Jessica Buchser

Who Should Get the RSV Vaccine? Babies and older adults are eligible for this newly available protection

The RSV vaccine is relatively new on the scene but proving remarkably effective at reducing hospitalizations in babies & older adults. The RSV season is about to ramp up, so get that protection if you are eligible!

jenndowd.substack.com/p/who-should... #medsky #episky #publichealth

Monty Python understood p-hacking

Massively parallel interrogation of the fitness of natural variants in ancient signaling pathways reveals pervasive local adaptation The nature of standing genetic variation remains a central debate in population genetics, with differing perspectives on whether common variants are almost always neutral as suggested by neutral and n...

One of the most exciting works of my career, years in the making. We used high-throughput precision genome editing to test the fitness effects of thousands of natural variants. Our findings challenge the long-held assumption that common variants are inconsequential.

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

Don’t let the frogwater that’s boiling us alive let you skip over this: we murdered another country’s citizens in cold blood, and when their leader objected, we called him a drug dealer and cut off aid to his country. That’s freakish.

screenshot of an email saying: "To the Penn Community: For 285 years, Penn has been anchored and guided by continuous self-improvement, using education as a ladder for opportunity, and advancing discoveries that serve our community, our nation, and the world. Since receiving the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education on October 1, I have sought input from faculty, alumni, trustees, students, staff and others who care deeply about Penn. The goal was to ensure that our response reflected our values and the perspectives of our broad community. Earlier today, I informed the U.S. Department of Education that Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact. As requested, we also provided focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns. At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnership between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress. I am grateful to the Penn community for your thoughtful input and for what you bring to our University and our missions every day. Sincerely, J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD President University of Pennsylvania"

Just received from a colleague: looks like Penn is going to join the universities refusing the extortionary Trump "compact". I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

Be so for real right now.

Study: We're losing the war against drug-resistant infections faster than we thought Antimicrobial resistance is responsible for some 1.2 million deaths a year a year and contributes to millions more. Data in the new report shows that the problem is growing at an alarming rate.

Antimicrobial resistance is responsible for some 1.2 million deaths a year a year and contributes to millions more. Data in the new report shows that the problem is growing at an alarming rate. n.pr/3J0HVBC

The one time I got the flu was the one year I forgot to get my vaccine. Never forgot again. Horrific illness, truly.

Headline from an article in Nature this week that states "Prizes must recognize machine contributions to discovery. The future of science will be written by humans and machines together. Awards should reflect that reality."

Lol the Nobels can't even acknowledge women's contribution to discovery. But sure let's acknowledge The Machines.

Slide with text “Support Society Journals: Society-based journals help build and advocate for our scientific communities” showing the logos for non profit publishers ASM, ACS, ASBMB. microbiology society, Science, and ISME. Underneath “for-profit journals do not” showing logos for Nature, Elsevier, Frontiers, CellPress, and MDPI.

A reminder to please support non-profit publishers.

It’s good for science and scientists.

It’s a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

It requires resisting peer pressure to submit to Nature journals.

Thanks @bacteriality.bsky.social for this helpful slide for microbiology journals.

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment.

The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP

jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

I often emphasize that there are rarely "silver bullets" that magically solve problems but vaccines are one of the closest things we have and it's mind-boggling and enraging to watch this "debate" unfold during my lifetime

I can’t quite wrap my head around seeing people suggest tetanus is safer than Tdap because “toxins.” According to them, the safe way to avoid “toxins” in vaccines means exposure to a literal neurotoxin instead.

I still can't get over the suggestion for pregnant women to 'tough it out' spoken by the softest man that has ever lived.

This mf’er is a hugely unpopular lame duck and people and institutions with actual power are out here acting, for eight months straight, like he’s some goddam immortal emperor. Fuck that noise.

We are all super happy and proud to see our work on the function and evolution of the #cephalic #furrow published in @nature.com. Let me say a few things about the background and history of this work on the #Evolution_of_Morphogenesis (1/12)

Sub-3 Å resolution protein structure determination by single-particle cryo-EM at 100 keV Cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM) has transformed structural biology by providing high-resolution insights into biological macromolecules. We report s…

See our new article in Structure! Sub-3 Å resolution protein structure determination by single-particle #cryoEM at 100 keV. Really exciting results with 100kV Tundra Cryo-TEM.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species Temperate phages oscillate between lysogeny, a genomic maintenance state within a bacterial host, and lytic replication, in which the host is killed, and newly made phage particles are released. Successful transmission to new hosts requires that temperate phages appropriately time their transitions from lysogeny to lysis. It is well understood that temperate phages trigger lysis upon detection of host cell stress. Understanding of the breadth of cues that induce lysis expanded with the discovery of phages carrying quorum-sensing receptor genes that promote lytic induction exclusively at high host cell density. Bacteria engage in a cell-cell communication process called quorum sensing, which relies on the production, release, accumulation, and group-wide detection of extracellular signal molecules called autoinducers. Bacteria use quorum sensing to monitor changes in population density and synchronize collective behaviors. The temperate phage VP882 (jVP882) encodes VqmAj – a homolog of its host’s quorum-sensing receptor/transcription factor VqmA. VqmAj allows jVP882 to detect the accumulation of the host autoinducer called DPO. Presumably, launching the lytic induction program at high host cell density maximizes jVP882 transmission to new hosts. Here, by mining sequence databases for linear plasmid phages, we identify VP882-like phages in multiple DPO-producing bacterial species isolated at diverse times and geographic locations. We show that the VqmAj homologs can indeed detect DPO and, in response, activate the lytic pathway. Our observation indicates that jVP882 is a member of a large family of globally-dispersed quorum-sensing-responsive temperate phages.

A family of linear plasmid phages that detect a quorum-sensing autoinducer exists in multiple bacterial species | bioRxiv https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.07.30.667625v1?rss=1

Drosophila Genetic Database The Drosophila Genetic Database, FlyBase, is on the brink of collapse due to the sudden termination of the FlyBase NIH grant, which includes salaries for 5 literature curators based at the University ...

My lab studies bacterial infections. We spend a lot of time looking at (or for) species-specific genetic and genomic databases for hosts and microbes. FlyBase is the best of all—there is literally no comparison. Its existence is under threat. Please donate.
www.philanthropy.cam.ac.uk/give-to-camb...

H3K27me3 domains in HEK293 cells change with accelerated cell cycle timing. Top left: Flow cytometry analysis of DNA content using propidium iodide fluorescence for HEK293 cells that were treated with DMSO for 48 h. Bottom left: As above, but HEK293 cells treated with Chiron-124 for 48 h. Top middle: Immunoblot for H3K27me3 and H3 on acid-extracted histones after 48-h treatment with Chiron-124. Bottom middle: Quantification of the modification levels normalized to DMSO-treatment. p-value calculated using two-tailed, homoscedastic student t test. Right: Heatmap of H3K27me3 enrichment at domains defined in DMSO treated cells for DMSO treatment (left) and Chiron-124 treatment (middle), and the log2 ratio of H3K27me3 within domains for Chiron-124 over DMSO (right).

Why do #StemCells have lower levels of facultative #heterochromatin, defined by H3K27me3, compared to differentiated cells? By artificially lengthening G1 phase, @4everbiochemist.bsky.social &co show that G1 length is an essential determinant of H3K27me3 landscape @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4lKfztO

in case you're wondering, "what's the harm in claiming an extinct species has been brought back from the dead" when it most certainly has not, our interior secretary is already using it to justify taking animals off the endangered species list

Goal achieved: An unusual number of people in an unusual number of places. 1,300 globally. There were probably more than 10,000 speakers alone at rallies today. Baffling to think about this scale!

The “who” is impacted by cancellation of NIH “diversity” awards is much broader than “not white.” Eligibility criteria included individuals who are disabled, economically disadvantaged, grew up in rural communities, first generation college students, homeless… grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Genetics, ecology and evolution of phage satellites Nature Reviews Microbiology, Published online: 27 March 2025; doi:10.1038/s41579-025-01156-zIn this Review, Penadés et al. explore the genetics, potential origins and life cycle of phage satellites, and they discuss the impact of these elements on the evolution of other mobile genetic elements and their host bacteria.

New online! Genetics, ecology and evolution of phage satellites

Share the media.
The news is compromised.
We're starting to boil over.

Yes. Journalists should note this:
Every science or tech student, age 5-35 today, is looking at the destruction of their career prospects due to Trump and Musk.

We should be interviewing those students and talking about the impact to their lives.

“Our next generation of researchers are now poised on the edge of this cliff, not knowing if there’s going to be a bridge that’s going to get them to the other side, or if this is it”

Musk and Trump are blowing up science careers for every STEM student.

Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13.
I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.

House Rs just passed the budget resolution, the first step in their process to enact a bill that'd kick millions off Medicaid & cut SNAP down to just $1.60 per person per meal on avg while cutting taxes for the top 0.1% by $278k - all while increasing the debt

🧵on what's to come and WHERE TO FIGHT