Anne Estes

As you partake of bread and beer - give thanks for Saccharomyces cerevisiae! Yeast ferments sugar into alcohol. The CO2 given off is what helps bread rise.
Each semester we do a Fermentation Feast in class to "taste the diversity of cultures". Microbiology - the field full of sensory delights :)

This student for "Thank a Microbe" really loved Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus. Predatory bacteria are easy to love! It bores its way into another bacterium, digests the bacterium, then reproduces, with its babies breaking out of the empty shell of the bacterial prey.

Today's student Thank a Microbe post features Pseudomonas putida! Need to clean up oil spills and other toxic hydrocarbons? Call in P. putida.

I'm finally getting these up this week. Hope you enjoy them!

For the Thank a Microbe project, Lactobacillus sp. were a favorite genera of bacteria to thank.

Lactobacillus acidophilus is what digests milk sugars into acetic acid, which gives yogurt its tangy taste!

It's the season for being thankful - THANK A MICROBE returns! Here's the first of several student flyers appreciating the wonders of our microbial world!

that time of year when as soon as you finish writing 2 letters of recommendation, 2 more requests come in....

Corrado Nai | The Dessert that Changed the World | Patreon Science Writer & Microbiologist

For more info - please see this amazing #graphicnovel - www.patreon.com/cw/corradonai

#WomenInScience inspired Halloween costume this year is Fanny Hess! In Koch's lab in the hot German summers, the gelatin used for bacterial cultures would melt. Fanny learned of agar - used to stiffen gelatin desserts - and brought that into the lab. Her ingenuity changed #microbiology forever! 🧪🔬🦠

Just a heads up. I was able to schedule my COVID vaccine appointment. Online it will ask “do you have a condition that puts you at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19 virus.”

Click yes and it will allow you to schedule an appointment.

No questions asked.

No proof required.

Pass it on.

BREAKING: Big moment as CDC staff stage a mass walkout.

They have lined the street outside its HQ to greet and salute the four top officials who have resigned in protest at RFK Jr’s attack on the agency’s science base.

(🎥 AP)

The Microbirth Plan - Documentary More than a documentary. It’s a plan to protect the future of our species. | Check out 'The Microbirth Plan - Documentary' on Indiegogo.

I just supported Toni Harmon's/Alto Films latest documentary about #microbiome of #birth and first foods. Please join me in supporting this important film. 🤱🤰👶🧪 #microbiome

igg.me/at/themicrob...

There with you

Using this resource on AI vs human capable Bloom's Taxonomy from @oregonstate.edu as I write learning objectives! #STEMEdu 🍎🧪

ecampus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/arti...

How to write a Symbiosis class syllabus. 😆 Loving working at Ovenbird coffee shop these last few weeks while our youngest is at a synthetic biology camp. #Baltimore

Respiratory Virus Vaccine Reduced Number of Babies Hospitalized by 72% The respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, introduced across the UK in late summer 2024, led to a 72% reduction in babies hospitalised with the virus if mothers were vaccinated, a new study has…

A new study shows that vaccinating pregnant women against RSV led to a 72% drop in hospitalizations for babies with the virus in the UK, highlighting the real-world effectiveness of the vaccine in protecting infants.
www.technologynetworks.com/tn/news/resp...

A line chart with a blue line showing a large growth of protest events from Jan 20 - May 31, 2025, and a green line showing the relatively modest growth of protest events during the same period in 2017.

My team and I at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman@bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) have a new piece out: wagingnonviolence.org/2025/06/amer.... In it, we show that through May 2025, the size and scale of anti-Trump protests have dwarfed those in 2017. 🧵

Whooping cough (pertussis) is also known as “100 day cough” bc it can cause 100 days of coughing so severe that rib fractures are common. It also makes small children stop breathing without warning, often fatally.

Vaccination can prevent up to 89% of infections but requires boosting every few years

2025 LIFE RCN Seminar Series Episode 1: Dr. Rogier Braakman — LIFE Research Coordination Network On June 10th, 2025, at 8AM PDT/11AM EDT, the LIFE RCN will be excited to introduce Dr. Rogier Braakman, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an adjunct scientist at Th...

Excited to give a virtual seminar in the NASA LIFE RCN series next Tuesday June 10th, at 8am PST/11am EST.

I'll be talking about the Chitin Raft Hypothesis and the rise of planktonic marine cyanobacteria.

🧪🦠⚒️🌐 #Paleobio #MEvoSky #MicroSky

www.lifercn.org/events/2025-...

The Truth Of The Matter And They Are Not Bringing Jobs Back….

Indiana Budget Bill Contains Sweeping Higher Ed Changes When Republicans revealed the legislation last week, new provisions requiring faculty to post syllabi and face “productivity” reviews had appeared. The bill quickly passed.

If signed, Indiana bill will require faculty at public colleges and universities to post their syllabi online and undergo “productivity” reviews.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

This is such a cool tool and exactly how we should have framed NIH research all along: Taxpayers fund scientists to understand disease and discover new treatments—and we deliver. It’s public investment that saves lives and improves health for everyone. Direct ROI. 🧪🧫 #IDsky #GastroySky

🙏 We need your help 🙏

The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.

We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:

NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...

NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

w/ @noamross.net

So some good news: recruitment has resumed for postbac and postdoc programs at NIH www.training.nih.gov/research-tra...

Here in Princeton, NJ, a town of about 30,000 people, the crowd at the #HandsOff protest. Appeared to be about 1300-1500 people, as high as 5% of the population. It's the largest event I have seen in this public space.

Measles Can Have Lasting Health Effects on Adults and Children (Gift Article) An infection can cause health problems that linger for years.

One reason to try super hard not to get measles as an adult is that it can, for a period of years, cause your body's cells to "forget" your other immunities 😬

It's HIGHLY contagious; some people need regular boosters; some people can't get one at all.

Pls talk to your health care provider!
3/3

Do not normalize children dying from measles. Measles was previously eliminated in the US, thanks to vaccines.

When children die from measles, it means that adults have catastrophically failed to protect them because they have rejected basic science.

Antiviral unveiled that goes after multiple coronaviruses Open-science consortium discloses its lead candidate to fight SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV

New pancoronavirus antiviral targets the main protease (Mpro) of the two different coronaviruses that cause Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and COVID-19. Via @laurahowes.bsky.social @cenmag.bsky.social cen.acs.org/acs-news/acs...