Photo of a framed photo showing LGBT+ coloured agar plates arranged in the orders of the lgbt+ flag. There is also a bonus mug on the left of the image; the mug has text in Irish on it indicating my love of cake.
Inspired by @prideinmicro.bsky.social ‘s EDI Prize lecture at #microbio26, I’ve added a bit of LBGTQIA+ flare to my office to signal allyship and hopefully indicate that ours is an inclusive space. 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️
Very proud to see where this network has taken us. Its just so lovely to see your ideas in the real world, and we could not have done it with all of our vocal supporters!!
There's more to come, we are excited for the future of @prideinmicro.bsky.social !
We are truly overflowing with joy today as Dr. Landon Getz, Dr. Bruno Oliveira, and Dr. Edel Lopez accepted the Microbiology Society's 2026 EDI Award in Belfast at the 2026 Microbiology Society Annual Conference! Dr. Getz also presented an overview of our organization to the conference's attendees!
What a wonderful start to @microbiologysociety.org #microbio26 with an interactive session on celebrating & promoting actions advancing #EDI followed by @prideinmicro.bsky.social lecture on From visibility to belonging. Its been wonderful to see this network grow. Read more here: microb.io/4mnraQc
Absolutely stellar start to #Microbio26 with the EDI prize lecture to @prideinmicro.bsky.social ! Well done and so well deserved @landongetz.bsky.social @edelplopez.bsky.social @bfrancescol.bsky.social 👏
Starting my journey to Belfast this evening and finalizing our talk:
🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 So so so looking forward to sharing the vision of @prideinmicro.bsky.social with @microbiologysociety.org at #Microbio26 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Collage featuring the Pride in Microbiology Network members interviewed by Ashish William.
Ahead of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Prize lecture 2026, Ashish William interviewed the Pride in Microbiology Network to learn more about their careers and how it feels to win a Microbiology Society prize.
Read the blog: https://microb.io/4sYAUTy
#Microbio26
Excited to share our new paper out today in @science.org 🎉
We show that HGT via natural competence drives diversification of chromosomal integrons in V. cholerae 🤩
Below a 🧵 on key findings incl. background on natural competence in V. cholerae 1/
#microsky #phagesky
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
So happy to see @prideinmicro.bsky.social members meeting up out there!! Community connections are what we are all about 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Engineered phages evade the complete defense repertoire of highly phage-resistant MRSA clinical isolates www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.03...
I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.
"The irony is that em dashes are everywhere in the training data. Books, essays, articles—written by humans who reached for them the same way I do: to think out loud, to hesitate, to qualify, to keep going. AI didn’t invent the em dash—it inherited it."
Excited to share the first preprint from the lab! We show that ApeA defends against RNA phage infection by cleaving the phage genome:
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Anna's hummingbird hovering. Facing to the right. With a small ant on the tip of its bill.
Sometimes you just get that shot. Anna's hummingbird with a little friend, in my yard. Davis, CA. #birds #ants
New preprint alert!!! 🚀🤓 We are very happy to finally share this with the world — the result of seven years of work and a new tool to study integrons and discover new functions encoded in these bacterial platforms.
If you want to know more, here is a thread 🧵
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
New OpenFold3 preview out! (OF3p2)
It closes the gap to AlphaFold3 for most modalities.
Most critically, we're releasing everything, including training sets & configs, making OF3p2 the only current AF3-based model that is functionally trainable & reproducible from scratch🧵1/9
A tabby cat sleeping on a blue blanket. With his head flipped upside down, his toes are visible at the bottom of the photo.
A tabby cat splayed out in a sunbeam, looking at the camera
Our little (big) guy goes to the cardiologist twice a year for a heart that is too big!
Two of UBC’s premier research prizes were awarded to UBC Science faculty members today, with Dr. Curtis Suttle (@virosphere.bsky.social) receiving the Jacob Biely award, and Dr. Jess McIver earning UBC’s Charles A. McDowell award.
@killamtrusts.bsky.social
science.ubc.ca/news/2026-03...
🚨Preprint! Happy to share the research from my PhD “Genome delivery of a contractile tailed phage and its superinfection exclusion mechanism”. We use cryoEM to study the genome ejection of the phage T4, revealing how the tape measure protein regulates the process.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
Proud to see our work featured in this Spotlight in @cp-trendsmicrobiol.bsky.social by @mvelascogomariz.bsky.social and @jenshoer.bsky.social!
They highlight how phage infection involves surprisingly rich posttranscriptional regulatory networks and sRNA-based regulation.
Thank you for the spotlight!
A 5-hydroxymethylcytosine DNA glycosylase provides defense against T-even bacteriophages www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02...
We're happy to share our first Research Spotlight! Dr. Janssen's publication was selected as an Editor's Pick in the Journal of Virology, in which they propose using viruses as gene-delivery tools in mosquitoes. Read the full paper here: tinyurl.com/3efv4vzs
#QueerInSTEM #Microbiology #Virology
Full loaf of artisan Sourdough bread sitting on top of a wire rack. That wire rack is on top of a black stove top.
Picture of my hand holding the sourdough bread cut in half to reveal internal crumbs structure.
Sourdough starter is once again going strong, so we are back to weekend bakes! Glad to see I still got it 😎
Pain de campagne: 10% whole wheat, 80% hydration
Let's celebrate this wonderful achievement by our member, Dr. Joseph Rouse! 🧪 🏳️🌈 👨🔬
Want to be featured too? Access tinyurl.com/bdch6mkf for more information!
#LGBTQSTEM #Microbiology #EmoryUniversity
Happy International Day for Women and Girls in Science! @mcmasteriidr.bsky.social @mcmasternexus.bsky.social @mcmasteruniversity.bsky.social
Looking for a place to chill, vent, or hang out with fun queer microbiologists?
Look no further! Join us at one of our virtual Coffee Hour events and make new friends!
🏳️🌈 🦠 ☕️
BackToBack #PhageSky in @nature.com
A pore-forming antiphage defence is activated by oligomeric phage proteins
-from Maxwell & Norris
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Bacterial immune activation via supramolecular assembly with phage triggers
-from Laub & Ghanbarpour
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Also published today: an equally cool story from Mike Laub's lab on another oligomeric phage protein, RAZR
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Congratulations Pramal, @paramyxologist.bsky.social, and @themaxwelllab.bsky.social on this incredible story! Glad I got to help, even if it was just a little bit :)
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Amazing findings in geometry-based immune activation! Two bacterial defence systems detect phage-encoded ring oligomers, assemble high-order molecular complexes, and trigger abortive infection.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
