Flirting, Fungus, and Phages

Why is it so hard to tell whether someone is flirting or friendly? In this talk, I will discuss my work involving real-life speed-dating studies, showing that people find it difficult to accurately infer attraction, partly because their own feelings shape how they read other people. However, attraction is not entirely hidden: subtle interaction patterns, including mimicking coy smiles, are linked to mutual interest. This talk explores how we read social cues, why these judgments are easily biased, and what this reveals about human connection.

Cytomegalovirus is a virus that most of us carry without ever knowing it, but for vulnerable patients it can be deadly. This talk looks at how researchers use a clever lab system that mimics the human body to test whether the antivirals we use are actually working the way we think they are. Getting the dose just right is very important and new tools are helping us make sure patients get the correct dose to improve the clinical outcomes.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is the silent pandemic that increasingly kills more people every year. As an alternative to antibiotics, bacteriophages are applied as treatment and clear out bacterial infections. The interaction between antibiotics and phages as a combined treatment is of great interest, since the treatment might differ per person, per antibiotic and or phage. How can we find the optimal combination to eradicate serious infections?

Lichens occur everywhere around us and are the inspiration for the term 'symbiosis'. Their biology reads like a book of records: they can survive almost anywhere, including sidewalks beneath our feet. Unsurprisingly, lichens have been studied in space to explore possibilities in astrobiology and colonisation of Mars. We dive a bit deeper into what lichens are, what makes them ideal organisms for research in space and where you can find them.