Aathmaja

as many of you know, I'm not Christian but always loved Christmas. My wish:
may the light in you and your loved ones shine bright
may that light comfort and inspire others
may our lights dispel darkness and fear
may they give the gift of hope
may we walk in light, unafraid, towards what is to be

We still can’t predict much of anything in biology Biology is hard. Yes, even for AI.

Biology is much more complicated than most non-biologists can imagine. And AI is not going to change this anytime soon.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/we-still-c...

Huntington's disease successfully treated for first time One of the most devastating diseases finally has a treatment that can slow its progression and transform lives, tearful doctors tell BBC.

New cures feel sudden, but the seeds were planted decades ago by basic scientists.

Which seeds will turn into cures? Unpredictable looking forward, a straight line looking back. 🧪🧬 🧵

Thanks Mark

A cyclic di-GMP phosphodiesterase in the VSP-2 island of Vibrio cholerae is regulated by zinc and quorum sensing | mBio Vibrio cholerae colonizes estuarine environments and human hosts, where it transitions between motile and sessile states using the second messenger cyclic di-GMP (cdG). cdG levels change in response to a variety of signals and are controlled by the activity of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterase (PDEs), enzymes that make and degrade cdG. In this work, we show that Zn2+ and the cell density regulator HapR repress ZpdA, the PDE present in the Vibrio seventh pandemic 2 island, at the level of transcription, and that Zn2+ unexpectedly alters the PDE activity of ZpdA protein itself. Our study highlights the role of metal availability as an important signaling cue that controls V. cholerae biology.

Check out my recent publication on how zinc and quorum sensing affects cyclic di GMP in V. cholerae.
share.google/JaOJv48OAhH4...

I'm back home with my dad and have thoughts about being an Indigenous scientist and academic. I'm writing this in real time so it might get disrupted and will have typos.

I am fairly successful by academic standards. I have a tenure track job, wrote papers, have grant funding, mentor students.

Excited to attend my first ASM microbe this year at LA. Will be presenting my postdoctoral work from Waters lab on "Zinc regulation of cyclic di-GMP in V. Cholerae" in Room 408B from 3.30-3.45 on June 20th. Looking forward to seeing you all there. #asm2025

Excited to be representing the Waters lab alongside @aathmaja.bsky.social at #ASMicrobe!

Interested how phages use contingency loci as bet hedging strategy?

I’ll be talking about this Sat 6/21 from 10-10:15am at “Predicting Microbial Evolution” 403A, LACC

I wrote this in a week where it felt like professoring while parenting (and equally, parenting while professoring) was impossible. This feeling ebbs and flows. Seems like Mothers Day is as good a time as any to share, maybe it will help someone else feel less alone.

The More Paradox
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A horizontally acquired cyclic di-GMP phosphodiesterase regulated by zinc and quorum sensing The second messenger cyclic di-GMP (cdG) in V. cholerae is indispensable for the regulation of biofilm formation, motility, and a variety of other important bacterial behaviors in the majority of bact...

Check out my recent work from Waters lab where we delineated the role of zinc in the regulation of phosphodiesterase that cleave cyclic di-GMP in V.cholerae. thanks to all the collaborators who helped shape this work.

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