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Kaitlin Schaal

@evokait.bsky.social

postdoc @ university of liverpool. researching microbial eco-evo, community interactions, bacterial predators, evolution of cooperation, plasmids. 🇺🇸 in 🇬🇧 and 🇨🇭. she/they. 🏳️‍🌈. kaitlinschaal.com

18 Posts287 Follower149 Folgt
Kaitlin Schaal@evokait.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Ecologist friends! Can anyone recommend papers that link species abundance distributions to ecological processes? I'm interested in what inferences can be made from SADs, and the theoretical basis for those inferences. Thanks 🫶

Jerónimo Rodríguez-Beltrán@jerorb.bsky.social · last yr.

Do plasmids evolve faster 🐇, slower 🐢, or just like chromosomes 🧬? In our new paper, we tackled this question using theory, simulations, bioinformatics, and experiments! 👇 Check out all the details in Paula’s thread! Hint: 🐇 (most of the time)

Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate

Plasmids are autonomously replicating DNA molecules that stably coexist with chromosomes in bacterial cells. These genetic elements drive horizontal gene transfer and play a fundamental role in bacter...

biorxiv.org

Paula Ramiro-Martínez@paularamiro.bsky.social · last yr.

New paper alert! 🚨 Plasmids promote bacterial evolution through a copy number-driven increase in mutation rate. We combine theory, simulations, experimental evolution, and bioinformatics to demonstrate that mutation rates scale with plasmid copy number. Let's dive in! 🧵👇

Alicia Calvo-Villamañán@aliciapcv.bsky.social · 12mo ago

This work is finally published! 🥳🧬 Plasmids are associated with very variable fitness costs in their different bacterial hosts. But, what is the contribution of each of the plasmid-genes in these host-specific effects? Study led by @jorgesastred.bsky.social, @sanmillan.bsky.social and myself! 1/14

Dissecting pOXA-48 fitness effects in clinical Enterobacterales using plasmid-wide CRISPRi screens

Nature Communications - This study investigates the effects of the carbapenem resistance plasmid pOXA-48 in clinical enterobacteria. Using CRISPRi screens, the authors revealed that the...

rdcu.be

Kaitlin Schaal@evokait.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Is the era of microbial metagenomics over? Check out our new preprint on using species abundance distributions to predict plasmid maintenance in bacterial communities: arxiv.org/abs/2509.01695

Heterogeneity drives plasmid maintenance in large microbial communities

Microbiomes are complex systems comprised of many interacting species. Species can survive harsh or changing conditions by rapid adaptation, a process accelerated by the exchange of genetic material b...

arxiv.org

Technology Brobdingnagian@dfeldman.org · last yr.

It seems Tesla is detecting vehicles that may have problems, and artificially running their odometers faster so the warranty expires before they have to do any service Just incredible grift

"Tesla Inc. employs an odometer system that utilizes predictive algorithms, energy consumption metrics, and driver behavior multipliers that manipulate and misrepresent the actual mileage travelled by Tesla vehicles," reads the lawsuit. "In so doing, Defendants can, and do, accelerate the rate of depreciation of the value of Tesla vehicles and also the expiration of Tesla vehicle warranties to reduce or avoid responsibility for contractually required repairs as well as increase the purchase of its extended warranty policy."
Kaitlin Schaal@evokait.bsky.social · 2y ago

Can anyone recommend papers where authors look at pairwise interactions between bacteria within a community context? i.e. interaction strength between strain A and strain B when co-cultured with several/many other strains. Thanks!

Kaitlin Schaal@evokait.bsky.social · 2y ago

So excited that @relenski.bsky.social is the 2025 Microbiology Society Prize Medalist! What a role model, both for research and as a citizen of science www.eurekalert.org/news-release...

The Microbiology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our 2025 Prizes

The Microbiology Society is pleased to announce the winners of our 2025 Prizes, which will be awarded at Society’s Annual Conference 2025 in Liverpool from 31 March – 3 April, wh...

eurekalert.org

Jamie Hall@jpjhall.bsky.social · 2y ago

I'm delighted that @relenski.bsky.social is the recipient of the 2025 Microbiology Society Prize Medal! When @evokait.bsky.social and I discussed evolutionary microbiologists to nominate, Rich was at the top of our lists — inspirational & foundational work in the field. Congratulations Rich!

Rich Lenski
Will Ratcliff@wcratcliff.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited to share: The inaugural Alma Dal Co School on Collective Behavior is coming to Venice (Sep 29-Oct 4, 2025). This unique school honors Alma (1989-2022), whose brilliant work bridging physics and microbiology revealed how metabolic interactions structure microbial communities. 1/12

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Adam Kucharski@adamjkucharski.bsky.social · 2y ago

This. If you invite 40 people to a 2 hour meeting, or get them to complete 2 hrs of paperwork, you’re effectively ‘spending’ 2 weeks’ worth of productive institutional time…

Neil Lewis, Jr.@neillewisjr.bsky.social · 2y ago

Higher ed is pretty bad at valuing people's time. This is one manifestation of that. One thing I wish more administrators would do is use tools like this to calculate the costs of the requests they're making, instead of operating as if time in infinite and free. hbr.org/2016/01/esti...