# anthrax microbiologists microber pathogenportraits blueart microber2021 inktober2021 sciart scicomm hepatitis parasite flagella chlamydia stds blackfriday microbiology inktober2020 coronavirus herdimmunity vaccine pandemic leishmania ntds

GET IT WHILE IT'S HOT:
My of Bacillus anthracis, the bacterium that causes has been reinstated on redbubble after a mistaken take down notice. Time to send a silly postcard!

https://t.co/opwHUQz9V2

can breathe a sigh of relief...

2 2
2023-02-23

Occasionally I get very excited about side projects and will share these with you. These are really important to fuel the creativity and develop the techniques I need to do this job. Like and

3 9
2022-04-13

30: CONJUGATION

Sharing antibiotic resistance plasmids by conjugation has turned the much-ignored opportunist A. baumanii into a pathogen of repute. Carbapenemases for the win?

4 7
2021-10-30

28: ADHESION

Infectious disease can be caused by mere stickiness, as with misfolded Prion proteins. We all have Prions, but if infectious misfolded Prions stick to them, they mis-fold too & the stickiness spreads.

5 14
2021-10-29

26: COMPETITION

Dengue fever virus has 5 serotypes that compete for hosts. Primary infection with 1 makes further infection with another much more dangerous. So it’s a real killer competition!

3 5
2021-10-28

25: TRANSPOSON

Also known as jumping genes, they’re a handy tool in a many pathogen's toolkit. Transposons give Cryptococcus neoformans the genetic room it needs to adapt & resist antibiotics during infection.

5 11
2021-10-25

24: ZOONOTIC

Sometimes we're incidental hosts to pathogens. Ebolaviruses mostly infect non-human primates & bats. Our Ebola outbreaks start w. a spillover from these animals, before human to human spread takes over

2 8
2021-10-25

20: LUMINESCENCE

Yes, there are luminescent pathogens too... Vibrio harveyi causes luminescent vibriosis in farmed shrimp. This may involve widespread necrosis in their appendages, but what a pretty colour!

4 10
2021-10-21

18: MOTILITY

Proteus is a catheter opportunist with a bullseye motility pattern, due to cycling btw vegetative & swarmer states. A switch to swarming causes massive elongation, many more flagella & all the nasties!

2 11
2021-10-19

14: CHEMOTAXIS

Helicobacter uses chemotaxis to swim towards some tasty sugars on the lining of the stomach, and finds its home there for life

4 14
2021-10-14

12: DIVISION

In their infectious form, these brain-eating amoebae can divide without breaking up their nuclear membrane, in a process called promitosis.

4 14
2021-10-13

10: DEFENCE

As their defence, Bordetalla pertussis attacks our immune defences in the lungs, so the airways don’t produce mucus. This causes the coughs to make a characteristic whooping sound

4 10
2021-10-10

5: LYSIS.

To spread, viruses (ABCDEFG…) explode their host cells ('cell lysis') to leave them because they don’t need host membranes to make new virions.

4 11
2021-10-05

4: DORMANCY. Bacillus anthracis spores can lay dormant for decades, as tested on Gruinard Island in Scotland in 1942. Apparently safe now!

6 17
2021-10-04

3: FLAGELLA. Trichomonas is a that causes bacterial vaginosis w. FIVE & an axostyle. No one knows what the 5th one does.

3 12
2021-10-04

2: CELL. causes blindness and but it needs a host cell to turn it’s tiny elementary bodies into something that can replicate.

3 12
2021-10-02

Still working on getting these onto redbubble in time for - keep your eyes peeled!!

0 1
2020-11-24

day 31 of my - the grand finale, it had to be didn't it?

We're all living this one & it sucks balls. won't work. Let's hope a will.
🤞🤞

More info: https://t.co/hVaTifFm7Z

3 11
2020-11-01

of my - the neglected & very tropical
🌴
There are >20 species that cause cutaneous (skin), visceral (mostly liver & spleen) & mucosal leishmaniasis via sand fly bites.
🌴
More info: https://t.co/mEaYLOPybf

4 17
2020-10-23