William P J Smith

I love science! I study how microbes survive and thrive. @wellcometrust Sir Henry Wellcome Fellow | All views my own | he/him | 🏳️‍🌈

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

MEEHubs26 abstract deadline has been extended to April 26th. Show off your awesome microbiology with scientists worldwide!
https://t.co/hGgkIbmlxm

🦠 What: top conference in microbial ecology and evolution
🦠 Where: Manchester UK + hubs worldwide
🦠 When: 3rd-5th August 2026

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

🚨 Calling all microbiologists! 🚨

The MEEHubs abstract submission deadline (19/04) is fast approaching. Come showcase your science!!

Submission portal is here: https://t.co/YBAoJ3UeWn

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

🚨 PhD Studentship available! 🚨

We're hiring a UK student to start in Oct '26. Full studentship plus £10k top-up PA. Come study the mysterious ZOMBIE PHAGES 🧟 🦠 with our fabulous MERMan and @UoMMIB communities!

https://t.co/hmAhUkA52S

[Andrew Preston @apreston243]

New paper alert! Toxins can skew the results of competition assays, fascinating short communication from @Prokaryota and @willpjsmith. @MicrobioSoc https://t.co/PxPRn6lsaX

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Go Team! Deeply honoured that the MERMan lab reps won an @OfficialUoM "FMBH heroes" award - thanks @FBMH_UoM and the MERMan PIs for nominating us
❤️❤️❤️

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

The Oxford U. Foster and Slack labs are hiring! A chance to work in bleeding edge microbiome science with some really great mentors https://t.co/aCmSpLxdEy

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Thanks @Biosciences_UoM for the opportunity to present! Lots to celebrate in @OfficialUoM SBS ❤️

[Evolution, Infection and Genomics (EIG) UoM @EGS_UoM]

Excellent 3MT Lightning Talks on microbiom research by @willpjsmith #SBSAnnualEvent2025

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Thrilled to have our recent T6SS resistance work featured in this commentary by @ShikumaLab. Thanks for the shoutout Nick!

@PNASNews
https://t.co/IZDCP97q0n

[Michael Baym @baym]

What amount of eye disease research would have discovered the laser? How much virology would have discovered lipid nanobody mRNA delivery? How many disease genes would you need to find before you discovered CRISPR?

Sometimes the hardest problems need discoveries in other fields

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Chuffed to have been featured in the local news! Thanks @MENnewsdesk for covering our T6SS toxins story🗞️

https://t.co/sxr6nzbYc7

https://t.co/VOr2ttgJ4y

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

@ChujinRuan @wellcometrust Thanks Chujin!

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

(1/6) Really jazzed to have this out - my first @wellcometrust fellowship paper! https://t.co/uhA1c5Qv0M

Can bacteria evolve resistance to competitors' T6SS weaponry? We find that the answer depends on **how many toxins** competitors are using. A thread:

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Yay! Published today in PNAS: multi-toxin T6SS attacks can limit resistance evolution in competitors.

https://t.co/sxr6nzbqmz

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

(1/6) Really jazzed to have this out - my first @wellcometrust fellowship paper! https://t.co/uhA1c5Qv0M

Can bacteria evolve resistance to competitors' T6SS weaponry? We find that the answer depends on **how many toxins** competitors are using. A thread:

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

🚨PhD Opportunity - please share!🚨

We’re hiring a PhD student to start Sept 2025: how do bacteria ‘tame’ phage parasites, and turn them into deadly Tailocins?

Come join me, Mike Brockhurst, @caiyizhi and @RaveenTank as we study ZOMBIE PHAGES!

https://t.co/uTnHYRzLdn

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

It's a rare Good News Monday!
- Manuscript accepted 🗞️
- PhD studentship funded 💷
- 1 week until holidays! 🎄

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Holy crap this #StarWars starship has T6SSs
#SkeletonCrew

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

Warm congratulations to 🎓DOCTOR @TaoranF 🎓, who passed her viva yesterday! We're really stoked that you're staying on to PostDoc at @MERManchester 🎉

[Manchester Institute of Biotechnology @UoMMIB]

Recruiting two Chair positions. Areas of interest incl. but not limited to:
🤖 advanced computation & AI
🌱 natural product biosynthesis & enzyme discovery
🧬 structural biology & mechanistic enzymology
🦠 microbial engineering
CLOSING DATE: 31/01/25
https://t.co/qPAeId7vh8

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

@knightjjar @Nature @frantecol Huge congrats Chris et al! 🎉🎉🎉

[Chris Knight @knightjjar]

Climate impacts on European soils predicted by scientists
Our paper’s out @Nature !
Read about it here:
https://t.co/wHeGKz8kUR
Or the original here: https://t.co/BxYA7R4bJv
With @frantecol and many others

[William P J Smith @willpjsmith]

@KAMacGillivray Good luck Katie! You're gonna smash it 🎉🎉🎉