Thomas Mock

Fully funded #PhD Studentship in my lab! Get in touch 😀

The role of light-driven proton pumps in sustaining oceanic primary production #microbial #rhodopsins #diatom #ocean
@ueaenv.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Our latest #preprint led by Yumary M. Vasquez & Frederik Schulz @jgi.doe.gov

The largest database of giant #virus MAGs (GVMAGs V2) with >18,000 genomes from #marine, freshwater, anthropogenic and terrestrial environments.

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

Congrats all! Exciting times ahead! Good luck everyone! 😊👍👏

Congrats everyone including @paulgmock.bsky.social Good luck at @mpimarinemicrobio.bsky.social You are in good hands

www.mpi-bremen.de/en/Welcome-M...

Blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) - Nature Ecology & Evolution Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo zooms in and out on cyanobacteria.

New Species Spotlight 👇

Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo zooms in and out on cyanobacteria

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Free to read: rdcu.be/eHZSN

A genomic view of Earth’s biomes - Nature Reviews Genetics Genome-wide approaches have uncovered the vast microbial and viral diversity across ecosystems. This Review explores advances in metagenomics, single-cell sequencing and functional profiling to elucid...

Sequencing methods 🧬 have come a long way from census counts 🔢 to assembling genomes and understanding the functions 🧪 of bacteria and viruses.

New review by @jgi.doe.gov's Gitta Szabó, @emileyeloe-fadrosh.bsky.social, Tanja Woyke with @jeffinerca.bsky.social

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Worth reading: A genome-wide CRISPR screen reveals how #diatoms thrive in dynamic light. From Ellen Yeh's group

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

Cool preprint: Evidence for the acquisition of a proteorhodopsin-like #rhodopsin by a chrysophyte-infecting giant #virus

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

UK introduces landmark legislation to protect world’s ocean The UK government introduces Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) legislation to help protect two-thirds of the world’s ocean.

UK introduces landmark legislation to protect world’s ocean
www.gov.uk/government/n...

Public strongly backs aim of 30% of land and sea set aside for nature, poll finds Survey of eight countries finds 82% of people support 30x30 biodiversity target, as progress stalls on protected areas

Survey of 8 countries including Spain and the US finds 82% of people support setting aside 30% land + sea for nature.

All over the world, people WANT rewilding. Time our politicians started turning that clear wish into actual policy. Let's bring nature back!!!
share.google/8lsJ5PfS2nau...

Last few days for booking your online tickets!

Join leading coccolithophore scientists online at Advances in Coccolithophore Research 2025, 9-11 September. Full schedule including speakers and talks available - buff.ly/oaMjqZB

➡️ Book your ticket by Friday 5 September.

Thanks Nic. Extremly motile. This is why we had to use FACS to get clones. They are very fast on plates.

Our latest methods article led by Longji Deng. It enables to reverse engineer #photosynthesis in a eukaryotic heterotroph containing a "chloroplast": The #diatom Nitzschia putrida @ueaenv.bsky.social @norwichmicro.bsky.social

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Our new paper just out in BMC Biology led by Johanna Winder: Environmental adaptations in #metagenomes revealed by deep learning. Artificial neural networks were used to classify ice-binding / substrate-binding proteins (DUF3494).

bmcbiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10....

Applecross Bay

Over the Scottish Highlands

Common sea urchin > 10cm in diameter.

Bealach na Bà pass - Scotland

Found some 👍

Coral beach covered with maerl. Toscaig - Scotland

Arctic Ocean virus communities and their seasonality, bipolarity, and prokaryotic associations - Nature Communications Based on bulk DNA time-series sequencing of the surface Arctic Ocean, Calayag et al. show that planktonic viruses are strongly seasonal in abundance and community composition, and are correlated stron...

Worth reading: #Arctic Ocean virus communities
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Has ‘excellence’ funding brought a ‘German Harvard’ any closer? For two decades, Germany has spent billions of euros on boosting the research capacity of its top institutions. As selection proceeds for another six-year Excellence Strategy, Emily Dixon examines whe...

Has ‘excellence’ funding brought a ‘German Harvard’ any closer? www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/has-ex...

Meer: Das größte Geschenk, das der Mensch je bekommen hat Wir haben das Meer gefürchtet und lieben gelernt. Ein Versuch, seine Magie zu ergründen: mit Menschen, die darauf leben, die es gerettet hat, die seinen Ursprung suchen

For ocean lovers (in German)
www.zeit.de/2025/31/meer...

Proud dad moment: Paul with a BSc (Hons) Biology from @newcastleuni.bsky.social

Quality of scientific papers questioned as academics ‘overwhelmed’ by the millions published Widespread mockery of AI-generated rat with giant penis in one paper brings problem to public attention

www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Tiny creature gorges, gets fat, and locks up planet-warming carbon Scientists find out how the epic deep sea migration of a tiny animal is storing planet-warming carbon.

Tiny creatures gorge, get fat, and help fight global warming www.bbc.com/news/article...

CryoRhodopsins: A comprehensive characterization of a group of microbial rhodopsins from cold environments Spectroscopy, structural, and functional study of microbial rhodopsins with characteristic long-living near–UV-absorbing state.

Worth reading: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

The coral garden of #Norfolk #UK

Happy to join GEOMARs Scientific Advisory Board on a four-year term commencing Jan. 2026. @geomarkiel.bsky.social

We detected the toxin leadbeaterin‑1 and found that nutrient stress correlates with the expression of polyketide synthase genes and mixotrophy pathways.
Suggests? These blooms are more resilient and deadly under nutrient depletion.