🚨 Microbiologists! We are recruiting Assistant / Associate Professors in 3 collaborative areas of our U. Pittsburgh School of Medicine. 1) MMG (my dept): fundamental research in med micro 2) Peds ID / I4Kids institute 3) Center for Vaccine Research 🔗 to all 3 w/info: www.linkedin.com/posts/vaughn...

New accepted manuscript (preprint) on the evolution, phylogenetic types, expression, and fxns of a male-killing gene from a phage in a common endosymbiont of animals. Credit to many lab coauthors and led by Dr. Emilie Lefoulon. Lots of fun and insights in this one. academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...

New accepted manuscript (preprint) on the evolution, phylogenetic types, expression, and fxns of a male-killing gene from a phage in a common endosymbiont of animals. Credit to many lab coauthors and led by Dr. Emilie Lefoulon. Lots of fun and insights in this one. academic.oup.com/gbe/advance-...

Life is pretty grand when you get to wake up, nerd out, and have a cup of Java with the one and only symbiosis guru Nick Shikuma. Good to cherish what makes science great.

ExFAB user proposals are now being accepted for our first open call. exfab.engineering.ucsb.edu/call-externa...

Another week, another episode of #MattersMicrobial podcast! This time, @lauraweyrich.bsky.social of Penn State discusses what bacterial DNA from ancient dental plaque can tell us. Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord. @univpugetsound @asmicrobiology @microbe.tv youtu.be/6Bc5jhCDWg8?...

www.cell.com/cell/abstrac... A host organelle (in sea slugs) integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis

🎙️JOB ANNOUNCEMENT! I am seeking a scientist to design, implement, support, analyze, and report on research in the molecular biology of insect endosymbionts. Come join us in the tips of the Appalachian mountains for meaningful challenges in symbiosis science. psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/PSU_Staff/jo...

A salient experiment that elegantly examines how context dependent is hologenome evolution in response to selection on diet quality? The short answer. It is resilient, even when faced with abiotic and biotic disruptors such as post-selection socialization and diet. Brilliant evaluation; a must read

Outbreaks of dengue are killing thousands of people in South America each year and getting worse. Brazil hopes to turn the tide with a home-grown vaccine and an army of mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Not being difficult here, but I wanted to remind folks that *none* of my current students had ever heard of Lynn Margulis. I mean, the endosymbiotic theory is at the center of cell biology. It's not their fault. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/....

OPEN INVITATION to the One Health Microbiome Symposium, May 13-14, 2026!! This is not your typical siloed topic conference. It unifies diverse research fields in microbiome science across Ag, Envtl, and Human Health. 1/n www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-one-h...

ReMOT Control reagents are now available on @addgene.bsky.social! Go git 'em! www.addgene.org/Jason_Rasgon

Within-host microbial selection and multiple microbial generations buffer the loss of host fitness under environmental change @holobiontbiology.bsky.social academic.oup.com/femsec/advan...

You never love nature's depths until you get to know it - microbes, plants, animals - all of it.

Here's how we give the microbes their due in a historic 1st. The International Union for Conservation of Nature now has a MICROBIAL CONSERVATION SPECIALIST GROUP as a global safeguard for microbial biodiversity! Article led by @gilbertjacka.bsky.social Raquel Peixoto www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New study from OHMC faculty Liana Burghardt & @stl.bsky.social and colleagues: First use of BONCAT on plant roots reveals microbes are 10× more active the endosphere than in soil — and that activity drives colonization. A big step for sustainable ag! Read: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

New work from OHMC faculty Dr. Estelle Couradeau and colleagues calls for the UN’s One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026) to include microbiomes—key players in ecosystem, animal & human health. @stl.bsky.social A must-read perspective: journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Final PDF of Functional Team Selection, written with #NancyCollinsJohnson published in @isme-microbes.bsky.social Journal: - If there is: selective force, host constitution, & enough microbial diversity/time, a + PSF is likely - Plant #holobiont is a complex adaptive system doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Ignite and launch: After six years of super science together, @kaurr.bsky.social is heading to Chicago to start a science team and lab. 🚀

Congratulations to OHMC faculty member Dr. @jordanbisanz.bsky.social on receiving the 2025 @asm.org Award for Early Career Applied & Biotechnological Research! 🎉 A well-deserved recognition of his innovative contributions to microbiome science. asm.org/press-releas...

This is the dept where I got my PhD! Hiring for microbiology!

🎙️ Job Announcement: Penn State is seeking an ASSISTANT PROFESSOR in MICROBIOLOGY (any subdiscipline) in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Learn more and Join the Microbiome Jubilee: psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Our modest step to understand the impacts of human genetics on a very understudied group of gut microbes — the mycobiome, a community of fungi that live in hosts and Earth’s ecosystems. Art by the 1st author’s mum 🎭 @emilyvansyoc.bsky.social @erdavenport.bsky.social www.psu.edu/news/eberly-...

We are really serious about giving our trainees a boost of energy and momentum, and they always give it back in such grand ways. This is one example where they go out to seek training in another lab or university and then come back with the skills to spread it around Happy Valley.

When other journals were too nervous to lean into this topic, this one leaned in. They specifically have a discovery report section for new insights based on initial observations. Can’t recommend this @plosbiology.org team enough!

Wow! Very interesting new analysis on #mycobiome. #yeast Kazachstania forms a causal relationship with cardiovascular disease risk in a mendelian two-sample randomization analysis!

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...

Pig breeds reared on the same farm exhibit rippling waves of #phylosymbiosis with their bacterial communities, viruses, mobile genetic elements, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). ARGs is a first. 👀 www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We're very much looking forward to connecting with young scientists and making the marine holobiont community grow and evolve! Looking forward to seeing many of you there!

More foundations should do this: "Funding is exclusively available to applicants who have already received federal funding (e.g., from the NIH, CDC, NSF) for their health equity research, but have since had their funding rescinded due to federal administrative actions" www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

“Natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world.” C. Darwin and single track thoughts.

Anyone interested in some Wolbachia T4SS goodness? And other weird stuff? Started years ago by @bigvirushunter.bsky.social in my lab, pulled over finish line by awesome collaboration w Matt Swulius, Carrie Shaffer, & Mohammed Kaplan (don't tthink they're on bsky) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Stop the press. There may be a universal PCR marker for covering all biodiversity. “we demonstrate the applicability & effectiveness of the JEDI marker approach for quantifying and monitoring biodiversity across scales, from individual holobionts to whole ecosystems” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

🎙️ JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: @ciddpsu.bsky.social Ctr for Infectious Disease Dynamics at PSU is searching for a Full or Associate Professor in Infectious Disease Modeling. This is a unique, cross-university search for someone to become a leader in our community! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Seaweed aquaculture eyes holobiont optimization. More evidence that breeding programs are starting to get on top of it. Host-Microbiome Ecology in a Seaweed Holobiont: Current Understanding, Technological Advancements, and Manipulation Approaches papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

The community of Drosophila researchers is amazing, mutually supportive and collaborative. Right now a key resource for our community, @flybase.bsky.social , is threatened by the cancellation of its NIH grant and is seeking community help in raising short term funds 1/n 🧪 please share

New in @asm.org #MMBR Computational function prediction of bacteria and phage proteins. How to annotate your #phage and #bacteria genomes by @susiegriggo.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @gbouras13.bsky.social and Bob #phagesky #microsky journals.asm.org/doi/epub/10....

Join us! This is more than a scientific meeting, it's a platform to catalyze collaboration, share knowledge openly and develop solutions for safeguarding marine ecosystems in a changing world. Great line-up of speakers and early bird rate still available! Please RT!

10 yrs ago today, @kevintheis.bsky.social and I did a mind jam on the lexicon and framing of holobiont biology. Thanks to everyone who advanced its purpose, especially the students. Hosts have never been just hosts; they are multiscale holobionts that determine form and fxn. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

A host has never been just a host. A host has always lived as a multiscale holobiont made from context-sensitive cells of host and microorganisms. It is ultimately this dynamic composition that determines forms, functions, and their endless variations. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

It’s simply the right way. A hologenome approach increases predictive accuracy: “Likewise, when using the OTU abundance to predict the pea resistant phenotype, significantly higher prediction abilities were observed than all SNP marker-based approaches” bmcplantbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Elio was a rock of humanity, a giant of microbiology, and I could never think of the world without him. I will not, as his example lives forever. May we all find the Elio flow state.

This first-author publication is my… first! Archaea kill bacteria by targeting their Achilles’ heel: peptidoglycan. Big shoutout to @ahocher.bsky.social‬, @valeriesoo.bsky.social‬, Pauline Misson, @tobiaswarnecke.bsky.social‬ and MRC LMS Proteomics. A thread 🔽 journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

I can’t recommend this enough. It’s beautifully done work and triples down on a discovery by a former graduate student in my lab from 11 years ago. Go read this!

New paper out! Here, I provide my personal view on "Plant-microbe interactions in the context of global change biology" @psumbiome.bsky.social @cp-cellhostmicrobe.bsky.social doi.org/10.1016/j.ch...

While at Penn State College of Medicine with T32 PhD fellows and faculty, I spotted the illustrious @getxlab.bsky.social. He is hot on the trail of gut microbes, glycolytic pathways, colonization factors, and glycan detection. The lab's latest, greatest is here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Microbiomes are the foundation of the biosphere. Hosts such as humans, bees, and plants have never been just hosts. They are complex units of biological organization upon which various forces act to shape composition, form, and function. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

"Fungi can see and react to a wide range of colors." journals.asm.org/doi/abs/10.1...