Peter Bradley
@peterbradleyucla.bsky.social
Professor at UCLA studying the opportunistic pathogen Toxoplasma gondii https://bradleylab.dgsom.ucla.edu
We knew Toxoplasma Type I needs fats to survive in culture. Now we show this in Toxoplasma Type II, responsible for most human infections in Europe and North America. Blocking fatty acid elongation reduced growth and persistence in lab culture and in animals. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Congratulations to the 2026 ASCB Fellows! ASCB is proud to recognize 15 scientists whose careers have advanced cell biology through outstanding research, leadership, mentorship & service. Meet the 2026 Fellows: https://www.ascb.org/society-news/fifteen-visionary-scientists-named-2026-ascb-fellows/
Super proud of Juliette Uy (julietteuy.bsky.social) for her outstanding work on the Toxoplasma inner membrane complex!!! She is headed off to Johns Hopkins for her MD/PhD and is a rising star! Also cheers to Qing Lou for her terrific EM work for this paper! journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Toxoplasma IMC1 is a central component of the subpellicular network and plays critical roles in parasite morphology, replication, and infectivity
Author summary Parasites in the phylum Apicomplexa maintain their intracellular lifestyle using specialized organelles that mediate the lytic cycle of host cell invasion, intracellular replication, an...
journals.plos.org
Every year I neglect this epiphyllum on my front porch and am always shocked at how big and beautiful its flowers are
Excited to be elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, class of 2026. I look forward to working alongside my fellow colleagues to advance microbial science for the benefit of society. asm.org/press-releas... #AcademyFellow #Microbiology
63 Fellows Elected to the American Academy of Microbiology
The American Academy of Microbiology elected 63 new fellows to the Class of 2026.
asm.org
20 yrs ago UCLA mycology prof Dexter Howard gave me his old lab freezer. Crazy that its still used every day, holding ~$50k in enzymes. Sears stopped making the Coldspot in 1976. Dexter’s passed away, but they they simply don’t make them like they used to - freezers or profs….. cheers Dexter!!!
Interesting piece from Nature of people who have shaped science in 2025. www.nature.com/immersive/d4... But the Five "Ones to Watch in 2026" has some important folks as well. Most notably, from my perspective is: 1/2
Nature’s 10: Ten people who shaped science in 2025
A fired public-health official, a mosquito breeder and a baby with a smile seen around the world. These are just a few of the remarkable people chosen for Nature’s 10.
nature.com
Huge News Coartem® Baby—1st malaria drug approved for newborns <5 kg It's a cherry-flavored mix of artemether (rapid parasite clearance) & lumefantrine (long-acting, prevents recrudescence)—dissolves in breast milk and optimized PK/PD for infant metabolism Not-for-profit launch planned in Africa
First malaria medicine for newborn babies and young infants
Coartem® (artemether-lumefantrine) Baby has become the first malaria treatment approved for newborn babies and young infants.
mmv.org
Check out the gorgeous green eyes on this Shortfin Lionfish (Dendrochirus brachypterus)
Nice work from my former graduate student Amara (now postdoc at Stanford) on a new effector protein in Toxoplasma www.molbiolcell.org/doi/epdf/10....
Proteolytic processing and host nuclear targeting of the novel effector GRA84 in Toxoplasma gondii
molbiolcell.org
Make open access to tools and data part of your annual giving by making a tax deductible donation to @veupathdb.org. 💙This resource simplifies and supercharges global infectious disease research. Need more reasons to support VEuPathDB? Here's a short list: veupathdb.org/veupathdb/ap...
"In California, solar generation could finally surpass gas this year." Actually, the probability that solar surpasses gas in 2025 is high! Gas fell from 50% of CA's electricity in January 2024 to 40% in January 2025, and solar rose from 20% to 28%. www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol... #energysky
Prediction: Today (4/9/25) registered the greatest ill gotten gains from insider trading in history.
Great turn out for Stand up for Science rally in Westwood yesterday
Nice turnout and great weather at the Stand Up For Science rally in Los Angeles by UCLA
Protest at Space X in Hawthorne CA today. Seemed like 2-3k people showed up to me
Lots of crappy news out there recently - but at least my worms are happy....
Amazing! ‘Twinkling Toxoplasma’ Tree (image by Kseniia Bondarenko) wins 2024 Festive Science Image Competition.
'For scientists the network is starting to look like home. Academic institutions, scientific journals and conferences, and international organizations such as the World Health Organization have established a presence there in recent days.' www.science.org/content/arti...
Like ‘old Twitter’: The scientific community finds a new home on Bluesky
After recent changes to Elon Musk’s X, a gradual migration turns into a stampede
science.org
Research funded by NIH generated $2.46 in economic activity for every $1 of funding in 2023 [a total of $92.9 billion] www.fiercebiotech.com/research/rep...
Report: Every dollar of NIH research funding doubles in economic returns
Research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) generated $2.46 in economic activity for every $1 of funding in 2023, a total of $92.9 billion, according to an
fiercebiotech.com
Congratulations to @petersmback.bsky.social on fantastic work on the Toxoplasma alveolin network and its interactions via UAA photocrosslinking. A really detailed study with great help from the Ward and Zhou labs! journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Alveolin proteins in the Toxoplasma inner membrane complex form a highly interconnected structure that maintains parasite shape and replication
Picomplexan parasites require specialized structures like the inner membrane complex to invade host cells and replicate. This study shows that the alveolin protein IMC6 is crucial for maintaining cell...
journals.plos.org
Nice work out from my PhD student Rebecca on daughter cell assembly in Toxoplasma gondii journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
BCC0 collaborates with IMC32 and IMC43 to form the Toxoplasma gondii essential daughter bud assembly complex
Author summary Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes severe and even fatal disease in congenitally infected neonates and the immunocompromised. The parasite replicates us...
journals.plos.org
Terrific work from my student Justin Quan (justinquan.bsky.social) on the TBC domain proteins in Toxoplasma gondii. journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Systematic characterization of all Toxoplasma gondii TBC domain-containing proteins identifies an essential regulator of Rab2 in the secretory pathway
Toxoplasma gondii regulates vesicle trafficking by secreting Rab GTPases from specialised organelles. This study characterizes all Tre2-Bub2-Cdc16 (TBC) domain-containing proteins in T. gondii, identi...
journals.plos.org
Excellent work from my PhD student Rebecca was highlighted in The Scientist www.the-scientist.com/news/punctua...
Cat parasite <i>Toxoplasma</i> tricked to grow in a dish
Cat parasite Toxoplasma tricked to grow in a dish
Cat-only life-cycle stage cultured in vitro, and the mysterious giant proteins that might turn bacteria into killers.
nature.com
Congrats to my PhD student Rebecca for very nice work on the essential daughter bud assembly protein IMC43 in T. gondii. journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
Identification of IMC43, a novel IMC protein that collaborates with IMC32 to form an essential daugh...
Author summary Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that causes disease in immunocompromised individuals and congenitally infected neonates. Toxoplasma replicates using a unique pro...
journals.plos.org
