Baylink Lab

🚨 2 funded #PhD positions (ERC Adv Grant) in the Moissl-Eichinger Lab, Graz! Study Methanobrevibacter as a keystone in the gut microbiome.
💡 Omics, modeling, synthetic consortia
📅 Deadline: Sept 10, 2025
🌍 Int’l applicants welcome!
Application link below.
#microbiomesky #archaeasky #microsky

How China’s bold talent recruitment has shaped science Many Chinese researchers have received enviable benefits and positions after returning from training abroad.

Talent recruitment programmes have enticed many researchers to return to China. But how successful have they been? I spoke with several researchers who have analysed these trends and assessed their impact on China's research ecosystem 🧪

Well now Im learning new things about indole! When we work with the bottle in dry format it is a bit pungent but not so bad as 💩

Disease-causing bacteria can deal with stink as long as they get a meal New WSU research shows gut pathogens like Salmonella will brave a toxic chemical to reach nutrients, offering insights for treating infections.

Some behind-the-scenes insight on the research for non-experts. And FYI, the 'stinky' indole for poo we studied here is actually a major ingredient in lots of perfumes. Turns out it smells better at low concentrations!

news.wsu.edu/press-releas...

Study published here:

elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre...

Shown is Dr. Baylink holding a tiny glass needle known as a microcapillary. This was used to study chemotaxis by injecting chemical effectors into a pond of motile bacteria and monitoring their responses through microscopy.

In our new study in @elife.bsky.social
with the cheeky title "Navigating Contradictions" we used these tiny glass needles to study chemotaxis & learn how Salmonella and other gut pathogens make decisions when they encounter conflicting stimuli.

#microsky #IDsky 🦠🧪 #gastrosky

tinyurl.com/yckdn8v6

Beautiful

Wow, well done!

Lab website: sites.rutgers.edu/ann-stock-lab/. Applicants can apply at
jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/254... and by email to stock@cabm.rutgers.edu

🚨 Postdoc Opportunity – Rutgers University!
Join Ann Stock’s lab to study how Bacteroides regulate fiber and glycan metabolism via hybrid two-component systems.
Structural + regulatory biology | CryoEM, crystallography, gene regulation
🔗 Apply | 🔬 Lab
📧 stock@cabm.rutgers.edu #postdoc #microsky 🧪🦠

And this also biases the directions and priorities of science in ways that don’t necessarily reflect the values of the broader public.

Do yours ever resemble much of the finished product?

Postem!

hand drawn science diagrams

Scientists: anyone else's first draft of manuscript figures look like these?

🧪 #chemotaxis #microsky #motility

Got it. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you - your point is made. Any specifics? Genuinely asking and collecting different perspectives on this.

More about the Esch LEAD program here:

vetmed.wsu.edu/education/un...

a crowd of students and mentors at the Esch LEAD advisory retreat

At @wsuvetmed.bsky.social we are launching a new program to help students bridge the gap to careers in the biomedical industry.

What skills and experiences should we focus on to better prepare and connect our trainees with industry opportunities?

🧪🦠 #microsky #medsky #WSU

June is #NationalCancerSurvivorMonth. Thanks to cancer research, millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide are living with, through, and beyond a cancer diagnosis. Test your knowledge with our Cancer Survivorship quiz. www.aacr.org/Pages/NCSM-Q... #CelebrateSurvivorship

I always like a direct visual for experiments (if possible).

Yep! Thats what chemotaxis is for.

A figure from our study (https://elifesciences.org/reviewed-preprints/106261/figures, revisions) showing attraction of Salmonella to different mixtures of chemical effectors from fecal material.

The video shows 5 minutes of S. Typhimurium IR715 responding through chemotaxis to a mixture of chemical effectors present in human feces at fecal-relevant concentrations. This image shows max projections of the start and end points across different mixtures, showing how indole regulates attraction.

Like watching Salmonella swim around? We do!

In our revisions for our study in @elife.bsky.social we saw that #salmonella tolerates indole as long as nutrients are around, but the degree of their attraction depends on [indole].

Study: doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

🧪🦠 #Microsky #IDsky #Gastrosky

Khankhuuluu in the timeline of tyrannosaurs. Credit: Jared Voris

A paper in Nature reports the discovery of a new species of tyrannosauroid — the group of dinosaurs that includes Tyrannosaurus rex. This discovery sheds new light on the evolution of wider tyrannosaur species. go.nature.com/4jM0KVo #Paleosky 🧪

I've got some expanded thoughts on yesterday's State of the Science event.

A fair question. Yes, but would keep private for @bsky.app since I would be calling out specific accounts as spam.

Interested in the microbiome? Don’t miss this meeting at CalTech in September!

🧪 #microsky 🧫🦠

To swim or not to swim during starvation During carbon starvation, motility may help bacteria to swim out of trouble, but at great energetic cost. Marine bacteria have developed two strategies in response: keep searching or stay home.

And if you are interested in the "behind the paper" story...
urldefense.com/v3/__https:/...

Looking forward to these days ahead. Right now our only experiments are with the *hehem* microbiome.