JR Caldera, PhD, D(ABMM)

Been a while, but I’m glad my feed is still filled with a strong community of scientists!

Wanted to share this amazing honor from ASCP as one of their 2025 40 Under Forty honorees. And also to show off this mini scientist my cousin got me. My tchotchke shelf at work is growing ☺️ #ClinMicro

Development and validation of next-generation sequencing-based clinical test for triazole resistance prediction in Aspergillus fumigatus | Journal of Clinical Microbiology The rising rates of antifungal resistance have been expressed by many as “the silent pandemic,” profoundly reshaping the landscape of fungal disease management. Innovations in clinical mycology, howev...

New pub alert! 🚨 my fellowship project from @uclapathology.bsky.social is finally out, and I’ll be discussing it at next Monday’s CCMID meeting if you’re interested! #ClinMicro #IDSky

We will not stay silent on vaccines, say leaders of five major U.S. medical associations “We cannot and will not gamble with our patients’ health or the health of our communities,” write the presidents of the AAFP, AAP, ACP, ACOG, and IDSA.

"We will not stay silent."

IDSA President Tina Tan, MD, FIDSA, FPIDS, FAAP, joins @ameracadpeds.bsky.social, @acpimphysicians.bsky.social,
@acog.org, and @aafp.org in urging evidence-based vaccine recommendations. bit.ly/443ptQw

Officially recognized as a Diplomate of the American Board of Medical Microbiology at the ABMM mixer

A long history of UCLA excellence in Clinical Microbiology

The best CPEP co-fellows anyone could ask for

Participated in a career seminar for budding microbiologists

I always look forward to ASM Microbe, but 2025 was particularly special because it was hosted in my neck of the woods. I hope my colleagues got to see everything that is beautiful about Los Angeles! #ClinMicro #ASMicrobe2025

#ClinMicro #IDSky

Cluster of extensively drug-resistant Shigella sonnei carrying blaCTX-M-15 in Los Angeles, California, 2023 to 2024 We describe 3 cases of extensively drug-resistant Shigella sonnei infections among men who have sex with men in Los Angeles, CA. Using whole-genome sequencing, we determined that they are highly genet...

There was a cluster of #XDR #Shigella sonnei carrying blaCTX-M-15 in LA ('23-24), reported by @jrcaldera.bsky.social

While infections are usually self-limited, one of these cases was severe, in a person living with #HIV and low CD4

www.ajicjournal.org/article/S019...
@ajicjournal.bsky.social

🚨 Extensively drug-resistant #Shigella is increasing in #LosAngeles. PLWH and GBMSM are disproportionately affected.

We have seen several of these, very difficult to treat.

Antibiogram shows 📈 resistance, susceptibility testing is 🔑.

#IDsky #Medsky #EMSky #AMR #XDR
🔗: t.e2ma.net/webview/3apx...

RFK Jr.'s HHS Orders Lab Studying Deadly Infectious Diseases to Stop Research NIAID's Integrated Research Facility is one of the few federal facilities charged with studying Ebola. Tuesday afternoon, all of its work was put on indefinite pause by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s departm...

RFK Jr. ordered the NIH’s Integrated Research Facility in Frederick to stop all research on serious infectious diseases yesterday at 5:00 PM.

They study pathogens like Ebola there. You may be familiar with it from The Hot Zone.

www.wired.com/story/hhs-ni...

For levity 😬

@uclapathology.bsky.social

🚨New pub alert! Hot-off the press! #ClinMicro

“[Rhinovirus] was the most common viral pathogen in young
children, even during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was an independent
driver of moderate-to-severe disease, particularly in children with comorbidities.”

www.mdpi.com/2036-7449/17...

🙌🏽 #ClinMicro

CDC is pulling back $11B in Covid funding sent to health departments across the U.S. “Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary," federal health authorities wrote to funding recipients this week.

“Now that the pandemic is over, the grants and cooperative agreements are no longer necessary," federal health authorities wrote to funding recipients this week.

Role of type-specific and confirmatory Herpes Simplex Virus IgG testing in diagnosing genital herpes • HSV types, anatomical sites and mechanisms of infection/reactivation • Factors in transmission of genital HSV infections • Methods to identify HSV infections • Type-spe

#ClinMicro #IDSky
In 5 minutes

(Me flirting) Did you know microbes in the human body contribute MORE to the human body’s survival than our bodies themselves? And there are more microbial genes than human in our bodies?

We just big ol’ walkin’ terrariums.

The sauce:
www.nih.gov/news-events/...

New Hampshire Reported the Country’s Third Clade I Mpox Case: How the State’s Public Health Laboratory System Sprung Into Action - APHL Blog By Donna Campisano, specialist, Communications, APHL When it comes to detecting an infectious disease and launching an effective public health response, quick action is everything. And New…

Currently, four cases of clade I mpox have been detected in this country. Our latest blog highlights how the third case was uncovered in New Hampshire and the state public health laboratory's quick response. #mpox #infectiousdisease #publichealthpreparedness #LRN

Read more:

This 👇

#ClinMicro 🤝 #IDSky 🤝 Global Public

Whoah boots 👌

CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel It’s just the latest “Orwellian” crackdown on government scientists.

CDC Staff Prohibited From Co-Authoring Papers With World Health Organization Personnel

Thanks! I think cf-mNGS is such a powerful tool, but also desperately suffers from effective stewardship.

🚨New Pub Alert! Our 1000-Karius retrospective is out! #ClinMicro #IDSky @uclapathology.bsky.social

Scientists and Physicians

I’m being serious here —at this precarious juncture, along with all other defensive and support strategies, it is important to seize the public narrative—high level investment and leadership in medical discovery and innovation is unabashedly patriotic!

USA! USA! USA!

Trump administration directs federal health agencies to pause communications | CNN Amid a deluge of executive actions, the Trump administration has directed federal health agencies to pause external communications, such as regular scientific reports, updates to websites and health a...

Following the withdrawal from the WHO, pausing communication from government health agencies is very concerning. #idsky www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/h...

Trump Withdraws U.S. from World Health Organization Public health experts say U.S. withdrawal from the W.H.O. would undermine the nation’s standing as a global health leader and make it harder to fight the next pandemic.

Just did a lecture on COVID-19/surveillance systems in my infectious disease epidemiology course. Withdrawing would be a major blow to global #PublicHealth...

From @sherylnyt.bsky.social in @nytimes.com

www.nytimes.com/2025/01/20/u...

Happy birthday 🎂

Happy holidays, #ClinMicro!

Read it here: www.ajicjournal.org/article/S019...

#ClinMicro #IDSky

One of the more concerning observations we, and others, have noted about the drug-resistant strains of Shigella is that they are being transmitted more through high-risk sexual contact, such as oral-anogenital, rather than being food- or waterborne 😕

I former colleague of mine said our article was picked up by his favorite tech site!

And here it is! 😯😁

#ClinMicro #IDSky

Staph Vaccines Keep Failing and Scientists Finally Know Why Researchers at UC San Diego have identified a key mechanism by which Staphylococcus aureus evades the immune response, leading to the failure of numerous vaccine trials. The bacteria triggers an overp...

Led by Chih-Ming Tsai + Irshad Hasham, a fascinating new JCI paper from the George Liu Lab at UCSD Pediatrics shows that in mice who have previous Staphylococcus aureus (SA) exposure, B cells secrete abundant IL-10 when challenged with the SA antigens for a second time (in a vaccine)

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