Hypothesis Fund

Big congrats to HF Awardees @stevenbanik.bsky.social and @herdelineardona.bsky.social for being awarded Sloan Research Fellowships! 🤩

Congratulations new Sloan Fellow @stevenbanik.bsky.social @stanford-chemh.bsky.social 👏

Kuang To Investigate How Microbes May Rewrite Genetic Messages Carnegie Mellon University’s Zheng Kuang is exploring whether bacteria in the gut microbiota help decide which versions of a gene get activated.

Zheng Kuang is uncovering how gut microbes may influence which gene isoforms our cells use. Supported by a new grant from @hypothesisfund.bsky.social, his work could reveal new links between diet, the microbiome and disease, opening doors to novel RNA‑based therapies. 🧪 #Biology #MolecularBiology

4/ Awardee Sukrit Silas is setting out to solve the longstanding challenge of predicting phage-bacteria compatibility🦠. His project could transform how phages are harnessed to fight against antibiotic resistance.
🍾 Congrats Dr. Silas! @gladstoneinst.bsky.social
#HFScout Devaki Bhaya

3/ Can the microbes in our gut change how our genes🧬 are read & used? Awardee Zheng Kuang's bold research question may lead to the discovery of novel host–microbe interactions critical for health & disease.
🎉 Congrats Dr. Kuang! @cmu.edu
🙏 #HFScout Rob Knight

2/ Awardee @archaeon-alex.bsky.social, in collab w/ Co-Is Amy Schmid & Bonnie Baxter,
is taking the lab🔬 to the field -- to uncover how microbes adapt to extreme environmental changes found in the Great Salt Lake!
🥳 Congrats Dr. Bisson! @iubiology.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @planaria1.bsky.social

📣Announcing our first awardees of 2026🌠, who are setting out to uncover new knowledge about microbes in extreme environments, host-microbiome interactions, & bacterial defenses. bit.ly/HFAwardees
Hear why our #HFScouts recommended these talented scientists👇 in our 🧵:

Hear about Devaki Bhaya's work on cyanobacteria in last week's @scifri.bsky.social episode!
www.sciencefriday.com/segments/lig...

Novel killer yeasts and toxins from the gardens of fungus-growing ants | Applied and Environmental Microbiology Attine ants perform essential ecosystem services through the harvesting of substrates for fungiculture. The cultured fungi are a food source for attine ants. Characterizing antifungal toxin-producing ...

Our lastest publication on a new killer toxin produced by a yeast isolated from a fungus-growing ant garden! journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

I'm immensely grateful for Hypothesis Fund support!

For years, we've speculated about "rules" for mixotroph metabolic flexibility. This funding will allow us to integrate new mol & cell bio tools with our modeling optimization approaches.

Thank you 🙏 to scout Ginger Armbrust for finding us!

This is a huge honor and we’re so excited to get started on this new direction for our group stemming from the work of William McLaughlin, a Ph.D. Candidate in our lab!

Major thanks to our scout, Paul Turner and Hypothesis Fund for seeing the potential in this project! Time to get to work! 🧬🧫🧪

4/ #DYK during pregnancy🤰, cells are exchanged between mothers + offspring, & even twins? Awardee @elizostrow.bsky.social will study how microchimerism mediates genetic conflict and drive resource competition.
🍾 Congrats Dr. Ostrowski! @uwbothell.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

3/ Awardee @mixotrophe.bsky.social aims to uncover how mixotrophs (marine microbes that harness energy from the 🌞 & organic matter) strategize their metabolisms. Her project may be key to understanding our changing ocean.
🎉 Congrats Dr. Moeller! @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout Ginger Armbrust

2/ Awardee @megbehri.bsky.social will study how chaotic dynamics arise in microbial🦠 populations. Her research could transform how we predict microbiome dysbiosis across human health and beyond.
🥳 Congrats Dr. Behringer! @vuartsci.bsky.social
🙏 #HFScout @paulturnerlab.bsky.social

✨Announcing our newest awardees, who are taking scientific leaps to uncover new knowledge across microbial ecology, marine microbiology, and mammalian genetics. Learn about their projects: bit.ly/HFAwardees

Meet our awardees and hear from their #HFScouts in our 🧵/1

Our next extraordinary biologist is Manu Prakash, plenary speaker at the Biologists @ 100 conference, who was recently interviewed for @jcellsci.bsky.social. #100biologists @prakashlab.bsky.social

The winners of the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Audio Gold Award, including Science Friday's Flora Lichtman for "The Leap."

Congratulations to the 2025 winners of the international @aaas.org Kavli Science Journalism Awards! Read the full list of this year's winners—including journalists from Australia, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom: bit.ly/4oCwZtq

Congrats @flichtman.bsky.social, @annetteheist.bsky.social, @pvangay.bsky.social, & David Sanford on the award! Great to partner with @scifri.bsky.social to share The Leap w/ the world!
Here’s to celebrating science not just as a discipline but as a daring & profoundly human endeavor. 4/4

This award recognizes this spirit of curiosity & courage, and we’re so grateful to the scientists who shared their stories with us, as well as everyone who listened, shared, and found inspiration in our podcast. 3/

When we created The Leap, we wanted to dive into the journeys of visionary scientists (like Nobel Laureate Katalin Kariko, volcanologist Richie Robertson, & biochemist Virginia Man-Lee Yee) and unpack the risks they took, the setbacks they faced, and their lasting impacts. 💫 2/

🎉 Big news! We've been awarded the 2025 @aaas.org Kavli Science Journalism Gold Award for The Leap, our audio documentary that features the scientists behind some of the biggest breakthroughs of our time. sjawards.aaas.org/news/2025-aa... 1/

It was lovely speaking to @harmitmalik.bsky.social for @dmmjournal.bsky.social Infectious Disease Special Issue. We chatted about his work on host-viral evolution, the importance of blue-skies research and his approach to creating a supportive lab environment
journals.biologists.com/dmm/article/...

The ocean’s got rhythm — and so do its viruses.
With the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series (BATS), we dove deep — every 4 to 12 hours — to see how viral populations swing through day and night.

Dipti was initially drawn to Archaea for their highly unusual metabolism. "In reflecting on my scientific trajectory, I realize how unique it has been & now take pride in being the ambassador for archaea to the broader scientific community." 4/4

Shown in this image, the frozen methane bubbles🫧 are produced by the microorganisms that she studies in her lab. She shares: "This image beautifully captures the dramatic impact that these invisible microorganisms can have on our planet and on us too." 3/

The oxygen-free environments that methanogens thrive in are also what makes them technically challenging to work with. But Dipti found a way💡. By pioneering the development of genome editing tools for methanogens, she's unlocked a completely new way to study these microbes. 2/

🤩Say hi to #HFScout Dipti Nayak, whose pioneering work on methanogenic archaea (a special group of ancient microbes) is transforming how we understand early life on Earth 🌎 and informing new strategies to address climate change. 1/

Roseanna shares, "My career has been transformed by having taken this risk and I am happier than ever as a scientist."💫 We're excited for Roseanna to support even more bold science exploration as a Scout! 4/4

She found thought partners & mentors to help her break into the #synbio world, & leaned on her novel expertise in colloid physics. This bold move led to the development of the first ever whole-cell model of E. coli, where biomolecules are represented individually & explicitly. 3/

After a successful career in materials science, Roseanna took a big leap: she brought her expertise to the very different world of *living* biological cells🦠. This required mastering a new discipline, entering a new scientific community, & assembling a specialized team. 2/