very excited about our new article: Can evolution keep up with the Anthropocene? .. or better: how can evolution keep up? we propose a predictive framework to begin to understand what is required to rebuild biodiversity! @uni-konstanz.de

The EMBO Journal@embojournal.org · 2w ago

Redefining ecological opportunity for evolution in the Anthropocene: Lutz Becks, @reefgenomics.bsky.social and colleagues comment on the concept of timescale mismatch between the rates of environmental changes and evolutionary processes link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Optimism is when teachers on the frontlines continue to bring the hard work of authentic research discoveries into their classroom for learning, growth, and publication. Bob thrives on it. He took @wolbachiaproj.bsky.social and gave it back to the classroom over and over. Hats off. A must follow.

Bob Kuhn@kuhnbobio.bsky.social · 3w ago

Pillbugs are fascinating. Especially those populations under the influence of sex-ratio distorters. Here is a look at our recently published paper in @springernature.com Genetica. rdcu.be/fv2ny

Hiding in plain sight: Animals eat the natural bioplastic PHA We discovered that many animals can break down PHA. And many of these enzymes had been sitting unnoticed in genome databases. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Animal degradation of microbial storage polyhydroxyalkanoates - Nature Ecology & Evolution

This study shows that the degradation of microbial storage polyhydroxyalkanoates is not just restricted to microorganisms by finding that some animals also have the enzymes required to break down thes...

nature.com

Mom does know best; her gut microbial community plays a central role in establishing the infant microbiome. This paper is a fresh look at uniparental transmission of gut microbes.

Trishla Sinha@trishlasinha.bsky.social · 4d ago

1/12 After years of work, we are incredibly excited to share our study, published yesterday in @nature.com : “Maternal influences on gut microbiome and health” 🎉🦠 www.nature.com/articles/s41... A thread on what we found 🧵👇

Evolving Through Ecology by Mechas — Ecological perspective crosses fields.

Evolving Through Ecology

by Mechas — Ecological perspective crosses fields.

smallthingsconsidered.blog

Huge faculty recruitment effort at the University of Chicago -- a division-wide, open-rank search looking to hire about 20 faculty across 5 research areas in biology. Come be our colleague! Full announcement: uchicago.app.box.com/s/ckih9zv3rj...

Wow. This looks like a terrifically good read.

Paul Rainey@paulbrainey.bsky.social · last wk.

Ever wondered how new evolutionary individuals arise? Wanted to engineer communities so the parts integrate to form a new whole? Or impose conditions that cause simple chemistries to become Darwinian? New MS shows how. Psst… don’t tell AI www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Biocontrol of plant diseases from a holobiont perspective: microbiome-mediated mechanisms and applications link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Biocontrol of plant diseases from a holobiont perspective: microbiome-mediated mechanisms and applications - Australasian Plant Pathology

Plant disease resistance is increasingly recognized as an emergent property of the plant holobiont, shaped not only by host genotype and pathogen virulence but also by the composition and function of ...

link.springer.com

Biocontrol of plant diseases from a holobiont perspective: microbiome-mediated mechanisms and applications link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Biocontrol of plant diseases from a holobiont perspective: microbiome-mediated mechanisms and applications - Australasian Plant Pathology

Plant disease resistance is increasingly recognized as an emergent property of the plant holobiont, shaped not only by host genotype and pathogen virulence but also by the composition and function of ...

link.springer.com

Microbial chitinases in the plant holobiont: ecological roles and structural determinants academic.oup.com/femsre/artic...

Microbial chitinases in the plant holobiont: ecological roles and structural determinants

Microbial chitinases act as versatile effector proteins in the plant holobiont, shaping microbiota composition, fungal competition, and plant immune evasio

academic.oup.com

When we view us not as an isolated ego, but as a vast, interconnected holobiont—human cells and trillions of symbiotic microbes—we begin to see that cancer is not always a singular cellular silo @cancerresearchuk.org @holobiontbiology.bsky.social news.cancerresearchuk.org/2026/07/15/w...

When relationships turn sour – cancer and the holobiont - Cancer Research UK - Cancer News

Only by understanding the complex interplay of ageing, physiology and the microbiome will we understand colorectal cancer risk says Filipe Cabreiro

news.cancerresearchuk.org

Our paper out in Science today: The Metis defense system senses molecular byproducts released when a phage degrades the bacterial genome, and then prevents replication of the phage in the infected cell Congratulations @ostermanilya.bsky.social and co-authors!

Bacteria sense virus-induced genome degradation via methylated mononucleotides

Phages often degrade the genome of their bacterial host to individual nucleotides. Here we describe Metis, a bacterial defense system that directly senses phage-mediated host genome degradation. Metis...

science.org

Osterman Ilya@ostermanilya.bsky.social · last mo.

Excited to share that our Metis story is now published in Science! 🎉 Bacteria can sense phage-induced degradation of their genome and activate immunity. Many thanks to everyone who contributed to this work. 📄 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... More details in my earlier thread 🧵⬇️

A message for every biologist, especially those not studying microbes. We must advance frameworks that are built on the true foundation that microorganisms are part of every cellular assemblage. Holobiont biology indisputably adds that lexicon and fundamental dimension to the visible world.

Our work on the symbiont-containing organelle that supports coral reefs is published today. Also, new genetic tools to study symbiosis in both corals and Aiptasia. Great work by Shumpei Maruyama, Cat Henderson, and the rest of the fantastic team. #SymbioSky www.cell.com/cell/abstrac...

Co-option of lysosomal machinery shapes the evolution of the intracellular photosymbiosis supporting coral reefs

Corals harbor intracellular algal symbionts in specialized organelles that enable them to build diverse reef ecosystems. Corals and other cnidarians have repeatedly evolved this symbiosis through the ...

cell.com

Well said in a beautiful paper: "microbes are embedded within & frequently mediate the interactions generating ecological networks. For instance, through holobiont relationships, microorganisms span across multiple species, & connect biological systems." onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Rethinking One Health: Microbial Foundations for Ecological Governance

One Health (OH) frameworks often approach health through bounded events and discrete risks. Ecological microbial foundations reposition microorganisms as constitutive elements of OH. Microbial metric....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

📢 We're hiring! The Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology at Montana State University is hiring an Assistant Professor of Microbiology. We welcome applicants working in microbial pathogenesis, immunology, genetics, microbial evolution, and related areas. Apply: jobs.montana.edu/postings/52009

🔬🦠“Understanding adaptive evolution through the lens of hologenomics” #SMBE2026 L04 chaired by @memartino.bsky.social and Morten Limborg 🤩 Postdoctoral researchers Søren Blikdal Hansen and Amalia Borgi delivered excellent and interesting talks on their #holobiont research @hologenomics.bsky.social👏

I am a #MicrobialEnthusiast and #MicrobialCentrist. So celebrating World Microbiome Day makes perfect microbial sense. #MicrobiomeAmbassador #MicrobiomeSupport @worldmicrobiomeday.bsky.social @microbetv.bsky.social @asm.org

Consider this. By carbon biomass, bacteria and other microbes outweigh all humans by about 1300:1. Earth is microbial. Humans are microbial. Let's build a better world with microbes. Happy #WorldMicrobiomeDay from @psumbiome.bsky.social Volume on for learning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gw0...

I Am The Microbiome | One Health Microbiome Center

YouTube video by One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State

youtube.com

Consider this. By carbon biomass, bacteria and other microbes outweigh all humans by about 1300:1. Earth is microbial. Humans are microbial. Let's build a better world with microbes. Happy #WorldMicrobiomeDay from @psumbiome.bsky.social Volume on for learning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gw0...

I Am The Microbiome | One Health Microbiome Center

YouTube video by One Health Microbiome Center at Penn State

youtube.com

So excited to announce our search for 4 postdocs (funded by the Simons Foundation) who will use genomics to "test how ecological interactions, natural selection, natural enemies, hybridization & environmental gradients shape...tropical tree communities" in Panama: stri.si.edu/story/bci-ev... ...1

Final spotlight before #WorldMicrobiomeDay, but stay tuned for something special tomorrow!👀 Meet Alex Vompe, a Postdoc in Carolee Bull's & @hockettlab.bsky.social 's labs at PSU. His work shows how microbiomes can bolster host & ecosystem resilience. #OneHealth @worldmicrobiomeday.bsky.social

Latest work from my lab, in which @amycrobes.bsky.social probes the evolutionary consequences of prophages potentiating death at otherwise sublethal antibiotic doses

Amy Zamora@amycrobes.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We're excited to share our work on how prophages influence the evolution of resistance against DNA-damaging antibiotics! This has been a fun project with @sianowen.bsky.social, @baym.lol, @theshreyaspai.bsky.social, @kepatitis-c.bsky.social, & @fernpizza.bsky.social biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 1/

The countdown to World Microbiome Day continues! Meet Sebastián León Fallas, a Research Tech in Seth Bordenstein's Lab (@symbionticism.bsky.social) at PSU. His work explores how gut microbes shape reproduction & evolution in flies. #WorldMicrobiomeDay #OneHealth @worldmicrobiomeday.bsky.social

World Microbiome Day is almost here! As we count down to June 27, we're highlighting trainees advancing microbiome science. Today's feature: Jessica Gaydos, a PhD candidate in Guy Townsend's lab at Penn State College of Medicine. @worldmicrobiomeday.bsky.social | #WorldMicrobiomeDay #OneHealth

Put your road where the others do not travel ☀️

The lab has several new papers out led by fantastic postdocs, with important contributions from other lab members and collaborators. Each paper focuses on different aspects of Wolbachia spread and effects on hosts. The first paper was led by Dylan Shropshire and is now in Genetics.

To all who came together to support nominations to the MICROBIOME MEDAL, thank you. After the committee reviewed the deserving nominations, @psumbiome.bsky.social is thrilled to announce congratulations to @jacquesravel.bsky.social as the 2026 Microbiome Medal Laureate! www.psu.edu/news/researc...

Microbiome pioneer Jacques Ravel named 2026 Microbiome Medal Laureate | Penn State University

The One Health Microbiome Center in the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences at Penn State has selected Jacques Ravel, professor of microbiology and immunology and director of the Center for Advanced Micr...

psu.edu

Rasgon Lab Postdocs are FINALLY formally available. Apply here! psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/PSU_Ac...

Postdoctoral Scholar Researcher

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: CURRENT PENN STATE EMPLOYEE (faculty, staff, technical service, or student), please login to Workday to complete the internal application process. Please do not apply here, a...

psu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com

High in the sky while Happy Valley slips right by in a soft, green line between the mountains ☀️