This resonated. Figured I'd share.

Thrilled to announce that the Department of Microbiology at the University of Washington, School of Medicine is hiring at the Assistant Professor level (tenure-track)! The Pacific Northwest is an awesome place to live and do science 🧪🦠. Join us! apply.interfolio.com/185622 Applications due 8/1.

Congratulations to my colleague Karsten Zengler and coauthors on this exciting study, "Predicting competition and substrate preferences for targeted microbiome alteration". Our amazing co-mentored graduate student, Grant Norton, played a major role in the work. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Predicting competition and substrate preferences for targeted microbiome alteration

Microbiome science has greatly expanded our understanding of microbial life and its roles in the environment and human health. Yet microbiome science …

sciencedirect.com

Congratulations to Çagla Tükel @caglatukel.bsky.social for her election to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology! asm.social/2OC

“Success in US science has come from sustained funding and welcoming the best talent from around the world, yet both of these advantages are in decline” www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

China turns the tables in biotech

For at least a century, major scientific research initiatives have reliably occurred in the United States, usually in response to geopolitical competition. This helped establish the country’s status a...

science.org

These are challenging times - But I would like to take a moment and say a big THANK YOU to my amazing support group of friends and colleagues, who are always there via email, Zoom, phone calls, in person meetings - and are no doubt the best part of being an academic scientist.

Friday we lost a brilliant mind, colleague, and friend to her battle with pancreatic cancer. Those who knew her will remember Helene Andrews-Polymenis for her warmth, generosity and leadership. She will be missed by many. RIP

Early Career Faculty Opportunity! @ucsdhealthsci.bsky.social Health Sciences Summer Institutes in Infectious Diseases - opportunity to work with mentors on enhancing research development and grant writing skills!

UCSD Health Sciences Office of Faculty Affairs@ucsdfacaffairs.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Applications for UC San Diego RAPID program's 2026-27 cohort are now open! This highly-rated and effective career development opportunity is for junior faculty researchers in #InfectiousDiseases. Learn more and apply today at rapid.ucsd.edu! #UCSD_RAPID #FacultyDevelopment

Finally, someone has solved a real problem with AI! No more having to take a paper in the format for a journal that rejected you, and reformat it for a new journal. Well done!! formatmypaper.com

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT📣: I haven’t been this excited to be part of something new in 15 years… Thrilled to reveal the passion project I’ve been working on for the past year and a half!🙀🥳 (thread 👇)

Dear #microbiology and #immunology community- I took a break from social media after I deleted my Twitter account, but am back here. Please help me rebuild my community by following me and amplifying this message- I will follow you back. Thank you and I look forward to our many interactions!

Excited to share our new publication, out today in Nature! www.nature.com/articles/s41.... @kanchanj.bsky.social led this fascinating fungal-bacterial interaction project. We are grateful for our wonderful collaborators Brian Peters and David Underhill.

Commensal yeast promotes Salmonella Typhimurium virulence - Nature

Commensal Candida albicans enhances the virulence and dissemination of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium.

nature.com

Airport reunion 🥳 Loved catching up with my postdoctoral mentor @manuelar.bsky.social at the airport during her layover in Munich ☀️❣️

This is so cool, congrats @lozanzi.bsky.social and team! Important implications for infection and IBD

Immunity@cp-immunity.bsky.social · last yr.

Online now: Epigenetic silencing of interleukin-10 by host-derived oxidized phospholipids supports a lethal inflammatory response to infections

We have decided to ban the use of GenAI for research, writing & creative work at our organization. In fact, we make people sign an agreement saying that their research, analysis, writing, and creative work are *theirs* and not done by GenAI.

Happy that our manuscript showing that PgtE protease enables Salmonella to evade C3-mediated serum and neutrophil killing is published in mBio journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/... - check out the companion paper from @rtsolis.bsky.social and team, focused on PgtE in the African Salmonella strain ST313

PgtE protease enables virulent Salmonella to evade C3-mediated serum and neutrophil killing | mBio

Non-typhoidal Salmonella serovars primarily cause gastrointestinal infections but can also lead to bacteremia through mechanisms that are not completely elucidated. Here we show that the outer membran...

journals.asm.org

It was so nice to teach about Immunity to Bacterial Pathogens for the @aai.org Intro Course. I love to be part of this great training opportunity that AAI provides.

The American Association of Immunologists@aai.org · last yr.

Dr. Manuela Raffatellu @manuelar.bsky.social concluded Part 1 of the Intro Course yesterday with an insightful lecture on the intricate interplay between bacterial pathogens and the host immune system! #AAICourses #ScienceEducation #Immunology

The new open access policy of NIH will take effect next week (July 1st). All NIH funded research 🔬🧪🧬accepted after July 1st must be open access upon publication. Worried about fees? 💸 Check out how IAI stacks up against other journals—you might be surprised. #OpenAccess #SciComm #Microbiology

What do I love the most about UCSD? My amazing colleagues. Congratulations @chulab.bsky.social and @alistairrussell.bsky.social on your promotion and to Kees Murre for being elected to the NAS!

So important! Please contact your Republican senators, especially Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), and Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). 🙏 amplify!

Ferric Fang, MD@fangferric.bsky.social · last yr.

As Robert Kuttner writes, the NIH will need support from Republican Senators to avoid draconian cuts to its FY2026 budget. prospect.org/politics/202...

Former and current member of the Raffatellu lab were well represented at #ASMicrobe in LA - it was great seeing everyone!

Check out the preview written by @romanagerner1.bsky.social on the excellent study from @mucosalimmunology.bsky.social about exploiting bacterial competition for rational design of mucosal vaccines

Romana Gerner@romanagerner1.bsky.social · last yr.

Honored to write a preview on Emma Slack’s latest work in Science: ‘Vaccine-enhanced competition permits rational bacterial strain replacement in the gut.’ A novel strategy to selectively replace microbial strains in the gut. Truly elegant science! authors.elsevier.com/a/1lFMi6t8JE...

Another amazing manuscript and resource led by @pieterdorrestein.bsky.social and team! So happy to be part of it, and to start using these new class of metabolites in the context of infection. Stay tuned!

Pieter Dorrestein@pieterdorrestein.bsky.social · last yr.

If you have ever wondered what might happen to short chain fatty acids made by the microbiome. Here is a large class of metabolites and how they link to biology. www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Science has more than doubled our life expectancy, revolutionized our quality of life, and powered unprecedented technological advancement. But can we afford to take scientific progress for granted? What happens when science funding is slashed, diversity is suppressed, and pseudoscience takes hold?

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/w...

World Scientists Look Elsewhere as U.S. Labs Stagger Under Trump Cuts

nytimes.com

Today, the ERC formally adopted a decision to increase its support for researchers moving to Europe. On top of its normal grants, the ERC offers 'start-up' funding to help PIs establish laboratories / research teams in Europe. This extra funding is now x2 (up to €2 million!) europa.eu/!6Vdgmp

Excitement plus!! The full program is online for the upcoming GRC Salmonella Biology and Pathogenesis meeting. There is still some room in the schedule for short talks, which will be chosen from submitted abstracts. Submit your abstract, if you haven't done so already. www.grc.org/salmonella-b...

kermit the frog from the muppet show is standing in front of a red curtain .

ALT: kermit the frog from the muppet show is standing in front of a red curtain .

media.tenor.com

Great opinion article in the @nytimes.com today: www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...

Opinion | The Uncertain Fate of the Young American Scientist (Gift Article)

Young researchers are choosing between staying in science and staying in the United States.

nytimes.com

Thrilled to share our @elife.bsky.social paper "Inflammasomes primarily restrict cytosolic Salmonella replication within human macrophages" by 1st author Dr. @marisaegan.bsky.social (@cambupenn.bsky.social alum, now faculty @swarthmorecollege.bsky.social)! elifesciences.org/articles/90107 🧵(1/n)

I have been teaching classes on the gut #microbiome for almost 20 years and always struggled to have a good book to recommend. Finally there is one. Fergus Shanahan's "Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome" provides expert insight, is brilliant, and it is free. doi.org/10.1159/isbn...

Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome

‘Fast Facts: The Gut Microbiome’, though pithy and concise, is amazingly comprehensive and takes the reader through all major aspects of the human gut micr

doi.org