it has gone off. Is it safe to eat? Your advice on this dilemma would be much appreciated.
- Mirror molecules have some amazing uses, but the prospect of mirror life quite frankly scares the shit out of me. www.gov.uk/government/p...
