Mireia Valles-Colomer
@mireiavallesc.bsky.social
350 followers 540 following 26 posts
#MicrobiomeTransmission #MicrobiomeGutBrainAxis Group leader of the Microbiome Research Group at MELIS-UPF https://www.upf.edu/web/microbiome Previously @cibiocm.bsky.social
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
#ECNP2025 @ecnp.eu was a great experience!
Big thanks to @jfcryan.bsky.social and @katherine-maki1.bsky.social for putting together a symposium on Microbes and mental health. I also really enjoyed the other talks by Jane Foster, Thomaz Bastiaansen and @sofiacus.bsky.social!
The first Iberian EvoMG PI meeting was a great experience!
Fantastic talks, great discussions, and lots of ideas to keep think about.
Next, Mireia Valles-Colomer ( @mireiavallesc.bsky.social ), from the EvoMG Program and @melisupf.bsky.social , talked about her work about microbiome transmission.
Mireia Valles-Colomer, EvoMG Program, UPF
Reposted by Mireia Valles-Colomer
4/ 🌿🧠 #laCaixaFoundFellow @mireiavallesc.bsky.social (@upf.edu, @irsicaixa.es) is researching the link between gut microbiota and disorders such as depression and anxiety.

Her goal is to identify biomarkers that could improve the diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses.
What a fantastic #EESMicrobiome conference this week!
It was really inspiring to hear so many excellent presentations, and meet many former colleagues, collaborators, and friends in beautiful Heidelberg.
A big thank you to the organizers for putting this together!
TLDR:
🧬 Unknown microbes
🦠 Social transmission
🌳 Potential conservation relevance

Shoutout to all co-authors!
We didn’t find evidence for microbiome acquisition through geophagy, but following the approach we developed for humans, we were excited to see very clear strain sharing patterns within social groups, which mirrored territory occupancy and interaction networks!
Consistent with their diet, the indri microbiome is enriched in fiber degradation pathways, and social group emerged as the main driver.
Indeed, Indris have a proportionally large core microbiome, and their microbiomes cluster far from any other primate. But after incorporating the assembled MAGs into release Jan23 of ChocoPhlAN and profiling with MetaPhlAn 4, we highly improved the mappability.
Our collaborators collected fecal samples from indris in 6 different social groups, together with soil samples (as indris engage in geophagy, i.e. they eat soil). We did metagenomic sequencing and found their microbiomes are virtually uncharacterised: E. coli is the only one cultivated member!
The Indri indri is Madagascar’s largest living lemur. It’s critically endangered, with no successful captive breeding to date. Could its gut microbiome hold clues for conservation?
Highly recommended!
🧬🖥️ Postdoc positions available SOON!!
Looking for researchers with strong computational skills (programming essential) to work on microbiome & phylogenetics projects.
📅 Start on Nov 1, 2025 (flexible)
📍 Trento, Italy
DM me for details or share!
#postdocjobs #microbiome #metagenomics #phylogenetics
Reposted by Mireia Valles-Colomer
Now @mireiavallesc.bsky.social presenting microbiome transmission at the #BCNmicrobiome
Reposted by Mireia Valles-Colomer
Session 5 at #BCNMicrobiome offered fascinating insights into the #microbiome at the population level. 👏 Thanks to @sashazhernakova.bsky.social for the Dutch Microbiome Project highlights and @mireiavallesc.bsky.social for a brilliant talk on microbiome epidemiology.
Reposted by Mireia Valles-Colomer
A masterclass in human microbiome studies (about the Dutch microbiome and microbiome transmission) with Sasha Zhernakova & @mireiavallesc.bsky.social ! #BCNMicrobiome
It was a pleasure having you there, Nicolae! Thanks for your sharing your insightful questions
Reposted by Mireia Valles-Colomer
Do people in the same household share strains when they have the same species?

How many cells transmit when a strain is shared?
Can strain composition be dynamic when species composition is stable?

We answer these and related questions for the facial skin microbiome in our latest paper.

🧵[1/10]
Congratulations @seandreu.bsky.social! 🎉
It was truly a pleasure to exchange ideas and dive into methods and findings during your time in Trento
Our review on the acquisition and transmission of the human microbiome, now out @naturerevmicro.bsky.social 🦠 🔄

This was a fun writing process with @vheidrich.bsky.social and Nicola Segata! See Vitor's summary thread below:
Thrilled to share our review (with @mireiavallesc.bsky.social and Nicola Segata) on "Human microbiome acquisition and transmission" just published @naturerevmicro.bsky.social
On my way to @cnb-csic.bsky.social to present our work as part of the Women in Microbiology conference series. Looking forward!
Do you want to work with us?
The Microbiome Research Group @upf.edu is looking for a project manager/research technician.

Details at: www.upf.edu/web/biomed/j... (ref. MELIS-PSR-INDF-2025-12)
Application deadline: 03/03/3025
Feel free to get in touch for more info!
Discussing the social transmission of the human microbiome and its impact in health and disease with MCarmen Collado @rutgerwalls.bsky.social Francisco Guarner at the @SEMIPYP meeting in Barcelona - always interesting to discuss the steps to bring our work to specific applications 🦠