Michael Kuhn
@biocs.bsky.social
Computational biologist. Research staff scientist and research coordinator in the @borklab.bsky.social at @embl.org Heidelberg.
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Half of microbial eukaryote literature focuses on only twelve human parasites
#microbiology #protists #eukaryotes
@isme-microbes.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
#microbiology #protists #eukaryotes
@isme-microbes.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Half of microbial eukaryote literature focuses on only 12 human parasites
Abstract. Although microbial eukaryotes comprise the majority of eukaryotic phylogenetic diversity and inhabit nearly all ecosystems globally, most researc
academic.oup.com
November 9, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Half of microbial eukaryote literature focuses on only twelve human parasites
#microbiology #protists #eukaryotes
@isme-microbes.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
#microbiology #protists #eukaryotes
@isme-microbes.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/ismej/articl...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure. A really informative article, perfect for a weekend coffee read. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure
Franklin was no victim in how the DNA double helix was solved. An overlooked letter and an unpublished news article, both written in 1953, reveal that she was an equal player.
www.nature.com
November 8, 2025 at 9:21 AM
What Rosalind Franklin truly contributed to the discovery of DNA’s structure. A really informative article, perfect for a weekend coffee read. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
🚨New preprint out!
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
November 6, 2025 at 5:26 PM
🚨New preprint out!
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We present a foundational genomic resource of human gut microbiome viruses. It delivers high-quality, deeply curated data spanning taxonomy, predicted hosts, structures, and functions, providing a reference for gut virome research. (1/8)
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
We're up to 1000 studies in metalog.embl.de ! For the past year the focus was on finding inconsistencies in the data and creating the website, but now I have more time to go through the backlog of annotated issues to do QC and load them into the database.
November 6, 2025 at 2:55 PM
We're up to 1000 studies in metalog.embl.de ! For the past year the focus was on finding inconsistencies in the data and creating the website, but now I have more time to go through the backlog of annotated issues to do QC and load them into the database.
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Excited to launch an openRxiv partnership with the scientist-run AI review service qed (@qedscience.bsky.social), the brainchild of @odedrechavi.bsky.social 1/n
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
Enabling options for review: from training and transparency to author-centered AI tools - openRxiv
Peer review is widely viewed as a critical aspect of biomedical communication. Ideally, it provides authors with feedback so they can improve manuscripts and gives readers, particularly nonspecialists...
openrxiv.org
November 6, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Excited to launch an openRxiv partnership with the scientist-run AI review service qed (@qedscience.bsky.social), the brainchild of @odedrechavi.bsky.social 1/n
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
openrxiv.org/enabling-rev...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Great to see this finally published!
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
now out in @narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
now out in @narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
Abstract. Metagenomic sequencing enables the in-depth study of microbes and their functions in humans, animals, and the environment. While sequencing data
academic.oup.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Great to see this finally published!
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
now out in @narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Metalog: curated and harmonised contextual data for global metagenomics samples
now out in @narjournal.bsky.social
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Can you take a quarter cup of composite sewage, simply ask ‘what’s in there?’, and find out all of the pathogens circulating in that community?
That is the question we asked in our latest pre-print.
Turns out you can.
1/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
That is the question we asked in our latest pre-print.
Turns out you can.
1/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Untargeted longitudinal ultra deep metagenomic sequencing of wastewater provides a comprehensive readout of expected and unexpected viral pathogens
Wastewater surveillance has become a powerful tool to monitor circulating viruses at a community level. Currently, most wastewater surveillance efforts use target-based approaches such as quantitative...
www.medrxiv.org
October 31, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Can you take a quarter cup of composite sewage, simply ask ‘what’s in there?’, and find out all of the pathogens circulating in that community?
That is the question we asked in our latest pre-print.
Turns out you can.
1/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
That is the question we asked in our latest pre-print.
Turns out you can.
1/
www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
October 31, 2025 at 2:42 PM
🚨Our collaboration with @centriolelab.bsky.social & @gautamdey.bsky.social is out today in @cp-cell.bsky.social
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
We show that #Expansion #Microscopy is a broad-spectrum modality for Euks, enabling 3D phenotypic maps rooted to phylogeny.
#ProtistsOnSky #SciComm #SciSky
www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]
October 30, 2025 at 5:02 PM
I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
I've been asked about this paper (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) enough times that I finally had to read it.
The basic claim is that mRNA vaccines had huge synergistic benefit with checkpoint blockade against lung cancer melanoma.
tl;dr it's glam-slop & everyone involved should be embarrassed
The basic claim is that mRNA vaccines had huge synergistic benefit with checkpoint blockade against lung cancer melanoma.
tl;dr it's glam-slop & everyone involved should be embarrassed
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade - Nature
mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
www.nature.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I've been asked about this paper (www.nature.com/articles/s41...) enough times that I finally had to read it.
The basic claim is that mRNA vaccines had huge synergistic benefit with checkpoint blockade against lung cancer melanoma.
tl;dr it's glam-slop & everyone involved should be embarrassed
The basic claim is that mRNA vaccines had huge synergistic benefit with checkpoint blockade against lung cancer melanoma.
tl;dr it's glam-slop & everyone involved should be embarrassed
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
October 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Lab’s first paper is out!! We show the first structures of #Asgard #chromatin by #cryo-EM 🧬❄️
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Asgard histones form closed and open hypernucleosomes. Closed are conserved across #Archaea, while open resemble eukaryotic H3–H4 octasomes and are Asgard-specific. More here: www.cell.com/molecular-ce...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Nature Communications will publish ~10K papers in 2025 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?term=%22Natu...
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
October 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
Nature Communications will publish ~10K papers in 2025 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov?term=%22Natu...
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
That's ~$70M in revenue, while many of the non-profit journals that used to occupy that slot in the journal hierarchy have seen a precipitous decline in submissions in the 15 years it's existed.
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Deadline extension for #EMBLDataCarpentry! 📣 Apply by 10 November to save your spot in either Heidelberg or Barcelona: s.embl.org/dtc26-01-bl
This course teaches life science researchers essential skills in data management, R programming, genomics analysis, and more.
This course teaches life science researchers essential skills in data management, R programming, genomics analysis, and more.
October 28, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Deadline extension for #EMBLDataCarpentry! 📣 Apply by 10 November to save your spot in either Heidelberg or Barcelona: s.embl.org/dtc26-01-bl
This course teaches life science researchers essential skills in data management, R programming, genomics analysis, and more.
This course teaches life science researchers essential skills in data management, R programming, genomics analysis, and more.
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Want to know how diverse soil really is?
Our ultra deep sequencing is now published in GigaScience: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
Soil is wild! Thanks for leading the study @canerbagci.bsky.social
#secmet #soil #metagenomics #bacterialdiversity
Our ultra deep sequencing is now published in GigaScience: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
Soil is wild! Thanks for leading the study @canerbagci.bsky.social
#secmet #soil #metagenomics #bacterialdiversity
Ultra-deep long-read metagenomics captures diverse taxonomic and biosynthetic potential of soil microbes
AbstractBackground. Soil ecosystems have long been recognised as hotspots of microbial diversity, but most estimates of their microbial and functional comp
academic.oup.com
October 28, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Want to know how diverse soil really is?
Our ultra deep sequencing is now published in GigaScience: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
Soil is wild! Thanks for leading the study @canerbagci.bsky.social
#secmet #soil #metagenomics #bacterialdiversity
Our ultra deep sequencing is now published in GigaScience: academic.oup.com/gigascience/...
Soil is wild! Thanks for leading the study @canerbagci.bsky.social
#secmet #soil #metagenomics #bacterialdiversity
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Is the human microbiome a source for hospital-associated infections (HAI) and are any genetic changes associated with HAI? In our new preprint, we longitudinally reconstruct the evolutionary processes within the human microbiome leading up to HAI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Colonization, translocation, and evolution of opportunistic pathogens during hospital-associated infections
Many commensal bacteria that peacefully reside in the human microbiome are also able to cause acute opportunistic infections. Emerging evidence suggests that within-host evolution contributes to infec...
doi.org
October 27, 2025 at 9:25 AM
Is the human microbiome a source for hospital-associated infections (HAI) and are any genetic changes associated with HAI? In our new preprint, we longitudinally reconstruct the evolutionary processes within the human microbiome leading up to HAI: doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Petition for more counterexamples to plausible mathematical conjectures to contain the word "Nope". This is very cool in other ways too ofc.
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
First Shape Found That Can’t Pass Through Itself | Quanta Magazine
After more than three centuries, a geometry problem that originated with a royal bet has been solved.
www.quantamagazine.org
October 25, 2025 at 6:19 AM
Petition for more counterexamples to plausible mathematical conjectures to contain the word "Nope". This is very cool in other ways too ofc.
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
www.quantamagazine.org/first-shape-...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
We've all heard seminar speakers say (myself included), "I know this is too small for you to read, but..." This usually happens because people are repurposing panels from their papers without adjusting for the medium (1/20)
October 24, 2025 at 2:45 PM
We've all heard seminar speakers say (myself included), "I know this is too small for you to read, but..." This usually happens because people are repurposing panels from their papers without adjusting for the medium (1/20)
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
NEW publication from our lab: One of the first methodologies (FUGAsseM) for gene function prediction from microbial community multi-omics data!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵⬇️
1/8
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵⬇️
1/8
Predicting functions of uncharacterized gene products from microbial communities - Nature Biotechnology
FUGAsseM predicts protein function in microbiomes using coexpression patterns from metatranscriptomes and diverse community-wide data.
www.nature.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:53 PM
NEW publication from our lab: One of the first methodologies (FUGAsseM) for gene function prediction from microbial community multi-omics data!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵⬇️
1/8
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧵⬇️
1/8
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Cool new method, LongTrack for long-read metagenomics, to accurately track high-resolution microbial strains after faecal microbiota transplant, revealing detailed, long-term engraftment patterns
rdcu.be/eMcNg
rdcu.be/eMcNg
Long-read metagenomics for strain tracking after faecal microbiota transplant
Nature Microbiology - A long-read metagenomics method empowers faecal microbiota transplantation studies by precisely tracking bacteria from donors to recipients, distinguishing co-existing strains...
rdcu.be
October 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Cool new method, LongTrack for long-read metagenomics, to accurately track high-resolution microbial strains after faecal microbiota transplant, revealing detailed, long-term engraftment patterns
rdcu.be/eMcNg
rdcu.be/eMcNg
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Our @narjournal.bsky.social manuscript is out! It explores the growth of the GTDB (gtdb.ecogenomic.org) since its inception, as well as updates to the website, methodology, policies, and major taxonomic and nomenclatural changes over the past three years.
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
GTDB release 10: a complete and systematic taxonomy for 715 230 bacterial and 17 245 archaeal genomes
Abstract. The Genome Taxonomy Database (GTDB; https://gtdb.ecogenomic.org) provides a phylogenetically consistent and rank normalized genome-based taxonomy
academic.oup.com
October 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Our @narjournal.bsky.social manuscript is out! It explores the growth of the GTDB (gtdb.ecogenomic.org) since its inception, as well as updates to the website, methodology, policies, and major taxonomic and nomenclatural changes over the past three years.
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
academic.oup.com/nar/advance-...
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
This remains the funniest way to hear about an internet outage, though.
October 20, 2025 at 8:41 AM
This remains the funniest way to hear about an internet outage, though.
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
"New Far Side comics" was definitely not on my bingo card for this week. They're not bad!
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
October 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
"New Far Side comics" was definitely not on my bingo card for this week. They're not bad!
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
www.thefarside.com/new-stuff/
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Our newest preprint is the work of two talented PhD students: Dominic Eriksson (working in the labs of Meike Vogt, Nicolas Gruber & Shinichi Sunagawa @ethz.ch) and @jonas-bio.bsky.social from our group @embl.org, investigating latitudinal diversity gradients of the ocean microbiome (🧵 linked below)
Latitudinal diversity gradients (LDGs) are found across 🌱🐨🦠 but their underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Variations in the latitudinal diversity gradients of the ocean microbiome
Latitudinal diversity gradients (LDGs), typically declining from the equator to the poles, are among the most pervasive macroecological patterns, yet their generality and underlying drivers in the oce...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Our newest preprint is the work of two talented PhD students: Dominic Eriksson (working in the labs of Meike Vogt, Nicolas Gruber & Shinichi Sunagawa @ethz.ch) and @jonas-bio.bsky.social from our group @embl.org, investigating latitudinal diversity gradients of the ocean microbiome (🧵 linked below)
Reposted by Michael Kuhn
Latitudinal diversity gradients (LDGs) are found across 🌱🐨🦠 but their underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Variations in the latitudinal diversity gradients of the ocean microbiome
Latitudinal diversity gradients (LDGs), typically declining from the equator to the poles, are among the most pervasive macroecological patterns, yet their generality and underlying drivers in the oce...
doi.org
October 15, 2025 at 12:05 PM
Latitudinal diversity gradients (LDGs) are found across 🌱🐨🦠 but their underlying mechanisms remain unclear.
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
In this study, we highlight that LDGs are not universal in marine microbiomes but reflect lineage-specific ecological strategies and environmental responses.
doi.org/10.1101/2025...