📰 Special Issue: New research reveals that predator control of microbivorous fauna enhances microbial turnover and promotes soil organic matter stabilization, highlighting the importance of intact soil food webs for long-term carbon storage. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Predator control of microbivorous fauna is required to enhance microbial turnover and SOM stabilization

Soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization is increasingly attributed to microbial processing and the formation of microbial necromass, yet these pathway…

sciencedirect.com

Excited to share our latest paper! We developed 18O-SIP-viromics to track new virion production in soils. Most persist without replicating, creating a stable genetic reservoir, while new viral diversity is linked to a subset of hosts. @jgi.doe.gov journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Disentangling production and persistence of extracellular virions in grassland soils with SIP-viromics | mSystems

Soil viruses influence microbial survival, nutrient cycling, and ecosystem recovery after environmental disturbance, yet it remains difficult to determine which viruses are newly produced versus those...

journals.asm.org

Out Now! Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils #MicroSky

Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 29 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7An 8-year soil meta-omic time series shows how mobile genetic elements shape permafrost microbial diversity and impact a range of functions, including carbon and nutrient cycling.

go.nature.com

Such a great conference!

Soil Microbial Ecology Group@soilmicrobes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Inspired by an incredible week at #ISVC2026! 🌱 Researchers from 5 continents, 14 countries & 28 institutions dug into soil virus ecology. Huge thanks to our invited speakers: Joanne Emerson, @gtrubl.bsky.social, @karthik-a.bsky.social, @simrouxvirus.bsky.social, and @jeffinerca.bsky.social 🦠

New publication out @natcomms.nature.com! We identify novel viruses that actively infect highly productive chemoautotrophs, and reveal key trophic interactions and virus-host dynamics that impact microbial carbon cycling in aphotic environments. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Divergent successional patterns and infection dynamics in virion and transcriptionally active soil viral communities following phosphorus amendment and wet-up Huge effort by Grant Gogul! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

The Microbiology and Geochemistry of the Shallow‐Water Hydrothermal Vents of the Gulf of Naples, Italy enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #jcampubs 🌊

The Microbiology and Geochemistry of the Shallow‐Water Hydrothermal Vents of the Gulf of Naples, Italy

This study investigated the interplay between fluid geochemistry and microbial diversity in the shallow-water hydrothermal vents of the gulf of Naples, Italy. We found that hydrothermal fluid chemist...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

13C-Labeled Single-Cell Raman Sorting Reveals Sulfur-Driven Dark Carbon Fixation in Coastal Sediments academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a... #jcampubs

13C-Labeled Single-Cell Raman Sorting Reveals Sulfur-Driven Dark Carbon Fixation in Coastal Sediments

ABSTRACT. Chemoautotrophs drive carbon fixation in coastal sediments, but most of them remain uncultured with poorly characterized in situ activities. In t

academic.oup.com

Illuminating the newly produced viruses within the virosphere with BONCAT and single virus genomic sequencing technologies academic.oup.com/ismecommun/a... #jcampubs

We said goodbye to Buddy. We will cherish the 15yrs he shared with us. Buddy was here for many milestones: engagement, college graduations, wedding, bringing our kids home, cross-country moves, buying a house. He lived with us in 4 different states & 9 different homes. I miss him terribly.

New preprint! We propose "anergiobiosis" to describe microbial life at thermodynamic limits as a way of separating the physiological state from questions about aeonophilic extremophile specialization. ecoevorxiv.org/repository/v... #Microbiology #Extremophiles #SubsurfaceMicrobiology #MicroSky

After initially rejecting Moderna’s application for review, the FDA will now consider the mRNA flu shot

FDA agrees to review Moderna mRNA flu vaccine in dramatic reversal

After initially rejecting Moderna’s application for review, the FDA will now consider the mRNA flu shot

scientificamerican.com

😂

Super cool! I'd love to include viruses in this work.

Nature Communications@natcomms.nature.com · 6mo ago

The study shows that nitrogenase enzymes have maintained stable isotope signatures over billions of years, revealing how ancient #microbes shaped Earth’s #nitrogen cycle and offering a new experimental framework for probing early life. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#Ecology & #Microbiology Some microbes use atmospheric trace gases as energy and carbon sources, sustaining primary production in caves @greening.bsky.social

Microbial aerotrophy enables continuous primary production in diverse cave ecosystems - Nature Communications

Metabolic strategies of cave microorganisms are poorly studied. Here, the authors show that cave microbes use atmospheric trace gases hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane as energy and carbon sources, sustaining primary production and revealing how life can thrive in oligotrophic and dark ecosystems.

dlvr.it

New paper published in @natcomms.nature.com! Population ecology and biogeochemical implications of ssDNA and dsDNA viruses along a permafrost thaw gradient doi.org/10.1038/s414... www.nature.com/collections/... @sullivan-lab.bsky.social

Population ecology and biogeochemical implications of ssDNA and dsDNA viruses along a permafrost thaw gradient - Nature Communications

The potential roles of viruses in microbial-induced permafrost thaw, which is accelerated by climate change, are unclear. Here, Trubl et al. sample a permafrost thaw gradient and identify thousands of...

doi.org

Out now in Nature Communications, from IGI's Jill Banfield (The Banfield Lab) and collaborators: Convergent evolution of viral-like Borg archaeal extrachromosomal elements and giant eukaryotic viruses Read here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-65646-7

Summer REU in biofilms! Pls share. www.binghamton.edu/centers/biof...

Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) | Biofilm Research Center | Binghamton University

binghamton.edu

Viruses transform microbes, populations, & ecosystems. In new work jointly led w/@tn-marine-micro.bsky.social + more, we find a link between enhanced viral infection and productivity 50 meters below the surface in the otherwise nutrient limited Sargasso Sea. a 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A big milestone, my final PhD paper is finally out! Started lab work in 2017 & bioinformatics via a DOE SCGSR fellowship @jgi.doe.gov with @simrouxvirus.bsky.social @sullivan-lab.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Our work on the Panoptes antiphage system is published! Here we find that Panoptes "watches" the cytosol for phage immune evasion proteins–captured in this illustration by Clair Huffine of Insight Illustrations. A beautiful example of the effector triggered immunity paradigm.

I have a fabulous undergrad who has a lot of experience with QIIME2 & using R to analyze microbiome data. She is looking for a job starting in January. Would love to learn more bench and field skills (will be getting some in her last 2 months). Open to academic, industry, government jobs in the US.

New paper alert with @alexjprobst.bsky.social. enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Clarifying Terminology in Microbial Ecology: A Call for Precision in Scientific Communication

The rapid evolution of microbiology as a field of research has led to the introduction of new terminology and the adaptation of existing terms. However, inconsistencies in the use of these terms, inc...

enviromicro-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

“This Is the Greatest Threat to Our Human Future” | @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and I discuss with @nextbigidea.bsky.social about our new book, #ScienceUnderSiege: nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/gre...

This Is the Greatest Threat to Our Human Future

Co-authors Michael Mann and Peter Hotez share 5 key insights from their new book, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World.

nextbigideaclub.com

Register today www.bakerinstitute.org/event/scienc...

Super team of physicians, scientists, and public health experts come together with a single message: RFK must go. "It is time to reverse course and begin rebuilding the public health infrastructure overseen by CDC. Kennedy has proven himself unwilling and ill-prepared to lead that effort. " 👇

ASM@asm.org · 11mo ago

As national medical, scientific, public health and patient organizations, we call for the resignation of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to ensure the health of the American people. Read our statement: asm.org/press-releas...

This point isnt being made enough. Last week’s attack on the #CDC could have been a slaughter. www.statnews.com/2025/08/15/c...

The CDC shooting was public health’s Jan. 6

“In RFK Jr.’s America, it will never be safe to practice public health or medicine," write an epidemiologist and a former CDC staffer.

statnews.com

Save the Date! Sept. 9 @ 12pm. @bakerinstitute.bsky.social with @stpolicy.bsky.social will host Drs. @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social & @michaelemann.bsky.social to discuss their new book, "Science Under Seige". Come hungry, lunch will be served! Register here: www.bakerinstitute.org/event/scienc...

Bacteriophage replication strategies are associated with organic matter energy content on coral reefs Amazing work from the @cynthiasilveira.bsky.social lab #phagesky doi.org/10.1101/2025...

Bacteriophage replication strategies are associated with organic matter energy content on coral reefs

Bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, play a crucial role in carbon cycling within marine environments. In coral reefs, dissolved organic matter (DOM) released by benthic primary producers suc...

doi.org

We help folks at #ASMicrobe, even when they sign up DURING the event. But if you sign up EARLY, you’ll get the FULL benefit of a mentor to ask questions of, as well as a small group you can make plans with ahead of time binningsingletons.com/singleton/bi...