Morwan Osman
@morwan.me
Mycobacteriologist and Postdoctoral Fellow in the York Bioenergetics Lab, University Of York (@jnb-lab.bsky.social).
Formerly: @pembroke1347.bsky.social & @mrclmb.bsky.social. @mcbseattle.bsky.social PhD.
Formerly: @pembroke1347.bsky.social & @mrclmb.bsky.social. @mcbseattle.bsky.social PhD.
Pinned
Morwan Osman
@morwan.me
· Dec 6
Finally we are able to share our story on the molecular mechanism of the transformative anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline within living cells
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A (hopefully) broadly-accessible tutorial below ⬇️ (it ended up being really long!)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
A (hopefully) broadly-accessible tutorial below ⬇️ (it ended up being really long!)
bioRxiv Manuscript Processing System
Manuscript Processing System for bioRxiv.
submit.biorxiv.org
Our first TB preprint with @jnb-lab.bsky.social is out! Using spectroscopic techniques from our lab, we resolve the exact mode of action of everyone's favourite TB drug, bedaquiline. I'd like to add a few comments about the microbiology part of the picture! #TBsky #MicroSky (1/7)
Reposted by Morwan Osman
pH-responsive substrate switching in mycobacterial Type VII ESX secretion. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.04.703728v1
February 5, 2026 at 5:16 AM
pH-responsive substrate switching in mycobacterial Type VII ESX secretion. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.04.703728v1
Reposted by Morwan Osman
#Microbiology
The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear
Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works
@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR
http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W
The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear
Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works
@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR
http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W
February 2, 2026 at 5:07 PM
#Microbiology
The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear
Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works
@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR
http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W
The anti-tuberculosis drug bedaquiline targets the mycobacterial ATP synthase, but how that leads to bacterial death is unclear
Here the authors clarify how bedaquiline works
@jnblab.bsky.social @morwan.me
#TBSky #antibiotics #AMR
http://dlvr.it/TQjZ0W
Reposted by Morwan Osman
How can we tell whether an antibiotic eradicates an infection? Researchers from the @biomedizin.unibas.ch, at the @unibas.ch, present an antimicrobial single-cell microscopy-based method that measures antibiotic lethality in individual bacteria.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@natmicrobiol.nature.com
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@natmicrobiol.nature.com
January 9, 2026 at 10:54 AM
How can we tell whether an antibiotic eradicates an infection? Researchers from the @biomedizin.unibas.ch, at the @unibas.ch, present an antimicrobial single-cell microscopy-based method that measures antibiotic lethality in individual bacteria.
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@natmicrobiol.nature.com
🔗 doi.org/10.1038/s415...
@natmicrobiol.nature.com
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Happy to share a new preprint exploring the unusual biochemistry of a "weirdly" diverged cytochrome c in malaria parasites that exemplifies a lineage common to many apicomplexan parasites. @uofubiochem.bsky.social @uuhsresearch.bsky.social @uofutahcihd.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
A Divergent Cytochrome c in Malaria Parasites with an Anomalously Low Redox Potential
Eukaryotic cytochrome (cyt) c is a highly conserved mitochondrial protein central to cellular respiration, featuring a covalently attached hexacoordinate heme whose redox potential is tuned by axial H...
www.biorxiv.org
December 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Happy to share a new preprint exploring the unusual biochemistry of a "weirdly" diverged cytochrome c in malaria parasites that exemplifies a lineage common to many apicomplexan parasites. @uofubiochem.bsky.social @uuhsresearch.bsky.social @uofutahcihd.bsky.social
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
did it in four words hemmingway
December 9, 2025 at 10:15 PM
did it in four words hemmingway
Reposted by Morwan Osman
I can’t believe a technical solution to a complex social problem didn’t work. Ah well, nevertheless
One Laptop Per Child, 10 years later: "we find no significant effects on academic performance but some evidence of negative effects on grade progression... computer access significantly improved students’ computer skills but not their cognitive skills" www.nber.org/papers/w34495
Laptops in the Long Run: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child Program in Rural Peru
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
www.nber.org
December 7, 2025 at 9:26 PM
I can’t believe a technical solution to a complex social problem didn’t work. Ah well, nevertheless
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an outlier in many ways. One of them is keeping a high degree of functional redundancy despite its obligate pathogen lifestyle. In this review, we reflect on the biological meaning of M. tuberculosis functional redundancies.
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Essential redundancies fuel Mycobacterium tuberculosis adaptation to the host
Redundancy in biology is, at a glance, counterintuitive because if the function of two gene products completely overlaps then, throughout the course of evolution, one of the genes will likely accumula...
journals.plos.org
December 7, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an outlier in many ways. One of them is keeping a high degree of functional redundancy despite its obligate pathogen lifestyle. In this review, we reflect on the biological meaning of M. tuberculosis functional redundancies.
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
1/ A year ago, a 71-year-old Louisiana man died from H5N1, marking the first avian flu death in the US. Now we report in @jem.org that the cause of his death is rogue autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFN (AutoAb-IFN). doi.org/10.1084/jem....
December 5, 2025 at 6:59 PM
1/ A year ago, a 71-year-old Louisiana man died from H5N1, marking the first avian flu death in the US. Now we report in @jem.org that the cause of his death is rogue autoantibodies neutralizing type I IFN (AutoAb-IFN). doi.org/10.1084/jem....
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Hey friends. I’m looking for a postdoc interested in studying host-pathogen interactions and immunology of tuberculosis. Send me some good people! We have a great group here! Email me [email protected]. Thanks!
December 4, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Hey friends. I’m looking for a postdoc interested in studying host-pathogen interactions and immunology of tuberculosis. Send me some good people! We have a great group here! Email me [email protected]. Thanks!
Reposted by Morwan Osman
If you or someone you know is looking for a post-doctoral position working on mycobacterial envelope biology, please get in touch. I am recruiting here at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
December 2, 2025 at 3:21 PM
If you or someone you know is looking for a post-doctoral position working on mycobacterial envelope biology, please get in touch. I am recruiting here at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada.
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Now properly published at @natcomms.nature.com with few additional experiments incl. demonstration of Daptomycin's ability to depolarise non-growing cells.
See the original preprint-thread for a summary of our findings.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#microsky
See the original preprint-thread for a summary of our findings.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#microsky
November 24, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Now properly published at @natcomms.nature.com with few additional experiments incl. demonstration of Daptomycin's ability to depolarise non-growing cells.
See the original preprint-thread for a summary of our findings.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#microsky
See the original preprint-thread for a summary of our findings.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#microsky
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Are you looking for female speakers in CryoEM for seminars and conferences? Are you a woman in CryoEM and not yet on the ‚woman in CryoEM‘ list? Find your speakers and add/update name and affiliation! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
November 18, 2025 at 10:18 AM
Are you looking for female speakers in CryoEM for seminars and conferences? Are you a woman in CryoEM and not yet on the ‚woman in CryoEM‘ list? Find your speakers and add/update name and affiliation! docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
How does the well tolerated anti-hyperglycemic drug #metformin inhibit mitochondrial complex I?
In our new paper, we use structures, MD and kinetics to show that metformin inhibits by a distinct mechanism that more hydrophobic, less well tolerated, biguanides.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In our new paper, we use structures, MD and kinetics to show that metformin inhibits by a distinct mechanism that more hydrophobic, less well tolerated, biguanides.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Hydrophilic metformin and hydrophobic biguanides inhibit mitochondrial complex I by distinct mechanisms - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
He, Teng and Yang et al. report how metformin, the widely used antidiabetic drug, inhibit its target, the respiratory complex I, through a distinct state-dependent, inhibitor trapping mechanism, thus ...
www.nature.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
How does the well tolerated anti-hyperglycemic drug #metformin inhibit mitochondrial complex I?
In our new paper, we use structures, MD and kinetics to show that metformin inhibits by a distinct mechanism that more hydrophobic, less well tolerated, biguanides.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
In our new paper, we use structures, MD and kinetics to show that metformin inhibits by a distinct mechanism that more hydrophobic, less well tolerated, biguanides.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
The diderm cell envelope is not a stack of layers but a unified scaffold of Inner Membrane–Peptidoglycan–Outer Membrane.
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
Redirecting
doi.org
November 13, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The diderm cell envelope is not a stack of layers but a unified scaffold of Inner Membrane–Peptidoglycan–Outer Membrane.
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
We discuss how tethering the OM to the PG in E. coli preserves integrity — and extend the concept across diderm bacteria.
Curr Opin Microbiol: doi.org/10.1016/j.mi...
#microsky 🔬
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers - Nature Reviews Microbiology
Surface layers (S-layers) are ubiquitous protein assemblies that coat prokaryotic cells, with their functional roles increasingly coming into focus. In this Review, Isbilir and colleagues discuss rece...
www.nature.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Assembly, architecture and functional roles of microbial surface layers www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs
Reposted by Morwan Osman
The panic that kicks in at 2pm every day when I realize it gets dark in two hours
November 12, 2025 at 10:07 PM
The panic that kicks in at 2pm every day when I realize it gets dark in two hours
Reposted by Morwan Osman
I presented our preclinical work on the BNT164 #Tuberculosis candidates. This work is now also available as a preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
mRNA-based tuberculosis vaccines BNT164a1 and BNT164b1 are immunogenic, well-tolerated and efficacious in rodent models
We designed and preclinically tested two mRNA-LNP-based vaccine candidates to protect against tuberculosis (TB). BNT164a1 and BNT164b1 encode the same eight Mycobacterium tuberculosis ( Mtb ) antigens...
www.biorxiv.org
November 12, 2025 at 12:54 PM
I presented our preclinical work on the BNT164 #Tuberculosis candidates. This work is now also available as a preprint!
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
It’s 12 November, so it’s time to mark the 55th anniversary of the exploding whale of Oregon, an attempt to clear a cetacean carcass from a beach which prompted one reporter to say “The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds”
November 12, 2025 at 9:58 AM
It’s 12 November, so it’s time to mark the 55th anniversary of the exploding whale of Oregon, an attempt to clear a cetacean carcass from a beach which prompted one reporter to say “The blast blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds”
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Exciting 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!
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!
November 5, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Exciting 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!
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 Morwan Osman
Considering the LMB for your PhD?
We’ve got over 25 projects available, covering a wide array of topics. Check them out here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/students/int...
Apply by 2nd DEC for Autumn 2026 admission.
We’ve got over 25 projects available, covering a wide array of topics. Check them out here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/students/int...
Apply by 2nd DEC for Autumn 2026 admission.
November 10, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Considering the LMB for your PhD?
We’ve got over 25 projects available, covering a wide array of topics. Check them out here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/students/int...
Apply by 2nd DEC for Autumn 2026 admission.
We’ve got over 25 projects available, covering a wide array of topics. Check them out here: www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/students/int...
Apply by 2nd DEC for Autumn 2026 admission.
Reposted by Morwan Osman
📢 Interested in #chromosomes 🧬 & #archaea thriving at the edge of life? PhD project in York,UK on how archaea pass on their genome to daughter cells.Friendly supervisors: me, @steve-quinn-lab.bsky.social & @georgerheath.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
📅 January 7, 2026
Please RP🙏thx!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
📅 January 7, 2026
Please RP🙏thx!
November 9, 2025 at 5:20 PM
📢 Interested in #chromosomes 🧬 & #archaea thriving at the edge of life? PhD project in York,UK on how archaea pass on their genome to daughter cells.Friendly supervisors: me, @steve-quinn-lab.bsky.social & @georgerheath.bsky.social
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
📅 January 7, 2026
Please RP🙏thx!
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
📅 January 7, 2026
Please RP🙏thx!
Reposted by Morwan Osman
A great collaboration with Jukka Corander and colleagues, to define the population structure of this important global pathogen
A first step towards identifying candidate antigens for new improved vaccines...
@tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk @wellcometrust.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A first step towards identifying candidate antigens for new improved vaccines...
@tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk @wellcometrust.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Genetic population structure of Haemophilus influenzae at local and global scales - Nature Microbiology
Large-scale sequencing and population genomic analyses reveal frequent transmission, a highly admixed global population structure and evidence of pervasive negative selection in Haemophilus influenzae...
www.nature.com
November 1, 2025 at 10:16 AM
A great collaboration with Jukka Corander and colleagues, to define the population structure of this important global pathogen
A first step towards identifying candidate antigens for new improved vaccines...
@tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk @wellcometrust.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
A first step towards identifying candidate antigens for new improved vaccines...
@tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk @wellcometrust.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Reposted by Morwan Osman
Looking for an AMR-themed PhD project? Join us to investigate antibiotic tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus through a fully funded MRC DTP PhD studentship starting in September 2026.
This project is close collaboration with @kateduncan.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social.
This project is close collaboration with @kateduncan.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social.
MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resensitisation of antibiotic-tolerant Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants at Newcastle University on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - MRC DiMeN Doctoral Training Partnership: Resensitisation of antibiotic-tolerant Staphylococcus aureus small colony variants at Newcastle University, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
November 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Looking for an AMR-themed PhD project? Join us to investigate antibiotic tolerance in Staphylococcus aureus through a fully funded MRC DTP PhD studentship starting in September 2026.
This project is close collaboration with @kateduncan.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social.
This project is close collaboration with @kateduncan.bsky.social and @mycobacterium-ncl.bsky.social.