Happy to share Episode 126 of #MattersMicrobial, w Spencer Nyholm, discussing how maternal microbes protect squid eggs from fungal infection. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord? #MicrobialEvangelist #MicrobialCentricity @microbetv.bsky.social @spencernyholm.bsky.social youtu.be/aQKZNfx4nRQ?...

🌐 Join us for the first webinar in our Microbiome Matters series, with international expert Prof. Harry Sokol exploring how gut microbiome observations can inform microbiome‑based interventions, from the perspective of IBD. 🗓️ Tuesday 07 April, 5pm GMT Register now: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

I'm sorry... Eye bacteria???!

And finally last week, I was able to chat with Dr. Spencer Nyholm about the interests of his research lab group during a recording of my #MattersMicrobial podcast. I have known Spencer for a VERY long time, and he is such a great human being, fine microscopist, and deep thinker.

Applications are open for Broad’s 2026 Media Boot Camp! Science/health reporters and editors: Join us in Cambridge (April 30–May 1) for a deep dive into emerging stories in biomedicine. Hotel & meals provided. Applications due March 20. Learn more here: broad.io/mediabootcamp

FYI, this grant program is open to anyone communicating science. It does not require that you went to school for science. You could be a Ph.D. student, an artist, a community organizer, a teacher, or any other profession. As long as you are communicating science IRL in the US, you're eligible.

I am seeking a postdoc to join my group at UCLA -- ideally the candidate would have some experience in either population genetics or microbes/microbiome (computational background needed). We have a range of projects and are happy to tailer to your interests. Please dm/email me if interested.

Not something you see in textbooks very often: tripolar mitosis.

Early Arthropods xkcd.com/3199/

Excited to share our latest publication, led by Dr. Ellie McCallum and Juan Burckhardt! bit.ly/4kfzQaf You can access the article for free here: authors.elsevier.com/a/1mWb4L7PXu... And more information is available on the updated preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University. www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/ Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline 🧫🧪🦠#microsky

Git branches - you should be using them. But how? Part 2 in an on-going series introducing git for wetlab scientists 🧪 emptymodels.substack.com/p/git-for-sc...

🥁 NEW Our study on infant gut microbiome and #straintransmission is now published in @nature.com: doi.org/10.1038/s415... 1/10

Maintaining microbiota across diverse symbiotic organs in Euprymna scolopes: Insights into shared immune responses from @nidhivijayan.bsky.social John Briseño, Oleg Simakov, @spencernyholm.bsky.social in @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Hawaiian bobtail squid maintain distinct microbiota in different organs, including bioluminescent bacteria in their light organs, by deploying immune factors with tailored expressions in each niche. In PNAS: https://ow.ly/QxLo50XPnyS

It's finally here!!! I first want to say thank you to @spencernyholm.bsky.social for helping me see this through! Thank you for believing in me and this project! I am so glad I joined his lab and learnt so much through the process. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Just a reminder that Springer Nature is a for-profit journal where the mission requirement does not include flow back to scientific societies, universities or researchers.

Now available online: the new 2.0 version of gutSMASH, with capabilities to detect 12 new types of catabolic gene clusters relevant to gut microbiome ecology, as well as predictions of their regulation through transcription factor binding site detection. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

At @skypeascientist.bsky.social we were able to give out more grant funding than we took in this year, thanks to people who support us! That grant funding went to 13 science communicators across the country on their in-person projects. YOU can support us here: givebutter.com/SupportSAS25

This sounds kinda cool. I hope someone does some FISH imaging on the apple!

I'm currently reading up on the differences between the GI tract between humans and mice and thought "of mice and men" would make a great title! But of course it already exists and I love it!

New preprint! Do you like ocean waves? We found similar waves on bacterial colonies! We found that this collective behavior, known as rippling, is nothing but surface waves on an active nematic. @princeton.edu @mpipks.bsky.social @ub.edu @icreacommunity.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you've seen in the wild: Elephants Nurse shark Corals Peacock Indian giant squirrel

Remember last year, when bioGraphic and Hakai Magazine were both facing uncertain futures? Your donations saved the day--we raised $140,000 and lived to publish another day! Now we need help balancing our 2026 budget. Please donate via the link below, and snag some cool stickers to boot!

Interested in how life history may shape the gut microbiome of a wild mammal? Keen on getting to work with an iconic long-term study system in Scotland? Check out this PhD opportunity with me, Josephine Pemberton and @gfalbery.bsky.social Reach out to chat more! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Excellent work from @aroneys.bsky.social here. Free to read version at rdcu.be/ePJp4

OMG SOME GOOD NEWS 🧪 #MedSky

A little bit of good news for you. And a reminder that we *can* solve big, global problems--when we want to. 🧪 (by @meghanbartels.bsky.social)

We published a new lane of research today on human gut fungi. Shout out to 1st author @emilyvansyoc.bsky.social sky.social & @erdavenport.bsky.social For 20 years, bacteria received the lion's share of interest in the human gut. Yet we know little about the gut mycobiome. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Researchers have filmed thousands of climbing catfish scaling waterfalls, providing a rare insight into the daring migration of an enigmatic fish. Learn more: https://scim.ag/4lDlFux

Do you love phage? I have an opening for a postdoc in my lab at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science (@cmarinescience.bsky.social) looking at interactions between marine phage and iron, which is an important limiting trace metal in the oceans (1/5) 🧵#phagesky 🦠🌊

Non-profit publishers (PLoS, Oxford, Cambridge) and publishers partnering a lot with academia (Wiley) are much more committed to open science than the others - MDPI being the worst by large. (4/5)

Austria is stepping up to support US postdocs: stipendien.oeaw.ac.at/en/fellowshi...

Stunning image of a mammal (the eastern quoll) that glows✨ under UV light💡 📷: Ben Alldridge, reported in the @nature.com briefing #nature #neature #marsupial

Are you an early-career biologist or ecologist who would benefit from an invited seminar? Would you like to come to UMaine next fall or spring to give a talk? Leave a brief comment with some info about what you do. I'm co-hosting our seminar series again, and am filling out our rosters.

whoa

The new version of MetaPhlAn v4.2.2 released! 📌taxonomic profiling of long-read metagenomes for the first time 📌new version of the MetaPhlAn db (vJan25_202503) containing >21k new SGBs Try it out & @hutlab.bsky.social and we are looking forward to your feedback! forum.biobakery.org/t/metaphlan-...

Industry-Academia Alliance Update: We've put it all into innovation and a leadership alliance with QIAGEN to optimize MICROBIOME PhD training from @psumbiome.bsky.social. Home to the 1st Microbiome PhD, the team is always looking for the next round of future PhD talent. www.psu.edu/news/huck-in...

Can't wait to dig into this!

The OIST Graduate School has opened a Special PhD Admissions Portal for students currently enrolled in, or accepted to, universities in the U.S. #PhDProgram www.oist.jp/admissions/s...

An update on open postdoc positions, in my group and the adjacent group of Howard Ochman, here at UT-Austin. #SymbioSky Mine: insect-bacterial symbiosis with emphasis on intracellular endosymbionts and molecular mechanisms. web.biosci.utexas.edu/moran/contac...

🥁NEW publication from our lab: the largest meta-analysis of gut microbiome associations with CRC! www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵⬇️ 1/6

our lab is blessed to have 3 new postdoctoral fellow positions. we would welcome scientists interested in...

This is some Last Airbender shit.

ICYMI: New online! The role of the enteric nervous system in the pathogenesis of Clostridioides difficile infection

Today we hit 250 orders of these shirts (designed by @franzanth.bsky.social) which absolutely rocks. Thank you to everyone who ordered one! I can't wait to see you all wearing them! Pre-order is open until June 1, then I'll send 'em to the printer. Look hot, get a shirt: Squidfacts.bigcartel.com

Oxford Nanopore sequencing will be ubiquitous for multiomics….and the next step is proteomics. First panel-based proteomics assays, before driving towards full protein sensing in the future. #nanoporeconf

New preprint led by @brunoluviano.bsky.social & Fernando Santos. We show that filamentation enhances bacterial survival under toxic stress — not as collateral damage, but as a regulated morphological response. TL;DR: Filamentation isn’t a symptom, it’s a strategy! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Do you know a high school student who's queer and interested in STEM? Do they want to come to UConn for. *free* one day conference to meet and learn about queer scientists and engineers work. Join us for Queer Science June 8 in Storrs.