As you partake of bread and beer - give thanks for Saccharomyces cerevisiae! Yeast ferments sugar into alcohol. The CO2 given off is what helps bread rise. Each semester we do a Fermentation Feast in class to "taste the diversity of cultures". Microbiology - the field full of sensory delights :)

This student for "Thank a Microbe" really loved Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. Predatory bacteria are easy to love! It bores its way into another bacterium, digests the bacterium, then reproduces, with its babies breaking out of the empty shell of the bacterial prey.

Today's student Thank a Microbe post features Pseudomonas putida! Need to clean up oil spills and other toxic hydrocarbons? Call in P. putida.

For the Thank a Microbe project, Lactobacillus sp. were a favorite genera of bacteria to thank. Lactobacillus acidophilus is what digests milk sugars into acetic acid, which gives yogurt its tangy taste!

It's the season for being thankful - THANK A MICROBE returns! Here's the first of several student flyers appreciating the wonders of our microbial world!

that time of year when as soon as you finish writing 2 letters of recommendation, 2 more requests come in....

#WomenInScience inspired Halloween costume this year is Fanny Hess! In Koch's lab in the hot German summers, the gelatin used for bacterial cultures would melt. Fanny learned of agar - used to stiffen gelatin desserts - and brought that into the lab. Her ingenuity changed #microbiology forever! 🧪🔬🦠

Just a heads up. I was able to schedule my COVID vaccine appointment. Online it will ask “do you have a condition that puts you at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 virus.” Click yes and it will allow you to schedule an appointment. No questions asked. No proof required. Pass it on.

BREAKING: Big moment as CDC staff stage a mass walkout. They have lined the street outside its HQ to greet and salute the four top officials who have resigned in protest at RFK Jr’s attack on the agency’s science base. (🎥 AP)

I just supported Toni Harmon's/Alto Films latest documentary about #microbiome of #birth and first foods. Please join me in supporting this important film. 🤱🤰👶🧪 #microbiome igg.me/at/themicrob...

Using this resource on AI vs human capable Bloom's Taxonomy from @oregonstate.edu as I write learning objectives! #STEMEdu 🍎🧪 ecampus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/arti...

How to write a Symbiosis class syllabus. 😆 Loving working at Ovenbird coffee shop these last few weeks while our youngest is at a synthetic biology camp. #Baltimore

A new study shows that vaccinating pregnant women against RSV led to a 72% drop in hospitalizations for babies with the virus in the UK, highlighting the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting infants. www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/resp...

My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@[email protected], Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵

Whooping cough (pertussis) is also known as “100 day cough” bc it can cause 100 days of coughing so severe that rib fractures are common. It also makes small children stop breathing without warning, often fatally. Vaccination can prevent up to 89% of infections but requires boosting every few years

Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST. I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria. 🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...

The Truth Of The Matter And They Are Not Bringing Jobs Back….

If signed, Indiana bill will require faculty at public colleges and universities to post their syllabi online and undergo “productivity” reviews. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

This is such a cool tool and exactly how we should have framed NIH research all along: Taxpayers fund scientists to understand disease and discover new treatments—and we deliver. It’s public investment that saves lives and improves health for everyone. Direct ROI. 🧪🧫 #IDsky #GastroySky

🙏 We need your help 🙏 The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like. We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants: NIH: forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP... NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni... w/ @noamross.net

So some good news: recruitment has resumed for postbac and postdoc programs at NIH www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

Here in Princeton, NJ, a town of about 30,000 people, the crowd at the #HandsOff protest. Appeared to be about 1300-1500 people, as high as 5% of the population. It's the largest event I have seen in this public space.

One reason to try super hard not to get measles as an adult is that it can, for a period of years, cause your body's cells to "forget" your other immunities 😬 It's HIGHLY contagious; some people need regular boosters; some people can't get one at all. Pls talk to your health care provider! 3/3

Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines. When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.

New pancoronavirus antiviral targets the main protease (Mpro) of the two different coronaviruses that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19. Via @laurahowes.bsky.social @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/acs-news/acs...

Cannot recommend highly enough if you need. I have, and was just so grateful to have the resource.

Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to [email protected]. See lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky

My friend and colleague Alison Pouliot has co-written an important book on "wild mushrooming," and I'm glad that we at the Rachel Carson Center can publish an excerpt. You will also find a part of her 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘪 on our Portal, and soon an excerpt from 𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮𝘴.

It's a star! ⭐ Kirkus Reviews calls @karenlloyd.bsky.social, "one of those rare gifted writers who can be broadly profound as she is precise" in their STARRED review of Intraterrestrials. Check it out: www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

The National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection was established by Richard Nixon’s administration. The National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods was established by Ronald Reagan’s administration. Committee members were appointed and received no compensation.

USDA has eliminated two food safety advisory committees for microbiological contamination and meat inspection. Most recently, they had been reviewing regulatory approaches in response to the fatal Listeria outbreak from Boar’s Head meats and fatal Cronobacter contamination in powdered infant formula

In the US alone, each year, norovirus causes ~20 million acute gastroenteritis cases, 70,000 hospitalizations, up to 800 deaths, at a cost of ~$10.6 billion annually. An pill vaccine shows considerable promise in a clinical trial, establishing mucosal immunity www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

An important statement from the American Bar Association. www.americanbar.org/news/abanews...

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F. 18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it. We made this website to tell our story: 18f.org

If you're of a certain age in this measles outbreak, this is worth your attention!! I was in the yellow. Several years ago our school made faculty provide proof of vaccination. I got tested for antibodies & had minimal protection so I got revaxxed. So happy I was able to get informed and protected!

We are experiencing an assault on science unparalleled by anything I’ve seen in my life. It’s not one issue or another anymore, the entire institution is under attack by the most powerful individuals in the country. This Friday, where will you be? standupforscience2025.org

Francis Collins, the NIH Director for 12 years, led the Human Genome Project and other NIH efforts for 32 years, resigned today. Key words from his resignation letter www.nytimes.com/2025/03/01/u...

The HPV vaccine is amazing. “The new report found that from 2008 to 2022, rates for precancerous lesions decreased about 80% among 20- to 24-year-old women who were screened for cervical cancer. The estimates were published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.”

To all of Maryland's federal workers who are being harmed by the actions taken in Washington, we encourage you to visit our Public Servants Support Website and see what resources are available. response.maryland.gov/federalpubli...

Was nice to contribute a quote to celebrate the amazing artist Jane Hartman @trilobiteglass.bsky.social! #microsky If you don't have a piece of Jane's art - you gotta take a look: www.etsy.com/shop/trilobi... 🧪🦠🍎 issuu.com/bethesdamaga...

Breaking: FDA's March meeting to select flu shot strains for 2025-2026 season has been canceled per email sent to committee members, a VRBPAC member told me. drug companies need about 6 months leeway to make shots in time for fall vax campaigns. #healthpolicy

The first measles death in the US in a decade -- the tragic, preventable death of a child whose parents chose not to protect them with vaccination -- should spark an immediate nation-wide campaign to ensure all children are protected against preventable diseases. Anything less is unconscionable.

Finally finally - this #bookreview 📖 is out of my favorite kids #microbiology book - SICK: The Twists and Turns of Animal Germs. I loved it so much, did a #luxart piece to celebrate! Read the full review here: www.researchgate.net/publication/... 🧪🦠🧫🪲🍎#Edusky - check it out!

let’s see how it plays out, but the media coverage of the past week meant that the policy couldn’t linger in the shadows anymore keep talking to non-scientists about what you do and why it matters to them

Covid vaccines and the reduced the risk of Long Covid in kids and teens jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

With the demise of Joann's, I'm going to share a few online resources I've found. It's by no means exhaustive, but hopefully it helps folks find what they need. 🧵

Great write up at @thetransmitter.bsky.social on the seeming erasure of SABV in the new era of NIH. Gotta say The Transmitter is killing it the last few weeks, first to report on the Federal Register block and now this. Leading the charge! 💪 www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...

New #Azolla #microbiome #CCGP paper! With @tribblelab.bsky.social @crothfels.bsky.social and @fernway.bsky.social bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...