New from the lab--C. diff uses phase variation to initiate infection in a virulent state but that phenotype presents a fitness cost as disease develops. A programmed reset mechanism primes Clostridioides difficile virulence at the onset of infection | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A programmed reset mechanism primes Clostridioides difficile virulence at the onset of infection

Clostridioides difficile is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. This pathogen produces toxins essential for disease and flagella that promote intestinal colonization. Flagella and toxins ...

science.org

📣 We’re hiring a postdoc for @hot-mes-asu.bsky.social ! 🦠🔬 We’re looking for someone excited about microbial interactions, ecology & evolution, and using molecular genetics and microfluidics to understand microbial communities. Come do fun science with us! apply.interfolio.com/190859

BlueSky doesn't seem to spread the word around as effectively as that other app so I'm reposting this incredible opportunity again (and again!). Please repost and spread the word to strong candidates. Thank you!

Andrew Darwin@durkdarwin.bsky.social · 2w ago

I’m thrilled to share that our search for a tenure-track colleague in my *truly wonderful and collegial* Genetics, Genomics, Evolution and Development Division in the MCB Department at Berkeley @berkeleymcb.bsky.social is live! Please share this broad search widely: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05481

Assistant Professor -Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development - Molecular and Cell Biology

University of California, Berkeley is hiring. Apply now!

aprecruit.berkeley.edu

Preprint 🦠🚨: We are diving deeper into #T6SS effectors, and now in #Pantoea. We describe the largest, most diverse effector arsenal associated with a single T6SS, and it's in a plant pathogen that forms galls on beet roots. Sweet! 1/8 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Pantoea agglomerans T6SS effectors reside in hotspots with combinatorial offensive and defensive arsenals

Gram-negative bacteria deploy type VI secretion systems (T6SSs) to mediate interbacterial competition. Although numerous T6SS effectors have been identified, their pan-genomic repertoires and evolutio...

biorxiv.org

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 Join the faculty at UW–Madison Bacteriology! We have two faculty searches: • Asst Prof (Microbial Communities & Bioeconomy) • Asst / Assoc / Full Prof (Systems & Synthetic Biology) Check out the open positions and apply👇 #FacultyJobs #SynBio #Microbiology #Astrobiology #Evolution

We are looking for motivated Postdocs to join our lab to investigate the emergence and evolution of bacterial pathogens. If your profile and interests fit the description below get in touch! Please share.Thank you!

New for #mmpc2026 this year: T-SHIRTS!! Designed by @ruthlessruth15.bsky.social & featuring your favorite microbes! Shirts must be ordered by Sept 4 & can be picked up at the conference. Get your official 2026 Midwest Microbial Pathogenesis Conference swag here: mmpc2026.umn.edu/more/2026-mm...

I'm excited to be co-organizing the 2026 Midwest Microbial Pathogenesis Conference, which will take place Sept 25-27 on the UMN campus in Minneapolis! Poster abstracts due Aug 7! Submit yours & register here ➡️ mmpc2026.umn.edu

Dear microbiome enthusiasts: I'm excited to be moving my lab to New York University this fall (& the NYU Institute for Engineering Health); with joint-appointment @isbscience.org I'm hiring a postdoc @ NYU to look at diet-driven evolution in the gut: apply.interfolio.com/189980 Please share! 🦠🤓

"Christina's approach to preventing fungal diseases before they become a problem is critical in these times when pathogenic fungi are expanding their prevalence, often in response to climate and weather pattern changes," says Jennifer Gottwald, WARF director of licensing.

Meet UW-Madison’s Christina Hull

“Christina’s approach to preventing fungal diseases before they become a problem is critical in these times when pathogenic fungi are expanding their prevalence, often in response to climate and weather pattern changes.”

warf.org

Officially Assistant Professor of Biology at @macalestercollege.bsky.social! It's been an exciting first (half) week getting my lab set up with the help of my research students Amy and Ivana. We may even get an experiment in next week!

Our new paper is out in #mSystems! Quantify total and active bacterial cells from environmental samples with MATRIX! @asm.org @cnrs.fr @universitelyon.bsky.social journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

MATRIX: rapid quantification of total and active microbial cells with single-cell phenotypes for environmental microbiomes | mSystems

Microbiome studies commonly rely on relative abundance data, which cannot distinguish whether compositional shifts reflect true population growth, declines in total community size, or both. Without ex...

journals.asm.org

Unusual ribosomes controls translation fidelity- other than in naked mole rats, octopuses 🐙 have the “adaptive” ribosomes too ⬇️ . The beauty of studying non model organisms! #Ribosome 🧪

Nicholas Bellono@nbellono.bsky.social · last mo.

How did octopuses evolve novel traits? Rishav Mitra, Richard Han, Trey Scott, et al serendipitously discover a unique ribosome adaptation that increases the accuracy of protein synthesis and evolved alongside their elaborate nervous systems vs deep sea relatives. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The 2026 Conference on Beneficial Microbes will be co-organized with the International Symbiosis Society from July 19th - July 23rd. Its not too late to register! #BeneficialMicrobes10 #BeneficialMicrobesMtg #ISS #SymbioSky

This program has been grassroots since 2017, so our biggest fundraiser of the year is structured to be distributed across many people helping a little bit too. SAS works because we have support from thousands of people every year, volunteering their time, buying merch, and filling bubbles 💕

Skype a scientist matches scientists with classrooms all around the world for free! About 75% of those classrooms are in the USA, the rest are spread out across ~80 countries around the world. We offer this service for free thanks to thousands of scientists who volunteer with us & donors like you!

The 2026 United States of Science Challenge starts NOW! Each bubble represents classrooms we’ve matched with scientists this year. This a competition to fill bubbles with $10 donations to support @skypeascientist.bsky.social The first region to fill all bubbles wins. 👇🏻 givebutter.com/USS2026

United States of Science 2026

By Skype a Scientist

givebutter.com

Our work on the symbiont-containing organelle that supports coral reefs is published today. Also, new genetic tools to study symbiosis in both corals and Aiptasia. Great work by Shumpei Maruyama, Cat Henderson, and the rest of the fantastic team. #SymbioSky www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Co-option of lysosomal machinery shapes the evolution of the intracellular photosymbiosis supporting coral reefs

Corals harbor intracellular algal symbionts in specialized organelles that enable them to build diverse reef ecosystems. Corals and other cnidarians have repeatedly evolved this symbiosis through the ...

cell.com

A step forward in discovering Buchnera's key to the aphid's heart, published today! Thanks to Jerry Maeda and other authors--a great team -- and to the helpful reviewers #SymbioSky doi: doi.org/10.1038/s415...

A secreted endosymbiont protein essential for colonizing host cells - Nature

SyeA was present in the Buchnera ancestor, is secreted into the host cytoplasm, is homologous to secreted effectors of bacterial pathogens and is essential for Buchnera transmission.

doi.org

Our lab is hiring an enthusiastic and motivated research specialist to study host-pathogen interactions in the context of S. aureus infection. For more information, see below: Lab website: www.reyesruizlab.org jobs.wisc.edu/jobs/researc...

Research Specialist - Madison, Wisconsin, United States

Current Employees: If you are currently employed at any of the Universities of Wisconsin, log in to Workday to apply through the internal application process.Job Category:Academic StaffEmployment Type...

jobs.wisc.edu

New preprint from the lab led by Alex Dobrila! We show that butyrate-dependent toxin release in C. difficile is mediated by a broadly-conserved endolysin (EndD), which is under the control of the sporulation sigma factor SigK. Excited to share this story! 👇 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

EndD mediates butyrate-dependent toxin release in Clostridioides difficile

Clostridioides difficile is an urgent threat to human health. Current treatments for C. difficile infections (CDIs) are antibiotics and microbiome restoration therapy (MRT) for recurrent cases. Howeve...

biorxiv.org

Ten months ago I had never written an op-ed. I believed the work spoke for itself. It doesn't. When the government calls a lifesaving technology unsafe and scientists stay silent, the silence becomes the story. A new @jhu.edu profile on why I stopped staying quiet: hub.jhu.edu/2026/06/24/j...

A staunch voice in support of science

Jeff Coller, a pioneering RNA biologist, has spent the past year vehemently advocating for the lifesaving promise of research in the face of federal cuts

hub.jhu.edu

Are restriction/modification modules only used for host defense? @selmamhm.bsky.social shows an alternative use. "Restriction-modification systems are required for Neisseria gonorrhoeae pilin antigenic variation" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2602688123 #Microd #Microsky. #Microbiology

Congratulations @mehlelab.bsky.social!! 🎉 bsky.app/profile/uwma...

Medical Microbiology & Immunology@uwmadisonmmi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🎉Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Mehle on receiving the prestigious Kellett Mid-Career Award! 🏆 mmi.wisc.edu/dr-andrew-me...

Our Dept of Microbiology & Immunology @Geisel School of Medicine @Dartmouth has an opening for an Assistant Professor. Looking for programs bridging multiple areas in Micro & Immuno. A great place to be! Programs: www.M2P2.org www.dartmouthbiofilm.org Job ad: apply.interfolio.com/187637

🎉Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Mehle on receiving the prestigious Kellett Mid-Career Award! 🏆 mmi.wisc.edu/dr-andrew-me...

Check out this exciting work from Jeniel Nett's lab! @uwmadisonmmi.bsky.social www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

UW–Madison@uwmadison.bsky.social · 2mo ago

UW–Madison researchers have identified a promising new therapeutic candidate against Candida auris, an emerging fungal pathogen that has alarmed health officials worldwide because of its ability to resist multiple antifungal drugs and spread rapidly through hospitals and care facilities.

We can't wait to receive your Lab Launches to mSystems! 😍🔬💚 #mSystems @asm.org

Breaking: A new Special Collection in @asm.org #mSphere and #mSystems – “Lab Launches - New Leaders, New Discoveries”. We started it bc that first paper is important – it communicates the group’s identity as well as the discoveries that propel a scientific career. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Lab Launches—New Leaders, New Discoveries | mSphere

In the United States and some other countries, many small businesses mark their beginnings by posting their first earned dollar (or whatever relevant currency) from their very first transaction on a p...

journals.asm.org