Ajai Dandekar
@ajaidandekar.bsky.social
Sociomicrobiologist. Critical care and cystic fibrosis doctor. University of Washington. Views are my own. he/him
Incredibly close in the Seattle mayor race
November 11, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Incredibly close in the Seattle mayor race
Political advisor: literally everything you’re doing from tariffs to canceling IRA investments to reducing ACA subsidies is increasing costs for Americans
Trump (yawning, trying to stay awake): what if I “seize” the affordability message?
Trump (yawning, trying to stay awake): what if I “seize” the affordability message?
November 10, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Political advisor: literally everything you’re doing from tariffs to canceling IRA investments to reducing ACA subsidies is increasing costs for Americans
Trump (yawning, trying to stay awake): what if I “seize” the affordability message?
Trump (yawning, trying to stay awake): what if I “seize” the affordability message?
New lab paper!
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Modulation of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum sensing cascade by MexT-regulated factors | mBio
Bacteria interact with both abiotic and biotic factors in their environment. Quorum
sensing (QS) is one mechanism that bacteria use to communicate with other bacteria
and coordinate behaviors in the p...
journals.asm.org
October 23, 2025 at 5:52 PM
New lab paper!
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
Andrew Frando describes how MexT alters the quorum sensing cascade in P. aeruginosa. /1
With Nicole Smalley; two undergraduates, Jamal Omar and Bobby Parsek; and @dezieleric.bsky.social, @mariecg.bsky.social, and Mylène Trottier at INRS in Montreal
journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/...
No kings, no crown, the people won’t back down
October 19, 2025 at 2:55 AM
No kings, no crown, the people won’t back down
Incredible game, perfect outcome. Worth every minute and inning!
October 11, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Incredible game, perfect outcome. Worth every minute and inning!
This game is incredible
October 11, 2025 at 4:34 AM
This game is incredible
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
Another new preprint from our lab! This one details our efforts to produce new PqsE inhibitors and methods for assessing their potential to induce a conformational shift and weaken the interaction with RhlR. Haven't gotten there yet, but our methods are getting more sophisticated 😉
New inhibitors of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa enzyme, PqsE, and methods assessing their potential to induce a conformational change via active site binding https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.07.680923v1
October 8, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Another new preprint from our lab! This one details our efforts to produce new PqsE inhibitors and methods for assessing their potential to induce a conformational shift and weaken the interaction with RhlR. Haven't gotten there yet, but our methods are getting more sophisticated 😉
@sound-transit.bsky.social there are hundreds of people waiting for trains and the current wait is 19 minutes. Absurd and incomprehensible.
September 28, 2025 at 12:57 AM
@sound-transit.bsky.social there are hundreds of people waiting for trains and the current wait is 19 minutes. Absurd and incomprehensible.
The degree to which the President can be swayed by the last person he talked to is really astonishing
(This is a good outcome, but it’s only until he talks to someone else)
(This is a good outcome, but it’s only until he talks to someone else)
September 24, 2025 at 1:24 AM
The degree to which the President can be swayed by the last person he talked to is really astonishing
(This is a good outcome, but it’s only until he talks to someone else)
(This is a good outcome, but it’s only until he talks to someone else)
More than five years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this passage from Camus’ “The Plague”, written decades ago, still resonates
September 21, 2025 at 3:44 AM
More than five years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, this passage from Camus’ “The Plague”, written decades ago, still resonates
New lab preprint! We set out to explore interstrain differences in P. aeruginosa cooperation and discovered an interesting variant of the quorum sensing receptor LasR. — by Kiki Bellamoroso, Maxim Kostylev, and Nicole Smalley
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Inactivation of MexT in Pseudomonas aeruginosa destabilizes cooperation and favors the emergence of a unique quorum sensing variant
Pseudomonas aeruginosa , an opportunistic gram-negative pathogen, uses a cell-cell signaling system called quorum sensing to coordinate group behaviors. Quorum sensing in P. aeruginosa is a model to s...
www.biorxiv.org
September 20, 2025 at 3:28 PM
New lab preprint! We set out to explore interstrain differences in P. aeruginosa cooperation and discovered an interesting variant of the quorum sensing receptor LasR. — by Kiki Bellamoroso, Maxim Kostylev, and Nicole Smalley
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somehow I missed this tentative but important news -- extension of the NIGMS MIRA (R35) mechanism
simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...
simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...
Opportunity Listing - Maximizing Investigators' Research Award
Read detailed information about this funding opportunity.
simpler.grants.gov
September 16, 2025 at 9:18 PM
Somehow I missed this tentative but important news -- extension of the NIGMS MIRA (R35) mechanism
simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...
simpler.grants.gov/opportunity/...
I wish that I had a way to thank all of the program officials, grants specialists, scientific review officers, et al. at NIH — this is amazing and important work in the face of politically manufactured, ongoing adversity
September 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
I wish that I had a way to thank all of the program officials, grants specialists, scientific review officers, et al. at NIH — this is amazing and important work in the face of politically manufactured, ongoing adversity
Twin Peaks We'll meet again in Valhalla
YouTube video by smica_lica
youtu.be
September 13, 2025 at 12:51 AM
When there are guns everywhere, nobody is safe anywhere
September 10, 2025 at 9:34 PM
When there are guns everywhere, nobody is safe anywhere
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off
September 10, 2025 at 6:59 PM
settings > content & media > autoplay video & gifs = off
Andrew Frando, @jrchandler.bsky.social, and I wrote a primer about excellent work done in Sam Brown's group @brownlab.bsky.social
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Better together: Reciprocal activation of quorum sensing circuits enhances bacterial communication
Many bacteria use quorum sensing to control gene transcription based on population density. This primer explores a recent study in PLOS Biology which found that in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, two quorum-s...
journals.plos.org
September 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Andrew Frando, @jrchandler.bsky.social, and I wrote a primer about excellent work done in Sam Brown's group @brownlab.bsky.social
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
Excited to announce this is now published!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Inverse stable isotope probing–metabolomics (InverSIP) identifies an iron acquisition system in a methane-oxidizing bacterial community | PNAS
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a target for near-term climate change mitigation.
In many natural ecosystems, methane is sequestered by micr...
www.pnas.org
September 4, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Excited to announce this is now published!
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025 drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/n...
NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025
I know Doctor Editor Director Professor Berg has more sophisticated analyses going but this simple data set made sense to me once I realized how few new R01 NIAAA has issued so far (5). Since we ar…
drugmonkey.wordpress.com
August 19, 2025 at 1:56 AM
NIH progress on new R01s in FY 2025 drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/08/18/n...
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
Postdoc
This video from Fairmount Bagels in Montreal from their Instagram is the most impressive thing I've ever seen
August 15, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Postdoc
The invisible hand of the free market
August 11, 2025 at 12:09 AM
The invisible hand of the free market
Reposted by Ajai Dandekar
Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo Can Both See Zohran Mamdani Is Dangerous. Why Can’t New Yorkers? We Asked JD Vance. Tomorrow in the @nytimes.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo Can Both See Zohran Mamdani Is Dangerous. Why Can’t New Yorkers? We Asked JD Vance. Tomorrow in the @nytimes.com
I visited Paris for a week
July 25, 2025 at 2:24 PM
I visited Paris for a week