The Social Network of Microbes. Our April Special Issue is now live! Find reviews and perspectives on the communication patterns and social lives of #microbes cell.com/cell-host-micr…

Science is hard. Good research makes you feel stupid. You're inadequate for the task at hand. How else would it be? You're pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Get used to it. This process is immensely rewarding.

I mean, there are worse locations for dinner at a conference! #DDW2023

We Are Hiring! The Department of Microbiology at Harvard Medical School (micro.hms.harvard.edu) invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor. Please spread the word! academicpositions.harvard.edu/postings/12539

Greengenes2 unifies microbial data in a single reference tree nature.com/articles/s4158…

📍A new #COVID wave is clearly emerging in US, all while immunity levels are waning and new boosters aren’t even close to arriving yet. You don’t need another original Omicron winter wave to cause disruption—Delta variant killed a lot in Aug-Oct 2021. Plus don’t risk #LongCovid.

My lifelong dream has been to use machines to accelerate discoveries in biology. Cell Host & Microbe Using AI we discovered antibiotics in Neanderthals and Denisovans, our closest hominid relatives. Molecular de-extinction opens new avenues for drug discovery cell.com/cell-host-micr…

Out in Nature Cancer: Dr. Fyza , Cindy Sears , and I review the latest advancements in microbiome research with potential therapeutic impacts for cancer. nature.com/articles/s4301…

Major, fatal errors found in the data and methods of a 2020 paper in nature, including millions of reads mis-identified as bacteria. The "cancer microbiome" in this study was simply not there. @abrahamgihawi Mihaela Pertea Yuchen Ge Jen Lu biorxiv.org/content/10.110…

Very excited to share this beautiful story by @ShailabShrestha describing his surprising discovery that cell division in C. difficile occurs via a mechanism distinct from previously characterized bacteria. Done in collaboration with the amazing Simonetta Gribaldo & Najwa Taib. 1/9

It seems like sci-fi. They engineered bacteria to detect colon cancer. science.org/doi/full/10.11… Science Magazine #synbio

Remarkable! According to this paper humans almost became extinct: "Results showed that human ancestors went through a severe population bottleneck with about 1280 breeding individuals between around 930,000 and 813,000 years ago." h/t Giordano Lippi science.org/doi/10.1126/sc…

Out today in Cell Host & Microbe, Lindsey Dzierozynski, Cindy Sears, and I comment on shaping of the gut microbiome by host genes. Johns Hopkins Medicine Johns Hopkins Division of Infectious Diseases @bloombergkimmel sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

The joys of writing grants for the NIH

📢CALLING ALL MICROBIOLOGISTS📢 Do you use CFU assays? Here is a new high-throughput, low-waste viability assay for microbes All you need is agar media, pipette tips and a standard camera 🧫📸 nature.com/articles/s4156… Christian Meyer dana 🌿🕷

My department is hiring an Assistant Professor in bacterial pathogenesis! Come join George Liechti (Lab) and me and the rest of our supportive colleagues in Bethesda. higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?Jo…

Dr. Julia L. Drewes (Julia Drewes), Dr. K. Leigh Greathouse (K. Leigh Greathouse), and Dr. Marios Giannakis Marios Giannakis presented their research on the microbiome/biological basis of early-onset GI cancers during the #RueschSymposium on Nov 17th, 2023 at Georgetown Lombardi.

#Twinning in lab today!

“Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist.” - Jane Smiley

#bacteria cause mutations in #cancer - but only if they stick to host cells. Brilliant study from Lars Vereecke lab in nature: nature.com/articles/s4158… Our accompanying perspective with @kyannaouyang: nature.com/articles/d4158… Lots of implications for new CRC prevention approaches!