Since most of the grad studies inquiries I receive now are written by AI, it feels like the same candidate is just emailing over and over again - they're all so bland and have the same tone ☹️

I'm judging research posters at an event today and wanted to make shorthand titles for my notes:

Woodchuck radiation
Summer queens
Chronic cows
Bad broods

Gonna be a fun day! I love my job 🤓

Ligand-binding properties of substrate binding proteins of a maltose uptake system in Gardnerella swidsinskii Glycogen and its breakdown products, maltose and malto-oligosaccharides, are important carbon sources for vaginal bacteria including Gardnerella species. MusEFGKI transport systems for maltose and mal...

First we characterized Gardnerella enzymes involved in breaking down glycogen and now in this next chapter we're looking at how it picks up the pieces 🧪🦠

#microsky #microbiome

So how are we all feeling about citing preprints?

“The bubble sheets circulating around us are not specifically too good. It’s suggested that you do stay away from them. Of course, it’s your own exam, so be my guest. But be advised that there is a warning on that, OK?” [Apologies to Woodstock lightning manager, Chip Monck]

Just hard enough

TFW one of your former students is the guest speaker in your department seminar series

My ask of any science enthusiasts who tell the story of Rosalind Franklin:
Don't make her life be about the DNA debacle. She died far too young, but she was a promising scientist in her own right, a mentor and scientific author.

Not for Watson or Crick, but for her legacy.

😂

That's so cool!!

Transformation of Gardnerella vaginalis with a Bifidobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector plasmid | Microbiology Spectrum The healthy human vaginal microbiome is mainly dominated by Lactobacillus spp. An imbalance or shift in this population can lead to a gynecological disorder known as bacterial vaginosis (BV). In BV, t...

Excited to share this work with you for two reasons: it's Divanthika's first paper (🥳) and it's pretty cool. Transformation of Gardnerella vaginalis with a Bifidobacterium-Escherichia coli shuttle vector plasmid #microsky | journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...

email header with sender blacked out. Addressed to me with the subject header "Inquiry about the machines". The email opens with Dear Dr. Hill, Happy Sunday!

😬😬😬

A year ago, I was tasked with creating a timeline for @lshtm-tbmod.bsky.social and we came across this amazing example of a way to keep track of a group with a long history.
We now have a record of our history going back to 2011, and I hope that this can stay alive and continuously updated as well!

Awesome! Quite a few folks have added improvements and options. Can't wait to update my own next month 🤓

She did great. It was a pleasure to be there to see it all unfold! Vet Micro is very proud of our latest graduate 👩‍🎓

Seems like it. A lot of resources on display

Be my guest!

I think my university has a Department of Moving Snow Around. Every day piles of snow disappear in one place and appear in another

#ChemTogether.

Forever.

#RealTimeChem #ChemSky #Chemistry

New genomic sequencing diagnostic tool targets reproductive failure in cattle herds - WCVM Today - Western College of Veterinary Medicine A collaboration between researchers at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) and Prairie Diagnostic Services Inc. (PDS) has resulted in the creation of an innovative genomic sequencing too...

This was such a fun project and I love it when we can see an immediate application of our work 🐄🧬 #microsky #diagnostics #veterinarydiagnostics wcvmtoday.usask.ca/articles/202...

Thanks for sharing this. Much appreciated

And I notice there was no explicit statement of what was changed, or did I miss that? Nice to see a list of what changes were made for “compliance”

Logo for the Pride In Microbiology organization shows a purple-gloved hand holding a petri dish with multicoloured colonies outlining the progress flag. Text reads "Pride in microbiology. Professional development, mentorship, community".

Feel free to add your favourite microbiology organizations that support equity, diversity and inclusion!

Here's another one started in Canada by the 2SLGBTQIA+ microbiology community: Pride in Microbiology. prideinmicrobiology.github.io

Screen shot of webpage for the CSM conference in Montreal showing a nighttime view of Montreal with a huge Leonard Cohen mural on a building in the foreground.

Speaking of which, the Canadian Society of Microbiologists annual meeting is June 17-20 in beautiful Montréal. The EDI Workshop is on the Thursday afternoon event.fourwaves.com/scm-csm2025u...

I've been an ASM member and supporter for >20 yrs and that is about to end. There are so many other choices internationally. I'll put my membership $ and publication fees, and donate my volunteer reviewer time to societies that prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion

My letter to ASM leaders that I sent is too long to be posted here, so I'm going to post highlights in case anyone else needs information for their letter. 🧵

Interesting stuff. Congrats to you and the team!

Setting the tone for the office:

🧪Science is cool (especially microbiology)
🧑‍🎓Grad school is cool
🪶Birds are cool
❤️Everyone is welcome here

Photo credit Deo Ruganuza - field sampling

Photo credit : Mani Lejeune. Trichuris egg

Our paper describing a new STH species Trichuris incognita which is resistant to albendazole-ivermectin combination therapy is out in Emerging Infectious Diseases wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/... Great work Abhinaya Venkatesan & collaborators @jsoghigian.bsky.social , Jennifer Keiser and team.

Nice work! Congrats