Kate Lagerstrom

Save the microbes? The world’s smallest species may soon get protections. Researchers are calling for the conservation of teeny tiny organisms that normally get overlooked, and conservationists are listening.

Thanks Annie Roth! Great article on our new IUCN Microbial Conservation Specialist Group in National Geographic. www.nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

Could you be the next President of Applied Microbiology International?

We're recruiting our next President to join our Board of Trustees and lead our organisation into the future.

Find out more & apply: appliedmicrobiology.org/about/our-te...

Deadline: 30 September 2025, 10pm (BST)

🥁 We’re thrilled to announce the beginning of #MVIF Season 5

with #GloMiNe2025 event jointly organized by @microbiotavault.bsky.social and #MVIF

Save the date: 9 & 10/11 September 2025
& register here: cassyni.com/s/mvif-glomi...

Cover Thurs Cover Thu AM

Nice article on the presentation i gave at ADLM last week.

read.nxtbook.com/kiva_communi...

AMI to head world-leading committee dedicated to protecting microbial diversity Applied Microbiology International is to lead a new conservation committee dedicated to the protection of microbial biodiversity. IUCN has approved the creation of the first-ever IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) group dedicated to microbial biodiversity.

Applied Microbiology International is to lead a new conservation committee dedicated to the protection of microbial biodiversity. IUCN has approved the creation of the first-ever Species Survival Commission (SSC) group dedicated to microbial biodiversity. www.the-microbiologist.com/news/ami-to-...

Join us at this meeting to learn more about AMI's key achievements and strategic progress made during 2024. You'll also be invited to:

🟣 Approve the minutes of the 2024 AGM
🟣 Approve changes to our Articles of Association
🟣 Welcome new trustees and thank those retiring from the Board

The microbiota vault initiative: safeguarding Earth’s microbial heritage for future generations - Nature Communications Nature Communications - The microbiota vault initiative: safeguarding Earth’s microbial heritage for future generations

🌍🦠 World Microbiome Day shout-out: we’ve just unveiled the Microbiota Vault—a planetary backup for microbial diversity. Built on equitable, One Health values & linked to the new IUCN SSC Microbiomes. Read our Nature Comms piece: doi.org/10.1038/s414...
#MicrobiotaVault #Conservation #WMD2025

I’m so proud to be a part of AMI.
Congratulations to the whole team!

Base-modified nucleotides mediate immune signaling in bacteria Signaling from pathogen sensing to effector activation is a fundamental principle of cellular immunity. Whereas cyclic (oligo)nucleotides have emerged as key signaling molecules, the existence of othe...

A new type of immune defense discovered in E. coli turns viral machinery against itself. Dubbed "Kongming" after the Chinese military strategist who used enemy's weapons to defeat them, this novel immune signaling pathway could benefit the future of phage therapy: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

A deadly E. coli outbreak hit 15 states, but the FDA chose not to publicize it The outbreak linked to romaine lettuce killed one person and sickened at least 88 more, including a 9-year-old boy who nearly died of kidney failure.

NBC News EXCLUSIVE: A deadly E. coli outbreak hit 15 states, but the FDA chose not to publicize it
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Don't miss today's #MVIF 38: A special event on on #citizenscience & #microbiome!

@patrickveiga.bsky.social @gilbertjacka.bsky.social
@waldispuhl.bsky.social Mathieu Almeida, Claudia Cappello, Daniel McDonald Mikayla Borton & Sarah Ahannach.

There's still time to register👉 cassyni.com/s/mvif-38

Why hasn’t the bird flu pandemic started? Some scientists examining mutations found in H5N1 viruses fear major outbreak is imminent but others says pathogen remains unpredictable

If an #H5N1 pandemic starts tomorrow or in three months, there will be little mystery as to how it happened. The conditions are all there. They have been for a while.
So in some ways the more interesting question to me at the moment is: Why aren’t we in a pandemic yet?
Story here, 🧵 to come:
🧪#IDSky

The sweater is on point, as well 👌🏼

Beauuuutiful poster 🤩🤩🤩 as always 😊

Book cover featuring the face of a leopard

Not only is it authored by a few of my scientific idols, it also has a foreword by Jared Diamond?! I need this book now!

Check out the new book by Paul Ehrlich and Rodolfo Dirzo of Stanford and Gerardo Ceballos of UNAM bit.ly/3BjimXZ

Thanks for coordinating this awesome list! I'd love to be included 🙏

Wow! 😲

Brown, blue, green and white bacterial (and/or fungal) colonies growing in the surface of coffee in a coffee pot, close up

Brown, blue, green and white bacterial (and/or fungal) colonies growing in the surface of coffee in a coffee pot

Hey microbiologist friends! What bugs like to grow in coffee?? 😅

(Note to self: Don’t forget to wash out the coffee pot next time you go on a month-long trip…)

Scientists issue call to action underlining importance of microbial solutions to tackle climate crisis Ahead of COP29, Applied Microbiology International (AMI) has partnered with leading global scientific organisations to issue a unified call to action, spotlighting microbial solutions as pivotal in co...

Today, 14 journals published the same call-to-action. It succinctly outlines microbe-based strategies to combat the climate crisis.
The authors volunteer to spearhead the creation of a task force, but need our help! Contact them @ climate@isme-microbes.org
www.the-microbiologist.com/news/scienti...

Hi Jan - I’d love to be added, if possible! Thanks so much for compiling such an awesome list!

New preprint up! We sequenced hundreds of samples from across one of Earth's oldest living organisms - the Pando aspen clone - to understand how mutations accumulate and spread in long-lived clonal organisms. Our results were…surprising. 1/30

Tried to put together a Microbial Evolution starter pack, but there were so many great people I didn't want to leave out it turned into 3 starter packs

Comment or DM me if you were missed or would like to be added!

A thread (1/3)

go.bsky.app/6pkuYhi

Thus, wildlife may serve as reservoirs or melting pots of pathogens, but they also host a wide diversity of commensal bacteria & themselves contribute to biodiversity that supports ecosystems, which are healthiest & most resilient when they are diverse. #Ecoligy #OneHealth (8/8)

These results are not expected to be unique to the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve animal community, but are likely reflective of human-impacted wildlife populations around the global in the #Anthropocene, any one of which could be the source or sink of the next superbug. (7/8)

We also capture multiple occurrences of probable strain-sharing among different individuals, some with predator-prey relationships, showing that transmission likely occurs readily within the wild animal community & between wild & domestic animals that frequent the preserve. (6/8)

Furthermore, & for the first time, we show that individual wild animals carry multiple E. coli strains simultaneously, increasing the likelihood that guts of wild animals serve as melting pots of bacteria with novel combinations of pathogenic & drug resistant capabilities. (5/8)

Our study found that wild animals at Stanford's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve carry a huge diversity of E. coli, much of which is likely commensal, but a non-trivial amount that is human-derived, pathogenic to humans, & contains clinically relevant antibiotic resistance. (4/8)

As the human population continues to grow & encroach into wildlands, we will likely experience more frequent & possibly more severe pandemics. At the same time, we could be faced with a drastically weakened ability to cure ourselves with our current arsenal of antibiotics. (3/8)

Human & domestic animal waste, containing bacteria such as E. coli, & other pollutants, including antimicrobials, infiltrates global environments and impacts wild animal microbiomes. This promotes the spread of antibiotic resistance & fuels the creation of better pathogens. (2/8)

Impressive pan-genomic diversity of E. coli from a wild animal community near urban development reflects human impacts Microbiology; Wildlife microbiology

The last chapter of my dissertation describes E. coli diversity in wildlife at Stanford’s Jasper Ridge & offers insights into the role of humans in the occurrence of antibiotic resistant & pathogenic strains. Thanks to my co-authors and collaborators🙏🏼 Read it now! www.cell.com/iscience/ful...

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