Biofilm formation in #Bacillus subtilis is thought to precede sporulation, but T. Updegrove says that a subpopulation of sporulating cells triggers other cells to become biofilm formers via an intracellular metabolite (glycerol) repurposed as a signaling molecule (!) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A metabolite morphogen coordinates multicellular development in Bacillus subtilis

Cell-cell signaling using a core metabolite repurposed as a developmental cue coordinates bacterial multicellular development.

science.org

Pls share. Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences - Genetics/Genomics at Smith College. apply.interfolio.com/190342

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

The UNLV School of Life Sciences looking to hire someone to teach and assess online biology lecture and laboratories courses for non-biology majors. Come join my dept! Job ad: nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UNLV-E...

Assistant Professor-in-Residence in the College of Sciences [R0151583]

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) appreciates your interest in employment. We ask that you keep in mind the following when completing your application: Once you start the application process ...

nshe.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

Submit to the JB Biofilms Collection! Research Articles & Minireviews on biofilm formation/dispersal, Abx tolerance, polymicrobial interactions, signalling, imaging & more. Submission deadline: 30 September 2026. journals.asm.org/journal/jb/b... @asm.org #JBacteriol #ASMjournals

#FungiFriends

The Seattle Times@seattletimes.com · last mo.

More than 1,000 species of lichen grow in Washington. All of them offer a window into profound biological cooperation.

Phenazine Pride #PrideMonth #bacterial_pigments Agar art by Marina Smiley

Published in Infection and Immunity, Gracious Donkor and I explore the diverse mechanisms microbes employ to withstand ROS-mediated stress and discuss recent efforts to harness oxidative stress responses as a potential strategy for developing new antimicrobials. journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Implications of bacterial exposure to reactive oxygen and chlorine species | Infection and Immunity

Molecular oxygen (O2) is the preferred terminal electron acceptor of the electron transport chain due to its high redox potential and is therefore an essential driver of cellular metabolism in aerobic...

journals.asm.org

Day 1 of @asm.org #ASMmicrobe2026 was great! Wonderful reconnecting with the Microbiology community, including fellow @hypothesisfund.bsky.social family members @laahrs.bsky.social & @paulturnerlab.bsky.social!

The TCA cycle and pentose phosphate pathway are linked to lipid droplet expansion in nitrogen-starved Lipomyces starkeyi cells https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.05.27.728067v1

Abstract suggesting that some protists can use symbiosis for magnetoreception. Promising direction, seeing as there have been zero magnetoreceptors discovered outside bacteria... www.nature.com/articles/s41...

a cartoon coyote is riding a skateboard with a magnet attached to it

Alt: Literal data about how magnetoreception works

media.tenor.com

Why we must keep funding research: “The long scientific journey that led to the drug is a triumph of both public and private research funding, succeeding only after decades of false starts and dashed hopes — and the unraveling of conventional wisdom that turned out to be completely wrong.”

How an ‘Impossible’ Idea Led to a Pancreatic Cancer Breakthrough

nytimes.com

Time for a new edition of Canadian biochemist and medical researcher extraordinaire Maud Menten (1878-1960), 🐡🧪👩🏼‍🔬 #histsci coauthor of the Michalis-Menten equation, inventor of the azo-dye coupling which was the first example of enzyme histochemistry for imaging tissues and the first 🧵

New insight published in @molecularmicro.bsky.social by @saraalexander.bsky.social + Mark Goulian about how the phosphotransfer system known as PTS-Ntr mediates methylglyoxal resistance via K+ transporters. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

An Asgard archaeon from a modern analog of ancient microbial mats (Current Biology) Beautiful microscopy of an Asgard archaeon, in the same family as Lokiarchaea, in syntrophy with a sulfate-reducing bacteria Very very nice paper we saw in preprint form: www.cell.com/current-biol...

#MicrobiologyMonday: Gliding motility allows cells to move smoothly along surfaces without flagella. Although this strategy has evolved independently across many microbial lineages, common mechanical principles emerge. Learn more in #JBacteriology: asm.social/2SJ

Biofilm spatial structure and superinfection immunity modulate inter-phage competition @plosbiology.org by James Winans and Carey Nadell journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Biofilm spatial structure and superinfection immunity modulate inter-phage competition

Bacteriophages vary widely in life history strategy, but little is known about how these strategies influence host invasion and inter-phage competition in biofilms. This study explores the abilities o...

journals.plos.org

By all means, if you're deciding, take the time you need. But if you're deciding between two places, and there are three others you've ruled out, let those three know as soon as possible, not once you've picked a school You could make a huge difference to someone else's life

Annual reminder: if you’ve been accepted to multiple graduate programs and are still deciding, please let the ones you’re definitely not going to know as soon as possible! -Someone who got into his PhD off the waitlist the day after the deadline

(bacterial) cell divisionists take note 👇 the schwille lab did it again! now adding FtsN*) to the party, with FtsA, FtsZ and the Min gang already on board... *) cytoplasm.domain thx séamus for pointing this out🙏 #MicroSky

How FtsZ-rings get shov­eled to mid­cell in vitro

Pictures Considered #61 by Christoph — The last thirty years have been an "eye-open­ing" jour­ney for mi­cro­bial cell bio­logists, quite li­ter­al­ly. I am, of course, talk­ing about fluores­cent…

smallthingsconsidered.blog

Séamus Holden 🔬🦠🧫@seamusholden.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Neat paper from Schwille lab. They demonstrate constriction of synthetic vesicles using important components of the bacterial cell division machinery, FtsZ and FtsN. They induce strong constriction of Z-rings in vesicles just by adding the cytoplasmic domain of FtsN www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Happy #InternationalWomensDay to the brilliant women in our Hypothesis Fund community who are taking the intellectual risks to pursue bold ideas, supporting one another, and transforming science together. You inspire us every day. 💫 #IWD2026

#OnThisDay in 1938, American evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis was born. Margulis is most known for developing and popularising the endosymbiotic theory, which explains how eukaryotic cells evolved organelles from simpler prokaryotic organisms that resided within another and became incorporated.

At long last! Check out the link to our publication in @nature.com to learn more. doi.org/10.1038/s415... 12/12

Oxygen metabolism in descendants of the archaeal-eukaryotic ancestor - Nature

Sequencing of marine sediments finds 136 newly identified Heimdallarchaeia and several novel lineages, and indicates that Heimdallarchaeia evolved distinct metabolic capabilities from other Asgar...

doi.org

One of the biggest questions in biology is how complex cells evolved about 2 billion years ago. Here's my new story on how scientists are solving the mystery of eukaryotes like us. Gift link: nyti.ms/4qMbo22

Preprint on the permeability of Gram+ bacterial cell wall from a few months ago. Intriguing findings, elegant methodology. Cell wall is largely impermeable to molecule sizes of mNeonGreen (27kDa) and above. How do larger secreted proteins get through? www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #microsky

a daring approach: looking at LUCA's ancestors, i.e. pre-darwinian evolution. but not surprising it's coming from @kacarlab.bsky.social 👏 glad to see Iwabe et al. (1989) among the references (blew my mind when it came out >30 y ago)

Kaçar Lab at UW-Madison@kacarlab.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What happened before the last universal common ancestor? Pre-LUCA evolution is hard to study. In our new Cell Genomics Perspective we spotlight how paralogous proteins open a window onto the deepest chapters of evolution. 🧬🌍 Out today! --> www.cell.com/cell-genomic... @cellpress.bsky.social

Seema Mattoo on Bordetella pertussis and whooping cough! Matters Microbial, @mattoolab.bsky.social @markowenmartin.bsky.social #MicroSky

Microbetv@microbetv.bsky.social · 6mo ago

New from Matters Microbial— episode 123: What Whooping Cough Can Teach Us Dr. Seema Mattoo joins @markowenmartin.bsky.social to discuss the fascinating molecular genetics of the bacterium Bordetella pertussis, which can cause the human disease whooping cough. 🔗⬇️

@poojag96.bsky.social work on the bioenergetics of spore germination is now published- Pooja had a really nice summary that I've put below but essentially we think the role of bioenergetics in spore germination has been completely overlooked! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Friends, please help spread the word about our microbiology REU program at Montana State University. www.montana.edu/mbi/reu/ Each student receives a stipend ($7000 for 10 wks). Travel compensation, room, and board are also provided. Details in the attached pic--Feb 14 deadline 🧫🧪🦠#microsky

Metabolite toxicity as a driver of bacterial metabolite externalization www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #jcampubs