Cheddar is so adorable!!!!

A bright pink/red epiphyllum cactus flower with multiple petals about the size of a dinner plate.

Every year I neglect this epiphyllum on my front porch and am always shocked at how big and beautiful its flowers are

whoa - that is terrific!!!

Such a handsome lad he is!!!

Excited to be elected to the American Academy of Microbiology, class of 2026. I look forward to working alongside my fellow colleagues to advance microbial science for the benefit of society.

asm.org/press-releas...

#AcademyFellow #Microbiology

Not sure - they wont let me in there.... :)

Dexter was one of the kindest professors I’ve ever known – someone who really made students like me want to continue in the field. Great mentor and scientist....

20 yrs ago UCLA mycology prof Dexter Howard gave me his old lab freezer. Crazy that its still used every day, holding ~$50k in enzymes. Sears stopped making the Coldspot in 1976.

Dexter’s passed away, but they they simply don’t make them like they used to - freezers or profs….. cheers Dexter!!!

JR!!!

Nature’s 10: Ten people who shaped science in 2025 A fired public-health official, a mosquito breeder and a baby with a smile seen around the world. These are just a few of the remarkable people chosen for Nature’s 10.

Interesting piece from Nature of people who have shaped science in 2025.

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

But the Five "Ones to Watch in 2026" has some important folks as well.

Most notably, from my perspective is:

1/2

First malaria medicine for newborn babies and young infants Coartem® (artemether-lumefantrine) Baby has become the first malaria treatment approved for newborn babies and young infants.

Huge News

Coartem® Baby—1st malaria drug approved for newborns <5 kg

It's a cherry-flavored mix of artemether (rapid parasite clearance) & lumefantrine (long-acting, prevents recrudescence)—dissolves in breast milk and optimized PK/PD for infant metabolism

Not-for-profit launch planned in Africa

Check out the gorgeous green eyes on this Shortfin Lionfish (Dendrochirus brachypterus)

You get extra karma points for rescuing and caring for JR!!!

Proteolytic processing and host nuclear targeting of the novel effector GRA84 in Toxoplasma gondii | Molecular Biology of the Cell Toxoplasma gondii and its relative Neospora caninum are apicomplexan pathogens that secrete an array of dense granule proteins into the parasitophorous vacuole and host cell, where they play roles in ...

www.molbiolcell.org/doi/10.1091/...

Nice work from my former graduate student Amara (now postdoc at Stanford) on a new effector protein in Toxoplasma www.molbiolcell.org/doi/epdf/10....

Make open access to tools and data part of your annual giving by making a tax deductible donation to @veupathdb.org. 💙This resource simplifies and supercharges global infectious disease research.

Need more reasons to support VEuPathDB? Here's a short list: veupathdb.org/veupathdb/ap...

"In California, solar generation could finally surpass gas this year."

Actually, the probability that solar surpasses gas in 2025 is high!

Gas fell from 50% of CA's electricity in January 2024 to 40% in January 2025, and solar rose from 20% to 28%.
www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
#energysky

bring back the cheddar jalapeño.......

Prediction:

Today (4/9/25) registered the greatest ill gotten gains from insider trading in history.

Vaccines. 💪🏻💪🏻

Great turn out for Stand up for Science rally in Westwood yesterday

Pro science crowd standing along Vetran Ave in Los Angeles

Stand Up For Science sign in Los Angeles with microscopes, plants, pipettes, 50ml tube and DNA drawn on it

Nice turnout and great weather at the Stand Up For Science rally in Los Angeles by UCLA

Protest at Space X in Hawthorne CA today. Seemed like 2-3k people showed up to me

Lots of crappy news out there recently - but at least my worms are happy....

we love helping the monarchs in CA - see some photos on my lab webpage.....

Monarch butterflies will get federal protections as a threatened species U.S. officials decided to extend protections to monarch butterflies after warnings from environmentalists that populations are shrinking and the beloved pollinator may not survive climate change.

www.npr.org/2024/12/10/n...

Amazing! ‘Twinkling Toxoplasma’ Tree (image by Kseniia Bondarenko) wins 2024 Festive Science Image Competition.

Like ‘old Twitter’: The scientific community finds a new home on Bluesky After recent changes to Elon Musk’s X, a gradual migration turns into a stampede

'For scientists the network is starting to look like home. Academic institutions, scientific journals and conferences, and international organizations such as the World Health Organization have established a presence there in recent days.'
www.science.org/content/arti...

Report: Every dollar of NIH research funding doubles in economic returns Research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) generated $2.46 in economic activity for every $1 of funding in 2023, a total of $92.9 billion, according to an

Research funded by NIH generated $2.46 in economic activity for every $1 of funding in 2023 [a total of $92.9 billion]

www.fiercebiotech.com/research/rep...

I would like to join