Danna Gifford
PI and Lecturer, University of Manchester
https://dannagifford.com @MERManchester.bsky.social
- Reposted by Danna Gifford#ProtistsOnSky no 'swimming' by 𝘝𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘺𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢, definitively no 'staying still'. just a relaxed walk towards the lunch...
- Do microbes get more food by swimming or staying still? Turns out both work, and cilia help them pull in nutrients no matter the strategy. buff.ly/vK3GmK5
- Reposted by Danna GiffordThis week's seminar featured two talks. @normanvanrhijn.bsky.social talked about fungal pathogens, and @taoranfu.bsky.social discussed population-level defence systems in bacteria. Huge thanks to @microbesng.bsky.social for the snacks!
- Reposted by Danna Gifford
- Reposted by Danna Gifford
New primer alert! Microbial primer discussing 'ancientbiotics': the search for 'new' antimicrobials from ancient remedies. @microbiologysociety.org @friendlymicrobe.bsky.social www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/jour... - Reposted by Danna GiffordOnly 2 weeks left to apply for the Microbiology journal's Editorial Board. Contribute to high-quality research and engage with the scientific community. Find out more and apply by February 16: microb.io/4qKdgJ6
- Reposted by Danna GiffordNominations are now open for the 2026 Horizon Awards 🏆 Do you know someone driving real impact in applied microbiology — from public health and policy to food security, D&I, or the environment? Nominate them now: appliedmicrobiology.org/advocacy-policy/hor…
- Reposted by Danna GiffordWe're Hiring! We're looking for a postdoc with bioinformatics/modelling skills to join us in an exciting microbiome ecology project in Manchester (deadline 1st March) www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordA must read! The constant and often irrational renaming of microbes is out of control, and bad for microbiology and microbiologists. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordA reminder to sign up for the 2026 EMBO archaeal meeting im Cambridge: meetings.embo.org/event/26-arc.... Registration is open. We are looking forward to hosting you!
- Reposted by Danna GiffordE. coli is the leading bacterium causing death from AMR infections worldwide. If you'd like to explore approaches to exploit the DNA damage response as alternative antimicrobial, please apply to the following PhD studentship available in my lab starting October 2026: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordInterested in eco-evolutionary feedbacks? Microbial experimental evolution? Pleiotropy? Filamentous phages?? Check out our latest preprint, now up on BioRxiv! biorxiv.org/content/10.6... For a quick summary, peep the thread below...🧵 (1/10)
- Reposted by Danna GiffordLast chance to apply for our funded PhD opportunity. w. Prof. Fredric Coulon @ Cranfield University. This will investigate expansion of ML models for AMR phenotype detection to agriculture settings to create a sensor-ready hit list. Detail here: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordPhD position available in our team to study how UPEC exploits metals to successfully colonise the host gut. Cool collaboration with @thecopperdoctor.bsky.social and @banzhaflab.bsky.social Please share and get in touch for more details
- Reposted by Danna GiffordLooking for something new to integrate into an #evolution or #microbiology course? Useful for lectures, labs, homework? Have a look at our STEPS program, which simulates bacterial evolution, including the #LTEE. Easy web-based interface & lab manual w/ exercises to help develop students' intuition.
- Excited to share new #program, STEPS, which can simulate #dynamics of the E. coli Long-Term Evolution Experiment (#LTEE) or other microbes in serial transfer regime. telliamedrevisited.wordpress.com/2025/08/12/s... STEPS developed by @devinmlake.bsky.social, Zachary Matson, Minako Izutsu, and me.
- Reposted by Danna GiffordExpressions of interest: Director at MPI EvolBio (f/m/d) — We invite expressions of interest from distinguished scientists in evolutionary biology with a bold, long-term research vision that complements our Institute. More information: www.evolbio.mpg.de/3856225/Dire...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordInterested in pangenomics ? This paper just out from Alan Beavan (not on socials), @blackpassiflora.bsky.social and @jomcinerney.bsky.social is a must: doi.org/10.1093/bioi...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordCome to Taipei! Registration Free, Closes Jan 20th. Generous Travel Grants Available. EMBO Workshop integrating perspectives from molecular evolution, genomics, ecology, and systems biology to highlight how interactions across organisms drive adaptation and innovation. @ishengtsai.bsky.social
- Registration now open for @embo.org workshop on the evolution of biological interactions on April 24 - 27, 2026! Come join us in Taipei, Taiwan to see how interactions shaped the genomes of various organisms and meeting people from across the globe. Info: meetings.embo.org/event/26-bio...
- Reposted by Danna Gifford🚨 Get your abstract in NOW for POPUP Nottingham with @bugsinyourguts.bsky.social & Microbiome-Net deadline 9th Feb 👉 linktr.ee/microbesng #MicrobialGenomics & #Microbiome symposium 5th Jun Focus on #ECRs present/chair Keynotes @halllab.bsky.social & @alexmsalmeida.bsky.social #MNGPopUp #MicroSky
- Reposted by Danna Gifford@pducambridge.bsky.social is looking for a new lab administrator (0.5 FTE) - come and join in pushing forward our research and impact in infectious disease! www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...
- I love this conference and community so much, and I've been to every one since 2009, but I'm really debating whether I'll be able to be there in 2027 😭
- It’s officially happening folks! The Microbial Population Biology Gordon Research Conference is back in Andover, New Hampshire starting June 27th of 2027! See you there!! @wcratcliff.bsky.social @ksbakes.bsky.social @surtlab.bsky.social #microsky #mevosky
- Reposted by Danna GiffordQiuyu Chen now telling us about their PDRA work on microbial-mediated soil orangish matter dynamics #UoM_EEday
- Reposted by Danna Gifford@bexlowrypalms.bsky.social up next speaking about her work on bdellovibrio #UoM_EEday
- Reposted by Danna GiffordSo excited to have @szytynska.bsky.social kicking off our Evolution & Ecology day at @manchester.ac.uk today! #UoM_EEday
- Reposted by Danna GiffordSimUrine: a novel, fully defined artificial urinary medium for enhanced microbiological research of urinary bacteria journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
- As part of the ENW-XL UTIr project we have developed a novel fully defined synthetic artificial urine medium for urinary bacteria. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #UTISky #AMR #MicroSky #MicrobiomeSky #InfectiousDiseases #ClinMicro
- Reposted by Danna Gifford
- Reposted by Danna GiffordAnd we're live, Lecture A1 is online. Introduction to Bayesian workflow, generative models, estimands, estimators, estimates, error checking, beginnings of probability theory and Bayesian updating. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztbY...
- I'm teaching Statistical Rethinking again starting Jan 2026. This time with live lectures, divided into Beginner and Experienced sections. Will be a lot more work for me, but I hope much better for students. I will record lectures & all will be found at this link: github.com/rmcelreath/s...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordOpportunity to join my lab for a postdoc or PhD student from outside Canada. Very short term. Very competitive. Send me your CV and cover letter before Jan 5. This runs via nserc-crsng.canada.ca/en/news/laun...
- you've just opened up a star trek-themed restaurant what are you calling it? Five Lights
- 100% facts
- Reposted by Danna GiffordLMFAO
- Reposted by Danna GiffordIt’s official: we’ve been awarded a UKRI Engineering Biology Focal Award to train the next generation of microbial bioengineer PhDs. An exciting collaboration between @officialuom.bsky.social @liverpooluni.bsky.social Projects will be advertised in February 2026! www.ukri.org/news/ukri-do...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordBorn #OnThisDay in 1922, Esther Lederberg was the first to isolate the lambda phage in 1951. She characterised the lysogenic phase, whereby the phage are able to integrate into the bacterial genome, staying dormant. This discovery made them a model tool of study, leading to many more breakthroughs.
- Reposted by Danna GiffordCongratulations to Dr Rana Alruthaya, who successfully defended her PhD today on AMR diversity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from non-CF bronchiectasis patients. She's the 10th PhD student from MERMan. Well done Rana! @dannagifford.bsky.social @brockhurstlab.bsky.social @knightjar.bsky.social
- So proud of you Zahraa 🥹. It's been wonderful having you as part of my group and I look forward to seeing how your career develops in the future! You can see Zahraa's first publication here, hopefully more to come very soon! pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38949313/
- Congratulations to PhD student Zahraa Albaqsami @zahraaalbaqsami.bsky.social for successfully defending her PhD today! Zahraa's thesis looked at thermal adaptation and mutation in the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarious. Thanks to examiners @rokkrasovec.bsky.social and Thorsten Allers!
- Reposted by Danna GiffordCongratulations to PhD student Zahraa Albaqsami @zahraaalbaqsami.bsky.social for successfully defending her PhD today! Zahraa's thesis looked at thermal adaptation and mutation in the archaeon Sulfolobus acidocaldarious. Thanks to examiners @rokkrasovec.bsky.social and Thorsten Allers!
- Reposted by Danna GiffordEMBO Population Genomics course: Are you a postgrad student or a postdoc starting a population genomics project? This course aims to give you the tools to answer questions for your project. Registration deadline: 10 February 2026 meetings.embo.org/event/26-pop... #EMBOpopgen
- Reposted by Danna GiffordThe 2026 Guarda Summer Course in Evolutionary Biology is now accepting applications. Amazing place, amazing course, amazing opportunity for early grad students. tb.ethz.ch/education/gu...
- Reposted by Danna Gifford🚀 We're hiring! We are offering several exciting #PhD & #postdoc positions spanning a range of topics, from jumbo phage biology & phage therapy to programmable RNA therapeutics & Fusobacterium nucleatum research. The application deadline is Jan 11. Learn more: www.helmholtz-hiri.de/en/jobs-tale...
- Awesome resource! Effects of transporter knockouts on metabolites in E. coli K-12. Looking forward to exploring this further...
- Do you think transporters in E. coli contribute to metabolite release? No? Explore the effect of 66 different transporter knockout mutations on the exometabolome dynamics of ~300 metabolites yourself: keio.unil.ch Teaser: Increased proline in ΔputP #microsky #MEvoSky
- Reposted by Danna GiffordNominations for the UKRN Dorothy Bishop Prize 2026 have opened! Named after @deevybee.bsky.social, the prize, first awarded in 2022, celebrates the contributions of early career researchers to research improvement. Nominations close 18 January 2026. #AcademicSky #Research
- Reposted by Danna GiffordMicrobiologists are leading innovations against AMR. Are you one of them? Apply to take part in our cross-disciplinary Knocking Out AMR: Business Networking event in Belfast on 13 April 2026. Find out more: microb.io/KOAMRBusines... #KnockingOutAMR #AMR #Microbiology
- Reposted by Danna Gifford🖋️On behalf of the ESCMID AMR Action Subcommittee, Holger Rohde pens a piece about the need to reframe how we are talking about #AMR. It is not a disease but instead a biological phenomenon that impacts how patients can get effective treatment. ow.ly/Tzaz50Xz3vG #WAAW2025 #IDSky #clinmicro
- Reposted by Danna GiffordMore evolution at @bsacandjac.bsky.social #AntibioticResistance & mechanisms: @dralhubb.bsky.social exploring how order of antibiotic cycling affects selection, incl. for collateral resistance/susceptibility: order may affect specific mutations selected scholar.google.com/citations?us... #MicroSky
- Reposted by Danna Gifford🚨#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...
- Reposted by Danna GiffordI am very excited to announce that a fully funded PhD position is available in my group. Topic: Synergistic coevolution in mono-specific and multi-species microbial consortia Please RT or forward this information to interested candidates. Deadline: 11.01.26 More info: shorturl.at/f1TuF
- Reposted by Danna GiffordExciting news! I have two positions open in my lab at the UoManchester: one PDRA and one Research Tech. Join our team to study evolutionary mycology and help us understand antifungal resistance in fungal pathogens. A fantastic opportunity to join the brilliant Manchester Fungal Infection Group!
- Reposted by Danna GiffordSo excited to share this as a new junior PI: My brand-new lab website! 🎉🪰🌀 www.bischofflab.com Please pass it on to young, motivated researchers looking for PhD positions 😊 And for the #FluorescenceFriday community: don’t miss the SciArt Gallery! #CellBio #DevBio #PhDjob #PhDposition #Science
- Reposted by Danna GiffordMassive congratulations to our own @magdalenakurteu.bsky.social for winning the poster prize at #MicroEvo25!! Her poster describes coalescence dynamics in hot spring microbial communities, and featured wonderful photos from Icelandic field work
- Reposted by Danna GiffordAnother fantastic poster presented by @knhanga.bsky.social at #MicroEvo25
- Reposted by Danna GiffordMore amazing posters presented by our researchers @zahraaalbaqsami.bsky.social and Rana at #MicroEvo25!
- Reposted by Danna GiffordNew 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...
- Very pleased to be attending the BSAC Antimicrobial Resistance and Mechanisms Workshop. Tomorrow, I'll be speaking about our work on resistance, combination therapy and mutation rate evolution in E. coli 🦠 🧫 @bsacandjac.bsky.social bsac.org.uk/antibiotic-r...
- Really sad to be missing the Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics meeting but go check out all the good stuff from @mermanchester.bsky.social delegates!
- Will we be seeing you at @microbiologysociety.org Understanding and Predicting Microbial Evolutionary Dynamics today and tomorrow? 🧫🧬 #MicroEvo25 Keep an eye out for our talks and posters and come say hi 👋
- Reposted by Danna GiffordFantastic talk about the impact of inflammation on Pseudomonas aeruginosa evolution by @taoranfu.bsky.social #MicroEvo25
- Reposted by Danna GiffordCome and see @willpjsmith.bsky.social at poster 71 to find out more about microbial warfare! #MicroEvo25
- Reposted by Danna GiffordFind out more about DNA repair protein single-molecule tracking from @bexlowrypalms.bsky.social at poster 18🔬 #MicroEvo25
- Reposted by Danna GiffordWe are organising an AMR meeting next spring in Helsinki. Meeting includes evolution of AMR and environmental AMR sessions. Please submit your abstract now! Deadline Dec 1st.
