Alex Ensminger

CSM 2026 UAlberta Conference Join CSM 2026 UAlberta Conference, June 16-19, 2026. Learn more on Fourwaves.

The website for the 2026 Canadian Society of Microbiologists conference in Edmonton (June 16-19) is now live. event.fourwaves.com/csm2026/pages

He also referenced a controversial hook-and-hold call on Cam Ward for Yaxel Lendeborg that he believed changed the game, though he admitted uncertainty about the specifics. Izzo was critical of his team’s overall performance, saying, “I was disappointed in the fish eating, but more disappointed in my team. I just did not think we played well enough.”

A fun speech-to-text error (in a quote from Michigan State coach Tom Izzo). www.clickondetroit.com/sports/2026/...

Une opportunité unique de former des étudiants talentueux à la biologie des bactéries à l'ENS Lyon et mener des recherches sur les phages, l'immunité bactérienne, le transfert génétique horizontal (HGT) et/ou les éléments génétiques mobiles au sein du département de bactériologie du CIRI.

I am honoured to serve as Co-Chair of the LOC for @PhageCanada 2025 Virtual Symposium. With an amazing team, we’ve built a strong program featuring outstanding guest&keynote speakers, plus students and postdocs showcasing excellent phage research from across🇨🇦register now👇(1/2)

Bill Cassidy is not a dupe*

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." - AB Giamatti.

JOB OFFER #PhageSky

We have a postdoc position opening in my group to investigate phage-MGE interactions !

We're based in the very nice city of Lyon, France @mmsb-lyon.bsky.social

Contact me for more info !

>> Apply on the CNRS webpage emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Microbiology Postdoctoral Position (Please re-post)

A funded postdoctoral position in Chicago will open in 2026 to study aspects of Neisseria gonorrhoeae pathogenesis, antigenic variation, genetics, or physiology.
If interested, please get in touch with Hank Seifert
h-seifert@northwestern.edu

Curator of Birds - Royal Ontario Museum - Career Page Apply to Curator of Birds at Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, ON, Canada.

Toronto's ROM is hiring 2 new curators! Botany & Ornithology. Come be part of the Toronto EEB community, with cross-appt in my dept at UofT @romtoronto.bsky.social
royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/XBR2Yc...
royalontariomuseum.applytojob.com/apply/Sf2iAO...

Open rank tenure-track position in comp bio at the University of Montreal. Great environment, great position. @futurepislack.bsky.social

medecine.umontreal.ca/wp-content/u...

Job alert ‼️ UChicago Micro is hiring! Open to tenured/tenure track faculty at all levels in any area of microbiology. Come join our amazing and growing department. apply.interfolio.com/174404

The bottle is an amber boston bottle... maybe 1 oz? (we use them for whisky tastings all the time). I think that the cap is phenolic rod cap based on googling.
www.thecarycompany.com/phenolic-rod...

"New Scan Ai Colony Counters:
A.I.-Powered Precision for Colony Counting"

Please share - an Assist Prof position in microbiology

employmentopportunities.umb.edu/mob/cw/en-us...

@asm.org

We have an open post-doc position in my group to study mRNA cleavage and polyadenylation using biochemical reconstitution and cryoEM.

Please get in touch if you are interested in joining this amazing team! 🔬🧬🤩
#RNA #cryoEM

Nice writeup of our discovery of the first Legionella phage from @uoftmedicine.bsky.social. A special thanks to Betty Zou for being interested in our latest work. temertymedicine.utoronto.ca/news/scienti...

The boat and dock are out of the water :( but had a nice weekend in Michigan. Thanks to @farmgirlphd.bsky.social, expert boat driver.

hey bluesky 👋 visa hurdles mean I’m looking for opportunities outside the US. I’m a computational biologist (bacterial + phage genomics, postdoc in Koonin’s group @ NIH). I am interested in teaming up on funding apps. reach out if this resonates!

a yellow minion wearing a pair of goggles looks surprised ALT: a yellow minion wearing a pair of goggles looks surprised

That's great, but SEA TURTLES CAN DETECT MAGNETIC POLARITY???

I can't say enough about how amazing the #peerreview program truly is. If you're an #earlycareer researcher - this is an incredible opportunity.
#genetics

Congrats to my better half @legionella.bsky.social and his lab and collaborators on this cool discovery! TLDR, they've identified and re-animated a bacteriophage of Legionella pneumophila, a bacteria long thought to not be susceptible to phage attack. Check it out! 🦠

A Twitter conversation from 2019 in search of the elusive Legionella phages.

Sorry for the late reply ‪@superbug-slayer.bsky.social ‪@roblavigne.bsky.social‬. Here's a Legionella phage & it likely shaped the emergence of Legionnaires' in the first place! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (cryoEM w/ @smlea.bsky.social @justindeme.bsky.social). #phage #legionella #legionnaires

From outside the Isberg lab, circa 2010. Artist unknown.

A large rainbow over a lake.

Independence Lake, Michigan - Aug 26, 2025.

+1 here.

Reach us out early enough !
Getting funding and personal timelines aligned rarely happens over night !

My Department (Biology) at @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social is hiring this year! We have an opening for a Tenure Track Cell and/or Molecular biologist (broadly defined).

Please share with your trainees/labmates/friends and reach out if you have questions.

apply.interfolio.com/171625

A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system involved in an unusual response to genotoxic stress | EMBO reports imageimageThe GndRX system in Legionella pneumophila is a predicted toxin-antitoxin module that causes death during DNA stress. GndRX has non-canonical functionality and appears to be the consequence ...

From former PhD Student Jordan Lin (now a postdoc w/ Ami Bhatt), in which we describe a contact-dependent, cell-extrinsic response to genotoxic stress. #MicroSky.

A bacterial toxin-antitoxin system involved in an unusual response to genotoxic stress | EMBO reports www.embopress.org/doi/full/10....

Elio Schaechter was one of my heroes. His 1958 paper with Ole Maaløe and Niels Kjeldgaard (fondly known as “SMK”) is a North Star for so much work in my group. A wonderful scientist, great communicator, and a very kind person. May his memory be a blessing.

Two inboard water pump housings with rubber impellers. The left one has totally disintegrated whereas the right one is brand new.

Adventures in owning a 32-yo Malibu Flightcraft...

You don't need to be a boat mechanic to guess which of these water pump impellers was old, which is new, and why the engine was overheating last week.

Also, thanks to Amazon.com and youtube, I had the boat running again in less than 24 hours.

Saddened to learn of the passing of Moselio "Elio" Schaechter—Distinguished Professor at Tufts, SDSU and UCSD—humanist and visionary leader in the fields of microbiology and scientific communication—mentor, friend, and inspiration to me and so many others

Small Things Considered
Big Things Achieved