Andrian Gajigan

We're hiring for several positions (a post-bac researcher in #transcriptomics, a #phage #postdoc, a senior researcher (broad topics) and a graduate student to work on #ciliates) - find info here: www.marine.usf.edu/genomics/app...

A Bradyrhizobium isolate from a marine diatom induces nitrogen-fixing nodules in a terrestrial legume - Nature Microbiology A non-cyanobacterial diazotroph previously isolated from a marine eukaryotic phytoplankton triggers formation of nitrogen-fixing root nodules when inoculated onto a terrestrial legume.

A Bradyrhizobium isolate from a marine
diatom induces nitrogen-fixing nodules in a
terrestrial legume
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis Sea slugs steal foreign chloroplasts and store them in specialized organelles that facilitate photosynthesis and eventual digestion to mediate starvation resistance.

A host organelle integrates stolen chloroplasts for animal photosynthesis: Cell www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

Lettuce coral, Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, Red Sea Image credit: Renata Romeo / Ocean Image Bank (https://www.theoceanagency.org)

Interested in doing a PhD in environmental research at Oxford? We offer fully-funded positions through ILESLA, now open for applications at iles.web.ox.ac.uk!

Happy to discuss applications with students whose interests align with modelling marine dispersal or oceanic forcing of coral reefs.

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail - Nature Communications Rodrigues and Queiroz et al. report the discovery of Naiavirus, the largest enveloped virus, isolated from a Brazil biome. With an oval capsid and flexible tail, its giant genome holds many novel gene...

Naiavirus: an enveloped giant virus with a pleomorphic, flexible tail
nature.com/articles/s41467-025-63463-6

Bioinformaticians / computational biologists take note - know where you should take your OS tool chain from and do not introduce backdoors.

Looking for a postdoc that combines wet and dry lab experience?

The EMBL-EBI-Sanger postdoctoral fellowships might be the thing for you!

Choose one of our pre-defined topics or propose your own.

www.ebi.ac.uk/research/pos...

@sangerinstitute.bsky.social

#postdoc #sciencecareers
🧬🖥️🔬

Hello there 🦋
Happy to share our piece "Towards a trait-based framework for protist ecology and evolution" in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social

Let's build a unified trait 📏 database to unlock transformative insights into protist 🔬 ecology 🌍 and evolution ⏳

▶️ doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

#protistsonsky

MANILA, Philippines — Floods swamped parts of Quezon City on Saturday after an hour of record-breaking rainfall that exceeded levels seen during Trolical Storm 'Ondoy' in 2009, the local government said.

Read more:
tmt.news/2176398

Electron micrograph of two phage infecting a host cell side-by-side, with hearts between them

Do you love phage? I have an opening for a postdoc in my lab at the University of South Florida College of Marine Science (@cmarinescience.bsky.social) looking at interactions between marine phage and iron, which is an important limiting trace metal in the oceans (1/5) 🧵#phagesky 🦠🌊

"if we do the work only for rewards and recognition, we have gone astray. It becomes hollow. Creative work of every sort (not just science) occurs in a niche where the inner drive to understand or express and the outer drive to be rewarded achieve some balance."

Research Visit Grant Login to apply

If you are planning a short (one-to three-month) research visit to another laboratory, don’t miss your opportunity to apply for funding via our Research visit grant Check your eligibility and apply before 01 October 2025 at 23.59 BST. microb.io/ResearchVisi...

A giant virus wags its tail University of Hawai'i at Mānoa oceanographers have identified PelV-1, a dinoflagellate-infecting giant virus whose micron-length tail reaches 2.3 µm, stretching current notions of viral architecture.

PelV-1, a newly identified giant virus infecting dinoflagellates, features a 2.3 µm tail and a diverse genome, expanding current understanding of marine viral diversity and morphology. doi.org/g9wn3r

Ons thing that's really bugging me about the "PhD level intelligence" is that a PhD isn't a measure of intelligence, it's a measure of commitment to study and specialisation in a narrow field (and opportunity to do so).

"PhD level intelligence" isn't really a meaningful phrase

Trainees: If you haven't already, learn the value of implementing the Bat Signal with your peers. When you're stuck and need a body double, a review, a brainstorm, an escape... this can be game-changing. Don't worry about being a bother, instead: pay it forward. We all need it a some point. 1/3

Very proud of the work from lab members and collaborators that coincidentally came out today www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... and www.nature.com/articles/s41.... A bacterial and viral pathogen associated with mass mortality in seastars and oysters. @kevinzhong2006.bsky.social @rhizalyssa.bsky.social

Academia is basically a collection of people who got lucky early on and mistook it for genius. doi.org/10.1073/pnas...

Giant virus with record-long tail discovered in Pacific Ocean Infecting marine plankton, the pathogen may use its extreme appendage to enter host cells

Our work is featured on @science.org 🥰

Giant virus with record-long tail discovered in Pacific Ocean | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations “In recent months, a curious fixation has emerged in corners of academia: the em dash. More specifically, the apparent moral panic around how it is...

The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the...

You can spend a life time on a boat - and still be looking at new things every single day! Here is a quick glimpse of what’s just under our feet/boat!!

Fifteen years later, Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper despite study authors’ protests Belated decision on widely disputed 2010 study pleases some critics but puzzles and dismays others

Fifteen years later, Science retracts ‘arsenic life’ paper despite study authors’ protests | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

So many interesting features and so many questions and hypothesis. Happy to further chat about this new dinoflagellate-virus system. But hereʻs a quick summary of what we found:

We then purified and sequence its genome. We found tail protein homologs and interesting cellular homologs (common to giant viruses), as well as co-occurring, albeit low abundance virus (named co-PelV)

This is reminiscent of an archaeal virus that develops it tails outside of its host! Possibly through a self assembling protein.

Entry is likely phagocytosis. But we were baffled to see that it produces non-tailed virions upon lysis.

Hereʻs an electron micrograph:

A curious feature is the tail that can extend to as long as an E. coli. We found one that is 2.3um long.

PelV-1 as we call it was isolated by Chris Schvarcz from Hawaii waters.

A dinoflagellate-infecting giant virus with a micron-length tail Viral infection is a ubiquitous source of marine plankton mortality, but relatively few viruses that infect phytoplankton have been characterized. Here we describe a virus, PelV-1, with unusual morpho...

Excited that this is out as a preprint! ❇️

We are introducing a novel dinoflagellate giant virus that holds so many mysteries!

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...