NIH grant cuts disproportionately hit minority and female scientists www.nature.com/articles/d41...

'The NSF has only committed $500 million of the $8 billion it was appropriated for the fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1. The NSF will lose the billions of remaining funding if it does not spend it by Sept. 30.' thehill.com/homenews/adm...

Congratulations to Biology Ph.D. student Taylor Rubin, who won a 2026 Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award from the Ecological Society of America!

"The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Jay Bhattacharya) has delayed publication of a CDC report showing the covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half." !!! 🎁

Now out in AEM @asm.org! 🎉🧪 *High school student-isolated mutants 👉🏻 novel genetic causes of biofilm-associated adaptations *We learn how diversity arises quickly and is maintained *EvolvingSTEM enables scalable research in classrooms & promotes scientific literacy journals.asm.org/eprint/FBU9M...

www.nature.com/articles/s41... "Rip1 uses these phage protein ring complexes as a template to assemble into membrane-disrupting pores that inhibit phage virion assembly and cause premature death of the host cell."

Which type of Scientist are you? I don't remember where I got this but found it going through some very old files. NB: I am a Geek.

New paper 🔔 Collaboration @sullivan-lab.bsky.social Marissa Gittrich led the work Klebsiella phage biology has focused almost entirely on capsulated strains, but capsule loss is the #1 resistance mechanism under phage predation. We used a naturally acapsular host to reveal the receptor landscape

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... Mind blowing

I'm a big fan of bioRxiv, so it was fascinating to dig into the stats behind the rise of this preprint server from its first 13 or so years for Nature News @nature.com 🧪 @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social #preprints www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Capturing dynamic phage–pathogen coevolution by clinical surveillance "we capture the acquisition of a parasitic anti-phage mobile genetic element, PLE11, that initiated a selective sweep coinciding with the largest cholera outbreak in recent records. " www.nature.com/articles/s41...

@queenscollegecuny.bsky.social scientists at the @standupforscience.bsky.social rally today!

If you block junior scientists from ensuring that they can afford to live (or start families!) in the exorbitantly expensive areas around their workplaces, only family-subsidized solitary rich kids will be able to pursue careers in research - amidst exponential inflation, increasingly few people.

Current NIH leadership want you to think they are using rigorous, consistent & scientific processes to screen studies to align them with agency priorities. But the process that they have put down on paper is a sham. It’s important to know NIH is not following its own guidance. Here’s why: 🧵1/

Stand Up for Science New York City National Day of Action Rally! Saturday, March 7, 12pm - 2pm City Hall Park Rally to defend scientific integrity, protect public health, and protest political interference in the scientific enterprise. Meet PSC members at the Broadway and Park Place entrance.

Hoping for a big turnout tomorrow!

Sabotaging the NSF fellowship is a blunder "After making a massive mistake of curtailing the entry of excellent foreign-born scientists, the administration is compounding the error by further restricting the development and availability of domestic scientists." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

New paper showing that bacteria with more genes for cooperation can live in a broader range of habitats and that genes for cooperation are more more likely to be in the accessory genome www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... @lauriebelch.bsky.social

In our latest work, we characterise the Tmn defence system. We reveal plasmolysis as a new way to block phage infection, dramatically reducing secondary infections.

Great profile of @ntidpres.bsky.social in the @themindhears.bsky.social themindhears.org/2026/02/25/p...

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past two years thinking about genome evolution and how recent research revealing complex gene-gene interactions has complicated traditional ‘gene-centric’ genomic approaches to evolution. So here is a review that consolidates these thoughts! rdcu.be/e6pHY

With Eugene Koonin, we propose a concept of “the selfish ribosome”, under which evolution of life is viewed as a ribosomal takeover, where the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensures the propagation of the ribosome. arxiv.org/abs/2602.23268

The number of researchers who*don't even respond* to review requests is appalling. If you can't or don't want to review, fine. But don't waste everyone's time by ignoring three or four emails that can be dealt with one click.

Claire Shipman is a former television journalist, and it shows. Going live to tape and telling the world how your university was invaded and your student abducted on the same day is exactly how you fight authoritarianism.

Cover of The Lancet: @thelancet.com www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Federal funding for US biomedical research is moribund. Since October 1 2025, NIH is -80% in new grants and -70% in values (total dollars). Labs are closing down and researchers are leaving science. To what end?

"Stunning bat cave footage captures disease spread risk for first time". Amazing footage of wildlife interacting with bats at the "Python Cave" in Uganda.

What’s holding back clinical use of phage therapy in the UK? Our workshop last year brought together international experts, biotech and regulators to find out Meeting Report out now in Nature Microbiology with our take on the challenges and opportunities facing the UK phage therapy sector

Only have about a week left to comment on this--DoE trying to remove many areas from being classified as a "professional" degree, including nursing and public health. This will limit access to student loans and ultimately drive students from the fields.

Huge thanks to @asn-amnat.bsky.social for inviting our review on the evolutionary and ecological consequences of cooperation. @annadewar.bsky.social @asgriffin.bsky.social @lauriebelch.bsky.social www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

New round of NSF GRFP declines without review. If you were affected: 1) Write NSF 2) Write your Congressperson 3) CC us at [email protected] so we can compile + follow up Details and template at grant-witness.us/grfp-letter This is the link to the post: bsky.app/profile/noam...

Most microbes don't live in shaking flasks; spatial structure shapes how microbes interact and evolve at every scale, as we discuss in our recent review @jeroenmeijer.bsky.social @simonvanvliet.bsky.social @bedutilh.bsky.social @bramvandijk.bsky.social and others academic.oup.com/femsre/artic... 🧵👇

NEW YORK CITY! Join your local March 7th rally to take back our science! Learn more at standupforscience.net/march7 #rally #March7 #ImpeachRFKJr #science #standupforscience

How to make phages work for you! A big hurdle is you. 🧪 🦠 mGem: Immune recognition and clearance of bacteriophages—implications for phage therapy | mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Three postdoctoral fellowships in quantitative biology are available as part of a new Quantitative Biology Initiative in the Department of Biology at the University of Maryland. Best consideration date: 3/14 Job Ad: umd.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UMCP/j... Department: biology.umd.edu/people

ASV members at your service -- check out your ballot! @szparalab.bsky.social @drjdennehy.bsky.social @salehlabparis.bsky.social @skytree42.bsky.social @paulturnerlab.bsky.social Also but not online: Louis Mansky, Liang Deng, Kai Wu, Shou-Wei Ding, Cristina Rosa, David Buchholz & Patrick Creisher

Happy 134th birthday to humans knowing that viruses exist! OTD in 1892 Dmitri Ivanovsky presented his evidence of a tobacco mosaic disease caused by filterable agents (not bacteria!). Martinus Beijerinck confirmed this independently in 1898. And voila, virology is born!

FDA's decision not to accept Moderna's flu vaccine filing has sent shock waves through pharma. "When there’s uncertainty about the path to approval & the reliability of the process, that really has pretty serious consequences,” one player told @jasonmast.bsky.social. www.statnews.com/2026/02/12/f...

On delayed application review, the NIH grant terminations lawsuit appears to be headed for a settlement. Both plaintiffs and defendants have submitted a joint document outlining their agreement. Judge Young must sign off on it before it takes effect. Here's what it says and what all this means 🧵

We recently revised the genome of the paradigm phage SP6 and characterize its lysis genes: www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Fascinating story about evidence that #H5N1 #birdflu infected vampire bats in South America, raising the prospect of a potential new & dangerous host for the virus. Some good news: The virus didn't appear to spread well among the bats. By @martinenserink.bsky.social. www.science.org/content/arti...

New pre-print www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Plasmid-dependent phage (PDPs) are ubiquitous, but the selective pressures that they impose on plasmids are not well understood. Project led by Daniel Cazares in collaboration with @brockhurstlab.bsky.social! #phagesky#microsky

www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... New entry into the Disability in Ecology and Evolution series in TREE featuring me :)

Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools Trump just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freedom across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...