I have questions.

I need more information before honking.

That was such a trip down memory lane. Coincidentally, my Google photos recently reminded me of play testing...

Filling out a form where the 5th question (not the first one!) is "Can you read? Y/N". Hrm.

Reading a paper that uses the phrase "quasi-quantitatively estimate". I feel like if you have to qualify it twice... it might be quantitative. :)

Honored and excited to have been a guest on the "Gaming with Science" podcast to talk about Gut Check: The Microbiome Game. Thanks Jason and Brian for having me on and talking about microbes! @gamingwithscience.bsky.social #themicrobiomegame www.podbean.com/ew/pb-webin-...

The first two papers have come out of our new Center for Pandemic Insights (the work was done during the "pilot" phase of the grant). Here's one: "Decoding the blueprint of receptor binding by filoviruses through large-scale binding assays and machine learning" www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Currently reading the very interesting "Ebolavirus evolution and emergence are associated with land use change"... a nice mix of phylogenetic analysis combined with broader ecological factors. esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We are still looking for postdoc applications interesting in epidemiological modeling and related areas at the forefront of pandemic detection. Come join the new NSF-Center for Pandemic Insights at University of California, Davis! ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/careers

Looking for any examples of research using IR to look for febrile illness in marine mammals? Having trouble choosing the right Google Scholar terms. :)

I got to visit a robotics lab on campus this week to discuss novel air samplers for virus detection. And drones, of course drones.

We have an academic cultural issue of overstating the novelty of our work without the appropriate support of said claims.

Reading a paper where the abstract states "Using an unbiased metagenomics method...". I'm going to stop you right there and argue that there is no such thing, and can never be any such thing.

Posting this again since we are extending the posting through the end of January. An exciting postdoc opportunity at the new NSF-Center for Pandemic Insights @ucdavis.bsky.social ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/careers

Anyone out there looking for an exciting postdoc in understanding the ecological and environmental drivers of zoonosis? Experience with mathematical modeling? Check out details here! ohi.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/careers cc @phylogenomics.bsky.social

Anyone in my extended social network know any researchers who work in/on bat caves in CA? Looking for potential field sites for new work and would love to chat with some experts!

Very excited to be helping host the kickoff meeting for our new NSF Center for Pandemic Insights. Learning a ton of fascinating things... looking forward to 7 years of work in this space! www.pandemicinsights.org

I can't overstate how excited I am to sit in regular meetings that talk about viruses, bats, otters, pandemics, etc. I was away from science for too long.

USDA announces first H5N1 avian flu detection in US pigs www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influe...

We are hiring!!! Assistant Professor in Emerging Zoonoses - based in the departments of Integrative Biology & Public Health aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04076

Hey new Bluesky users: this website has no centralized algorithm. If you think it seems dead in here, it's absolutely not. However, you are going to have to follow more people than you did on Twitter to see a lot of action in your Home feed.

Overheard at last job; "patients don't get lab results formatted properly because the HL7 messages aren't properly interpreted by the LIS on the receiving end". Overheard at my current job; "so we just published a paper about using drones to samples blowhole exhalations from orcas" #backinscience

A reminder about the UC Davis Center for Population Biology postdoc fellowship (deadline Nov 1st). Please do reach out if you have any questions. Please RT bsky.app/profile/gcbi...

Perfect timing that I've started a new job back in science at the same time that Bluesky seems to be taking off! Since I've shifted domains from microbiome stuff to zoonotic virus stuff I'm looking for accounts to follow in the One Health space. Any recommendations welcome!

Hi all, I'm currently recruiting a PhD student who would like to use AI&Bioinformatics to discover the secrets how to grow bacteria that are currently uncultivable... Please repost. Applications can be done through the website only: www.wur.nl/en/vacancy/p...

Very excited to announce that I'm coming back to science! Started a new job this week as the Program Manager for a new NSF-funded "Center for Pandemic Insights". Looking forward to re-engaging with others in the field. www.pandemicinsights.org

Very excited to have been a (very tiny) part of this publication which just came out. "Planetary Protection Knowledge Gap Closure Enabling Crewed Missions to Mars" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38507695/

Saw something very unusual today. Came across a herd of Roosevelt elk, many miles from any kind of human habitation. And in the middle of the herd, and clearly a member of the herd, was... A donkey. I've got nothing.

Still looking for Clinical Lab Scientists (CLS) to work in the awesome Student Health lab at UC Davis. New posting: careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucdavis/...

I just saw a sign advertising "Caddyshack Rodent Services". Having seen the movie, I'm not convinced that this is a selling point.

Are you a CLS and a supervisor? Interesting in managing a Student Health Lab at a great University? Check out our new job posting at UC Davis: www.amnhealthcare.com/job-details/...

I'm not the only one using ChatGPT for Christmas shopping advice right?

Helping 11th grade daughter with taxonomy homework is painful. Tried to explain that the questions don't make sense in a modern context, but that's not particularly well received. 🙂

Any idea what happened here? Never seen this before!

Excited to be a (very minor) part of "Characterization of the microbiome and volatile compounds in anal gland secretions from domestic cats (Felis catus) using metagenomics and metabolomics" @phylogenomics.bsky.social lab. An expanded version of some previous work. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

When technology makes things harder. All of the clocks in our building are "atomic clocks", but they don't receive their satellite signal except in exterior offices. 2x/year everyone has to leave them in the window for 24 hours. There is no way to manually reset them.

My Google alert for "UC Davis + microbes" fed me this article about @phylogenomics.bsky.social . :) magazine.ucdavis.edu/the-bird-pho...

So HEPA filter with CADR 500, probably around 500 CFM (30K cubic feet/hour). An exam room is 1100 cubic feet so one filter (w/ perfect mixing) provides 27 ACH? That seems really high? Is my math/thinking off base? @phylogenomics.bsky.social

Are there some portable HEPA filter units that are noticeably quieter than others (e.g. for an exam room in a healthcare setting)? Or is there a direct tradeoff between CADR and noise? @phylogenomics.bsky.social

He hath conquered

Is there such a thing as too many spices?

Trying something new this year, I think this tells the story I was going for.

Sign that the pumpkin spice craze has truly gone around the bend into farce. I just heard an ad on the radio for a pumpkin spice car wash!

Kind of sad I wasn't in a crowded public place for the emergency broadcast test today. Would have been interesting to see.

So if you're trying to increase the ACH in a space using HEPA filters... presumably they stack right? If each can provide 2 ACH, then 3 would add 6 ACH? Or is there some sort of decrease in utility with stacking?

Clinical Lab Scientist (CLS) position open at Student Health at @ucdavis. Come work in a fancy lab with a great student population! careerspub.universityofcalifornia.edu/psp/ucdavis/...

One of the biggest challenges I'm having in moving from academia to healthcare is that for all its flaws, academia is a lot more merit-based. Everything in healthcare is about roles and scope... doesn't matter if a person *can* do a job/task.

A reminder for all the new science folks here on Bluesky... the default setting is to only show replies that have at least two likes. You can change this in your settings and the conversations will seem less fragmented.

Come and join my lab! Opening for a Royal Society funded PhD studentship starting Jan '24. If you're interested in evolution and molecular microbiology click on the link for more info. Deadline 6th November. Very happy to talk to prospective applicants. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...