Ran Blekhman

Excited to share our new @natecoevo.nature.com
paper. We identified microbes found across nearly all ruminants that act as the functional backbone of both the rumen ecosystem and the host, with major implications for food security and climate change mitigation. (1/8)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One month later

Due to the shutdown, NIH cancelled >370 study sections, impacting >24,000 applications

Rescheduled meetings will only discuss 30-35% of applications, have simplified summary statements (no narrative paragraph), and a new category - "competitive but not discussed"

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

Seriously someone should write about the scientific evidence supporting the alleged health benefits of each of these items - I bet it's 99% nonsense

Great example of what I call a "grift bag"

Yes -- this is actually the same parallel the authors use in the review!

The Autism-Microbiome Hypothesis Is Falling Apart Why this new review paper should be required reading for every microbiome researcher

I wrote about the recent autism-microbiome paper, why I think it's the most important microbiome paper this year, and what it says about the field

open.substack.com/pub/blekhman...

Analyzing human gut microbiome data from global populations: challenges and resources Research on the human gut microbiome is expanding rapidly; yet, most published studies focus on populations from high-income regions such as North America and Europe. Underrepresentation of population...

Our contribution to this special issue: a review on data analysis of human gut microbiome data from global populations

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

Amazing journal cover for the new Trends In Microbiology special issue on geographic diversity in microbiology

www.cell.com/trends/micro...

This project was brilliantly led by Sabrina Arif, and is a close collaboration with @fluca2406.bsky.social's lab, and the Global Microbiome Conservancy (Mathieu Groussin and Mathilde Poyet)

3. Specific microbes like Bifidobacterium adolescentis (influenced by dairy intake) directly affected metabolic gene expression.

2. High-diversity microbiomes elicited a stronger host transcriptional response, while low-diversity microbiomes triggered epithelial restructuring & glycolysis – a stress response that characterizes several chronic inflammatory diseases.

1. Urban microbiomes triggered stronger host immune responses, including TNF signaling and bacterial antigen recognition.

We used a cell culture-based experimental system, treating colonic epithelial cells with live gut microbiomes from rural and urban individuals from different populations (Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Malaysia, US). We found super interesting results👇

🧬 🦠 🏙️
Urban vs rural lifestyles create dramatically different gut microbiomes. But how do these different gut microbiomes affect the host?

Excited to share our new paper: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Indiana Dunes National Park, yesterday

Never seen our campus like this before. Like every single tree decided to turn red at the same moment

So funny that this is still the top search term for biorxiv. Like asking what is the impact factor of pubmed. Or your local library.

UChicago Microbiology is searching for tenured or tenure-track faculty working in host-pathogens interactions, viral and bacterial pathogenesis, and emerging infectious diseases. Come join our vibrant Department! microbiology.uchicago.edu
Apply here apply.interfolio.com/174404

Night heron, spotted at the Garden of the Phoenix

Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy and Children’s Risk of Autism, ADHD, and Intellectual Disability This nationwide cohort study with sibling control analysis examines the association of acetaminophen use during pregnancy with children’s risk of autism, ADHD, and intellectual disability.

Unrelated to anything, just a cool recent paper

jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Garden of the Phoenix in Hyde Park is a gem

I'm hiring a computational biologist interested in complex trait genetics using deep learning approaches. Reach out to me, if interested.

Gut fungi are associated with human genetic variation and disease risk In contrast to decades of research on gut bacteria, human genetic determinants of the gut fungal community (mycobiome) remain understudied. This investigation presents the first GWAS on the number and...

Excellent journal club discussion today of a new paper finding human genetic variants associated with fungi in the gut - interesting results!

journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

Update from Chicago. The situation is dire. Complete anarchy. Please send the national guard asap to put an end to this lawlessness

Rapid Response: Reinvesting in Racial and Indigenous Health Equity Research The purpose of this call for proposals is to meet the current moment by supporting timely, actionable health equity research that has been interrupted by shifts in federal funding.

More foundations should do this:

"Funding is exclusively available to applicants who have already received federal funding (e.g., from the NIH, CDC, NSF) for their health equity research, but have since had their funding rescinded due to federal administrative actions"

www.rwjf.org/en/grants/ac...

"It's people who will get cancer in 10, 20 or 30 years who will really pay the price."

We're literally defunding our future survival.

A defined microbial community reproduces attributes of fine flavour chocolate fermentation - Nature Microbiology An in-depth microbiological and metagenomic analysis of Colombian farm and fermentation facilities resulted in the design of a defined microbial community that can reproduce the flavour of fine chocol...

Cool application of microbiome in food science

Using metagenomics on Colombian cacao, they mapped how microbes influence chocolate flavors. Then they built a defined microbial consortium that replicates premium chocolate flavors -- validated by trained tasters!

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