AHHHHHH CONGRATULATIONSSSSS!!!!! ☺️

Sending you a message!

Thank you! Yes, we are working on that now. Hoping to recapitulate physiological conditions as close as we can so that we can really assess the interactions under those conditions.

Thank you!

In the oxygen exposed cells, but it doesn’t have the whole chain like we’d expect in facultative bacteria. It seems like there’s an undisclosed third option at play.

To be determined. Based on our experiments here, it is “consuming” the oxygen, but whether that is for energetic benefit or just neutralizing it in someway is what we are working on now. We found expression of *components* of the canonical electron transport chain

& interacts in the lungs, and what that means for us in both health and in disease. 🧬🔬

Stay tuned!

Shoutout to my incredible trainees, especially @clairealbright.bsky.social,who took the lead on this project when it was just one of my crazy ideas & hit the ground running 🏃‍♀️💨 #MicroSky

/fin

This discovery doesn't just change a label—it opens an entirely new chapter in respiratory microbiology. 🫁✨
We still have a lot to learn about the mechanisms that allow these "anaerobes" to adapt to our airways so seamlessly. We are looking forward to working to understand how Prevotella thrives
5/6

🔎💻 We then went to the transcriptome to look under the hood and found evidence for reprogramming associated with oxygen exposure that deploys defense strategies we didn't know it had!! 🛡️
4/6

By directly testing intermediate --- higher than 0%, but not only 21% (room air) oxygen levels--- we found that P. melaninogenica actually has a robust ability to grow in intermediate oxygen AND can even stay alive without replicating in higher levels of oxygen.
3/6

Microbiome data shows that P. melaninogenica can make up ~10% of the airway bacterial community. We see it in datasets from both asthma/COPD and healthy people. Hiding in the one place it 'shouldn't' be. Turns out, P. melaninogenica is much more versatile than we thought
2/6

Just when we think we've got them figured out, bacteria find a way to surprise us. For a century we've been calling Prevotella melaninogenica a strict anaerobe (oxygen =☠️), but its been chillin' in oxygen rich parts of the body -- the respiratory tract 👄🫁. A thread on a new preprint from my lab🧵:

I am pleased to announce the submission of my first author manuscript, "Aerotolerant Capacity of the Lung Commensal Prevotella melaninogenica," now available as a preprint.
🧫🧫🧫
Thank you to my mentors Dr. Ariangela Kozik @drkozik.bsky.social and Dr. Gary Huffnagle at UM.

I am so so sorry. Sending you strength for the healing ahead.

The latest paper from our faculty job market collaboration team @nafisajadavji.bsky.social @drkozik.bsky.social is out in Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education investigating the humanities and social sciences academic job market. @futurepislack.bsky.social
www.emerald.com/sgpe/article...

Whatttttttttt. I just talked to them todayyyy.

…deeply saddened to see this. Zara, you will be missed. This year has taken so much from us.

Thanks to @bwfund.bsky.social for their support! Our team (@drkozik.bsky.social @drchristsmith.bsky.social @lilyycheng.bsky.social, Ada Haagan, and Amanda Haage) has been collecting data since 2018 on the faculty job market, check out our work at: faculty-job-market-collab.org

a man with a beard is wearing a hat and a striped shirt and saying `` do you remember '' . ALT: a man with a beard is wearing a hat and a striped shirt and saying `` do you remember '' .

Happy Earth, Wind and Fire DAY!!!!

a woman in a blue shirt is looking at a man in a pink shirt . Alt: a woman in a blue shirt is looking at a man in a pink shirt , scene from Notting Hill

I’m just a girl, who did a spinal tap on a preschooler last week, asking you to fire RFK Jr.

My senior thesis was titled “The osteological manifestations of enslavement”

The number of parry fractures in adult and sub-adult bones was heartbreaking.

(A parry fracture is a broken ulna resulting from trying to block a direct strike to the face or upper body)

OD600

Correct

If you applied to assistant professor positions in North America in 2024-2025, we want to hear from you as we continue to collect data on the applicant experience.
Thanks also to @bwfund.bsky.social for their support of our work!
Link to 2024-25 Applicant Survey.
und.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

Explore Our Data | Faculty Job Market Collaboration A record of our team's research and funding.

Are you planning to apply for faculty positions in North America this Fall? Our team of researchers have synthesized 3 years of applicant survey data to create a dashboard to allow assistant professor candidates to see where they stand.
faculty-job-market-collab.org/dashboard/

High-pitched voice theory - Neanderthal - BBC science YouTube video by BBC Studios

Wrong. It is, and always will be, this.

youtu.be/o589CAu73UM?...

when they close it all up, I do believe this will go down as the funniest video on the internet

Thrilled to share the first preprint from my group! Prevotella are predominant but understudied members of the respiratory microbiome. They have a reputation for being hard to work with, but understanding them is likely important for understanding how they contribute to respiratory health. 🧫🔬

The text of the poem “Hope” is the thing with feathers - That perches in the soul - And sings the tune without the words - And never stops - at all - And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard - And sore must be the storm - That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm - I’ve heard it in the chillest land - And on the strangest Sea - Yet - never - in Extremity, It asked a crumb - of me.

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. /Fin

FYI: The House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Democratic Staff, is trying to get more info on the impact of recent research grant terminations.

If your award has been canceled since Jan 20, you can fill out this survey: democrats-science.house.gov/grantcancela...