.@ace-gtdb.bsky.social is there any curation for the GTDB rRNA database? We found cases where a MAG incorporated into GTDB may have several 16S gene copies that have wildly different taxonomy but are all attributed to the MAGs GTDB taxonomy. Likely missed pre-ncbi contam screen before upload.

A Curious Case of Goo After a boat captain notices strange black goo on his ship’s rudder, he scoops some of it into a cup. A few months later, that cup ends up in a lab, where scientists make a surprising discovery.

Probably one of the best shipgoo stories so far! www.interlochenpublicradio.org/podcast/poin...

Super cool!

I made the mistake this year of showing my daughter how to create spreadsheets of her candy and plot in R. She knows exactly how much an and what kind she has! Called us out hardcore!

Rare cyanobacteria drive nitrogen-fixation and cyanotoxin production in an Aphanizomenon-dominated bloom Late summer, recurring cyanobacterial blooms in Lake of the Woods (LOW) are polycyanobacterial and typically dominated by Aphanizomenon flos-aquae. LO…

New manuscript from the lab! Interesting story developing, we didn’t find any Aphanizomenon nitrogenase genes despite being the primary bloom former! Instead, Dolichospermum takes charge of fixing nitrogen during the bloom.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This scene lives in my head rent free!

Scientists happened upon black goo on a ship — and discovered it was teeming with life | CNN A Great Lakes research vessel had goo leaking from its rudder shaft. Scientists later found it contained previously undiscovered microorganisms.

Oh check it out, @microbesheik.bsky.social found some cool microbes in "mysterious goo" from a ship's rudder shaft...and I got to talk about it 😂

www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/s...

Nice to be out on the water taking samples! Fun teaching students over looked things like backing up a trailer and how to drive a boat! Also rinse those bottles! @mnseagrant.bsky.social

Research pinpoints type of blue-green algae that may produce toxins in Lake Superior estuary | Great Lakes Now Researchers say the findings will help lead to better monitoring of blooms.

Researchers say the findings will help lead to better monitoring of blooms.

www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/06/rese...

If you want to keep your gear safe, DO NOT PUT IT IN THE LAKE. One of our buoys was just hit by a vessel (which will remain nameless here).

sample of cyanobacteria collected from Pokegama Bay in September, 2024, as part of the Minnesota Sea Grant-funded Blooming Threats project. Image credit: Abby Smason/UMD.

PhD student researcher Abby Smason, supported by #Minnesota Sea Grant, presented this week at #IAGLR25 on preliminary findings of a breakthrough discovery that identifies the bacteria behind toxins in the St. Louis River estuary. 🧪

📢 Get the full story: z.umn.edu/mnsg_25cyano...
#GreatLakes

The potential for coupled organic and inorganic sulfur cycles across the terrestrial deep subsurface biosphere - Nature Communications Organic sulfur compounds are vital to life but often overlooked in the sulfur cycle, especially in the subsurface. Subsurface microbes can metabolize diverse organosulfur compounds, hinting at a more ...

Great work from my graduate student Amanda on the cycling of organic sulfur in subsurface ecosystems! Turns out microbes are poised to use org S and we haven’t been paying attention! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Has anyone experienced any metagenome assembly issues with the Aviti reads? Metaspades assemblies are awful compared to megahit but even the megahit assemblies aren’t great.

MAG binning question: do you ignore smaller orphan bins that are likely parts of larger bins, or do you incorporate? If so what are you using?

It has been amazing to continue this long-term research through a PhD with @quendi.bsky.social and a postdoc with @archaeal.bsky.social . Not everyone gets to see a project through like this as an ECR- thanks to supportive PI's and the NSF-PRFB fellowship that let me design my own postdoc 💙🧪

This paper was over 10 years in the making!! I remember the many zoom and in person discussions! Congrats to all the people that have been a part of this work over the years, especially Rick and Mitch, and a HUGE thanks to @emilruff.bsky.social for his tenacity and bringing this to fruition!!

Don’t forget abstracts are due Monday! Looking forward to some great microbial chats!

The palaeoclimate potential of continental scientific drilling - Nature Geoscience Nature Geoscience - The palaeoclimate potential of continental scientific drilling

The palaeoclimate potential of continental scientific drilling www.nature.com/articles/s41... #jcampubs

Looking for a session at IAGLR ‘25 to submit your micro focused abstract?? Consider session 17 Microbiology of Earth’s Great Lakes!

Spatiotemporal dynamics of cyanobacterium Dolichospermum lemmermannii populations in a bloom-prone region of Lake Superior Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (cHABs) are increasingly common in marine and freshwater environments, including the Laurentian Great Lakes (LGL).…

Neat paper from my former postdoc on the seasonal turnover of Dolichospermum strains in the nearshore of Lake Superior!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Excited to see this paper by Chris Schuler on microbe-mineral biofilms at Soudan Underground Mine! Great team of Early Career students driving some great science!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Glad to see this out and in review! Postdoc Andrew Wood looked at seasonal strain turnover of Dolichospermum in Lake Superior. biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

But not just Doli that has strain turnover!

Spatio-temporal dynamics of cyanobacterium Dolichospermum lemmermannii populations in a bloom-prone region of Lake Superior www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #jcampubs

Interested in Organic sulfur? Check out our new manuscript on how organic sulfur influences sediment biochemistry! aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

@drewsteen.bsky.social in Duluth giving a great Friday seminar!

Apply to be our next Director of The Large Lakes Observatory!

tinyurl.com/mmxe93dt

scse.d.umn.edu/large-lakes-...

Some days are better than others being a prof. Today was a good day! #LakeSuperior

Pretty cool place to do a PhD.