Tea Tomita
@teagondii.bsky.social
Studying Toxoplasma gondii cyst wall filament network. Weiss Lab. Opinions expressed are solely my brain parasites' and do not represent my own.
USのワクチン接種率の低下は現政権以前から起こっており、特に影響が強かったのがパンデミック。この時期に定期予防接種スケジュールから逸脱してしまって、その後キャッチアップできていない子がかなりいる。ここにDHHS長官の某を頂点とする反ワク似非医療インフルエンサーの隆盛が拍車をかけている。
Narako @narako.bsky.social · 2w ago麻疹急性期の致死率（肺炎、脳症など）は医療アクセスに影響される部分が大きいですが、だいたい1000人に1人くらいと考えられています。SSPEのリスクは麻疹罹患後、10000人に1人くらいですが、長期的にはほぼ確実に致命的になります。
If you want an example of why having political appointees deeply involved in grantmaking... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...
Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)
Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.
nytimes.com
You can thank Trump, RFK jr and DOGE for the cyclospora outbreak hitting the country.
Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · 4w agoCDC stopped monitoring parasite now causing explosive diarrhea across the country
Second Brain with Obsidian CodexCLI requires a lot of first brain computation.
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
Dr. Fauci came to Stanford for Medicine grand rounds and shared a few reflections I thought were worth passing on: The first was about Operation Warp Speed and the current state of the NIH. As you’ll recall the first mRNA vax was developed at record speed. Fauci atttributes that success to 4 factors
One day, we will be judged not by how we as scientists responded to all this. Some groups and individuals will serve as examples of take bold and brave actions. Others are a disgrace. For example HHMI (and please correct me if I'm wrong)
Resistbot@resist.bot · 3mo agoHouse appropriators just voted to cut NSF by 20% and NASA’s science budget from $7.2B to $6B. They rejected Trump’s most extreme asks—a 55% NSF gut, a 47% NASA science gut—but the bill still dismantles research Congress already funded.
Our ExM Atlas of eukaryotes is moving along with more and more images coming in - some featured in nature last month! Culture we’re provided by @ccapoban.bsky.social & Julius Lukeš during visits last year www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
See the intricate worlds of parasites and algae — March’s best science images
The month’s sharpest science shots, selected by Nature’s photo team.
nature.com
Thank you to Prof Mike Barrett & @christina-naula.bsky.social & anyone else involved in organising our post-#BSP2026 field trip to see William Leishman's former home in Blairmore! We learned so much & got lucky again with the sunshine! www.blairmorehall.com <- Village Hall link to support them!
Out Now! Specialized RNA decay fine-tunes monogenic antigen expression in Trypanosoma brucei #MicroSky
Specialized RNA decay fine-tunes monogenic antigen expression in Trypanosoma brucei
Nature Microbiology, Published online: 30 March 2026; doi:10.1038/s41564-026-02289-4To evade the immune system, Trypanosoma brucei relies on a specialized ‘expression site body’. Protein condensates within this nuclear compartment modulate expression of virulence genes via a targeted RNA decay mechanism.
go.nature.com
(1/7) How does T. brucei achieve a 140-fold stoichiometric excess of VSG mRNA over upstream ESAGs from a single polycistronic unit? Our latest research in @natmicrobiol.nature.com reveals a mechanism of spatially regulated RNA decay to fine-tune expression of virulence genes
Excited to share our new preprint exploring how Paramecium achieves diverse flow functions, i.e. feeding and swimming, simultaneously. This work was spearheaded by our ExM expert, PhD student Daphne Laan @daphnelaan.bsky.social : www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New PNAS study identifies ESBX, a protein controlling which surface coat gene is active in sleeping sickness parasites - key to immune evasion. @tiengwe-tryplab.bsky.social @zephyris-science.bsky.social @fariatrypslab.bsky.social www.imperial.ac.uk/news/article...
Scientists reveal how sleeping sickness parasites control their surface coat
Researchers have revealed how parasites hide thousands of antigens behind a single-colour coat and how disrupting this control could make the parasit...
imperial.ac.uk
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Please check out the first Preprint from the Sangaré Lab.
Toxoplasma gondii TgMIF mediates the transmigration of extracellular parasites across the human placental barrier
The placenta is a critical biological barrier responsible for the healthy development of the fetus throughout pregnancy. However, the eukaryotic intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii ( T. gondii ) ...
biorxiv.org
Grant writing is academia's least liked activity; most applications fail and time feels wasted. LLMs are therefore a huge draw, but if this means the number of applications increases 10-fold...
Bart Penders@penders.bsky.social · 5mo agoLLM-adopters have adjusted their expectations of how quickly one can write a grant, thereby expecting their teams to write and submit more grants per year, as compared to those who are more LLM-critical. Again, those positions are not visible from the outside, but the # of submitted grants is. 4/
An ER-Inner Membrane Complex Bridge via VAP-VPS13A-DAT1 Drives Daughter Budding in Toxoplasma gondii https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.01.02.697355v1
Incredibly proud to share that our work on Cryptosporidium Oocyst Wall Proteins is published in @PLOSPathogens journals.plos.org/plospathogen... Led by previous PhD student @BacchettiRoss and carried on by current PhD student, Sarah Stevens.
Cryptosporidium oocyst wall proteins are true components of the oocyst wall and COWP8 is not required for parasite transmission
Author summary Infection with Cryptosporidium causes diarrhoea, which can be fatal for malnourished children or people who are immunocompromised. There is no vaccine or effective medicines available t...
journals.plos.org
Congratulations to Fred Ramsdell, Mary Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguchi - the 2025 Winners of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. #Treg_cells #Foxp3 #Immune_regulation
⚠️ Half of commercial antibodies miss their target! So how do you pick the right one for your experiment? Here’s the solution 👉 Antibody characterization data (all tested in KO cells) are now available at: 🔗 onlygoodantibodies.co.uk Tested by @ycharos.bsky.social & @oga-community.bsky.social
OGA - Only Good Antibodies Community
onlygoodantibodies.co.uk
Our user comments campaign may be over, but your user comments are welcome and valuable EVERYDAY! Crowdsourced user knowledge fuels discovery and helps keep gene data accurate, accessible, and impactful. Visit any gene page on @veupathdb.org or component sites to add a comment!
I was interviewed by Josh Learn for DISCOVER magazine to discuss the fascinating (and surprisingly common) parasite Toxoplasma gondii This Cat Parasite Can Infect Humans, and You Can Get It From Litter Boxes or Unwashed Veggies www.discovermagazine.com/this-cat-par...
This Cat Parasite Can Infect Humans, and You Can Get It From Litter Boxes or Unwashed Veggies
A cat parasite in humans? Discover more about a cat parasite called toxoplasmosis and its complex life cycle that can infect nearly every warm-blooded animal on the planet.
discovermagazine.com
Honoured & grateful to have received an MPM Travel Grant and have the opportunity to present my PhD research at my first MPM 🇺🇸 Amazing science, inspiring discussions & a fantastic community of parasitologists – what a milestone in my journey. @parasitesrule.org #MPM2025 #Parasitology
[We are Hiring!] The Weiss Lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY) is hiring a Postdoc Scientist to explore the Toxoplasma gondii cyst wall using XL-MS, Split TurboID, & U-ExM. This project aims to unlock new strategies for treating toxoplasmosis. DM for more info!
[We are Hiring!] The Weiss Lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (NY) is hiring a Postdoc Scientist to explore the Toxoplasma gondii cyst wall using XL-MS, Split TurboID, & U-ExM. This project aims to unlock new strategies for treating toxoplasmosis. DM for more info!
🧬 Scientists led by Prof. Petr Volf at the Department of Parasitology discovered key proteins behind Leishmania transmission, a step toward reducing this disease affecting hundreds of thousands globally 🌍💡 More here: 1url.cz/3Jjac
Midgut and stomodeal valve attachment of Leishmania in sand flies
Leishmania development in sand flies involves critical attachment steps to the midgut epithelium and the stomodeal valve, mediated by parasite- and vector-derived molecules. Initial midgut attachment ...
1url.cz
