Igor Pessi

We have a date for the free-to-attend #anvio workshop and ECR Symposium for 2026, and we look forward to meeting you at the @hifmb.de in Oldenburg, Germany!

Please find more information on the venue, program, and the application form here, and spread the word 😇

anvio.org/workshops/20...

📢 Save the Date: Biodiversity Monitoring Week is coming! #BioMonWeek2026
📅 4-8 May
📍 Montpellier (FR)
The new European forum for cooperation and innovation in biodiversity monitoring, gathering researchers, practitioners, policymakers, private sector & students. Don't miss out!

"In a way it sounds crazy right?"
Even they admit it, and still, everyone just seems to be playing along.

ECR connection: Meet Meren when you need to A means for ECRs to get advice from a senior scientist outside of their support network

Starting this week, I set aside one hour each week to meet ECRs outside my group who want to discuss career development, mentorship, or any non-technical professional questions.

Here is a blog that explains my motivation for this and how to schedule a meeting:

merenlab.org/2025/11/16/E...

The Hektoria Glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula retreated by at least 8 km in two months, a rate nearly 10 times faster than previously measured for a grounded glacier, according to a study in Nature Geoscience. go.nature.com/4nETBYJ ⚒️ 🧪

If you're interested in using pangenome graphs for comparative genomics, check out my webinar, part of EMBL-EBI's "Concepts, methods, and resources in pangenomics" series, available on-demand: www.ebi.ac.uk/training/eve...

To all visionary microbe enthusiasts: @femsmicro.org is looking for an editor-in-chief for their flagship journal FEMS Microbiology Reviews! More details can be found here: fems-microbiology.org/opportunitie...

ABSURDO! Qualquer criança que aparece grávida antes dos 14 anos foi vítima de estupro. Esses deputados estão violentando essas meninas novamente, obrigando a ter um filho do estuprador.

CRIANÇA NÃO É MÃE
CONGRESSO INIMIGO DO POVO

He is also a Fellow of the @royalsociety.org

Nature piece about the latest book by Steven Pinker, where he complains about the “cancel culture”, showing how difficult is the life of a “cancelled” intellectual, like he says so many times in all his books and podcasts and interviews

And then they were advertising this other conference on biology and arts using this horrendous image that is neither art nor biology…

Been to a marine ecology conference recently and the amount of phytoplankton researchers with horrendous AI “phytoplankton” images was insane…

openletter.earth/open-letter-...

And it is (finally) accepted to be published in Microbiology Spectrum.

Competitive metagenomic read recruitment explained A tutorial on the nuts and bolts of competitive read recruitment

I wrote a new tutorial on competitive metagenomic read recruitment (and profiling of the results with #anvio), for those of us nerds who would like to get their hands dirty with data:

anvio.org/tutorials/co...

📣📣📣📣now open for applications!!

Postdoc on microbial oxygen production in marine oxygen minimum zones Application deadline: 17 November 2025 at 23:59 hours local Danish time

📣Postdoc opportunity @nordcee.bsky.social , University of Southern Denmark! 📣

Join us and work with Bo Thamdrup and me on microbial dark oxygen production in marine oxygen minimum zones!

Please share widely!

Deadline: 17 November

More information can be found here:
tinyurl.com/2vuur3wh

Postdoc vacancy: Microbial dormancy in the cryosphere
@erc.europa.eu #ERC_SIESTA
📢 PLEASE RT

🧬 Single cell microbial activity measurements, flow cytometry, cell sorting, omics, ecological interpretation

☀️ Marseille, France
‼️ Apply ASAP & before 7 Nov
Link: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

Please share this with anyone who may be interested in a post-doc in Germany:

jobs.awi.de/Vacancies/20...

This is quite an exciting opportunity to push the boundaries of what is known regarding the molecular basis of the formation and demise of photosymbiotic relationships in marine habitats.

New blogpost on my concerns about Wellcome LEAP new $50m program on autism/microbiome links. deevybee.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-le...
#autism #microbiome #biomarkers #diagnostic

On an Arctic archipelago, frozen soil may preserve a hidden history of viruses Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases

Scientists are hunting for ancient RNA in Svalbard’s permafrost, hoping to shed light on the evolution of viral diseases. https://scim.ag/4ncaVnX

Exploring new drivers for nitrogen fixation in polar oceans at University of Southampton on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Exploring new drivers for nitrogen fixation in polar oceans at University of Southampton, listed on FindAPhD.com

PhD available in my group to work on polar nitrogen fixation www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Postdoctoral position on methanotrophic bacteria - Vacancy at Aarhus University Vacancy at Department of Biology - Microbiology, Aarhus University

I'm recruiting a postdoc to figure out how aerobic methanotrophic bacteria oxidise methane in anoxic freshwater sediment environments: international.au.dk/about/profil... Come to Aarhus University in Denmark and work on this 2-year project funded by @villumfonden.bsky.social!

This is huge!
(Never mind the awful click bait title)

Great to have been involved in this work led by @igorspp.bsky.social
New insight into the degradation of #plastics in marine systems

Biodegradation of different bioplastics by specialised microbial communities in a coastal brackish environment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.679016v1

“Biology”, “arts”… 🤦‍♂️