Congratulations to IIDR member @lkalan.bsky.social, who has received a prestigious @hfspo.bsky.social grant. The new funding will power a study that could, for the first time ever, lead to the definitive characterization of a functional human pheromone. brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/two...

Huge thanks to the amazing team at @currentbiology.bsky.social for highlighting fungi in this special issue. Many excellent reviews and perspectives from so many mycological heroes. Lots of great material to use in teaching/outreach. 🍄

Fungi shape genome evolution of bacteria even in the absence of major growth phenotypes #ISMEJournal from @benwolfe.bsky.social Penicillium camemberti and Geotrichum candidum on Pseudomonas carnis evolution academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

If you're a grad student or an undergrad interested in research I need to you listen to me very carefully. You cannot learn to write good research papers if you do not read good research papers. Stop asking LLMs to summarize papers for you.

This work wouldn’t have been possible without all the incredible co authors, including those on Blue Sky: @lkalan.bsky.social @biobarber.bsky.social @corrigar.bsky.social @jarrods.bsky.social

Delighted to share that @asm.org has met its goal for all of its 'legacy' journals (ie favorites like J. Bact, I&I, AEM) so ALL 2025 articles will be published open access. Thanks to all institutional subscribers, this is the S2O way. Please submit to these great journals! asm.org/Press-Releas...

Rare taxa in the core microbiome @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social Opinion by Ditam Chakraborty, Alex Jousset, Zhong Wei, and Samiran Banerjee @ndsuofficial.bsky.social and Nanjing Agricultural University www.cell.com/trends/micro...

From 2010 to 2016 (latest data I have ), NIH research contributed to EVERY drug approved by the FDA

I remember the cystic fibrosis patients I took care of 20 years ago. I also remember the dedicated HIV wards in the hospitals, and that Princess Diana made headlines for shaking hands with AIDS patients. Progress has been incredible. Miracles are where you choose to see them.

In 2024 NIH grant awards supported 407,782 jobs and $94.58 billion in new economic activity nationwide, the largest figure in the history of the report. www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

*At least* $95 billion. The return on investment from NIH dollars is one of the best there is. Also: I personally like the benefits from modern medical technology, dental care, ophthalmological care, and more I am sure as I age.

Context matters: assessing the impacts of genomic background and ecology on microbial biosynthetic gene cluster evolution #mSystems MiniReview by by @raufs.bsky.social & @lkalan.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

If someone thinks the measles outbreak and childhood death in Texas are "not unusual" or "happens all the time", they are deeply misinformed. h/t @adamratnermd.bsky.social for the inspiration. blogs.jwatch.org/hiv-id-obser...

The Atlantic story on the situation at NIH is sobering. We are so screwed. www.theatlantic.com/health/archi...

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.

Hello Buffalo friends! It’s rally for science time! March 7, 2-6PM, Niagara Square! Sign up below and please spread the word! www.eventbrite.com/e/stand-up-f...

This would be a great time for Canada to invest heavily in biomedical research to support its own scientists and bring in amazing talent from down south. 🇨🇦🧪

On this day 12 years ago, @kcg.bsky.social posted the “This is Fine” comic.

40 years ago all of Genbank was published in print form by NAR. The same format today would require over 4 light seconds of shelf space. To a year of progress in 2025.

Bifidobacteria are the primary consumers of breast milk and very important in the infant gut. However, current methods for profiling them require custom implementation. @ben-braun.bsky.social tackled this during his rotation in my lab by creating a fast, robust, and user-friendly tool. Check it out!

Can verify.

Conversation with the brilliant contemporary microbiologist and molecular biologist—HHMI and MacArthur Fellow Bonnie Bassler of Princeton University Pioneer in the chemical signaling mechanisms that bacteria use to communicate with each other known as “quorum sensing” www.hhmi.org/news/tapping...

Hey #IDSky, #Microsky and #ImmunoSky - I'm so pleased that @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social and @mcmasternexus.bsky.social are now here, as well as microbiologists extraordinaire @gdwantibiotics.bsky.social @dr-lori-burrows.bsky.social and @lkalan.bsky.social - get these folks in some #starterpacks!

Just in time for #WAAW - new collab paper with the Strynadka lab at UBC on structure/function of #peptidoglycan fragment recycling transporter AmpG involved in AmpC-related beta lactam resistance. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @yaegerluke.bsky.social

re-posting the potentially best meme I've ever made here, before the other place collapses and it's lost to history #MicroSky 🦠

Hi Bluesky! I am excited to see the influx of scientists here! Our lab studies the skin microbiome including microbial biomarkers of wound infections and identifying bioactive molecules produced by skin microbes. We are recruiting to our lab at McMaster University, please connect and share!

Hi new Bluesky users! We are #DSMZDigitalDiversity and we are establishing an integrated suite of scientific databases of fundamental relevance for the life sciences, including BRENDA🧪, SILVA🧬, LPSN and BacDive🦠. Follow this account for updates from the databases and the Digital Diversity Hub🖥️.

🚨🚨🚨 Looking for microbiome editors 🚨🚨🚨 Spectrum is a broad scope, open access ASM journal. We're currently looking for editors with an expertise in microbiome (early career welcome)! If you're interested, please reach out to me or contact the journal directly: journals.asm.org/journal/spec...

Wow, Bluesky really took off in the last couple of days! The first microbiome starter pack is full now and I started a second one with non-overlapping profiles. Check out these people below and please let me know if you would like to be included! go.bsky.app/6vPBEty

Excited to share our latest study presenting a new skin-derived isolate collection demonstrating extensive antimicrobial activity and uncharacterized BGCs. This was a long-term and huge team effort led by Thy Nguyen, Shelby Sandstrom, and @raufs.bsky.social . #MicroSky #secmet #skinmicrobiome

Love this, since I love mountains. If you see this post a photo of the mountains.

Looks like there was another Twitter exodus, and I'm seeing new followers. If you're interested, I have a Starter Pack of Bluesky secondary metabolism and chemistry-related folks. Let me know if you belong in there! Please share widely! go.bsky.app/Q9svkYf

Resolved for the new year

Very excited to announce the 2024 Cellular & Molecular Fungal Biology GRC organised by @annaselmecki.bsky.social & myself with theme of 'Fungal Communication' in all of its diverse forms. Check out speakers & program using QR code below.

Best conference!! Let’s all meet in Madison this summer 🦠

So proud of these PhD graduates and humbled I could be part of their journey. Watch out they are going to do great things! #microbiome #proudPI #microbiology

Online in Science co-lead with Frances Spragge! We looked at why microbiome diversity protects against pathogens. It's down to a simple principle of collective nutrient overlap, which can predict protective communities against a given pathogen! 🧵👇 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The role of the C. albicans transcriptional repressor NRG1 during filamentation and disseminated candidiasis is strain-dependent https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.15.571891v1

Save the date for the 9th Conference on Beneficial Microbes, July 21-25, 2024 in Madison, WI! Keynote speakers Mónica Medina @momedinamunoz.bsky.social and Jeffrey Gordon! More info will be rolling out in the next two months at conferences.union.wisc.edu/microbes/

Faculty Job: Assistant Professor in Fungal Biology - UC Riverside aprecruit.ucr.edu/JPF01824 Candidates w/ broad expertise in mycology including host-pathogen interactions, symbiosis biology, metabolism and biotechnology, development/morphology, ecology/climate change, and evolution. 🍄

NHGRI is searching for new faculty in computational genomics! The NIH intramural program funds labs, not projects, so it's all research and no grant writing. Come work with me at one of the best places in the world to do genomics research! #ASHG23 www.genome.gov/careers-trai...

Check out our latest! We used a combination of clinical indicators, quantitative microbiology, microscopy, sequencing and proteomics to characterize the “gunk” that forms on top of wounds. Turns out that this “gunk” can be useful to predict healing times!

Looks useful from Kat Holt and Wyres labs, interested in trying this out sometime for some weirder bugs elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Excited to share our review in Annual Review of Microbiology on microbiome assembly in fermented foods. We tried to write an accessible review of the mechanisms/processes that shape microbial communities across a range of ferments. Enjoy! www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10....

Oh hey, that's me! Tune into this short video to learn a bit more about me and work in my group studying fungal pathogens. #thinkfungus youtu.be/DsuTYp3IY74?...

The university of Chicago department of microbiology is looking for an open rank faculty member to join them! apply.interfolio.com/115174 #MicroSky 🦠🧫

Very cool (and potentially exciting) result! And a good reminder that if (/when?) extraterrestrial life is discovered, it will most likely be just like this: a weird chemical balance in an exoplanet atmosphere, seen via some wiggly lines in a spectrum, subject to extensive expert debate. 👽🧪

First round of positions open💥. If interested, please apply. (Sorry if u’ve seen it on Twitter Postdoctoral Fellow (Phage Foundry) - lbl.taleo.net/careersectio... Project Scientist (Phage Foundry) - lbl.taleo.net/careersectio... Research Associate (Phage Foundry) - lbl.taleo.net/careersectio...

It’s weird how so many academics think it is an outrage if they don’t get to define and limit their work to the parts they find to be the most rewarding.

Sandpiper is a database of taxonomic composition (using SingleM) of 248,666 metagenomes in the SRA, built by Ben Woodcroft and his team, that can be text queried to get presence (and a proxy for abundance) of a GTDB taxon (any level) across these datasets: sandpiper.qut.edu.au 🧪