We take it for granted today that DNA is the genetic code of life, but until the 1940s most scientists thought genes were made of protein! In a new piece, @kevinsblake.bsky.social tells the story of how scientists discovered that DNA is the code of life.

The foundational discovery of modern genetics -- that genes are made of DNA -- came from an organism many doubted even had genes: bacteria 🧬🧫 Read more in my piece @worksinprogress.bsky.social worksinprogress.co/issue/how-ba...

Did you know: Mark Twain wrote a book about a microbiologist who is accidentally transformed into a "cholera germ"? 🦠🧪 Though written over 100 years before the term “microbiome” was coined, its descriptions of the human body from the microbe’s-eye view could be home in any modern text.

Should an iconic #bacterial #chassis be renamed without community consensus? Our @mbio.bsky.social #article vindicates the established identity of #Pseudomonas putida KT2440 & argues for continuity, community practice & common sense in naming · @vdlorenzo.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Tech CEOs claim there's been a "Cambrian Explosion in AI." This is usually just marketing-speak for "rapid, transformative growth." But assuming the metaphor is accurate, maybe we can find clues for what's next--is there a bubble?--in what followed the ACTUAL Cambrian explosion?

These Are the Times by Roberto — Microbiologists continue to advance the frontiers of knowledge.

We are very excited to have launched this new collaboration with @gardp.bsky.social! 🚀 This first jointly published commentary on #AMR by @kevinsblake.bsky.social & Gautam Dantas can also be read on our journal page: www.cmi-comms.org/article/S295... #IDSky #clinmicro

📝 A new Antimicrobial Viewpoint by Kevin Blake and Gautam Dantas examines public framing of AMR and proposes alternatives to the war metaphor. The piece is jointly published on REVIVE and CMI Communications. 🔗https://tinyurl.pulse.ly/jjtqv3dn37 Got a topic idea? Write to [email protected]

Every biologist knows the story of Fleming's chance discovery of penicillin. But is it true? Here, with @asimovpress.bsky.social, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.

Darwin thought evolution required thousands of years, and was therefore out of reach from human experimentation. But in one of the few forms of life he didn’t study -- microorganisms -- evolution can happen in mere months or weeks 🦠🧫

The "war on antibiotic resistance" won't end with brute force alone 💊🧫 Instead, eco-evo strategies take a more diplomatic approach. These seek to foster co-existence with microbes, rather than kill them. We metaphorize these as: disarmament, non-proliferation, and soft power.

Antibiotic resistance is portrayed as the enemy of modern medicine. But nothing in biology is inherently evil. Could it be useful, even “good”? 💊🔬 I wrote about using resistance enzymes to protect the gut microbiome from antibiotics and prevent secondary infections. 🧫🦠

Are chromosomes merely a laundry list of genes? I wrote for @stcmicrobeblog.bsky.social about new research which finds that natural selection has organized nearly 2/3s of bacterial genes into specific positions on the chromosome 🧪 🧫 🧬

Where does antibiotic resistance come from? 💊🧫 I wrote for @asimovpress.bsky.social about proactive approaches for fighting resistance that shift focus from studying it in clinical pathogens to studying it at the source: soil-dwelling bacteria.

Mark Twain wrote, “If the Eiffel tower were now representing the world’s age, the skin of paint on the pinnacle-knob at its summit would represent man’s share of that age.” 🧪🌐

Multichannel pipette, in LEGO 🧪🔬

I wrote about the discovery of lariocidin, a new class of antibiotic from slow-growing soil bacteria.

{NatParksPalettes} now has >10k downloads! 🧪🎨⛰️🏜️ Very cool to see this little side project (really, done to procrastinate thesis experiments) be used by so many people.

LEGO’s DNA Helix Isn’t “Right” 🧪 #MicroSky kevinsblake.substack.com/p/legos-dna-...

Call me old fashioned, but I’d think the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency should be something like, “protecting the environment.”

Excited to share the final paper of my PhD! We competed dozens of tetracycline-resistant strains in the context of different generations of tet drugs—in effect, reconstructing the history of tet resistance in a test tube.

I have work to do but I'm distracted by watching US scientific progress & leadership being irreversibly undermined because a few unelected malcontents are penalizing researchers for following legal requirements set out by congressional orders to augment basic research with benefits to society.

The Medium Blog featured my essay on the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry in their guide for academics writing on the platform, as "recommended reading." 🧪 blog.medium.com/three-academ...

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

University of Chicago is asking researchers to halt purchases, starting new experiments, and travel in light of the federal pause on grants

Why it's the phrase "the only good Helicobacter pylori is a dead [one]" that should be eliminated, not the bacterium 🧪🦠🔬

Probiotics are one of the most commonly consumed dietary supplements. But a growing body of mixed and mostly unconvincing scientific research shows many aren't doing anything at all. 🧪🦠🔬 Read my article on it here 👉 medium.com/the-quantast...

Had a blast working with the Dantas Lab team to create this graphical abstract, now published in Cell Chem Biol. This was a tour de force of scientific work, including: 🧪 in vitro biochemistry 🧬 genetic engineering 🚦 gut transit dynamics 🐁 in vivo mouse models #scienceart #sciencecommunication

Replace "Canva" with "BioRender" and this article becomes an excellent critique on the homogenization of scientific illustration. 🧪 medium.com/westenberg/t...

Important reasons to use a professional scientific illustrator to make your figures, rather than BioRender: www.chemistryworld.com/news/thousan...

The 16S rRNA gene is the standard for differentiating between bacterial taxa by DNA sequencing. But what does it mean when one species' sole copy isn’t encoded on the chromosome, but a 9-kb plasmid? Read my story about this evolutionary oddball #MicroSky 🧪 medium.com/the-quantast...

I wrote about a fatal case of MDR E. coli bacteremia which adapted to evade antibiotic treatment not once, but TWICE in ~1 month. With just a handful of mutations it became resistant to every antibiotic thrown at it.

Such a disingenuous take. A paper without data / code is just a press release. Industry research shouldn't be held to a different standard (a lower standard) than academic research. www.nature.com/articles/d41...