Ashley Alexander

Separation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa type IV pilus-dependent twitching motility and surface-sensing responses | mBio The ability of bacteria to sense and respond to contact with surfaces is important for triggering changes in secondary messenger levels and gene expression, leading to the formation of biofilms and in...

New paper! Specific PilA and PilY1 sequences make PilU dispensable for T4P-dependent twitching motility in P. aeruginosa. However, most suppressors still had high cAMP levels from loss of PilU, showing that motility and surface sensing responses can be uncoupled.🧐 ⏩ journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community - Nature Communications Here the authors leverage a crossfeeding, engineered microbial community to demonstrate that strain abundance cycles are robust across environmental conditions. They pair this with a nonlinear dynamic model to elucidate population cycles.

Metabolic interplay drives population cycles in a cross-feeding microbial community

@natcomms.nature.com from @oventurelli2.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The damage done Nature Medicine - When clinical trials are suddenly halted by US funding cuts, there are repercussions for investigators and patients, and they do not stop at borders.

rdcu.be/eI26z

The damage done - Nature Medicine When clinical trials are suddenly halted by US funding cuts, there are repercussions for investigators and patients, and they do not stop at borders.

The Damage Done by @marianneguenot.bsky.social

Now out in Nature Medicine, featuring analysis from #GrantWitness and #SCIMaP and impacts on grants, clinical trials, patients, discovery, collaboration, and careers.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

The science was cutting edge, and the company was unparalleled- thank you everyone for such a welcoming and thrilling #GRCMicroPop! Looking forward to cyberstalking all your google scholar profiles ❤️

College of New Hampshire views and people eating lobster

Lovely time with new and old friends at microbiology population biology camp. Leaving with lots of new ideas (and lots of new bug bites)

@cbibberson.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social

My first GRC, but hopefully not the last one. One of the best meetings that I have ever attented

Student-led experimental evolution reveals novel biofilm regulatory networks underlying adaptations to multiple niches We established a research-education partnership known as EvolvingSTEM that provides secondary school students the opportunity to conduct authentic research experiments centered on microbial evolution....

Sharing the most significant work from my group, led by the @evolvingstem.bsky.social team.

Come for the discoveries of how Pseudomonas adapts in biofilms, stay for the story of how they were discovered by thousands of young scientists in grades 9-12. 🧪🧫🧬🧵

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

I have some slots avaiable for my #MattersMicrobial podcast (www.microbe.tv/mm) on the following dates: 6/26, 7/10, 7/17, 7/25, 7/31, 8/7, and 8/14. Holler by DM if you have suggestions or are interested? We will also be figuring out Fall soon, too. Appreciate EVERY #MicrobialGuest.

Vaccines. 💪🏻💪🏻

Yes!!!

Finally a university leader standing up publicly for what is right.

No to anticipatory compliance.

Thank you UMich Dean Carlos F. Jackson: may you be an inspirational for many others.

mailchi.mp/04bd06b0c03c...

who doesn't enjoy some beautiful FtsZ rings on a sunday evening? these from 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘶𝘴, from all angles, by the @jwveening.bsky.social, posted earlier on 𝕏, on may 6, 2021

Movie S2 from journals.plos.org/plospathogen...
#MicroSky

It’s like they knew you’d be there!

Proud to #standupforscience today!

Happy 37th birthday to the LTEE!
the-ltee.org/history/

Screenshot of part of a notice of award for an NSF CAREER grant: Regulation of Drosophila melanogaster oogenesis by ovarian and adipose tissue amino acid sensing signaling pathways

Beyond thrilled - I’ve been awarded an NSF CAREER grant! I get to continue making scientific discoveries, training the next generation of researchers, & sharing knowledge about the scientific enterprise with the general public. This support is much needed, personally & professionally…let’s GOOO!!!

Thoughts what drastic research budget cuts mean for parents of students about to join/already in college, including (and especially) flagship public research-intensive universities in the US.

Takeaway: Pay more for reduced training + opportunities.

joshuasweitz.substack.com/p/welcome-to...

My Mom: “Dave, you seem down. What’s wrong”

Me: “the guy you voted for is destroying the foundations of research and science in this country. Here’s some examples of how it’s directly affecting me…”

Mom: “well…let’s talk about something else”

Fridays are “Fundays” at GSU Biology! This morning @persisterbritt.bsky.social gave an overview of her research plan at Bio for Breakfast!
@peachypotato.bsky.social

My grad students representing Biology at GSU Graduate symposium! @joshlummus.bsky.social and Hannah did great! Also we are finally all in a “group” photo! @peachypotato.bsky.social

list of banned keywords

🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.

I'm incredibly honored by this opportunity to serve as President-Elect of @asm.org starting this summer. Looking forward to working with the Board, ASM leadership ,and staff to help advance the microbial sciences. I'm also glad to share my Vision statement, please join us!
asm.org/Press-Releas...

I'm proud to be elected to the ASM BoD. It is an amazing opportunity to continue to do work that inspires others to do science, tells them how to get to the room, and how to take a seat at the table. If you are interested in my motivations, please read my candidate statement. asm.org/Press-Releas...

Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D.; Joanna Goldberg, Ph.D.; Michael Johnson, Ph.D.

We’re thrilled to announce the election of Vaughn Cooper, Ph.D., as the new ASM President-Elect & the newly elected At-Large Board Directors Joanna Goldberg, Ph.D., & Michael Johnson, Ph.D. Congrats to our elected officers! Read more: asm.social/2fU @vscooper.micropopbio.org @copperbae.bsky.social

This semester is over, we had lots of great speakers at Bio for Breakfast organized by @peachypotato.bsky.social and wonderful PhD cohort I got to teach with Dr. de Vries!

This is an amazing resource, just searched my favorite genes and learned something new instantly 🤯

🚨We are also hiring a postdoc to work on our newly funded Lyme disease phage project at Montana State!

Are you a spirochetologist interested in phage biology? Come work with us in beautiful Bozeman, MT!
Apply here:
jobs.montana.edu/postings/43811
🧫🧪🦠

My wonderful colleague Jainliang is looking for PostDocs and PhD candidates. He is doing very cool work and has already secured two major grants, so good chance the right person could spend a decent amount of time on the project. If you know anyone who is looking please put them in touch.

@huiqiloo.bsky.social did some amazing work as an undergrad researcher on this project- yielding some exciting findings and beautiful figures 👩‍🔬