Zach Lonergan

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

There is still some time left to apply for these two Group Leader positions in Plant Biology and Microbe-Plant Interactions. Spread the word, apply & become our colleague @johninnescentre.bsky.social

Super excited to share our paper online 🚨today🚨 in Cell Host & Microbe‬! Xiaomei Ren @xiaomeiren.bsky.social and Mason Clark @rmasonclark.bsky.social‬ co-led discovery of ecological factors for Acinetobacter baumannii carriage in the gut, a reservoir for pathogen spread. 🎉

tinyurl.com/443kfefk

And congratulations to @cp-cell.bsky.social Poster Award Winners Rachel Washburn (USF) and Jessica Aycock (Clemson) at 2025 GRC MAST!!! 🥳🎉👏🏼

Michael Patnode with Rachel Washburn, Jessica Aycock, and Mason Clark, winners of GRC MAST poster awards from Cell Press and FEMS

Congratulations to 2025 GRC Microbial Adhesion and Signal Transduction Poster Award Winners!! 🎆🥂🙌 Thank you @cp-cell.bsky.social and @femsmicro.org for sponsoring!

From,
Your secret judges 🤫

1/3 It’s official 🙌🏽
The Reyes Ruiz Lab is opening in 2026 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in the Department of Pathobiological Sciences. My lab will focus on host antibacterial effectors and adaptation of bacteria to host-imposed stress during S. aureus infections.

Join the Blokesch lab (@EPFL) as a postdoc in Molecular Microbiology 🤩
Study Vibrio cholerae defense systems (phage/plasmid) in a dynamic, collaborative environment in Lausanne close to Lake Geneva in 🇨🇭!
Please visit my lab's webpage for details about the position and how to formally apply.

the word alert is in a purple circle ALT: the word alert is in a purple circle

ACTION ITEM-----ACTION ITEM

Implementation of Schedule F

This is what a lot of us have been worried about.

This allows for many civil service positions to replaced with political appointees. This could include NIH institute directors and even POs.

BUT THERE IS A COMMENT PERIOD...

1/n

When subjected to mechanical pressure, the salt-loving archaeon Haloferax volcanii grows bigger and bigger before fragmenting into a tissue-like, multicellular network. Rados et al./Science (2025)

How did life go from solo cells to many coordinating ones? Perhaps a bit of pressure. That story and more of the best from @science.org and science in this edition of #ScienceAdviser: www.science.org/content/arti... 🧪

I'm delighted to share a useful FREE web-based app portal of powerful bioinformatics tools for microbial genomes and shotgun microbiome sequences!

It's called Micromics and is built by Middle Author Bioinformatics, led by co-founder @ironark.bsky.social
omix.midauthorbio.com

So much joy to see everyone today coming together to celebrate 20 years of the Skaar Lab. Thank you to Eric for the leadership and mentorship over the years! 🥰

I'm hoping to hire a full-time research technician to help with launching my research program here at Rutgers - if you know someone interested in gaining additional expertise in molecular microbiology, please send them my way!

jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/247...

🚨 The Department of Microbiology & Cell Biology at Montana State University invites applications for an Assistant Professor tenure-track faculty position in the field of environmental microbiology.

Happy to answer any questions!
🧫🧪🧬 #microsky

jobs.montana.edu/postings/45680

NIH cuts funding for vaccine hesitancy research and may target mRNA research too The National Institutes of Health is terminating dozens of studies examining why people are hesitant about vaccines and how to increase uptake. mRNA vaccine research may be on the chopping block, too.

"’NIH staff internally are very worried that the mRNA grants will follow the outcome of the vaccine hesitancy grants and be terminated’”

It would be devastating to end this promising research that will save lives from infections and cancer

www.npr.org/2025/03/12/n...

Transmission of Staphylococcus aureus in the neonatal intensive care unit predicts invasive infection Background Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infection and is one of the most common pathogens causing serious invasive infection in the neonatal intensive care unit (N...

Excited to share our work with @pjplanet.bsky.social and @ahmedmicrobes.bsky.social tracking Staph aureus transmission across the NICU using genomics!!

This study was co-led by the amazing @qianxuan.bsky.social and Lakshmi Srinivasan, and made possible by the @centermicrobialmed.bsky.social

Unravelling the regulation of programmed cell death in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms One 4-year PhD Studentship in Professor Cynthia Whitchurch’s lab at the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore – starting January 2026. The studentship will be funded for 4 years which includes tuition fees and a bursary. Students can be from Singapore or overseas. Project summary Programmed cell death (PCD) pathways are genetically encoded programmes that lead to cell suicide. Whist it seems counter-intuitive that single-celled bacteria would maintain cell suicide pathways, PCD is beneficial to multicellular bacterial communities. We have determined that Pseudomonas aeruginosa has 3 PCD pathways that intersect to enable explosive cell lysis for the release of extracellular DNA and other matrix components required for biofilm formation. This project aims to understand how these complex pathways that lead to PCD in P. aeruginosa are regulated. The project will use a range of cutting-edge approaches including molecular microbiology, transcriptomics, bioinformatics, AI and advanced microscopy. Requirements Applications are invited from candidates with a Bachelors degree with Honours (2nd class upper division) or equivalent, or Masters degree in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biomedical Sciences or a related discipline. Additionally, experience in molecular microbiology, microscopy and microbial genomics would be advantageous. However, in the absence of this additional experience the applicant should be keen to learn relevant skills in these areas. Note that the following will be required of the candidate that is selected for this studentship (the application has to be submitted by the July 31st 2025): 1. Valid TOEFL/IELTS/GRE/GMAT/GATE scores (A valid GRE/GMAT score is required for applicants who are not graduates of the Autonomous Universities in Singapore, unless there is specific requirement state…

I have an exciting opportunity to join my research team in Singapore @scelse.bsky.social as a PhD student to explore programmed cell death in biofilms. See below for more information and please share widely!

The hits keep coming. Huge loss for my home state of West Virginia. WV-INBRE opened my eyes to a science career and changed my life.

I'm just going to reiterate what many people are saying: if you are concerned about the state of science / NIH funding, etc, NOW IS THE MOMENT to pick up the phone and call your senators and reps

The federal govt continuing resolution budget expires in a month. They are deciding funding right now.

Join us! Science Homecoming helps scientists reconnect with communities by writing about the importance of science funding in their hometown newspapers. We’ve mapped every small newspaper in the U.S. and provide resources to get you started. Help science get back home 🧪🔬🧬 🏠

sciencehomecoming.com

Rutgers peeps: Wednesday noon in my building

Document Search Results for 'center for scientific review' Search, browse and learn about the Federal Register. Federal Register 2.0 is the unofficial daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of Federal agencies and organizations, as well as e...

No new NIH study sections have been announced in the Federal Register since Jan 21.

But I hear that colleagues have been asked to serve. Does your meeting appear in these announcements? If this applies to you, please check and reply here with info!

www.federalregister.gov/documents/se...

Multiple faculty positions in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology in association with the Center for Immunology, and the
Center for Antimicrobial Resistance at Cornell University

Our lab is seeking a highly motivated postdoctoral research associate to study zinc metallochaperones from the COG0523 superfamily of small GTPases. Apply here: shorturl.at/UmQYM or send application materials to Prof. Giedroc directly at giedroc@iu.edu. Looking for strong biochemists; please share!

In New Jersey —

NIH Funding:
$404M

Jobs Supported:
5,136

Economic Activity Supported:
$1.32B

@kim.senate.gov
@corybooker.com

Executive wants to frame the NIH indirects cut as $4B in savings.

But given that NIH returns $2.5 on every $1 investment, this would actually cost US economy a net $6 BILLION (per year!). Not to mention the human costs of wrecking education and research sectors and the communities they serve.

On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

"Pursuant to this Supplemental Guidance, there will be a standard indirect rate of 15% across all NIH grants for indirect costs in lieu of a separately negotiated rate for indirect costs in every grant."

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

A mutation in RNA polymerase imparts resistance to β-lactams by preventing dysregulation of amino acid and nucleotide metabolism Patel and Helmann identify metabolic pathways that are dysregulated in RNAP mutant strains with altered β-lactam sensitivity. Genetic and physiological studies demonstrate that BCAA and Pyr synthesis ...

Excited to share! @yeshapatel.bsky.social and I report...

Mutations in RNAP confer antibiotic resistance via transcriptome remodeling.
Repression of branched chain amino acid and Pyr pathways increases β-lactam resistance in B. subtilis.

#MicroSky #AMR #antibiotics
www.cell.com/cell-reports...

And the funding announcement for diversity supplements now has been updated to expire today. Supplements are so important to the careers of junior scientists. This is crushing for post docs and early career faculty

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Excited to share that we are hiring a Bridge to Faculty Postdoc in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Illinois Chicago. Please reach out if you have any questions about the program. And please share broadly. uic.csod.com/ux/ats/caree...