Interested in working with the JGI and never led a proposal with us? Now is your chance! We are accepting submissions to our New Investigator call for first-time PIs. Deadline to submit is Sept. 9. jointgeno.me/CSPnewPI @berkeleylab.lbl.gov @biosci.lbl.gov

CSP New Investigator Call | Joint Genome Institute

The CSP New Investigator Call is for investigators and research initiatives new to the JGI. Projects must be independent of ongoing JGI proposals, and lead PIs cannot have been lead PI on any previous...

jointgeno.me

This is so true!

Paul Rainey@paulbrainey.bsky.social · 2d ago

I'm not allowed to boil a kettle in my office; the electricity is public money. This rule can be justified in a sentence. Most of what lands on my desk has never had to be. New post on unnecessary bureaucracy. academicrenewal.substack.com/p/the-one-wa...

🔬🧬 PhD defense: Expanding Human Gut Microbiome Diversity Beyond Western Populations: Methanogens and Helminths - Mirabeau Mbong Ngwese Congratulations, Mirabeau! @microbiome.bsky.social

Lipids build the membranes of all cells, but identifying their precise functions is extremely challenging. Here’s our attempt to change that: How to find and understand lipid-protein interactions, by Katelyn Cook & company. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

A minimal lipid kinase/phosphatase system, two effector proteins from Legionella pneumophila, self-organizes together with its lipid substrates (PI/PI3P) into dynamic patterns on membranes. Check out our preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I'm happy to share the first pre-print of out Lab! 🎉 Introducing ArchaeaHQ www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... We curated 21,644 genomes across all 4 archaeal kingdoms to bridge the gap in public datasets for computational biology What is inside ArchaeaHQ... (1/2)

Few statisticians know that Frank Yates, pioneer of experimental design, is responsible for the annoying practice of indicating 3 tiers of statistical significance by stars (*p ≤ 0.05, **p ≤0.01, ***p ≤ 0.001). He soon regretted it and “vehemently opposed its unthinking use”. And here we are.

Very proud of @anya-bogdanova.bsky.social ‘s work here with @atyakht.bsky.social - there are thousands of different bacterial flagellins out there and her tool helps make sense of them and predict how they interact with the innate immune receptor TLR5🦠🧫🧪

Anna Bogdanova@anya-bogdanova.bsky.social · 3w ago

So, here it is 🙂

Sort your flagellins into silent and stimulatory with this cool tool!! 🧫🦠

Alexander Tyakht@atyakht.bsky.social · 3w ago

Our paper on FlaPro tool for quantifying flagellin diversity in the human gut microbiome is out now! bit.ly/4wLPxuH @anya-bogdanova.bsky.social @microbiome.bsky.social

Congratulations to our Emeritus Director Thomas Boehm on receiving his third ERC Advanced Grant @erc.europa.eu for his ImmunoPlast project to explore the extraordinary immune systems of deep-sea anglerfishes. Read the full article: www.bio.mpg.de/527824/thoma...

Out Now! A phage takes the wheel #MicroSky

A phage takes the wheel

Nature Microbiology, Published online: 19 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02405-4Prophage FRφ rewires the flagellar apparatus of its Enterobacter sp. host through RNA-guided repression of native flagellin, favouring its own phage-encoded isoform. This enhances host motility and reduces immune recognition, boosting bacterial fitness in mice.

go.nature.com

It has become increasingly obvious in recent years that bactrial viruses in particular often confer serious advantages on their hosts - and are less parasites than symbiotes.

Nature Microbiology@natmicrobiol.nature.com · 2mo ago

Out Now! A phage takes the wheel #MicroSky

When utilized in literature review, LLMs consistently 1. fail to mention female authors in female-led literatures, 2. insist that men are more influential or more heavily cited when this is contradicted by objective citation counts, and 3. attribute women’s work to hallucinated male scholars.

The future of the @maxplanck.de is in good hands

MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has elected Susana Coelho as a new member. Many congratulations! www.bio.mpg.de/523647/susan...

We are proud to share that Ruth Ley @microbiome.bsky.social , Director of the Department of Microbiome Science, has been elected Fellow of The Royal Society @royalsociety.org . Congratulations!!!

Ruth Ley elected Fellow of the Royal Society

bio.mpg.de

Sean Eddy??!!! Speechless.

Zamin Iqbal@zaminiqbal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

This is awful to hear, describing how Sean Eddy (HMMER, infernal, pfam, rfam) has been defunded. The letter said his work "had been determined to be of absolutely no value to the US taxpayer, and therefore it was being specifically terminated," www.npr.org/2026/05/21/n...

"Please provide a justification for the foreign collaboration." Science.

Roland Dunbrack 🏳️‍🌈@rolanddunbrack.bsky.social · 2mo ago

My PO said I had to fill out this form for 3 of my papers for the RPPR of my NIGMS MIRA grant in February, or I could not include them in my progress report. It looks like things have gotten even worse since then.

@kelseyhuus.bsky.social is also the recipient of a Max Planck partner group, which will give her some additional funds for 5 years! Go Kelsey go!! @maxplanck.de

MPI for Biology Tübingen & Friedrich Miescher Laboratory@mpi-bio-fml.bsky.social · 3mo ago

After more than five years at our institute, postdoctoral researcher Kelsey Huus is beginning an exciting new chapter as Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa. Congratulations Kelsey! Read more about Kelsey's journey here: tinyurl.com/4wrktyky

Come and work with us in a beautiful corner of Germany: 5 years of funding for your microbiology research and lots of great colleagues 🦠🧫

Andreas Peschel @andreaspeschel.bsky.social · 3mo ago

You are an ambitious young scientist, on the verge to independence, in a research field related to our Cluster of Excellence @cmfi.bsky.social “Controlling Microbes to Fight Infections”? Join our vibrant, interactive scientific community in Tubingen. Repost and apply! www.nature.com/naturecareer...

It is apparently a hoax en.mediamass.net/people/craig...

It is with great sadness that we announce J. Craig Venter has died. 🧪🧬 www.jcvi.org/media-center...

J. Craig Venter, genomics pioneer and founder of JCVI and Diploid Genomics, Inc., dies at 79

La Jolla, California—April 29, 2026—The J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced that J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., the Institute’s founder, board...

jcvi.org

"Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are." It turns out, microbes follow the same rule! Very proud to share our lab's new paper in @natmicrobiol.nature.com showing that bacteria don't just respond to their environment, they respond to each other. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Community context reshapes microbial proteomes and reduces functional overlap - Nature Microbiology

Biotic interactions modulate protein abundance, reducing functional redundancy and increasing productivity in complex bacterial communities.

nature.com

Interested in a *staff computational scientist* position? We are looking for an experienced computational biologist (ideally with microbiology experience) to support published packages while also driving new research. Pay range $73k-$111k w excellent benefits. careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...

Computational Biology Program Scientist

MIT - Computational Biology Program Scientist - Cambridge MA 02139

careers.peopleclick.com

Hey Reviewer 2: I hope you are OK. If you are OK and you liked our microbiome-fever paper revisions at all, any chance you can send a quick note to the editor? 🦠🧫

Ya know a while back a senior microbiologist I was talking with was saying how we absolutely have got to stop saying gut flora because people are gonna think it’s plants and I was like “ha yeah” while thinking “nah come on people know starfish aren’t fish” and ope! he was right.

Michael Marshall@mrmmarsh.bsky.social · 4mo ago

There are two particularly remarkable things in this episode. 1) RFK Jr says that the stomach is microbiome is made up of plants. He specifically says "Your stomach microbiome is plants". It is not. I think he has been confused by the term "gut flora". He is the head of Health and Human Services.

Here we show that buildup of uremic toxins during CKD generates nitrate in the colon. Nitrate supports expansion of Enterobacteriaceae, turning them into a major source of uremic toxins. Inhibiting nitrate production (iNOS inhibition) mitigates disease progression. www.science.org/eprint/YGNMK...

Announcing StrainVis! 🦠🧫🧪 www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... This nifty web-based tool allows you to visualize your strain level analyses. You can combine ANI and synteny based analyses and it will make all kinds of cool publication ready plots for you - examples follow. By Hagay Enav and Inbal Paz:

This is a great post doc opportunity- fantastic system, first-rate science, awesome PI

John Innes Centre@johninnescentre.bsky.social · 5mo ago

VACANCY - We’re searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the newly appointed group of Dr @hassansalem.bsky.social, to explore the developmental biology of host-microbe symbiosis www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po... Deadline - 25 March 2026 Salary - £37,500 - £45,350 Contract - 3 years, full-time

Join @berasymbionts.bsky.social , @tatsuyanobori.bsky.social and us for a postdoc on the remarkable developmental biology of symbiosis! Applications are due March 25th 🪲🦠 @johninnescentre.bsky.social @thesainsburylab.bsky.social

John Innes Centre@johninnescentre.bsky.social · 5mo ago

VACANCY - We’re searching for a Postdoctoral Researcher to join the newly appointed group of Dr @hassansalem.bsky.social, to explore the developmental biology of host-microbe symbiosis www.jic.ac.uk/vacancies/po... Deadline - 25 March 2026 Salary - £37,500 - £45,350 Contract - 3 years, full-time