Carolyn Ibberson

NOA!!! 🎉🍾

Infections as ecosystems: community metabolic interactions in microbial pathogenesis | Infection and Immunity Microbial communities are present on nearly every surface of the human body. These microbiomes exist as dynamic ecosystems that are influenced by heterogeneous nutritional and chemical landscapes, the...

Excited to have our new mini review on Microbiome Metabolism out today in I&I as part of the @asm.org New Voices in Microbiology collection! Check it out!

🧫🧪

journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

Odds of winning NIH grants plummet as new funding policy and spending delays bite Funding multiyear grants up front will sharply cut number of investigators receiving awards

www.science.org/content/arti...

Microbiology professor, want to join a slack for microbiology professors, any career stage, diverse career types (pure teaching, med school, R1, community college, pure research fed PIs, ...)

Message me for an invite link if you are interested.

No imposter syndrome, if you are 1% micro, join!

Infection and Immunity is now welcoming nominations for highly promising scientists at the assistant professor level (or equivalent) to submit research to the next New Voices in Microbiology Collection!

Please nominate by the August 18 deadline using the below link:
app.asm.org/account/logi...

graph showing the growing number of excess deaths in America from the 1940s to 2020s

Lets start by acknowledging the current American health system sucks. We rank lowest in life expectancy among rich countries, and gains are slowing. Since the 1980s, the country has lost about 10 million people compared to countries with similar incomes. Real problems, which will get worse.

Powerful video with courageous NIH staff members standing in solidarity with the EPA signers of their Declaration of Dissent.

@standupforscience.bsky.social

Super stoked and honored to be elected as co-chair along with @ksbakes.bsky.social for the Microbial Population Biology 2029 GRC!

And looking forward to a great 2027 meeting in Andover chaired by @drhhnz.bsky.social and @wcratcliff.bsky.social !

Feeling tired but inspired after a great week at the #MicrobialPopBioGRC. Great to see old friends and make some new ones! 🦞🗻🧫

@ginalewin.bsky.social @peachypotato.bsky.social @jamesgurney.bsky.social @stephenkdolan.bsky.social

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

The NIH is a sound investment for the US taxpayer Research funded by the National Institutes of Health is essential for improving the health of Americans and developing new drugs and treatments for a wide range of diseases. Research organism: None

"The NIH is a sound investment for the US taxpayer"

Deep in my heart I believe that America is better than this.

We are better than stripping health care away from our most vulnerable and taking food out of the mouths of hungry children so that corporations can have another tax cut.

I urge my colleagues in the House: Vote no.

Our paper demonstrating that within-species warfare interactions are ecologically important on human skin is now published in Nature Micro! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I spoke on the Senate Floor about why Republicans’ rushed bill is a Big Beautiful Betrayal of the hardworking people of this country.

16 million people lose their health care, $4 TRILLION in debt, and higher interest rates that will make it harder for young people to buy a home.

This is also true for Tennessee, but Senator @MarshaBlackburn & @SenatorHagerty wouldn’t say this in a million years. #TrumpsTrillionsTransfer

"In an email yesterday, senior NIH official Michelle Bulls instructed agency employees to 'unrelease all grant projects that are in the [queue] to be terminated.'"🧪⚕️

Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at a Crossroads In this Viewpoint, former members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) caution that the sudden change in the ACIP may reverse the achievements of US immunization policy, includin...

Essential reading from terminated members of ACIP in JAMA:

"The termination of all members and its leadership in a single action undermines the committee’s capacity to operate effectively and efficiently, aside from raising questions about competence."

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Best image of the day:

Shattered Science: The Research Lost as Trump Targets NIH Funding The Trump administration cut research funding that sought cures for future pandemics, examined the causes of dementia and tried to prevent HIV transmission. More than 150 researchers shared with ProPu...

Incredible reporting by @propublica.org. We are actively losing so much it's difficult to wrap one's head around it.
projects.propublica.org/nih-cuts-res...

Here Are the Nearly 2,500 Medical Research Grants Canceled or Delayed by Trump (Gift Article) Some cuts have been starkly visible, but the country’s medical grant-making machinery has also radically transformed outside the public eye.

New powerful article up in the New York Times on cancelled and delayed grants

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

And this is not just a problem for academia. Many colleagues who were NSF fellows - federally funded grad students - now work for start-ups, pharma, tech, etc.

Graduate students are current and future innovators in all spaces. Drying up training pipelines will dehydrate our industries. 🫗#SaveNSF

Bringing this to Bsky bc @steverattner.bsky.social hasn't posted it yet and it's so critical. The entirety of the cuts to Medicaid and food benefits are to pay for tax cuts for people earning more than half a million a year.

Call Congress: 202-224-3121

Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.

-$1.5T in new tax cuts predominantly for the rich
-$700B in Medicaid cuts
-$500B in Medicare cuts
-$300B in SNAP cuts
-Leasing public lands to Big Oil
-Ending IRS Direct File
-Ending clean energy tax credits
-Banning AI regulation in the states

The oligarchy's wish list.

Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades (Gift Article) The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Not getting much attention, except in a recent NYTimes story, is a provision to increase the tax on university endowments and those of other nonprofits.

The comment period for this ends in 3 DAYS. Please leave a comment telling them EVERYONE should be able to get covid boosters.
www.regulations.gov/commenton/FD...

3. Say: For $4 p/person, the NWS saves lives and EVERY inch of the US should have 24/7 coverage.DOGE cuts have already contributed to preventable deaths and there is NO reason to cut these programs. Restore, fund, and protect the National Weather Service. Lives depend on it.

#SummerFightforScience

Multiple deaths reported in Somerset and London due to late night tornadoes UPDATED The towns of Somerset and London have been hit particularly hard with many homes and buildings damaged in the early morning hours.

🚨URGENT RESPONSE CALL🚨

🌪️23 LIVES WERE LOST OVERNIGHT AS TORNADOS HIT KY.

KY has one of several regions in the US without 24/7 National Weather Service coverage, due to DOGE cuts. W/out overnight monitoring, ppl don't receive weather warnings.

THIS is how science cuts cost lives.
shorturl.at/JgTjU