Dr. Ari Kozik
@drkozik.bsky.social
Scientist. Prevotella Host-Microbe Interactions. Airway Microbiome. Multi-omics. Asst. Prof @ UMich. PI of @koziklab Nerd. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/koziklab/
Dr. Ari Kozik@drkozik.bsky.social · 3w ago🧪 Excited to finally share the published version of our work showing that P. melaninogenica (affectionately called 'P. mel' in my lab) has more superpowers... Aerotolerant capacity of the lung symbiont Prevotella melaninogenica | Journal of Bacteriology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
With Prevotella recently split into many new genera (over 55 species down to ~21!), what's left? Our new review explores the remaining mucosal species, with a particular focus implications for the human oral, airway, and vaginal niches. 🧪 Journal of Bacteriology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
The redefined identity of Prevotella: new implications for oral, respiratory, and vaginal health | Journal of Bacteriology
Over a century ago, Dr. William Wherry and his student, Wade Oliver, reported the isolation of a bacterium they called Bacterium melaninogenicus (1). This organism was described as a pigmented, Gram-negative, strictly anaerobic organism found frequently in the human mouth on carious teeth, but also recovered from the throat, tonsils, genitalia, and wound abscesses. Later classified under the genus Bacteroides, these and related organisms were frequently described as difficult to grow and maintain in pure culture, with biochemical assays yielding inconsistent fermentation and proteolytic profiles (2, 3). In 1947, Schwabacher, Lucas, and Rimington found that the characteristic pigments were not composed of melanin, as the name suggests, but rather hematin (4). In the 1960s, others showed that some strains required both hemin and vitamin K/vitamin K derivatives for growth (5). Consequently, as similar organisms were isolated from human oral and mucosal sites in the following decades, Shah and Collins proposed the reclassification of several species into their own genus, Prevotella, in 1990. Shah and Collins had previously argued that Bacteroides contained considerable heterogeneity, particularly with regard to fermentative capacity. They suggested that inclusion in Bacteroides should be limited only to highly fermentative species phenotypically similar to B. fragilis. The “nonsaccharolytic Bacteroides” were reclassified into the genus Porphyromonas, while the remaining 15 “moderately saccharolytic Bacteriodes” became Prevotella. Using a combination of biochemical and 16S rRNA-based analyses, they described Prevotella as organisms that may or may not produce pigment, are sensitive to bile salts, are moderately saccharolytic, and lack both glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PDH) and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6PGDH) (6).
journals.asm.org
🧪 Excited to finally share the published version of our work showing that P. melaninogenica (affectionately called 'P. mel' in my lab) has more superpowers... Aerotolerant capacity of the lung symbiont Prevotella melaninogenica | Journal of Bacteriology journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Aerotolerant capacity of the lung symbiont Prevotella melaninogenica | Journal of Bacteriology
This study provides a correction to the 100-year-old classification of Prevotella melaninogenica as a strict obligate anaerobe. We demonstrate that this key member of the human microbiome is capable o...
journals.asm.org
Returned safely from my first ASM as a lab group! We had five posters and my students did a great job with their presentations! Special shoutout to @clairealbright.bsky.social whose manuscript was accepted right before we arrived! 🧪
Claire E Albright@clairealbright.bsky.social · 2mo agoHad the best time at #ASMMicrobe2026 presenting my research along with other members of the Kozik Lab!🔬 Science was shared, colleagues were met, and lots of free merch was taken! 🦠 Looking forward to next year!
Thank you to MI ASM for giving me the opportunity to present my research in an oral talk this weekend! Further thanks to the committee for awarding me 2nd place in the oral talk competition☺️ The research presented can be found here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #ASM #prevotella #microbiome
❤️❤️🧫🧬🌱🥦 it was so good to see you!!
Dr. Sue Ishaq@drsueishaq.bsky.social · 2mo agoI love hanging out with the incomparable @drkozik.bsky.social and nerding out about host factors and the microbiome, envisioning better human microbiome research, and abstract art 👩🎨. Delighted to meet your lab and share so many laughs with you!
Just when we think we've got them figured out, bacteria find a way to surprise us. For a century we've been calling Prevotella melaninogenica a strict anaerobe (oxygen =☠️), but its been chillin' in oxygen rich parts of the body -- the respiratory tract 👄🫁. A thread on a new preprint from my lab🧵:
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 7mo agoAerotolerant Capacity of the Lung Commensal Prevotella melaninogenica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.19.700327v1
I am pleased to announce the submission of my first author manuscript, "Aerotolerant Capacity of the Lung Commensal Prevotella melaninogenica," now available as a preprint. 🧫🧫🧫 Thank you to my mentors Dr. Ariangela Kozik @drkozik.bsky.social and Dr. Gary Huffnagle at UM.
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · 7mo agoAerotolerant Capacity of the Lung Commensal Prevotella melaninogenica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.19.700327v1
The latest paper from our faculty job market collaboration team @nafisajadavji.bsky.social @drkozik.bsky.social is out in Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education investigating the humanities and social sciences academic job market. @futurepislack.bsky.social www.emerald.com/sgpe/article...
…deeply saddened to see this. Zara, you will be missed. This year has taken so much from us.
Willow Coyote-Maestas@willowcoyote.bsky.social · 9mo agoZara Weinberg passed away earlier this week. She joined my lab earlier this year when her postdoc lab formally closed. She was a brilliant scientist, supportive mentor, dear friend, avid music fan, rabid believer in public transit, open science champion, and above all just an amazing human.
Thanks to @bwfund.bsky.social for their support! Our team (@drkozik.bsky.social @drchristsmith.bsky.social @lilyycheng.bsky.social, Ada Haagan, and Amanda Haage) has been collecting data since 2018 on the faculty job market, check out our work at: faculty-job-market-collab.org
I’m just a girl, who did a spinal tap on a preschooler last week, asking you to fire RFK Jr.
a woman in a blue shirt is looking at a man in a pink shirt .
Alt: a woman in a blue shirt is looking at a man in a pink shirt , scene from Notting Hill
media.tenor.com
My senior thesis was titled “The osteological manifestations of enslavement” The number of parry fractures in adult and sub-adult bones was heartbreaking. (A parry fracture is a broken ulna resulting from trying to block a direct strike to the face or upper body)
Rude1 Haunted Badness. ⁂@rude1.blacksky.team · 12mo agoidk - branding humans like cattle, chaining them to dead bodies, feeding them to each other, filling them with gunpowder then blowing them up, burying them alive for insects to eat -- it being so bad mothers killed their children and people jumped from ships to drown seems, like, super bad dude
If you applied to assistant professor positions in North America in 2024-2025, we want to hear from you as we continue to collect data on the applicant experience. Thanks also to @bwfund.bsky.social for their support of our work! Link to 2024-25 Applicant Survey. und.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Online Survey Software | Qualtrics Survey Solutions
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Are you planning to apply for faculty positions in North America this Fall? Our team of researchers have synthesized 3 years of applicant survey data to create a dashboard to allow assistant professor candidates to see where they stand. faculty-job-market-collab.org/dashboard/
Explore Our Data | Faculty Job Market Collaboration
A record of our team's research and funding.
faculty-job-market-collab.org
when they close it all up, I do believe this will go down as the funniest video on the internet
Thrilled to share the first preprint from my group! Prevotella are predominant but understudied members of the respiratory microbiome. They have a reputation for being hard to work with, but understanding them is likely important for understanding how they contribute to respiratory health. 🧫🔬
bioRxiv Microbiology@biorxiv-microbiol.bsky.social · last yr.Development of a basal media for carbon utilization assay and analysis of the starch utilization locus in Prevotella melaninogenica https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.04.663206v1
Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. /Fin
FYI: The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Democratic Staff, is trying to get more info on the impact of recent research grant terminations. If your award has been canceled since Jan 20, you can fill out this survey: democrats-science.house.gov/grantcancela...
Playlist was on random and Lacrimosa from Mozarts Requiem came on…and I had to just turn it up and let him cook because what is this timeline.
a woman wearing sunglasses is holding a cup of coffee and saying shut it down
Alt: a woman wearing sunglasses is holding a cup of coffee and saying shut it down
media.tenor.com
Were you postdoc on the faculty job market May 2024 - May 2025? Are you a new assistant professor who landed your position (any field!) in the past year? We want to hear from you about your experience on the faculty job market.
This. And that’s IF you can afford to be away for 5 days and you have enough support to keep things going while away. I can only sometimes manage this once per year unless the location is nearby. My spouse does not have the same kind of flexibility with his job and that’s a big deal.
Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️@napaaqtuk.bsky.social · last yr.That brings up another good hybrid point....for me to travel to a meeting on the west coast means a full day of travel and another back, so a 3 day meeting is actually 5 days away from my kids. In person only meetings suck for parents. Thanks for making that point
"We’re talking about biomedical research as a whole. Here there’s no question of false hope or over-promising. We’ve been at this for 80 years...It’s no hyperbole to say that wrecking biomedical research now will leave many of us without cures or treatments in the future. It’s close to a certainty."
Josh Marshall@joshtpm.bsky.social · last yr.A Path Forward to Save American Bio-Medical Research talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/a-pat...
Today is World Asthma Day! I am a respiratory microbiome scientist partly because of my specific interest in understanding asthma. It is a condition that asserts the interconnectedness of our bodies with our environment. It is complex, dynamic, and life-altering.
Happening now: www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/bio...
Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation | United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
United States Senate Committee on Appropriations
appropriations.senate.gov
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · last yr.The Senate Committee on Appropriations is holding a hearing on Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation on April 30 at 10:30am ET, chaired by Senator Susan Collins 🧪 www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/bio...
"I would not have dared to dream that metastatic melanoma would become a treatable disease in my lifetime. Yet here we are today, with 43% of people diagnosed with metastatic melanoma living 10 years or more, due to treatments that we broadly refer to as cancer immunotherapy." Barry P. Sleckman, UAB
Needhi Bhalla 💅🏽@needhibhalla.bsky.social · last yr.The Senate Committee on Appropriations is holding a hearing on Biomedical Research: Keeping America’s Edge in Innovation on April 30 at 10:30am ET, chaired by Senator Susan Collins 🧪 www.appropriations.senate.gov/hearings/bio...
