A possible explanation for the different results from mouse models and in vitro batch culture is that the latter does not resemble the gut environment of CKD patients. But testing this idea requires elucidating how CKD changes the gut environment to alter growth conditions for the microbiota.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) increases uremic toxins in the mouse cecum, but microbiota from healthy controls and patients with CKD produce similar amounts of uremic toxins during in vitro culture, questioning whether a “uremic microbiota” really exists.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
On world kidney day, let’s remember that uremic toxins, metabolites derived from the gut microbiota, drive progression towards renal failure. Yet while the microbial origin of uremic toxins is undisputed, it is not clear whether gut dysbiosis contributes to disease. www.worldkidneyday.org
Here is the "effective payline" for each institute, estimated (by Claude) as the percentile where one can expect 80% probability of funding from a logistic regression fit. The effective payline has gone from a historic ~12% to 6% in 2025.
Pls re-post: My department @oxfordbiochemistry.bsky.social are recruiting for several new faculty positions (links below). Broad search in molecular biology/biochemistry, across prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Interested in understanding life at the molecular level, this job might be for you!
1/n
AI is threatening science jobs. Which ones are most at risk?
Data-analysis and modelling positions are already becoming obsolete, but hands-on experimentalists can breathe easy for now.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Major advance in T. pallidum reserach:
"First human cell-based cultivation system for the syphilis spirochete Treponema pallidum"
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
#MicroSky
AI Added 'Basically Zero' to US Economic Growth Last Year, Goldman Sachs Says https://gizmodo.com/ai-added-basically-zero-to-us-economic-growth-last-year-goldman-sachs-says-2000725380
Congratulations to Mariana Byndloss @maribyndloss.bsky.social for her promotion to Associate Professor with tenure at Vanderbilt University @vanderbilt.edu
Photo credit: Bäumler lab archives
By my count, this is the third CDC outbreak notice in the past three months involving Moringa leaf and various Salmonella strains. What's with that?
Congratulations to Çagla Tükel @caglatukel.bsky.social for her election to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology! asm.social/2OC
Postdoc position available in my lab! Project will focus on how the microbiome-derived metabolite butyrate shapes C. difficile fitness and pathogenesis & will build on our previous/ongoing work in this space. Apply here:
hr.wisc.edu/postdoc-and-...
I just leaned that my former postdoc mentor, Fred Heffron, passed away last week. I have fond memories from my time in Portland. Fred was smart, funny, and gave us the freedom to develop our own ideas. I am indebted to him for getting my academic career started in the US. Thank you and R.I.P.
Science: U.S. government has lost more than 10,000 STEM Ph.D.s since Trump took office
By Jeffrey Mervis, Monica Hersher @science.org @policyhound.bsky.social @mghersher.bsky.social
bit.ly/3M8yf9B
E. coli is the leading bacterium causing death from AMR infections worldwide. If you'd like to explore approaches to exploit the DNA damage response as alternative antimicrobial, please apply to the following PhD studentship available in my lab starting October 2026: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
CS: Host-microbiome dynamics abstract deadline extended to Feb 6.
Share your research with leading scientists exploring the ecology of the human microbiome, its influence on host physiology & its complex interactions with the immune system.
http://dlvr.it/TQVndt
Averaged over five years, this will fund the exact same number of grants ...
#XDR Shigella is a serious, emerging global health threat. This topic is one of many we'll be discussing at #TheShigellaMeeting
Registration is open!
www.shigella2026.conferences-pasteur.org/registration...
#AMR #MicroSky #IDSky 🔬🧫🦠
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Averaged over 5 years, this will fund the exact same number of grants …
METTL9 tests Candida’s mettle by limiting metal acquisition
Highlight of new findings showing intestinal epithelial cells secrete anti-zincophore protein, METTL9, that limits fungal access to essential zinc, thereby diminishing colonization & growth
www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...
⏰ Deadline Jan 7 (11:59 pm MST) to submit a short talk abstract or apply for a scholarship for the Keystone Symposium Beyond Antibiotics. Hear from @joeyzacks.bsky.social, @maribyndloss.bsky.social: youtu.be/8Ppjx-MnvxA
keysym.us/KSBeyondAnti... @kimingeneva.bsky.social & @dariavantyne.bsky.social
I don't think you non-science people realize what it takes to get a grant funded by NIH. Started experiments in Sept 2021 to generate 3 new mouse mutants to model human disease. Prelim dara shows they have relevant disease phenotypes worthy of study. Need a small grant first to characterize /1
And so on the last day of 2025, UC Davis overran its institutional Google Drive storage. And there was much lamentation, for no one could edit any documents.
Submit your abstracts for ASM Microbe 2026!
As a member of the Scientific Program Committee, I can vouch for great science with something for everyone!
@asm.org
asm.org/events/asm-m...
Friday we lost a brilliant mind, colleague, and friend to her battle with pancreatic cancer. Those who knew her will remember Helene Andrews-Polymenis for her warmth, generosity and leadership. She will be missed by many. RIP
A reminder of why #ASMMicrobe is so important (at least to me)! Please repost!
While everyone is hustling for the holidays, hopefully folks will have time to submit abstracts or register for #ASMMicrobe2026 in DC! Please repost!
