Valdir Barth

On the left - western blot of B16F10 cells wt and KO for CDK8. Our in house produced antibodies give a lot of unspecific bands. On the right same probes with antibodies preincubated with fixed CDK8 KO cells - there is a specific band and faint unspecific bands, which can be probably eliminated with increase of amount of KO cells.

Neat trick if you polycolonal ab's suck. Incubate them with fixed cells with a KO of your protein of interest, then spin. Protocol here: www.med.upenn.edu/markslab/ass...
I was amazed how well it worked on first try (I'm sure that I can completely eliminate unspecific bands)
#WesternBlot #cellsky

from www.instagram.com/yeweijun98

Slime molds eat the microbes on decaying plants but not the microbes on decaying animals. Badhamia (Physarum) polycephala is an unusually adventurous eater who also enjoys mushrooms, oats, and probably a number of other things!

I wonder what's up with the peanut

Measles: The race to understand 'immune amnesia' Scientists have known for years that measles can alter the immune system – but the latest evidence suggests it's less of a mild tweaking, and more of a total reset.

Not only is the measles vaccine up to 99% effective at preventing measles infection, it can also reduce the risk of death from all causes by 30% up to 86% for up to 3 years (compared ro not being vaccinated) www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Journal editors are now receiving such letters from the US government. The entire scientific community must unite to support our journals in flatly resisting such illegal interventions.

After 21 years at my dream job, I’m very sad to announce my early retirement from the National Institutes of Health. My life’s work has been to scientifically study how our food environment affects what we eat, and how what we eat affects our physiology.

Trump officials will screen NIH funding opportunities Staff at biomedical agency worry about political interference in setting priorities

The NIH plans to resume posting notices of new solicitations for grant proposals. But there’s a catch: The HHS and DOGE will review each draft notice to ensure the research that will be funded aligns with the priorities of President Trump’s administration, Science has learned. scim.ag/3DJsafL

A friend drove two hours today for her breast cancer chemotherapy only to learn it was canceled due to NIH cuts. Clinical trial ended midstream. No treatment, no restart, no plan, no information. Her bro-in-law's chemo was also canceled.

Please repost: Postdoc position in antibiotic discovery in a large multidisciplinary project combining high-throughput approaches, microscopy, AI, and hit-to-lead optimization at @umontreal.ca and @mila-quebec.bsky.social. Apply to ML.Antibiotics@gmail.com. See
lnkd.in/dVVk4N3s. #microsky

Microbiome science needs more microbiologists- A new commentary authored by myself and @abaumler.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Ugggghhh cold chain shipping so expensive. I can only imagine what its like shipping cold internationally, especially to global south. A bioeconomy without local production is doomed to fail. Reagent access determines rate of bioresearch progress across the board. Raise the tide.

Today we report that an engineered skin bacterium, swabbed gently on the head of a mouse, can unleash a potent antibody response against a pathogen. Could lead to topical vaccines that are applied in a cream. @djenetbousbaine.bsky.social led the charge... @natureportfolio.bsky.social 1/55

Interesting! I'll read it more carefully but it got me curious... Is it known which situation leads to Lon binding to ssDNA? Is it a DNA replication/damage situation?

And now for the announcement:
While many of our plans for the award funds will take time to implement, one can start immediately.
To thank our users and encourage scientific debate, we’re introducing $1,000 rewards for selected PubPeer comments!
Yes students and postdocs you read that right: $1000

Screen grab of @asm.org account page “Official account of the American Society for Microbiology”

Oh look! @asm.org is here now 🧪🧫

By popular demand @science.org is on Bluesky!! No posts until after Thanksgiving, but stand by! @karaestellepowers.bsky.social @kakape.bsky.social @jakeyeston.bsky.social

If you're interested in learning about the latest of fundamental mycobacteriology, sign up for #GRCMyco2025! Acceptances will start in September, check out the full program and please RT!

starter pack of academic imposters and it's just you

Assistant or Associate Professor in Bacteriology - Montréal, Quebec (CA) job with University of Montreal | 664282 Université de Montréal (UdeM) is looking for an Assistant or Associate full-time professor in the field of bacteriology.

Please repost: Nov. 15 deadline! We are building a strong bacteriology community at Univ de Montréal, including recent hires Sven van Teeffelen, Frédérique Le Roux & myself. Moving to Montréal in 2018 is one of the best career decisions I made. Come join us! jobs.sciencecareers.org/job/664282/a...

I would like to be added!
scholar.google.com/citations?us...

Akkermansia muciniphila exoglycosidases target extended blood group antigens to generate ABO-universal blood - Nature Microbiology Discovery, biochemical and structural characterization of exoglycosidases from Akkermansia muciniphila reveals combinations that efficiently target extended A and B blood group antigens to produce ABO...

The gut symbiont Akkermansia muciniphila can degrade mucin O-glycans including ABO epitopes - Which might be used as a way to transform A and B blood types into an O blood type turning everyone into an universal donor! That's cool 😎

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Elements of successful NIH grant applications | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Is there a formula for a competitive NIH grant application? The Serenity Prayer may provide one: "Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cann...

Super useful and eminently readable demystification of writing a successful NIH grant application, written by NIH Program
Officers (POs) with LOTS of great guidance:

The Gates foundation says the preprint mandate is needed to accelerate the dissemination of research findings and because too many authors cannot afford publishing fees.

The journal Science turns this into: in a bold bid to avoid open-access fees, Gates foundation says grantees must post preprints.

T4 phage RNA is NAD-capped and alters the NAD-capepitranscriptome of Escherichia coli during infection through a phage-encoded decapping enzyme https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.04.588121v1 Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) serves as a cap-like structure on cellular RNAs (NAD-RNAs) i

T4 phage RNA is NAD-capped and alters the NAD-capepitranscriptome of Escherichia coli during infection through a phage-encoded decapping enzyme https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.04.04.588121v1

Non-mechanical disruption of Bacillus subtilis spores allows sensitive and deep characterization of the minimal proteome for resuming a cellular lifestyle. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.08.584050v1 In response to extreme conditions, Bacillus subtilis generates highly resilient spores characterized

Non-mechanical disruption of Bacillus subtilis spores allows sensitive and deep characterization of the minimal proteome for resuming a cellular lifestyle. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.08.584050v1

Drug-resistant microbes: ‘brain drain’ is derailing the fight to stop them A lack of investment is driving researchers who study antimicrobial resistance out of the field, an industry body warns. A lack of investment is driving researchers who study antimicrobial resistance ...

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Someone on the internet baked Figure 1. #microsky

H-NS is a bacterial transposon capture protein bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution

This is very cool from Dave Grainger et al…
H-NS is a bacterial transposon capture protein www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

paper based GVA [source https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-023-01513-9]

Viable Counts – A Conical Approach
by Roberto – How many living cells in my culture? There are times when optical densities will not suffice, when you will want to have an accurate assay that determines viable cell counts. It's no wonder one of the first...
Read more > tinyurl.com/5zncsdrb
#MicroSky