Vanina Guernier, PhD 🦠🧬

The BSL3 is closed until further notice for repairs so I have to store my samples until I can process them 🥲 This is what 160 soil samples look like. Double bagged and stored in the dark, hopefully not for long 🤞🏻

My unexpected best tool to collect soil samples? Stainless steel Thai soup spoons (Zebra) 😁 They are indestructible, do not bend, can clean with alcohol and cheap so I can have one per sample (16/site) which saves me a lot of time!!

Last field trip in Amnat Charoen for the Burkh-Occur project. I was slowed down a bit by buffaloes crossing in front of the car 😬 It’s been raining so much this season, let’s see if my soil samples will reveal more Burkholderia pseudomallei than usual 🧐 #melioidosis

I have the terrible habit of explaining stuff to my students on post it 🙈

Dang. Seems like I missed a well 🙄 fortunately they are all in duplicate so I still have a result 😅

Today I’m doing ELISA for a change. Trying to test the specificity of a new kit on human and animal sera from Thailand with and without melioidosis 🧐

I am reading « The seven daughters of Eve » and oh gosh, this passage is bugging me 😆 How much rushing are we talking here?

Another intense day in the lab. For this season it sums up to 480 DNA extractions, 320 tubes for enrichment and 640 agar plates. So far we didn’t isolate any B. pseudomallei 😅 so I am crossing my fingers for final plates tomorrow #melioidosis #onehealth

All the crops have grown… except for one that has been burned to the ground. Unexpected land use change 🤷‍♀️ but sampled the soil anyway. Let’s see. November will be our final sampling! #melioidosis #Bpseudomallei

Filtering Erythritol in preparation of ACER broth for B. pseudomallei enrichment. I have high hopes for this new media #melioidosis #bacteriology

Political and biological reality checks | PNAS Political and biological reality checks

Always good to learn from history, in this case how politics can shape/impact science. Really enjoyed this paper from @pnas.org www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

JOB OFFER: I am recruiting a VIA for 2 years to work with me in Bangkok, Thailand! (you need to be 18 - 28 yo and European). You have a master’s degree, a strong background in biostatistics and an interest in ecology of infectious disease, apply here: emploi-recrutement.ird.fr/job/emploi-a...

En 2025, rejoignez notre unité ! PIMIT recrute 4 chercheur.e.s et enseignant.E.s-chercheur.e.s | UMR Pimit Vous êtes chercheur.e en One Health, maladies infectieuses émergentes, génomique des interactions hôtes-agents infectieux, ou chimie des biomoléc

Vous êtes chercheur.e en One Health, MIE, génomique des interactions hôtes-pathogènes, chimie des biomolécules appliquée à l’infectiologie ? L'UMR PIMIT à l'Ile de la Réunion recrute 4 chercheurs / professeurs. umr-pimit.fr/en-2025-rejo...

Checking Ashdown agar today looking for B. pseudomallei. No luck so far 😅 but isn’t it beautiful?

They say it takes a village to raise a kid. It also takes a village to do research. Farmers, local livestock department, animal health, researchers from Chiang Mai University and @ird-fr.bsky.social: all hands on deck

A significant % of S. suis infected patients declare they didn’t eat pork or have contact with pigs. So we’re also investigating the sewers, environment and 💩 piles to check for other routes of infection

Day 2 of fieldwork for S. suis project. Swabbing pigs from farms is not as easy as swabbing carcasses from the slaughterhouse 😅 They are NOT happy about the whole thing

First fieldwork trip for our MOHIP project about Streptococcus suis in Northern Thailand. Students from Chiang Mai University are collecting tonsil swabs and inoculating plates. Wait and see

McMaster researchers discover new class of antibiotics Nearly three decades after the last time a new class of antibiotics reached the market, McMaster researchers have made a breakthrough discovery that could . . .

New class of antibiotics discovered brighterworld.mcmaster.ca/articles/mcm...

Aligned with our founding institutions (amU, CNRS, Inserm, IRD), Mission Europe pour la Recherche supports #StandUpForScience2025 and stands with US scientists 🤝

MER reaffirms its support, helping American researchers in access to EU funding #HorizonEurope via #MSCA & #ERC fellowships. 🇪🇺

Melioidosis survivor recalls 'absolutely cruel' infection as cases rise The number of cases of the soil-borne infection is at an all-time high in northern Queensland, and a survivor says people need to take it seriously.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-02...

Trump Administration Stalls Scientific Research Despite Court Ruling Using an arcane law, officials have effectively delayed funding from the National Institutes of Health, leaving medical studies in jeopardy.

www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/s...

Exclusive: NIH appears to archive policy requiring female animals in studies Such a shift would “put us back in the dark ages in terms of our science,” says neuroscientist Anne Murphy, who helped to formulate the original policy.

Great write up at @thetransmitter.bsky.social on the seeming erasure of SABV in the new era of NIH. Gotta say The Transmitter is killing it the last few weeks, first to report on the Federal Register block and now this. Leading the charge! 💪 www.thetransmitter.org/policy/exclu...

Welcome to the Bluesky account for Stand Up for Science 2025!

Keep an eye on this space for updates, event information, and ways to get involved. We can't wait to see everyone #standupforscience2025 on March 7th, both in DC and locations nationwide!

#scienceforall #sciencenotsilence

CDC cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health Members of the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service were warned Friday that many of them were about to be fired

Centers for Disease Control cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health in U.S

EIS officers investigate disease outbreaks and health threats in the U.S. and abroad

www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/t...

Erik Karlsson on LinkedIn: Senior Scientist for the Virology Unit The job market can feel like a bad dating app—lots of vague promises, unrealistic expectations, and the occasional ghosting. You’re out here swiping through…

I know things are rough right now for a lot of people in science, and job hunting isn’t exactly fun—but if you’re a virologist looking for interesting work and want a scenery change, the Virology Unit at Institut Pasteur in Cambodia is hiring. #virosky #idsky

tinyurl.com/y62d6tnw

I already shared that one of our projects was suddenly put to a stop because of the NIH freeze. This is really killing me. The 3 laureates of the MOHIP grants had very meaningful projects. We already started recruiting patients and we are not sure if all will be for nothing 😣

Second soil sampling looking for Burkholderia pseudomallei over time. Crops have changed drastically and palm trees have even been burned. Will this have an impact on the bacteria occurrence?