Dr Ry Holland

I've made an Insta account for Antarctic adventures and sci comm - come say hiiiiiiii if that's your thing! www.instagram.com/ry.themicrog...

Assessment of malnutrition in preschool-aged children by mid-upper arm circumference in the Gaza Strip (January, 2024–August, 2025): a longitudinal, cross-sectional, surveillance study After nearly 2 years of war and severe restrictions in humanitarian aid, tens of thousands of preschool-aged children in the Gaza Strip are suffering from preventable acute malnutrition and facing an ...

Study in the Lancet journal finds that Israel's starvation campaign in Gaza has left 55,000 children under the age of five acutely malnourished, risking long-term health damage. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Today's the last day to complete this short survey for the ARC about the use of AI in grant assessment.

Survey link: www.surveymonkey.com/r/X7PY5GL

Very grateful to have received a small grant from the Antarctic Science Foundation to support exploration of new techniques for my research with @arcsaef.bsky.social. I purchased vital equipment to help us extract RNA from low biomass Antarctic soils - fingers crossed for some cool metaT data!

📢 PLEASE RT!
❄️ M2 Masters Internship: Metagenomic analysis of microbial cold adaptation in the cryosphere
🧬 Compile & curate ice nucleation & cold-adaptation protein database
🖥️ Build HMM profiles
🦠 Analyze existing metagenomic data using HMMs

☀️ Marseille, France
Apply by 15 Oct

Microbial traits for volatile production and consumption are diverse and consequential. Here's why they are ripe for interpretation through a trait-based lens...

Led by UA PhD students Ledford and Geffre @parkergeffre.bsky.social in collab w/ LBNL team @elbrodie.bsky.social Marschmann Karaoz

🏆 Octopus and Ice Sheet Team @marine-omics.bsky.social is awarded the Aspire Scholarship Eureka Prize for Excellence in Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.

Learn more: youtu.be/8H3bCE6wfjM

#EurekaPrizes
@janstrugnell.bsky.social
@lausally.bsky.social
@nick-golledge.bsky.social

For balance, this has been my first really big year of grant submissions and I've had a bunch of unsuccessful ones so far! So it's nice to see some wins coming in 😊

Having to spend some time writing grants while on annual leave has been counterbalanced by getting two 🥳successful🥳 grant emails this week. I'm excited for the new avenues in Antarctic research that are opening up for our team 🏔️🌱

Hi Yasin, I can't message you on here or find your email but I'm interested to learn more! Feel free to reach out at sophie.holland@monash.edu :)

Interested in a co-authorship?
We’re building a tool for repository-scale untargeted #metabolomics and #exposomics of #environmental data. To make it the best it can be, we’re looking for people willing to share high-resolution LC-MS/MS (DDA) data from #water, #soil, #sediment, and related samples.

Comment out now in Nature Reviews Biodiversity where we argue that blocking renewable energy, esp wind and solar, for biodi reasons is unnecessary - we can manage any tradeoffs. And unchecked climate change is far, far worse! Don't let biodi become political football www.nature.com/articles/s44...

- Standardisation and harmonisation of methods
- Inclusion of at least two methods to confirm microbial degradation, with consideration for the caveats and specific results from each
- More robust means of linking plastic degradation to biological activity, e.g. via isotopically labelled plastics

We strongly advocate for:
- Use of environmentally relevant polymers, microplastics, in situ incubations, and long-term incubations
- Detailed reporting on the size, concentration and physical properties of plastic, for meaningful comparison of results
- Controls, controls, controls! ...

A figure from the review paper listing methods for assessing plastic biodegradation. They are grouped into three clusters: physical changes, chemical changes, and products produced/consumed.

How can we assess whether microbial degradation of plastic pollution has occurred? Our new systematic review, led by Jennifer Scott, assesses a multitude of methods & makes recommendations to improve study design @heriotwattuni.bsky.social
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0048-9697(25)01917-5

Hi all, it's time for a reintroduction! 👋 I'm changing my name to Ry. Delightfully, this also allows me to work with the fun new bluesky handle of Ry the Micro Guy @rythemicroguy.bsky.social. Have a lovely Sunday 🏳️‍⚧️

"Australia should urgently adopt an ambitious,
strategically prioritised and explicit Antarctic and Southern Ocean research agenda supported by a
consolidated whole-of-government commitment."
✅ ✅ ✅ 💯

Home - CliC OSC 2026 About the conference REgister now Abstract Guidelines Registration is open! Register here and use the buttons below to access travel resources. FLIGHT DISCOUNTS ACCOMMODATION TRAVEL INFORMATION Second...

Abstract deadline for Climate and Cryosphere 2026, in Wellington NZ, now extended till August 31st. Spread the word...

clic2026.com

#climate #academicsky #nz

This design came to me and I've been convinced me to make it real. So I'm now taking MAKE ANTARCTICA GAY AGAIN cap orders 😂 Open to those in Naarm Melbourne and anyone willing to pay postage + ~$30 for the hat. ❄️✨🌈

Logo for the Sandpiper website

Out in @natbiotech.nature.com: Metagenome taxonomy profilers usually ignore unknown species. SingleM is an accurate profiler which doesn't, even detecting phyla with no MAGs. Profiles of 700,000 metagenomes at sandpiper.qut.edu.au. A 🧵

Close-up of pink agar plate with bacterial colonies, promoting a call for papers on microbiology education perspectives.

What does innovation in microbiology teaching look like?

We invite papers on pedagogy, tech, curriculum, and student engagement in microbiology education.

More information ▶️ buff.ly/OMVT8xk

#SciComm #MicrobiologyEducation #AcademicSky #SciComm 🧪 #AcWri #PHDSky #ScholComms #OpenScience #SciPol

Scenic view of icebergs drifting in water, framed by towering mountains, showcasing Antarctica's summer landscape.

A new study shows these extremes trigger cascading effects—from ocean warming to habitat loss for top predators. The findings underscore the urgent need for sustained long-term monitoring.

In New Scientist: www.newscientist.com/article/2486...

In PNAS Nexus: academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/ar...

Lots of other fun Antarctic-themed things happening all week for the Family Fiesta too!
www.monash.edu/performing-a...

Polar Camp - MPAC – Monash University Performing Arts Centres

Polar camp details www.monash.edu/performing-a...

Creativity experts Laura and Mon dressed in polar explorer gear in front of three yellow tents.

Scientists Madi and Bec in front of a table with microscopes, snowshoes and crampons.

We teamed up with One Planet & @monashuniversity.bsky.social to set up a Polar Camp at the Family Fiesta this week! If you're in Naarm with kids aged 3-12, come have a chat about Antarctica ❄️, search for bugs 🪲, learn how we do science in the field 🧑‍🔬. Details below.

@arcsaef.bsky.social

😂💅💁 Expecting influencer sponsorship deals in my inbox any day now...

Women end up doing the academic housework

A study on what many of us already know: over 75% of internal service work in academia is done by women. The bit that gets me:”The male associate professors in particular made it clear that they actively engaged in evasiveness and did not want to participate if it was not positive for their careers”

Our new consensus statement on reducing and reporting contamination in microbiome studies is the cover image of this month's Nature Microbiology: www.nature.com/articles/s41... In the cover photo, you can see our postdoc Sophie Holland in fully PPE sampling the atmosphere of terrestrial Antarctica.

ABACBS 2025 Conference Adelaide, South Australia. Nov. 24-

Finally joined Bluesky! Follow along to stay connected with ABACBS. Keep an eye out in the coming days, we’ll be releasing more details for 2025 conference, including opening abstract submissions and announcing invited speakers!

www.abacbs.org/abacbs2025

A figure from the paper showing how contamination can appear in microbiome data during sampling, DNA extraction, and Library preparation and sequencing steps.

This accompanies our recent article "Guidelines for preventing and reporting contamination in low-biomass microbiome studies", lead by @greening.bsky.social and @noahfierer.bsky.social. Check it out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...
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