“I think it’s a real mistake to forget where the pipeline for all this begins.” John Diffley reflects on the importance of basic research, his mission to decode DNA replication and recreate it in the lab, and the scientific optimism of the 1960s that helped shape it. www.crick.ac.uk/news/2026-03...

Always read @randballsstu.bsky.social and not just because he mentioned me. But I did totally take that poster off the wall. 🍺🍺🍺🍺

NIH research grant funding rates plummeted in 2025. Agency acknowledges young investigators are losing out as result of multiyear funding policy imposed by White House. | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

Our latest collaboration with Karthik Hullahalli's team on bacterial barcoding is now out! We developed a way to measure dissemination dynamics that controls for independent colonization events. This more accurately assesses how bacteria spread between tissues. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Conflicts between the DNA replication and repair machineries promote cell death in Gram-positive bacteria doi.org/10.1099/mic.... b @winterhalterlab.bsky.social @heathmurraylab.bsky.social et al.

New episode of #MattersMicrobial! The superlative Dr. Jeff Gralnick chats with the #QualityQuorum about bacteria that breathe metal! Please spread the #GoodMicrobialWord! @univpugetsound @asmicrobiology @microbe.tv youtu.be/rh-TK2Bvxj8?...

Great work from Michelle Wang’s group at Cornell exploring how RNAP II and associated R-loops act as intrinsic roadblocks during mechanical DNA unzipping. These findings have mechanistic implications for transcription–replication conflict. rdcu.be/eILVd

Memorial Day kicks off two of my favorite seasons: Grateful Dead Season (specifically 1971, 77-80, as 73-75 are reserved for Labor Day through Halloween) + Grilling Season So I ask today, you reply or quote with pics of your grilling and/or favorite Dead cuts!

The cement king of Sioux City who drives a brand new F-350 and has two vacation houses in Florida isn't an elite but a grad student with $200,000 in debt and a nose ring is, that's how this works.

🚨 The Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology at Montana State University invites applications for an Assistant Professor tenure-track faculty position in the field of environmental microbiology. Happy to answer any questions! 🧫🧪🧬 #microsky jobs.montana.edu/postings/45680

My NIGMS R35 renewal (submitted 1/16/24, approved by council 9/20/24, original project end date tomorrow) is still pending. Clearly no chance the $$ arrive before Monday. Assume many are in the same boat and curious as to whether anyone anywhere has received institutional guidance. NB I have not.

Mine def was when I was setting up a southern blot transfer and an undergraduate said “I learned in class that those are obsolete” :/

Y'all, I'm away from lab traveling and my trainees sent me this via slack: they all dressed up as me for Halloween (Winter Kevin, Summer Kevin, and "I wear this all the time" Kevin)! My trainees rock and having a lab is a lot of fun!