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Siân Owen
@implosian
Microbiologist & phage phanatic! Enthusiastic explorer of microbial genomes. New PI at the Wadsworth Center. Currently obsessed with plasmid-dependent phages
Boston, MA
wadsworth.org/research/labor…
Joined October 2009
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  • Pinned
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Oct 15, 2024
    My lab is up and running and just needs enthusiastic phage biologists to populate it! Contact me or apply in the link if you are interested in a postdoc exploring plasmid-dependent phage biology in beautiful (and super affordable!) upstate New York🍎healthresearch.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/HRI_Care… 1/3
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Dec 30, 2019
    TSA agent: what do you do here? Me: I study viruses that infect bacteria agent: which viruses do you study? Me: ... ones that infect bacteria agent: which viruses specifically Me: have you heard of Salmonella phage BTP1?
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Dec 30, 2019
    Replying to @implosian
    Epilogue: he had not
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Jul 24, 2024
    It's true, cleaned up my bench today after a memorable 6.5 years in the @baym lab! Very excited to start my own lab next month at the @HealthNYGov Wadsworth Center doing public health adjacent basic research exploring "exotic" bacteriophages!! #newpi
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    Michael Baym
    @baym
    Jul 24, 2024
    Today we celebrated @implosian’s last day in my lab before she starts her independent lab at the Wadsworth Center. I could not have dreamt up a better postdoc to start the experimental side of the lab!
    38K
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Sep 30, 2021
    Online today in Cell Host & Microbe! Read about our discovery of a new prophage-encoded phage defence system (abortive infection) that includes a DNA-based self-immunity feature allowing the prophage to deactivate it when switching to lytic replication authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S19…
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Aug 9, 2019
    Looking through PhD lab book optimistically trying to find protocol notes from 6 years ago...
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Apr 13, 2024
    Woohoo, our paper on the discovery of 65 new phages dependent on conjugative plasmids is published in it's final form today in @NatureComms ! Here follows a thread (1/ )
    link.springer.com
    Diverse and abundant phages exploit conjugative plasmids
    Nature Communications - Some phages use plasmid-encoded conjugation proteins as receptors to infect their bacterial hosts, making their host range dependent on horizontal transfer of the plasmid....
    43K
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Feb 24, 2022
    Prophages bring a lot of cool biology to bacteria... but they are also a big vulnerability! The bacterial toxin colibactin might have evolved as a strategy for bacteria to kill competitors by inducing their prophages 😮 (1/3)
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Jul 14, 2020
    I'm very excited to finally share the preprint for a project I've been working on for >4 years! Here's a thread with some of the highlights:
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    bioRxiv Microbiology
    @biorxiv_micrbio
    Jul 14, 2020
    Prophage-encoded phage defence proteins with cognate self-immunity biorxiv.org/cgi/content/sh… #biorxiv_micrbio
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Nov 10, 2021
    My favourite prophage, Salmonella prophage BTP1, is now a cover girl! Checkout this awesome illustration by @eliza_coli on the front cover of this month's @cellhostmicrobe issue advertising our (open access!) paper on the BstA phage defense system cell.com/cell-host-micr…
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Oct 28, 2017
    Instructions for making paper phages pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~owensv/ CC-BY
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Aug 1, 2024
    Owen & Bartlett labs est. Aug 2024! Grateful to everyone at the Wadsworth Center for the incredibly warm welcome on day 1
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Jul 21, 2022
    Really enjoying all the #vom2022 tweets this week! Wish I was there 😢 but if YOU are, go and check out @nquinoneso's poster TODAY [room 3, pos 18] about our discovery of plasmid-dependent phages almost everywhere we looked for them, using a cool fluorescent plaque assay 👀
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    Siân Owen
    @implosian
    Feb 6, 2020
    Online today in #MGen : How we can use transcriptomic data to reveal new temperate phage biology microbiologyresearch.org/content/journa… This started with a simple idea and became a nice proof of concept. And one of the last papers from my PhD in @jay_salsa lab ! ( a thread ⤵️ ) @MicrobioSoc